A NEW BOOK!!

Normally I write about horses and horse training. There is a connection to the Kenyon Bear Books. Those of you who are familiar with my work know that I often refer to the classic children’s story Black Beauty. I reference that book when I talk about the underlying belief system that supports training choices. In the mainstream, conventional horse world horses are viewed as stupid animals, and because they are stupid, you have to use force to train them. What’s added to this is: “Don’t worry, dear, they don’t feel pain the way we do.”

I never bought into this description of horses. I believe that horses are intelligent animals who have a rich emotional life. Here’s how I describe the unapologetically sentimental perspective I bring to horse training: “I read Black Beauty when I was little and I cried when Ginger died.”

That’s the connection between horse training and my newest children’s book. I was very much thinking about Black Beauty and Ginger when I wrote i

I’m never very good about talking about my own books. I’m always afraid I’ll say too much and give the story away. I’ll just say that the book is filled with magic, adventure, friendship, and a happy, though bittersweet ending. It is a book I would have loved as a child. I know I would have read it over and over which is how all the best children’s books are read.

Give the gift of reading to the young readers in your life.

Visit my web site: theclickercenter.com to learn more about my new book: Sara’s Story, The bear Nobody Wanted and the rest of the Kenyon Bear Books.

The publication date for Sara’s Story is June 30, 2024. You can order it now through my web site. You will have to wait until June 30 to order it from Amazon.

Enjoy The Kenyon Bear Books

The Kenyon Bear Books: “Teddies to the Rescue” and “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real”

Order them through my web site: theclickercenter.com or get them from Amazon.

In “Teddies to the Rescue” I introduce you to Kenyon. Kenyon lives in the window of the Shuttle Hill Herb Shop.

The shop was a real place. For twenty years the children in the village could visit the bears playing in the window. They never knew what the bears would be doing. They might be heading out for a wintertime adventure . . . ,

or helping to keep the shop neat and tidy.

The books turn their adventures into stories everyone can enjoy.

You can order both books from my web site: theclickercenter.com or through Amazon.

It’s Publication Day!

It’s Publication Day!! Help me celebrate by ordering your copy of “Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted to Be Real” today!!

I know I’m supposed to be offering you all sorts of limited time offers to get you to buy the book, but that’s never been my style.

Instead I’ll share a review of the book that a reader sent me when Edgrr was first published in 1987:

“Emma (Age 6) and I snuggled down with Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted to Be Real, and read it straight through. When we finished, we felt wonderful and thought it was a very special and important thing that Edgrr learned. Thank you for sharing.”

The Kenyon Bear Books are stories to grow up with. They are stories that will be read over and over again, as all the best stories from our childhood were. It’s a gentle magic. There are no super heroes saving the world, just teddy bear size adventures to be shared at bedtime.

Order your copy through my web site theclickercenter.com or get it through Amazon. If you live outside the US, that’s your best option because you will save on the international shipping.

Edgrr is available both in paperback and hardcover. They are different sizes. The paperback is the perfect size for reading aloud and sharing the many illustrations. The hardcover is for your young independent reader. As they fall asleep, they can tuck the book under their pillow to inspire their own nighttime adventures.

Help me turn Edgrr into an Amazon bestseller. Order your copy today!!

Tomorrow is Publication Day!

Edgrr The Bear Who Wanted To Be Real

Tomorrow is Publication Day!

From the Book:
And now was a time to warm cold paws, dry wet fur, and munch marshmallows.  Edgrr decided that marshmallows were something real bears ate a lot of.  But he couldn’t decide how he liked his done best. 

He tried roasting them slowly so that they were an even crusty brown all around the outside.  That was delicious.  Then he tried putting them in the hot part of the fire until they burst into flame.  They turned black, but inside they were soft and gooey.  He liked that, too.  It was a hard choice.

“Let’s have a ghost story,” piped up one of the little bears.
 
“Yes, Kenyon,” said another, “tell us a story.”

Kenyon paused in the act of skewering a marshmallow onto his stick. 

“I don’t know any stories,” he teased.

“Of course, you do.  Tell us a story.  Go on, you’re the oldest.”

“Oh, all right.”  He thought for a moment.  He stared across the fire at Edgrr.  He knew the perfect story.  “All right.  Here goes.”

Tomorrow is Publication Day!!! You can order your own copy of “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real” and share Kenyon’s ghost story with your young readers.

Go to my web site: theclickercenter.com or order it through Amazon.

Edgrr: A Sneak preview continued:

All day long Edgrr lay in a heap just as the little girl had left him.  Kenyon shook his head.  He just did not understand him.

“Don’t you want to be adopted?” he asked.  “Don’t you want to be loved?”

“No,” Edgrr growled.  “Real bears do not need love.  Real bears live in the woods and eat berries.  Real bears do not need anybody.”

