My Children's Books

Velvet Ball and The Broken fairy is available as a paperback with Amazon Books, but is also still on special as an eBook with Amazon Kindle for $0.99

http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Broken-Fairy-Novel-ebook/dp/B004C05694

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1456387448/authorsdencom

Star-Crossed Rascals is available with Amazon Book and also on Barnes and Noble and other bookseller websites.

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Crossed-Rascals-Patricia-Puddle/dp/1907986227

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Star-Crossed-Rascals/Patricia-Puddle/e/9781907986222/?itm=1&USRI=star-crossed+rascals

Star-Crossed Rascals now available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon

Hooray! My chapter book, Star-Crossed Rascals is now available on Barnes and Noble as well as on Amazon. I'm so excited as this was the first story I ever wrote. I also did the illustrations myself.


I hope kids all over the world will enjoy the naughty antics of Pollyweena Grubble and her best friend, Gertie McDougal. Keep watching for a competition to win a copy. I will post that in a few days.


Polly is doing her happy dance because she's so excited to share her world with other kids. I will also be posting a film of Polly on Utube very soon.


Here is an excerpt from the book:

Auntie gave me a bucket of soapy water and passed me a toilet brush.

Frowning, I looked up. “What’s that for?”

She folded her arms and grinned. “You’re going to clean the toilet.”

I stared at that bristly white brush. “I don’t know how to clean a toilet,” I said. “I’m just a little kid.”

“Well,” she said, “You’re never too young to learn.”

Poo! That toilet stunk. I squinted at her and said, “I don’t want to clean a yucky toilet bowl. Mum never makes me.”

“Really?” she said. “But you didn’t mind eating other people’s filthy chewing gum and mouldy dog poo. Did you?”

I put my hands on my hips. “I didn’t eat them,” I said. “I just tasted them a bit.”

“Well, from now on,” she said. “You can clean the loo every time you’re naughty. Now get on with it. And wipe the floor while you’re at it.” She passed me the mop on her way out. But as soon as she closed the door, I shook it at her. Then I leaned it against the wall.

My friends didn’t have to clean toilets. Pinching my nose, I peered into the bog hole. Gross! I didn’t want loo slime on my fingers. But that toilet brush was way too short. I grabbed the mop instead. I dunked it in the bucket and shoved it down the poo hole. After jiggling it about, I pressed it down real hard. Auntie wouldn’t be happy if I didn’t clean it good.

Oops. It jammed in the bend. I pulled and pulled, but it wouldn’t come out. Yipes! Now what would I do?

Here are the links to Barnes and Noble and Amazon:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Star-Crossed-Rascals/Patricia-Puddle/e/9781907986222/?itm=1&USRI=star-crossed+rascals

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Crossed-Rascals-Patricia-Puddle/dp/1907986227

The Winner is:

Okay. Drumroll! The Winner to The Contest is:
Faith Kleps aged eight.

Congratulations, Faith. Well done! Just go to my profile and email me your address, so that I can send you a signed copy of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy.

I hope you enjoy the paperback book, Faith, and be sure to keep you eye out for the next competition. That one will be a chance to win a paperback copy of Star-Crossed Rascals. Thank you so much for entering and reading the eBook.

All the best,

Patricia puddle.

Kids Competition to win one of my paperbacks begins NOW!

Competition to win a paperbacks copy of :
Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy begins NOW!

The competition is for all children under the age of sixteen. The prize will be a paperback copy of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy.

Post your answers on this blog and the first correct answers will win. There will be three questions. To find the answers, you can download the first chapter on the Amazon Kindle edition for free. That will come with a free computer kindle to read the kindle eBook.

The kindle version of the story is available for $0.99 and the paperback is available for $7.99

Here is a link for a free sample of this story:

http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Broken-Fairy-Novel-ebook/dp/B004C05694 

You can also download from Smashwords if you want to read a free sample on other eBook reading formats:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32393


Now, here are the questions:

1) Why is Velvet bald?

2) Why does the fairy slap Velvet?

3) Why did Velvet dump The fairy on the ground?

Good luck everyone. (I will take the word of the winner and hope they are under the age of sixteen.)

