A Fish, A Wolf, A Mouse, And A Raindrop by Bethany Bull

I recently had the privilege of reading this collection of short children's stories and I have to say that they are very imaginative and creative.  Not only that but they teach as well as entertain.  I love stories that give morals and other lessons.  These stories have some science-based lessons in them as well as morals of the story. My favorite was Blue, The Story of a Raindrop.  He has a long and exciting adventure and it explains a lot about the cycle of rain and evaporation.  It was a cool little story!  These are definitely stories I would let my own children read, or read to them!



Blurb:

"A Fish A Wolf A Mouse and a Raindrop" is a collection of short stories for the young intermediate reader. Included are: Max and Goldie, a story about the life of fish; The Wolf of Ghost Mountain, a story about animals being captured; Brown and His Wonderful Escape, about a mousely adventure; and Blue, The Story of a Raindrop, where the process of evaporation is told in a context young readers will find fun.


Amazon Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Wolf-Mouse-Raindrop-Stories-ebook/dp/B00IHFQ21G/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1425160348&sr=1-4&keywords=bethany+bull

Find Bethany here:  https://bethanybull.wordpress.com/about/

Thaddeus Whiskers and the Dragon by H.L. Burke

 This is a new chapter book for kids by H.L. Burke that I recently read and I really enjoyed it!  In fact, so did my oldest child!
   Thaddeus F. Whiskers is a royal companion ( a cat) to the Princess Clarice.  On her 10th birthday, the castle wizard, Hermes, decides to make him really fluffy as a present to Clarice.  The spell backfires and leaves most of the court sneezing until Thaddeus is removed to a village quite a ways away.  With a spell on him, Thaddeus will never be able to find the way home on his own.  He hates being separated from Clarice and is determined to find her.  After escaping the village, he finds a dragon who basically adopts him as his own pet.  They like each other's company, but Thaddues never forgets that he must get back to Clarice.  In fact, it so happens that she and the king are in danger from a woman named Ambrosia who wants to be queen.  She will stop at nothing, so Thaddeus must stop her with the help of some strange friends.

   I love how unexpected some of the friendships in this story are and the incorporating of magic into it with kind of a medieval theme!  It makes for a very imaginative and creative story that will fuel your child's imagination!


Blurb:

Thaddeus F. Whiskers is a pampered palace pet, a kitten enchanted to never become a cat. Princess Clarice loves him, for in the entire kingdom, for there is no other kitten as cute or as clever. He leads a life of cushions and cream until a wizard's "gift" results in his banishment. Determined to make it back to the princess he loves, he escapes into the wilderness where he discovers the lair of a dragon.

Grandious, the dragon, doesn't care about anything besides himself. He wants to be left alone with his treasure. However, there is something about Thaddeus that has him entranced. He finds himself opening his home and his heart to the little cat.

Thaddeus is a small creature in a big world. Between him and his beloved Princess stand conniving wizards, would-be-step-mothers, and rampaging rats. However, when danger threatens both Clarice and Grandious, Thaddeus won't allow his size to get in the way of saving his friends.

 
This book is for pre-order right now on Amazon!  It will be released on March 1st and I highly recommend this one for your children!  Even I thought Thaddeus's journey was rather interesting, even if it is a children's book!

You can buy it here:  http://www.amazon.com/Thaddeus-Whiskers-Dragon-H-Burke-ebook/dp/B00SHV36BE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423366672&sr=8-3&keywords=h.l.+burke

The Amazing Adventures of Toby the Trilby by Angela Castillo

   Toby is a one of a kind.  He is 12 and was created in a lab.  He calls the six who created him, his grambles.  Kind of like grandparents.  Toby has mostly human DNA with a bit of cat DNA as well that has given him a few feline features like how he is rather short for his age, has a tail, ears, and a keen sense of smell.  But he looks much like a human boy would otherwise.  He lives underground with his grambles and has never seen what is on the surface.  It was foretold that the end was coming for mankind and the grambles were scientists sent down below to prepare massive areas for people to escape to, however, they never came.  So no one knows what is up there.  Toby has a keen interest in going to see, and he keeps hearing a voice that it is obvious no one else is hearing.  He seeks to find the owner of the voice and to find the answer to his greatest question: does he have a soul?  Because of how he was created, he has doubts about it.  So he sets off on an adventure to find out.  This adventure will be dangerous.  Not all of those who are left are nice.
 
   This book is geared to a younger audience, but I still found myself intrigued with the plot.  It is an interesting story and very clean.  This would be a great kids book and a safe one.  No romantic gestures in this one to worry about and it is inspirational.  Toby is seeking the Soul Creator to find the answer to his question.  He comes upon the good, the bad, and the ugly of what is left of humanity.  Not only are people sometimes openly hostile, but some have pretty much lost their minds.  It is a dismal state of affairs really, but Toby's journey is one of hope.  And hope can change everything.  I am interested to see where Toby's journey takes him next!

On Kindness

This is not a normal run-of-the-mill post for this blog, but I am rather proud of the fact I had a small feature published today on the Arkansas Women Bloggers website!  It is about teaching our children kindness and how it matters!  Check it out!

http://arkansaswomenbloggers.com/2013/09/kindness-matters-lessons-learned/