Splunkey's International

Friendship Club

Newsletter

Splunkey's Detective Mystery

Have you already read my first book in English? 

f you can read this newsletter, then you are ready to read my book -- sitting on a comfortable  chair or sofa all by yourself  -- or read my book with older family members, or read it to your younger brother or sister, or to a younger cousin or neighbor. Your entire family can sit and read it together!   You can also read my book at school with your teacher and the other students in your class. 

It is a story about how I help Ellie and Eli Elephants in their search for a special friendship bracelet. But you can also find other important ideas in the story. Don't forget to talk about the messages in my mystery adventure with family and friends and other students.  Think about whether you have ever experienced anything similar to what happens in my book.  You can have a great time role playing  some of the situations in the story.  Try it!!  You just might like it!!

?!?GUESS WHAT?!?

Dr. Ashley and I decided it was so important that more children, families and teachers were able to enjoy the mystery adventure, learn frrom its messages, and work on their reading skills in either English, Spanish, or both languages.

SO...

A new, bilingual edition of this book in English and Spanish is out for you to enjoy...

Here is the front cover of the bilingual children's book:

Can you read Spanish? Can you read English?

Here is your opportunity to practice reading both languages and learn all kinds of important lessons about solving problems, cooperation, resolving conflicts, building friendships and more.

***

BREAKING NEWS IN FALL, 2008

The first book in my mystery adventure series now comes with an Audio CD and

Teaching Guide for Educators and Parents.

***

!!! EXCITING NEWS !!!

Dr. Elana Ashley, Myself, Ellie and Eli have written the second book in my adventure series. It is called --

Case Two: Big Bully Holly Howler

Do you remember that all the storybook characters in the series are puppets?   Well, we are waiting for all the new puppet characters to be built before we can do the illustrations for the book

Keep a look-out for these books to come out in English and English/ Spanish editions in 2009.

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Requests

for

Original Poems, Stories, Games, Drawings…

I invite you -- all SFC Members and Would-be Members -- to send in your thoughts and feelings about the messages on my web site - about things like self-esteem, communication, honesty, cooperation, friendship and peace, to name a few!

Please send an original story or poem, or make up a game, puzzle or riddle, or draw a picture that has some thing to do with the important ideas on my web site. What did you think and how did you feel when you read the different sections on the site? Did you find at least one idea that made you think -- "This really talks to me!"? Did some of the materials you read or some of the graphics you saw "tickle" your imagination?

Do you like fantasy stories? Do you like science fiction? Do you like to try and stretch your imagination? Have you ever just grabbed a pencil, placed the sharp point on a sheet of white paper, and started to write without knowing where your thoughts and feelings might go?

You may not have money to take a trip far away, but you always have your imagination. And, lucky people like you, who are reading this site and this newsletter, can use a computer to travel throughout the universe, and use their imagination -- with or without a computer -- to create and explore new and exciting worlds and experience new adventures.

Always allow your imagination to flow freely, and, with joy, reach for the stars!

***

Take a look at the beautiful drawing done by  a Kindergarten child at St. Francis Solanus, a school in Stone Lake, Wisconsin.  The message of her drawing is -

'Ellie and Eli are holding hands.  They are friends again.  Splunkey is holding a love kite.'

Third graders in Patricia Bahnick's 3rd Grade Class at South Park Elementary School  in Deerfield, Illinois, were happy to write us their thoughts about the mystery adventure. Here are a few of their comments:

"It was beautifully written. Favorite character: Splunkey because he's funny. Lesson learned: Don't be mad at someone for no reason. Greatly taken and funny photographs. Great change from most mystery books. Nice author. Read with lots of expression Funny voices."

"I really liked Eli. I thought it was cool that the characters were ventriloquist figures. I liked how Dr. Ashley read the story with the squeaky, loud and neat voices. I liked Eli because he was not the main character but he played a part in the story. I wonder what will happen in her next book."

"I liked the photography because it gives you such a good image in your mind. I just wanted to say that Dr.Elana Ashley is a good author."

"Lesson that you should always help your friends and to retrace your steps. I like Splunkey because he likes to help people and lots of people like him. Ellie is a very worried character. She will always have a friend by her side. My friend __________ always blames me for things and it gets annoying."

"My favorite character is Splunkey because he's a detective, a alien and a nice person like me."

"My favorite character was Ellie because she had so many expressions like the way she talked when she was sad and happy. The photographs really help you know exactly what's going on. A lesson is not to blame other people for something they didn't do. I wonder what I would picture if there were no photographs."

"I liked the photographs. They look like Eli, Ellie and Splunkey are alive.You have very good expressions. You are a very good ventriloquist."

"I liked Splunkey because he was funny and cute. I think the lesson in this book was don't think someone did something just because that was the only person there. This book was the best book I have ever read. I would read this book over and over and over because it was such a good book. I thought that the book was funny, sad, special because you should always be friends even if you get into a fight."

"Splunkey's Kids Making News Interviews"

We want to feature our SFC members and the great things that they do. So write us about something you are doing that is different, educational, unusual, interesting, exciting… Kids are making news every day, and we want to let everyone know about it. Let us know when you send in your personal story whether you would like us to include your first name. If it is okay with you, we would like to write just your first name, and the state, province or region and country in which you live, the name of your school and the grade you are in.

For those of you reading our SFC Newsletter who are not members, now is the time to jump on board SFC! Join us for an exciting adventure in the real and interesting world of Planet Earth. Let's all work together to make Planet Earth a place where we enjoy global friendship and world peace.

Also, take a journey with us as we explore our own imagination, curiosity and creativity. One day, you will come with me in my spaceship for an interplanetary flight among the stars -- through reading my books, seeing my television show, and watching me in my own film. You can meet and get to know me on my web site, and through educational programs that Dr. Ashley and I present at schools, park districts, libraries, hospitals, museums and other community organizations.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Your Friend,

Splunkey

Eli and Ellie are best friends.

They enjoy talking with each other, taking walks together, playing games, singing songs, and drawing pictures.

What do you like to do with your friends?

E-mail us about the fun things that you do, and we will include it on Splunkey's web site.

 

"Spokespuppet" and "Splunkunio Splunkey" are Registered Trademarks of Elana Ashley.

Copyright © 2008 by Elana Ashley, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.