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    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale
    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale
    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale
    Ebook130 pages2 hours

    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale

    By Crystal Marcos

    4.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale Awards & Honors:

    ~2013 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
    ~2012 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS Award-Winning Finalist in both categories of Children's Fiction & Children's Book Series
    ~2011 READERS FAVORITE Silver Award in its category
    ~2010 Nominated for the CYBILS Awards

    5 Star Review- The author is talented and imaginative. This is a delightful tale sure to please elementary age students. I eagerly await the next offering by this author. -Readers Favorite
    5 Star Review- Crystal Marcos provides a moving tale to help us learn to forgive, no matter how hard it is. Although this is her first book, she displays through it her startling ability to teach a difficult matter in a fun and appealing way that children will understand. Kids will want to read this book over and over again! -Cecilia Lee, Allbook Reviews
    A lip-smacking, mouthwatering, absolutely delectable debut, BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale by Crystal Marcos is a literary feast for ages seven and up. In the vein of Roald Dahl's best-loved adventures, Marcos offers a mystical, character driven escapade that intertwines strands of reality with a larger-than-life fantasy world. When Peter Fischer sets out to help his grandfather at Papa's Sweet Shop, he will quickly learn that sneaking sweets and covering up his sugar-dusted tracks will have major consequences. As Peter is transported to a mysteriously delicious, faraway land, a curious people known as the Candonites, some of whom have no time for a non-Candonite, will teach Peter a lesson on what it means to be different and what it means to forgive.

    Look for Marcos' exciting second book in the children's series, HEADACHE: The Hair-Raising Sequel to BELLYACHE.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrystal Marcos
    Release dateDec 24, 2011
    ISBN9780984389940
    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale
    Author

    Crystal Marcos

    Award-winning author Crystal Marcos has been a storyteller her entire life. As the oldest of five children, she had to do a lot of entertaining. She lives on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State with her husband, daughter Kaylee, and infant son Jaxon. Crystal is the author of BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale and HEADACHE: The Hair-Raising Sequel to BELLYACHE. Novus, her third book and first Young Adult novel, is Book One of The Cresecren Chronicles.

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    Reviews for BELLYACHE

    4.5/5

    6 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      While helping out in his grandfather’s candy shop, Peter sneaks bites of candy. He eats so much candy that he beings to feel sick and is thus transpoated to the land of the Candonites, a race of people that look (and probably taste) like what we call candy. Bellyache is a whimsical and fun story filled with adventure and breath-taking sights. A short novel, it makes a great read-aloud for a family with young children; for slightly older children, this is a great read-alone.Young children who loved watching Disney’s film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland will enjoy reading this tooth-aching tale of gluttony and its consequences. Most importantly, it is about friendship and forgiveness.
    • 4/5
      This was a wonderful tale of adventure in a magical world. The author has paid great attention to detail as the reader goes on a delicious journey from the beginning to the end. Excellent!
    • 5/5
      Oh my, this is a WONDERFULLY delicious book!! I love Roald Dahl's work, and this is very similar to his style.The creativity of the whole adventure is brilliant!!! And the level of writing is perfect for younger readers - and still enjoyable for older ones :D... I have a warning though: you must have snacks close at hand when reading this, it WILL make you hungry.Great book... I do look forward to reading more from Crystal in the future.

    Book preview

    BELLYACHE - Crystal Marcos

    Praise for BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale

    The author is talented and imaginative. This is a delightful tale sure to please elementary age students. I eagerly await the next offering by this author.

    - Readers Favorite

    ‘Bellyache’ is a choice read for younger readers just getting ready to move onto chapter books.

    - Midwest Book Review

    Crystal Marcos provides a moving tale to help us learn to forgive, no matter how hard it is. Although this is her first book, she displays through it her startling ability to teach a difficult matter in a fun and appealing way that children will understand. Kids will want to read this book over and over again!

    - Cecilia Lee, Allbook Reviews

    Winner of a 2011 Readers Favorite Silver Award

    BELLYACHE: A Delicious Tale

    By Crystal Marcos

    Smashwords Edition

    Copyright © 2010 by Crystal Marcos

    Author Portrait by Marie Marcos

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote passages in a review.

    Cat Marcs Publishing

    PO Box 54

    Silverdale, WA 98383

    www.CatMarcs.com

    For my sweet family and all God’s creatures, great and small.

    Contents

    Helping Papa

    Lunch Time

    Sweetness Overload

    Left Behind

    Look at That!

    Rude and Otherwise

    The Tour

    Nosey Neighbor and a Good Poke

    The Guest Book

    The Tin

    Bella’s House of Food

    The Parade

    The Choice

    The Stench

    Forgiveness

    Run!

    A Familiar Place

    Meet Crystal

    Helping Papa

    It was a school holiday and Peter Fischer had to spend the day working with his grandfather. His parents had jobs and Peter, now ten, felt he was too old for a babysitter. He had never been to work with Papa before. His grandfather owned a sweet shop. Papa’s Sweet Shop. Peter was excited. What fun he would have tasting all the luscious treats!

