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Book 1, "Cousin Chronicles." I write long and short fantasies and comedies for adults and young people, like my grandchildren. I read books to my kids when they were growing...
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Book 1, "Cousin Chronicles." I write long and short fantasies and comedies for adults and young people, like my grandchildren. I read books to my kids when they were growing up, but they weren't my books. So I thought I would read my books to kids now, even though they aren't my kids.
You don't have to be a kid to listen, but you never know. You might learn you're more of a kid than you thought. I hope you like my stories, a chapter at a time. I'm an old coot who has a day job, so I'll post new chapters when I can.
The Cousin Chronicles is a series of books written for my nine grandchildren, about them, as characters they suggest to me. They receive a new book each Christmas; five books have been written to date.
In Book 1, "The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD," the Cousins find the magical Gooneybird and ride it to adventures around the world and back in time. There are 17 Chapters in Book 1.
Visit "Christopher Botkin Books" on Facebook for my podcast and writing updates. Welcome to my world of the Cousin Chronicles, and, later, Water Music, and some day, Bublore.
But that's a whole other story.
show less
You don't have to be a kid to listen, but you never know. You might learn you're more of a kid than you thought. I hope you like my stories, a chapter at a time. I'm an old coot who has a day job, so I'll post new chapters when I can.
The Cousin Chronicles is a series of books written for my nine grandchildren, about them, as characters they suggest to me. They receive a new book each Christmas; five books have been written to date.
In Book 1, "The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD," the Cousins find the magical Gooneybird and ride it to adventures around the world and back in time. There are 17 Chapters in Book 1.
Visit "Christopher Botkin Books" on Facebook for my podcast and writing updates. Welcome to my world of the Cousin Chronicles, and, later, Water Music, and some day, Bublore.
But that's a whole other story.
The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD
The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD
Chapter 1: The Queen's Palace
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 1, "The Queen's Palace," we meet Queen Luci the Furest, a black cat, the aging and respected monarch of the Cousins and Pets.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 2: Enam Jallp
21 MAR 2020 · The title of this chapter, "Enam Jallp," illustrates a shortcoming with the audio format. Enam Jallp is a kind of sight gag. It's an acronym of the nine cousins' first initials (in order from youngest to oldest), which is really tough to pick up without reading the book.
The books have other features that do not translate to audio, such as the cover artwork photos of the real-life Cousins and Pets, and the "Fine Print" appendix including suggested reading and explanations of the many cultural references.
So, if you're old enough to read (Emmett was only four months old when he received this book for Christmas), I recommend you read the books. If you're not old enough to read, just ignore this paragraph. ツ
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 3: The Gooneybird
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 3, we finally see the magical canal boat. If you don't happen to be a grandchild of mine, or live in my home town of Saint Marys, Ohio, perhaps a little background info will help.
There really is a canal boat. It's in the canal (surprise!), that Empress Puffy the Furest calls "the long wetness," but in real life is known as the Miami and Erie Canal. The canal was constructed from 1825 to 1845, connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River by a navigable waterway, and it flows through the center of town. The canal was I-75, basically, before there were roads, enabling tons of cargo to be shipped almost 250 miles at the staggering mule-power pace of 4 miles an hour. The prototype for the Gooneybird is a full-scale replica canal boat named "The Belle of Saint Marys," on display today in Memorial Park.
The coming of the railroads made canal transportation obsolete by the late 1800s, and the Flood of 1913 destroyed sections of the canal that were never repaired. But Lake Saint Marys (the "wide deep wetness"), built to supply water to the canal, still exists, and many miles of the canal still carry water, nearly 200 years after it was built.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 4: The Test
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 4, Queen Luci the Furest finally succeeds in getting Princess Jasmine to take the Cousins (except infant Emmett) to see the Gooneybird. If any of them see the canal boat as the magical craft, that will prove they are royalty, and thus are good candidates to replace her as Queen.
Things finally fall into place, and Princess Jasmine (in real life, a Golden Retriever) gets the Cousins on the boat -- but the results are not what Queen Luci hoped for.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 5: Rather English
21 MAR 2020 · The "Then Pet" crew of the Gooneybird -- Puffy and PJ and Razzmatazz and Rudy -- are all vaguely reminded by the different Cousins of someone they used to know. That is because, in their first lives, they were all real-life pets of the Cousins' parents. Parents do not appear in the Cousin Chronicles books, but their pets do.
