Author’s Latest Explores Food-Borne Illness
Children’s author Dee Collins’ latest effort is scheduled to hit bookstores next week and the accomplished writer thinks this may be her best offering yet.
Titled “Dinah Accidentally Eats A Monkey Hand,” the book tells the story of a young woman’s experience after consuming raw monkey meat during a lunch date.
“I wanted readers to take a journey with me to a world of food-borne illness,” Collins said of her latest work. “I think people will be able to relate because this is something that could happen to anyone.”
Collins wastes little time setting the scene and jumping in to the cautionary tale. By page three, the protagonist is already seated in the restaurant and preparing to enjoy a freshly-made salad. Dinah, however, is preoccupied with friendly convesation and fails to see the severed monkey hand laying on her plate surrounded by an assortment of greens.
After ingesting the adult-monkey hand, Dinah begins to almost immediately feel the effects of food poisoning. The last 14 pages of the book document her transition from healthy and vibrant to violently ill and completely incapacitated.
“My hope is that children will learn to be suspicious of the food that is on their plate, especially salads or even puddings,” Collins said. “It takes less than four minutes to completely inventory the items in a salad and avoid eating something you shouldn’t. That is the lesson in this story.”
While Dinah’s condition continues to deteriorate throughout the book, the tension continues to build as readers are left to wonder whether the 23-year-old economics major will survive her horrific ordeal. While the ending is predictable on some levels, it does ultimately satisfy the reader’s appetite. The same cannot be said for consuming raw monkey meat.
“Dinah Accidentally Eats A Monkey Hand” will be available at local bookstores on November 7.
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