FEATHERS and the GOLDEN SPRUCE TREE

Feathers is a Bluebird with an appetite for seeds and for flying adventures. It was the cold fall wind full of sleet and ice that flung him unexpectedly to the other end of the valley and to the Forbidden Forest. He now faces the unknown and perhaps death. He is a dedicated "responsible" family bird full of morals and purpose. He may never see his family again. His family ethics and principals are weighed and tested in this story. The Golden Spruce Tree Seed has purpose also, as he tries to dig his roots into the ground to make him the tallest tree in the forest and to make his parents, who stand above him, proud. He is facing death head-on! The words of his parents, "you are not dead until you rot" seem an aimless and distant phrase. He knows he needs heat and sunlight to fulfill his dreams of touching the clouds and the top of the sky. How these two dissimilar personalities challenge each other in the midst of mean ol' crooked trees, raging rivers, the slicing knives, and vermin who would like to see both of our characters on their dinner plate, gives parents who like to read to their young children, and young persons already maturing into life's challenges, a vehicle by which the lessons of patience can be taught and exemplified with fun and good story. Teachers also may find this a neat story to use in the class room leisure reading. In a present time when the challenges of leaving nest and home and family to discover one's own destiny are met with the fear of the unknown in life's toy store that has such overwhelming careers in each isle, in packages not yet opened.the hope that the author is trying to impart is that; life taken one step at a time, until the mountain is taken and defeated, is the way of all heroes and heroines. The bumps in the road are only meant as impediments if the traveler falls. They keep that person from sliding unabated to the bottom of the mountain to have to start all over again. Doors we selfishly want to open and that slam shut on us, only open new doors of much more worthy challenges and pleasures. There is always hope in the next day's sunrise if we lead our lives in a good way. This is a story that tries to teach that no one ever got to the top of the mountain in one giant leap! Nor was the true destiny and ever continuing story of Feathers and the Golden Spruce Tree to be learned for many hundreds of years later, after this story began.