Showing results by narrator "Tom Weiss" in All Categories

Many of his animal friends consider Grandfather Mole to be strange. It is not that he is strange but rather quite different from most of them. Grandfather Mole spends most of his time in his favorite place, underground. He loves digging and nature has equipped him with the body, legs, and feet to dig. Surprisingly, he can also swim quite well. Because Grandfather Mole spends so much time underground, he has very poor eyesight and hearing.

Chirpy Cricket loves to fiddle. He thinks everyone he meets should. However, as Chirpy meets other critters near Farmer Green's house, he learns that not everyone who fiddles sounds the same as he does. Along the way, he meets some strange crickets like the Mole Cricket who never comes above ground. Or the Cricket Frog who chirps like cricket but is really from the frog family. (Did you know there are over 900 species of crickets?) We also learn about some of the predators of crickets and how they hunt. But mostly, this story is about Chirpy.

Washer is a baby raccoon, who along with his brother's play together. One day Washer is playing with some sticks near a waterfall. He leans too far in and falls into the water. Luckily he is able to pull himself up onto a large branch going over the waterfall. His mother hears his cries but by then, Washer is over the falls and all raccoons fear he has perished. No raccoon has ever survived going over the falls. Washer manages to swim to shore but captured by Sneaky the Wolf and carried back to his den.

The Spindrift Scientific Foundation has sent Dr. Tony Briotti, Rick Brant, and Don "Scotty" Scott to the Philippine Islands for a quiet peaceful archeological expedition. Dr. Briotti wants to investigate some native artifacts, among which is supposedly a golden skull. Rick and Scotty travel along to assist Dr. Briotti. The artifacts are located in a remote part of an island with natives who are purported to be headhunters.

"The Tale of Ferdinand Frog" is a somewhat short story about a typical frog who has an amazingly wide mouth and queer, bulging eyes. Ferdinand is somewhat unflappable and hard to anger. Like many of Bailey's characters, he believes that others need to able to do the things he does. Like all frogs, his tongue is attached at the front so he can catch insects and Ferdinand doesn't understand why other's tongues aren't attached like his.

Written in 1860 in the language of the day by William and Ellen Craft, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom tells the story of a husband and wife's plight to escape slavery in 1848 Georgia. Unlike many slaves who escaped in the dead of night chased by slave hunters and bloodhounds, the Crafts traveled in first-class trains, dined with a steamboat captain, and stayed in the best hotels during their escape to Philadelphia and freedom. Ellen, who was nearly white, disguised herself as a young male cotton planter traveling with his slave, William.

Two of the scientists from the acclaimed Spindrift Scientific Foundation in New Jersey are missing in the Philippines. When the staff zoologist, Dr. Howard Shannon, and the staff archaeologist, Dr. Anthony Briotti, fail to turn up on schedule from an expedition to the Sulu Sea, the entire Foundation became personally concerned. All work stops while the staff speculates on what might have happened and what course of action to take.

Farmer Brown's boy Tommy discovers an old gray stone in the pasture that magically transforms him into whatever animal he wishes to be. He shares adventures with Danny Meadow Mouse, Peter Rabbit, Old Mr. Toad, Paddy the Beaver, and others. Initially, Tommy believes that life for his furry friends is one big happy lark. But he quickly learns that life can be difficult for Mother Nature's furry creatures.

The main characters are Dr. Mark Ransford, his two wards, Mary and Dick Bewery, and one Dr. Pemberton Bryce - an assistant to Dr. Ransford. Bryce makes unwelcome advances to Mary Bewery and Ransford, after having warned him against these advances, dismisses Bryce. Bryce sets out to make Mary his own while suspecting Ransford and implicate him in the murders. A surprising twist toward the end of the story.

There is something fishy near the scientific foundation near Spindrift Island, NJ. A fishing trawler has wrecked upon well-known a reef by an experience fishing boat captain who says he was drunk when it happened. The experienced captain is a teetotaler, however, and refuses to talk about how or why his trawler suddenly crashed onto the reef. Rick and Scotty are also baffled and as they investigate they find many things don't add up.

Two scientists working on a top-secret government project suddenly start talking gibberish. The government does not know how or why this has happened and asks the Brants if they can move the remaining scientists to Spindrift Island, a scientific foundation located on an island off the New Jersey Coast, in order to better protect them. The Brants agree. Rick and Scotty become suspicious of a new barber in town and believe he is part of an espionage ring.

