Chemorella, Ken Phillips
and Katy Franco’s color-bound, 57 page bilingual journey catapults readers into
the world of cancer and the afterward. This story captures the rawness of emotional
evolution of someone diagnosed with cancer. In these pages we witness the first
injections of devastation, denial, fear, and finally the climax of letting go
and choosing life over grief or giving up to the disease. Phillips and Franco address the severity of
cancer in a way that is expressive and humorous; and also written in a way that
is always accessible to the reader by means of adopting the Cinderella Fairy
Tale to Franco’s testimony.
Like Cinderella, Chemorella is a lovely
and beautiful woman with a lot of good spirit to share. However, Chemorella
becomes stricken with a tragedy that many people don’t come back from, that is
far more serious than anything Cinderella had faced. Though with nudges of
negativity from her three “famously awful roommates,” and guidance from her
super cool upstairs neighbor, the parallel made to the Cinderella story is
nearly transparent. Where Chemorella progresses are by the means of
Franco’s tough lessons learned which she applies to the story. The realism of “hair
or life?,” after being diagnosed with cancer, makes this book extremely
powerful. The statement compels all readers to reflect on its truth when we ask
ourselves, “Is external beauty what makes
our lives livable?”; definitely not.
Chemorella was one of the most
reluctant, at first, to accept this truth. Throughout her journey we’re able to
see it’s the intangible; our friendships, and creativity that can pull us through
the darkest of times. Phillips and Franco shows us that this is where we can
turn to find our happy ending, our dreams, our prince and princess “charming”;
and leads us to a beautiful conclusion, “Everyone who knows you, loves you!” Not only did that phrase bring me to tears,
but it alone serves as one of the largest motivators for those who fight and
have fought cancer.
That statement is a happy ever after
for everyone. Franco’s humility and generosity in sharing her story is
tremendous! Not only is it attainable to fighters and those that support those
with cancer, but by the way the book was written along with all the beautiful
accompanied illustrations by Scott Sackett, this book is ageless, and due to
its bilingual nature, will reach and impact even more readers to tears.
*Katy Franco is a survivor of cancer and continues to push through as an advocate and supporter of those who continue the fight! She is also a Comedienne and personality which continues to shine on. More on Katy Franco: www.katyfranco.com To purchase Chemorella, please visit: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982897006/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img
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