Big Bad Bruce

This story is about a bear who was mean to other animals.  One day a witch cast a spell on him, and it made him smaller. Then all the other animals were mean to him. The witch decided to take the bear home and keep him as a pet.

The moral of this story is to treat others as you would like to be treated.

Chester the Worldly Pig

This book is about a pig named Chester. Chester didn't want to live like he was expected to so he ran off to join the circus. After spending time at the circus, he didn't like the way he was being treated, so he snuck off the circus train and headed toward the woods. After encounters with a bear and some thugs, he goes to the city where he finds out that many people enjoy eating his kind. He quickly got out of the city and found a farmer who kept him until he was full-grown. The day the farmer was going to take Chester to market, a carnival manager stopped by for some sugar. When he saw Chester he bought him and showed him off as "The Worldly Pig", because on the side of his skin was a map of the world!

Cowardly Clyde

This book is about a brave young knight, who goes by the name of Sir Galavant, and his horse, Clyde. Although Clyde acts like a high-stepping , brave, powerful steed, he is really a coward. One day Sir Galavant hears of an ogre. He is determined to slash it to ribbons, but Clyde would rather not. He had to pretend to be brave though.

The ogre can't stand daylight for more than 10 seconds. When they enter the forest, the brute is sleeping. To Clyde's dismay, Sir Galavant awakens him. Clyde runs off in fear and leaves his companion behind. What will happen? Who will win? Read the book and find out!

The message of this book is that things can be accomplished when you are brave.

Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent

Cyrus is a huge, horrible-looking, but gentle sea serpent. He swims in the ocean all day eating sardines and trying to find something to do. A shark calls him a sissy after he turns down the offer to wreck a ship. Cyrus was mad that the shark called him a sissy. He heads for the harbor to wait for a ship to leave so he can destroy it. When the Primrose, a ship of poor people seeking a new life in a new land sets off, Cyrus follows it. Instead of destroying it he ends up helping it stay afloat in a vicious storm, puffs it along through the doldrums when there is no wind, destroys a pirate ship that plans to attack it, and tows it to land after the ship is torn and tattered from all of it's adventures. Cyrus learns that it was more important what he thought of himself, not what others thought of him.  It also teaches us that it is important to do what you think is right, no matter what other people think.

Farewell to Shady Glade

There is a place called Shady Glade that consists of a sycamore, a bunch of willows, a stream, and its inhabitants. There is an old raccoon, five frogs, a bullfrog, two possum, six hares, and a skunk. Birds migrate there every spring, then leave at the end of summer. One fine spring day a deep rumble frightens all the birds. There was no train on the nearby tracks to make the noise and there was no thunderstorm. The animals wondered what the noise was. They find out what it is - the city is expanding! Shady Glade soon falls to the mercy of bulldozers and steam shovels. All the creatures climb the sycamore and board a train right before Shady Glade is destroyed. Will the poor creatures whose lives were changed forever find a new home? The message here is don't pollute and over-develop the land, or you will destroy the animal's habitats and your habitat, Earth.

Fly, Homer, Fly 

Fly, Homer, Fly is about a bird named Homer. Homer lives in the country. One day a little bird blew into the old barn Homer lived in. The little bird, Sparky, tells Homer to come to the city. Homer goes and spends half the day in the city and hates it. While Homer is perched on a building, a crane hits him and breaks his wing. Sparky and his friends take him back to the country. The birds take care of Homer. The moral of this story is that friends take care of one another.

Huge Harold

Harold was a rabbit who grew very big. He was so big he couldn't hide, so he left home. People were afraid of him, so they hunted him. One day he found a barn to hide in. The farmer liked him and treated him like a horse. He competed in a horse race and won. After that he was treated as a hero.

This story was all done in rhyme. The moral to this story is that it doesn't matter what you look like, you are still important.

