Böcker av Richard Carpenter

Chinese dragons are allusive, hidden, mysterious and Makana's dragon was no different. Without it, there was no hope of her first piece of jade. "Someday," said Makana's mother, "It will be a deed you will do without being told to do it and it will be the right thing to do, but unlike cleaning your playhouse or watering the flowers, doing the right and responsible will frighten you so much, you will want to ignore it, walk beyond it or even deny it because of your fear. It will take the dragon that lives in your heart to help you overcome your fears and confront it, giving you courage to continue forward, bravely, doing what you know is the correct course of action. Makana, A Dragon and a Piece of Jade is an Asian-American children's story that confronts choices that are made with the symbolism of earning something as special as your first piece of jade.

"Once upon a time, there were three sisters," declared Karen, "and Karen was the prettiest, the nicest and the smartest. End of story!"Karen landed on the grass next to her two sisters, Jill and Mary Jane. "Ugh!" thought Jill, "Here she goes again!" Jill sighed and turned back to making her leprechaun trap. After all, catching a leprechaun was much more important than arguing with Karen.The Rooney Sisters were quite Irish and quite American at the same time. Grandpa Rooney always told fairy tales about Irish leprechauns and how lucky it would be if they could just catch one. "You'll need a trap," Grandpa would say, which is what the sisters were trying to build on the front lawn of their prairie home. The date was March 16th.Seamus chuckled as he watched the girls from behind a blade of grass. The leprechauns of the nearby village could never forget that each year, on the day before the celebration of the saint himself, three little girls, who swing from rain gutters and play on the wide porch most days of the year, always seem to focus on the magical pots of money stowed and stored safely under the roots of Nebraska's cottonwood trees. "They'll never catch the likes of us, God love 'em," chuckled Seamus, "Our village is tucked away just out of reach of those three. They'll never find us, let alone catch us!" . . . or will they!Decades later in Ireland, when the Rooney Sisters and Seamus wept in front of the ancient, family oak tree and the carved initials, P. J. Rooney 6-9-20 (1920), the contract between human and leprechaun was fulfilled. Grandpa Rooney had carved those initials deep into that massive oak tree's trunk the day he left for America so very long ago. With his responsibility to the sisters complete, Seamus tapped his blackthorn against the ground sending himself back to his village hidden in the green mist hovering slightly above the ground.

"Elsa, they have stripes for Pete's sake," retorted Cameron, "you're not supposed to like them. They're BEEEEEEES Elsa, Beeeeeeees! They can sting you! They're dangerous!" Cameron was Elsa's practical, older sister and quite concerned about the bees living in the honeysuckle hidden hive placed in a discreet backyard corner of their urban, Nebraska home.Against her better judgement, Elsa takes her older sister's advice and avoids her friendship with the backyard bees. Though Elsa's mother reminds her daughters, our family does not discriminate based on hate, the girls decide to shun the backyard bees (their friends), based on the bi-color of their fuzz, the danger of their tails and the fact that bees use a native language other than English. When peer pressure, bias and stereotypes are involved, the question in the end is always the same-do you continue the fear and discrimination against the backyard bees when the life of a loved one sways in the balance or do you use what's left of your damaged friendship to ask for help to save Grandpa Roger? There is no greater misfortune than having an enemy of your own making. There is no greater gift than forgiveness.