Magical children’s chapter books

These children’s chapter books are great for bedtime stories, assemblies in school, or for journeys. Each chapter contains a mini story within the bigger story and in this series there is a touch of magic, to make the reading fun for readers.

Why not download them onto your child’s e-reader or treat them to the paperback version.

The Green Book

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Tiny Tyrannosaurus

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Pablo the storytelling bear

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Here’s the first chapter of Pablo the storytelling bear.

Bill’s Gift

Bill wanted to play football but the day was too hot. His grandparents had bought him a cuddly toy for his birthday, but he’d been hoping for a goalie outfit. Pablo, the fluffy white polar bear, was cute but Bill was seven years old.

He wasn’t too upset though, because there was a massive chocolate birthday cake for tea.

At bedtime he climbed up to his bed to discover the little polar bear already tucked in, but what he hadn’t expected was that the bear was snoring.

Bill backed away and looked all round his room. He suspected Emily, his sister, was hiding somewhere and playing a trick on him.

‘Are you in bed yet, Bill?’ called his dad.

‘Yes, almost,’ said Bill.

He picked up the little bear and moved him over to one side so that he could get into bed. By the time his dad came to kiss him goodnight he was snuggled down. Once the door had closed again, he heard a voice.

‘You woke me up,’ said the little bear. ‘I was having such a lovely dream’.

Bill sat up. ‘You talk?’

‘Of course, I talk.’

‘Well, most bears don’t talk and most toys don’t, so how do you?’

‘It’s a long story. You see I was once in the family of a little girl, called Jenny, who was very ill. She couldn’t do much. She would lay in her bed day after day, with just me for company. She was so bored and so unhappy and that’s when it happened.’

‘What happened?’

‘Gertrude Hermione Humbug happened. She just appeared like magic. Jenny had fallen asleep, but I was wide awake and I said to the little lady that there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t talk at that time, but she read my thoughts. I told her how awful it was when someone was left lying in bed, sometimes in pain, with nothing to do. She agreed and said something must be done. I asked if she was going to cure Jenny and she said she’d have to work on that, but in the meantime, she’d give me a gift.’

‘What was it? I wanted a goalie outfit for my birthday.’

‘Well, that wouldn’t have helped Jenny much, would it?’

‘I suppose not.’

‘What she gave me was a head full of stories. Of course, I couldn’t tell Jenny the stories without being able to talk, so really, I had two gifts.’

‘That’s wonderful,’ said Bill, ‘and did she like your stories?’

‘She loved them and they made her feel so much better. After several months she was up and about again. I was so happy.’

‘So why aren’t you with her now?’

‘You do ask a lot of questions, don’t you?’

‘That’s my job. I’m a child,’ said Bill and the little bear laughed.

‘I was so happy she was well again. I really was. At first, she took me with her. Then sometimes she forgot, until eventually I slipped down the side of her bed and she never thought about me. Then her mother cleaned her room and took me to a car boot sale.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Bill. ‘Still, you wouldn’t be with me now if she hadn’t done that.’

‘True. I just hope Gertrude Hermione Humbug doesn’t come and take my gifts away.’

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Writing Challenge (including short story).

A friend of mine gave me a writing challenge. Thank you Elizabeth Horrocks. It was to write a story or poem including the following:

Character:A child

Date:1942

Genre:Crime

Colour: Blue

Animal: Alpaca

I’ve completed this challenge and will post my writing within the next week. Why don’t you give it a go as well? Send them to me in the comments and I’ll upload so that others can read them. Obviously I won’t publish any that are unsuitable. It’s a great challenge and certainly makes you think.

I’ve left it a few days before posting my attempt. It is a work in progress. I hope you enjoy it.

The Winter of 1942

Tommy let himself into the house after school. His mum thought that he went to Auntie Vera’s down the road and that she fed him a sandwich, but she said she wasn’t wasting her rations on him. At such a tender age he didn’t realize that his mum was paying Vera to keep an eye on him, so at eight years old he was quite resourceful. He had to be.

In the Summer it wasn’t too bad. He passed the allotments on the way to school and often went in and helped himself to a few carrots or runner beans. It wasn’t hard because the gates and most of the fencing had been taken away. In the Autumn there were apples to scrump and blackberries growing in the hedges. In Winter things were tougher. He didn’t like doing it, but sometimes he pocketed a bun from the corner shop. Bread wasn’t on ration and he’d have paid for it if he’d had any money. He wondered what would happen if Mr Jones ever caught him.

