Tim Wright, co-host with Michael Gurian of the Wonder of Parenting podcast, has written a number of nonfiction books as well as three young adult novels that comprise his Toby Baxter series.  Tim will be speaking this June at our Gurian Summer Training Institute.  He has provided this week’s blog post.

To learn more about the Summer Training Institute and to register individuals, please visit: https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2024/.  If you can bring groups of five or more, please email us at info@gurianinstitute.com to get that set up.   Now here’s more from Tim.

I am releasing The Adventures of Toby Baxter—Book 3: Aloha RiverHome—The GOOD Prophecy, on my substack.  I’ll be inviting you, if you would like, to make a donation to a local Maui charity to support the people of Lahaina.  Check out timwrightbooks.substack.com for more.

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Most adults do not get to use creativity as much as they did when they were children. For some that is just accepted, but many others still need that form of creativity in their lives. Fantasy gives an outlet for the creative part of the brain without straying too far from real life. Dr. Kevin Brown, a cognitive psychologist with 35 years of experience.

The Harry Potter series was remarkable on several levels, not the least of which was its ability to hook adult readers on a middle-school age fantasy adventure. My wife, for example, not really into fantasy books, read the series at least twice and watched the movie series at least twice.

I would argue that that’s a good thing. Reading is good for all of us. And reading fantasy adventures appears to be good for the adult brain as well as a child’s.

When we read books about magic and fantasy, we suspend our cynicism and disbelief and enter a world where anything could happen. In the real world, we have career ladders to climb, families to feed and bills to pay. To enter into a magical realm is to enter a whole different universe, one so different to ours, that we can’t help but be carried away by the wonder, fantasy and sheer entertainment… Basically, when you immerse yourself into a kid’s fantasy fiction adventure book, you leave your troubles at the book cover – and this is a good thing for many people who are under a lot of stress.

A few years ago, when I would watch Teen Titans Go! with my grandkids, they constantly looked at me wondering why I was laughing. They’ll appreciate the humor when they get older!

Toby’s adventures are filled with memorable characters, fast-paced action, and lots of humor to engage young readers. But, like Batman, some of the humor in the book will be appreciated more by adults (good, clean, fun humor, by the way!).

I am serializing Toby’s 3rd adventure for free twice a week. If you have kids or grandkids, I hope you will read the story together. But with or without kids, I hope you enjoy the story as an adult, and discover the joys and brain benefits of a fun, engaging fantasy adventure. (And, if you have friends with young kids or friends looking for a fun, enjoyable series, please share this email with them.)  An example of the book follows here.

(If you would like, please make a donation to support our friends in Lahaina as they continue to work through the tragedy of the August 8, 2023 fires. You can donate here: The Hawaii Community Foundation. If you do make a donation, please email me the amount at timwrightbooks@gmail. com and we’ll keep a running total. I will also send you a free copy of the book 3 prequel: Not So Good in RiverHome before I make it available on my website. Thanks! Also, I would love to hear from you as you read the story.

Packing

“Are you finished packing yet, Toby?” yelled mom from her bedroom.

“Yes, almost,” muttered Toby Baxter.

The reality was that he hadn’t even started.

He dug out his duffel bag from the closet and threw in some shorts, t-shirts, a couple pairs of underwear, a pair of Thor pj’s, flip-flops, swim trunks, a rash guard, and a toothbrush.

“Don’t forget to pack Of Mice and Men. Robin… er… Mrs Grayson said you’re to read the first three chapters on vacation.”

“I’m not bringing a stupid book on vacation,” Toby said a bit too loudly.

“What’s that, dear?”

“I can’t wait to read it, Mom,” he shouted back.

“That’s what I thought you said.”

He threw the book into his backpack. At least the title sounded interesting. Maybe it was a Stephen King-type horror story about rogue mice invading a small town.

“And remember to bring a sweat shirt, some warm gloves, and a stocking cap,” mom shouted.

For Hawaii?

In addition to Of Mice and Men, he filled up his backpack with the important stuff: an iPad, headphones, Marvel comic books, and a few candy bars.

He’d had to rummage through his closet to find his headphones, buried under clothes that hadn’t seen the light of day for months, or a washing-machine for that matter. Who knew what kinds of gross stuff grew in the dirty clothes of young thirteen-year-old boys.

What he didn’t notice, through all of the digging in his closet, was a leather bag hidden in the back corner. And, as he shut the closet door, the faint glow seeping through the small opening of the bag…

Copyright Tim Wright 2024

At the Gurian Summer Training Institute I will be doing a workshop on the importance of storytelling with children, teens, and young adults.  Some of what we want them to learn, from social emotional to cognitive development, can be accomplished via storytelling. At the Summer Institute, I will explore how you can embed this tool into children’s rites of passage experiences.

To learn more about the Training Institute and to register individuals, please visit: https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-summer-institute-2024/.  If you can bring groups of five or more, please email us at info@gurianinstitute.com to get that set up.