Chimzen and the boys head off to Green Planet

Now the wizard possessed a rather unusual pet. His unusual pet seemed quite ordinary at first glance until it opened its fat lips. Yes, the wizard owned a very special talking goldfish, named Elvis. The talented little fish could sing, play the guitar and dance on his tail. And you guessed it; with a name like Elvis the fish had a deep voice and could sing just like ‘The King.’

Frank and Philip were speechless when they saw Elvis and eagerly waited for him to sing a song. Elvis finally broke out into song and had the boys clapping their hands in delight. The words to his songs were unusual yet almost the same as Elvis ‘The King.’ Now what did that fish sing to the boys that fine day that made them whistle and dance in such a strange way?

Once everyone had settled the wizard looked at the boys rather solemn. He knew no way to change them back to human beings. Well let’s just say he knew of one possible way which he was desperately trying to avoid.

Yes, the secret remedy of a rather powerful magic flower could only be found on a dangerous planet, overrun by evil plant life. A planet consisting of violent snap dragons, potent petunias and cunning coronations. The wizard and the boys stood side by side trembling in their boots, dreading to face The Great Green Planet.

The slow creeping in of one’s darkest days

I was 11 years old and had a couple of years to go before I would reach high school. My sister, Patricia, on the other hand was in her first year of high school. She used to struggle at times with her school work and my mother wasn’t exactly the most patient of people. She managed OK though, but did a lot better with her sport at school.

It must have been a few months into the year when Patricia met up with her first boyfriend. She was 13 years old and she thought that he was simply the greatest. After dating for a while my sister went to visit this boy over a weekend in a town called Vereeniging. My mother was fine with this because my sister had one of her female friends along with her.

Nevertheless Patricia returned home on Sunday night looking distant, and she never spoke a word about her romantic weekend or about anything at all for that matter. None of the people that she was staying with cared to say a word about the weekend either.

“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean

The children’s novel that made a difference – The Green Planet magic spreads

The magic of Green Planet is starting to spread like a wildfire. Colleen enjoyed the story immensely, even more than Avatar. Many people say that Green Planet will become an epic movie as it is so filled with awesome concepts and vivid detail.

Joshua found that he could not put the novel down for a moment, and once he had reached chapter ten he continued reading until he reached the end of chapter twenty nine in one short afternoon. The magic of green planet seemed to revolve around the continuous mystery behind the story. That eagerness one has to hurry along and snatch the ending. The dazzling spectacle, bizarre magic, and crazy creatures.

The excitement continues with the release of Green Planet Under Fire in April 2011 which has exceeded the publishers expectations for a sequel.

Thabo can’t wait for the next instalment of the series and looks forward to a future as a scholar fluent in reading and one that can reach out confidently for a higher education. Ok maybe his success with reading did not all come as a result of reading Green Planet, but let’s just say that the book’s first page gave him that spark of excitement to proceed to the magical journey on the following one.

The children’s novel that made a difference - Thabo’s school principal discovers Green Planet

Other scholars at Lekgulo High found the book to be just like reading a movie, as they put it. An epic movie filled with wizards, schoolboys, flower fairies, an intensity of magical elements and magical balls.

After a few months the scruffy looking Green Planet novel was then handed to the school principal for examination. The principal beamed with approval as a group of excited school children explained parts of the story to him. The principal calmed the pupils and asked Thabo if he could hold onto the Green Planet novel for a day.

The following afternoon shortly before the lunch time break the school principal called Thabo into his office. To Thabo’s delight the principal told him how he had enjoyed the story, and that he would do everything in his power to allocate Green Planet as part of their English syllabus.

The principal felt that in order to improve the children’s reading ability they should read something of interest to them, something that they would thoroughly enjoy. Rather avoid other serious, more formal books that would only frustrate the children and make them bored.

The children’s novel that made a difference - Thabo takes Green Planet to school

A children’s story that is taking South African schools by storm. Thabo Ntuli, a disadvantaged child from Lekgulo High on the East Rand of Johannesburg was captivated by Green Planet and could not put the book down for a moment. He said that although the story was long he found it was very easy to follow and it grabbed his attention from the start. When he read the book the characters in the story came alive to him and seemed to jump right out off the page.

Thabo went on to show his peers at school the colourful book and immediately captured their attention. Over a few months the book had exchanged hands from scholar to scholar. One of the pupils said that it was the first book that he was actually able to read, and after reading page two he was hooked. His English reading skills were very poor and he battled at first, but he found the story so compelling that it helped him continue reading with sheer fascination. After struggling to read Green Planet for several hours he found that his reading ability had improved somewhat and he developed a love for reading for the first time in his life.

About Me – Down to the roots of mental illness

Now that we were living in the Gauteng region, my real father lived in Johannesburg which was very close to where we were staying. I had never seen him before and my eldest sister, Tracy had so many good things to say about him. I was all revved up and excited about finally meeting my real father.

