Richard Gleason’s middle-grade literary fiction novel, Sprout, a 100-page fairy tale about a boy’s journey of self-discovery and the meaning of life, teaching him lessons of wisdom, truth, and goodness. Refined and relaunched after thirty-five years since its original, traditional publication, Sprout is releasing this fall of 2022.
In the story, when a young boy named Woodsprout comes of age, his father gifts him a treasure: an intricately handcrafted book bound in fine red leather with the instruction that he fill up the pages with his life’s story. The ensuing journey has ‘Sprout’ on a quest for words, knowledge, and adventure.
Sprout ultimately learns “goodness, coupled with wisdom, can make all sorts of things possible that most would never imagine.”
“I have just begun the task of living, and I must fill out the pages of my book,” says the story’s young Sprout, who knew he’d have to set out into the world in search of stories to record, collecting lots of words and sentences, to pen his adventures. Along his personal excursion through villages and forests, and in hopes of meeting a real hero, he meets up with characters who provide valuable nuggets of wisdom and experience: the Miller, the Knight, the Librarian, the Hag, and, of course, the Wizard and Dawn. Sprout ultimately learns “goodness, coupled with wisdom, can make all sorts of things possible that most would never imagine.”
A masterful and fascinating fairy tale of truth, knowledge, and goodness, Sprout serves complex and philosophical lessons of life in a beautifully written story. With a descriptive and visual style, late author Richard Gleason expertly weaves a timeless tale that is enduring. We, Richard’s family, have refined and relaunched his contemplative literary work, after its original, traditional publication thirty-five years ago, to bring the intellectual and compassionate story to new young readers everywhere.
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Deborah Riley
What a wonderful tribute to your Uncle Richard. It sounds like a story with a lesson. I love to see children reading than on a electronic device. Good luck ❤️