Colorful Tales: The Memoirs of Buz the Bear

By Don Hansen and Rebekah Madonia

In Colorful Tales, lessons of love, acceptance, wonder, humility, joy, and courage are tenderly revealed through the adventures of life-loving Buz the Bear. No ordinary bear cub, Buz surprises and delights as he finds meaning in living everyday bear life. Through his stories, young readers find their own unique experiences given shape and purpose while celebrating their love of fun and adventure, the natural world, and the realness of the spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973614227

Don Hansen

Father, teacher, athlete, humorist, and humanist, Don Hansen writes short stories, poetry and novels that uplift and enlighten. His work is inspired by an abiding faith; his love of son Eric, daughter Tiffany, and his grandchildren; and the young people he taught and coached for decades. In Colorful Tales, Don celebrates the lessons of life that shaped him most, lessons that resonate with parents and children alike. A natural storyteller, his is the voice of the timeless sage around whom people of all ages want to sit and listen. A retired educator with countless interests, Don divides his time between Arizonas central valley and her northern forests.

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Copyright © 2017 Don Hansen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com The NIrV and New International Reader’s Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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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.

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.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1421-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1422-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017919381

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/9/2018

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~ Dedication ~

To all of the boys and girls who have touched my life, whether through Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football or the public school classrooms, and most of all to my own son and daughter, thank you for teaching me many of the lessons that Buz learns in these stories, lessons that I was able to pass on to many others.

Thank you to the Pastoral staff at Central Christian Church in Mesa, Arizona for your guidance in selecting all of the scriptural references included in Colorful Tales: The Memoirs of Buz the Bear. And a special thank you to Irena, who painstakingly edited and re-edited each of these stories, and who provided the emotional support necessary for putting together Colorful Tales: The Memoirs of Buz the Bear.

Matthew 13:12-13 ¹²Everyone who has this kind of knowledge will be given more knowledge. In fact, they will have very much. If anyone doesn’t have this kind of knowledge, even what little they have will be taken away from them. ¹³Here is why I use stories when I speak to the people. I say, they look, but they don’t really see. They listen, but they don’t really hear or understand.

Matthew 13: 16 "¹⁶But blessed are your eyes,