Troy's Amazing Universe
M for Mall
By S. Kennedy Tosten 

     Writer-director Sharon Kennedy Tosten's first book in the TROY series takes place on Christmas. The book is based on Tosten's feature-length screenplay currently in development.

     The wisest people have written for children. This is certainly true of Sharon Kennedy Tosten's love letter to her mentally and physically challenged son Troy, who at 7 years old is much smaller than normal for his age. This book will touch your heart. Through Tosten's fictional character Troy Tomler's eyes, we learn the wonder of Mommy's smell like muffins, Daddy's smell like leather, the joy of DVDs, and the delight of getting gummies. Ordinary stuff, right? Not for Troy, who subtly teaches all of us a lesson in hope and courage.

      It's hard to hear you're from another planet, but Troy doesn't care. He's looking forward to getting a new DVD at the mall, if he can negotiate with his absent-minded dad and overprotective (justifiably so) mom, who bicker and yell. But at-risk teenagers Felipe and Ed, from a home made up of an absentee dad and alcoholic mom, have other plans. They also have Felipe and Ed carjack the Tomlers' car with Troy still inside. Troy understands the danger, and sets out to get to his beloved mall, find a Disney DVD, and get back to his mommy and daddy.

     Along the way, Abe, an older, mentally challenged greeter at All-mart, helps him, and Troy makes a real friend. Optimistic Troy, playing out the "Home Alone" movies, is cuter than Macaulay Culkin, wiser, more resourceful, and generous. When he gets his father's credit card, he buys Kayla, a little girl whose mom fights to get her prescription medicine and can't afford presents, the Veterinarian Barbie she wants.

     Kids may miss the way Tosten subtly reminds us of the people who are forgotten by society, namely the working poor, the at-risk kids, and the mentally challenged. But through Troy's confused eyes (he misunderstands Abe telling him to go home as rejection), we see a view of our world through an oddly observant, word-spelling, media-smart (he knows who Oprah is!) child with a sense of good and evil.

     A Christmas miracle does take place: Troy's parents rediscover the gift of their son and of each other. May Troy's Amazing Universe overflow with gummies.