Donna M. Cramer’s adventures of Lester Lion continues teaching responsibility and the importance of calling 911 in real emergencies to children of all ages!!
Released and published by Kirk House Publishers
Lester Lion Calls 911 is a delightful children’s book that follows the adventures of Lester, a young lion who is thrilled about Fire Prevention Week and eager to meet real firefighters. But when he learns that anyone can dial 911 during an assembly, he mistakenly believes it’s okay to do so while playing. Using his mom’s phone, Lester dials the number, sparking an educational journey for Lester.
Through colorful illustrations and engaging storytelling, this book teaches young readers about the importance of discerning when to call 911 in a real emergency. Along the way, they’ll also learn the essential safety technique of stop, drop, and roll, ensuring they’re equipped with valuable knowledge to stay safe.
Join Lester Lion as he navigates through valuable lessons about responsibility, emergency preparedness, and fire safety in this heartwarming tale that’s perfect for Storytime or classroom discussions.
More in the Lester Lion Series:
In Lester Lion Wants to Roar, we meet Lester, a young lion cub. One day, while playing with friends, he runs into a tree and sustains a concussion.
He finds himself unable to play or use his powerful voice to roar. Determined to regain his voice, Lester embarks on a courageous healing journey.
Along the way, he learns the importance of patience, perseverance, and self-acceptance.
With heartwarming illustrations and an inspiring message, Lester Lion Wants to Roar teaches young readers about acceptance, resilience, and the power to heal.
Dedication from Donna:
This book is dedicated to all firefighters, first responders, and EMTs. The services these brave individuals provide are invaluable. This book is also dedicated to all children who are differently abled, either physically or neurologically. After sustaining a brain injury, I understand the struggles my students went through each day better than ever. This is for all the heroes who never give up! I want to thank everyone, including family, friends, and therapists, for their support on this continuing journey. We may make mistakes, but we continue to rise.
About Donna M. Cramer:
Donna M. Cramer is a retired special education teacher who lives in Massachusetts. She worked with young special needs students (preschool – first grade) for over 20 years. She sustained a life-altering brain injury while working at school, which forced her to retire early from teaching. Donna always loved writing and hopes to help children through a series of children’s books. She stays busy writing, doing yoga and walking on the beach. She lives with her husband and two Maine Coon cats. Through her years of teaching, she observed several students call 911 after being taught this vital skill. This book will clearly explain the correct use of the system.
Q: What inspired you to write Little Fortified Stories?
A few years ago I was in Lisbon at The DISQUIET International Literary Program. In my spare time I went to the port institution for a tasting. I sat in the dim room, sipping, when a character suddenly came into my head. A character whose words somehow echoed the particular qualities of that port. And so was born my first series of very short fictions, Little Fortified Stories. When I returned home I continued writing stories based on other liquid spirits and gradually the collection expanded to include Ekphrastic works, stories from dreams and travels and stories based very loosely on my ancestry.
Q: How did the characters come into being? What is your writing process?
It always feels like a bit of voodoo how my characters show up. Most often, a voice comes into my head and I follow that voice into a story. It’s a mysterious and murky adventure. I don’t develop a story arc in advance or try to pre-structure. I freewrite as long as I can without reading what I’ve written. On rare occasions a story may write itself in one sitting. Otherwise, I continue to freewrite to see how the character and setting develops.
When writing micro and flash fiction, especially in workshops, I sometimes use written or visual prompts or I write within restricting structures which, contrary to what you might think, actually stimulate not stifle creativity. Sometimes if you’re stuck and the story’s not working, searching for an alternate structure or approach can revitalize it. This happened with my piece about Saint Barbara. Once I transferred the fragments into a list structure it was more energized, with enticing gaps and contrasting tones.
One of my favourite prompt methods is writing Ekphrastic pieces based on visual art. It’s another way of “inducing” a story or character. There are ten Ekphrastic art-inspired stories in my collection, including a fallen saint who falls in love with a creature named Gryffix; a disfigured ballet teacher with a secret life; and a mysterious little Daughter of the North Wind who unexpectedly (and literally) falls into a couple’s life. I also find characters while listening to music.
