Layla the Letter Lady

I wrote this one right as Brady was graduating from Kindergarten and was starting to get really good at reading. Thanks to Dav Pilkey for the inspiration – I like to think that pranksters Harold and George would have loved to visit the NFRC. (Read on for more – and visit auntiekimberly.com for more content).

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One day, Brady and Auntie Kimberly went to Target. Just as they walked in the door, they saw a little old lady who was walking around picking up pieces of paper from the floor. She looked very sad.

“Can we help you?” Brady asked.

“Oh, gosh,” the little old lady said, I’ve dropped my whole sack of letters.”

At first, they thought she was a mail lady, but then Brady and Auntie Kimberly noticed that she was carrying a yellow sack, and that each piece of paper she picked up had a letter on it! There were B’s and G’s and P’s and Q’s and J’s and A’s and every letter in the alphabet!

Brady said, “I’m Brady, and this is my Auntie Kimberly, and we’ll help you!” He and Auntie Kimberly looked all over where the shopping carts were and they picked up several E’s, a couple of X’s, and a whole bunch of other letters.

They handed the letters back to the little old lady.

“Thank you so much!” the little old lady said. “Now I can put these back in my yellow letter satchel!”

“What do you do with all the letters?” Brady asked.

“Oh, I’m glad you asked!” the little old lady said. “I’m Layla the Letter Lady! These are actually magic letters! When you arrange them to spell things, you can make the letters come to life!”

Brady the Book Sailor

Brady the Book Sailor came out of our brainstorming sessions for the Roald Dahl Imaginormous contest — and took on a life of his own!  This story turned into a love letter to the authors and characters who have inspired my real-life Brady the Book Sailor to become such an excellent reader!  He’s already at a second grade level – which makes for a super happy Auntie!  (Visit auntiekimberly.com for more content.)

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Pirate Grapebeard was a friendly pirate. His friends called him GrapeB. His beard was actually a bunch of grapes. He could pluck one of the grapes from the bunch and eat it – and then “pop” – another grape would grow in its place. He sailed the oceans in the land of Eadray in his bathtub ship, always in search of chocolate coins, his favorite treat.

Whenever Pirate Grapebeard passed another ship, the people in the other ship would yell, “toss us some grapes, GrapeB!” He would pluck some grapes out of his beard and toss them to the other ship! “Thanks, GrapeB!” his friends would say. “You’re welcome,” GrapeB would reply.

One day, GrapeB landed his bathtub ship on a remote island. He decided to get out and explore, to see if he could find some chocolate coins. Then right there on the shore, he saw a giant book lying on the ground. He thought, “I wonder if there are any chocolate coins in this book!” He got down on his hands and knees, and put his nose right on the pages of the book. And then something really weird happened – GrapeB fell IN to the book!

Brady the Book Sailor Meets the StoryVores

The second installment of the Brady the Book Sailor series…

Brady was a super awesome kindergartener who lived with his Mommy and Daddy and his dog Bailey. He was really good at reading and technology – and he also had a secret.

You see, Brady was a Book Sailor. With his Magic Purple Library Card, he could close his eyes, and imagine himself into the story from any book that he had ever read. One of Brady’s favorite things to do was to pick up his friend GrapeB the friendly pirate, and travel to the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. GrapeB had a beard that was made entirely out of grapes. And when he dipped his beard into Willy Wonka’s chocolate river, his beard turned into chocolate-covered grapes! Brady and GrapeB found this out by accident, but when Brady told Willy Wonka about the chocolate covered grapes, Mr. Wonka loved the idea and he started selling chocolate covered grapes in addition to his regular sales of Wonka Bars, Scrumdiddlyumptious Bars, and Everlasting Gobstoppers.

One day, Brady was at the library with General Mommy to look for some more fun books to read. On one of the tables, he saw a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory book lying open. Next to the book were five tiny figures, about three inches high. It looked like a family playset: there was a mommy and a daddy and a boy and a girl and a dog. They were rolling around on the table clutching their tummies.

“Oooooooh, I am SO FULL,” the little girl.

“I know, me too,” said the little boy.” But I really wanted to find out if they turned Violet
Beauregard back to normal after she ate the gum.”

Brady got down on his knees, so that he was eye level with the tiny family. “Hello,” he said. “Are you all OK?”

“Mommy! Daddy! That little boy can see us!” said the little girl.

Brady the Book Sailor and the Library Bash

The third installment in the “Brady the Book Sailor” series…

Brady was a super awesome 6-year-old boy who had just graduated from kindergarten. He was very good at reading, but Brady didn’t just READ books!

