Things go quite wrong quite quickly in the new children’s adventure book, A Balloon to the Moon, by Sechelt author Mackenzie Fairmaid-Shevloff, age 12.
As the story goes, young Thea throws a red ball for her dog but the ball is swept out to sea. To get it back, well, let’s just say the sky is not the limit. Fortunately, the things gone wrong are soon made right in this brief, wild ride of a tale about helpful friends, and pressing on despite one’s fears. It’s fun both to read and to read aloud, as it’s written in rhyming couplets.
“I enjoy writing descriptive poetry,” Mackenzie told Coast Reporter. “It was fun and bit of a challenge to write a poem that rhymes and had a beat.”
The writer said she also composes in prose, but often with a more serious tone. “Usually when I write stories, they’re darker. So, it was fun to write something that was upbeat.”
Mackenzie took to books quickly as a child, according to her mother, Antonia Fairmaid.
“She’s had a strong passion for writing from an early age, after reading the first four books in the Harry Potter series at the age of six,” Fairmaid recalled. “She won poetry awards in New Zealand [where the family lived before coming to Canada]. But this is her first foray into actual publishing.”
The book has been a “a real family project,” Fairmaid added. Mackenzie’s grandmother, an author and former high school English teacher, helped with the book’s formatting, while the author’s grandfather managed the illustrations. “I took the photos,” said Fairmaid. “And her grandfather used an app to change them into artwork.”
A Balloon to the Moon, intended for kids aged about five, is available on Amazon.
