The little boys of summer

Asher's elephant had fallen asleep for his afternoon nap, but now he heard something.  It was a plinking, cracking sound that came every few seconds.  Crack!  Then a pause.  Plink! Then another pause. Plink! And after another pause, crack!  This was not the sort of noise Asher's elephant had heard before.  Nor was it the kind of noise one wanted to hear during a nap.  So Asher's elephant opened his eyes and he spread his ears out to try to get a better sense of what was going on.  He could hear the swoosh of something through the air and then that loud noise again.  He peered out to see what was going on.  Before his eyes was a broad yard; no, it was a field, and on it a number of little boys stood.  Some were crouched down into little squatting stances and others were rolling their heads around, staring aimlessly into the sky.  Asher's elephant noticed that they all had big brown or black gloves on one hand.  They also wore different hats on their heads, but each had a long brim in the front.  After a moment Asher's elephant found the source of the noise he had heard.  The "plink!" drew his gaze to a little boy who was twisted all around like a pretzel.  The little boy unwound himself like a boa constrictor and raised a stick, no, a bat, above his head.  A tall man, who also wore a hat, stepped forward and put a white, round orb onto the top of a thin black pole.  The little boy grimaced at the sphere.  Then with his whole body clenching, he flung his torso and arms around and with a "crack!" he sent the perfect ball into the blue sky.  It raced with a flash up and then slowed down as it turned back to the earth.  Now the little boys were hopping around and darting back and forth.  Several of them eased towards one another as though they were dancing together.  The ball plopped down into the grass and rolled a few feet until one of the boys reached down and picked it up.  With all his soul and with all his frame he hauled the ball back into the air, almost lifting himself up off the ground, as the ball went soaring back towards the tall man with the hat.  A buttlefly floated on the air, and the little boys started to chase it.  Asher's elephant wanted to chase it too.

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

Snow Storm

"This is an emergency weather bulletin.  Please stay tuned for an important weather warning.  A severe snow storm watch is now in effect.  Snow accumulation of ten feet is possible.  All listeners should take emergency precautions."  Asher's elephant heard Asher's dad switch the radio off.  Asher's elephant could not believe what he had just heard; ten feet of snow in December?  In Florida?  He immediately knew what had happened.  The night before Asher and Asher's elephant had been filling up cups with ice and running back and forth between the ice dispenser and the toilet, filling the toilet with ice.  Who knows how many cups of ice they had dumped in the toilet.  Then they had flushed it all down.  Asher had heard that if you put an ice cube in the toilet and flushed it down then it would snow.  So they thought that if they put a lot of ice cubes in the toilet then it would snow a lot.  Asher's elephant heard Asher's dad turn the radio back on again, wondering if he had heard the weather forecast correctly. "All listeners are reminded that this is not a drill.  The National Weather Service is calling for twenty feet of snow now."  Asher's dad was clearly worried. He said that twenty feet of snow would bury the house.  Asher and Asher's elephant now worried that there would be too much snow, that they might not even be able to open the front door.  Asher told his sister what they had done and she recommended they flush popcorn down the toilet.  She had heard this would help the sun shine and prevent all cold weather.  Asher went to his mother and asked her for some popcorn.  After she had popped a bag Asher grabbed it and ran to the bathroom.  He started flushing individual pieces of popcorn down one at a time.  "How much should we put in?" he asked Asher's elephant.  "Put the whole bag in," said Asher's elephant.  So they flushed the whole bag down.  Thankfully the toilet did not stop up!  They ran back to the family room and Asher asked his dad what the weather forecast was.  He turned the radio back on.  "Amazingly, the blizzard has blown out to sea and there will not be anymore snow.  In fact we're headed for unseasonably warm weather now; pack your shorts," they heard the weatherman say.  It was a close call.  Asher and Asher's elephant swore that was the last time they would mess with the weather.

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

The great journey

One morning Asher's elephant awoke to see that Asher's dad was packing his bags for a trip.  Asher's elephant wondered where he was going.  Asher's dad had been on trips before, but Asher's elephant never seemed to get to travel anywhere.  Perhaps he should tag along this time, he thought.  When Asher's dad was not looking, Asher's elephant snuck into his backpack and hid.  Asher's dad zipped up the backpack -- Asher's elephant was going on a trip!  He listened to the journey for many hours, as they took a taxi to the airport, a plane, and then another plane, and then a bus.  When Asher's elephant emerged from the backpack, he looked around.  Where was he?  There were mountains, a lot of dust, and a deep blue sky.  Asher's dad walked around and Asher's elephant went with him.  At one point they stopped by a funny house on stilts.  There was a man sitting inside the little house, which only had a chair, a counter, and a stove.  The man was in a uniform and had a funny pakol hat, but he invited Asher's dad in for tea and an interesting flat bread called naan.  As Asher's dad and the man were enjoying breakfast they saw a herd of camels off in the distance.  Asher's elephant was very interested in this strange land and its men with long beards.  At the end of the trip, Asher's elephant snuck back into the backpack and listened to the journey back, which included another bus, two more airplanes, and another taxi.  It was a great trip, but it was also good to be home.
See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