You see, Brady was a Book Sailor. With his Magic Purple Library Card, Brady could close his eyes and concentrate really hard on one of his favorite books or DVDs (as long as they had a copy at the library), and when he opened his eyes, he would be INSIDE the story!

One day, Brady set out to do some Book Sailing. First, he picked up his friend, GrapeBeard, a friendly pirate who lived on an island – and whose beard was made of grapes! Every time he plucked one of the grapes out, a new one would grow in its place!

Brady and GrapeB decided to visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. GrapeB liked to dip his beard in Willy Wonka’s chocolate river to make chocolate-covered grapes! So they grabbed on to the Magic Purple Library Card and concentrated really hard. When they opened their eyes, they were in the factory, but no one was there – not Mr. Wonka and not even a single Oompa Loompa!

Brady and GrapeB yelled, “Helloooooooooo!” But no one answered!

PAGEQUAKE: Brady Saves The Day!

Part 4 in the Brady the Book Sailor Series
Written by Brady and Auntie Kimberly
Illustrations by Brady

One day, Brady the Book Sailor walked into the Library with General Mommy to return some books he had read and get some new ones.

Being a Book Sailor meant that Brady could use his Magic Purple Library Card to imagine himself into any book or DVD at the library! He liked to use the Magic Purple Library Card to pick up his friend GrapeBeard the Friendly Pirate, and then they would go visit their favorite characters, like Willy Wonka, George and Harold from Captain Underpants, Luke Skywalker, and LEGO Batman.

Being a Book Sailor also meant that Brady could see the Storyvores. The Storyvores were a family of tiny little people who lived at the library. Because their brains were in their tummies, they read stories to fill their tummies instead of eating food! The Storyvores were invisible to everyone except for Book Sailors, so Brady could see them.

Brady put his books into the machine that would check them back in, and then he went looking for Pilke and Padme, the two kids in the Storyvore family.

Padme asked, “Have you done a lot of Book Sailing this summer, since you are out of school?”

“Yes,” said Brady. “But I’ve had SOOOOO much free time, that I’ve already been to all of my favorite books and DVDs over and over and over again. I wish something new would come to the library, so I could have something different to do.”

Then Pilkey, said, “Did you hear about the new Book Sailor rule?”

Bang Bang Bingo Bingo Bong Bong (Also Known as Sound)

Brady and I submitted many, many, many, many entries to the Roald Dahl Imaginormous contest last spring. The idea below actually got selected for use in some promotional material about the contest! Although we didn’t win a golden ticket — or the trip to New York to see the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical — we tried to be good sports. And I will forever treasure the time we spent putting our heads together to come up with clever, creative, and downright silly ideas!

Check out auntiekimberly.com for more content!

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Bang Bang Bingo Bingo Bong Bong
(Also Known as Sound)

by Brady and Auntie Kimberly

Brady woke up on what seemed like a totally normal Wednesday morning. But then something totally NOT normal started happening.

Brady’s Avengers alarm clock started playing Darth Vader’s Imperial March from Star Wars! His alarm clock had never played the Star Wars song before!

Brady looked closer at the alarm clock, and listened super hard, and realized that the sound was coming from somewhere else.

Oh, it was probably coming from his giant stuffed Yoda! Which was still kinda weird, since his stuffed Yoda had never sung a song before. He got really close to stuffed Yoda and listened hard, and realized that the sound was coming from somewhere else.

He looked over at his rocking chair. Now it sounded like the song was coming from the rocking chair. But everyone knows that rocking chairs can’t sing!

Brady said out loud, “WHAT IS GOING ON????”

“Oh, hello”, said a voice from somewhere in the area of the rocking chair. “It’s just me.”

Brady asked, “Who are you?”

The Further Adventures of Sound and the Super Sprinkle Stealer 6000

(The Sequel to Bang Bang Bingo Bingo Bong Bong – Also Known as Sound)

Brady was a kindergartener who was so awesome that lots of people loved him!  Brady also had friends at school and in his Cub Scout pack!

Brady also had one VERY unusual friend. His full name was “Bang Bang Bingo Bingo Bong Bong”, but everyone called him “Sound”, since that was easier to remember.

You couldn’t see Sound or touch him, but he could make any sound in the whole wide world, which made him a super fun playmate. Sound could play your favorite song or pretend to be any movie character or sound like any animal.

Sometimes, though, Sound liked to play jokes.