...we loved, were carried away, believed in heroes, and became part of a story as we immersed ourselves in books.
Dear Mr. Pratt, I just finished reading Ticket Home. You are one of my favorite authors, some of the others being John Grisham, Richard Paul Evans, and Nicholas Sparks. Thank you for your wonderful books.
— Robert Paddock
“If I Had a Bookmobile”
I am often asked, "Mr. Pratt -- when are you going to write another book?" Of course, meaning "Get another book published." Here is a simple answer:
Once upon a time… I would pedal my bike as fast as I could when I heard that the “Bookmobile” – a large bus with a single aisle down the center and books stacked in shelves on either side – had parked at its usual spot in the Santa Susana Knolls area of the 1960’s California town I grew up in.
There, in the “library on wheels,” my imagination could take flight, and I could check out books to visit times and places I otherwise could never know.
Back then libraries were the default source for good reads and bookstore chains were still being invented. Sadly, many thousands of bookstores and even libraries have shut down across the country in the past 20 years.
Like Bookmobiles, all those closed stores were places we could browse through bookshelves asking the question, “I wonder what’s a good read?”
My Book Club Goal is Simple
It is time for what the ghost of Ilfracombe in the coming revised edition of the novel, As a Man Thinketh...In His Heart said: "James, for the world to not spin out of control, there must be what I will call, A Return to Innocence..."
Our BookClub is devoted to that. No small goal, a state of innocent wonder requires a willingness to become filled with words that may inspire and even change the reader.
My passion is writing, but not just anything. It is to produce magical journeys; inspirational and thoroughly engaging stories, that make a difference to the reader when they finally reach "The End."
Staying in touch with readers, expanding the audience in a world of greater connectivity than our generation of Bookmobiles ever imagined, and providing the quintessential innocence and meaning behind the words, "Once Upon a Time," is my objective.
By signing up for the Once Upon a Time Book Club you get EXCLUSIVE deals as you enter my 1960’s personal world of the “Bookmobile” – but without having to pedal your bike up the hill!