Jennifer and Josephine

The book Jennifer and Josephine is about a broken down old car named Jennifer and a cat named Josephine who live in a junkyard. Josephine has been living in the back seat of Jennifer for many years. The cat leaves the car only to get food and always hurries back to make sure the car hasn't been taken away or destroyed. One day a man comes and buys Jennifer. Josephine decides to go along and jumps in the back seat. The man turns out to be a crazy driver who is always in a hurry so they call him Mr. Frenzy. Mr. Frenzy is a dangerous driver and eventually crashes Jennifer, getting her stuck in a river bank. Mr. Frenzy abandons the car, leaving her there to "die." Josephine sets out to find help and comes across a boy who is feeding kittens. The cat leads him to Jennifer and his family takes both Jennifer and Josephine in. They live there happily ever after.

The book Jennifer and Josephine is about friendship. I think the author's message was that you should always stick by a friend. If you help others they will help you. Jennifer helped Josephine by giving her a safe place to live. In return, Josephine ran for help when Jennifer was stuck in the river. I also feel it is important for friends to help each other. It would be a lonely and difficult world without friends. I need friends in my life to keep me company, stand up for me, and to help me do things that I am unable to do alone.

Kermit the Hermit

The book Kermit the Hermit is about a very selfish crab named Kermit.  The story takes place along the ocean coast where Kermit has a "castle" and he hoard everything he can find there.  One day, when trying to retrieve a can for his collection, he is seized by a dog who buries him in the sand.  A boy, who is the dog's owner, rescues him and safely returns him to the ocean.  Kermit decides he should repay the boy for saving him from death.  He decides that all his treasures are not valuable enough for the boy, because he has no use for them.  While watching the boy fishing one day, he decides to help him catch a big fish.  The big fish snaps the line, and leads Kermit deep into the ocean.  To avoid being eaten by a shark Kermit climbs into a chest.  After the shark leaves, Kermit finds out the chest is filled with gold.  He collects all the gold and takes it back to his "castle".  With the help of a pelican he drops the pieces of gold down the boy's chimney.  As it turns out, the boys family is very poor.  They use the coins to give themselves a better life.  Kermit learns that it is good to share.

This story reminds me of when I hoard all my Halloween candy, not sharing it with the rest of my family.  In the story, Kermit's loot really does him no good, and he simply keeps it in his "castle".  My candy often does me no good, because I cannot eat it all and much of it becomes stale.  In both cases it would have been better to share, because more people would be happy.  This book kind of reminds me of King Midas and the Golden Touch, because both main characters learn that life is more important than possessions.

Merle the Flying Squirrel

Merle was a squirrel who lived in a big city. He wanted to go out west and see trees as big as buildings. He wasn't sure how to get there and was afraid he would get lost. He was untangling a kite when a storm came and the wind blew him. He ended up out west without even trying. He really liked the country better than the city. The moral to this story is to keep trying and don't give up.

Smokey

The book Smokey is about an old, run-down train engine named Smokey. The story begins at a train station were Smokey is about to be sent to the junk yard because he is no longer useful and has been replaced by modern diesel engines. Smokey decides to escape, and sets off alone to see the country. While traveling through the countryside, he narrowly escapes an attack by a group of Indians who are upset by his smoke signals. Later, he makes a selfless decision to jump the tracks to avoid causing a train wreck. He lands in a farmer's pond who insists the train companies remove him immediately. He is battered up in the crash and his smokestack is bent. The bent smokestack causes his puffs of smoke to come out as letters and numbers. A teacher discovers this and buys Smokey as scrap metal. She and her students fix up Smokey (except for the smokestack) and use him as a new form of teaching children their letters and numbers. Bill Peet's message in this story is that everything can be useful.

This book reminded me of the story "The Little Engine That Could" because they were both about trains who had high hopes and wanted to feel useful. I feel the author’s message in this story is that everyone counts and is important no matter how big or small or how old or new. To me this means we need to all respect each other and be humble, not feeling more important than others.

