Foreword

by Jerry Rees
Animator, Film Director and Imagineer

The first thing you should know about Tim Landry is that millions of people like you – and very likely you yourself – have already taken emotionally profound adventures inside of his imaginative mind.
And by inside, I mean immersed in dynamically themed architecture while riding among audio-animatronic figures, interactive projections, dimensional audio, and reach-out-and-touch-you effects.
 
His mischievous pixie dust lured you through the magic storms of Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Manor. His enchanted paints and storytelling shadows reawakened the spirits of Camellia Falco and her falcon muse Aletta to lift you toward your loftiest dreams in Tokyo DisneySeas’ Soaring: Fantastic Flight. And when your heart needed reassurance that love would indeed conquer all, Tim’s epic and tender visual effects artistry in Disneyland Paris’ Cinemagique took you by the hand and guided you through the adventures, romances, heartbreaks, and triumphs of a century of cinema before delivering the primal hug you’d been longing for, and a final sweet skip along the yellow brick road toward the Emerald City. For the first time, Oz felt like going home.
 
I know Tim’s imagination intimately. In my role as media Director for all of the above Disney Theme Park Attractions, I knew that Tim would surpass every expectation for excellence and genuine emotion to create indelible memories for our guests.
 
Tim’s natural ability to embody Disney Magic in a deeply authentic way – fully innovative while avoiding superficial novelty, and sincerely grounded in mind and heart – had drawn me to him from the moment we met. His perspective resonated with my roots as a Disney Feature Animator, mentored by Walt Disney’s veteran animators – his legendary “Nine Old Men”. They experienced Walt as an inspirational man from Kansas, an incessant inventor, a teller of consequential stories, and a guy who’d invite you over for a ride on miniature railroads in his back yard, not as a brand. They told me never to forget it.
 
I draw a dividing line through the Walt Disney Company. On one side are those who perceive the name of Walt Disney as a corporate logo. On the other side are those who remain keenly aware of the squiggly, hand-inked signature behind the polished logo that belonged to a flawed genius who collected a family of treasured individuals around him – people who inspired him as much as he inspired them, and increased the collective odds of achieving big dreams. Tim is on this side of the line. He is the sort of individual whom Walt would have treasured and added to his family of dreamers. 
 
So, when Tim contacted me with the humble request that I consider reading his manuscript of Addie’s Eyes, I not only agreed to read it, the prospect of diving into his vivid imagination once again filled me with an excitement equivalent to being handed a booklet filled with Disneyland E tickets back in 1970. I knew I was in for a magical ride.
 
As usual, Tim exceeded my expectations.
I read Addie’s Eyes aloud to my wife Rebecca. She too has deep artistic roots as a Disney Feature Animator, and an unquenchable love for reading – a love recently disrupted as the sudden onset of Parkinson’s robbed her of the ability to hold a book. But now she didn’t have to hold the book, or even try to focus her tired eyes on the page. She could just close her eyes and listen as the story unfolded effortlessly and poetically in her mind – composed by Tim, spoken by me, and seen through Addie’s Eyes.

 Over a series of evenings, Addie spoke through me. Fedor spoke through me. Brother and Toybox and Rachel and many more unforgettable characters spoke through me, as my wife and I shared their wildly unpredictable and emotionally riveting journey.
 
Somehow, in moving from the boisterous 4-dimensional playground of theme parks to the singular focus of crafting words on a page, Tim’s imagination grew. And his storytelling voice grew in originality as well – channeling the unique language of a new world to rival Neverland, Wonderland and the Hundred Acre Wood. I’m grateful that Tim has added a new zip code to my precious map of literary sanctuaries.
 
I must tell you that at times the story so moved me that reading aloud had to wait for a tear to find its way down my cheek, and for my voice to find enough bravery to come back out of hiding. Tears don’t take sides – grief and joy conjure them equally, and Tim conducts both with care.
There was a sense of healing in the story – beyond a glimmer of hope that injured souls and broken systems might be repaired. Tim’s cleverness at metaphorical solution-building leapt off the page for me in ways that made key passages seem instantly timeless and iconic in the manner of Lewis Carroll, A. A. Milne, Roald Dahl, or C. S. Lewis. “People will refer to this scene from now on,” I’d think. And the world would be better off if they did. We need stories like this now.
 
In my heart, I’m certain that Addie’s Eyes is a tale that Walt Disney himself would embrace if he were still with us.
What I treasure most is that Tim made me care deeply about every one of his charming characters all the way to the very last word of the very last sentence on the very last page. And I’m not kidding. (No cheating, you must take each magical step to earn that final moment!) Tim found every opportunity to keep me guessing, so that each bit of discovery – from unveiling epic realms to intimate revelations of plot and character – sparkled. 
 
Fearlessly heartfelt and original, Tim invites us into a world where love, understanding, reconciliation, and sometimes survival itself, seem impossible until we dare to see it all through Addie’s Eyes.

 And you will soon discover what a miracle that is.
Rebecca and I loved it. You will too.
And if you’re anything like us, as soon as you’re finished reading, you’ll ask Tim, “So, when can we expect your next book?!”
 
Jerry Rees 

pre-order now