Stories from the Crosswalk: A Collection of Character-Building Stories for Children

By James Stephens

Join James Stephens as he shares original short stories inspired by his interaction with children. A talking worm, a bullfrog bully, and a friendly duck family are just a few of the many characters that spring to life on these pages. Let your imagination run wild as you ride a bull with DooDad the Clown and fly into outer space with Santa Claus. As each adventure ends, the main character has learned a valuable lesson--about friendship, manners, obedience, and other Christian values. Each of the seventeen short stories includes a timeless black-and-white illustration to intrigue you. And the final story has a twist: a place on each page where you can tap into your own creative side and draw pictures to go with the story.

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I cannot thank you enough for sharing your stories with my class. Your ability to turn a simple lesson into a fun story that keeps children engaged is powerful. I enjoyed watching my students connect with the characters and explain why they loved them.

--Shaunda Douglas

Kindergarten Teacher, Allen ISD

When I was little, I would go to James and Kathy Stephens' house a lot. He would read his stories to me. They always made me smile. I thought of all sorts of names to name Charlie's horse in "Charlie Goes to the Farm." I was the first small child that he read his stories to. I loved them.

--Natalee Hooper, 13

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891123038

James Stephens

James Stephens (1882-1950) was an Irish novelist, poet, and folklorist. Adopted at a young age, Stephens spent much of his childhood on the streets. Having managed to make his way through school, Stephens became a solicitor’s clerk before developing an interest in Irish Republicanism and learning to read, write, and speak the Irish language. As he became politically active, he dedicated himself to writing versions of Irish myths, as well as composing original novels. A friend and colleague of James Joyce and George William Russell, James Stephens is an important and underrecognized figure in twentieth century Irish literature.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Fuzzy Face and the School Bus

Mr. and Mrs. Waddle

Mrs. Waddle Has a Family

Buster the Bullfrog Bully

Zachary the Mouse

Miranda the Duck

Zachary and Miss Dora

Willie Goes Fishing

The Donkey Colt

Santa's Gift

Santa's Space Adventure

Doodad the Rodeo Clown

Daddy's Girl

The Lonely Heart and the Grouchy Old Man

A Horse Called Shorty

Charlie Goes to the Farm

Grandfather Can't Find One

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Stories from the Crosswalk

A Collection of Character-Building Stories for Children

James Stephens

ISBN 979-8-89112-302-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89112-303-8 (Digital)

Library of Congress: 2012951447

Copyright © 2024 James Stephens

All rights reserved

First Edition

Illustrations by Deborah King

Author photograph by Billy Erwin

Original editing by Debra A. King

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

First, I want to thank God for giving me these stories.

I want to thank my wife, Kathy, for her much-needed support in helping to get this book published.

I also want to thank all those who have backed this book with your gifts and prayers. May God's blessings richly be upon you all. I couldn't have accomplished it without you.

Fuzzy Face and the School Bus

Well, I know it's a funny name for a dog. It's not his real name, but that's what I call him. He has black and white fur and is the sweetest thing on four feet. I remember the first time I saw him. He was riding to school with his owners and bouncing all around the inside of the car. He is a small, little dog and is full of bounce and run. I'm the school crossing guard.

Fuzzy Face and I got to be good friends, and I look forward to seeing him every day as the kids are on their way to and from school. But there is one thing that he does not like: the school buses. I don't know if it is because they are yellow or because they are so big and yellow. But he doesn't like them at all! He will bark, and bark, and bark at them every time he sees them. And that is where the trouble started.

One morning, as he was riding in his car, one of those big yellow school buses was right in front of him. He barked, Woof, woof, woof. And he didn't stop. He just kept on barking at the bus. All of a sudden, he looked like he was barking, but he wasn't making a sound, and that made him stop and look around.

"What is happening? He thought. Why am I not able to bark anymore? Oh no, my barker must be broken. What am I going to do now?"

Fuzzy Face crawled down onto the floor of the car and began to cry. But his crying didn't make any sound either.

"Oh, man, what am I going to do now?" His owner stopped the car, picked him up in her arms, and hugged him.

She talked to him and told him that everything would be all right. But that didn't make him feel any better. He still couldn't bark or make any other sounds. He just didn't know what to do.

"How am I going to bark at the buses if I can't make a sound? How are they going to know that I don't like them?"

Then, he really got mad at the buses because they caused this to happen to him. That bus that he was barking at made him this way. It was all the bus's fault.

"Boy, if I could just get at that bus. I'd bite his tires and scratch his yellow body. I'd teach him to take my bark away," he thought.

Later that day, his owner put him in the car and started on another trip. When they got out of the car, he discovered they were at his doctor's office.

"Oh, no, you don't, he thought, I'm not going in there!"

He began to wriggle and twist around. When his owner put him down, he pulled and pulled against the leash to try to get away. But it didn't work. He soon found himself in the doctor's office anyway. The doctor was very gentle and kind to him. But the doctor sometimes did things to him that he didn't like. One of those things was giving him a shot! He really didn't like that at all. But this time, the doctor looked into his throat and just smiled at him.

The doctor rubbed his throat gently and loved him a lot. Fuzzy Face really liked it when that happened.

The doctor looked at the owner and said, I am going to give you some medicine to put down his throat two times a day. Keep him at home. In a few days, he should be as good as new.

"Wow, Fuzzy Face thought. That sounds really good. I guess I will just have to be patient for a few days and wait for the medicine to work. Cool."

The next few days, he stayed at home while the kids went to school. He didn't like that. No way! But he didn't have any say in the matter since he couldn't make any noises anyway.

"Man, this is the pits, he thought. I'll be glad when this is over and I can go out again. I have a few things to tell that bus when I see it again."

So Fuzzy Face stayed home and lay in his little bed where it was warm and cozy.

Then it happened. A few days later, as he was sleeping, he had a dream. He dreamed that he had a different owner, and there were no kids that played with him. In fact, the owner was very cruel to him and would only feed him about two or three times a week. The owner wouldn't give him a bath, let him play outside, or even take him for rides. The house where he lived was cold, and the wind sometimes came in through the cracks under the doors. He didn't even have a bed where he could sleep. When he did something the owner didn't like or got in the way, the owner would throw something at him or