Meet Blanco, the Last Lighthouse Giant

Ages ago, giants arrived on the coastlines of the world. They built tall round houses on the dark headlands. From their high windows they shone bright lanterns out to sea to guide ships safely past their homes.
Blanco is the last of the lighthouse giants. From sunset to sunrise he shines his fish-oil lantern from his house on Cape Humbug, to aid steamer ships along the Oregon coast.
Jenny Hughes, age ten, is Blanco’s friend. Jenny lives with her father, Jacob, on the Hughes Dairy Ranch below Cape Humbug. Each day Jenny and her father bring Blanco a kettle of clam chowder for his daily meal. Jenny teaches Blanco reading and writing. In turn, the lighthouse giant teaches Jenny, who wishes to become a marine scientist, the ways of the ocean and its creatures.
Blanco’s job is threatened when a conman arrives in Port Beaver, hoping to replace the giant with a first-order Fresnel lens and modern machinery. Can Jenny help save the giant’s lighthouse job? A tough task considering the entire town is against her.

The School Day Begins

It's Monday morning at 7:01.
You’re still half asleep; your homework’s half done.
Your shower is cold; your oatmeal’s dry.
Your mother forgets to kiss you good-bye.
You’re walking to school; it’s thirty degrees.
Your fingers won’t work; your toes and ears freeze.
Your zipper is stuck; your left sneaker squeaks.
Your backpack strap snaps; your soup thermos leaks.
You slip on school steps; you trip in the hall.
The toilet floods in the bathroom stall.
The gym door is locked; library’s the same.
The principal greets you by the wrong name.
Your classroom is hot; the coat rack is packed.
Your bean sprout is dead; your clay pot is cracked.
Your pencils are dull; the sharpener jams.
Your fingers get crunched when your desktop slams.
Your math partner’s gone; your neighbor is rude.
Your teacher’s again in a crabby mood.
The morning bell rings; it's 8:01.
Come cozy up to the whiteboard,
Another school day has begun.
🎼Hear the song The School Day Begins (video) Listen and watch

Anta Claus & Carol

Meet the Pixels
The one millimeter tall family

Global warming has wrecked havoc upon Upper Poyntz Colony. The Pixel Corps of Discovery is sent out to find the source of the excess CO2 in the atmosphere.Days later, the Pixel's plane crash lands in a strange world, on the desktop of fourth-grader Faith Singer. Being one millimeter tall, the Pixel family--Speck, Dotty, Bitty, Nano, and Grandpa Grain--must take a long, perilous journey to escape through the inside of the desk.

"A fable about finding your bliss."
Our teacher, age ten, rescues a sea lion who tells him about the magical Thinking Cap, a hat, when worn, reveals a person’s innermost desire.
In pursuit of the cap, our teacher travels around the world, and in the meantime discovers his calling, his true purpose, what he was meant to do with his life.

X

Behold the excellent X,
It expects no excuses.
Dictionaries give it one page.
But it has many uses.
In math it means multiply.
It fills squares in Tic-Tac-Toe.
Romans counted it as ten.
It’s a kiss when with an O.
On bottles it says don ’t drink.
Coaches draw it for a play.
And when written before mas,
It becomes a holiday.
On treasure maps it marks spots.
With Brand X you can not tell.
Sign on the line beside it.
It’s jumbo before an L.
It names a generation,
Or sports that daredevils do,
It’s the last name of Malcolm,
And a ray that sees straight through.
So if math problems stump you,
Don’t sit at your desk and pout.
Use this exciting letter,
And X the whole thing out.

BuyThe Last Lighthouse Giant Amazon hardback
BuyChildren's Game Amazon hardback
BuyThru Hiker Amazon hardback

Two Fingers

Grandpa says they mean victory.
“It’s the peace sign,” my mother said.
But at school they’re called Bunny Ears,
When we hold them behind a head.
Teachers raise them to mean ‘quiet’.
Scouts raise them when their oath’s begun.
But we just raise those Bunny Ears,
When we want to have some fun.
🎼Here's the song Bunny Ears (video) Listen and watch

They perch on the streetlight at the corner of College and Ashby.
Estelle is polite and tidy. Del puts the "pig" in pigeon.
Somehow these birds manage to get along.

Zeke Martin and Cyra Nichols run VR Services, an online tech startup that creates customized virtual reality trips. But they have more fun using their VR skills and equipment helping the Bayview Police Department solve crimes. This time they investigate why many dogs and cats around Silicon Valley are being petnapped.

“Online, no one know we’re just twelve-year-old nerds.”

Class out of control? Will no regular substitute dare enter the fourth-grade classroom? It's time to press the red button under the office clock to summon Miss Subway, the substitute of last resort. This sub has the right gadgets in her canvas bag to put the fourth-graders back in order.