Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Let’s hear it for the eyes....


I love the cover for THE TRAZ!  I believe it is the girl’s eyes that draw one into the picture.
 
In the story, Katrina’s icy, clear, brilliant, deep blue eyes are mentioned often. In fact, everyone’s eyes are mentioned—Shrug’s slate grey eyes, Chad’s liquid dark eyes, Stack’s black eyes.  Eye contact and body language play a large part in THE TRAZ—highly reflective of what happens during street-level communication.
 
 Clever members of criminal gangs seldom say what they really mean—motives are concealed, business is conducted in coded language, and exotic words and phrases known only to members bind the gang together. 
 
Those who possess secrets, knowledge, and information are those who become powerful.
 
Available on Amazon
To survive in a gang one must at the very least be able to interpret emotions expressed in basic body language. To advance in a gang, to attain a position of power, one must be able to both conceal one’s emotions and thoughts and see through the facades of others.
Katrina, as young as she is, is fairly adept at reading body language and rapidly hones that skill as she struggles to stay safe amidst the danger.
Learning to read others is a life-enhancing skill for all of us. Being able to tell if someone is joking or serious, sad or angry, focused or distracted is vital in both personal and work place relationships.
Not until we leave behind the self-centred thinking of childhood does our awareness of others become keen enough to read body language.  THE TRAZ may be a teen reader’s first exposure to the concept that much can be said without the use of words. 
It’s my hope that by the end of the book, my young readers will have lost a bit of the egocentricity of childhood and begun to develop the socially important ability to both ‘speak’ and understand body language.

 
Eileen Schuh, Author
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ
Web site: http://www.eileenschuh.com
Blog: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com

No comments: