Finalist in Children’s Inspirational/Motivational Category in the 2012 U.S. National Indie Book Excellence Awards. No one can believe that Catalina would keep an old, dirty carpet she got from her very old grandmother. Charlie Zee would rather be anything else than black and white. And Alex has the biggest surprise of all when he opens his mouth to breathe fire… These are three stories about a camel, a zebra and a dragon who are all a little...

“As chance – or was it something else? – would have it, a little toadstool appeared in the planter the other day. You could call it a mushroom but unlike what you see in a typical mushroom, it was a pale, soft green, yellow color, amazingly delicate and beautiful in its petite symmetry.  Was this a fluke? Was it bringing a special message? Was its presence showing how important it is to take notice of what is around us? Perhaps the latter…...

“Was it you who asked, “Why is the sky blue?” when you were little? Did you ask “why” a lot then?  And when you went to school, were you the one who raised your hand to answer a question so many times that the teacher passed you over any time someone else had their hand up? Or maybe you never raised your hand because you knew the teacher had no answer for the questions you kept in your head? Perhaps most important now is, “Why have you...

“It must be the weather… the heat, not only sunny and very hot but also laden with high humidity, makes for some discomfort. The threat of severe thunderstorms confirms the heaviness of the day. Based on experience, you can generally anticipate a heavy downpour will bring relief: cooler temperatures, perhaps a lower humidex and maybe a little, refreshing wind into the mix. Transpose this description and you have a similar scenario playing...

“The more you hold them in, the harder it is once they finally have a way out. Your feelings need to be expressed particularly in these times when your sensitivity and their amplitude are increasing. Whether one attributes this increase to greater light energy or global circumstances is not as important as realizing that you are growing aware of yourself as a human, feeling being. Your sense of self – of who you are – is shifting from what...