The Adventures of Herba Hoota Hound Dog Bird

By MIKE TATE and Jacquie Tate

Herba, the hound dog and Hoota, the eagle, lived along the Pamlico River in Bath, North Carolina. While playing one day, they became an unusual character named Herba Hoota Hound Dog Bird. Herba and Hoota travel throughout the book adjusting to their new body and learning how to use their "super powers" for good. They help kids learn how to feel good about themselves, deal with bullying, and forgiveness. A must read for young children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496908506

MIKE TATE

Mike and Jacquie Tate live in Frisco, Texas. They have a passion for children and been involved with them throughout their married life. For many years, they have worked with kids in church youth groups; involved with city sports activities and taught marriage seminars at their church. Mike and Jacquie enjoy traveling and visiting with family and friends. They plan to travel the country sharing the wonderful adventures of Herba Hoota with as many children as possible because they think kids are ---“WAY COOL!”

Book preview

2014 Mike and Jacquie Tate. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/25/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0852-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0851-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0850-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014907732

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Herba

Hoota

Herba Hoota and the Bullies

Herba Hoota and Megan

Megan’s New Friends

Herba Hoota and Gordon

Championship Game

Herba Hoota and Angie

Grandpa Buddy

Larson’s Cottage

Baseball Team Party

Acknowledgements

Jacquie and I would like to thank everyone that helped with this wonderful mission of love. We feel the importance of young people learning, at an early age, to develop caring attitudes, forgiving hearts and strong self-esteem. Thank you to all of the school principals, counselors, librarians and teachers that provided invaluable input into the development of Herba Hoota and his fun adventures.

J.T. Uncle Buddy Robinson – When Mike was a little boy his Uncle Buddy would call all of the children silly names. The name he used for Mike was Herba Hoota Hound Dog Bird, which is the origination of the main character of the book.

Nichole Dodson – Nichole is an illustrator and graphic designer. She helped to bring the character of Herba Hoota to life.

Neal Jeffrey, Associate Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church – Thank you Neal for your wonderful sharing and insight that helped with the creation and development of Gordon.

Darla Ryan and her 2013 fourth grade class at Mary Evans Elementary in Allen, Texas. We read the manuscript to Mrs. Ryan’s class for them to perform a Glow & Grow evaluation. The heart felt response from the class to Herba Hoota affirmed the importance and joy of this project. They are – WAY COOL!

Herba

I t was a quiet spring day in the small town of Bath, North Carolina, which was located along the Pamlico River. If you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, you could smell the sweet aroma of the honeysuckle flowers and feel the gentle breeze coming off the river and through the large pine trees. The breeze made the leaves on the trees look like they were dancing a ballet.

Sitting on the bank of the river was a cute, little, red cottage with a pier running from the bank out into the river. Behind the cottage was a doghouse with a hound dog, named Herba, lying at the entrance. Herba had a happy face with large, floppy ears. Herba liked to lay at the front of his doghouse and dream of playing with his friends at the local trash dump, where there were so many fun things to explore. When Herba woke up, he stood, stretched, and looked around the yard and the river to see what the people and animals were doing. Herba’s doghouse had a perfect view of the riverbank. Jeff and Tara Larson, Herba’s human friends, lived in the red cottage. Jeff was the baseball coach, and Ms. Tara was an English teacher at Robinson Middle School.

Herba loved to run and play along the riverbank. He jumped and played with the butterflies that flew among the flowers, or he ran along the shore and played with the squirrels as they chased each other and ran up the tall pine trees. Sometimes he ran out to the end of the family’s pier and jumped into the river. He ran as fast as he could to see how far he could jump before he belly flopped into the water. After he landed in the water, Herba started paddling with his paws and swam back to the shore. When he got out of the water, Herba shook his body from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. He would run and jump off the end of the pier many times. It was great fun to play in the river!

As Herba was finishing his morning swim, Coach Larson and Ms. Tara walked out the front door of the cottage. Ms. Tara yelled, Herba, where are you, boy? We’re going to the store. Herba enjoyed going to town because there were so many things to see and do. He thought about how much fun it was to lie on the grass at the town park and watch all the boats sail up and down the river. Herba thought about how much he loved it when Coach Larson would take him out on their boat. They would ride out into the river, and Coach Larson would let him jump into the water and swim.

Ms. Tara yelled again, Herba, where are you, boy? Herba stopped daydreaming about the boat rides, quickly got out of the water, and shook his body to get the water off. He ran around to the front of the cottage and up to Coach Larson and Ms. Tara.

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Coach Larson said, There you are, big guy. Thought we were going to have to go to town without you. The three of them started walking to town.

Herba ran ahead along the path and checked out all of the different things there were to see and smell. He sniffed and detected the smell of a rabbit. Herba loved to chase rabbits. Next he ran up to a bunch of daises and took a big sniff. It took about thirty minutes to get to town from the cottage. Herba loved the journey.

When they got to town, Coach Larson told Herba, Okay, big guy, we’re going into the grocery store. Go play and we’ll call you when we’re ready to go home. That’s all Herba had to hear! He turned and ran to his favorite spot, Bath Steak House, because they threw away some of the best food.

Herba arrived at the back of the steak house and started smelling the trashcans. He walked over to one can and smelled something good. He knocked off the lid with his nose, put his front paws on the can, and lifted himself up to see inside. Sitting on top was one of the biggest bones he had ever seen. Herba thought to himself, Wow, is this my lucky day, or what? He chomped down on the huge bone and lowered himself back to the ground.

Just as Herba was about to start enjoying his new bone, he heard an all too