“Just Marble-Us” Amaon Trafford Category:  Children Publisher: Trafford Pages: 50 Copyright: 12/3/2009 ISBN-13: 9781425153717 After accidentally falling out of Zach’s marble sack, Aggie, Immie, Monnie, and Bonce—four very lost marbles—roll all over “Lost Marbleland” hoping to find their way back to Zach’s sack. Along the way, they meet many wonderfully weird creatures, such as the Wind Listener, Hog In A Log, Mates In A Mound, the River Sipper Man, and Orna Mentor. Will they “lose their marbles” in safely finding their way back to the “sack”? Four lost marbles lose their marbles. Children's picture book. 50 pages, including a short marble playing terms glossary and short marble history summary. Excerpt The wind surged and gusted around the four lost marbles rolling them down a hill into a tall wind-pointer pole. “Are you tumbleweeds?” asked a breezy voice above them. The marbles looked up the whole of the pole. “We’re lost marbles, Mr. Poleman,” said Monnie. “Do you know the way back to Zack’s marble sack?” “I’m not a Poleman,” said the man with a pole stuck to his back. “I’m the Wind Listener. I hear what those who fear do not hear.” Immie asked: “What do you hear?” The Wind Listener replied, “I hear the Wind Voice and it says: ‘Sneezes and wheezes make very short breezes, so if you want to sail, breath like a whale.’” The wind gusted again, pulling at the Wind Listener’s hair. The four marbles suddenly saw a gigantic ear that before wasn’t there. Paluck! The Wind Listener and the pole were swept into the air. Immie whispered, “Gone without a care.”

Just Marble-us! Is Marvelous (N. Babcock)
Just got my copy of "Just Marble-Us" and really, really, loved it! I have read almost our whole city library of kid's books to my 4 children over the years, and found this book refreshing and delightful. The graphics are eye catching, bold, imaginative, and intriguing. The story is a great adventure that follows four marbles that have fallen out of their marble sack, and who are on a quest to find their way back to the boy and the sack they call home. As they roll on their path to finding the sack once again, they encounter some unique characters and situations along the way. The gender of the marbles is indistinguishable, so the story would appeal to either boys or girls. The story has pleasant rhymes mingled with the text that will appeal to the younger readers who might not be old enough to grasp the story line completely, but the text is long enough, and mature enough with some "bigger" kid wording that it will appeal to the older child being read to, or who might read the story on their own without feeling baby-ish in any way. My 8 year old who is proudly reading chapter books, read it last night and said it was "great!". There is a subtle spiritual message that can be identified by the parent and pointed out to the child, but can be easily overlooked if that is not an area the parent is comfortable with. At the end of the book, there is a glossary of marble and marble game terminology which makes the book fun to reread so the reader can see how the terms fit into the story once it is discovered that the seemingly "nonsense" words in the pages are actually real marble playing terms. Once you reread the story with the definitions in mind, the story seems new again! I highly reccommend this book, and for grandparents who actually played marbles at some point in their own childhoods, the book will be lots of fun for them to read to their grandchildren. This book, along with a sack of marbles to accompany it, would be a perfect gift combination for any child age 10 or 11 and under. (Well, I'm not sure I'd reccomend giving actual marbles to a child under the age of 3, so I'd save the gift combo of marbles plus the book for the older kids only. Ages 3 and under should just get the book--they'll love it!)