“Slippery Willie—” was officially launched about a month ago. Having completed the launch phase he now heads for cyber space visiting over 40 review centers during the month of March. He has already made a few stops and has been welcomed graciously at each of them. “Grady Harp’s Review”, “Philip H. Tangs Review” and Patrice at “Spiritual Woman’s Review” all saw fit to give him big smiles and hugs. My thanks to them for being so nice to him. As he visits his other stops I’m sure these three experiences have increased his confidence and have made him feel a lot more at ease going forward. Anyway, I’ll keep you posted.
Jumbo Feeney
When I see that my caller ID is flashing Jumbo Feeney’s number, I cringe. Now, don’t get me wrong, Jumbo and I have been best friends since Hector was a pup. I love the guy. But—sometimes he drives me nuts. Why? Because he has a unique opinion on every topic known to man (oops, and woman). Anyway, when I see his number I usually do not answer because I need some time to pray and mentally prepare for the event. If I just answer he’ll already be in mid-sentence, I will not have a clue as to what he is talking about and he’ll want my opinion even though he would never hear it in the first place. Then he’ll bust out in his raucous, deep belly laugh —well, trust me, it is an experience.
So, yesterday, I see Jumbo’s number flashing in the ID. What do I do? I ignore my own rule and answer the phone. I immediately call myself an idiot and begin to listen because Jumbo is already talking. “Petie (he calls me Petie) you better sit down for this. It’s big—really big.”
He starts laughing and I don’t sit down. “C’mon Jumbo, what? What is it?”
“Guess where I’m going tomorrow? C’mon, man. Guess.”
“NO idea, Jumbo. No idea. I do know where you’re not going.”
“WRONG, Petie, wrong. I am going. I’m going to Mass tomorrow. Think you’re so smart. Gotcha.”
Well, “gotcha” was a good word. Jumbo had not been to church in, who knows, a VERY long time. And, during that whole time he has been trying to convince me that whether a person went to church or not, it did not matter. I think by talking to me about it he was just trying to convince himself anyway. Whatever—-
“Petie, you there? Say something. Anything. Hope the news did not make you drop dead or something.” More raucous laughter.
“UH, no. Just have a few chest pains, that’s all.” I start to laugh and say, “So, Jumbo, tell me—what happened. It been a long time for you.”
“Yeah, Petie, that’s for sure. A long time. I just think that its time for me, that’s all.”
“Jumbo—God writes straight with crooked lines, doesn’t He. We all follow our own path. I’m not saying anything. I’ll just call you in the beginning of the week and see how it went, okay?”
“Petie, you didn’t ask if I went to confession.”
“Not going there, Jumbo, none of my business.”
“Good job, Petie. That was just a little test for you anyway.”
“Hey Jumbo.”
“What?”
“Love ya man.”
Spiritual Woman's review
Spiritual Woman
February 11, 2011
Charming Book on an Important Subject
by Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur
Willie has a problem. He is a little boy with slippery feet. He slips everywhere, even up walls. Even his shoes and socks slide off. His mother has special shoes made for him which Willie feels are stupid and ugly. He dreads wearing them to school and fears everyone will make fun of him. By the end of the book, all of his fears have been put to rest.
Larry Peterson has woven a charming children’s book, designed to show children that it is OK to be different. The illustrations are great and add greatly to the experience of the book. Children will love it! There are also useful discussion questions to foster further conversation on the subject of being different.
A recipient of the Catholic Writer’s Guild Seal of Approval, “Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes” illustrates the important belief that we are all “God’s special individual creations and God ‘don’t make no junk.'”
Larry's First Post
So, my blog says to me, “Hey, Larry, every day for two weeks you look at me for a minute and then ignore me. What’s your problem?”
I say, “Yeah, so what. I look at you and have nothing to say. Whatever.”
Blog says, “And you think you’re a writer. Give me a break. That’s like taking a bicycle for a walk. I think you’re brain is stuck in neutral.”
“Look man, I don’t care what you think. Truth is, I’m just not sure what to say to you.”
“You wrote a book, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, start there. Tell me about it.”
“You already know about it. It’s the name of the blog, it’s YOU, dummy.”
“You now what, Larry You’re ticking me off. Don’t call me a “dummy” because you named me which makes you the ‘dummy” and how am supposed to know what “Slippery Willie’s Shoe’s is in the first place.”
“Okay, okay, sorry. Slippery Willie is just a kid with slippery feet. He’s always slipping and sliding all over the place. Then he gets these ugly shoes and—hey look, read the book. It explains everything.”
“Whatever—so, anything else you want to say to me?”
“Look, Blog. Don’t you get it. I think I’m embarrassed talking about myself. Okay, satisfied. The truth is out. happy now.”
“Well chump, you had better get over it. If you’re gonna be doing this writing stuff you better let people know about you.”
“Why, Blog. They can just read what I write, right?”
“Not that simple. What are you about. What’s your motivation? What’s your philosophy on things. What excites you, what hurts you, stuff like that. Where are you coming from?”
“Okay, okay. You got me. I’ll think about it. I’ll be back. And by the way, don’t take my leaving personal. At least we scratched the surface, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
copyright © 2011 Larry Peterson
Blog Tour Dates – March 2011
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Blog Tour for Slippery Willie’s Stupid, Ugly Shoes March 1 My Bits and Bleeps March 2 The Elliot Review Phillip H. Tang’s Book Reviews Blog March 4 Spiritual Woman March 5 Books and Needlepoint Everything to Do with Books March 6 March 7 Reading, Reading & Life March 8 March 9 March 10 Marilyn’s Musings March 11 March 13 March 14 Just Our Thoughts March 15 March 16 Mozi Esme Rex Robot Reviews March 17 March 18 The Children’s & Teens’ Book Connection March 19 March 24 It’s Time to Read Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers March 25 March 28 March 29 Retail Therapy Lounge March 30 March 31 April 10 |
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Phillip H. Tang's Books Review Blog review
Phillip H. Tang’s Books Review Blog
February 4, 2010
Larry Peterson – Slippery Willie’s Stupid Ugly Shoes
by Phillip H. Tang
Willie is a young boy with slippery feet. His feet were so slippery that even his shoes would slip off his feet. There were special shoes designed specifically for Willie, except there was only one problem: they were ugly.
Willie went to school with his new ugly shoes. All his classmates laughed at him. Even the principal and his teacher laughed at him. He was too embarrassed that he went home from school.
On his way home he noticed that the school building was laughing at him. Even dogs and cats and birds were laughing at him. He got home and even his mom was laughing at his ugly shoes. The whole world was laughing at him.
…………….Then he woke up and realized it was all a dream. When he went to school nobody laughed at him and actually thought his shoes were pretty neat.
First and foremost the illustrations are excellent. I love the paper and pencil sketches with pencil crayon coloring. It is very appropriate for a children’s book.
I’m a big fan of alliteration. They are fun to read and flows very nicely off the tongue. This particular one was used very effectively:
Willie just slipped, slid and spun all over the place
The whole “it was all a dream” thing kind of bothers me. If the author wanted to show that Willie was imagining things he could have shown that the people were actually laughing about other things. Not a big deal.
Although this book is a picture book, or more accurately a book with pictures, you would still want an older audience of say 6-8 years old reading it. It is in paragraph format and at times goes on with a full wall of text before the next picture. It would be too difficult to read for the younger ages on their own and too long to keep the attention of the kids if being read to.
If interested, the book can be purchased from the author’s website in many formats including hard cover, ebook, kindle, etc. at http://slipperywillie.blogspot.com/
Cradling Catholic 