Night Buddies Go Sky High
It’s a wild ride ahead for the Night Buddies as they go Sky High!
When young John Degraffenreidt and his red crocodile buddy, Crosley, show up at the Pineapple Cheesecake Factory and find Big Foot Mae lying on the floor, staring up at her Great Star Puzzle on the ceiling, they expect something’s afoot. Crosley only wants a new supply of pineapple cheesecakes, but what Mae points to on her ceiling will start the Night Buddies on a totally new fantasy adventure.
A suspicious white dot has passed through the Corkscrew Constellation and is now moving underneath the Hound Dog Stars. Across the Borough, Crosley’s brother Crenwinkle sees the same curious speck in the sky. It looks to be a long night for sleepyhead John, but thanks to the time spreader dingus with its sleep retardant setting, he gets right into their next escapade, this time taking them all the way into the stratosphere in their newly modified personal racing blimp.
This is one book you’re not going to want to miss out on!
Meet Author Sands Hetherington
Sands Hetherington, creator of the Night Buddies series of chapter books, credits his son John for being his principal motivator. Sands and young John developed the Crosley crocodile character in the series during months of bedtime story give-and-take. They collaborated many nights on escapades starring John and Crosley, until eventually it occurred to Sands why it was that Crosley was bright red. That was when the first book came together.
Sands raised his son as a single parent from the time John was six. He read to him every night during those formative years: all of the classic children’s stories from Aesop through the Grimms, Lewis Carroll, Frank Baum, Tolkien and Dahl, with a lot of Dickens and Hugo thrown in. When school was out they got in the car and toured Alaska, Canada and most of the contiguous states. John still gets around. So far he has lived in Germany, Scotland, Russia, England and Spain.
Dogs have always been a part of the author’s life, beginning with Whiskers, a cocker spaniel. When his wonderful boxer Hube died, he despaired of finding a boxer who could match him, and instead got a Saint Bernard. He ended up breeding Saints for a number of years and at this point has had twelve as house pets. Sands says dogs can do you a power of good, and if you lose one, go out and get another the next day and you will be surprised at how fast your grief goes away.
Sands is also a Civil War buff. He would like to spend a month of evenings with common soldiers from both sides to see how they felt about the business. And eccentric generals like Jackson, Sherman and Forrest, and most of all Lincoln. Because Lincoln never gets to smile in his pictures.
The author was born in New York City but was transplanted a year later to Greensboro, North Carolina, where his maternal grandmother lived. He never really left the area and has a lot of the South in him. His grandmother was a prominent educator and became a great friend and mentor.
Sands majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. He lives in Greensboro now, and hangs out with his longtime friend Ann and their Saint Bernards Dudley and Maggie. He likes visiting ancient Mediterranean sites in Turkey and Italy, and most of all Greece.
We were so excited to find this package in our mailbox!
We LOVE books!! Aiden always loves to get a new book!
It took 2 weeks, but he read most of it with little help from me!
Some of the beautiful illustrations in this book. They are all black and white pencil drawings by Jessica Love.
We were so excited to get this book in our mailbox. We love to read books and when we have extra time at night we read many, many books! I'm a big, big reader and am so glad that Aiden seems to be going down that same road. I find it so easy to become lost in the book I am reading!!
Aiden is in the 1st grade but really wanted to read this book by himself. He did a great job and I only had to help with the big words:) Some of them were "nonsense words"...at least that is what he informed me of. He thought it was funny and enjoyed the characters. He laughed many times while reading this book and said that "some of these names are crazy." Examples were Pineapple Cheesecake Factory, Corkscrew Constellation, and Big Foot Mae. I think that was his favorite part of the book. The crazy names of things. He loves things that are silly.
We did not know before we received this book that it was the 3rd of the series. I am know waiting on the Books 1 and 2 because Aiden wants to find out about their other wacky adventures.
We enjoyed this book and I would recommend it for your next family read.
Thank you to Gail and Dune Buggy Press for the opportunity to read this book. We can't wait to see what happens next.
Want it? Buy it!
You can purchase your own copy of Night Buddies Go Sky High at www.nightbuddies.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com or visit your local bookstore. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Pinterest.
Night Buddies Go Sky High
Sands Hetherington
Illustrated by Jessica Love
List: $7.99
Trade softcover
ISBN: 978-0-9847417-3-1
Published by Dune Buggy Press, Greensboro, NC
Want it? Win it!
One lucky reader will win their own copy of Night Buddies Go Sky High! This giveaway is open to US residents, 18 and older- one entrant per household, please. Just use the RC entry form below to enter for your chance to win! This blog is not responsible for prize fulfillment.
Good luck!
It looks like the illustrations are done really well.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
ReplyDelete