Also, there's some confusion about whether or not Lukas and Jaksen remind them of "Chris" and "Martin." That's because Chris and Martin Kratt are the stars of the educational TV program "Wild Kratts," at the time a favorite of Lukas and Jaksen. They wanted their characters to be like the "Wild Kratts," which comes into play later in the book.
Empress Puffy the Furest declared all the Cousins reminded her of "Chris." That's because a pure-white longhair cat named Puffy, named for a cat in the "Dick, Jane and Sally" children's books that taught me how to read (see the title of this podcast), was 𝘮𝘺 first pet.
Sixty years ago.
One more thing. If you are very sharp, and well-read, and pay very close attention, early in Chapter 5 you will hear where Book 1 got its rather unusual title.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 6: All Hail the Queen
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 6, the Cousins explore the interior of the Gooneybird. The Then Pet crew show them to their quarters, and Queen Luci the Furest decides who will be the next Queen.
The Cousins' rooms all reflect their choices for their characters -- except, apparently, one, who is not at all pleased.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 7: Security
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 7, the eternal Pig/Capybara/Vashlymoss debate erupts, and Logan and Parker collaborate on the Karma Anti-Theft Scanner security system (aka "KATscan") to protect the Gooneybird against hi-jacking, after Empress Puffy warned Parker the boat could be stolen.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 8: The Security Council
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 7, the eternal Pig/Capybara/Vashlymoss debate erupts, and Logan and Parker collaborate on the Karma Anti-Theft Scanner security system (aka "KATscan") to protect the Gooneybird against hi-jacking, after Empress Puffy warned Parker the boat could be stolen.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 9: Of Mice and Owls
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 9, the interviews with wise animals begins. Nathan, age 3 in real life at the time of Book 1, speaks to a Great Horned Owl high in a pine tree. The owl denies being wise, but fetches for Nathan either the wisest creature in the world, or a midnight snack, or both.
-- Chris Botkin
Chapter 10: Waffles
21 MAR 2020 · In Chapter 10, the Cousins land the Gooneybird on the African savannah. There, Lukas and Jaksen, in search of the wisdom of the elephants, meet an elephant who promises to take them to the wisest elephant he knows. But part of the deal is the boys must agree to break contact with their "invisible friends" (the Cousins on the Gooneybird). Against the other Cousin's advice, Lukas and Jaksen agree.
-- Chris Botkin
Book 1, "Cousin Chronicles." I write long and short fantasies and comedies for adults and young people, like my grandchildren. I read books to my kids when they were growing...
show more
Book 1, "Cousin Chronicles." I write long and short fantasies and comedies for adults and young people, like my grandchildren. I read books to my kids when they were growing up, but they weren't my books. So I thought I would read my books to kids now, even though they aren't my kids.
You don't have to be a kid to listen, but you never know. You might learn you're more of a kid than you thought. I hope you like my stories, a chapter at a time. I'm an old coot who has a day job, so I'll post new chapters when I can.
The Cousin Chronicles is a series of books written for my nine grandchildren, about them, as characters they suggest to me. They receive a new book each Christmas; five books have been written to date.
In Book 1, "The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD," the Cousins find the magical Gooneybird and ride it to adventures around the world and back in time. There are 17 Chapters in Book 1.
Visit "Christopher Botkin Books" on Facebook for my podcast and writing updates. Welcome to my world of the Cousin Chronicles, and, later, Water Music, and some day, Bublore.
But that's a whole other story.
show less
You don't have to be a kid to listen, but you never know. You might learn you're more of a kid than you thought. I hope you like my stories, a chapter at a time. I'm an old coot who has a day job, so I'll post new chapters when I can.
The Cousin Chronicles is a series of books written for my nine grandchildren, about them, as characters they suggest to me. They receive a new book each Christmas; five books have been written to date.
In Book 1, "The Curious Incident of the GOONEYBIRD," the Cousins find the magical Gooneybird and ride it to adventures around the world and back in time. There are 17 Chapters in Book 1.
Visit "Christopher Botkin Books" on Facebook for my podcast and writing updates. Welcome to my world of the Cousin Chronicles, and, later, Water Music, and some day, Bublore.
But that's a whole other story.
Information
| Author | Chris Botkin |
| Categories | Books |
| Website | squareup.com |
| botkin@bright.net |
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