By Howard Cohen
hcohen@MiamiHerald.com
Geoffrey Philp’s newest children’s book, Marcus and the Amazons: A Story of Resistance (Mabrak Books; $18.99), is an all-in-the-family effort.
Philp’s
son Andrew helped with the graphics and his son’s best buddy, Patrick
Pollack, did the illustrations on a book that merges the teachings of
Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King into a story of a courageous ant
who saves his colony from a nefarious tyrant.
Pollack, 20, came to
the Philp’s North Miami Beach home 10 years ago to play basketball with
Andrew and never left the house,” Geoffrey Philp laughs.
He grew
up with the family, spending holidays and life-events like christenings
with the Philps. But one day last year Pollack asked “pops” why he had
never been asked to help illustrate one of his many books like the other
children had.
“He felt left out,” Philp, 53, said. A quandary.
“I did what I normally do when faced with inspiration or crises, I put on Bob Marley and, quite by chance, the song was Rat Race.”
The song suggested an idea for a book about rats versus mice but Philp,
who was raised in Kingston, Jamaica, took it to another dimension: ant
colonies invading and enslaving other colonies.
The idea
“represented this trope of fragility and resistance in Caribbean
literature and the whole thing came together, we’ll have ants versus
ants,” he said. The overriding theme, like King’s lesson, would promote
the idea of nonviolence. “I read over again Dr. King’s Letter From
Birmingham Jail and from there everything flowed. I’m seeing a lot of
parallels with the Occupy Movement because both are trying to dramatize
what Dr. King talked about in his Letter From Birmingham which
dramatized the attention between both parties that have a disagreement
but, by doing it nonviolently, it shows the inherent respect and dignity
for both sides.”
Though Marcus and the Amazons is pitched to ages 9-12 adult readers have posted favorable opinions on the Amazon book site.
“Even
though I write literary fiction it must work first as a story,” Philp
said. This time around, his book changed a life closer to home.
“Patrick
did an excellent job. I’m so proud of him and it has done wonders for
his self-esteem,” Philp said, laughing when he tells a story of how
Pollack, who works at a Hot Topic clothing store, would keep a copy of
the book in his bag so that when his bosses would search employees’ bags
at the end of a work shift they would see his name on the book.
• Geoffrey Philp and Patrick Pollack appear at 11 a.m. Nov. 20, Auditorium, Building 1, First Floor, Room 1164.
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