A mysterious visitor

Something was not right. The day had started like any other, but at some point in the day Asher's elephant noticed that Asher's sister had disappeared and someone else, a mysterious visitor, had seemed to take her place. Asher's elephant was not sure who it was. The visitor spoke with a strange accent and had a very interesting hairstyle. It was normal for a person to wear glasses, but the ones the visitor wore did not have any lenses in them. While Asher's elephant knew it was not polite to stare, he just could not help looking at the stranger's nose and then looking at the stranger's face; they just did not seem to go together. In one way the stranger seemed familiar to Asher's elephant, but he just could not figure out what it was. Finally he asked Asher who the stranger was. Asher said, "you don't know Billy Bob Joe? Let me introduce you." "Billy Bob Joe," Asher said with a sort of chuckle, "this is my elephant." "Pleased to me you sir," said Billy Bob Joe. Then Billy Bob Joe and Asher laughed and laughed. Asher's elephant was a little puzzled; what was so funny he thought to himself. "Don't worry," said Billy Bob Joe next, "it's just me." With a quick tug at the glasses Asher's sister took off her disguise and Asher's elephant soon saw it had only been a mask. The "mystery" was solved.

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

Off on an adventure

Asher's elephant decided that he wanted to go on an adventure, so he climbed down off of the bed, which was no small feat. First he tied a jump rope to the bed post and then wrapped his trunk around the rope. He slid down very carefully, guiding himself with his feet, and pausing on the bed frame to collect himself before setting out again. He landed softly on the carpet, let go of the jump rope and set out toward the bedroom door. It was open slightly and he pulled back on it with his trunk and then wedged himself through the opening. Asher's elephant looked down the hallway and decided to walk to Asher's sister's room. When he got to her door, he found it was closed. There was nothing he could do to get it open. Next he headed toward the bathroom. Maybe he would take a bath he thought to himself. The bathroom door was open and Asher's elephant went in. He climbed up the steps in front of the toilet and stood on top of the toilet seat. There was a gap between the toilet and the bathtub, but Asher's elephant could jump across if he lined up just right. He stepped back to the edge of the toilet seat, took his aim, and then went running to the other side. Just before the edge he lept into the air, stretched out his ears and trunk and landed firmly on the side of the bathtub. He inched over to the faucet handles and turned on the hot and cold water for a warm bath. After a couple of minutes he turned the water off. Now Asher's elephant lined up for his favorite part. He was going to run down the edge of the tub and jump in. He was ready. He ran forward, angled to the right, jumped, and landed with a SPLASH!

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

With a tchroooosshh!

Tchroooosshh. Tchroooosshh. Tchroooosshh. Tchroooossheee. Such a nice noise was Asher's elephant's first thought as he awoke. The waves at the ocean do make a nice noise. Each wave builds up way out at sea; the lightest breeze or the smallest wiggle of a fish can get it started. As the waves move forward they gather up other little waves to join them, and together they grow into medium-sized waves. When they get that big they can dance and ripple at the surface, catching sun rays and shining them back to the sky like a handful of stars. The medium-sized waves run together and try to race each other into the shore. Sometimes they get going too fast and stumble, breaking a white crest of a wave while they are still far out to sea. As they get closer to the beach the sea floor gets closer to the sky, which pushes the waves up higher and higher. By the time the waves get to the shallow shoreline they merge together into big, long waves. Some of the medium-sized waves miss joining in and they sputter in like choppy splashes in a mud puddle. The big, long waves rise up high and then lean over onto the beach, curling forward like long fingers. With a tchroooosshh they crash into the sand, spreading out as thin as they can to see how far onto land they can go. Then after a pause, suggesting they want to stay longer, they fall back into the next wave, trying to stay long enough to be propelled forward again if they can, before retreating and then rushing far, far back to sea, to start all over again.

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK

Storm

Asher's elephant was enjoying the baseball game. He loved the sound of the crowd yelling, he loved the smell of peanuts and popcorn, he even loved the music the announcer played between innings. And what a great game it was too; one player hit a grand slam! Suddenly it started getting darker though, and the wind began blowing. Cups and napkins swirled up into the air, flying and floating up higher and higher, then spinning around and diving back down, only to fly back up again. Some of them even flew out of the stadium; who knows where they went. The air got cooler and instantly buckets of rain began falling on the players. They ran to the dugouts and the stands emptied, with fans running inside like lines of ants fleeing back into an ant hill. Fortunately Asher and his family were sitting way up high in the nose-bleed section, under an overhang, so they did not get wet. They just sat and watched the groundskeepers pull a huge blanket out that they laid over the baseball diamond. What fun! Then there was a flash and a slow, grumbling rumble of thunder. With lightning in the area, Asher and his family had to get out of there. So they ran through the rain back to their car. On the way home they saw trees knocked down in the road and the stop lights were out in many places. When they finally got home they found that the lights were out and it was very dark. Asher's elephant wondered what they would do with no lights. Then Asher's elephant heard Asher's mom pull some candles out of the cupboard, light them, and set them all around the room. It was like having stars inside the house! That night they went to bed with the candles and listened to the rain fall on the roof. It was quite a storm!

See the first Asher's Elephant story children’s book: (board book) http://bit.ly/cjepRz and (kindle) http://bit.ly/axIzeK