Storybook Railroad

This is the story of how a mouse unintentionally changed Christmas. It is spoken by the authors of the children's book of the same name. We hope you enjoy this delightful Christmas story that imagines how a mouse chewed a hole in the bellows of the church organ with the mission of finding a perfect melody for Silent Night. His misunderstanding of where melodies come from led to his unintentional a...

Mary Ann's dog, Rudy, learns an important lesson about not judging others and about being careful about feelings of revenge. This story is written by Larry Whitler and first appeared on the Robin And The Giant radio program in the early 1990s. It is part of the anthology of stories included in the "Gift Of The Barking Frog" book by Robin MacBlane and Larry Whitler. The bonus song included after th...

Four children have a school assignment to research history and present their discoveries to the class. At first they go to the library to decide what historical event they would focus on. Then, when they bump into the grandfather of one of the children, they realize that history may be closer than they realize. In fact it is right in their own attic! Written by Robin MacBlane, "Memories" first app...

Johnathan and Wanda know that the birds fly south in the winter. But, what they don't know, is where, exactly, the birds fly to. In this story the two children take their inquisitive minds and use some good old fashioned library research to try to uncover the answer to this perplexing question. Written by Larry Whitler, "The Mystery Of The Missing Birds" first appeared on the Robin And The Giant r...

Shannon loved playing make-believe with her toy Pegasus that she named Shasta. Her imagination enabled Shannon to pretend to fly on the winged horse, play with the birds, and even chase away the evil hunters. But, in real life, Shannon's true dream was to own a horse of her own. A real horse. In this story, written by Robin MacBlane, every young girl's dream is expressed as Shannon and Shasta take...

Sometimes it takes the mind of a child to show us all which things are really valuable. In "A Jelly Jar Mint of Belly Button Lint" three little children show the rest of us that nothing is worth more than spending time with someone we love. Written by Larry Whitler, this story first appeared on the Robin And The Giant radio show in the early 1990s and is found in the book "The Gift Of The Barking...

Field Trip, written by Robin MacBlane, was one of the most popular stories that we did in the early 1990s on our old radio program Robin And The Giant. It tells a simple tale that every school child, and former school child, remembers with fondness. The original broadcast of this story included the song, "Field Trip," also recorded and written by Robin And The Giant. The story can now be found in...

This is a story about a puppy, a six year old boy, and a Dad. They all are learning from one another as they each have to face the consequences of their own mistakes. Written by Larry Whitler, Bobby And Fluff Pup was first heard on the Robin And The Giant radio program in the early 1990s. It is also found in the book "The Gift Of The Barking Frog."

A young girl, named Sadie, doesn't feel as beautiful as she feels her older sister is. Even though she is truly beautiful on the inside, Sadie wants to be beautiful on the outside, too. The lesson Sadie learns about the true beauty that is already within her is learned with the help of the costume lady from a local theatrical group. This story is written by Robin MacBlane and was first made public...

Mary was a dancer but she didn't believe in herself. Her friend, Harold, however, completely believed in her. It took a while but Harold finally convinced Mary to audition for a major dancing job at a show in New York City. This is a story about confidence and friendship. It is a story about believing in oneself and pursuing one's dreams. Written by Larry Whitler in the early 1990s, "A Dancer Danc...

When one of the new students in Mrs. Bryant's sixth grade class told some incredible stories to the other students, about his life and his family, his classmates felt inferior and less accomplished. Mrs. Bryant noticed that the fibs the new student was telling were making the other students feel unimportant. Since it would be wrong to call the new student a liar, Mrs. Bryant had a better idea! Wri...

Joe Gurney lived a long and lonely life in the days when everybody was scurrying in the wild west to find gold. But Joe was different and never cared much for gold. In fact, Joe Gurney was most interested in why people spent so much time searching for gold. When Joe Gurney died the people of Cowtown found themselves victim to their own obsessions and the ghost of Joe Gurney made this perfectly cle...

