Seven and One Tales for Young Readers

By Michael Puttonen

This collection contains eight delightful and thought-provoking stories for young readers. The stories touch on a variety of subjects, with a range of diverse characters and unusual plots. Many of the tales are humorous, and all are previously unpublished. They were written for grade school age children, but readers of all ages should find the stories entertaining.

Cilla And Smilla--twin sisters turn bettering the world into a competition
What Was That Fred Said?--a boy feels that he has been too predictable for too long
The Shadow Box--a boy with no shadow comes into possession of a mysterious box
The Cat Who Was King--how does a cat become a king, and is that a good thing?
The Bandylump--Farmer Frank needs help in ridding himself of a corn-eating nuisance
Grandpa's Stories--Grandpa is wonderful at telling stories, but do any of them have an ending?
No Animals Allowed--if there are no animals allowed, then what are those?
The Hockenspock Tree--an ancient tree protects a town, but what happens when the town turns against its own?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Puttonen
• Release date: May 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301432202

Michael Puttonen

Michael Puttonen is a Minnesota native and writer of action/adventure novels with a touch of fantasy. He honed his craft writing short stories before expanding into writing full-length adventure novels. Always an avid reader, his tastes include an eclectic variety of genres and styles that encompass storytellers both past and present. As a writer, he feels an affinity for action and adventure and loves fantasy for the freedom it offers in creating alternate worlds. His direct influences include the pulp fantasy of E.R. Burroughs and the historical fiction of Bernard Cornwell. His SANYEL series features the adventures of a young, gifted female shaman as she confronts a male-dominated world. This ongoing series currently includes the books SANYEL, DISRUPTER, CIRCLES AND STONES, and BONES OF THE GODS.

Book preview

Seven and One Tales

for Young Readers

Michael Puttonen

Copyright © 2013 Michael Puttonen

All Rights Reserved

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Cover design by Michael Puttonen

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Table of Contents

Cilla and Smilla

What Was That Fred Said?

The Shadow Box

The Cat Who Was King

The Bandylump

Grandpa’s Stories

No Animals Allowed

The Hockenspock Tree

Cilla and Smilla

Two girls lived in a plain, square house, made of wood and glass and stone. They were twin sisters, geniuses, and the rulers of their world. One was named Cilla and the other Smilla. The two sisters were highly competitive. One would always try to top the other—and that never led to anything good.

One day, Cilla decided she would try to make the world better. We all live in such ugly little houses, and that won’t do, Cilla said. I shall build bigger and better houses for everyone.

Cilla drew up plans and hired workers to construct an odd-looking house made of wood and glass and stone. It had triangular windows, trapezoidal doors, and a lovely front porch with a swing.

"Oh, please, I can do better than that," said her unimpressed sister.

Smilla gathered her own workers and had them complete a similar, yet slightly different house. Hers had triangular windows, trapezoidal doors, a funnel-shaped chimney, three steeples painted in swirling colors—and a lovely front porch with a swing.

Hmph! said Cilla. That’s nothing.

Cilla’s workers sawed, hammered, dug, chiseled, hauled, poured, and painted all day and night to build not one, not two, but seven majestic, colorful castles, all enclosed by meandering moats.

Oh, please girl, said Smilla when she saw what Cilla had built. "Don’t even think that’s better than I can do!"

Smilla commanded workers from around the world to begin working on a plan, an amazing and stupendous plan. She would build a massive city of large and unusual buildings that would cover half the world, stretching out to the sea and up to the sky.