JLT

Funny thing about third party validations. Tolkein would never have been published were it not for Rayner Unwin- his first critic and reviewer. See, Unwin's dad was a publisher who frequently paid his 10 year old to review books written for children.
The idea was only a kid could get what had purportedly been written for them. Rayner Unwin wrote a 20 line synopsis of the novel- with phrases like- " so Frodo the Hobbit, had fun and adventures with various creatures..."
To synopsise a work like "The Hobbit" in 20 sentences requires the mind of either a genius or a kid. He was possibly both.
I have a little girl called Vanya. She's fun, sweet and as I often state, eminently user friendly. Never has been much of a reader- a state I am in the process of changing... but has the uncanny ability to zero in on the crux of a matter and like Rayner Unwin, distill things down to their essence.
Taking my cue from the senior Unwin, I am planning to ask her opinion on a book I'm writing. It's about children in their 'tweens- y'know, that time where a kid is between the ages of sweetness n adolescent angst and where the parents are torn between future stress and present serenity!
Hopefully, she'll like it and if not, then Unwin some lose some....
:)
watch this space.....