Mary Ney Gilhooly
This book will entertain youngsters with its fanciful tales of talking raccoons, a pet fawn, a goat that's always in trouble, flowers from heaven and a frog named Freddy. There are also a cheerful water sprite named Pixie and the knight who won a surprising battle. If, among the pages, a life lesson is learned, that's okay. For beginning readers as well as sophisticated pre-teens, the book will be a delight to read, with prose that flows with its own rhythm and simple but well-constructed language. Little ones will love to have the stories read to them, again and again. Two of the stories have been read to grade school classes, and they loved them. You will love them all.
MARY NEY GILHOOLY has previously authored two successful books. She grew up on a ranch in Medina County, Texas, the rural area described in her first book,
The Windmill's Song and Other Memories of a Country Child. Mary won her first writing award at age sixteen and has had feature articles published in the
Dallas Times Herald and the
Hondo Anvil Herald. Her second book,
When Memories Go Missing, deals with her mother's experience with Alzheimer's disease. Mary has an M.A. in Psychology and has, for many years, provided a grief recovery program for her church. Mary and her husband make their home in Dallas. This book,
Rambunctious, Rogue and Rapscallion, features a trio of talkative raccoons in just one of several entertaining stories for children.
“OH! NO! NO! NO! BG, you shouldn’t eat my tablet!” Tommy yelled. He was very upset with his pet. He knew Miss Bentley would never believe a goat ate his homework. “Shoo, BG. Go play somewhere else. Now, I have to write the words again.”
Tommy gave BG a little push and began to redo his lesson. Tommy became more careful with his possessions after that evening. He also learned how to think quickly to help keep BG out of trouble.
The fastest ever Tommy had to think was the day he and his parents returned from visiting his grandparents. BG had been dozing in the back yard when the family drove away. It was a calm and peaceful scene: the sun was shining brightly, there was an occasional playful breeze, and some clothes were drying on the line.
After a while BG woke up. He felt bored. He looked around for something interesting to do. Just then a breeze blew by and the clothes on the line danced up and down. To BG, the jumping clothes looked quite interesting. Perhaps this could be a new game. It might be fun. He trotted over to the swinging clothes. He tried to catch them with his teeth. He caught a towel first. He liked the coarse feel of terry cloth on his tongue. He had never eaten a towel before and he really enjoyed this new food.
He caught a sheet next but it was too bland for his taste. Not much flavor, he decided, and moved on after just a few bites. Tommy’s blue jeans hung next to the sheet. BG tried chewing them. They had a wonderful robust texture. “I could make a whole meal out of these,” BG thought. And he did.
There was one other piece of clothing still dancing in the sunlight. It was Mom’s best blue dress. Mom really liked this dress. The long sleeves were trimmed with beautiful while lace cuffs. When BG had eaten all he wanted of Tommy’s jeans, he moved on to Mom’s dress. His sharp eyes noticed the frilly lace right away. He took a little test nibble. What a delightful light taste!
BG had never eaten anything so fragile and delicious. The lace was so light on his tongue it felt like meringue. BG was reminded of Mozart’s music. In his mouth, the lace felt like Mozart’s music sounds: light, airy, delicate. BG took another bite, this time a bigger one. He let this lace that felt like meringue just melt on his tongue. The lace was even better than meringue. It had all the light fluffiness of meringue but it lingered on the tongue much longer. BG continued nibbling at the unexpected delight until Mom’s cuffs were bare.
“OH, NO! NO! Not my best dress,” Mom cried when she saw what BG had done to it. “BG, you’re a BAD BAD goat!”
Tommy thought faster than he had ever thought before. He talked much faster than he had ever talked before. “BG didn’t mean to be bad, Mom, I know he didn’t . . . you can make your dress like new again with more lace . . .and I LIKE my jeans the way BG fixed them . . . they look like cut-offs now . . . yeah, that’s what they look like . . . like a pirate’s cut-offs and I like ‘em just fine that way . . . and there’s enough of the towel left to make wash cloths and you know how you’re always saying we need more wash cloths . . . and he hardly ate much of the sheet at all . . .” Tommy finally ran out of breath.
BG could tell from the sound of Tommy’s voice that it was time to head for the back gate. He started to trot and then he skedaddled. Tommy went running after him. “Wait, BG! Wait for me. We have to talk,” Tommy shouted after him.
Tommy stayed very close to BG for the rest of the week and kept his pet out of trouble. Then came Sunday and the family went to church. BG walked around in the backyard. He was lonesome without Tommy. He decided to go visit his three friends in the big bedroom
