Gadzoo is a sweet-quirky story. Two sisters —seven and nine— solving a puzzle with laughter and love, in a brief hiccup of time.
Ariel's madcap mishap, turns her world upside down. She's baffled, bewildered—something is lost... and now something needs to be found.
The Backstory • a story behind the story
An Apparently Glaring Difference or Two:
Taryn is seven and Ariel is nine. Taryn adores words. Ariel wishes Taryn were neater. Mama says "Secretly, deep down and underneath, Taryn really would like to be neater and more organized but she just doesn't know it. . . yet." Papa says "One can always hope."
Last night, when Ariel reminded Taryn— for the bazilyionth time— "If there is a place for everything, it only stands to reason that everything should be in its place". Taryn just rolled her eyes and politely reminded Ariel that she was being obsessive and tedious.
This morning, when Ariel noticed that Taryn’s shoes were on the bed and her blankets were on the floor, she glanced into the mirror above the vanity and gave herself a meaningful look.
An Uneasy-Peasy Agreement:
Despite their differences, Ariel and Taryn agree perfectly on one thing: they share entirely too much—most notably, their bedroom.
The List of Things and Places:
Taped to the wall beside the door is a long list of everything. . . well, almost everything, that Taryn and Ariel own. And beside the list of everything is another list of the exact place where each thing belongs. When Papa first noticed the list, he stopped for a moment. His wild bushy eyebrows arched upwards. He scratched his head and mumbled that the list appeared to be a thorough one. When he added that it must have been a labor of love, Ariel rolled her eyes... then Papa grinned and rolled his.
But today, Ariel does not pick up the blankets and place them neatly on the bed, nor does she move the shoes to the floor. Instead, she sneaks out the front door and across the porch, through the gate. . . to the path that meanders through and the woods.
When Taryn discovers that Ariel has left without her, she uses the words “ridiculous, odious monster” to describe Ariel to Mama.
But as the sun sinks, the sky pales, the day dims, and the light fails, Taryn begins to wonder What’s wrong? Ariel said she would pick up the mail, but it shouldn’t be taking this long. . .
A Preview of Page 1
"Mama opened the front door.
Taryn turned on the porch light.
They looked out and wondered, Where can she be?
Ariel wasn’t in sight.
Taryn turned on the porch light.
They looked out and wondered, Where can she be?
Ariel wasn’t in sight.
The last pale ember of sun’s afterglow
slowly failed in the sky.
Worry clawed Taryn with sharp little thoughts
and Taryn tried not to cry.
slowly failed in the sky.
Worry clawed Taryn with sharp little thoughts
and Taryn tried not to cry.
She tried to be brave and tried not to worry —
tried her best to be strong. She tried and tried but
the worries inside were yelling her, Something is wrong!
tried her best to be strong. She tried and tried but
the worries inside were yelling her, Something is wrong!
And though she knew the day couldn’t stay,
it scared her to see how the light slipped away.
it scared her to see how the light slipped away.
Here we are on the edge of night and Ariel isn’t in sight. . ."
a very small • spoiler alert!
In the end all is set right with a breeze through the trees and twinkling starlight, with flitters of fireflies, fall leaves in flight, and a big yellow moon shining bright.
Pages Count
Gadzoo is organized in eight short chapters with sixteen illustrations occurring predominantly in the first 22 of 76 pages in total. The average word count is 61 words per page.
Please be at home. . . explore the preview of pages and illustrations.