Q: What other books have you published? How do they differ from Little Fortified Stories?
I have one previously published book, Music from a Strange Planet, an award-winning collection of short stories. Although the stories in that book are shorter (2000 to 3000 words) than most short stories, they’re longer than the 50 to 1500 word fiction in Little Fortified Stories. Also, many of the fictions in Little Fortified Stories lean into the surreal or at least the engagingly improbable! I like to let the story go where it wants. You might think it would be easier to write lots of shorter stories, but I found it challenging “herding” a cast of well over 100 characters.
Q: How fundamental are life’s experiences to the writing muse?
It amazes me how, after writing Little Fortified Stories, I see snippets of my life scattered throughout the collection. I notice themes of climate change, of mothers and daughters, of grief, fertility and dreams, and women’s agency (or non-agency). None of these themes were planned, they simply arose from my state of mind during the span of time I was writing the manuscript.
Thinking about life’s experiences, there’s something about writing in a story form that allows you to process deeper issues or memories that can’t be framed in the usual logical thinking mode. Once filtered through a fictional lens, these deep seated emotions have a place to reside.
Q: Tell me about your book cover.
Sure! Just as with my previous book, my publisher Caitlin Press once again asked if I would like to design the cover for Little Fortified Stories. Of course, I said yes. The collaged image is a take on one of the stories in the book titled “The Jaeger Family Theatre,” about a young girl who is in a rite to enter the clan of the Jaeger people (a jaeger is also a bird). It’s in the section of the book titled “Ancestral Fabrications,” meaning stories based on my ancestry, some of which are entirely fictional and others which are only somewhat fictional. Information on my heritage was scarce.
Q: If you could meet one of your characters in real life, who would it be?
It would be the woman in the story “What May Console Those with the Loss of Their Lexicon,” who kept my words alive by singing them (in a “voice like a rusty pair of scissors”) while I was agonizing through writer’s block for a year. Of course, she’s purely imaginary, but she exists somewhere deep in my psyche.
Q: Are there any books you can recommend on how to write very short fiction?
There’s an excellent, comprehensive book, The Art of Brevity, by Grant Faulkner, that elucidates the freedom and complexity of this genre. It’s full of insights into the craft of writing very short stories, but is also very enjoyable to read and chock full of examples. This is an art form that has boundless possibilities and Faulkner is definitely on the pro almost-anything-goes side. The thing to remember about short-short fiction is that it’s not necessarily a fast read but an immersive one.
Q: What do you do when you’re not writing?
I dream about travel. I get on my Triumph motorcycle and live in the wind, without words. I go tactile. I roam and ruminate in my garden and occasionally swear at my gooey, thick clay soil that mocks my shovels, but I love every plant and insect in that finite space that is my personal heaven.
A spinster in love with a tobacco-smoking ghost. A lonely one-eyed monster who wanders the desert. A Medieval saint who delights in her “miraculous ruine.” In Little Fortified Stories, award-winning writer Barbara Black conjures a microcosm of characters that defy convention. Black’s writing has a signature tone and precision that readers and reviewers call out for praise. In this suite of startling, haunting stories, curious worlds are encapsulated like a series of snow globes, swirling with deep emotion and teeming with strangeness. Inspired by art, music, alcoholic spirits and what Black calls “authentic fabrications” from her own ancestry, these eclectic tales buzz with a hypnotic intensity you will never forget
Bio:
Barbara Black writes short and flash fiction, poetry and libretti. Her work has appeared in national and international publications, including The Cincinnati Review, Geist, The Hong Kong Review, Prairie Fire, and CV2, and in many anthologies, including Bath Flash Fiction Award 2020. Achievements include: Fiction Finalist, 2020 National Magazine Awards; Winner, 2017 Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition; Winner, Federation of BC Writers Contests (Prose Poem) 2018 and (Flash Fiction) 2021/2022; and Shortlisted for the 2023Edinburgh Flash Fiction Award. She recently won First Prize in The International Plaza Prizes Microfiction Contest 2023 and placed Second in their Flash Fiction Category. Her debut short story collection Music from a Strange Planet was released in 2021 to critical acclaim and was a finalist or winner in 10 Book Award competitions. Black’s highly anticipated flash and microfiction collection, Little Fortified Stories, is forthcoming in May 2024. She lives in Victoria, BC, where she gardens and rides her trusty Triumph motorcycle.
