Aside
First, you can read “An Apple Picking” excerpt from DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens right here.
Only 99¢ for the whole story from October 3—7!
“The other America, the America of poverty, is hidden today in a way that it never was before. Its millions are socially invisible to the rest of us.” — Michael Harrington
DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens
ONLY 99¢ for 5 days: October 3—7
Grab a copy today on YOUR AMAZON!
DOG BONE SOUP is a fictional story of the survival and the triumph of a boy who overcomes the odds of repeating the pattern of poverty in his own life back in the 1950s and 60s, an era when most families were living The American Dream.
Unfortunately, DOG BONE SOUP is as relevant today as it was in the 1950s and 60s. Fortunately, we do have the opportunity to change these statistics today. As caring and concerned adults, we can all make a difference—one child at a time.
Meanwhile, savor “An Apple Picking Excerpt” from DOG BONE SOUP…
Right after school the next day, Willie and I grabbed two empty bushel baskets and headed over to Alvina’s place. We planned to fill ’em up over the tops.
“Hi, Mrs. Stevens,” I said when she opened the door.
“What on God’s green earth do you two want?”
“Saw your trees out there with branches tippin’ to the ground. Wondered if we could pick some apples. If you like, we’ll pick some for you too.”
“Hell, no! Those apples are mine and they ain’t goin’ to some white trash that lives down the road. I’ll have ’em rot before the likes of you gets a one. Now, get the hell out of here and don’t come back. My shotgun’s standin’ in the corner and I’m not afraid to use it. Now, git!”
We trudged back to the Buick, drove the quarter mile home and headed out to the garden to see what we could rustle up—a bushel of onions, a bushel of potatoes, half a bushel of carrots and fourteen Hubbards.
“Gotta head out to pick Mum up, Willie. You lug in the water and have the girls feed the chickens.”
Told Mum about it all soon as she slammed the Buick’s door.
Mum braided the onions and hung them down the basement so they wouldn’t rot. She had Willie line the Hubbards up around the edge of the kitchen floor without touching to keep them from rotting.
“I don’t think we have much grain left for the chickens and we can’t afford to buy any. Drive down by Bull’s Butcher after school tomorrow and get us as many dog bones as he’ll let you have. I can do a lot with those bones.”
So there we were, back to those god-awful stinkin’ dog bones. Mum boiled a big pot of ’em up that night. She scraped off what little meat was on them and separated out the fat to fry. We ate the crispings with our fingers. The meat scraps went back into the kettle with carrots, onions and potatoes and that was our supper for weeks on end.
Still, I had a plan.
“Hey Willie, let’s head over to Alvina’s after dark. We’ll park this side of her place, sneak into the orchard and snitch us some apples. We can lug ’em back to the Buick and Alvina’ll be none the wiser. What do you say?”
“You bet!” Willie was rarin’ to go.
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Tell your friends all about it…
And don’t forget to grab your copy of DOG BONE SOUP for only 99¢ at YOUR AMAZON today!
Let’s all throw kindness around like confetti! ~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author
Author Bio
Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).
Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming of age novel published in January 2015.
DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens
“Throw kindness around like confetti!”
ONLY 99¢ for 5 days: October 3—7
Grab a copy today on YOUR AMAZON!
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Autumn Parade
Autumn’s vibrant display of colors never fails to inspire and writing Haiku (a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) is one of my favorite ways to capture nature’s stories. Haikus are usually written about nature. Here’s what I came up with this week. What’s inspiring you this autumn? ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 09/27/2018