Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Animals & Nature

He’s “Mister” Crow because he can’t stand his first name (for good reason!), but no one calls him Old to his face. Listen as Old Mr. Crow is mightily tricked by Mr. Frog the tailor, learns some downsides to owning the only umbrella in Pleasant Valley, and very nearly loses his standing in the local crow community. Oh! and he has a near miss with the worst case of gout Aunt Polly Woodchuck has ever seen!

Gusta, the rhino lady, and her friend Gusto, a rhino gentleman, are going through different life situations with humanized emotions and circumstances. However, in a fantastic “animalistic” form, touched with the breeze of charming humor, poetry, and animalistic wisdom. This special edition of Gusta & Gusto includes commentaries between Lea Sakran, the mother, and Laura, Dana Rose Sakran, her daughter. The comments within the tales interweave organically with the stories.

Howard Garis was an American author who wrote many volumes for the Stratemeyer Syndicate. While Garis wrote several books under pseudonyms, the best known titles penned under his own name are those in the Uncle Wiggily series. The title character is an elderly rabbit, who suffers from rheumatism. In his rambles about the neighborhood he uses a distinctive and colorful walking cane. Although he is infirm, and sometimes appears slow of apprehension, he usually manages to defeat the deceptive wiles of his less scrupulous neighbors.

Gusta, the rhino lady, goes through different life situations with her friend Gusto, a rhino gentleman. In its simplicity, each of the twelve chapters has a deeper meaning, with Gusta and Gusto going through humanized emotions and circumstances. However, in a fantastic “animalistic” form, touched with the breeze of charming humor, poetry, and animalistic wisdom.

You’ve seen the movies, now listen to the original tale of John Dolittle, MD, the Doctor who could talk to animals! Join Doctor Dolittle, Polynesia the parrot, Jip the dog, Dab-Dab the duck, Chee-Chee the monkey, and more as they embark on a perilous and wonderful adventure to save the monkeys in Africa from a deadly disease! Cheer them on as they battle pirates and a ruthless king!

Little Joe Otter is playful and full of surprises. Peter Rabbit is curious. Peter is curious why he has not seen Little Joe Otter in the Smiling Pool? Wait! Did Peter just see two Little Joe Otters in the Smiling Pool? While Peter is trying to determine if there is indeed more than one Little Joe Otter, he learns some other lessons from the times "when the world was young" from Grandfather Frog and others.

This charming fable about unruly ambition and its inevitable consequences first appeared in The Delineator magazine in 1905.

Life and adventure in the Green Forest continue! Featuring Jimmy Skunk, Billy Possum, Peter Rabbit, Bowser the hound, and Farmer Brown's boy.

Many of his animal friends consider Grandfather Mole to be strange. It is not that he is strange but rather quite different from most of them. Grandfather Mole spends most of his time in his favorite place, underground. He loves digging and nature has equipped him with the body, legs, and feet to dig. Surprisingly, he can also swim quite well. Because Grandfather Mole spends so much time underground, he has very poor eyesight and hearing.

Chirpy Cricket loves to fiddle. He thinks everyone he meets should. However, as Chirpy meets other critters near Farmer Green's house, he learns that not everyone who fiddles sounds the same as he does. Along the way, he meets some strange crickets like the Mole Cricket who never comes above ground. Or the Cricket Frog who chirps like cricket but is really from the frog family. (Did you know there are over 900 species of crickets?) We also learn about some of the predators of crickets and how they hunt. But mostly, this story is about Chirpy.

Punk, the dog; Ponk, the duck; and Pink, the pig help Mrs. Tubbs after she is forced to leave her home. This charming story was written by Hugh Lofting, the Newberry Award-winning author of the Doctor Dolittle series.

Washer is a baby raccoon, who along with his brother's play together. One day Washer is playing with some sticks near a waterfall. He leans too far in and falls into the water. Luckily he is able to pull himself up onto a large branch going over the waterfall. His mother hears his cries but by then, Washer is over the falls and all raccoons fear he has perished. No raccoon has ever survived going over the falls. Washer manages to swim to shore but captured by Sneaky the Wolf and carried back to his den.

"The Tale of Ferdinand Frog" is a somewhat short story about a typical frog who has an amazingly wide mouth and queer, bulging eyes. Ferdinand is somewhat unflappable and hard to anger. Like many of Bailey's characters, he believes that others need to able to do the things he does. Like all frogs, his tongue is attached at the front so he can catch insects and Ferdinand doesn't understand why other's tongues aren't attached like his.

Androclus, a runaway Roman slave, befriends a lion with a thorn in his paw. They meet again in a Roman arena where the attraction consists of watching a lion devour a human. Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.

Farmer Brown's boy Tommy discovers an old gray stone in the pasture that magically transforms him into whatever animal he wishes to be. He shares adventures with Danny Meadow Mouse, Peter Rabbit, Old Mr. Toad, Paddy the Beaver, and others. Initially, Tommy believes that life for his furry friends is one big happy lark. But he quickly learns that life can be difficult for Mother Nature's furry creatures.

Paddy Muskrat lives in the millpond near Farmer Green's house with his wife, Mrs. Paddy Muskrat. He tends to get into trouble by saying and doing things that others do not understand, which occasionally causes problems with Mrs. Paddy. For example, when Paddy says he has fish to fry, which means he is very busy, others in the millpond interpret his words to mean it is eating fish they believe belong to them. Patty believes the millpond belongs to him and is never happy when others come to swim in it, especially Johnny Green and his friends.

Reddy Woodpecker is new to Pleasant Valley. Flying over Pleasant Valley one day, he decided to land and decided that it would be a good place for him to live. Reddy was strange to his new neighbors and some were rude and did not make him feel welcome but Reddy took it all in stride. As with all of Arthur Scott Bailey's animal stories, there are lessons to be learned about real life. For example, when Reddy met Cuffy Bear and they went hunting for grubs together, we learn about greed. Children are also introduced to new and different kinds of birds and their nesting and eating habits.

Spot is a farm dog. His master is Johnny Green, son of Farmer and Mrs. Green. As with many dogs, Spot manages to get into his share of scrapes. He has run-ins with some of the farm animals, most notably Miss Kitty Cat. Miss Kitty Cat and Spot have their battles, and Spot has the scars on his nose to prove it. Miss Kitty Cat would be happy if Spot were not on the farm at all. Henrietta Hen and Turkey Proudfoot are also not very fond of Spot. Spot wants to be included in most of the Green family's activities, and this leads to some interesting problems for them and Spot.

Solomon Owl lives in Pleasant Valley. As with most owls, he is a loner. He doesn't have many friends and instead, often sees others smaller than him as food rather than friends. We discover how Solomon deals with other animals in the Pleasant Valley woods such as Mr. Frog the Tailor, Cousin Screecher, Fatty Coon, Mr. Crow, noisy Jasper Jay, and Aunt Polly Woodchuck the herb doctor. The characters in Bailey's books can be grumpy and predatory and will bite when aroused. Traditional virtues - honesty, reliability, loyalty, perseverance - are encouraged and rewarded.

Jolly Robin is a happy go lucky bird. He does tend, however, to stick his nose into other animals' business and believes that perhaps, they should sing or act like him. For example, Jolly believes that the way he sings is the best way and other birds should sound like he does. Jolly tries to convince some they should change their tune. Since many things in the world are new to him, he also sometimes makes and spreads mistakes to his acquaintances with some unpredictable events.