This week we celebrate Canadian Children’s Book Week to celebrate books, reading and the connections they bring. Many schools, libraries and bookstores are hosting local authors and having special events throughout the week to promote the wonder of stories.
The first Children’s Book Festival tour took place in 1977, organized by the newly-established Children’s Book Centre. It featured just eleven authors, taking them to schools across the country over seven jam-packed days. Today, that celebration, now called Canadian Children’s Book Week, includes dozens of creators and hundreds of events in a single week.
My own children’s books are available through online platforms for all school levels.
Each of these books deals with self-worth, friendship, love of family and the natural world, valuable lessons for all kids.
Poetry has been an integral part of my life since an early age. It has been a constant friend and has helped me to sort out and express my feelings, whether it be love and compassion or fear and anxiety.
Growing up, I was a shy kid and often prone to quiet reflection. I can remember writing my first poem when I was around eleven years of age. I was blessed to have grown up in a beautiful and loving home, with a wonderful mom and dad, but like all families, parents sometimes do argue. I was profoundly affected by one of the few arguments my parents ever had, and at that age, I didn’t really know what to do. I remember climbing up the stairs to my bedroom, sitting at my desk, taking the pen in my hand, and starting to write. I was sure if I wrote a beautiful poem everything would be okay, and everyone would feel better.
The title of that first poem was Dawn Can Not Be Long Now. There were only a few stanzas to this first effort at poetry, but I laboured over those words so that they would be perfect. I trudged back down the stairs and saw my parents holding hands, regret showing deep in their eyes. When I showed them my poem, my mother’s eyes moistened and my father enfolded my mom, my younger sister and myself into his strong arms. ‘Dawn’ really had arrived for me, as I had awakened to the power of words.
Is nature a fundamental source of creativity for you?
I am thrilled you have asked this question! Without a doubt, nature has been a huge inspiration for me. I am blessed to live on an eight-acre parcel in the country and I am surrounded by forest. I frequently walk along the pathways through the woods and find the words for poetry and music resonate within me easily.
I keep my phone handy so I can record any bits of words, poetry or melodies that come to me. Since it flows and ebbs so easily, like the Humber River which meanders through our forest, I need to capture it right away, for fear of losing that precious inspiration before I return home.
Nature provides solace and comfort, peace and wisdom, and it is the source of the creativity it so generously shares with me. I am simply a conduit for what nature wishes to impart. This source, call it God, a universal intelligence, or Mother Gaia is available to all of us, if we care to listen.
What themes in Celtic music resonate with you?
Although both my mom and dad are from the Netherlands, I have always had an affinity for Celtic music. A good friend recently asked, “Why, Celtic and not Dutch music?” I didn’t really have a proper answer other than that I love this music and whenever I hear it, my heart lifts as if in recognition.
I continued to contemplate this question as to why I chose Celtic inspired music for my album and reflected on my younger years. My mother’s middle brother married a Scotswoman and during family gatherings we were often exposed to Celtic dancing and music. Beautiful, timeless songs like Loch Lomond, Ae Fond Kiss, Wild Mountain Thyme and Danny Boy were frequently played at home, and became part of my soul.
How did your In The Breeze project come about?
This project was a lifelong dream for me. Due to an unfortunate incident when I was only six years old, I never sang in front of others. I had been convinced by a school choir director that my voice was not suitable for the choir. My little self translated that to mean that I sounded dreadful.
