Read Me a Story, Ink

The first of three lovely, interconnected stories about nurse Mary Breckinridge who created the Frontier Nursing Service and spent her life riding the isolated hills of Appalachia bringing medicine to their poorest residents and building clinics.

Arcite, the coldest queen, feels neither joy nor sorrow. At the suggestion of her High Counselor, Arcite sets out on an adventure in hopes of finding both. In her chance encounter with the great Bully Legged Bogle, she finds, at last, both sorrow and great joy.

  Each night the alchemist and the mouse meet in the lab to try to make gold. But after so many years, it is as much for friendship as it is for the gold. One night – almost absentmindedly – they succeed with just enough to coat the mouse's whisker but the Alchemist can't even remember how he did it, or perhaps simply doesn't want the nightly friendship to end.

Juan had wanted his own Rhino for the longest time. Then, one birthday, his parents gave him a Rhino. But after a short few hours of fun, Juan realized that the Rhino was homesick and Juan had to figure a way to get the Rhino back to the Serengeti. So, Juan stuffed his Rhino into a hatbox…

It is the Ogres' sacred trust to watch over human beings, but when Oni's mother is killed by humans she vows to never help a human again. That is until she begrudgingly saves, then befriends a young woman who is drowning.

When an old woman shows up in a prosperous village with twelve beautifully bound books that contain all the knowledge and all the wisdom in the world, the town refuses to buy them for one sack of gold. By the time they realize the true cost of ignoring knowledge and wisdom it is nearly too late.

A pirate has captured everything but the moon.  After many attempts, he finally comes up with a plan to own the moon but in the end, it is the moon that captures the pirate's heart.

Critch, an old witch who is living in a time past the time of witches is befriended by a strange young girl who helps her with her failed spells and keeps her house entirely too clean. When the girl brings her brothers, sisters and friends, Critch finds she has a place after all, as a storyteller.

When Hogbone and his gang ride into town, the sheriff and his men are just a holler up the creek fishing. Unfortunately everyone is too scared to holler and saving the town is up to young Wally who tricks Hogbone into a hollering contest.

Old Mikila came each day to feed the wild cats at the base of the light house, all the while ignoring the teasing of the lighthouse keeper. But when she fell sick, it was the very same keeper who fed her beloved cats thus starting a friendship that brought warmth to their aged lives.

According to legend, if you see a leprechaun and don't take your eyes off him, he must take you to his pot of gold, which is just what a traveling tradesman does. But in the end, he is outwitted by the leprechaun's sad but clever story.

On the day of their emancipation, field hands on George Thomas' plantation threaten to leave unless he builds a school to educate their children. Young Sarah, the mistress's personal slave, is conflicted between taking her freedom and dedication to her mistress but decides to stay on awhile if she can go to the school and study to become a teacher.

John had been reading to his younger brother, Matthew, his entire life. Early on they discovered that something happened when the two of them read together, they found themselves IN the story. When Matthew was knocked out by a baseball and lay in a coma in the hospital, all John could think to do was to read to him, which had unexpected and amazing results. 

What Jeff mistakenly thought was a black velvet rope in the doorway to his classroom turned out to be the tail of a huge black panther - a panther that no one else saw, and it had clearly chosen Jeff.  But why?

Elderly best friends living at the Feldon's Downs Nursing Home always look forward to Christmas when they can exchange their precious whittling knives…until one Christmas when neither knife can be found, but snow falls gently for the first time in 100 years.

Skivvy and Cuttle the Dragon, team up with Robin's merry men to save Robin Hood from the Sheriff of Nottingham's dungeon.

Shorty Long took pride in his reputation for never paying anybody the money he owed them, but Widow McCrae, who ran the Silver Dollar Café, was determined to ruin his reputation, and get back her four dollars and fifty cents.

Kenneth is the worst reader in his class until a mysterious purple book appears on the bottom bookshelf of the reading corner. Each day there are fewer pictures and more words but each page chronicles events in Kenneth's life that haven't happened yet.

When a princess is born, the Fairy Who is Good with Names names her the "Princess Who Kicked Butt." However, the King and Queen hear the "Princess Who Reads Books." It takes an Evil Enchanter, a kidnapped king and queen, a handsome page and a horse named Hates Everything to allow her to live up to her real name.

Third-grader Loren doesn't like taking tests until she is contacted by the top-secret Iowa Test Site to be a test tester. Charged with her new duties, she settles into answering the questions seriously while looking for flaws. And if she ever has any questions, she can contact any one of the four secret test agents: Eeny, Meeny, Miny or Moe.

"The outdoors smelled like cotton candy mixed with the fresh scent of pillowcases dried on a clothesline." It was clearly fluffle-picking time, and Charlotte's dad thought it could be the best crop in six years. Thousands of stuffed bears, blue whales, monkeys, and other critters just ripe for the picking from the fluffle trees in Plush Grove.

When a young boy steps into a new bakery to get out of the rain, he is invited to help with the baking. But he soon finds out that what they are really cooking up is the weather… sprinkle the flour and the rain comes down, stir the bowl and the wind whips up.

When a young boy is captured by a band of robbers and forced to do their bidding, he foils their attempts to steal by taking their instructions too literally.

When Swamp Thing appears in 12-year-old Lily's closet, with sorrowful eyes, begging for help in cleaning up his trash-strewn home, Lily elicits the help of her classmates in forming the North Florida Nature Preservers to clean up the swamp. But she keeps her friendship to Swamp Thing her special secret.

After his wife and son die in the epidemic of 1918, Jonathan Ford must find a way to keep his farm alive and instill the will to live in his young, influenza stricken daughter, which he does with love, ingenuity and some electric pumpkin seeds.