Review: Indiana Falisha and the Kingdom of Yuck
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2013
When I was a kid, I can remember having it pretty rough.  I was the middle child (already destined for therapy, right?) stuck between two girls of all things, one older, one younger, both blondes, both apples from mom's and dad's eyes, and there was nothing I could do to change things.  They put me through the hoops, that's for sure.  If one wasn't roughing me up because she was the most senior, then the other was expecting me to do her chores because she wasn't old enough yet.  No matter how it all worked out, today I guess I should be thanking my lucky stars that it never even dawned on them to flush me down the toilet.(NOTE: The following review will contain minor spoilers necessary solely for the discussion of plot and characters.  If you're the kind of reader who prefers a review entirely spoiler-free, then I'd encourage you to skip down to the last two paragraphs for my final assessment.  If, however, you're accepting of a few modest hints of `things to come,' then read on ...)Falisha Whiskers is a bright little girl, full of wholesome imagination, who one day does the unthinkable: she flushes her brother, Jesse, right down the stinkhole!  Of course, this doesn't sit well with mom, who threatens to tell her father when he gets home ... that is unless Falisha's willing to climb down into the land of the unthinkable in pursuit of the little boy.  What's a good li'l girl to do?Now before everyone starts harping at me for `realsies,' let's go ahead and get out of the way the fact that FLUSHED is a children's book.  As a consequence, none of it is to be taken seriously.  This isn't a novelization of any Oliver Stone motion picture.  It isn't an expose from Fox News Channel or MSNBC.  It's a kid's book, full of the obligatory kid-logic, kid-circumstance, and kid-adventure - all in the same vein as Dr. Suess, Donald Sobol, or H.A. Rey, for that matter.  Much of it flows like a Suess story, but without all of the fancy-schmancy poetry and puns, though author Jeff Rivera does weave his own brand of magic in slinging words together.  It isn't meant to be taken seriously, and, on that level, it works just fine.I'd honestly imagine that modern day kids would get a bit jazzed about Rivera's fantasy world, one he calls the Kingdom of Yuck.  Think of it like some bizarre, subterranean incarnation of Oz, where green ain't the primary color but (erm) browns and yellows and oranges abide.  There are features and creatures aplenty in this realm, but, thankfully, Rivera spares the kids (and us!) too many fetching oddities, and, instead, he does what any good children's author intends: he entertains, all the time with a sense of wonder, and he dishes up a happy ending that brings sister and brother back home just in time for a bath.And a disinfectant, hopefully.Maybe full body sterilization.Don't these kids know what they're playing in?  I blame the teachers.  I always blame the teachers.Meh, it's harmless.  So long as FLUSHED doesn't end up encouraging six-year-old girls to actually make an honest attempt in repeating the said action, I'll let it pass.(Get it, mom?  Dad?  `Let it pass'?  I got a million of `em I didn't use, but that one wasn't a stinker.)UM ... MOMMY, I THINK I FLUSHED MY BROTHER DOWN THE TOILET is the fragrant creation of Jeff Rivera with illustrations provided by Danko Herrera.  It is the Smashwords Edition copyrighted by Mr. Rivera himself.  As for the technical specifications, the book looks excellent with large kid-friendly text as creative illustrations (mostly in primary colors, except for Yuck Kingdom, that is) to highlight the action.  The book is presently only available in Kindle format, and it bears a cover price of $0.99, a bargain's worth of a few harmless chuckles.  Thankfully (and responsibly), the book also bears a warning for kids not to try this at home.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.  UM ... MOMMY, I THINK I FLUSHED MY BROTHER DOWN THE TOILET is a welcome spark of whimsy featuring a young, female protagonist who's merrily flushed off into a land of adventure.  No, maybe it isn't the yellow brick road, but it's no less cheerful.