Did You Get the Answer to Last Week's Puzzler?

Where to begin?

After Oscar Otter finished his morning walk today he came back to our shell and announced that he might have seen a mermaid in the surf a few feet from our beach.  Penelope Porcupine said, "There are no such things as mermaids!"

"There are so!" Oscar replied.

"How do you know?" Penelope challenged.

"Because."

As they seemed to have reached an en passe, they asked me to settle the matter for them.  Not wanting to take sides, I said, "The truth is, I don't know.  But I like the idea of mermaids and would welcome the news that they exist."

"That proves it," Oscar said.  "I'm right!"  They've been arguing about it ever since.

Oh!  I just remembered that I asked you last week if you knew what word rhymed with 'bones'.  Remember?  The hint I gave you was that the word might have something to do with the kinds of chairs that Queens and Kings sit on.  If you guessed the word 'thrones,' you were right and should be proud of yourself!

Here is the the drawing that goes with last week's drawing entitled 'a dinosaur made out of bones' from my upcoming book, More Things You Might See: A Rhyming Picture Book for Kids Learning to Read.

This one is called, 'A Queen and King on their thrones.'  I hope you like it:

Well, we've had quite a day!

Oscar found an old metal detector on the beach this morning and spent most of the day searching for the keys to our blimp.  Unfortunately, he didn't find them --- or anything else for that matter.  He was very grumpy when he got back so Penelope found some nice grubs for him to eat.  I took a look at the metal detector and discovered why he didn't find anything; the device has no batteries!  I didn't have the heart to tell him.

Since my book Things You Might See: A Rhyming Picture Books for Kids Learning to Read achieved a #1 Bestseller's Ranking on Amazon last month, I've decided to write a followup called More Things You Might See.  I drew the picture below for the new book.  The picture is called, "A dinosaur made out of bones."

Since this is a rhyming picture book, can you guess what the drawing might be that will accompany this drawing?  Remember, it rhymes with bones.  I'll give you a hint: it might have something to do with the kinds of chairs Queens and Kings sit in.

Have fun guessing!  Thanks for stopping by!  See you soon!

Oh, and here's the picture:

I have to talk to you today about birthdays.  You know how we people celebrate our birthdays once a year?  And you know that they say that a dog will age about seven years in one year?  Well, it apparently doesn't work either of those ways for porcupines or otters.

Penelope the Porcupine will sometimes declare, "Today is my birthday," even though she might have made the same claim just a few days before.  She sometimes decides to have a birthday several days in a row and sometimes will go months between birthdays.  This seems odd to me and somewhat unlikely, but I am not a porcupine, so who am I to question?

Oscar the Otter, on the other hand, has stopped having birthdays.  "If I stop having birthdays I will not age and I will never grow old," he told me.  I asked him why he thought that that was true.  "I dreamed it," he answered.  I tried to explain that dreams are not real but he interrupted me by saying, "Yes they are!"  I asked him how he knew that dreams are real and he said, "Because I dreamed it.  And if dreams are real and I learned that fact in a dream then dreams are real.  You can not argue with my logic."  After being friends with Oscar for several years, I've learned that it is sometimes better not to argue with him at all.

At any rate, Penelope woke up this morning and declared that today is her birthday.  She then set about making herself a chocolate birthday cake with onions and tadpoles while Oscar and I filled some balloons with helium.  When the cake finished baking, Oscar took the balloons to Penelope and we sang Happy Birthday to You for her.  Unfortunately, Penelope accidentally backed into one of the balloons with her quills.  The sound of the bursting balloon startled Oscar and he accidentally let go of the balloon strings and the balloons all floated off into the sky.

"Isn't that beautiful?" Penelope smiled as she watched the balloons float away.  "This is the best birthday I've ever had!"  Then she and Oscar ate the chocolate cake with onions and tadpoles while I turned and looked the other way.

And that is the end of the story of Penelope's birthday and the burst balloon.

Thanks for stopping by!  It was nice to see you today and I hope to see you here again someday soon!

Things You Might See #1 on Amazon!

Things You Might See: A Rhyming Picture Book for Kids Learning to Read achieved a #1 Amazon sales ranking in two children's book categories last month.

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