Here is a link to the paperback version:
http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Ball-Broken-Fairy-1/dp/1456387448/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1292139250&sr=8-2

Paperback version of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy available for Christmas on Amazon

The paperback version of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy is available on Amazon. Only six days left to order for Christmas delivery. eBook available too. (Competition to win a paperback copy will be posted soon)

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_sq_top?ie=UTF8&keywords=velvet%20ball%20and%20the%20broken%20fairy&index=blended&pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B004C05694&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1EWJC2HNM75MP0FMMA0J

Yay! I recieved my author copy of Star-Crossed Rascals yesterday!

My author copy of Star-Crossed Rascals came in the post from YouWriteOn publishing. Wow! That was so exciting. The quality of the paperback is fantastic, and when I opened the pages to see my own illustrations, I was thrilled. Even the song Polly sings looks wonderful - all on its own page, and written in italics. Hopefully, this chapter book should be available for sale through booksellers by end of December or early next year. I can't wait!

Watch out kids - I'm holding a competition to win a free copy!

Wow! Great reviews for my eBook: Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy.

Wow! I'm so happy with the reviews I'm receiving for my eBook:
Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy.
So far, I've sold eleven! Hooray!

Here's a link to a couple of reviews at the Amazon Kindle webpage, and also at Elizabeth Swigar's Story Review blog:

http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Broken-Fairy-Novel-ebook/dp/B004C05694/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

http://elizabethswigar.wordpress.com/

I'm doing my happy dance. Skiperty doodly dooperty daaaaa, skiperty doodly day.

Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy is Published with Amazon

Come and visit the wonderland of the magic Crabtree Forest.

My book Velvet Ball and the Broken fairy is now published on Amazon.


If you buy an eBook, you don't have to have a kindle, you get a free computer one to download, and then you can download free eBooks as well as ones for $0.99:  Here is the link to my book at $0.99 for a short time only. The price will be going up soon.:

http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Broken-Fairy-Novel-ebook/dp/B004C05694/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

More drawings of Pollyweena Grubble

Here are my latest drawings of Pollyweena Gruble and Gertie McDoogle. These are a couple of scenes from my story Star-Crossed Rascals. (He he, I'm having so much fun drawing my own characters.)

Roseberry - Fairy of Crabtree Forest

As usual, I've been acting out one of the scenes for one of my stories. I was trying to see how the fairy would land if she fell from a height, so I stood on a chair and threw her in the air. Trouble is, she landed on the ceiling fan instead, so I decided to take some photos and videos. LOL. Here she is:

Roseberry - Fairy of Crabtree Forest. She's one of the main characters in my story, Velvet Ball and the Broken Fairy.

Here's Roseberry learning to fly on a ceiling fan. There are videos as well as photos. Click on the videos to see her spin. (Children, please don't try this as it can be very dangerous. You could get hurt!)

New Contest at The Bookshelf Muse

Hey, there's a new contest over at The Bookshelf Muse. Great prizes. I'd love to win one. Getting mentored by Angela Ackeman. Wow! After she critiqued three chapters of one of my stories, it changeds it for the better. She suggested I mean up one of my characters. Now my story rocks!

I'll definitely enter that!

Spring has Sprung.

I love spring. It means fledglings, baby animals and ducklings, wading in our billabong. Here's our local wood ducks that we named Bonnie and Clyde because they regularly raid our veggie patch.

Last year they had five ducklings, but only one survived. Unfortunately, the others must have been taken by foxes or raptors, so this year, I bought some duckling food from the pet shop. I’m so glad I did because Bonnie and Clyde had seven babies this year. Here's a picture of the beautiful little things, plus a video. Just click to watch the movie.

Pollyweena in bed with her prized gumball, Jenny and Mange.

Brickfield Mountain

Here's Pollyweena and Gertie's Brickfield Mountain from my story STAR CROSSED RASCALS

Okay, here's Great Aunt Mabel

Here's my first try at drawing Great Aunt Mabel, the mean old Aunt from STAR CROSSED RASCALS.

My Drawings In Progress

Okay, so I'm still practicing my drawings. I've just drawn these scenes for some of the scenes in my story STAR CROSSED RASCALS. I still have to add some background, but here's my first go.

