Book Three: Spies at Rayon Junction

About the Book

In Book Three: Spies at Rayon Junction, Gerry and his classmate, Shane, continue their journey through Cookie County, unaware that the gold keys they each carry have special powers. On their way to Balloon Field, where Trent, the hot air balloon pilot, is waiting to take them for a ride, they pass through the Rayon Junction Train Station. While they are there, they meet many peculiar citizens of Mydreama, including, Uncle David, the engineer of the Mountain Wildcat. They also find out that they are being followed by many ominous-looking blackbirds, but they have no clue that these birds are after their keys. When the boys finally reach the balloon, they are joined by the mysterious teacher that gave them the keys. With her is one their classmates, Dawnie, who joins Gerry and Shane on a very adventurous trip in the hot air balloon. While they are sailing across Cookie County, they see the Black-eyed Hills, just before a rare cotton ball storm disables their balloon, causing them to crash into the Raisin River. The adventure continues, as the gondola of the airship is transformed into a sailing vessel. Then, while they are sleeping, the currents pull them into the slower-moving Sweetwater River of the Sugar Hills, where they become stuck in a sugar slide. Gerry’s sparrow friend comes to find them and takes, Mac and Tosh, two stowaway Knottys, to the Jamthumb Ranch to get help. In the meantime, the stranded castaways must figure out how to get their stuck craft out of the sugar, but are interrupted by two curious sugarbears. When their very angry mother shows up to claim her lost cubs, the kids are able to get away from her and get their boat back in the river, by eating some of Ms. Razzleberry’s miraculous Jillybeans.

About the Author

Linda lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband, David. They have three grown daughters, three sons-in-law and four grandchildren. Linda was born in San Diego, California; but her family moved to a small town in rural Utah when she was eight. You will see a reflection of her country upbringing in her books, and maybe feel her enthusiasm for the small things in life that sometimes go unnoticed. Linda loves nature and its colors, especially trees and birds, which are incorporated into her stories. When she was young, little Linda would climb trees and pretend that she lived with the birds; and that she could talk with them, each understanding the other. This was her inspiration for creating the Birdish Language spoken by her bird characters. Because her family was poor, she was taught to make do with whatever they had. There were few toys, so she played with dolls and stuffed animals that her mother had sewn out of old clothes. From this kind of play came her idea for the Clothkids that come to live when they are hugged. They also played with mud, rocks, and sticks, using their imaginations to create small villages, which was the inspiration for the smallest of her cloth creations, the Cookiekids. Linda first created the twelve Clothkids as dolls. While she sewed, her creations seemed to come to live for her, having individual personalities. She thought about many adventures that they could have, and where they would live. She didn’t want to forget these stories, so she decided to draw them into a map. It started with a single sheet of paper and some colored pencils, and is now a 46”x60” map of the land of Mydreama. This map became her storyboard for six books called, The Canvas Map Adventure Series.