Title: Corky Tails: Tales of a Tailless Dog Named Sagebrush
Subtitle: Sagebrush and the Warm Spring Discovery
Author: Joni Franks
Publisher: Xlibris
ISBN: 978-1-7960-4425-6
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Pages: 34
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Award-winning author Joni Franks has teamed up with her illustrator Brian Rivera to bring another episode of Corky Tails: Tales of a Tailless Dog Named Sagebrush to her growing reading audience.
In this episode, titled Sagebrush and the Warm Spring Discovery, readers are taken to a place within the forest where there exists a heated pool of water, which stays warm and unfrozen even though the winter snow is falling all around. The little forest people called the Shuns have made their home in a hollowed out tree nearby the warm spring and are living there peacefully. In earlier episodes we learned how they were victimized by the forest-cutting machine which destroyed their original home. As it turns out, the old logger man who ran the tree-cutting machine also visits the warm spring, which he frequents as a way to soak his injured leg caused when a log fell upon it.
One day the old man sees the Shuns on his property, and a conflict arises. It seems the old man doesn’t want to share his land with the Shuns, and demands they leave right away as they are trespassing. The Shuns are saddened, but really don’t have anywhere else to go. The old man gets further agitated and begins to cut down small trees in order to build a fence around the warm springs; to keep the Shuns out. Then, from the Cattle ranch nearby, Sagebrush and the Young Miss are walking in the early morning snow, enjoying the beauty of Mother Earth when they come across this conflict taking shape. They see the old logger man cutting more trees, and the Shuns saddened by the arrogance of his hostile behavior. Under no circumstances did the old man want to share his land with these little forest creatures!
As Sagebrush begins to explain to the logger man that Mother Earth has provided her gifts for all to enjoy, and no one really owns the Earth, and saying “Haven’t we cut enough trees already,” the logger man begins to see the logic in those words. He then has a change of heart and mind, realizes how selfish he was, and embraces the new friendships of the Shuns. Yes, thanks to Sagebrush the peace of the forest was restored.
This lesson is beautifully scripted by Joni Franks telling a story with a moral message. Interleaved with artfully drawn illustrations, this book pages perfectly to create an indelible memory in the minds of young readers; or perhaps those children being read this story to at bedtime. Sagebrush and the Warm Spring Discovery is yet another fine addition to the Corky Tails: Tales of a Tailless Dog Named Sagebrush series of illustrated children’s books.
This book, along with the others in the collection, is destined to become a keepsake in family libraries, offering each generation of children the excitement, adventure, fantasy and morality of Joni Franks – each story told through the eyes of Sagebrush.