My drawings of Pollyweena Grubble and Gertie McDougal, from my story, Star Crossed Rascals.

Here's my first drawings of the two rascals, Pollyweena Grubble and Gertie McDougal, the characters from my story, STAR CROSSED RASCALS.

Polly's doing her happy dance.         Gertie's thinking up the next adventure.

Star Crossed Rascals

Yay! I've finally finished writing, and editing my latest story:
STAR CROSSED RASCALS, and boy, did I have fun writing it. This was the very first story I actually put to paper. I've completed other stories since, but I kept going back to this one. The reason it's so dear to my heart is because it started out as my childhood memoirs, particularly the bubblegum episode. However, I decided to turn it into a fictitious children's story instead, and it grew from there. Let's face it, all kids love bubblegum, but maybe not quite as much as my characters, Pollyweena Grubble and Gertie McDougal.

Teehee. Now, I'm writing the sequel.

My first classroom.

This photo was taken on one of my first days at school. My seat was at the other side of the room, so I'm not seen, but the picture certainly brings back strange and wonderful memories. Like the time I stuffed my wet pants down the back of the radiator to dry, but ended up stinking out the classroom. And getting pinched on the leg by the angel-faced devil I had to sit next to. All are great inspirations for writing children's stories.

I look innocent below, but I believe me, I wasn't.

These pictures inspired me to write Star Crossed Rascals.

Star Crossed Rascals

My latest manuscript is a chapter book called Star Crossed Rascals. It was inspired by my antics as a child, growing up with my best friends. I was an innocent looking child, so not everyone knew what a rascal I really was, including my parents. The story is fictitious and is only inspired by things that I did. Here is an excerpt from the story and a couple of photos from my childhood.

Excerpt from Star Crossed Rascals

That did it. Auntie Mabel's eye twitched. She grabbed the back of my T-shirt and dragged me towards the bathroom. My heart thumped and my legs couldn’t even keep up with her. I was running in mid-air. What had I done wrong?

She squeezed a blob of paste on my toothbrush and shoved it at me. “Now, clean your teeth!” she odrered. “You weren’t brought up that way. You could get sick doing that?” she shouted. “It was bad enough when you picked that toffee off the ground, and it turned out to be mouldy dog poo.” She folded her arms and tapped her foot on the tiles.

“But I didn’t swallow the dog poo,” I said. “I spat it out as soon as it burned my tongue. It tasted horrible like the chillies in Daddy’s garden.”

She banged her hand on the sink. “Why did you pick it up in the first place?”

I giggled. “’Cause it looked like one of Granny’s cocoanut toffees.”

"It's not funny," yelled Auntie. "I should wash your mouth with soap."

Yipes! Not soap! I brushed my teeth real fast. As I rinced my gums, I peeked at her out the corner of my eyes. She was still scowling. Why did she have to come and stay at our house? Mum and Dad should have taken me to Granny’s with them. Too bad for me, 'cause Auntie was no fun. Plus, I didn't dare tell her my giant gumball was stuck to my bed post.

Photos from my childhood that inspired me to write this story:

My Mother's Day Photography Inspirations.

I snapped these photos on Mother's Day. They've inspired me to write two more stories.

The Beautiful girl with the horse has inspired me to write a Y/A fantasy love story.

Of course, she's my beautiful daughter.

I took this photo of our bonfire and it's inspired me to write an MG Fantasy about a dragon of course.

It really is a fire dragon isn't it?

Pictures of Velvet Ball and The Broken Fairy

Here's an excerpt from one of my MG novels. Hopefully, it's ready to submit to agents.

Velvet Ball And The Broken Fairy.

Velvet ran down a dirt road towards the forest, then stopped to catch her breath. What a bunch of meanies. She took a drink from her water bottle and wiped the sweat from her forehead. If only her eyelashes and eyebrows would grow back, then sweat wouldn’t drip in her eyes. Her stretchy headband helped, but those poo-heads had taken it.

She grabbed a large stick to swipe at cobwebs and tramped into the woods along a well-worn animal trail. It was so peaceful in the forest and no one to bother her. When she reached a clearing, she adjusted her hat to avoid the hot sun, then squated on the soft green grass to pick purple wildflowers. She smiled as little wrens of many colours fluttered all around her. Velvet loved their tiny chirping songs and stopped to listen.

