Where Is Grandpa? - Hardcover

Writing is both the most joyous--and most agonizing--labor I know. And it is by far the best way to travel--in our world or any other. Ever since my youth on a ranch in Colorado, I've felt passionate about nature--and about writing. I wrote and published my own magazine as a kid, called the Idiot's Odyssey, which sold about five copies an issue (including the ones my parents bought). I kept writing during my college years at Princeton, and during my years at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. During that time at Oxford, I composed stories and poems while hiking in the Scottish highlands, while sitting beneath the boughs of an English oak I named Merlin's tree, while backpacking through Asia, Africa, and the Arctic; and while participating in a traditional roof thatching in Japan. Even during my years managing a fast-growing business in New York City, I often rose before dawn to write.

Finally, I followed my dream to write full time. In 1990, I moved back to Colorado and started writing in the attic of my home, with the help of my wife and our five young children.

I am currently writing a five-book epic about the youth of Merlin. This story gives me a chance to add a new dimension to the rich lore about this enduring figure. Why am I spending almost a decade writing about Merlin? Because he is much, much more than a great wizard. His story is, in truth, a metaphor-for the idea that all of us, no matter how weak or confused, have a magical person down inside-waiting to be discovered. If you would like more information about the epic or my other books, please visit my official tabarron website.

You may have already seen my novels, which include Heartlight, The Ancient One,The Merlin Effect, and The Lost Years of Merlin, a five-book epic that Lloyd Alexander called "brilliant...an intense and profoundly spiritual adventure." You may also have seen my nature books including To Walk In Wilderness. Where is Grandpa?, is my first completely autobiographical tale, and also my first picture book for children. Along with my words, it contains the luminous painting of the acclaimed illustrator Chris K. Soentpiet.

I thought about Grandpa
in all of those places.
And I almost smiled, too.
I know it might be all right
now to climb the old
cottonwood. To stretch my arms.
To stretch my eyes all the way
to the Never Summer range
of the Rockies.

To see as far as I can possibly see.
Copyright (c) Thomas A. Barron 1998.