For years I had enjoyed my back yard, just sitting and relaxing in the warmth of its sunshine, the coolness of its shade, and the beauty of its gardens. But not until recently did I ever surmise for one moment how many backyard critters one could have visiting or living there. So I decided to watch and study any of these critters that made themselves apparent to me. As I would sit and watch these critters, I kept thinking, 'Why all these critters, large or small, must have a story to tell'. Through your imagination, these critters will lead you through their tales of fun and excitement with some unexpected twists and turns around every corner. ENJOY!

Learn from home and explore the world with these fun and easy board books! Young children love to look at bugs. Here’s a Hello, World! board book that teaches toddlers all about the insects in their backyards—with colors, sounds, sizes, and super-simple facts. Hello, World! is a series designed to introduce first nonfiction concepts to babies and toddlers. Told in clear and easy terms and featuring bright, cheerful illustrations, Hello, World! makes learning fun for young children. And each sturdy page offers helpful prompts for engaging with your child. (“Chomp! A bright red ladybug munches on a leaf. Point to each of its spots.”) It’s a perfect way to bring science and nature into the busy world of a toddler, where learning never stops. Look for all the books in the Hello, World! series: • Solar System • Weather • Backyard Bugs • Birds • Dinosaurs • My Body • How Do Apples Grow? • Ocean Life • Moon Landing • Pets • Arctic Animals • Construction Site • Rainforest Animals • Planet Earth • Reptiles • Cars and Trucks • Music • Baby Animals • On the Farm • Garden Time • Planes and Other Flying Machines • Rocks and Minerals • Snow • Let's Go Camping • School Day

Come join the fun as one travels through this collection of non-sense tales. Ever wonder what shoes talk about? Enjoy the fun and excitement as you visit Stanley's Shoe Salon. If you are ready for a windy ride, stop a moment to visit with Mama Sunshine and Papa Moonshine and see what their Weather children are up to. Rocking chairs are supposed to be for old folks but wouldn't you be interested in finding out the rocking chairs spin on it? Granny's Kitchen will leave you breathless. What's All Gone With The Wind? This story will keep you laughing to the end. I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Till next time, The Story Lady

Traditional stories from the northern Colombian coast, in both English and Spanish. These twenty-one animal tales from the Colombian Caribbean coast represent a sampling of the traditional stories that are told during all-night funerary wakes. The tales are told in the semi-sacred space of the patio (backyard) of homes as part of the funerary ritual that includes other aesthetic and expressive practices such as jokes, song games, board games, and prayer. In this volume these stories are situated within their performance contexts and represent a highly ritualized corpus of oral knowledge that for centuries has been preserved and cultivated by African-descendant populations in the Americas. Ethnomusicologist George List collected these tales throughout his decades-long fieldwork among the rural costeños, a chiefly African-descendent population, in the mid-twentieth century and, with the help of a research team, transcribed and translated them into English before his death in 2008. In this volume, John Holmes McDowell and Juan Sebastián Rojas E. have worked to bring this previously unpublished manuscript to light, providing commentary on the transcriptions and translations, additional cultural context through a new introduction, and further typological and cultural analysis by Hasan M. El-Shamy. Supplementing the transcribed and translated texts are links to the original Spanish recordings of the stories, allowing readers to follow along and experience the traditional telling of the tales for themselves.

Dear Reader, During my adventure travels I found that Miracles are for everyone, that is, for everyone that hopes, expects, and prays for them. I’m sure the characters in this story – The Knight’s, The Benson’s, The Whitcomb’s, King Moola-Lah, his 7 wives, and 17 daughters, along with Dr. Fillmore and Dr. Koomo, yes and even a puppy dog named Pete, would agree. Read on and see if you also will agree with this, remembering, All Miracles are Adventures!

Five new fantasy stories from The Story Lady's nodding off times will leave you warn hearted, laughing, amazed and excited as each story transports you to the exact location of these fun-filled adventure fantasies. These tales for the whole family from the youngest to the oldest will give you a quiet, sit back, kick your shoes off kinda time. Fade the frowns from your face and let these Nodding Off Stories, Papado Babaretta, Pewtilla Puttaloomus, Wee Hello-Weeze Mactavish, The Adventures of William W. Wabbit, and An Ad-Venturesome Tale, put a smile in its place.