Joan Swirsky
Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006

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Book Review: "Scuttle's Big Wish," by Sean and Ryan Delonas. Regan Books. 40 pages, $16.95.

When Ryan Delonas was 3 years old, his parents were going through bitter divorce proceedings and he only saw his father on weekends.

Mostly he stayed in touch with his dad by phone, regaling him with fanciful stories. In turn, his father read him enchanting children's classics, hoping they would further ignite an imagination that was already apparent.

While Ryan loved "Treasure Island" and "Where The Wild Things Are," he was particularly taken with the story of King Midas. The ancient legend tells of the Greek god Dionysus, who became worried when his foster father got drunk and wandered off. [Editor's Note: Get your copy of "Scuttle's Big Wish" today - Click Here].

When peasants found him, they took him to King Midas, who treated him benevolently before returning him home.

His stepson was so grateful that he granted King Midas his most fervent wish, which was that everything he touched be turned into gold. But the king soon discovered that his food was inedible and his drink undrinkable, and when he touched his beloved daughter, she became a gilded statue. Hungry, thirsty, and bereft, the king cursed his "gift" and begged Dionysus to undo it, which he did, telling King Midas to wash in a river and pass the gift to waters that would bring golden sand upon the shores.

The tale inflamed young Ryan and he immediately began to dictate his own version of the story to his father Sean, a cartoonist for the New York Post, as well as an award-winning painter and illustrator whose work has appeared in magazines, television, and on Broadway.

But the Midas of Ryan's tale is his (actual) pet hamster Scuttle, who loves his mouse hole, his best friend (a bird named Tweet), and especially cheese! One day, Scuttle hears a cry and discovers that a golden beetle is trapped in a spider's web. Daring to save the beetle, in spite of constant death threats from his nemesis Pounce the cat, he frees the insect.

Sure enough, the beetle grants Scuttle his most fervent wish, that everything he touches be turned into cheese. In short order, Scuttle becomes fatter and fatter and also starts to die from thirst and hunger. Even Tweet turns into cheese.

Scuttle is devastated and cries to the golden beetle, "Please, take it back!" The beetle complies and ultimately Scuttle is both happy and relieved to go back to his normal worries: mousetraps and especially Pounce.

On the back blurb of the gorgeously illustrated book, Ryan — who is now 10 and in fifth grade — appears with easel in hand and looking more like a future heartthrob than a budding author. But his father told NewsMax that, in fact, his son exerted a lot of artistic and editorial control over the project, insisting on a beetle and not a frog (his father's choice) for one of the characters, as well as drawing most of the backgrounds and many of the illustrations.

by Sean Delonas

According to Ryan, the message of the book is, "Be careful of what you wish for!" But, he says, "It's still OK for people to wish for things, but it's better to work towards something than to wish for it."

Then attesting to the wisdom of Psalm 8 — "out of the mouths of babes . . ." — which confirms the fact that even young people can be remarkably wise, Ryan added: "The important things in life aren't money, gold, or cheese but the kind of relationships you have with other people and with your pets. It's also important not to be greedy."

Currently, father and son are collaborating on two new books for Regan Books, one about shadows, the other about bullying, and Ryan is working on another book — the contents of which he's keeping secret, even from his father.

Editor's Note: Get your copy of "Scuttle's Big Wish" today - Click Here.