Richard Sherman

Though listed for adults, I can't think of any target audience more fitting for this rendition of the Old Maestro's dream than ALL AGES. True, there is a heavier side to the story where Walt Disney's childhood and formative years are glimpsed, as well as the triumphs and struggles he faced along the way, but he turned his life into PURE MAGIC. He realized a dream that didn't only tickle his fancy, but the WORLD'S both then, now, and for many generations to come. From that giddy Oh boy! of a mouse that became a household name to the hummed bars of Jiminy Cricket's When You Wish Upon a Star, there's so much joy to be found in the simple things as well as the magnificent wonders of Disney's legacy...but to realize it all started with to desire to share not only his creative vision, but the joy he felt as a boy laying under the stars watching the colorful bursts in the night sky.

A book to be shared through the generations with beautiful artwork that showcases the simplicity of his world as it was and how he dreamed it could be in all its bright shiny glory.


**copy received for review… (mehr)

I love Mardi Gras. I have been going for the last 4 years, every year. I read all kinds of books about Mardi Gras and New Orleans. This book is terrible.

First off, the author is not a writer, he's a lawyer. He shouldn't be a writer, unless he wants to write non-fiction. The only parts of this book that were good were the historical bits about New Orleans and Mardi Gras culture and tradition. Everything else was just awful. The characters are wooden. The story is trite. There is the barest outline of a plot, but the story is written mostly as a list of events, most of them having very little bearing on what happens next and little connection with what came before. Sherman needs a thesaurus- he uses the same adjectives multiple times per paragraph and the same phrases over and over and over again. I think I counted "All-American smile" four times in a paragraph that contained almost as many sentences. This just isn't good writing.

The description of Mardi Gras, which you don't get to until over halfway through the book, is accurate in spots. The setting is supposed to be the 1970's, so I can't gauge the accuracy for the time period, but the listing of entertainment, costuming, etc. feels generally true to my experience. Instead of feeling drawn in and part of the story, it again feels like a cataloguing of events.

The typos and grammatical errors in the book annoyed me. The overarching moral theme annoyed me. Jimmy's flashing dimples annoyed me. If you want to know what Mardi Gras is like, please don't read this book.… (mehr)