Footprints on My Tongue
By Jack Hasling
Reviewed by Jackie Houchin

Jack Hasling’s new book of verse is a fast and fun read that will start off your day with a chuckle and grin – that is, if you read it with your morning coffee as I did.  I have to warn you however, that your java may cool dramatically if you do as the author recommends and read the verses aloud.  But you will love it. The rhyming words and the cadence of the lines are addicting – they sound like a room full of laughing children!  
Hasling compares his style to the humor of Ogden Nash, and the meter of Dr Seuss. (If you’ve read Green Eggs and Ham, you’ll understand.) 
He’s neatly divided his 80-page book into five sections, plus an opening verse that explains his unusual title.   
Occasional Verses (one for each month – I loved “Valentine Card” and “Days of Independence”),
Christmas Letters (the clever way he got friends and family to read his annual newsletters),
Notes from the Coffee House (a variety of delightful topics, including the wistful, “Where have all the Folk Songs Gone?” and the wicked little limerick, “Getting it Straight in Pisa”),
Birthday Wishes (“When Gladys Was Born in Nineteen-O-Five” makes you think about progress),
Children’s Stories for Grownups (My favorite section – all are clever, educational and entertaining).
You’ll enjoy reading and re-reading this amazing little book and will want to share it with others too.  (I plan to buy a few and give them out to friends on their birthdays!)  It’s available new/used at Amazon.com and Barnesandnobel.com for $9.95.
Jack Hasling is a member of the South Bay Branch of CWC, has published two novels and a textbook, as well as his new children’s book, Salamander the Great.  Check out his web site at http://jacksverse.com where he posts new “Occasional Verses” each month.

Jackie Houchin is a freelance reporter for The Foothills Paper in San Fernando Valley, California.  She belongs to Sisters In Crime and Mystery Writers of America and the California Writers Club.  Jackie reviews for Mystery Scene Magazine, Crime Spree Magazine and The Strand magazine.  She is a regular contributor to Valleynews.com as a book, theater and film reviewer.  Jackie  contributes to The Valley Scribe and have a few things in the CWC 2005-2006 anthology.  She is a photographer, and have "shot" countless plays and musicals in community theaters for 18 years.