HUDSON — In Jake Marrazzo’s newest book, “The Dilly Dally Parrot,” a parrot takes the wheel of Captain Brain Beard’s ship and causes all sorts of chaos.
The titular parrot serves as a symbol of distraction to Johnny, a young boy who has a big project to do at school, but he would rather have fun.
Marrazzo, who is a 2021 graduate of Hudson High School, said, “It’s about Johnny, a kid in elementary school, and we go inside of his mind.”
The pirate controls Johnny’s actions, and when he gets assigned an important project, the pirate tries to steer, but the dilly dally parrot, which Marrazzo called “the physical representation of procrastination,” starts to take the wheel.
“He represents that part of all of us that just wants everything to be easy and fun,” Marrazzo said.
He explained that once Johnny gets a bad grade on the project, the pirate and parrot learn to compromise and let Johnny work and have fun when each is needed. This was inspired by the pomodoro method, said Marrazzo, in which a timer is set for 20 minutes of work and is then followed by a short break.
He added, “It’s sort of my way of teaching kids that strategy.”
The book is inspired by Marrazzo’s own procrastination and struggle with time management.
He said, “I just thought that it would be a cool idea to be able to teach that sort of thing to kids.”
Meet the author
Marrazzo is a junior at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and a member of the class of 2025.
“I’ve been writing, honestly, probably as long as I can remember,” he said. “I’ve been coming up with ideas since I was really young, like three years old.”
Marrazzo has had a big imagination, and he has been coming up with ideas for movies and books since he was very young, with writing as his first outlet to channel these ideas.
“Jake has been making up stories since he was three or four years old,” said his father John Marrazzo. “We started reading to him when he was about four months old or so, and he developed a love for creating stories.”
Jake Marrazzo said he enjoys the “fact that I could tell a story of my own that’s not based in reality” with fantastical elements. He loves the idea that people can create their own stories for others to see.
He said, “I kind of see writing children’s books as a bit of a springboard.”
Second book
“The Dilly Dally Parrot” came out in June, and it is the second children’s book authored by Marrazzo. He also wrote “One Wants to be a Letter” in 2020.
His first book, for example, “One Wants to be a Letter” has roots to when Marrazzo was four years old. It was years later that a publisher, Civin Media Relations founded by Todd Civin, made the story come to life.
One way that the sales of his books help kids is a portion of the proceeds go to 4 Jake’s Sake Charitable Foundation, which helps people living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy by making their homes more accessible.
Marrazzo lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and it is a part of what he writes about.
His first book was an allegory for living with the condition and “being different from everybody else.”
In his first book, the Number One wants to be like his letter friends. He wants to be like his friends because they can get together and form words. He learns throughout the story about what makes him special.
It’s an abridged version of how Marrazzo feels sometimes.
“Being in a chair, I feel so different from everybody else,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be so much better if I was like them?”
It stems from the idea of wanting to do things able-bodied people can do, and with the idea predating his diagnosis, it was a bit of foreshadowing for him. He said the message can resonate with anyone who feels different.
He added, “We compare ourselves to other people and want to be like them, but in the end we realize that we all have our own strengths that we can celebrate.”
Marrazzo tells the kids at book readings, “The world would be boring if all of us were the same.”
The idea also came from his love of Pixar movies and “the idea that things that we don’t normally expect to come to life, come to life,” he said.
Film dreams
Marrazzo, who is studying film and new media, said his goal is to break into film and writing books is a way to be recognized in that field.
He said, “I’m actually working on a script of my own right now. I’m really excited about it.”
It is for a potential streaming series, which ties into his ultimate goal of working in animation in some form. He plans on going to grad school to further his dreams of being in the film industry.
The inspiration for his books comes from his own life, and write what you know is “the philosophy I go by,” he said.
He added, “I just like to write stories that I want to see; messages that I want to hear that I haven’t been hearing in other children’s books.”
Marrazzo hopes that the lessons in the books stick with children, and he said they are the type of stories he wishes that he could have read as a kid. It is his hope that his books capture the imaginations of children like Dr. Seuss books did for him.
Marrazzo said he wants to write about things that “help kids find their place in the world.”
For more information about 4 Jake’s Sake, visit www.4jakessake.com. “The Dilly Dally Parrot” and “One Wants to be a Letter” are both available on Amazon and the 4 Jake’s Sake website.
