 Many of us grew up believing that there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
But one enterprising Las Vegas children’s book author is imparting that the shining substance is on the other side of that brightly colored entity – not to be found in a pot but rather in a mirror of gold that reflects back the image of all the beautiful hues that uniquely make up each and every one of us
“What’s On the Other Side of the Rainbow? (The Secret of the Golden Mirror)” by Carla Jo Masterson teaches children about their feelings – love, anger, fear, jealousy, etc. -- and that it’s never all right to hurt someone else regardless of the emotions they are experiencing or the reasons behind them. There is actually a mirror in the back of the book, the lesson being that when children look into it, they will realize that they are the gold and that believing in one’s self is key.
 “I want to show children that quality of life is simple,” says Masterson. “All they have to do is follow the rules and not hurt each other or themselves and to love other the way that they want to be loved. Also, in all my reading, I never came across one book that told children what their feelings were about. They don’t know how emotions work and kids are at the mercy of something so powerful inside themselves that they need to understand it before they act. I wanted to be a voice of reason. In m own childhood, no one ever reasoned anything. Every child deserves a taste of harmony soup.”
Harmony was one thing that Masterson, who has named her self-publishing company Harmony Soup, never had as a child. Her parents were separated and her mother, who had been orphaned at 2 years old and grew up with step-parents and was abused as a child, became a Born-Again Christian minister. Told that she couldn’t both serve God and be a mother, she gave care of her two children, Masterson and her brother, to their alcoholic father when Carla was 3. He began taking turns sexually molesting the two young siblings and eventually they were sent to live with their paternal grandmother. After that, they were taken in by guardians, who were total strangers and, unbeknownst to anyone had an incestuous household. The severe trauma aside, Masterson grew up never knowing true affection from any source.
Though her father ended up committing suicide when he was in his late 60’s, Masterson’s mother, who now suffers from Dementia and whom Carla is now close to, became the children’s mom again after being kicked out of her religion when Masterson was 13. But the family suffered from severe poverty, often having no food to eat or clothes to wear. Masterson would often sing on the streets to get a few pennies from which to buy food. She eventually turned professional with her singing, performing backup for the likes of Barry Manilow and Paul Anka, and also ended up getting married, and subsequently divorced, herself.
“I’ve been through hell but I’ve created heaven with this book,” she says. “It was actually written 15 years ago. I met a woman who was a world-renowned artist named Melanie Taylor Kent, who did work for Universal Studios and Disney. My ex-husband and I had collected her artwork. She loved my philosophy of life and how positive I was. She gave me the idea to write a children’s book and offered to do the artwork for it. Even though she ended up not being the artist for it, she planted the seed. She and my godmother Delta were the golden mirrors in my life that saw my potential. Now I want every child to see his or her own potential.”
“It’s always your choice,” Masterson sums up. “We are all individuals and we have to find out who we are inside. It’s our own self-healing process.”
“What’s On the Other Side of the Rainbow? (The Secret of the Golden Mirror)” can be found in bookstores and in libraries as well as obtained online at Amazon.com and at Harmony Soup.com. Masterson also has several other books in the works as well as having a movie script written for “What’s On the Other Side of the Rainbow?”
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BOBBIE KATZ
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