A Singsong Adventure Told in Rhyme
Bradford’s Walk
Charleston, SC, Feb. 13, 2025 – Master storyteller Denis O’Neill, in cahoots with his high school classmate and singularly inventive illustrator, Cyrus Quadland, depicts a walk in the country brimming with joy, memories, and a dog’s-eye view of life. Bradford’s Walk is a new children’s book published by Palmetto Publishing. It features rhymed verses of understated poignancy that will delight kids and make adults wistful for bucolic spaces anchored in familiar feelings. The author’s opening verse sets the tone for a poetic journey that unleashes a young man’s remembrance of childhood events:
“When I was a boy, I had a few dogs,
Before I grew up and moved on.
But life in the city is made for a kitty,
Small spaces replacing big lawns.
Now that I’m older, I rarely get home,
But new memories are easily made,
When a walk with the dog that came after me
Becomes a daily parade.”
When Bradford, a dog of “U.N. pedigree” wakes up to find his owners’ son returned to his childhood home in Connecticut, he knows an adventure lies ahead. Together, six legs between them, the daily parade begins. Nothing escapes Bradford’s zig-zagging curiosity: a woodchuck; a fire hydrant; neighborhood dogs both big and small. Lulling, playful rhythms—as much fun to say as to hear—are wrapped around colorful illustrations: scenes of greenery and quaint neighborhoods that lead to the shimmering Long Island Sound.
The power of the narrative is in its simplicity. A tapestry of singsong verse and humorous observation, the book is a cultural artifact that fuses whimsy and melancholy into a lyrical setting resonant with memories. A joyful walk down memory lane for anyone who’s ever walked a dog, Bradford’s Walk will take parents back in time, and it will stay with young readers until one day they, too, return home.