Tommy’s mum worked at the factory and although she didn’t earn much, some of his friends were worse off than him. One of his friends didn’t have any shoes. Dad was away. Mum never talked about him and if his name cropped up Mum would start to cry. She also cried when letters arrived from Japan, with big black lines on them. He didn’t know what they said because they were in a scrawling, spidery writing.

The war had been going on for as long as Tommy could remember. They lived on the outskirts of the town and Tommy knew that when the big sound sang its ugly song, he had to go into the shelter at the bottom of the garden, whatever he was doing. He didn’t like it in there, especially on his own, because it was cold and dark and had the most awful smell. Mum had put a blue blanket in there to keep him warm but it was damp and rough.

One day Tommy was very hungry. He’d given his lunch to Daniel, who hadn’t had any breakfast and was sitting crying in the playground. Daniel’s feet looked a mixture of blue and mauve. Tommy pulled up his warm, long woollen grey socks.  They may have lots of darns in them but he didn’t care. Some of the others had been picking on Daniel, and Tommy had felt sorry for him.

It was cold and after school it started to rain. He slipped into the corner shop to keep dry. He was standing just inside the door when he heard Mr Jones being threatened by a young man.

‘Give me the money in the till or I’ll beat you up,’ said the man.

Tommy saw Mr Sikes, the local policeman, on the other side of the road. He slipped out of the shop and ran over to him. Soon they both returned, and P.C. Sikes arrested the young man.

‘Well now Tommy, you must have a reward,’ Mr Jones said, handing him a bun. ‘You can pick anything you want.’

Tommy saw a pair of soft red woollen gloves on the counter. They were on a pile of gloves in a box marked for the Land Girls.

‘My mum would really love those red gloves. They’d keep her warm when she does her volunteer work at the soup kitchen. I could give them to her for Christmas.’

Mr Jones hesitated for only a moment and Tommy sunk his teeth into the bun he’d been given.

‘Well, Mrs Jones knitted them with her special alpaca wool which she’d been sent by her brother, who was travelling in Peru, before this awful war. I’m sure she won’t mind my giving them to you after what you did today. I never thought they were suitable for the Land Girls anyway.’

‘Oh, thank you,’ said Tommy. ‘I hope they’ll make Mum happy until Dad comes home. She cries whenever his name is mentioned.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Mr Jones, not looking at all confident about the gloves keeping Tommy’s mum happy.

‘You know young man, if ever you’re at a loose end after school, I’ve always got a few jobs you can do in exchange for a mug of tea and a bun. We need smart young men like you around.’

Tommy left the shop almost skipping home. The rain had stopped. He had a lovely gift for his mum for Christmas and he could earn his buns in future

Take a fantasy break.

This trilogy is about special powers, magic and intrigue.

Earth in the fifth millennium is a dangerous place. Some parts of Earth have become contaminated by wars and pollution. Genetic experiments and evolution have given a few humans special powers, but even these make the person vulnerable to kidnap, exploitation and incarceration.

Why not explore this strange world of the future, full of love, fear and passion with these three engaging characters, Vrail, Seek and Aley.

The Truth Finder is £1.99/$1.99 on Kindle.

The Visualizer is £1.99/$2.71 on Kindle.

The Healer is £1.99/$2.74 on Kindle.

All of these books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited and paperback versions are available.

Do you enjoy poetry?

A Happy New Year to everyone. Let’s hope 2023 brings peace, time to read and take a moment.

Above you will see all my poetry books. My aim is to write poetry that is accessible to everyone and that will touch your emotions. Hopefully you can find poems in these books that will make you laugh, or give you pause for reflection.

The Shadows of Love is the only themed book, but it’s about all forms of love – some more comforting than others. My latest book, A Patchwork of Poems, is written largely from writing prompts, but also contains some pure observations of life, some fantasy ideas and some humour. Nature’s Gold and Autumn Gold both have poems celebrating the joy of nature and a mix of other poems.

All my poetry books are £5 for the paperback and FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

I hope you can find something you can enjoy.

Nature’s Gold

mybook.to/NatureGold

Autumn Gold

mybook.to/AutumnGold

The Shadows of Love

mybook.to/shadowsoflove

A Patchwork of Poems

mybook.to/Patchworkofpoems