Barby, Rick Brant's sister, and Jan Miller have sighted a Civil War ghost while vacationing in Virginia. The ghost is, apparently, a Civil War Union soldier who died while visiting his sweetheart across Confederate lines. The ghost always appears exactly at 9 p.m., and then only when there is a considerable audience. Rick and his ex-Marine pal Scotty, travel to Virginia to investigate the ghostly sightings. A cave, a pool, clouds of mist, figures walking over the fields at midnight picking up the invisible dead from the war...are they real ghosts or people.

McCauley is a secret agent of Tri Planetary Justice, the only law for almost 30 inhabited worlds. His assignment is to visit the asteroid world of Palas, a lump of rock floating through space with no apparent value. However, not all is as it seems on the underground world of Palas. A narcopeen drug trade flourishes among the con men and thieves that populate Palas.

Paddy Muskrat lives in the millpond near Farmer Green's house with his wife, Mrs. Paddy Muskrat. He tends to get into trouble by saying and doing things that others do not understand, which occasionally causes problems with Mrs. Paddy. For example, when Paddy says he has fish to fry, which means he is very busy, others in the millpond interpret his words to mean it is eating fish they believe belong to them. Patty believes the millpond belongs to him and is never happy when others come to swim in it, especially Johnny Green and his friends.

Heavy water. The Joint Army-Navy Intelligence Group, (JANIG), a science secret service has discovered that someone is shipping heavy water, often used for atomic purposes, from a secret source in Asia. JANIG's mission is to make sure that science does not get misused. A coded telegram is received by Rick Brandt on Spindrift Island from his Hindu friend Chada. Spindrift Island is a scientific research facility off the coast of New Jersey. After decoding the telegram, Hanson Brandt, Rick's father telephones JANIG to discuss the telegram's contents.

Reddy Woodpecker is new to Pleasant Valley. Flying over Pleasant Valley one day, he decided to land and decided that it would be a good place for him to live. Reddy was strange to his new neighbors and some were rude and did not make him feel welcome but Reddy took it all in stride. As with all of Arthur Scott Bailey's animal stories, there are lessons to be learned about real life. For example, when Reddy met Cuffy Bear and they went hunting for grubs together, we learn about greed. Children are also introduced to new and different kinds of birds and their nesting and eating habits.

Spot is a farm dog. His master is Johnny Green, son of Farmer and Mrs. Green. As with many dogs, Spot manages to get into his share of scrapes. He has run-ins with some of the farm animals, most notably Miss Kitty Cat. Miss Kitty Cat and Spot have their battles, and Spot has the scars on his nose to prove it. Miss Kitty Cat would be happy if Spot were not on the farm at all. Henrietta Hen and Turkey Proudfoot are also not very fond of Spot. Spot wants to be included in most of the Green family's activities, and this leads to some interesting problems for them and Spot.

Solomon Owl lives in Pleasant Valley. As with most owls, he is a loner. He doesn't have many friends and instead, often sees others smaller than him as food rather than friends. We discover how Solomon deals with other animals in the Pleasant Valley woods such as Mr. Frog the Tailor, Cousin Screecher, Fatty Coon, Mr. Crow, noisy Jasper Jay, and Aunt Polly Woodchuck the herb doctor. The characters in Bailey's books can be grumpy and predatory and will bite when aroused. Traditional virtues - honesty, reliability, loyalty, perseverance - are encouraged and rewarded.

In this collection of 16 short stories, Peter Rabbit learns how many of his neighbors in the Green Forest and the Green Meadows have come to have the attributes they have. Sometimes Grandfather Frog will tell Peter a story but there are other neighbors who also share their "knowledge" with him. For example, Peter wants to know why Mr. Weasel is an outcast. Peter would also like to know why Johnny Chuck sleeps all winter and gets so fat before he goes to sleep.

Jolly Robin is a happy go lucky bird. He does tend, however, to stick his nose into other animals' business and believes that perhaps, they should sing or act like him. For example, Jolly believes that the way he sings is the best way and other birds should sound like he does. Jolly tries to convince some they should change their tune. Since many things in the world are new to him, he also sometimes makes and spreads mistakes to his acquaintances with some unpredictable events.