Geraldine Guilfoyle's dragons aren't normal dragons.
Experts on the reptilian-like creatures might say their behaviour is not what would be expected in their legendary world. That's fine with Guilfoyle. Soot was never really meant to fit in.
His wings are a bit small and he's a bit big. And he hasn't mastered control over his fire-spurter.
"He has trouble with his flame," Guilfoyle whispers.
So when Soot and his two scaly friends are sent out on their graduating quest, Soot's understandably a bit nervous. But he discovers courage on his adventure, along with secrets behind his father's disappearance.
With illustrations by Linda Mitsui, Dragon Quest is Guilfoyle's first children's book. It's creation started two years ago, when a friend suggested the already publish author try her hand at children's fables. Armed with a friend's eight-year-old daughter, Guilfoyle headed to the library to do some research.
"You pick the books," she said.
Soon Guilfoyle found herself holding a stack of reading material with two main themes fairies and dragons. The dragons stuck.
Writing has always been a part of Guilfoyle's life. In her home country of Ireland, Guilfoyle spread her roots in agriculture journalism. Later, as a health educator she wrote informational material and columns. The fire for creative writing was fanned when Guilfoyle and her husband John moved from the cold plains of Manitoba to the warm beaches of the Caribbean.
"I ended getting very immersed in island life," Guilfoyle says.
She wrote two books and one collection of short stories Across the Great Divide, Marie's Story and Cracked Conch. Although the work is fiction, it's context is very real, Guilfoyle said. Marie's Story portrays the life of a girl living with HIV in rural Haiti, a country Guilfoyle visited on three occasions.
Writing a book aimed at eight to ten year olds allowed Guilfoyle to dabble in fantasy. Yet, just like when Guilfoyle picked tales to read to her daughter and son, Dragon Quest comes with a moral.
"It is kind of done in a bit of a fable genre," she says.
On Saturday, Jan. 26, at 1 p.m. Guilfoyle will be at Kaos Kids in downtown Squamish to give a reading. Her book is sold there and at Newport Market also on Cleveland Avenue. Guilfoyle encourages Grade 3 to 4 teachers who are interested in reading her book to their classrooms to get in touch with her.
For more information or to contact Guilfoyle visit www.noraryanbooks.com Nora Ryan is her writer's name or email [email protected].
