Growing up isn’t easy – ***** Overall ***** Performance ***** Story – Review by Rox Burkey
Ken Schafer creates An Otherwise Perfect Plan, an endearing story of 16-year-old Gwen’s journey to locate her father. Her single mother raised Gwen, and her career goals changed. They have lived in various sub-housing apartments in Boston. The current location is a cramped apartment often visited by rats with her cat Buddha. She treasures her best friend, Peter, a neighbor who attends the same high school. Gwen’s mom works two low-paying jobs, and Gwen’s job is to finish high school. When Gwen’s English teacher requested each student to write about the earliest meaningful time with their father, Gwen tried to get the teacher to understand she didn’t know her father, but the teacher was unrelenting.
Telling the story in first person, Gwen shows her rollercoaster emotions as she tries to find her father following disjointed clues and hoping her mother can take advantage of the full-ride Yale scholarship. Typical of many YA novels, it follows a stream of consciousness. The descriptions of Gwen’s school, her apartment, and places along her journey are revealed with snappy dialogue, humor, and tumultuous emotional outbursts from a coming-of-age teen. The woven threads of this story deliver a unique mystery Gwen travels to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion.
The talented narrator, Renee Cannon, breathes life into each of the characters who support Gwen along her journey. The distinctive voices are delivered from beginning to end with outstanding tempo, tonality, expressions, giggles, gasps, and pregnant pauses. The stunning rendition will make listeners laugh, shake their heads, cry, sigh, and beg for Renee Cannon to narrate the sequel. There were no issues with the quality of the performance or final product.
Fans of YA will enjoy this creative chapter of Gwen’s life of love, challenges, and regrets. Teens may universally have different situations in their lives, yet they will find relatable issues of family, friends, school, love, and convictions found in the story. An Otherwise Perfect Plan may deserve the next chapter in the evolving Gwen with a sequel and, as a bonus, the paper she presented to her English teacher.
About the Author
Ken received a BFA with Honors in film production from NYU. The department chairman, the late Charles Milne, recognized him as one of the top ten writers in the program.
Following graduation, he moved to Los Angeles and quickly received representation as a writer. As a screenwriter, Ken wrote for production companies as varied as Paramount, Disney, and ABC. He worked on projects ranging from a prequel to “Sleeping Beauty” to ABC Night at the Movies and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Ken received Recognition from the Writers Guild of America, West’s for Outstanding Writing on one of 101 Best Written TV Series.
Mr. Schafer’s original screenplay Greensleeves was set up as a television series in the UK, with him as an Executive Producer and staff writer. He also adapted this story into a novel, which you can read an excerpt of if you sign up for his newsletter.
Meanwhile, he branched out into other kinds of writing, particularly due to his daughter’s enthusiasm for everything word-related. One story he told her during her childhood was expanded into the book The Cow Who Conquered the Moon, which is available on his website.
The novel This Book Is Not Good for You inspired Ken to write An Otherwise Perfect Plan: A Novel of Mystery, Love, and Chocolate that Defies Description. The first three chapters are available if you sign up for his newsletter at his website .https://www.kenschafer.com/
About the Narrator/Voice-Actor
Renee Cannon is a music teacher who loves teaching children. Information is available at https://www.acx.com/narrator?p=A1OY9XGVRSU6GY. You can also reach her via KenSchafer.com via the contact form.
