Lette's Chat with Author, Shoba Sreenivasan

Mattie, her friends and a wizard are hurled backwards in time to escape an evil serpentine creature of the underworld who they must ultimately defeat in Shoba Sreenivasan’s “Mattie Spyglass and the 8 Magic Stones” “Mattie Spyglass and the 8 Magic Stones” (ISBN 0985360402) is a dramatic and mythical work that will entrance children and adults alike. Shoba Sreenivasan creates an evocative story about an 11-year old girl whose world is forever changed when she comes across a mysterious spyglass. Mattie’s adventure begins in the year 1968 in the most ordinary of places: the basement of Sears in Hackensack, New Jersey. There the spyglass chooses Mattie as her owner catapulting her friends Eddie, Geeta and an old wizard named Mr. Herman Biddle into the dangerous River of Time. On the run from the serpentine Uri Gneezy, who would use the Spyglass’ magic to control the world, the wizard hurls Mattie and her friends through the past, from the time of the rule of the last Russian Czar to the evil winter of the Nazis. Uri Gneezy is aided in his pursuit by all the sinister creatures contained in the Black Book of Magic.  In opposition, Mr. Biddle holds the White Book of Magic which reveals the Enuma Elish, the Babylonian Book of Creation, and the daunting task before this intrepid crew:  they must cross the treacherous Path of the Virtuous, otherwise known as “The 8 Magic Stones.” Mattie is far from home and just a young girl, yet the challenges she face will summon a courage and maturity inside her she barely knew she possessed. To get out alive she needs to fight back against the forces of darkness.

Shoba Sreenivasan is a forensic psychologist. She earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles and is a clinical professor at USC.