Kenyon sighed, but it made him sad to think of all the wonderful things Edgrr was missing.

“We must help him,” Kenyon said to the other bears.  The shop was closed for the night, and all the people had gone home to their nice warm houses. 

“We must show him what it is like to be loved.”

“But how?” asked all the other bears.

“I do not know,” Kenyon sighed, “but we must think of something.  We must.”

So, all the bears sat and thought.  Kenyon wrinkled up his forehead as hard as he could.  No one said anything.  The shop got very very quiet.  Outside the wind howled and blew gusts of snow up against the window.  It was a cold February night and Kenyon was glad to be inside.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed.

“What’s it?  What is it?”

But Kenyon put his paw to his lips and winked meaningfully in Edgrr’s direction.  “Shh . . . .  I’ll tell you later.”

You will have to wait just a little bit longer to hear Kenyon’s plan. My new book, “Edgrr the Bear Who Wanted to be Real” will be published on February 1 2024. You can order it now from my web site: theclickercenter.com, or after February 1 through Amazon

Edgrr – A Sneak Preview Continued

Edgrr: A Sneak preview continued:

The key turned in the lock, and the shop owner walked in.

“Get over here at once,” Kenyon hissed.  “Someone will see you.”

“Then I shall growl and scare them away,” declared Edgrr.  “I am a real bear.  I won’t sit in the window anymore.  I won’t! I won’t! I won’t!  And you can’t make me!”  he shouted. He ducked under the table cover and hid between two large cartons.

Kenyon groaned, but he couldn’t move from the window.  A young mother came in with her two little girls.  They came up to the front of the shop to pick out a bear.  Kenyon watched in horror as Edgrr crept out from under the table and stalked up behind the little girls.  He was growling under his breath and looking his fiercest.

The eldest girl turned around and saw him, but she wasn’t a bit afraid.  She picked him up and gave him a big hug.  Edgrr went limp and put on his scowliest face.

“What about this one, Mommy?” asked the little girl, holding him up so he could be seen.

“No, I don’t think so, dear.  He doesn’t look very happy.  Put him back in the window.  What about this one?  I like this bear.”

She picked up a cinnamon-colored bear who smiled and grinned, and could barely keep from laughing out loud at the thought of being adopted.  The little girls liked him a lot so the shop owner tucked him away in a pretty gift bag, and off he went to his new home.

Edgrr will be published on February 1, 2024.

You can order both books through my web site: theclickercenter.com

Or you can get them through Amazon. You can order Edgrr on Amazon after Feb 1 2024.

I’ll share more tomorrow.

Edgrr: A Sneak Preview Continued

Edgrr: A Sneak preview continued:

Kenyon Bear did not understand.  Kenyon was the shop’s bear.  He was bigger than the others, and he lived in the window year round.

Kenyon like to help the little bears find good homes.  He didn’t mind not being adopted himself.  The shop was his home, and he had many good friends who came to visit.  But he did not understand Edgrr.

Just before opening every morning Kenyon did a check of the window.  It was his job to make sure all the bears were back in their places before any people came in.  After a full night of playing, it wasn’t always easy to remember where everyone belonged.

  On this particular morning Kenyon looked around at each of his friends.  Chester was sitting up straight and tall on Hector the toy horse.  Six little bears were sledding down a hill of cotton snow.  In the side window four more bears were cutting out valentines.

  “One, two, three, four . . . .”  Kenyon did his head count.  “Wait a minute, I’m missing someone.  Oh no! Where’s Edgrr?”

  Kenyon checked the window again, but Edgrr was not to be seen.  The shop would open at any moment.  He couldn’t start a search now.  They’d be caught.

  And then he saw Edgrr.  He was hiding under a table over by the tea cupboard.  But it was too late to do anything about it. 

Edgrr will be published on February 1, 2024.

You can order both books through my web site: theclickercenter.com

Or you can get them through Amazon. You can order Edgrr on Amazon after Feb 1 2024.

I’ll share more tomorrow.

A Sneak Preview

Enjoy a sneak preview:

Edgrr was a teddy bear.  He lived in the window of the Shuttle Hill Herb Shop along with all the other bears.  The problem was Edgrr did not want to be a teddy bear.  He did not want to be cute or cuddly.  He did not want to be picked up and hugged. 

When families came to the Herb Shop to buy a teddy bear, Edgrr would look fierce.  If anyone picked him up, he would scowl at them.

“I don’t like this bear,” he would hear them say.  “He’s too cross.  I want one that’s smiling and happy.” 

When they dropped him and picked up another bear, Edgrr would be pleased.

Edgrr will be published on February 1, 2024.

You can order both books through my web site: theclickercenter.com

Or you can get them through Amazon. You can order Edgrr on Amazon after Feb 1 2024.

I’ll share more tomorrow.