God Inspired

     Debra travels to classrooms and libraries to share her spontaneously created stories.  They are interactive and educational:  children give her names for the characters, different kinds of creatures and objects; they add descriptive words and review sounds that might be used during the story and finally, she weaving all of this information into a story where the children are then drawn in, finding themselves roaring, stamping their feet or growling (they absolutely love this!) to enhance the story line.  This is a fun way to learn how to use nouns, action verbs and adjectives when creating a story--they don't even know they've had a lesson!  She does tape the story and make sure the teacher or librarian receives a copy to share with the children later.

She is willing to travel up to 300 miles from her home town of Salinas, CA at present and will expand on that sometime in late 2012.

     Simply fill out and mail the application with the appropriate information and she will contact you within a 7-10 business days of receiving the request with information about rates.

     Debra creates unique stories peppered with your child’s name, their friends names and special things they love.  These fun stories can be secular or faith-based.   (She is a Christian, so that is the easiest for me, but she is certainly willing to research any faith and weave it into a story if that’s what you want.) 

     You decide what you want when you complete the application.  These are not like the simple “Johnny lives in Kansas” storybooks you see advertised everywhere.  There is plenty of indivi-duality put into these stories and they do take time, so please don’t be put off by the 8-10 week turn around.  If she feels it may take longer (especially for those started completely from scratch), she will contact you.  These books are bound simply, depending on the age of your child, but should withstand many a reading!

Underlined words indicate typical personalization, in addition to a personalized dedication page 

 Virginia's Dilemma, ages 13-15:   "...Again, the music began, louder this time -- and coming from the door that separated the band room from the choir room.  “Ok…that’s it!”  She jumped up from the bench and raced to the door.  Virginia threw it open hoping to catching whoever was playing a prank on her – for that is what she decided was happening.  Nothing.  No music – but even more bizarre, no choir room!

  “What th – ”  Just bright, empty space. 

  “What’s going on?”  She turned to look back into the band room to make sure her imagination wasn’t playing tricks on her, then turned back to look at this bright void in front of her, framed by the band room door.  It was too much.  She slammed the door shut, hand still on the handle, visibly shaken by the experience.

  “I – I must be dreaming – or something!” Muttering under her breath, Virginia shook her head.  She reopened the door, inch by inch.  The bright light leaked into the band room as the door opened.  Now, she could hear the faint, haunting music emitting from the choir room.  The wider the door opened, the greater the sound.  She shielded her eyes from the brightness of the light.  An incredible calmness swept over her as the music compelled her to step into that nothingness... Now, the music grew more and more faint, until Virginia could hear it no longer.  This saddened her.  It had so filled her with such lighthearted feelings of joy and love – she didn’t want it to stop.  But it had.  As the music faded, so did the intense, bright light.  Now, she could see before her an uncluttered room, with only a piano and bench seat.  There were no light fixtures.   Instead, the walls, floor and ceiling gave off a subtle, iridescent glow – enough light to see everything. Everything.  She noticed with great curiosity, that this room was without any kind of shadows. 

  “Hmmm…maybe they are there, just not that noticeable,” she chuckled and wondered if Ms. Richards would be able to explain this phenomenon to her.

  As she gazed upon the simple elegance of the room, she once again could feel that she was drawn—towards the piano this time. 

  Natural enough, but…She hesitated only momentarily before approaching the beckoning piano.  She touched it with great care. 

  It’s warm—almost alive!  This piano begged for her to play it.  She sat down, hands now poised over the keyboard and thought of her troubled piano piece.  It began to play in her mind, but it sounded different somehow.

  “Wow.  It sounds as if it’s trying to tell me a story.  I’ve never really noticed that in this piece before.”  She  said thoughtfully.  She sat there, mesmerized, as the piece played out.  When it was done, her hands began to play, as she had always done in the past.   She could feel the music – the emotions that welled up – and realized that this piece could easily represent her life!  It flowed so closely to what she had been experiencing this last month…all the ups and downs, frustrations and hurts. 

  Why didn’t I see this before?  This music intrigued her.

  “Because you were too busy trying to perfect it in your own mind.”

  Virginia spun around so fast, struggling to keep from falling onto the floor.  Her heart raced as she gasped.  Before her stood a man, near the door she had entered through.  He was taller than her dad, with a gentle demeanor, and all around him seemed to glow – his white robes, his white hair, his face.

