Books with title Whiskers

Mr. Wagner lived about two miles from a small town, and he thought it would be nice for his boys to have a little goat cart, so they could drive into town for mail and do errands for the family. Without saying anything to his family, he appeared one evening leading a nice, docile looking, long-bearded Billy goat, hitched to a beautiful new red wagon.

The chief character of Whiskers Pond is Mort, a young green frog. Throughout the winter hibernation, Mort has unsettling dreams of a menace that threatens the very existence of his pond. But his dreams are too vague. He can t identify the danger. When spring arrives, Mort awakens and begins to experience his first full year as an adult frog, learning first hand the intricate balance and complex relationships among all the different creatures of the pond. That summer, when a drought seems imminent, Mort startles the other frogs by announcing that it will soon rain. He is ridiculed, but the next morning brings rain. As a result, Mort is summoned to meet with the pond s eldest and most mysterious resident, Grumpeter, an ancient catfish who lives in a cave at the bottom of the pond. Grumpeter determines that Mort has been given the gift of seeing the future, and tells the frog that he must stand ready to use this gift should the need arise. Shortly after, Mort senses an alien presence in the pond, and creatures begin to disappear. Grumpeter summons Mort once again, and tells the young frog he must go on a journey to learn if other ponds have been similarly troubled. Mort has to be the one to seek this knowledge because his gift of foresight will provide him protection not afforded any of the other pond animals. Mort sets out with two friends, Hogan the bullfrog and Vernon the tree frog. During their journey, they meet Burton, a deceptive, but comic hognose snake; Rufus and his flock, a rowdy bunch of crows who can supply some important answers; and Bufonius, a toad with remarkable deductive powers. Bufonius leads them to a devastated pond, and tells them what must have occurred at their own pond. And, in the meantime, Mort has made a shattering discovery. He does not have the gift after all. The three frogs return to Whiskers Pond to discover that it has suffered greatly during their absence. Bufonius has told them what the menace is a giant alligator snapping turtle, a voracious two hundred pound killer who moves from pond to pond, destroying all inhabitants. Mort tries to rally the pond to fight, but fails. At last, he and a few of his closest friends decide to try to stop the alligator snapping turtle themselves. Their plan is upset by an unexpected battle with a very unexpected hero. The book has many supporting characters: Old Boggle the chief bullfrog, Flitterman the dragonfly, Sneedly the cottonmouth, Pops the crawdad, Zyla the owl, and Dankmoor the mercenary muskrat.

Excerpt: ...while Billy was thinking this the circus-man was making the rope fly round and round his head in a long circle, and soon with a quick twist, the rope straightened out and the loop fell over Billy's head and settled on his neck while he stood looking at them. Billy was the most surprised goat you ever saw, for it was the first time he had ever seen a lasso thrown and had he only known it, the circus-man had been a cowboy in his younger days and lassoed many head of cattle. When Billy found he was fairly caught, his pride had a fall, for he had thought himself too smart to be caught, and instead of him leading the men a chase and making them cross the brook to 84 get him, they were pulling him off the bank and through the water, making him follow them. At first he tried to pull back and get away, but he had to give that up, for the rope tightened round his neck and shut off his breath and he was glad enough to follow where they led. When Nanny saw what had happened she ran up to Billy bleating as if her heart would break for she was very fond of him, and she was afraid they were going to kill him or take him away forever. "Don't cry, Nanny. I will get loose and come back to-night, or to-morrow night sure, if I can't get loose to-night; so don't take on so. I know my way back and a circus tent is not a hard thing to get out of." "But, Billy dear, they may tie you as they have now, and then you can't get loose," said Nanny. "Oh, yes I can, when they leave me alone, I can chew the rope in two." "But can't I go with you, Billy? I feel so terribly at being left alone and, think of it, we have not been married two weeks." "What a pretty face that little Nanny goat has," said the circus-man. 85 "Yes," answered the farmer, "they both came to the pasture one day and joined my goats and have been here ever since. I never knew where they came from, or whom they belonged to." "Well, here we are at the barn, you must run back, little Nanny; I can't take you with...