The Caboose Who Got Loose

This book is about a caboose named Katie, who on her travels finds many things she would rather be than a caboose. After one of her long trips she waits in a train station dreaming about a little log cabin in the woods. The little log cabin talks to her and says, "I want to be a caboose because it is the best thing from what I can see." What will Katie decide to do?

The Luckiest One of All

The lesson in this book is to be content with who you are. In this book a boy wishes he was a bird but the bird wishes that it was a fish. This continues on with other animals and objects wishing they were someone or something else. Finally a cat wishes to be a boy. The boy realizes he is the luckiest one of all because he can play like no other animals.

The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg

In this book, Myrtle the dove finds an egg. Every other bird thinks it will never hatch. One day it hatches and the creature has wings. It is half lion, half eagle and is named Zeke. The other birds think he is weird and don’t accept him, but Myrtle cares for him and teaches Zeke life's teachings. When Zeke grows up, he flies away to a place that is not very nice because he thinks that is where he belongs. He thinks it is a better place for wolves and foxes because it’s full of rocks and dead trees. He carries all the wolves and foxes that eat the birds to this dead place. All the birds like Zeke, because he saved them. This story teaches a person to do the right thing no matter what other people may do to him.

The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock

The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock is about a peacock named Prewitt that has a scrawny tail. Because of this, he is the least of all the peacocks and drags his tail on the ground. Then his tail begins to grow, and a hideous face forms on his feathers. The other peacocks are upset by the face and order him to remove the feathers or be banished from the flock. Prewitt decides that he is keeping his feathers and the rest of the peacocks will need to accept it. This angers them, and they begin to chase Prewitt to remove the feathers themselves. They follow him into an open field where they run into a tiger looking for an easy meal. When Prewitt fans out his feathers the tiger is frightened by the image he sees. Prewitt is now accepted by the other peacocks and eventually made the leader of the flock.

I think the author was trying to convey the message that we should accept each other the way we are. We shouldn't have to prove ourselves to each other or be judged by the way we look. I think this happens often in our society, and I have experienced this in my life. In school kids often make fun of each other because of birth defects. Sometimes kids criticize other kids because of the clothes they wear or how smart they think they are. I don't think Prewitt Peacock should have had to scare away the tiger to be accepted by the flock.

The Whingdingdilly

This book is about a boy named Orvie and his dog Scamp. Scamp hates being a dog. He wants to be a horse. Scamp runs away, because he is sad. A witch turns him into a Whingdingdilly. A Whingdingdilly is an animal made of pieces of different animals. Scamp is sent to a zoo and becomes popular. Later, however, he finds out being popular is not the best thing. Scamp goes home to Orvie, because he realizes that being a dog isn’t so bad after all. 

The moral of this story is: It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside. It’s the inside that counts.

The Wump World is about a group of creatures called wumps, who live peacefully on a small "world." They are the only creatures on this "world" made up of grassy hills, trees, small rivers and lakes. All of the Wumps' needs are met and they are very content. One day creatures called Pollutians from the planet Pollutus come and invade their world. They have destroyed their own world and plan on settling on the Wumps' world. They bring with them heavy, noisy machinery, and begin to grind up the trees and flatten the hills. As the Wumps take shelter in a cavern, terrified by what is happening to their world, the Pollutians are busy constructing buildings and putting in roads. It is not long before the Wump world's sky is pitch black and the ground is covered by a crusty layer of cement. Soon, here too, the Pollutians are unable to live due to the terrible pollution they have caused. So they set out in search of another place to live. After the Pollutians leave, the Wumps come out from underground. They were upset by what they saw, but were able to find a small patch of grass on which to feed. In time the sky and water clear up, and the layers of cement begin to break away making room for new grass.

This reminds me of what people have done to our world. Many people feel that modern technology would make our world better but in reality we have destroyed a lot of our natural resources and have caused pollution. This book also reminds me of a conversation I had with my great-grandfather, who remembered the land in our area as being nothing but farmland and trees. Today this land has been developed, and the trees and farmlands are disappearing.