  Oh, yes!  His face – and his smiling eyes -- are captivating.  She thought perhaps it was just due to the glowing of the room at first glance, but realized it was actually the man that glowed.  Staring at this spectacle, her head tilted with curiosity.

  “Wha – what – I mean, who are you?” she stammered, still staring.  “And how did you…I mean, I wasn’t talking, was I?  I…I – ”

  “Virginia, your thoughts are my thoughts,” he spoke so quietly, yet she heard every word with such precision. She wondered if he was reading her mind. "

  Water Boy, ages8-12: "...Johnny drug himself out onto dry land.  Standing there looking down at his wet clothes and soggy shoes, he wiggled his toes.  The water squished out of his shoes and dripped from his clothes as he created a big puddle around his feet....He made a big sigh, shook his head and then join in with Matt's laughing.  As the two of them laughed, they realized they could hear a very low hum that seemed to come from the center of the pond.  Johnny motioned for Matt to be quiet.  They quickly quieted and turned to where it seemed the sound was coming from.  In the pond, they could see an ever-increasing circle coming from the center, just like when a rock is thrown into water, only much larger.

  “Whoa!” exclaimed Matt.  “What the heck is that?  Hey, Johnny, what’s goin’ on?  Did you do something when you fell into the pond?”  The low hum seemed to be getting much louder now and they could actually feel the ground vibrating beneath their feet.

  “It sure is gettin’ loud.”  Matt  tapped Johnny on the shoulder and pointed up into the trees.  The branches had begun to sway and the leaves were fluttering as if there was a fairly strong breeze, yet the air was still.  “Johnny, this is getting a little too weird for me.  Let’s get out of here!”

  Johnny didn’t have any time to respond.  As he opened his mouth to speak, they heard a crack and a snap.  Both looked up to see that one of the branches had suddenly broken free from the tree and was on its way down.  The two boys were in its path.  Matt grabbed Johnny’s sleeve and the two of them scrambled to safety as the branch hit the ground.

  “Whew!  That was way too close!” panted Johnny, as the two recovered from the near accident. “Thanks for grabbin’ me, Matt.  That was really weird.”  They could not hear the rumbling any more and there was no movement in the trees.  “I wonder what caused it.”  He shook his head and put his arm over Matt’s shoulder, laughing, “Boy, that was close.  Hey!  Maybe is was something like an earthquake.” 

  Matt absentmindedly answered, “Yeah!”  Then he added, “Johnny, listen!”

  They listened for any sounds.  There was nothing.  “This is creepy.”  Johnny shivered as he realized that not only was there no vibrating sounds, but the trees were usually full of singing birds.  He stopped and looked around.  There was not one bird to be found.  Not one song being sung.  “It’s too quiet, Matt.”

   Matt nodded, “Yeah, I noticed.  Where did all the birds go?”  ..."

  The Christmas Play, ages 8-12:  "...She was one of the shepherds and was still wearing her belted white robe with a red headdress, just like the shepherds wore in Jesus' time.  Kaari, her older sister, was the angel.  Ashley had inspected her sister's costume proudly.  It was a beautiful white dress with a halo that was hanging a little crooked over her head.  She, Ali and Kaari had helped their mom make the halo, dress and angel's wings.  She sniffed and smiled weakly, knowing they had all done a great job, even if the halo was a little crooked.  Kaari was going to make a perfect angel...she ran all the way to her room and threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into the pillow.  Her cat, Jerry, jumped up onto the bed and buried her face into her pillow.  Her cat, Jerry, jumped up onto the bed, rubbing his body up against Ashley’s head and purred.  Her cat was always there when she needed him.  It did comfort her to know he was there.  He settled in, wrapped around her head, purring, as if to tell Ashley that everything would be all right.  She brought her arm to rest next to him and petted him until she fell asleep.

     Ashley woke up when she felt something fluttering around her face. She realized it was Jerry, batting at her face with his soft paw.  She was curled up on her side and didn’t want to move or open her eyes yet and told him so.  “Stop, Jerry!”  She sniffed a little and added, “I just wish I was able to do my part right!”  Jerry let out a long, low meow and hopped off of the bed.  Ashley popped her eyes open and sat up on the bed.  Jerry was heading for the door with his twitching tail held high.  “Oh, I’m sorry, Jerry!  I don’t want you to go.  Come back, please!”  Jerry stopped and turned his head, looking at her, deciding whether to accept her apology or not.  He gave one short meow and with a quick spin, was back on the bed in one great leap.  Ashley grabbed him up in her arms and gave him a gentle hug, burying her face in his fur.  His purring rattled loudly.

