SLAMINA

When Severino’s children were quite young, he loved to read them bedtime stories, the most favorite series was that of Dr. Seuss. From “Green Eggs and Ham” to “If I Ran the Circus”, the stories were indelibly etched in both father’s and child’s heart and mind. Besides the incredible story lines and characters, Seuss’ use of the poetic meter, anapestic tetrameter, resonated with so many. Writing into the wee hours one evening, and inspired by such a uniquely gifted and creative author, Severino conceived of SLAMINA, a fantasy world of animals and critters, engaging in all sorts of fun and mischief, written in the meter of Seuss. For those that missed it, SLAMINA is “animals” spelled backward, and carrying this theme through, all the characters in SLAMINA carry “emordnilap” or “backwards” names, such as SURLAW, the walrus, and ALLIROG, the gorilla. And besides the names, even behaviors and elements are generally backwards, such as fish do fly, birds do swim, waterfalls actually “rise”, the grasses are blue and the skies are red. For the enjoyment of all ages, thread through the chapters are contemporary references, such as Jimi Hendrix, iPhones, and Google. Lastly, besides bringing a lyrical smile to the reader’s face, there are occasional subtle messages of learning and values, just to keep the mind engaged. So, welcome to a world “where to is fro, and up is down, and every square is perfectly round”.