Two friends visit the Museum Of Natural History and take a ride into the distant, and not so distant, past. Their travels through time reveal the ways that humans have had an affect on the environment. The two children also learn how the lessons learned from those past mistakes have helped humanity realize that we need to be better stewards of the earth. Written by Robin MacBlane, this story first...

In this bonus episode of Storybook Railroad, we visited the Gibsonton International Independent Showmen's Club Circus in Riverview, Florida. The circus is a fundraiser to benefit local charities. Everything was done by volunteers! All of the performers, musicians, clowns, box office workers, animal handlers, and even the owners and installers of the tent and seating volunteered their time and tale...

A young homeless puppy stumbles upon the home of an older and much more affluent dog. The friendship seems unlikely to the younger pup but the older, and wiser, dog knows the importance of being patient and gentle. In the end, it is love that levels the playing field. Written by Larry Whitler (The Giant) this story first appeared on the Robin And The Giant radio show in the early 1990s. The song t...

Nine year old Amanda gets to spend some time at an observatory with her Uncle Jack, who is a scientist. Together they explore the night sky through the lens of a telescope. In the process, Amanda learns about the planets in our solar system and Jack learns to make believe as the two of them pretend to spot a fleet of menacing flying saucers. This story was written by Robin MacBlane and first appea...

Fourth grade classmates Kathryn and William were going to fly kites with William's father at a nearby park. William had his kite for two years but this would be the first time flying it because his Dad always had to work. But this was his father's day off and today would finally be the day they would get to fly the kite. But when the phone rings, and it is William's father's boss asking him to com...

A make-believe circus is coming to school and the children in attendance learn an important lesson about how everyone makes a big difference in the lives of the others around them. Written by Robin MacBlane, this story first was broadcast on the old Robin And The Giant radio show in the early 1990s. It also appears in the book "The Gift Of The Barking Frog."

Mrs. Christopher's 3rd Grade Class was going on a field trip to an amusement park called La-La-Land. It was young Evan's first time going to La-La-Land and his mother told him it would be fun and educational. But the lessons he learned from this field trip were from the conversations he heard from his classmates. One was concerned about being a know-it-all, another was speaking condescendingly abo...

As a writing assignment at school, four children write a skit for the school stage that portrays a mock boxing match pitting school lunch against lunch from home. The children in the audience love the presentation and, in the end, the story shows that both lunch options can be healthy if the right foods are chosen. Written by Robin MacBlane, this story first appeared on the Robin And The Giant rad...

Eric and Susan, ten and eight years old respectively, along with their mother, visit their great-grandfather in the nursing home. Great-Grandfather was a songwriter in his younger days. The children bring gifts to their Great-Grandpa that represent his love of music. But it isn't until the children learn that hit group, The Razors, recorded one of Great-Grandpas old songs do they really become exc...

In this bonus episode of Storybook Railroad, we showcase the event that kicks off the holiday season in Ocala, Florida. It is called "Light Up Ocala." 2018 marked the 35th anniversary of this annual downtown party. In this podcast you'll hear us talk about some of the places we visited during that event including the pinnacle of the event which is when city officials lead a count-down and the ligh...

A popular television physical fitness program has come to Randy and Max's elementary school. The children are all very excited about the program and about meeting the stars of the show, Galaxy and Jade. Randy is especially excited because he loves everything about sports and physical challenges. Max doesn't feel quite as excited as his friend because he is more interested in art. But when Galaxy h...

On this bonus episode we take a field trip to the Silver Springs State Park for a very popular event called Ocali Country Days. We spoke to several guests including author and boat Captain Connie Mann, and National Geographic Photographer Mark Emery. In this podcast we also speak to several participants in Ocali Days who taught us a lot about life in the 1800s, the importance of protecting the env...

When Sal and his son, Anthony, discover that they have no more of Grandpa's secret pizza spices, they decide to create their own recipe. As they experiment with the ingredients Sal tells Anthony that the family has been hounding him to create a franchise of his restaurant. He explains, however, that he really would prefer to live a simpler life and just have the one restaurant. In the process Sal...