Dedicated to myself for writing this book as well as my classmates and teacher for an awesome semester in RE 3240!

Preview audio:

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This is Connor, a little farm boy. His family owns a big farm with cows roaming everywhere, rolling hills, and big red barns. He is just a little boy but still knows exactly how to run this big ole farm.

He isn’t afraid to get dirty or handle any of the animals. He plays and works on the farm from sun up to sun down in the summer time. Connor loves every animal and every corner of his farm, but he has a few special friends in a special place of his....

Every day he visits his calm fish pond. The clear, blue water as calm as the night sky. It is lined with grey stones and has fish swimming happily in the chilly water. There is a big tree beside the pond to give it shade as well as a place for Connor to sit and relax after all his farm work.

He wasn’t lonely at the pond either, he had friends to keep him company. Dilly the duck waddles over to sit beside him every time he plops down under the tree. “Quack! Quack!” Not far behind Dilly comes another friend, Milly. Milly is a gentle, but big, cow that likes to stay by the pond with Dilly instead of with the other cows. “Moooooooo!” says Milly as she slowly comes to lay down under the big tree with Connor and Dilly. “Hey, girl” says Connor as he rubs Milly’s head.

One day at sunrise, Connor wakes up and gets ready to work on the farm. By the end of the day he is pretty tired so he goes to sit by the pond. “Dilly! Milly! I’m here!” hollers Connor. Not a minute later, here comes Dilly waddling quickly and Milly walking slowly right over to the big tree.

“How are my fish doing today?” asks Connor, not expecting an answer from the fish but is surprised to what he finds in his pond. NO FISH! There are no fish to be seen in his pond. Connor has no idea what to think. “They can’t get up and walk off, where did they go?!” yells Connor. Milly and Dilly just look at him confused.

Connor gets some more fish to fill his pond back up. “I’m glad everything is back to normal now.” He says with a sigh.

Connor goes and checks the pond the next day like usual. He can’t believe his eyes… The fish are gone again!!! Connor has to get to the bottom of this. What could be happening to his fish? He begins to investigate around the pond. Milly and Dilly join him. Circling the pond they look for clues. All of the sudden Connor hears Dilly, “Quack! Quack! Quack!” He runs over to see what she found. They see little foot prints in the mud leading away from the pond. Connor thinks that must be the reason for the missing fish.

He has a plan. That night him, Milly, and Dilly hide in the barn to wait and see if the owner of the footprints comes back for some more fish. They wait and wait until they hear some rustling in the bushes near the pond. “Shhhhhh” whispers Connor to Milly and Dilly. The moon is big enough and bright enough to shine some light over the pond. They are anxious to see what has been stealing their fish.

Out of the bushes pops a big raccoon! Then behind it comes three little baby raccoons. They all four scamper over to the pond and put their hands in to grab themselves some dinner. The little raccoons look at their mommy with confused faces. No fish. They search and search through the cold water. Nothing. Soon they just decide to leave and look for food elsewhere.