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Matt Forrest Esenwine

Autor(a) de Flashlight Night

7 Works 98 Membros 11 Críticas

Obras por Matt Forrest Esenwine

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Locais de residência
New Hampshire, USA
Ocupações
poet
children's author
Prémios e menções honrosas
MacGregor Poetry Prize

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As a former radio broadcaster, I spent a good part of my life writing and producing commercials, comedy bits, and news stories. At various times I was also an event DJ, country dance instructor, news reporter, cook, telemarketer, ice cream scooper, and photography sales dude…and never figured out how to make a living doing any of it.

I also loved poetry - my first published poem was in 1984 when I was still in high school - and over the years I've had numerous adult-oriented poems published in various journals and anthologies including the Donald Hall tribute, "Except for Love (Encircle, 2019). In 2012 my poem, "Apple-Stealing" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and in 2019 I was the recipient of the MacGregor Poetry Prize, coordinated by the Robert Frost Farm board of trustees and Derry (NH) Public Library.

Anyhoo...little did I know all this short-form writing would lead to my debut picture book, "Flashlight Night" (Boyds Mills & Kane, 2017), which received numerous positive reviews including a Kirkus star and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Kids 2017. I now have more than a dozen books out or under contract, including "Once Upon Another Time" (Beaming Books, 2021), co-authored with my friend, Charles Ghigna (aka, Father Goose®).

Meanwhile, my children's poetry can be found in anthologies like The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children's Books, 2015), Night Wishes (Eerdmans, 2020), and Construction People (Wordsong, 2020), the latter of which was chosen by Kirkus as one of the Best Picture Books of the Year.

Matt lives in New Hampshire with his wife, kids, and more pets than he has fingers, so don't ask him to count. ​

Membros

Críticas

This is not a book to be read at night to a young imaginative child. One flashlight, a small group of kids travel in the dark of the yard and anything and everythink that looks interesting becomes a journey into the spooky shadows found there.

Even the most mundane objects that are fine in the light of day, become ominous in the dark as the flashlight highlights the details. The woods seem long and laden with darkness as a tiger is spotted on the path, The waters shine in the spooky night and now, the tiger roars. The walls in an old hall seem to point to a Egyptian with shapes that shift as the room becomes narrow and shows many masks and a tomb where something may jump out at those who imagine what it could contain. Could it be a pirate with a bird that awaits them?

And, now even the swimming pool which holds a lot of memories from fun daytime activities becomes a ship that takes them in the path of creatures that lurk and arise from the dark deepness.

Enough fear for one night of discovery, a voice is calling telling the children "LIGHTS OUT!!!"

As I read this book, I remembered Saturday nights spent at my grandmother's house when the black and white tv was tuned to Creature Feature. The room was dark because my grandmother always was frugal with electricity. She was fast asleep as I sat in the large stuffed chair where my feet dangled and didn't touch the floor.

"AHHHH!," the screen showed a jealous man who wanted to play piano just like the man who gave a wonderful concert. And then, those hands that played so well now were made to a plaster cast that awaited the jealous man to choke him.

Later that night I was terrified as I tried to sleep in the large upstairs room, down the hall from the others, where I was awake and very afraid those hands were coming for me from under the large brass bed.

My grandmother didn't say "Lights Out!," she opened the door, turned the light on, and hugged me until I fell asleep.

Four and 1/2 Stars!
… (mais)
½
 
Assinalado
Whisper1 | 4 outras críticas | Jun 19, 2023 |
The concept of the book is good in that it teaches that humans experience behaviors and emotions that set them apart from the animal kingdom. We do, as humans, need to learn and practice these differences because we are prone behave or feel the opposite of them.

I am sure that parents and teachers can find good use for this book.
 
Assinalado
VeraGodley | 1 outra crítica | Oct 18, 2022 |
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
 
Assinalado
fernandie | 1 outra crítica | Sep 15, 2022 |
Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.
 
Assinalado
fernandie | 1 outra crítica | Sep 15, 2022 |

Prémios

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Associated Authors

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Estatísticas

Obras
7
Membros
98
Popularidade
#193,038
Avaliação
3.8
Críticas
11
ISBN
11

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