Review 72: Double Life by Dawson Vosburg

Double Life
Dawson Vosburg
Copyright: © 2008
$9.95 Paperback
188 Pages
ISBN: 9781435724280

I first came across Dawson Vosburg in the Lulu Forums and, like many, I found it hard to believe that Dawson is only 14 years old because he is so well spoken.    At 14, I was filling up pages of my journal with short stories and poems and dreaming that I might one day be a published author.  Thanks to computers and the self publishing technology of today, Dawson has far surpassed my dreams from way back when.  Lulu helped me to eventually achieve my own dreams, but had I known Dawson back then, I have to admit I would have been totally jealous.

His book, Double Life, tells the story of Josiah Jones who has quite the vivid imagination.  Josiah makes a trip to the mall to buy new clothes and finds a pair of sunglasses on the floor which he picks up and puts on.  Suddenly, Josiah enters the world of his imagination and the conflict that ensues between his real world and the one in his mind behind those shades is quite the ride.  Now, there are lots of books out there about kids and their wild imaginations, but don’t go thinking Dawson’s book is just that predictable.  The premise alone is a fresh new concept which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Dawson wastes no time putting both the reader and Josiah head on into the action (He finds and puts on the sunglasses at the bottom of page 2).  I knew right from the start I was going to like this book because the author moved the story along at a nice fast pace, but I didn’t once feel cheated of any details or descriptions.  The author’s prose are clean and tight, grabbing your attention and not letting go.  Dawson definitely knows his target audience and keeps the story fresh and “unboring” at all times.  Take this tiny bit of intro from Page 1 for instance:

You may have guessed that Josiah is me. This is my story—my life, my journey, and my destiny. Some would call it fate, some would call it coincidence, and some would say it’s an impossible dream that never happened.

Sometimes, I tend to be lenient towards the last one. After all, this did start with my imagination.

And a clothing store.

Josiah enters a world governed by a secret agency known as the BLUE, which is always at conflict with the enemies known as the RED who want to take over the world.  Josiah uses the help of both his real friends and some imaginary ones to join in the war between the opposing forces.  What ensues is a James Bond/Agent Cody Banks-like adventure complete with fast paced action and some high tech gadgitry.

As I said before, Dawson definitely knows his audience.  He doesn’t get caught up in the complexities of government warfare, covert spy operations, or military combat like we’d expect from an author like Tom Clancy.  After all, this book is only 188 pages long which is actually my only complaint.  I felt some scenes could have been played out a bit more and I would have like to have had about thirty more pages to the manuscript.

However, each page captures and holds the interest of his intended audience and doesn’t get caught up in all the mechanical detail.  Keeping the book under 200 pages is probably very appealing to younger readers. Like a child’s imagination, his story transports you to another world where anything and everything could, and should be “out of this world.”  The fun that young Dawson probably had writing this is evident because I had just as much fun reading it.

Hello, Mr. Vosburg, I have Disney on line one for you.

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