“Help!” cried a squeaky voice. “Help me!”

Velvet jerked and looked around, but didn’t see anyone. Then she heard it again.

“Hey, you! I’m up here! My foot’s stuck, and I can’t get down.”

Shielding her eyes with her hand, Velvet stared at the treetops.

A long-legged fairy doll was hanging upside down from the bough of a tree. Its mouth moved as it spoke. “Are you gonna help me, or not?”

Velvet squinted. Her heart skipped, but she felt rather silly. Was she seeing things? Maybe one of them mean kids was playing a silly joke on her.

The doll spoke again. “Little girl, are you deaf? Or blind? You can’t just leave me here to perish.”

Beautiful Blogger Awards

Thank you for sending me this Beautiful Blogger Award, Kate. Now, I'm challenged to forward this award to ten more wonderful bloggers. Hmm, I'll have a little think. There are so many to chose from. Okay, here we go, but my computer memory ran out, so could only post seven. Here they are :

Lisa Blandford at A Writers thought.
Alicia J. Frey at Eyes 2 Page An Aspiring Authors Ancedotes.
Crystal at Crystals Bookmark
Alice at The Travelling Crafter
LM Preston at Phenomenalonepress
Noir (L.H). at The Creative Mind
Authorness at Authorness

Velvet Ball And The Broken Fairy

I know this isn't a Molly Gumnut story, but I have to share my inspiration again. I found this strange looking fairy doll in a vintage thrift shop. When I sat her on my desk, she gave me the inspiration to write the fairy story, VELVET BALL AND THE BROKEN FAIRY. Now it's finished. Yay! I'm already sending queries, and I've entered a query competition over at Cornell De Ville's blog. My entry is number eleven. Here is the link:    http://cornelldeville.blogspot.com/2010/04/entry-11.html

Not a Mouse, nor a Rat, but a Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii )

We knew straight away we'd been invaded by critters once more when our blind guinea pig, Boofhead started making his weird gumping sound again.

We suspected more mice in the house, but we couldn't find any. Then, one night, I came home to find what I though was a rat on my kitchen floor. It looked at me, then bolted up the bench and scampered behind the microwave.

Right, I though. I'll set the safe trap and evict it back to the bush. I positioned the two-dollar plastic safe-trap in the kitchen, but I couldn't sleep, so I went to my office to do some editing of my latest manuscript instead. Five minutes later, the furry brown critter joined me. It just sat there in the middle of the room, staring at me. I froze, but stared back at it, then it scurried behind the couch. I jumped up, grabbed the trap from the kitchen, and brought it back to my office. I closed the door and placed the trap in the corner.

I carried on with my writing until I heard a scratching noise behind me. I turned around to see this cheeky little critter, boldly scratching at the door. It was bigger than a mouse, but smaller than a rat. Its head went flat as it tried to squeeze under the door, but it couldn't seem to flatten it enough to get under. I've never seen a mouse or rat with a flat head. (Was it an alien?) Its nose was pointed and it had bulbous brown eyes. Suddenly, it leaped onto the wall and peered over the corner of a bookcase.  Ah, I though. You're a little Antechinus.

If you look closely, you'll see his feet stuck to the brick wall. One way to find out if it was an Antechinus was to to check the big toes on its hind feet. Sure enough, this little creature had five toes on his back feet, but the big toe was shorter with no nail. Also, they have no musty odour like mice. In fact they don't seem to smell at all. Their diet consists of insects, small lizards and berries. They have teeth like a canine, not like a rodent and their ears look kind off frilly. Their poop is long, skinny and black. I think these little critters are Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii.)

So how did he get into our home? We didn't have a clue. We have a full brick house, built by my husband and myself. We thought we'd made it mouse proof. Well, I caught the tiny fellow and took it into the woods, not too far from our house. I wanted to keep it in its own territory. Trouble was, I took my three-year-old grandson too, and when I set the critter free under a bush, it darted out and ran straight up my grandson's leg. He screamed as it bounced of his tummy and leaped onto the trunk of a tree. After calming the toddler, I photographed the animal, and explained to my grandson that it was only a tiny animal and it was scared, just like him. He understood, but then wanted to catch the little fellow, but it ran to the top of the tree.

