This Is as Big as It Gets

About the Book

This book is fiction and could fill several niches in the marketplace. Reluctant readers, those learning English as a second language, trivia buffs, and fans of Beatles spring to mind. This Is as Big as It Gets tells the story of two boys who meet and pair up with two girls. The four of them then banter as they try to put the world to rights while coping with stepparents, sexism, abused parents, sick parents, a plague of rats, death, suicide, and a terrorist attack—but not necessarily in that order. Interspersed with these dramas is an offbeat modern fairy tale told by one of the boys; it is so well received that he decides to write a book. His friends try to help him with ideas, and they get sidetracked by idioms, song lyrics, jokes, palindromes, and trivia. However, the book is never penned, not in this story anyway. The entire text of the story is told using no words longer than four letters because it began life as a teaching exercise for primary school children in Australia. The language is not your average American English, and for that reason, a glossary is attached by way of a translation from the Australian and English idioms and vocabulary that the story is punctuated with. This Is as Big as It Gets will, hopefully, be followed by A Bit of This and a Bit of That and then, to complete the trilogy, Amen to All That. The pattern of using no words longer than four letters in the telling of the story will continue.

About the Author

Michael Whitcomb was born in Brighton, England, during the cold January of 1947. He is proud to call himself a middle child and is equally proud of his English Grammar School education. An unsuccessful art student, he chose to become a career primary school teacher, moving that role to Queensland, Australia, in 1974. He retired there, having taught in schools with student populations ranging from just 4 to over 1,500, but no matter the number, his message was always the same. His students were always encouraged to think, told to be seen to care, and to espouse the value of education ahead of schooling. Today he is living with his third and final wife in Manhattan, New York, where he enjoys discovering the minutiae of this wonderful city.