Many of my posts that you’ve enjoyed throughout the year have been excerpts from my books and short stories. They make great Gifts!
Happy Holidays to all my WordPress readers, Janelle Meraz Hooper
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Bears in Hibiscus
Custer & His Naked Ladies
Boogie, Boots & Cherry Pie
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Janelle Meraz Hooper, Author’s page
http://janellemerazhooper.com/
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Chapter 3. Okra (the cat)
An excerpt from There’s a Mouse in the House!
Janelle M. Hooper, Jacob N. Studebaker, illustrations by Sherri Bails
There’s a Mouse in the House! Amazon Kindle
Jamaica, a little green parrot, plans lunch with Jupiter, the big black crow in the front yard…
Okra got his name when he was a kitten and Sally dropped a piece of deep-fried okra on the floor. He’d snatched it and took off running before Sally could pick it up. He thought it was a piece of fish. When he’d bitten through the crust there was no fish inside. Just something slimy and green. What a nasty surprise!
Jamaica could have told him if he’d been there but he was in Sally’s office at the time. Jamaica didn’t know what Okra would do without him. Sometimes, getting that cat through the day was a fulltime job. And sleep! Okra would sleep all day if he didn’t have Jamaica to call to him. Sometimes, he slept so soundly that Jamaica would have to fly over and bite his tail to wake him up. Once, he bit his ear, but he found out that waking up a big cat was a lot more fun if he wasn’t so close to the cat’s biting end. Jamaica knew that Okra hadn’t meant to frighten him but a cat was not a bird. He’d learned that much since he came to live with Sally.
Mostly, Okra ignored Jamaica’s attempts to make friends with Jupiter. As long as they stayed out of his bowl whatever they did was all right with him. This lunch thing that Jamaica kept talking about was going to be a big disaster. Broccoli and seeds? For lunch? What was that crazy green bird thinking?
Amazon:
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There’s a Mouse in the House!
Your toddler will love it!
Janelle Meraz Hooper Is an indie writer who writes in several genres (She wrote the traveling play, Geronimo. Life on the Reservation!). Stop by her book site to see all of her books. Paperback, Kindle.
One summer, Mr. Hop discovered a big pheasant in his garden. He decided to call him George, the Great Green Gooseberry Gobbler, because he saw him underneath one of his gooseberry bushes—quickly gobbling green gooseberries even though they were still green!
Sometimes, when Mr. Hop went to the garden, he would get real close to the gooseberry bush. George would sneak around to the back of the bush and peek at Mr. Hop through the bush’s branches. Mr. Hop began following him around the gooseberry bush, all the time fussing with the hoe, pretending he didn’t see his new feathered friend who was—sneakily gobbling green gooseberries.
Mrs. Hop thought they looked like they were dancing when Mr. Hop would hop around the gooseberry bush, swing his rake, and sing while George hid at the back of the gooseberry bush, flapping his wings, scratching in the dirt—hurriedly gobbling green gooseberries.
Mr. and Mrs. Hop were so busy watching George with his colorful feathers, they didn’t see the less brightly-colored mother bird hiding in the brush pile while George was—noisily gobbling green gooseberries…
There’s a Mouse in the House! is a favorite short story book of children all over the world through the Worldreader program. Written by Janelle M. Hooper and co-authored by Jacob N. Studebaker, the book is beautifully illustrated by Sherri Bails.