Since that day, a week ago, I've captured three more antechinus in our house. How they got in, I don't know, but suspect the mother was pregnant. And, from what I've read, the females mate with many males, producing as many as ten babies in one pregnancy. Yipes! And from different fathers too. The babies are carried in an open like pouch, and they cling to their mother's nipples for about eight weeks. Woa!  I caught another one this morning and I'm wondering how long they've been sneaking around our house. Maybe it was an antichinus that cleaned up the spiders from the ceiling, and not my husband after all. Okay, I'm a slack housekeeper, I do write, you know.

It looks like I'll be going on another walk to the big old dam to set the fourth antichinus free in the bush. I hope they don't find their way back to our house. They have flat heads and can squeeze into small gaps.

Please be careful when poisoning mice, you may be accidently poisoning these beautiful, Australian native creatures. They seem so friendly and will come up to your feet and stare at you, as if begging for food. They hated being trapped in a box and seemed so happy when release back to the wild. I feel privileged to have met them. I hope you enjoy the photos on videos.

Looks like I have another Molly Gumnut book to write.

Feel free to leave a comment below.

My inspitations

The inspiration for my Molly Gumnut stories often comes from the wonderful wildlife visiting our garden.

Last year, we planted three jacaranda trees and four crepe myrtles. We love sitting outside and admiring the blue bell blossoms of the jacarandas and the beautiful colours of the crepe myrtles.

One morning, I awoke to a loud barking, coughing sound. When I peered out the bedroom window, I was delighted to see a mob of kangaroos. Two large males were bouncing around the garden, punching and kicking each other, while the other ones stood and watched.

Grinning, I grabbed my digital camera and rushed outside. My smile soon vanished when I found those naughty animals had snapped off a branch of one of the crepe myrtles and, to make matters worse, they had eaten some of the flowers. They had also broken off a large branch of one of our jacaranda trees.

The kangaroos ignored my presence and carried on chasing each other around the lawn, pulling at different bushes.

Oh, well, I thought. I may as well film them and get a few pictures with my camera. There's a Molly story there for sure.

See the video and pictures below:

This is the video of the boxing kangaroos outside our bedroom window. Just click on the link to play the video. If you watch it to the end, you'll see the large kangaroo, standing on his tiptoes in an aggressive manner.:

Here is one of the naughty kangaroos.

Another rascal.

Here is our white-flowering crepe myrtle after the kangaroo attack:

We placed a wire fence around this beautiful crepe myrtle to kepp the rascals away.

Here is the branch that was broken off our white crepe myrtle by the boxing kangaroos:

A Chrismas Surprise

I managed to finish my second Molly Gumnut novel before Christmas and submit it to the big wide world. Yay! (My fingers and toes crossed.)

On Christmas morning I was thrilled to find one of our local wood ducks in our dam with her three ducklings. Her name is Bella and she hangs around our garden with her partner, Bobby. They regularly raid out veggie patch and beg for food. I usually feed them grain, rice or lettuce. They usually have about five ducklings each year, but this year they only have three.

A few weeks ago, I added a scene to my manuscript where Molly sits by her dam and sulks after being grounded by here parents. It was such a thrill to see this scene come alive on Christmas morning. I'll add the scene from my manuscript below with my photos and videos.

Molly gave Kate a sad little smile. "Thanks. I won't get to see Furble anymore. I'm grounded for a whole week and Grandma will probably release him soon." Tears clouded her eyes. Dinner would be ready anytime soon but she didn't feel hungry now. She walked outside and sat on the grass by the dam.

Three fluffy ducklings swam behind their mother in the water. One ventured off by itself. "Watch out!" said Molly. "You'll be grounded for a whole week."

"Come inside, Molly," called her mother from the window.

"Quack!" The mother duck called the stray duckling back, but the fluffy ball ignored her and swam away.

The mother duck flew over to the bank and flapped her wings. "Quack, quack, quack!"

"Molly!" her mother called again.

As Molly scrambled to her feet, the baby duck followed its mother back to the other ducklings.

"That duckling will be grounded for sure," mumbled Molly on her way indoors.