The Blue Jeans Rebellion • An Early Readers Novel
by Joanna H. Kraus The story is set in 1877 in Orderville, Utah, a planned Mormon community. Many of the families who volunteer to live there had been starving before they came and so they willingly agree to all the rules and regulations. One specifies that until the clothing you wear is worn out you must not apply for anything new. Eleven-year old Gideon wonders why everyone has to dress in the same drab gray clothes and annoyed that though his pants are too short, his application is denied. He’d heard about the new transcontinental railroad that went clear across the country. As silver pours from the earth and the railroad flashes its glitter across the continent, brand new products arrive in the west. One day making a delivery of sheep’s wool to the General Mercantile Store he sees, for the...
Read More
Make-Believe Twins • A Best Friends Story
by J.D. Newman Sometimes Best Friends Don’t Always Agree This novella for younger readers features a first grade boy and girl growing up in Utah in 1972 who share a common birthday and a love of puppetry and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Glenn is the fastest runner and the fastest reader in the first grade, until the new girl, Janet, bests him at both. When the only person who could be your twin is the new girl in school, that’s difficult for Glenn — because the guys will never let her play on their team! When Janet’s family survives a house fire, Glenn discovers that, in times of need, a rival can become an ally. Glenn and Janet watch Mr. Rogers, make puppets together, and create their own Neighborhood of Make-Believe. But when they argue about their religions, can these...
Read More
‘Tis The Season — Allagash Tails Collection Volume 9
A collection of short stories about a Mainer’s celebration of Christmas by Tim Caverly Illustrations by Franklin Manzo, Jr “Mom, will you make daddy go to bed?” the little girl cried. “Santa will never come if he doesn’t come upstairs!” Imagine if you will, a literary journey that allows you to travel back to Christmas day in 1953. Once there, you’ll become a member of a family whose roots are traced back to the Mayflower and share in their traditions of Christmas holidays and experiences through the 20th into the 21st Century. In this book of six short stories, travel from the villages of Cornville to Corinth –– from Machias to Millinocket –– then venture north into the heart of the Allagash Wilderness; where we’ll return to the year 1901 and relive a forgotten history. Read about a typical...
Read More
Grandma’s Christmas Wish — Fiction
by Shelley Bingham Husk It would take the knowledge of her impending death, for Grandma’s Christmas wish to come true. The Cavanaugh’s are a young family torn apart by tragedy, reunited by a wish. All Grandma ever wanted for Christmas was to have her family together. Twenty-nine-year-old Claire eloped to escape the memories of her parents, believing that her grandmother was responsible for their deaths. Twenty-seven-year-old Jack rarely comes home, having bought into Claire’s memories of the tragic night their parents were killed. Twenty-year-old Darby was only six when her parents died, ten when Claire ran away, and twelve when Jack left the house. Darby stayed home to take care of the grandmother who raised her. The kitchen at the Cavanaugh’s has always been the heart of the home. As Darby says, “Grandma always said, ‘You miss all the...
Read More