As we all went through to my grandmother’s house I was having mixed feeling about seeing my dad. I mean why did he get rid of us in the first place? I don’t need him in my life. It was only when we got there that things changed, in fact I was quite devastated by the reality of it.

It turned out that my father was a good for nothing freak. It was like reaching deep into a dark closet and dragging out all the old dusty bones one by one. My father suffered with a chronic condition called schizophrenia. He behaved differently to normal people, and I decided to keep a distance from him.

This wasn’t going to make a difference in my life anyway, was my response, so there was really no need to care really. Or was I mistaken?    

“Dreams are but thoughts until their effects be tried.” William Shakespeare

The good wizard rescues the boys

Now Philip and Frank have been rescued from the evil wizard, Mathias. That is quite a story though, many would consider it unbelievable. Now you could use your imagination and plan your own rescue, or you could quite simply follow the epic Green Planet journey.

The boys stood with Chimzen the good wizard in his quaint looking tree house perched up a tall pepper tree on the outskirts of the woods. They were teleported to the top of the tree by the wizards amazing magical balls. Yes, teleporting is one of the many talents that the Malco trio possess, besides an arsenal of several others.

Chimzen frowned at the boys because they were not looking quite themselves. Yes Mathias has been up to his experimentation and Frank and Philip were no longer creatures of the human kind. The good wizard was pleased to see them safe though. What did that monster do to them?

About Me – A peaceful life

The four of us children enjoyed a peaceful upbringing with my mother in a small three bedroom house in Germiston, on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

We were very interactive as a family and we all helped to do the dishes and general house cleaning.

Our house had been newly built and I can remember our garden looked like a jungle. There was no grass there only plenty of weeds. It stands out in my mind because I hated working in the garden. To my dismay we all were roped in to weeding the garden and planting grass. It was tough at first but after a while we all enjoyed watching the garden develop. Needless to say, I became the chief grass mower.

Besides having the odd fight with my sister, my life was fairly peaceful and pleasant. I had a few good friends at school and even had my first girlfriend when I was eleven.

The thing I have learnt about life is that nothing lasts forever, be it the good or the bad times.

“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.” Norman Vincent Peale

The wizard’s magical balls

Now Chimzen the wizard possesses an incredible secret, a secret so small and seemingly insignificant, yet powerful enough to bring down an entire army with the spin of the ball. They are not only his protector but also his special friends. The trio are constructed from the finest magical ingredients a wizard can find. Each one resembles a ball of intelligent mercury that reflects a variety of zooty colours.

They are cheeky and they are zippy. They move at the speed of a bullet and they handle their enemies with attitude. They are the Malco trio.

The dark wizard and his fatal spell

The boys have no idea what the dark wizard is plotting. Mathias booms down the blackened passageway, cackling like a maniac. Frank and Philip are absolutely petrified of him and they find their current predicament hard to believe. This evil looking person can only be a fantasy; they must surely be dreaming.

Mathias chuckles at the look of dismay on their faces and heads back to the main hall to continue with his preparations. He has an assortment of herbs, leaves and roots spread over a table in the corner with a collection of flasks filled with a variation of bubbling liquids. Makes a person wonder what is in store for those poor boys?

About Me

We were four children in our family. I had a twin brother named Grant and two sisters named Tracy and Patricia.

Just like most families we used to argue a lot. Patricia was always finding fault with everything I did and this always ended with constant squabbling, which in turn ended with my mother yelling.

We lived in Cape Town for one last year and moved back up to Johannesburg. We were battling financially and went to stay with my grandmother for financial support. When we first moved in everything was rosy and we all loved staying with our grandparents. I don’t know why exactly but for some reason whenever you added step into the family equation the consequences were unappealing. My step-grandfather was quite unpleasant at times. A year was as much as I could take in that household and was overjoyed when we could afford to move to a place of our own.

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success.” Anonymous

The wizard of doom

Mathias reeked of a sinister evil. With his filthy yellow teeth and toxic breath he gargled over his latest experiment with enthusiasm. Frank and Philip were his captives and he kept them safely locked up at the bottom end of his blackened shaft he called home.

The dark wizard had long black hair with blue streaks. He wore a long black robe with blue trimmings. He had a fine black moustache and long pointed ears. His nose was bent slightly and his bright green eyes had slits like those of a cat. The way you could distinguish Mathias from other dark wizards is he had a black “M” tattooed on his cheek for Mathias, or should I say for Murder.

About Me

There are people that may wonder why I feel the need to share my life with others. My answer to that is: firstly my life story is quite unusual and people might find it interesting or entertaining. The truth is that there are millions of people out there with similar problems to what I have, and nobody to tell them that they are going to make it through. I know that there was a time in my life where I felt there was no hope for me and that there couldn’t possibly be anyone on earth suffering as much as I was. I felt hopeless in my depression and I felt as though I would never become anything.

The tunnel was dark and it seemed endless but somewhere miles ahead there was a light......