     Just then, her mom and dad poked their heads into the room and asked if she was feeling better.  Ashley looked up and just nodded.  Her mom said, “It’s almost time for dinner, Ashley.  After dinner we’ll practice your lines if you like.  Get yourself ready for dinner and come into the kitchen.  Don’t forget who’s coming to dinner.”

     Ashley nodded, even though she should have been excited that Moma, Grandma Lu and Grandpa Dave were going to be there for dinner.  She let Jerry go with a sigh and watched him scoot out the door as her mother closed it.  Jerry was almost immediately back at the door, meowing to be let in.  Ashley slowly slid off of her bed and walked across the room to let him in.  He slipped in and she quietly closed the door.  She went back to her bed, sat on the edge and flopped back onto her bed.  Jerry jumped up and sat on her chest, purring quietly.  Ashley cradled him and petted him from head to tail, watching his body rise under her hand as it went down his back.  She smiled.

     “Oh, Jerry.  I really do wish I could just get it right.  I don’t know why I keep messing up.  I know my lines. I know when I’m supposed to say them, too.  So, why is it I keep doing it wrong?”  She rolled over and looked out the window.  It was getting dark outside, and a few stars shone in the darkening sky.  One of them seemed to shine much brighter than the other.  With her eyes fixed on that star she whispered, “Oh, I really do wish I could get it right!”  She closed her eyes and settled onto her back once again.

       It seemed only moments later that Jerry was batting at her face once again.  Her bed seemed to be jiggling a little bit, too.  This time, he was making short high-pitched meows, and though the sound and jiggling were very irritating, she did not scold him.  Instead, she opened her eyes, looked down at Jerry and gasped in a whisper, “Oh, m’gosh!”  Jerry was sitting on her chest, with his eyes open very wide, his tail twitching madly from side to side.  He had good reason, because just beyond the bed was, and she was having a hard time believing this, a full-sized, gleaming, white unicorn.  Its mane was so long and almost looked as if it shimmered in the dim light of her room ..."

  Alphabet Book, ages 3-5:  (large colorful letters, followed by picture and description) "A is for Apple and my Aunt Betty, B is for my brother, John, C is for caterpillar, isn't he cute?...E is for Eddie's Easter Egg...T is for Eddie's Train..."   (This book is personalized by the letter -- as many as you wish...the more names/photos included, the more personalization it receives.)

 Alphabet Tree, ages 3-6: "... Once upon a time, long, long ago there stood a very special and very big tree.  From its branches hung curious things—all kinds of letters from A to Z. 

  Now, all of these letters just hung on that tree, swaying in the breezes, as nice as you please.

  Along came a giant, stomping around, with little Andrew sitting on his shoulder.  The giant looked up into that tree and what did he see?  He saw the sun shining as bright as can be between all of those letters.  The sun danced around, playing hide and seek. It made the giant squint, and then cover his eyes.

  And then, oh, my! The giant felt a sneeze coming.  Oh, my goodness!  Watch out! Poor Andrew hung on to a lock of his hair as that giant’s sneeze blew straight into the tree.  Up the swirled, up and around, then the letters drifted on down, just like feathers—as slow as you please.  Andrew watched as they came on down..."

For your chapter book reader...

    I should be publishing a fast-paced fantasy book that is geared for your 7-12 year old chapter-book reader in 2012, if I'm lucky! 

   It is an exciting story that will keep your reader interested throughout as he or she reads about the fantastic encounters two children have with ancient creatures from the depths of the earth. 

   Here is another excerpt from the book:  "...Amy put her hands to her mouth, muffling her giggles.  Suddenly, just as Ty was pulling himself out of the pond, Amy grew quiet.  Ty looked up at her and saw her hands were still up to her mouth, but the laughing face and quiet giggles were gone.  What he saw were wide, wide eyes and a pale face as she stared beyond Ty.  Her hands dropped from her open mouth and one hand pointed behind him.  Ty tried to spin around quickly to see what Amy was pointing at but the mucky pond edge sucked at his shoes and he fell back into the water.  As he fell, he saw it...."

    Sign up for an advanced copy and I'll let you know when it's available.