ABOUT THE ALL-COLOR EDITION
SYNOPSIS: This 100-page, all-color book of short stories is about my two chocolate Labs, with each story describing an amusing event in their lives as they grow up in Texas. The introduction, as are most of the stories, is written as if Belle...the alpha female...wrote it and explains to the reader just what the book is about. The first chapter deals with our picking out the pups and naming them, while the remainder of the book is composed of stories describing various events, including a Texas gray squirrel the size of a small farm animal, a flock of extremely brave ducks, our neighbor Bill’s cat named Rusty, Chloe’s confrontation with a pair of door-to-door preachers, Molly’s meeting with a possum, and backyard BBQ cookouts.
BOOK’S AUDIENCE: While the book’s Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score ranges from grades 4.6 to 9.0 (depending upon the story), readers of all ages - from parents and grandparents reading the book to their kids at bedtime...to students in the classroom...and even residents in retirement communities...have written to me telling me how much they enjoy The Misadventures of Belle & Chloe. But what I enjoy most is hearing that my book is causing children of all ages to pick it up and start reading it for themselves, from small children to older students who teachers consider ‘reluctant readers’.
WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE: A few years ago my wife suffered a stroke and lost her math skills. One of Cathy’s doctors thought that perhaps a steady dose of reading could “re-instruct” her brain and that her number sense might return (she suffered no other ill effects from the stroke...she just couldn’t do simple math any longer). Now, since reading was never too high on her list of things she liked to do, I began writing short stories about our two insane Labs, Belle and Chloe, in hopes that she might find something she enjoyed to read. Cathy read and re-read the stories, and soon our friends and their children (and grandchildren) began reading them too. In time, it was suggested that I publish the stories in book form. On January 1, 2009, The Misadventures of Belle and Chloe appeared on Amazon, and before the end of the month, Barnes and Noble.com picked it up. On July 1, 2009, The Expanded Edition rolled off the presses, and it’s been a hit ever since. Not only does the new book contain the original chapters, but it also contains over 50 additional pages and over a dozen new tales written by Belle and Chloe themselves.
Oh...and today, Cathy’s math skills are completely back to normal.
