A Fowl Christmas

By Catholic Teen Books

Mom's stranded out of town, Dad injured his leg, and Derrick's family Christmas feast is in jeopardy. With the help of his brother, Blake; his friend, Grace; and a bargain involving some chickens and the old ladies down the street, maybe Derrick can still pull off this holiday meal. Or maybe it'll all go up in smoke!
 
"A Fowl Christmas" is a collective short story written sequentially in individual pieces by seven Catholic Teen Books authors and originally presented aloud on Reading with Your Kids Podcast.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Catholic Teen Books
• Release date: Dec 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223292814

Catholic Teen Books

Our fiction reflects our faith with Catholic themes, characters, and perspectives. The characters in our stories struggle with challenges that we all face. Some stories follow the lives of saints, of those who dared to live counter-culturally and give themselves entirely to God. Other stories bring to light the beauty and power of the unique aspects of the Catholic faith. The Catholic element is more subtle in some works, but the worldview and themes bring the message of truth. We hope that our fiction will challenge and inspire, that it will awaken within our readers some of the mystery, joy, and beauty of the Faith. We hope to stir within our readers a desire for something beyond themselves. Because God calls everyone to the fullness of faith and happiness, we invite readers of any faith or no faith at all to read our fiction.

Book preview

A Fowl Christmas

A FOWL CHRISTMAS

A Catholic Teen Books Short Story

CAROLYN ASTFALK A.J. CATTAPAN ANTONY BARONE KOLENC LESLEA WAHL MARIE C. KEISER ANDREA JO RODGERS CORINNA TURNER

Catholic Teen Books

Copyright © 2021 Catholic Teen Books

License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite e-book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

1. A Fowl Christmas

Carolyn Astfalk

A.J. Cattapan

Antony Barone Kolenc

Stephanie Engelman

Leslea Wahl

Marie C. Keiser

Andrea Jo Rodgers

Corinna Turner

About the Authors

Also By

INTRODUCTION

Catholic Teen Books is a collaborative website of authors who all write faith-based fiction for middle school and high school teens. In December of 2020, many of the Catholic Teen Books authors wrote a collaborative story, The Christmas Lights, for Christmas that was read on Jedlie’s Reading with Your Kids Podcast, on Christmas Eve.

In 2021, Catholic Teen Books authors collaborated on what became A Fowl Christmas. Jed again gave us a prompt, and one by one each of us wrote a section as the story was passed from author to author. Only the final author knew the entire story until we read it for the podcast.

We enjoyed these projects and wanted to share these fun, short stories with others. Proceeds from this e-book will be donated to Cross Catholic Outreach.

We hope you enjoy!

Catholic Teen Books

1

A FOWL CHRISTMAS

CAROLYN ASTFALK

If that dog’s tail hung any further between its legs, the furry white tip would tickle its black-and-white snout.

The year-old beagle slunk through the doorway to the living room, its nails tapping on the hardwood. Finding a patch of sunlight, it flopped onto the floor, chin resting on its paws.

I sighed. Poor Snoopy. He hadn’t meant to send our family’s life into chaos, but here we were. And he knew it. Somehow, he knew it.

Life had already been crazy. Since Dad’s dream had died—his Peruvian restaurant going belly-up in the wake of Covid shutdowns and staffing shortages, Mom had taken a new job. One that took her away for ten days of training halfway across the country.

At