local children’s author Michael Sullivan pens new fantasy 

Portsmouth resident Michael Sullivan is a man of many trades. In addition to authoring several children’s books, he is a poet, storyteller, juggler, chess instructor, origami artist and former librarian and teacher. But despite his various endeavors, Sullivan’s central mission is simple—he wants to get boys to read.

Sullivan’s latest book should help achieve this end. Released this year by Exeter’s Publishing Works, Inc., “The Sapphire Knight” unwinds a short fantasy tale designed to quickly engage young readers. At a lean 100 pages, including occasional illustrations by Douglas Sirois, the book features warrior knights, enchanted forests, mysterious sorcery and magical weapons.

“The Sapphire Knight” is Sullivan’s first venture into the literary realm of fantasy. The book tells the story of a young knight whose village is beset with an evil sorcery that steals all music from the air. As the affliction spreads, silencing the melodies of birds, rivers and humans alike, the knight must discover the source of this pestilence and restore music to his land. In order to do so, he must also overcome his own skepticism about the existence of magic in the world. 

Sullivan said the seed of his idea for the plot probably stretches back to J.R. Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” series, in which the world was sung into existence. An avid fantasy reader himself, he said writing in the fantasy genre presented some new challenges.

“One of the things fantasy writers have to do is explain magic,” he said.

Sullivan wastes little time diving into the knight’s quest, a tactic that he hopes will hook young readers and get them to read on. One of the reasons that many boys don’t read, he said, is that adults feed them the wrong books. Often, teachers force their students to read long, complex novels, and boys struggle with dense reading.

“On top of that, boys tend to like plot over characters and settings and all that, and we don’t really have a lot of plot-heavy books for children,” Sullivan said.

Before educators attempt to get boys reading the classics, Sullivan said, they must first get them interested in reading just for fun. Numerous studies have found that boys do not take to reading as easily as girls. “They don’t read as much or as well as girls, on average,” Sullivan said.

That’s largely because boys’ brains start growing slightly later than girls’ brains. “It always looks like the boys are behind just because they’re developing at a different pace,” Sullivan said. “Plus, all the books we say are good have more appeal to girls.”

Sullivan travels around the country training librarians and school administrators on how to promote reading for boys and has written several essays and articles on the subject. He said boys tend to enjoy humorous books and fantasy adventures, as well as biographies and other nonfiction work. “They read a lot more nonfiction than we give them credit for,” he said.

Sullivan does not think it is crucial for children’s books to convey a moral message. “I don’t pay any attention to the moral lesson,” he said. “I don’t require that books for kids have a moral to them.”

Nevertheless, he confesses that “The Sapphire Knight” does carry a clear environmental slant. In fact, the “magic” he illustrates in the book is often described simply as natural phenomena that abound in the woods.

“Trees spring from the Earth, and from the tiniest acorn grows the greatest oak. That, surely, is magic,” says a character known as The Queen of May.

A native of Alton, Sullivan was named New Hampshire Librarian of the Year in 1998. The 41-year-old also runs the children’s chess program for the New Hampshire Chess Association. He is the author of a series of children’s slapstick comedy books following the exploits of Escapade Johnson, including “The Witches of Belknap County,” “The Coffee Shop of the Living Dead” and “Mayhem at Mount Moosilauke.” He also wrote the book “Connecting Boys with Books” for the American Library Association.

“The Sapphire Knight” is the first installment of Sullivan’s new “Bard” series. For more information about the author, visit www.talestoldtall.com/BooksforBoys.html.