Serendipity in the Media Closet

An early duty for me this morning (at the Education Cooperative where I work) was to make 12 copies of a dvd to distribute at a workshop tomorrow. No problem. We have a machine that will very quickly copy three discs at a time.  I inserted the original and three blanks into the machine and pushed the button marked “copy” and waited.  And waited. Finally, I received a “failed” message, which by then was superfluous.

Long story short, eventually I was able to get the machine to copy one disc at a time.  Slowly. The time required to copy each dvd was 2 minutes, 10 seconds. And I needed to copy 12, so you do the math. Never mind, I will. That’s 28 minutes. Not only that, but I must babysit the machine, inserting a clean disc when the used one popped out. Did I mention this little machine is in the media storage room that used to be a bank vault?

I started the process and looked around for something to do. On a shelf above was an assortment of books teachers can check out.  I picked a Young Adult novel, read the first page, and returned it to the bin. I chose another —  Peak, by Roland Smith.

Two paragraphs and I was totally hooked. I love this voice!  I’m telling you readers who are writers: This Is The Way It Is Supposed to Be. By the time I had read for 28 minutes, I had to sign out the book and take it home with me.

I’m not in the habit of reviewing a book I haven’t finished reading, but I must say what promise this book already holds after only 26 pages (I’m not a fast reader). I have learned a lot about Peak (the 14 year old protagonist). His story begins in the middle of an adventure, which he gets in trouble for, and now he is embarking on a completely new lifestyle. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Roland Smith is a prolific writer of children’s books, picture books to Young Adult. In 2012 I reviewed The Captain’s Dog, the story of Lewis and Clark Expedition from the dog’s POV.  You can find out more about Roland Smith him and his books here.