Even so, I still loved to sing, but became a closet singer, and only sang in the forest, where I was sure no one would hear! Except for the wildlife, of course, and they were not judgemental. It wasn’t until university that I gained a bit more courage singing for fun with friends. When I graduated with a degree in Management Economics from the University of Guelph, and returned home, I was in my early twenties. One day my parents heard me singing and were pleasantly surprised. They wanted to enroll me in singing lessons, but sadly, our father died just a few weeks later. Since money was now tight with the loss of income my dad had provided, I got on with the business of living life. This meant making a decent living and helping my mother as much as I could. Singing lessons were just not in the cards.
Fast forwarding a little bit, okay a lot, after having run a successful dental supply business with my husband, Peter Thomas Pontsa, in 2013 we decided to sell the company and retire early. The first thing I did was sign up for singing lessons. Over the last ten years, I have worked with several wonderful vocal coaches.
When I expressed my desire to cut an album, my current vocal coach, Cynthia Fox Fucile, a fantastic mezzo-soprano, introduced me to Mars Giammarco of Red Egg Studio. Mars is an accomplished musician who is a winner of multiple music awards and an Emmy winner. When Mars learned that my album was to be Celtic in nature, he suggested we bring on Jason Wilson, who has been nominated for the JUNOS twice. Working together with these three amazing artists is something I will never forget.
Although I love every single one of the eleven songs on my album, In The Breeze, there are three very special songs I would like to mention as they are based on my poetry. The first piece is called Do You Hear the Drums? It was cowritten with Casey Cole, a good family friend of ours who came over one day and said I just had to listen to his new instrument, the handpan drum. As Casey played, words and music came to me, and I started singing along. Tho the Seas Were Rough is the second piece. We had just watched the movie, the Fisherman’s Friends and I was so inspired, that I just had to write a sea shanty! My third original song, I Will Be in the Breeze is contemporary and based on a poem I wrote in remembrance of my mother. Rina Valcourt, a dear friend, wrote the music for this song.
When did your interest in reincarnation begin?
I grew up with the concept. During childhood, my parents often invited friends who were mediums over to visit. Lively discussions around the dinner table about past lives were commonplace. The belief in reincarnation came to me naturally, as my intuition told me that a proclivity toward certain skills must come from other lives lived before. I think the geniuses throughout history and today honed their skills over many lifetimes to the degree that when they reincarnated, those skills were so apparent, that they were born as child prodigies.
What made you center Past Life’s revenge on this theme?
My heart has always felt heavy for murder victims whose cases never get solved. But what if someone who was murdered was so intent on justice that they reincarnated right away with the sole purpose to exact revenge on their still living murderer?
In my story, David Harris, has suffered from debilitating night visions for as long as he can remember. Desperate for help, and not receiving any relief from traditional health practitioners, his new girlfriend and psychic, Emma Jackson convinces him to undergo a past life regression. When David realizes he was murdered in his most recent reincarnation only thirty years earlier, and that his killer is still alive, David can’t rest until he finds justice.
Have you ever had a dream that was so real, you were sure it was from a past life?
Since childhood, David Harris has suffered from debilitating nightmares. He has sought the advice of psychiatrists and other health professionals without obtaining any relief. When he meets an attractive young psychic, Emma Jackson, she encourages him to seek the help of her friend Anna Tungsten, a hypnotherapist. During an emotionally charged past life regression, David learns he was murdered in his most recent reincarnation, thirty years earlier. When David realizes his murderer is still alive, he cannot move on and a build a new life with Emma until he has exacted revenge and stopped the murderer from killing again. https://www.amazon.com/Past-Lifes-Revenge-Jackson-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0CW1FNT3L?ref_=ast_author_mpb
Revenge, a crime thriller with a twist of spiritualism. She is an avid writer of poetry, belongs to the Wordsmiths Writers’ Group based out of New Tecumseth, Ontario and is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and the South Simcoe Arts Council. Angela is a Soprano Soloist.
