I began writing Balona stories for two youngsters who had just lost their mother to cancer. The product was the first edition of John-Browne's Body & Sole. It's a tale that I intended to be hopeful and uplifting. It seems to have achieved that objective, according to my e-mail from kids and adults in various places throughout the English-reading world. It's available now on this site in its second-edition version

But as every other author will tell you about their writing, the characters and the setting soon took over, and I found it necessary to compose more stories about this imaginary village and these frequently oddball people.

As a long-time teacher and counselor I am disappointed with much of the story product of commercial television and film. I believe both TV and movies have materially accelerated the descent of language and civility to their lowest forms. It is one thing to hear the occasional vile phrase or see it scribbled on a wall. It's quite another to hear obscenity spoken habitually, customarily in places and under circumstances in which one might expect civil speech. Our kids absorb TV and movies. They make TV and movies their own. I believe it's obvious that our offspring mostly have come to accept what they see and hear in the media as standard usage. If that's true, more's the pity!

I am a civil libertarian, a believer in the First Amendment and freedom of expression. But except for the occasional "bad" word uttered by a "bad" character, I've tried in my books to bypass vile language, sex for sex's sake, and gratuitous violence. Balona characters typically do not speak The King's English, nor are they obscene in their language. Readers don't seem to find this lack of "spice" render the stories any less interesting. The humor in Balona characters lies mostly in their simple-mindedness, misunderstandings, and confusion about the world around them. Joseph Oliver Kuhl, a favorite narrator of mine, is someone the reader can laugh at, feel sorry for, and safely deride, while feeling justifiably superior without stimulating guilty feelings in the reader.

Balona characters are mostly simple-minded, but this does not mean that their problems are simple. Some Balonans may have deeply felt concerns and "back-story" tragedy in their lives. I try to show these things so that those readers who have experienced similar problems will recognize the character's pain, but that those readers who are yet innocent of such travail read the experience at a different level. I try to include in every story some kind of philosophical problem that will be recognized by those who are knowledgeable. I try to include in every story some psychological problems that will be recognized by those who are knowledgeable about such things. I include in every story quotations, passages from "classics," that may be recognized and enjoyed by those who have a broader than usual reading background. I expect my fiction to be "didactic," but not preachy.

We cannot make youngsters read or view only what we think is healthful for them. But we can expose them to, for example, stories that are appealing, funny, touching, and more healthful, or at least less damaging! And we can provide them with stories that present problems that can be profitably discussed with a caring older person. That's what I've tried with most of my BalonaBooks to present problems subtly, so as not to "hit kids on the head" with preaching. I hope you find my books to be useful as you may order them for kids dear to you who do read--although they may also enjoy TV and those video games. Ah! I mustn't forget: Many adults have told me that they have found "Balona" to be as interesting to them, as it may be to their offspring!

I'll be happy to respond to your comments, if I can.