Suyin's Bell: An imaginative legend of ancient China Paperback – 12 September 2019

I didn't have high hopes for this as it is a self-published short story; ANYONE can self-publish these days. However, I am always looking for well-written, imaginative, books for my two children who are 11 and 13. That being said, I started reading this book with my children in mind.First, let me say this book is extremely concise and well-written. Ms. O'Donnell must be either an English BA or perhaps a Journalism BA with English as a minor. Her word choices have neither the bombast nor flowery language so common in today's books for children. Rather, her economy of word choice is a welcome sight and beautiful in its own right. This forces the reader to savor each word as its own expression. My point is rather than showering the reader in frivolous words, she makes each word choice count and this forces the reader to respect the language and its usage. Bravo, Ms. O'Donnell for going against the current trend in young-adult writing!Second, the story itself is a beautifully sparse exercise in forcing the reader to imagine the setting, characters, and plot. So many writers today spoon-feed their readers every component of the story without forcing them to use the imaginations they have; the children might as well be watching television for that matter. This is not the case here and Ms. O'Donnell uses each word, description, and illustration as though they were to be the only ones she would ever have at her disposal ever again. "Sparsely written" comes to mind but this term has too negative a connotation. We will say she expertly chooses words perfectly suited for the role she intends. I hope this expresses adequately my meaning here.Of course, you must be the judge of this book and its beauty in written prose. I can only tell you I loved it and my children both warmed to it very quickly. This is a well-written display of Ms. O'Donnell's mastery of the English language.