Everyday life with an African grey parrot by his owner including her perspectives on animal intellect and unique insights into nature.

Various ebook formats are available at http: //www.smashwords.com/ In 'Fifty Shades of Grey' Pickles the Parrot does indeed dominate life. Owning parrots can be challenging and frustrating but Georgi Abbott has a way of finding humour in her parrot's behaviour and giving us pause to think differently about our own feathered pets. This is her fourth book about Pickles and just like the others, you are guaranteed to laugh out loud at this parrot's antics and personality. Excerpt ... Crazy Lady I decided to take Pickles on a little outing so I packed him up in his back-pack and we drove up town to take a short walk around the lake with Neeka Dog. We had a nice little walk and then we sat on a bench over-looking the water and there was not a single soul around for Pickles to embarrass me in front of. He was quite content to caw at the ducks and show off his other wild bird repertoire. After walking back to the car, we drove across the street to the outdoor mall so I could pick up the mail at the post office. I put Pickles on my back again for the short walk and on the way back, he started with the wolf whistles and his doing, doing, doing sounds just as we were approaching some people who were sitting on a bench in the common area. Instead of stopping to explain, as I usually do when people can't see Pickles because I'm facing them with him hidden in back, I decided to keep walking, as I knew that in a moment I would be past them and the back-pack would be self explanatory. When I arrived at the car a minute later, I removed the backpack to place it in the car and that's when I noticed that Pickles had pulled up all the paper from the bottom of the cage and then climbed down to the bottom, effectively hiding himself beneath and behind the paper. That means nothing was explained to those people and instead, I just looked like some weirdo walking through the mall, whistling and doinging with a backpack full of old newspaper. Soon, if Pickles has his way, the town will declare me crazy and unfit to own a bird. Follow us on facebook: https: //www.facebook.com/georgiabbotts.picklestheparrot

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.

Do you want to adapt your poem to a storybook that tells a story in words, and pictures-or only amplify the images that you create with words? Would you rather turn your poem into a picture book that tells a story with pictures? Will words take second place to illustrations? Decide first whether you will write a story book or a picture book. Then use the images in your poem to clarify your writing. You won't be able to read a picture book into a tape recorder or turn it into an audio book or radio play. You will be able to narrate a word book for audio playing. Start with an inspirational poem, proverb, or song lyrics. Ask children what makes them laugh. You can make something out of nothing. You can make a story out of anything intangible, such as an idea with a plan still in your mind. Capture your children's dreams, proverbs, song lyrics, and the surprise elements that make them laugh. Record imagination, "what-if" talk, and personal history. A folktale or story is something that could come from any place in the past, from science, or from nothing that you can put your hands on. What children want in a book, poem, or folklore is a cave where they can go to be themselves. When suspending belief, children still want to be themselves as they navigate fantasy. The story book becomes a den or tree house where children can go inside, shut the door, and play. Introduce children to poetry by showing how you transform your poem into a children's book by expanding and emphasizing significant events in the life story of one child. Poems, memorable experiences, significant life events or turning points are all ways to make something out of nothing tangible. You begin re-working a concept, framework, or vision. Here's how to write, publish, and promote salable material from concept to framework to poem to children's book-step-by-step.

An easy to read step-by-step guide that uses positive reinforcement for teaching parrots acceptable behavior. Professional advice from animal behaviorist that will help you deal with screaming, biting, feather-picking, bonding and other difficult behaviors.

Can Sona be the best big sister ever when she’s not sure she even wants a baby sister or brother? Brimming with warmth and charm, this story set in India will resonate with new older siblings everywhere. Sona Sharma's house is full of three generations of people who joke often and argue sometimes. Relatives come over unannounced, the phone rings frequently, and friends drop by all the time. Then one day Amma tells Sona that she is going to have a baby. Is that good? Sona isn’t so sure. She doesn’t want to share her room or her things with a new baby, not to mention the attention of Amma, Appa, Thatha, and Paatti. And despite Amma's assurance that the sky always has room for new stars, Sona doesn’t feel stretchy or bighearted like the sky. But when she learns there will be a baby-naming ceremony, she’s determined to find the best name for her new brother or sister—one as nice as her own, a Hindi word for “gold.” Perfectly pitched to young readers, this tale of warming up to change is followed by a glossary of words from India to explore in the story.

Perhaps only the animals can tell us what it is to be human. The souls of ten animals caught up in human conflicts over the last century tell their astonishing stories of life and death. In a trench on the Western Front a cat recalls her owner Colette's theatrical antics in Paris. In Nazi Germany a dog seeks enlightenment. A Russian tortoise once owned by the Tolstoys drifts in space during the Cold War. In the siege of Sarajevo a bear starving to death tells a fairytale. And a dolphin sent to Iraq by the US Navy writes a letter to Sylvia Plath. Exquisitely written, playful and poignant, Only the Animals is a remarkable literary achievement by this bright young writer. An animal's-eye view of humans at our brutal, violent worst and our creative, imaginative best, it asks us to find our way back to empathy not only for animals, but for other people, and to believe again in the redemptive power of reading and writing fiction.

"You can keep the change"--Sumguyen to cashierSumguyen and Bimisi made the fiscally responsible decision to call in sick for a couple days and take advantage of the coveted free passes to the Las Vegas Adult Expo they were given by a scantily clad marketing rep in an Apache Junction bar the night before.They stopped in Wikiup, AZ for $14 worth of gas and a road soda. Sumguyen watched as a biker chick reached deep into the jar of pickles displayed on the counter. She was in elbow deep and was fishing for the largest of those brined beauties. As she clutched the winning pickle in her teeth she started counting out bills with her still dripping hand. Sumguyen knew those bills would be in his change, he slapped down a twenty and walked out the door.The treasures he might encounter at the Adult Expo and that monster Gherkin in a biker chick's mouth made for a strange and conflicting combination of thoughts...the fourth book of Season Two was conceived over the next 28 miles.

Here is a collection of happy, nourishing hero-cat and loving human family historical, adventure, and time-travel stories and novels for all holidays...in spite of the wars. It's Christmas. It's Hannukah. It's Ramadan. It's all holidays, and time for an adventure. For example, take the Silk Road stories: "For where there's worship, there's more trade," Baghatur added. The next morning was another hot day in July, and Bihar went along the road between the fields of wheat. Women were starting to work the fields again. The children carried sheaves on their heads. Everything had to be done by hand. In Nablus, life went with no work. The food was gone, and not enough healers yet. So Bihar was welcome to mix his herbs and alchemy because they made miracles. He passed an old farmer wearing a large Greek cross. "Keev Halik?" In Arabic Bihar asked the man how he was. "Forget me," the farmer waved back. "Your crops are still rotting?" Bihar asked as he walked toward Jerusalem. "I had to sell my farm cheap." The farmer laughed tensely. "So did my forefathers in Sarkel," Bihar answered, with a pointed finger. "Are you a Cherkessk Mountaineer?" "What difference would it make to you from where I come? Does the left side of the Sea mean more to you than the right side of it? There's enough fish at both ends to feed the world." "Where are you going?" The farmer shielded his eyes from the sun with his hands. "I'm going to Jerusalem."