Time for the Fair
by Mary Train
illustrated by Karel Hayes


Grace loves the fair! She loves it so much, she keeps asking her mother if it is time for the fair again. But a whole year must pass before the fair returns. This simple story conveys the ways a child anxiously passes the time from one season to the next, and is especially useful in helping to explain the passage of time and the importance of patience to youngsters. Wonderfully evocative text descriptions, a rhythmic, seasonal flow, and soft watercolor illustrations make it a great story for bedtime, or any time.
(Downeast Books, 2005)

Welcome

Books in Real Time

Welcome to my reading and writing life. I live and breathe books in my world. I am an author, a teacher, a mom, a sister, a wife, a daughter, and a friend who loves books. I love the way books make me think and feel and how they connect me to other people. I love to talk and share books with adults and children every day.

This website represents my personal book-life in REAL TIME. The various pages of this site provide you an intimate glimpse into my personal space as it relates to books. Since I can’t invite you all over for coffee to share the stories and books that are in my life right now, I’ll just do it here.

I hope that my information makes connections or gives ideas to other people for their own reading and writing lives. Feel free to share your thoughts about your own choices in the book world. Join the discussion by contacting me or commenting on the website!

I read across genres and age-groups each day. As books rotate through my life, family, neighborhood, and classroom...they rotate here, in cyberspace, at the same time. A glimpse into this site will provide you with a glimpse into my book world of NOW.

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Happy Reading!

FAVORITES LIST: books, a full moon, child art, morning coffee, beach sand, warm water, baked apple cinnamon, embroidered handkerchiefs, shearling slippers, water views, antique tea cups, baby powder, hammocks, hugs, family, traditions

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Manuscript Samples

humorous picture book
The Ticket
What happens when you get what you wish for?
What's A Cat To Do?
Leo is a feline with flair! There's nothing wrong with a little embellishment for a cat like him!
Flora's Fabulous Guide to Saving Dandelions
Mowers are blazing! Heads are flying! Save them!
Fred's Creature Collections
Fred collects all sorts of specimens and creatures. Fred's mom can't stand it!
Big Dog
Some puppies just don't want to grow up!
verse
This Whole Wide World
Creatures and people share many dwellings in our world.
Hurry! Hurry!
What's it like to keep the schedule of the modern child?
fiction picture book
Jam in June
It's Grace's turn to find the secret ingredient for the family jam. Will she find it in time to make the jam?
Les Chapeaux
Florence craves the Paris fashion-hats in the department store window. "Will Papa have a job soon?" she asks Mama.
Ruby's Scarlet Red Scarf
Ruby loves to knit. She starts a scarf and can't stop knitting!