Mary Russel's Book Store

Flickertail the llama & Paint the horse are peace keepers and peace lovers. They understand the value of teamwork, love, and friendship. They believe in helping others. Join them in the fun and antics as they solve various barnyard mysteries and help their friends find solutions to a variety of problems in this anthology of heartwarming and sometimes funny tales.

Suggestions for Educators 

Each story contains at least one unfamiliar word to help expand vocabulary.

 Have the children guess what each monster is in Taffy’s Monsters.

Learn history in the Horse Heroes of WWI, The Case of the Missing Shoes, and Scotland’s Battle of Bannockburn. The children might enjoy reenacting the battle too.

Test math skills in Is She or Isn’t She.

Explore Bolivia and its culture in Flickertail’s Llama Mama.

Just like Flickertail & Paint, put on a play based on Agatha Christie’s Halloween Party.

Have the children discuss what they might have done differently to help Flickertail’s and Paint’s friends.

The stories in Flickertail & Paint, Barnyard Sleuths are fun and intriguing. The purpose of the book is to capture imagination and pique curiosity to encourage further research and exploration.

Why I Decided to Share Rudolph, a Child’s Love Story
We are all the sum of our past experiences. Although fictionalized, Rudolph, a Child’s Love Story was written as therapy and as an effort to make sense of an unhappy early childhood. I needed to put my past behind me and to move on.
   As I wrote it, some wonderful things happened. I realized that children and adults who have felt unwanted, unloved, and unaccepted might benefit from it. Perhaps, through my words, they too would discover the power of knowing they are worthy of love and happiness.

Perhaps, my story could help to heal the hurt and stop the pain. Perhaps, like me, they would also begin to understand and to forgive.
Synopsis
When 10 year old Becky learns her family isn’t her birth family, she has a difficult time accepting it. She feels betrayed by her birth mother and she wonders what she did to cause her mother to give her up. An adopted friend tells her that the difference between being adopted and foster is that he has a forever home while her birth mother can take her away from her foster family at any time.
   Feeling insecure and frightened, Becky asks her foster mother why they haven’t adopted her.

Product Description

Price: $9.95

US Shipping: $4.00

 by Mary Russel

Product Details

ISBN: 978-1-4512-3598-2

# Pages: 86 pages

Dimensions: 6x9

Format: Softback

Product Description:
Containing no graphic violence or sex, no profanity, and likeable main characters, the Sleuth & Scribe series is safe for children and fun to read for adults who enjoy cozy mysteries.

In 1969, the body of a young woman was found at the bottom of a fire escape. It was Mike Holden’s first case. The police, eventually, decided it was an accident but Mike was never convinced it wasn’t murder.

Forty years later, an old memory causes Mike to reopen the case. Follow Mike as the Sleuth, Alice as the Scribe, and Mike’s dog, Deke as they chase down old leads and historic memories of the Weather Underground, the Vietnam War, and the Peace Corps in Thailand.

$9.95 & $4.00 US shipping