It's all about Bob!

In my first post I told you all about me and how and why I came up with The Adventures of Bob the Dog. This post is all about Bob.

Bob is an amazing little dog with a big imagination and lots of friends. He loves to try new things and meet new people.

Bob is a big reader. He has lots of favorite books and in the book Bob's Book, Bob had a dream he was living in one of his favorite books. Can you guess which book Bob likes best?

Bob is a friend to everyone he meets and he is always making new friends. Sometimes those we meet are different from us, and that's okay. Bob knows it's important to be yourself, even when it's different from others.

It's not easy to play with someone who always has to be boss. And sometimes that friend is not a friend at all but a big bully. Bob helps his friends stand up to a bully in Bob's Bully Trouble.

Bob is a great outdoorsman. Fishing is one of his favorite sports. Sometimes he has trouble with the fishing line getting tangled on things though. On one of his fishing trips he catches a new friend!

Bob loves the holidays! Birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas are just a few of his favorite holidays.

Bob tries to be helpful. He helps his friends whenever he can.
Sometimes he visits them in the hospital.

Sometimes Bob needs the help of his friends, like the time he
lost his penny in Bob's Lost Penny.

Once in a while Bob even learns something about contractions in Bob Learns About Contractions.

And Bob loves to go places.

Bob went to Gear Fest at Sweetwater, a huge music store in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Bob loves music and is always looking for a new instrument to play.

These are just a few of the adventures Bob has with his friends. Join him, I know you'll have an adventure too!

The Adventures of Bob the Dog books are meant to captivate beginning readers and help familiarize them with the first 100 Fry's words and beyond.

It's all about me!

In this first blog for the adventures of Bob the dog I want to tell you a little something about myself and why I started writing books for children. 

A few years ago I was hired full time as Para educator. This is basically a person who works along side the classroom teacher specifically with children with disabilities. An aide to the teacher with the focus on a specific child or children.

The next year I was assigned to the inclusion teacher. Many schools are working to include children 

with mild cognitive disabilities into the general education classroom. My job was to assist the inclusion teacher in making sure the children in the program were able to succeed in this environment.

We had eight children in our group ranging from first grade to third grade. Most of these children could barely read a few words if at all. 

The Inclusion teacher walked a tightrope between adjusting the classroom work, including spelling words and working to get the student caught up in his or her grade level.

Many times the spelling words were just to hard for these students. If they could read them at all they didn't understand what they meant. A classic example was the spelling word "freight". When I asked the third grader if he knew what it meant he said "yes, it's when you're afreight of something". I knew we had a problem.

I began asking for our spelling words on friday and over the weekend I made up these little books that used our words and helped them make sense to the students.

This is where Bob was born.

The books actually started out with a boy and girl and their

dog, but it only took a few books to realize Bob was the 

star. He was the one the kids wanted to read about. And

thus the little books became "The Adventures of Bob the Dog". 

Because reading was such a challenge for these students writing was

equally difficult. But as we progressed through the school year

the students began writing book reports about the latest Adventures of Bob the Dog book. 

It was very exciting to watch the change a series of simple little stories could have. The students were excited to read and asked for the books. 

I realized that if these books could help eight children learn to read and write and love it, then why couldn't they help 80? or even 800? I knew it was worth it to do some rewriting and touch up some imperfections and bring The Adventures of Bob the Dog to whomever would want them. 

Some of the changes include the first 100 Fry's Words List. 

A long time ago, when I was a child all a child need to know when he left kindergarten was to be able to write his name and count to ten. That's not good enough today. They need to know at least 100 words known as the Fry's list, so I include them in these books on the last page.

I am working on the first three books for kindle. They will be available as one book. These are the beginnings of Bob. Although it starts out about Bill and Jill, simple four letter woods with short "i", I felt it was important to include these early creations as a beginning to what Bob is all about.