What do you want readers and listeners to gain from your work?
I’d like them to enjoy themselves. My heart and soul went into both works, and although, there was great satisfaction in unleashing my artistic nature after so many years having been a businesswoman, I can’t imagine a greater reward if people will enjoy reading Past Life’s Revenge and listening to In The Breeze.
And since my poetry spans so many decades, I will be compiling my work into a book of poetry. I also have some children’s stories featuring the animals of Costa Rica which will be projects for the future.
When did you begin writing?
I have been writing poetry since the age of eleven, dabbled a bit in short stories, but always considered myself a poet, first. I am an avid reader, but there is something magical about writing and making up your own plot and characters! Past Life’s Revenge is my first book but it won’t be my last!
How and where can people find you and your writing and music?
Past Life’s Revenge will be available on July 9th but can be preordered through amazon, apple, kobo and other major online bookstores. Books can also be ordered direct through my website: https://angelavanbreemen.ca/
Angela is a Soprano Soloist. A firm believer in giving back to the community, she often sings for different charitable organizations. Music and poetry have been an integral part of her life, and she is excited to announce her first CD, In The Breeze, will be released to the public on April 16th, 2024. The album is inspired by Celtic music and, includes three original pieces of music, based on her poetry.
Angela van Breemen is delighted to have completed her first novel, Past Life’s Revenge, a crime thriller with a twist of spiritualism. She is an avid writer of poetry, belongs to the Wordsmiths Writers’ Group based out of New Tecumseth, Ontario and is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and the South Simcoe Arts Council. Angela is a Soprano Soloist.
A firm believer in giving back to the community, she often sings for different charitable organizations. Music and poetry have been an integral part of her life, and in early 2024 she launched her debut album, In The Breeze. Celtic in nature, it includes three original pieces of music, based on her poetry.
To request additional review copies or an interview with Angela van Breemen, please contact Mickey Mikkelson at Creative Edge Publicity: mickey.creativeedge@gmail.com / 403.464.6925.
I love to hold suspense in my stories with unexpected endings. I hope you enjoy this one.
A Perfect Plan
The old theatre seats looked grey under their cloak of dust and debris. George walked down the center aisle, motes of dust billowed and swirled over his shoes and neatly pressed pants. There were no echoes of laughter, music or projected voices of actors, just a silence of lost times.
George’s hand gripped the briefcase’s handle, his knuckles white and sweat making his hands, neck and back sticky. He understood it was a good meeting place for the recipient but for him it increased his fear. He’d tried to bluff his way out, threaten police action and even pleaded but the blackmailer was insistent on the amount of money for his silence. The facts relayed were undisputable and George knew he needed to comply with the demand. If his secret was revealed he would lose his position as a high court judge and also the respect of his peers and community. He did not consider his immediate family, after all their presence gave him the respectability he required.
George tried to think how anyone could know about his particular weaknesses – he was always so careful, so precise in its execution. A footstep behind him, George froze to the spot. A sharp authoritative voice directed.
“Do not turn around, place the briefcase on the floor and continue walking.”
George bent at the knees slowly and laid the case on the floor. He felt his skin tighten, and took a deep breath. Now, or never.
Turning as quickly as possible, he twisted around and aimed the gun at the dark clothed figure behind him. Without hesitation he pulled the trigger – ozone, a flash of light and a familiar face illuminated for a brief moment.
“What the hell, Simon?”
The figure fell to the ground. George fell to his knees beside his son. Blood oozed from his young man’s mouth, his eyes glazed.
“Oh, my God, what have I done?”
George frantically searched his pocket for his cell phone. Thundering footsteps filled the theatre.
“Drop the weapon, raise your hands and stand right where you are.”
Handcuffed George was led away. Simon smiled; the bullet proof vest and fake theatrical blood had done their job. Now, he and his mother were free of the ogre they had feared for so long.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 