The Not so True Adventures of Brandon, Josh, and Adam
by
Barry Fellinger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Children's Fiction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Eleven-year-old cousins Brandon and Josh return home
safely at the end of their Almost True Adventure, only to discover that their
cousin Adam has been captured by the very same aliens from the Intergalactic
Council on Obedience to Parents they just escaped from!
Now the boys must figure out how to get back into
space, rescue Adam, and return home safely again!
It's a Not So True Adventure full of action,
surprises, old friends, new enemies, frenemies, and what's that about doubles
troubles?
A hilarious and once-in-a-while serious story of
past, present, and future antics, based on some of the three cousins' escapades
in real life!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Double Trouble OR WHICH COUSIN IS WHICH?
Oh, this is making my head hurt! Brandon is up
there, but it’s not me. But it’s the right Brandon who will know what to do.
But Josh is up there, but it’s not the right one, and he will be lost, and why
doesn’t this Josh . . .
Brandon #2’s thoughts jumbled together as he tried
to think everything through. He was fast losing his appetite.
His mind wandered as he began to pick away at his
food. I mean, the one who should be with me is not, cuz this Josh is down
here. But the wrong Josh, though he certainly knows what’s about to happen,
which means he will refuse to eat the broccoli. But if Brandon up there doesn’t
realize he has the wrong Josh, that Josh will be kidnapped with him, but it
won’t be the right Josh. Then I will be stuck with the Josh, who lived through
this, and he will understand everything, so maybe that’s not so bad . . .
By now Brandon’s head throbbed so much from trying to sort this all out in his
mind that he couldn’t concentrate on food anymore and put his head in his
hands. Then he looked up at Josh.
“Josh,” Brandon spoke very low. “I understand.
You’re not the right one.”
“What, dear?” asked Brandon’s mom, as Brittany
complained, ‘Mom, Brandon’s whispering secrets about me to Josh.”
“Am not,” snapped back Brandon.
“Um, Mom, I think Josh might be sick. I think he
should go to my room and lie down.”
“But I’m fine.” Josh was now panicking,
understanding Brandon knew, but neither of them knew if the other Brandon
hiding with Josh’s double understood yet. They were waiting for this Josh to
come up, after all. Brandon needed the right Josh with him soon, but because he
had not been through this before, he wasn’t thinking about one super important
thing.
“What about the tantrum?” Josh asked Brandon softly.
“If I don’t act up, they won’t come and then Adam is . . .”
He stopped mid-sentence when he felt an unusual bump
like someone was trying to push him off his chair, strong enough that he nearly
fell off it and had to grab the table to keep his balance.
“Brandon,” Josh whispered again. “Did you feel
that?”
“Feel wh—” Brandon started to say and then the phone
rang. Josh thought the last time that happened, they had been rounding the
corner to the kitchen when his Aunt Beth answered the phone, not seated at the
table. That’s different, he thought to himself. Aunt Beth is sitting
at the table this time, but I guess we definitely did take longer upstairs.
Still, something strange is going on, though.
Brandon’s mom turned to speak to the three children
with a concerned look on her face. “That was your Aunt Patty,” she said,
catching her breath. “It’s about your cousin Adam. He got into some big
argument with his parents at the dinner table, and then he stomped off to his
room.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Barry M. Fellinger resides in St. Thomas, Ontario, with his wife
Beth, and currently works as a director in health care and also teaches
leadership courses and seminars.
He loves spending time with his adult children, grandchildren,
extended family, and friends.
He enjoys reading, writing, watching superhero television shows
and movies, collecting comics, attending the occasional Comicon and, for
inspiration, relaxing in Sanctuary II, his comic book/man room.
He has a few more books in the works which he hopes to complete
before or during retirement.
Social Media
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4 stars
“The Not so True Adventures of Brandon, Josh, and Adam” by
Barry M. Fellinger describes the adventures of three cousins who get caught in
an unexpected side effect of Brandon and Josh’s previous experience with the
Intergalactic Council on Obedience to Parents. Despite their intermittent
squabbles in the past, the cousins must find a way to work together with their
alien friends and allies to solve the kinks in the space-time continuum that
they’ve inadvertently disrupted.
This fantastical children’s story was a little confusing at
first, given the duplication of a couple of the main characters and the
references to previous occurrences which took place in another book. It’s no
surprise that the alien Derks discover there is an issue with having used time
travel on Josh and Brandon that causes a disruption of the timestream. The
adventures in which broccoli, of all things, figures prominently is a wacky and
imaginative tale that manages to touch on the complicated-yet-simple relationship
that a trio of eleven-year-old boys can have.
I love that the Derks are both fearsome and unthreatening,
and that this all starts because of defiant behavior that is being punished.
There are various lessons included in the story that are artfully blended with
unexpected twists and turns and unusual characters, and even the science
lessons are conveyed in an understandable manner. This is both a fun read and a
cautionary tale to remind one of the importance of…eating one’s broccoli (and respecting
one’s parents)!
A copy of this title was provided for review
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThe blurb and excerpt sound really good.
ReplyDeleteInteresting book details.
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