What Lies Beneath The Bed - Parade of Lights

By Gerald Sharpe

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933894016
• ISBN13: 9781933894010
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: IJN Publishing, Inc.
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.3" x 5.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

What Lies Beneath The Bed - Parade of Lights

BOOK REVIEW: PARADE OF LIGHTS From the series: WHAT LIES BENEATH THE BED By Gerald Sharpe Reviewer: Rod Clark The fears of childhood haunt us all, and Parade of Lights is the second of a series of children's books by Gerald Sharpe entitled WHAT LIES BENEATH THE BED (the first being Tommy's Tales). Parade of Lights aims at addressing those fears in the context of fantasy adventures in which a group of children visit amazing worlds like Maccabus and Gibeon, the doorways to which are under their beds. This cast of children has stock characters that young people will recognize and may enjoy: Tammy, the tough little girl who keeps all the boys in line; Chuck, the fat kid who eats everything in sight, and so on. Lots of things that children enjoy are on display in this story: playing, fighting, teasing quarreling, and getting into mischief--but to what end? The worlds that the children visit seem derived from children's cartoon shows, music videos and video games, with a little NASCAR and martial arts adventure thrown in. There are lots of potentially stimulating elements here, but do children really need more of this? In the finest children's fiction we expect imagination, adventure, and some life lessons portrayed in a "show not tell" style. Instead, in the 485 pages of Parade of Lights, we are treated to a long chain of highly dramatized events laid out like a string of brightly colored firecrackers. The story seems to be the product of moment by moment invention rather than any long range narrative plan. One is reminded of one of those adult action films whose plot is connected by a series of exploding helicopters. In Parade of Lights, whenever things start to bog down, we get more food and candy, more light shows, and more (often violent) action; all racing toward some muddy and uncertain conclusion, leaving the reader a little breathless. Are there valuable lessons for children in all this? Not really. Aside from the basic good vs. evil themes you can find in any Saturday morning cartoon show, there is no moral guidance here, except for references to a text called the "Tobit," which clearly but unconvincingly alludes to the Bible in tone and texture. While the literary quality of Parade of Lights is not very high from an adult perspective, it is probable some children will like this book. The marketing challenge is that children old enough to read this book may be too old to be excited by its content and children to whom this series must be read can get the same thrills more vividly from video games and television. To succeed, this series must create an appeal that reaches beyond echoes of high voltage modern media, and stimulates the imagination and the maturing judgment of children in the tradition of Harry Potter and the wonderful tales of C.S. Lewis. The author note in Parade of Lights indicates that "prior to this series, author Gerald Sharpe had never read a complete book." While the energy and industry shown here is admirable, this book