Former Garland resident Greg Goldston has a new children’s chapter book. The Monsters of Marymount Mansion is a children’s chapter book for first-fourth grade that speaks to diversity, self-acceptance and bullying as told through the eyes of a young monster.
“I love to tell stories that help readers learn being different is okay,” said the former Garland High School graduate. “My first two picture books were about autism and then I wrote a picture book about a squirrel who just wanted to perform on a stage. I have spoken to thousands of students with these books always stating that diversity is what makes us unique.”
Goldston writes under the name Gregory G. Allen and his love of speaking up for diversity goes back to his own teenage years in the 80s when the first musical he wrote was produced at the Granville Arts Center by the Garland Children’s Theater. The musical was about monsters who had to live in a basement all year round due to being different and could only come out on Halloween.
That story was the creative germ for what has become his latest book.
“I’m so excited to have written my first chapter book,” Allen said. “Though I’ve written novels for adults, all of my children’s books have been picture books up until now.”
The back cover of the book states “Meet Toby: a young monster who has skin like a fish, fur like a dog, and smells like cotton candy when he gets excited. He lives with his family in the basement of Marymount Mansion and once a year ventures out into the real world when everyone is dressed for Halloween. Toby becomes frustrated with hiding below ground and sets off on an all-important quest.”
Allen says that the book can speak to many children who feel alone or isolated in the world and that he took inspiration from so many places in creating this environment…even the much beloved Diary of Anne Frank. He doesn’t expect readers to see the places where inspiration may lie when reading it, but as the author he takes pride knowing those layers are there in the text.
“Part of the joy of writing is to push yourself on the story you are telling and how you are telling it,” Allen says. “I’m most proud that young readers who were part of my beta reading group truly empathized and related to the monster’s story without ever being fearful that they were a group of monsters.”
Tony Award winning star of stage and screen Laura Benanti calls the book charming and says “peppered with quirky characters, holiday adventures, and even a plucky little sister, kids will connect to the adorable Toby and his friends.”
Reader Views five star review says “Superbly written and bold narrative…a thought-provoking and heartwarming story that will keep even the most reluctant readers glued.”
The Monsters of Marymount Mansion
ISBN 978-0-9961029-4-0
Gregory G. Allen has been in the entertainment industry for 35 years as a writer, actor and filmmaker. He is the award-winning author of four children’s books, four adult novels, one nonfiction memoir and two short stories. As a filmmaker, two of his short films Hiding in Daylight (writer/producer) & Reparations (writer/director) were both chosen to screen at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival.