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Overview
The Happy Tree is a mischievous, lovable little creature who is an outcast from his forest home because he accidentally started a fire with a "magic glass on a stick" (magnifying glass). In the process of trying to save the youngest Joy Baby, Angie, the Happy Tree uses the leaves on his top knot to smother the fire. But something terrible happens! His leaves change from green to purple! When this happens, he becomes a social outcast with the tree town elders. The Happy Tree is the Joy Babies' constant companion.
Look out for the next book, The Mystery of the Vanishing Gold Coins, and learn more about the Purple Happy Tree on www.authorjoycetimberlake.com.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781639451548 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Writers Branding LLC |
| Publication date: | 09/30/2021 |
| Pages: | 100 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.26(d) |
Read an Excerpt
"WHOEVER HEARD OF A PURPLE HAPPY TREE?"
By JOYCE TIMBERLAKE
Balboa Press
Copyright © 2014 Joyce TimberlakeAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-9258-9
CHAPTER 1
The Morning Glory Patch
Once upon a time, there were four beautiful little babies. They live in the Kingdom of Joy. Joyland or the Land of Joy, as it was more commonly referred to, is an enchanting forest full of trees that are alive! These babies are Joy Babies. They are delicate and pastel colored. They have wings so they can flit and flutter about in the forest spreading love and happiness everywhere they fly. Their tiny feet shimmer in satin sandals which glow in the dark as they flutter about and their bodies are clothed in yards and yards of glimmering sparkles. Their hair is adorned with lovely, fresh flowers, picked daily to accent their sparkles. The babies live in a morning glory patch near a magic castle on the edge of Joyland. Early each morning they awake and watch the sun rise high over the East while rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. They are fascinated by all the bright colors. The colors promise them their day will be filled with excitement, adventure and best of all, fun! The morning glories wait anxiously as the dew falls on their tiny petals and open them. Stretching from a good night's sleep, they excitedly approached the day.
Each morning, they begged to be a part of the Joy Babies' hair ornaments. They love to play and they want to be a part of the day's excitement, because every day the Joy Babies did so many fun things! Pick me! Pick me! They begged, but only a few would be selected. One day they discovered someone new in their playground. It was a tree unlike any other tree in Joyland. He is smaller than the rest of the trees and he looks like he wants to join in the fun. When asked who he is, he sadly replied, I don't have a name. When Angie Baby asked where did he live, he replied, I don't know, I think I'm lost! Angie Baby winked. It was a signal to her other playmates and they knew what she meant. The little tree was in the dark, of course. He looked surprised when the four Joy Babies flew to his nest of unkempt locks and perched playfully. Ruffles the Squirrel grabbed his hand as the little quackling's started doing somersaults over one another. The little tree smiled broadly. It had been a long time since he laughed and it felt good! When one of the quacking's misjudged a jump and fell into the brook, the little tree wiggled his trunk and giggled with glee! He giggled so hard, it made everyone else laugh. "I know, I know! We'll give you a name!" Said Mikie, the only boy Joy Baby. Karen and Sharon, the two oldest girl Joy Babies, chimed in, as if they all knew what each other were thinking. They all shouted at the same time, "We will call you Happy! The Happy Tree!"
And Happy it was. Everyday all the wood creatures would meet Happy Tree and race to the Magic Brook where Lara LaQuack and her little Quackling's dwelled. Before long, the Joy Babies would fly in with their ornaments of freshly picked flowers, still sprinkled with the morning dew. They were carefully arranged in their long flowering golden locks. The Joy Babies weaved flowers into their hair each morning without fail, because the freshness of the flowers lit their sparkles. At night, when the flowers had lost their freshness and drooped, their sparkles would dim, and the Joy Babies would fall asleep in the morning dew patch. One day the Joy Babies prepared to meet their new-found friend down by the brook. As they flitted and fluttered about, they became distraught. Someone had trampled the grass down by the water! The grass was full of trash! "Maybe someone had a picnic!" Shouted Sharon Baby. "Let's go see!" The forest was always so clean and beautiful that the little bit of trash marred the beauty of their playground by the magic brook.
No! No! No! This is no way to start a brand new day! Cried Angie Baby, the littlest girl Joy Baby. We'll just have to clean it up! So they flew to get some help from the wood creatures because they were too small to pick up the larger pieces of trash. Hurry, Hurry! They exclaimed, as the wood creatures, rubbing their eyes of sleep, scampered over the hill and down to the brook. We want to play today, so we will have to hurry and clean up this mess! Everyone picked up the small pieces and discarded them in the old scooped out stump that Groundy Groundhog had rolled down to them to put the trash in. I don't believe this, he grumbled roughly. I wanted to play, not work!
"I want to play too, I don't like work, this is no fun!" cried Sandy the squirrel. As they were scooping trash into the stump, someone asked, "Where is the Happy Tree?" They needed some help, and Happy was bigger than the rest of them. "Angie!" exclaimed Karen, "Go and find Happy! I want to see if he knows what I just found!"
"What did you find?" Angie asked.
"Find The Happy Tree and maybe he will know what this is. Then we will all know!" Said Karen.
CHAPTER 2The Fire
Suddenly, the Happy Tree jumped over a log and yelled, "What's sup?"
At the same time he yelled he was trying to clear the log but his roots clicked together causing him to fall flat on his face. As he grinned and looked up he came face to face with Karen Baby.
"You are always clowning around Happy, see what we found! What do you think this is?" Karen asked as she grinned at the funny looking little tree.
"A magic glass! Look! It's on a stick!" Happy said gleefully as he got up. Karen picked up the magnifying glass carefully. "It's broken," The Happy Tree said. "Don't cut yourself." "Let's see if it works!"
She put the magnifying glass close to a colorful butterfly whose name is "Alirise" and she is sitting on a beautiful flower. Everyone gathered around to see how the magic glass worked. Karen moved the object back and forth over the butterfly so the others could see how much bigger it made the wings and the flower petals look. "Look how big that butterfly is!" Said the Doofless goose in an excited voice. "It almost looks like a monster!" said Ruffles the Squirrel. But while all the others were watching the beautiful wings of the butterfly move slowly up and down, Angie Baby had made her own discovery. "Look at all the pretty colors!" She cried. She pointed her small finger at the ground close to the magnifying glass. All the others turned to see what she was talking about.
The sun shining through the curved glass made a small rainbow of colors that danced on the ground as Karen moved it. When the magic glass was turned a certain way, the colors would burst into sunbeams. An artist's palette emerged with every shade of color imaginable! Happy clapped his hands together when he saw this, "Oh, how beautiful!" He exclaimed. But as all the creatures watched the colors sparkling so playfully through the magnifying glass, they failed to recognize the danger of the warmth of the sun's rays. With everyone's attention on the dancing lights, no one noticed what was happening to the dry leaves on the ground as the beam of light glowed upon them. The sun shining through the glass had made the sun's rays get very hot, and the heat was making the leaves start to smoke.
Suddenly, a spark of fire sprang up among the dried leaves, frightening everyone. Karen dropped the magnifying glass and ran away, with the little wood creatures close behind. "Oh nooooo!" everyone exclaimed!, for they knew the dangers of fire. Horrified, they watched as the fire spread quickly along the ground. Lara LaQuack grabbed her Quackling's and waddled safely to the cool water as the other creatures stood frozen in fear. As if on cue, when they saw the Quacking's leap into the safety of their mother's arms, they also turned and fled, some to the water and others off through the terrified trees.
Wally B. Walnut grabbed his small son, Twig, while Wilma Willow sheltered the Joy Babies from the ravishing effects of the blaze. The elders of Joyland hurriedly ran towards the fire. Mayor Roots was furious! How dare a perfect stranger enter his town and cause such a mess! He looked the situation over, saw the leftover bits of trash and garbage, along with the quickly spreading fire, and decided it must have been the stranger's fault. Meanwhile, Angie Baby was missing! Wilma Willow counted the Joy Babies and discovered the littlest Joy Baby was lost amongst all the shuffle and confusion. "Oh, we must find her," her panicky brother and sisters exclaimed! They were worried about the safety of their sister.
Sassy Sassafras and Oadie Oak were carrying buckets filled with water to the dangerous heat. Everyone joined in fighting the forest fire. Mayor Roots wrung his hands in sorrow. "Ohhhh, ohhhh", he cried. "We must find her!"
No one ever thought of Happy. Since he was a stranger to the town, not many trees even knew about him. The few trees that saw him did not realize that he was more than just a visitor. He had stayed with the wood creatures and the Joy Babies since he had arrived in Joyland, so he did not know or he had never met a lot of the others who lived here.
The Great Bald Eagle, Enoch, watched closely as the little tree and the Joy Baby ran from the forest. He decided he had better follow them before anything else happened.
CHAPTER 3The Rescue
But, what everyone didn't know was that Angie Baby had been hurt! She had run in the same direction as Happy when the fire started and had tripped over the root of an old rotten tree! Stunned, she watched as Happy raced ahead. She realized she was in grave danger. The fire was spreading rapidly along the ground and had almost caught up with her. Sobbing, she buried her face in the ground. The smoke hung heavy in the air. Angie had injured her wings in the fall and didn't have the strength to fly away from the dangerous flames. The Happy Tree, in all the excitement, had been too scared to look back and did not even realize that Angie Baby had followed him.
All of a sudden, he remembered why he had been lost when he came to the strange forest. "This is what happened before!" he thought. "I must have lost my memory in the fire that destroyed my home, family and all of my friends. Somehow I escaped, but now, here it is happening all over again, and I must be the one to blame!" Happy, coming to this sudden conclusion, came to a quick stop. He wiped the tears out of his eyes with a droopy little leaf from his branches and glanced back at the terrible disaster that was happening to the forest that had befriended him. As he was wiping his tears, he saw something and heard a small whimper. "Oh! Someone is in trouble! I must go back and help," he thought as he risked his life to go back into the smoke-filled air. Desperately trying to see through the smoke, he stumbled over some sticks and fell flat on his face again! He blinked, not believing what lay ahead of him.
Happy stood up and ran towards the Joy Baby just as the fire caught onto her sparkles. He looked around for some water, but there wasn't any! In desperation, Happy Tree fluffed the fire out with his top knot and brushed away the ashes with his leaves. He scooped up the frightened little Angie Baby and gently carried her away to the safety of the meadow. The Baby was crying softly as Happy sat on the grass, rocking her gently. The green meadow was filled with the scent of heather and wild flowers, roses and golden broom. They both breathed the fresh air deeply, trying to force the smoke out of their lungs. As they rested, the bald eagle, Enoch, flew overhead. Twig and the other Joy Babies ran up to them. They fanned the smoke away from the Happy Tree and their sister. Happy began coughing and sneezing and his bark was still smoking from the heat of the fire. The Joy Babies ran down to the brook and dipped water to rub on his bark so it would cool him. They gave some water to their sister.
"Thank you," said the Happy Tree and the Joy baby, "We feel much better now." Everyone looked startled as Blu the Bluebird flew up. He was fluttering all about. "Boy! Are you in trouble!" Chirped Blu. "Why?" asked Angie.
"Because, they think Happy is the one that" Blu Bluebird stopped in mid-air and gasped! With a wing to his mouth, Blu started to giggle! Enoch, the eagle, flew up and over Joyland and spotted the Joy Baby and the Happy Tree. He was satisfied they were now safe so he flew back to tell the Elders. Meanwhile Blu the Blue Bird pointed at The Happy Tree as Angie looked up at his top knot and started laughing. The Joy Babies, Twig and all the wood creatures stood staring at the little tree. Their eyes were wide with surprise. "What is so funny?" asked Happy. Angie pulled Happy to his feet, still laughing, while Blu tugged at "LOOK!"
Suddenly the Joy Babies heard the Elders of Joyland calling to them. The Joy Babies told The Happy Tree and Angie Baby they were going back to face the music. "We will be back as soon as we can" Said Sharon Baby. Angie Baby told them she was staying with The Happy Tree and she waved goodbye as the Joy Babies flew back to Joyland.
"Come with us and we'll show you!" The others said as they led Happy back to the Magic Brook.
CHAPTER 4The Discovery
Happy finally understood as he bent down on his trunk and looked into the water to see his reflection. He was not sure whether to believe what he saw. For, you see, when Happy fluffed out the fire to save Angie Baby, the chlorophyll that makes his foliage green went out of his leaves, and he had suddenly become quite purple! Angie and Blu were still laughing. Happy looked at them quite bewildered. "I don't think this is funny at all!" He exclaimed. "Why, Happy, we're not laughing at you," said the Joy Baby. "At least we don't mean to be laughing. Whoever heard of a purple Happy tree?" Exclaimed Blu. The situation had become too much for Happy. He wearily plumped down on the grass and buried his face in his leaves.
"Boo, hoo, hoo! It's not enough to finally discover my true identity and realize I'm an orphan without a home, and that it's all my fault for causing all this damage to the only friends I have. But now, being purple is just too much! Boo, hoo, hoo!"
Blu and Angie Baby stopped laughing. Blu perched on Happy Tree's top knot and bending over, looked him in the eye and said, "We're sorry, Happy. Oh, please don't cry. We don't care if you're purple or green. It's not what's on the outside that counts, it's what is on the inside!"
"That's right," Angie Baby said. "Don't worry. Everything will be all right."
But Happy knew everything was not all right. Everything was all wrong and he didn't know how to fix it. "Well, now what?" Happy asked Blu.
"Blu replied, "I came to warn you that Mayor Roots has everyone up in limbs because he thinks you are the one that deliberately left all that trash and started the fire. Now he's calling a Tree Town Council Meeting with all the elders. You both are in a lot of trouble!" Angie started crying. "Oh, no! What about my Joy brother and my Joy sisters? Where are they? Are they okay?" "I don't know. I was just supposed to find you and tell you to come to the Tree Town Council Meeting," Blu chirped. "No way!" said Happy. "It's time for me to be moving on. I'm going to run away!"
"Oh, no," said Angie Baby, "Please, Happy, you can't leave me!"
"Well," Happy said, standing up and brushing the dust from his trunk. "Why don't you come with me?" He stooped down, encouraging Angie to jump on his top knot. And jump she did! Her little morning glories went limp with her effort, but they spruced up again when she smiled.
"Okay! I'm ready! Let's go!" Angie exclaimed gleefully. Blu said he was going to tell Mayor Roots! "Go ahead and tell. Who cares?" Replied Angie Baby and Happy. Happy tromped down the hill with Angie Baby holding tightly to his top knot.
"One thing about it," Angie said as they ran across the meadow to the bottom of the hill, "At least you're color coordinated!" She was referring to his trunk and limbs becoming a bluish grey when his leaves turned purple.
"Yeah? Who cares?" Answered the little outcast tree. He knew he had done nothing wrong. They spotted the pou pou tree but they did not stop.
"Hey wait for me, Joy is almost finished touching me up. I wanna go!" Cried the pou pou tree. "Please wait! I am getting cleaned up just so I can meet that cute coconut tree named Coco, don't you remember her waving at us when we were floating down the river?"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from "WHOEVER HEARD OF A PURPLE HAPPY TREE?" by JOYCE TIMBERLAKE. Copyright © 2014 Joyce Timberlake. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
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