‘The Blue Umbrella’ Offers Enigmatic Fiction for Young People

Written by Mike Parker

There is an old writer’s adage that insists the key to creating compelling fiction consists of getting your hero up a tree and then throwing rocks at him. If that is true, then author Mike Mason’s first novel, “The Blue Umbrella,” should certainly qualify as compelling. 

This children’s story starts out by killing off our hero’s mother, ironically by being struck by lightning – ironic because our hero’s name is Zac Sparks. In true Lemony Snicket form, things go from bad to worse for Zac. Having never known his father, Zac is an orphan. Immediately after his mother’s funeral Zac is whisked away to a strange town called Five Corners to live with his cruel old Aunties. Soon he encounters an odd assortment of citizens including a tiny butler named Butler, an elderly balloon seller named Eldy, an old barber named Barber, the Aunties’ daddy named Dada, and the general store owner named Sky who always carries a blue umbrella. It appears names have significance in this world.
 
Nothing is what it appears to be in Five Corners. Zac is unsure who he can trust, who is a friend, and who he should run from. They only thing he is sure of is that he feels like the life is being sucked out of him.
 
Already a best-selling author of such non-fiction books as “The Mystery of Marriage,” “The Gospel According to Job,” and “Practicing the Presence of People” Mike Mason is a first-class writer. With “The Blue Umbrella” he has created an intriguing and unique cast of characters. There is wit and whimsy, heroic derring-do, mystery-wrapped-in-enigma, and an epic battle between good and evil.
 
Still, I had some problems with this novel. It took me a good 100 pages to actually start to care about Zac. If I hadn’t been reading “The Blue Umbrella” for review I’m not sure I would have stuck with it that long. It also felt exceptionally dark and devoid of humor for a children’s book. There are some strong spiritual overtones regarding the nature of good and evil, the consequences of choice, and the healing power of trust and love. But because of the fantastical nature of the iconic characters of Sky, Eldy, Dada and the Aunties the tendency, at least for me, was to try to assign them roles into which they did not easily fit. In C.S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia” there was no doubt who Aslan represented. I’m not so sure about the characters in “The Blue Umbrella.”
 
“The Blue Umbrella” is probably appropriate for kids 12 and up, but parents should be aware that this novel contains significant violence, including violence against children, and deals with the emotions that accompany the death of a parent.

Mike Parker covers entertainment for LifeWay.com from his home in Middle Tennessee. Visit him online at www.wordcrafts.net.

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