Books with author Robert T. Reilly

"Maribella is a gem! A lovely story." - Tokyo Book Review"Magic is there for a young girl in Tokyo—and for the readers of this charming tale. I loved it!" - Georg EschertThis is a story of a young girl. In most ways she was just like any other girl her age. And like most girls her age, she sometimes thought she was not tall enough, not thin enough, or not pretty enough compared with other girls. She thought she was just average. But she was wrong. She was not average at all. Mari-chan was special, very special. But she didn't have the slightest idea about her true specialness. That was about to change.Literary Review: Maribella And Her Magic UmbrellaWritten and Illustrated by Robert Reilly"Maribella is a high school girl attending an exclusive academy in present-day Tokyo. It is Maribella's story: her life, her concerns, her best friend, her music and her family. The story is cleverly organized on chapter headings based on Rodger and Hammerstein's show tune "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound Of Music" - and this sets the tone for much of the story, which is a series of atmospheric snapshots in the life of this young girl - more of a mood piece than a traditional narrative. The centerpiece of the narrative is Maribella's green umbrella, and while I certainly don't want to spoil the story for anyone, I think it's safe to say that Mari's umbrella serves a kind of Zen spiritual purpose. You'll just have to read the story to see what I mean by that. Maribella And Her Magic Umbrella invites comparisons to other coming-of-age stories, like Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's "Elois At The Plaza", or Ludwig Bemelman's "Madeline" series of books about high achievers like Mari. As I read this, I wondered how a children's book would fit into Robert Reilly's canon of works - and then I thought of the great English literary scholar and critic Robert Southey, Poet Laureate for thirty years (1813-1843) - and yet his best remembered work is "The Three Bears" (the original Goldilocks story) - Also, how could I forget Roald Dahl, author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, who was a diplomat, intelligence officer and writer, whose wide raging efforts ran the gamut from children's books to Bond thrillers. Reilly's work reminds me of these famous examples - simply good writing which stands outside of the time in which it is written.In author Robert Reilly's previous works, he's written about his memories of the past, speculations on the future. Here, in Maribella And Her Magic Umbrella, for the first time, he writes about a world very much like the one he presently lives in, and he clearly knows his way around this territory. This is a brilliant work (and it's for charity) so don't miss it. It is not unlike Mari and Yuka's description in the work: 'like two bright rainbows in a dark and stormy sky.'" - Literary review by Stanley Hudgins