A Family Trip and Books About Friends

This past weekend we took a mini vacation. After running the farm market all summer, it was nice to have a small break. Bobby, Emily, and I took my mom and sister along with us as we headed to Hocking Hills where we road on the Hocking Valley Railway. We saw some beautiful scenery along the way, but what made the ride special was sharing it with family.

 

The next day we headed to the farm__the Bob Evans Farm where we attended the 45th Annual Bob Evans Festival. We saw sorghum being pressed, we saw a lumberjack show, we saw the pig races, and so much more. The weather was perfect, the entertainment lively, and the company sublime. The broasted chicken wasn't bad either.

Although just a couple of days, it was quite a wonderful vacation. And upon arriving home, I found a couple more great surprises. The first was an invitation to next April's Southern Kentucky Book Festival which happens to be one of my favorite events. The next was an indie children's book that arrived in the mail. It was a book by Donna Abbott called Mazey's Dandelion - A Mississippi Puppy Tale.

It was the story of a dog named Mazey and her pet rabbit, Dandelion. In the book, Mazey is happy taking good care of her pet rabbit until a problem crops up. Mazey runs out of rabbit food. She despairs until a friendly neighbor helps her find a solution to feed Dandelion. This story would be great for four to six year olds and possibly a bit older depending on the child, and the bright and adorable illustrations will entertain children as well as the text. With Christmas just around the corner, this book might make a great stocking stuffer. 

I also read a book a bout friends called Stick and Stone by Beth Ferry. I liked this book because it reminded me of the above mentioned vacation with my family because as the book says, "Alone is no fun!" It is also the story about not letting others be bullied and sticking up for friends.

This book consists of simple sentences and simple illustrations, but is anything but boring.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015)and my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.