“Education is learning the extent of one’s own ignorance.” Raymond C. Nolan

A radiant being reflecting goodness and truth

Chimzen the wizard lived along the outskirts of the woods in a tree house at the top of a tall pepper tree. He was a tall being with brilliant blue eyes that radiated truth. He had pointed ears and a long crooked nose. He wore a green robe with brown trimmings.

Chimzen was the very heartbeat of the woods, and all the little animals staying there loved him dearly. The kind wizard was aware that several of the animals had strangely disappeared from the woods and that their numbers were dwindling.

He suspected that Mathias was up to no good but he could not accuse him unless he had definite proof.

Chimzen was an extremely powerful wizard and found his way quite comfortably around his large black book of spells. Mathias was fully aware of his cousin’s tremendous power and was extra careful to keep his forbidden secret hidden.

Chimzen took a walk along one of the paths running through the woods. He was looking all around for any possible evidence left by Mathias.

Suddenly Chimzen noticed a faint shoeprint in the sand along the path. A shoeprint like one made by a school shoe. He leaned forward and scratched his chin in wonder; then he did a very unusual thing. He scraped up a sample of the soil and carefully placed it inside his pocket. Now what would the point of collecting some dirt be?  

About Me

When I was young my mother was married to a man with an unfortunate passion for drinking. Those were the days when children were seen and not heard.

He would give us a good hiding from time to time, and we would usually get it with our trousers around our ankles. I still remember he had bought himself a fancy new lathe which he used to fashion a lovely handle for his leather belt to give us a good spanking with.

He wasn’t all that bad really we just had to avoid him when he was drunk. I’m not sure if it was just because I was a really timid boy, but I was terribly afraid of him.

Anyhow as the old saying goes, nothing lasts forever. My mother soon divorced him and we all moved to the next suburb and lived in a small apartment.

Living with my stepfather had its ups and downs but when we moved away from him all those luxuries and fancy living stayed behind with him. We were now dirt poor and we all lived together like old Mother Hubbard in her shoe. It was quite tough in the beginning with my mother supporting four children on a small salary, but we soon adjusted and started enjoying our freedom.

The whole divorce thing was very confusing for me though. I was always known as Anthony De Klerk as a youngster (stepfather’s surname). Now all of a sudden my real surname was restored to me. I must say for a nine year old that was terribly confusing. It leads to a bit of an identity crises, mind you it was extremely mild compared to the identity crisis I experienced later on in life.

“Good manners will often take people where neither money nor education will take them.”  Fanny Jackson Coppin

The forest of good and evil

The din of earthmoving equipment could be heard across the street from Senton High school. Some builders were preparing the ground to erect a long 8 foot wall around the entire perimeter of the forest. The forest was a creepy place where schoolboys feared to tread. In fact nobody dared to come within ten yards of the dark forest. Several of the creatures inhabiting the forest had strayed out across the open roads and were crushed to death. There was a sinister evil that inhabited the woods that had the people so afraid that a petition was signed to have the enormous wall built around it. Not only innocent animals were harmed but a few schoolboys had also gone missing. Search parties had been sent out with no luck of finding anybody. All that was recovered from one of the boys was a pair of cracked binoculars.

Somewhere in an underground shaft a sinister evil lurks. A dark wizard is experimenting using laboratory apparatus. He is in the process of preparing a very powerful spell to use on his prisoners for great material gain. Mathias is his name; the unlawful capture of schoolboys is his game....

Further along the beaten path towards the outskirts of the forest lives a very wise old wizard that is anything but pleased about his Cousin Mathias’ antics. Chimzen, the great wizard, bold and bound firmly in truth. He is also not aware of what his cousin is up to. He does suspect something though. I think if the truth is revealed it will surely lead to furious rage...  

About Me

Afraid and sad all at the same time. I lay in amongst the school tennis court netting wondering if I was really alive and if the passageway filled with screaming children before me actually real.

I reported to my school teacher, Mrs Williams. She was the one I feared most, and I told her that I was not feeling well. Yes, I mumbled it to her and she demanded that I speak up.

I remember going to the doctor and he could find nothing wrong with me. But he did see that I was looking quite unhappy so he booked me off school for a couple of days.

I can remember being at home and I can’t really say what it was for sure, I just felt strange and seemed to find a much deeper meaning behind things. I felt almost spaced out without taking any kind of drug or anything. These were the first signs of things to come. This incredible imagination of mine that allowed me to look deeply into something, analyze it and bring out a bizarre meaning to it. Perceive the reality of it in a normal fashion then take it to pieces and make it weird. There were also so many mixed emotions to it.

Being classified as bipolar has so many facets to it. Being quite brilliant with ones creative thinking, and also being extremely sensitive to ones surrounding. At the tender age of nine I was becoming aware of how deeply I felt emotional pain along with the experience of obscure ideas.

Anyway, I soon tired of sitting at home lost in thought, and I decided to clean our fish pond. Aiming to please my folks I ended up knee deep in fish water and trouble. I was rushed back to school the following day with my mother having no clue about why I felt like bunking school all of a sudden.

“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do his level best each day.” Booker T. Washington