Free And For Me

Red Shirt Kids-  Since we received our copy of the Red Shirt Kids my son has been carrying his copy around the house.  The first couple of nights he slept with it and we had not yet started reading the book.  He said, he knew it would be a good story. So far so good.

My son recently discovered reading about adventures.  Well he just turned eight so I guess it is just a sign of him maturing and being a typical boy.

I was confident in him reading Red Shirt Kids after learning more about the authors of the book.  I was very moved by how Red Shirt Kids came into existence.

Kim Clark, dean of the Harvard Business School from 1995-2005, began his storytelling career when he was a young father. He was in charge of the bedtime routine every night, which included story time, so he began making up stories. His children were avid listeners, and they demanded new material every night. So, his stories gradually developed into a series of adventures, and Red Shirt Kids was born. But, as Kim explains, “As long as I was going to tell all of these stories, I decided to try to teach the children important principles. I tried to weave into the stories principles like being a good friend, helping other people, being a good brother or sister, telling the truth, obeying the law, and having courage, patience, and kindness.”

These lessons stuck, and his son Bryce, a screenwriter and novelist, adapted the story as a novel for children 8-12. Carefully disguised within the pages of Red Shirt Kids are the life lessons that Kim imparted to him. “My goal was always to tell the most entertaining story possible, but I also wanted to honor the lessons my father passed on in his telling of these stories. I knew that in a work of fiction you can’t just tell kids bullying is bad, be a good friend, or develop your talents, so I created a story where those ideas would be important in the kids ‘winning’ in the end.”

This action-adventure novel, released September 24, is the first in an exciting new series for children, ages 8-12, about Mike and Amy Smith—a brother and sister who move up the east coast into a creepy old mansion and find more than a little trouble in their new town. While searching their dusty attic, Mike and Amy find red shirts in an old wooden trunk with a magical lock. Together with a new friend, Sam, they discover that wearing the red shirts gives them unique mystical powers, which they then use to search for two kids that had gone missing earlier that summer. Along the way, they join forces against a powerful adversary with an ancient secret and mystical powers of his own. With just the right amount of suspense, action, and magic, Red Shirt Kids is destined to become a classic.

Some of the life lessons that are in Red Shirt Kids are what I have tried to instill in my children.  The excitement my son has for this book validates that I am doing something right.  It is good a feeling to share a reading experience with my son knowing we are reading a book that will definitely be a classic.

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