A pleasant surprise--a new review from T.F. Rice, Hidden Valley Farm, Publisher of THE OTHER HERALD in Perry, NY.

Helping Allergic Kids (& Others) Feel Better About Their Peculiarities!
19 Apr 2007
by T. F. Rice
Author Judd Lear Silverman offers up encouraging words disguised as fun in the story EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES. Full of rhyming and other wordplay, this is a story the kids will want to finish. Laughter is one of the best medicines! And reading a story about someone else having similar difficulties can make a big difference in a worrisome child's life.

Allergies are an extremely relevant topic these days. If it is difficult for an adult to "deal with" their allergies, it must be awful for a kid to do so. Help is on the way... Silverman can't wave a wand and make the allergies go away... with mere words... but he's proved he can make a kid feel better in other ways! Hip- hip- hooray! -T.F.Rice

Posted on Friday 18 of May, 2007 [19:06:24 UTC]

The following review has just come in from the Midwest Book Review for EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES:

Eddie Has Allergies
Judd Lear Silverman
Ernest Silliman Books
834 President Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
1847287115 $12.96 www.lulu.com/ernestsilliman.com
Reviewer: Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)

The debut chapter book for children and young adults by playwright, director, and teacher Judd Lear Silverman, Eddie Has Allergies is a short, humorous story about a young boy afflicted with severe allergies. As Eddie copes with the sinus-afflicting hazards of the day, he feels increasingly isolated, as his allergies prevent him from enjoying the activities that kids do and the medicines that suppress his allergies make him so drowsy he falls asleep and dreams bizarre dreams in class. Then a surprisingly magical occurrence helps him discover a bright side to his problems, and the potential for greatness within himself. Threaded with wacky dialogue and rib-tickling puns, Eddie Has Allergies is especially recommended for public and school library collections, as well as young people learning to deal with allergies in themselves, their relatives, or their friends.

Also recently received: a rave from a young reviewer:

An excellent childs fable
August 27, 2006
Reviewer: Matt the man "matt"
This is perfect for a child's bedtime story. complete with catchy rhymes and exciting themes. A tale of adventure and excitement as a boy comes to except his sever(e) allergies.

Always happy to hear response to the work!

Posted on Sunday 10 of December, 2006 [21:18:10 UTC]

EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES author Judd Lear Silverman has begun a blog of his own, not-so-inventively titled Judd Lear Silverman's Blog. In it, he covers theater, television, film, and music--both that which is exposed to the world-at-large as well as that which is available primarily in New York City (and Brooklyn in particular). Connected with various different arts groups and artists, Silverman also posts upcoming events of interest, usually with a clear proviso that this "inside" information--good to know stuff but not completely unbiased. There are connections to other blogs, including the informative Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, and even humorous anecdotes and ruminations on days that the arts don't provide a tickling topic. Check it out!

Posted on Sunday 05 of November, 2006 [19:07:58 UTC]

August 24, 2006

Today we are blogging with Judd Lear Silverman, author of the just published book, EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES, published by Ernest Silliman Books with Lulu, the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books.

Judd Lear Silverman is a Brooklyn-based playwright-director-teacher who has spent years creating entertainments for adults and kids alike. His work has been performed across the country and in the Edinburgh, London and Vancouver Fringe Festivals, with plays published by Samuel French and Art Age. He is the recipient of a major grant from the Berrilla Kerr Foundation for Playwriting, is a member of Charles Maryan’s Playwrights/Directors Workshop, and has won numerous nationwide competitions. EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES Is his first book for children.

ERNEST SILLIMAN BOOKS (ESB): What inspired EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES?

JUDD LEAR SILVERMAN (JLS): I was a highly allergic kid and I had asthma and was constantly sick or at least consciously struggling to get air into my lungs and my nose. I literally felt trapped inside my head. It didn’t matter whether it was the allergies themselves that kept me foggy or the medicines designed to help that knocked me out. I felt trapped and removed from the rest of the world, on the inside looking out. It was isolating and the only thing that helped keep me sane was turning inward to my imagination. It gave me an interesting, if somewhat odd perspective on the world, and to this day I suspect that the angle I adopted then has affected how I see life today. Certainly it taught me how to find humor in all situations. I felt I wanted to share that perspective somehow.

ESB: What made you write a book for kids?

JLS: My best conversations, usually about art, have always been with kids. There is an ageless artist in all of us, but a kid will have the least resistance to let their artist come out to play. Their response is immediate and usually quite articulate, and they are willing let their imaginations go anywhere. That’s why kids also make the best audiences—they are honest, open and responsive. If you’ve been truthful in your work, your young audience will respond, and you will know where you stand. Eddie Has Allergies wasn’t “written for kids”—it was written for those who would know and understand, and that audience happens to be kids.

ESB: Why should kids read EDDIE HAS ALLERGIES?

JLS: Growing up is a distinctly singular experience—which we all have! But while we’re on the journey, it’s very lonely and often scary. While one can’t avoid the pain and the pitfalls, it would certainly help to know that these are normal, that everyone feels they are odd man out, and that we will survive the journey. How we deal with our unique form of adversity along the way in fact teaches us and makes us the special person we become, such that we should cherish life’s little misadventures. Eddie finds out not only that he’s in his own little world, but also that everyone’s in their own little world, for various reasons, and that it’s there we incubate the person we become—and that we all share this process in common. The commonality may not soften the blows, but it’s comforting to know that it’s a natural part of the process.

ESB: Is a sneeze really magical?

JLS: Absolutely! There’s no other experience like it. We may try to stifle it sometimes because we are so startled by its power, but one we’ve sneezed, we get an instant rush of pleasure, if only as relief of internal pressure. But remember that the entire universe runs on principles of physics, like conservation of mass, conservation of energy, etc. Where does the energy from that sneeze go? Into the universe, somewhere, where I suspect it has to add up to something! The Sneeze Master points out that you feel good after a sneeze and that you feel good after you do something to help someone else. So putting two and two together (along with this conservation of positive energy), I suspect something quite good happens every time we sneeze.

ESB: Thanks!

Posted on Thursday 24 of August, 2006 [22:26:31 UTC]