Books with title I Don't Want to be a Couch Potato:

Hugo is in no doubt as to what he and Bella should go as to the Hippo-Bird Fancy Dress Party. They will go as the princess and the pea and he will be the princess (of course!) leaving poor Bella to be the pea. Indignant, Bella refuses. She has a better suggestion - they will go as a mermaid on a rock and she will be the mermaid (of course!) leaving a huffy Hugo to be the rock. Hugo is not happy. But neither is Bella. They just can't decide on a costume and things reach a crisis when they both flounce off saying they don't want to go to the party at all. After time to consider, both Hugo and Bella calm down and (privately) both choose to dress as a pea as a gesture of making it all up to each other. So when they both arrive at the party as peas, Hugo and Bella announce proudly that they are 'two peas in a pod, just as it should be' underlining the message of the book that friendship is all about give and take. With wonderfully absurd illustrations from new talent Simon Rickerty and a great read-aloud text, this is a made-for-sharing picture book.

This is a story for children from the ages of three to ten. It is about a little pig that is born somewhat different than any other. Besides not looking like the other pigs, he is made fun of because he does not like to do the things that all the other pigs enjoy doing. He is also smaller than the others and is shoved away from his food. Since he doesn’t like being a pig and doing the things pigs do, he tries to become friends with other animals on the farm. They all reject him, however. Finally he finds a friend and their bond becomes strong. Later, those that rejected him because they thought he was stupid change their mind. The little pig was not so dumb after all, but it is too late for the ones that mocked and teased him. In the end, the pigs that hogged all the food and those that thought they were so smart wish that they, too, were not a pig! When I was ten-years-old, I made a small pen out of several sheets of tin that are normally used for roofing a barn. I held the tin upright and in place by driving wooden stakes on either side. The pen was about twenty long by ten feet wide. In the corner, I laid a couple of sheets of tin on top so it would look like a shelter where pigs could go to get out of the weather. It took a long time for me to build it and when I finally had it finished I was proud of my accomplishment. As I stood there that day, I was wishing I had a pig to put inside. Without a pig in the pen, it didn’t mean much. Soon I myself got in the pen and pretended I was a pig. It was fun, but it wasn’t the same. About this time, my little brother, Bill, who was seven-years-old, came out to see what I had built. As we stood there, I was admiring my great work and thought, “I don’t have a real pig, but perhaps my little brother would pretend he was a pig just for adventure’s sake. Looking over at him as he stood peering into the empty pen, I said, “Get in and pretend you’re a pig. I want to see what my pen looks like with a pig in it.” Bill looked up at me with his big soulful eyes and timidly replied, “I don’t want to be a pig.” This disappointed me and caused me to become angry at him. I had worked so hard on my pen and he didn’t want to even get inside and see how great it was. It was built on the lawn so it had green grass inside. It wasn’t as if I had a mud puddle in it and wanted him to roll and root in the mud or to eat from a feeding trough. I just wanted him to crawl around and maybe grunt a few times to help me enjoy my wish of having a real pig in my new pen. Therefore, because he whined and refused to be a pig, I told him to go back in the house and stay with mommy. My little brothers had no imagination and never seemed to want to do anything adventurous. Recently, as my wife Lilly and I were walking one of our wooded trails, I was telling her about my brother Bill not wanting to pretend he was a pig when we were kids. She thought it was funny. Since that time we sometimes use that line, “I don’t want to be a pig!” Therefore, I decided it might make a good children’s story and that’s why I wrote this book.

Have you ever dreamed about being a pirate? When a silly group of pirates invite Toby to join them, Toby thinks he wants to be a pirate too, until he starts wondering what pirates do. Once he learns about stealing, drinking grog, and missing Mother's dinner, he starts to think, I Don't Want to be a Pirate. Will he join them anyway, or will the pirates change their colors? Find out in this hilarious tale.

Foxey, a red city fox, goes on holiday to the Arctic. But when he gets there he soon decides that he doesn't want to play hide-and-seek with the Arctic foxes, because he's so easily found in the thick white Arctic snow! Foxey soon decides that he doesn't want to be a fox either. So, armed with his paintbox he goes of to find something else to be, but Foxey soon finds out that this isn't as simple as he thought. Will Foxey find someone to play with? Follow his Arctic adventure and find out.A variation on my other Foxey story 'Who ever heard of a Fox being an Artist?', this is again a work in progress so please excuse the rough drawing and any typos - I just wanted to get my story out for others to enjoy or pass comment on. So, I hope you enjoy it!