Read Me a Story, Ink

It's always a good day to fight pirates, especially if you're a dragon and a boy, friends for life. Even if your mother keeps telling you that the is no such thing as "people" and that you must curb your dragon imagination.

Gyffes Llaw is the finest shoemaker in Wales and the Princess of Wales goes barefoot for lack of good shoes. But it won't be easy for Gyffes to win her heart. "I will marry, but the man I wed must come to me neither on horse nor on foot. He must welcome me neither inside nor out. He must stand above me yet remain beneath."

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.

After Daniel's and Joseph's pa died at the Alamo, the boys joined Sam Houston's brigade to fight for Texas independence. After Santa Anna's surrender, Sam Houston passed around an ear of corn from their meager supplies and encouraged each soldier to take a kernel home so that they could cultivate the arts of peace as nobly as they had mastered the arts of war.

Amanda and her family have come to California to join her father in the mining camp but they find nothing but a few broken down log cabins. Soon Amanda is baking pies that her Pa sells to the miners and she is suggesting to traveling peddlers and wandering artisans that they settle down and open shops. Soon enough their cabin is smack dab in the middle of a Boom Town.

When Hsing Li's brother is injured, Li must deliver a critical military message to the emperor, but is nearly forced to turn back by a severe winter storm...that is until she outwits the Snow Dragon and gains his respect and support.

When Mary's papa announces he can't go to the mill because Buttercup is about to have her calf, nine-year-old Mary begs to go alone. Her mother calls her dauntless, her father gives in and Mary sets off on Old Major. But neither Mary nor Old Major are prepared to meet the biggest bear even seen in the Maine woods.

Dr. Bee is the greatest saucerer in the land. Why his sauces are almost magical. Or so that is what his young apprentice, Clara, discovers when she stirs the super-duper, extra special Christmas honeycomb caramel sauce with an old spoon she finds hidden away behind a cupboard.

Young John Maxwell and his dad live in a Nebraska soddy, two and one-half miles from the railroad crossing. But with a freezing rain storm and only a half hour to intercept the afternoon train, that two and one-half mile ride on their little black mare, Ozark, seems like an eternity to John who has to get help for his dying father.

Young Marci needs the help of her neighbor, Mrs. Gold to plan a surprise Hanukkah party for her recently emigrated family. Since religious practices were banned in her native Soviet Union, Marci and her family never learned the true history of Hanukkah or how to celebrate it.

After Jennie and her mother mixed the batter for the Christmas cake, Jennie took it into her sick father's room so that he could stir in his wish. Then Jennie and her mom both stirred in their wishes. Now, it was up to the Christmas Elf to grant one of the three wishes.

When an old trapper dies, his faithful bloodhound turns wild and fearsome tales grow around his mournful howl. But when the Wild Dog of Caucomgomac saves a young boy lost in the swamps, the townsfolk reassess their fears and give him a loving home for the rest of his days.

Rico has lived and fished alone since being jilted in his youth. But one day, Rico discovers that a pair of beautiful birds have built a nest at the top of his mast. He is ready to destroy the nest so that he can sail, but the local school-teacher convinces Rico of the rarity of the birds and the importance of letting them nest. Begrudgingly, Rico leaves the nest undisturbed and is transformed by the their beauty and the friendship of the villagers.

A gently told story of how small things can bring joy. Alice finds and old, engraved powder horn in Mr. Hall's antique shop. When she brings it home, she and her father decide to build a "rainy-day" room in the attic decorated in the same designs as the powder horn.

During the Great Peshtigo Forest Fire of 1871, Susanna's papa sets off to help his sister-in-law and her baby back to the river and safety. But before he can make it home the smoke becomes so thick he loses all sense of direction. Luckily, Susanna has the presence of mind to climb the bell tower of the old schoolhouse and ring the school bell giving her papa a beacon of sound to follow.

Zachary just can't seem to stay in his seat. But as it turns out, it isn't entirely his fault. Mr. Leeks, the old janitor, lets on that Zack's seat is the orneriest bucking chair at W. T. Mellon Elementary School. Well, yahoo! Looks like there's going to be a chair bustin' rodeo in the classroom at the end of the hall.

A fresh and lively retelling of a traditional German folk tale in which a piper is not paid his due for ridding the town of Hamelin of its rats. But he forewarned the town that his pipe could play many tunes and they paid the price.

Kate is refused entrance to Miss Perkle's School for Young Witches, that is until one of her spells saves the school from destruction and causes Miss Perkle to reconsider.

Jesse just can't help but get dirty, which is a problem when he goes to visit his aunt who lives in a town where EVERYONE is clean and tidy, that is until the soap bandit steals all of the soap. As everything and everyone gets dirtier and dirtier, attitudes begin to change, until the whole town understands how much fun it is to do things that might just get them a little dirty.

A young book lover thinks the librarian is a witch, only to find out how true that is when he is locked in the library after closing on a stormy night.

When the Kite Flier's wife dies in childbirth, the Kite Flier stops making kites until he realizes the joy they bring his infant son. From that day forth kites are what father and son share. Even when the son is grown and moved away, the first windy day of each year they both put a kite up and let is fly away as a symbol of their love for each other.

A thrilling account based on a true event which took place in Iowa, in 1881. A young Kate Shelley witnessed the collapse of a train bridge during a raging storm and risked her life crossing another trestle bridge in the pitch dark to warn the station master to stop the Midnight Express, which was already barreling toward disaster.

Ona doesn't have any particular talent, not like her brother, the swiftest runner, or her sister, the storyteller. In fact, Ona means "nothing at all." But when the dragon from the distant mountains threatens to burn their village, it is Ona that is clever enough and brave enough to riddle the dragon, sending him back to the high mountains and earning herself the name Kima Reetana-"Brave One, Who Riddles with Dragons."

In this lovely retelling of a traditional Norse legend, a young girl finds a frozen bird during a long cold winter and calls upon Eostre, the Bringer of Spring, to help save the bird. What Eostre does explains how a rabbit and brightly colored eggs came to be associated with Easter.

No young lad in Ireland made worse choices than Liam McLafferty, or so it would seem. It took the Fairy Queen to help Liam understand that his choices were really the best because they came from his heart.

When Darlene, Rooster's pregnant heifer, wanders off during an ice storm, Rooster and his best friend, Cotton, must find her before she gives birth. Unfortunately, they are too late and they have to figure out how to get the newborn to safety. Rooster comes up with a cunning plan, but when Darlene decides she doesn't like it, Rooster's plan falls apart and all hilarity breaks loose.