    Peter planned his day in his head. First, a cupcake with heaps of whipped cream icing. Then, several pieces of chocolate filled with all kinds of wonderful centers. Next, red licorice. He thought black licorice tasted gross; he only knew one person who liked it and that was old man Rupert. Old man Rupert lived a few houses down and was always in the garden, fiddling around with a piece of black licorice dangling out of the corner of his mouth—disgusting.

    After lunch, a peppermint, followed by a chocolate chip cookie, half a brownie—he wanted to save room for other sweets—Tootsie Rolls, and lemon drops. Then, he would take a break from eating and help Papa with the afternoon rush of customers. After the rush, a few gumdrops and gumballs—the blue ones of course—and then gooey taffy, followed by gummy bears and super sour gummy worms. Lastly, he would have his most favorite treat of all, creamy chocolaty peanut butter cups—two or three of them, he wasn’t quite sure yet.

    But Papa had a different plan for Peter.

    Hello, Peter. I am so glad to have you as my little helper today. As a reward for your work, you may have three pieces of candy. Papa grinned. Go on now, pick out what you want and put them in the back for later.

    Just three? Peter moped.

    I think three is plenty. We don’t want you to get cavities or make yourself sick. Papa smiled and pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. Now go on, pick.

    Just three, Peter thought to himself. What about all that planning he had done? Well, he would have to think about his choices ever so carefully. Peter took a small plastic plate down from the counter, already knowing one of his choices. He needed to pick the other two. He opened the case to the heavenly chocolates and was nearly knocked off his feet by the grand smells of the freshly made candies. How could he pick just three? He made his first choice, a milk chocolate chunk. He made his second choice, dark-chocolate-covered nougat. He was about to put his last choice, his creamy chocolaty peanut butter cup, onto his plate when he noticed Papa was busy with a customer. He grabbed another peanut butter cup and turned quickly to go to the back room. He put his plate down on the little table next to the picture of Papa and Nana on the wall. He turned around so he wasn’t facing the picture, and devoured the extra peanut butter cup before returning to the front to help Papa.

    Papa asked, Are you happy with your choices, Peter?

    Oh yes, thank you, Papa.

    Good, now help me stock the gummy jars before the afternoon rush. Go and get the gummies in the back room, Papa ordered.

    Peter saw the gummies stacked on a red wagon. He started to roll them to the front of the store when he thought he would have a couple super sour gummy worms and a few gummy bears. No one would ever know the difference. Peter gobbled them up on the way to the front. They were so yummy, and the worms were almost too sour, he was afraid Papa would see his scrunched-up face. But Papa didn’t. Peter stocked the gummies and helped Papa with a few customers.

    One was an incredibly tall woman with bright red hair and a sharp jaw.

    Peter, come here. Papa said. I want you to meet Mrs. Nielson. She has been a customer of mine since the day we opened, and she comes in every Monday for a special batch of fudge. Go and fetch it in the refrigerator, please.

    Hello, nice to meet you, Peter said.

    The woman smiled back.

    Peter looked in the huge walk-in refrigerator and saw a white box labeled Mrs. Nielson. He took the box, and right behind it, staring back at him, was more fudge, lots and lots of fudge, stacked high. Surely Papa would not miss just one piece. So he stuffed one in his mouth and swallowed as quickly as possible, almost so fast he couldn’t taste it. On the way to the front, he grabbed one of his own candies off of his plate on the table. It was the milk chocolate chunk, and it was terrific!

    When he saw his grandfather, Peter was still chewing the last bit of his chunk. I had one of my candies. That’s okay, right?

    Of course, Peter, you deserve it. Papa grinned, taking Mrs. Nielsen’s fudge from Peter.

    Peter watched the door as she left and saw the postman coming in. He was a short man with thick black hair and glasses like Papa’s. He handed Papa a few letters and a medium-sized box marked Special Delivery in bright red.

    Wonder what’s in there? Peter thought.

    Would you like a caramel for the road, Lucian? Papa asked.

    You know I would! admitted Lucian. And who is this young fellow?

    This is my grandson, Peter. He is helping me out around the store today, Papa said proudly.

    You must be having a good time, Lucian said, biting into his caramel. Caramel dripped from his mouth, and he licked his lips to make sure he got every last morsel.

    Yes, sir, Peter answered.

    When your grandfather and I were little, we hardly ever got any candy. You are a very fortunate boy to have a grandfather who owns a sweet shop. Well, I’d love to stay, but I must be on my way.

    Peter thought about what Lucian had said. It was true; he was a fortunate boy. When Peter was younger, Papa told him a story about when he was a boy in Germany and his family did not have much money. A generous neighbor used to put pennies in a tree in their backyard and tell him and his brothers to shake it. The neighbor called it a magic tree. When they shook the magic tree, the pennies fell out and scattered around like copper treasures. It brought the neighbor great joy to see their faces light up. Papa and his brothers would gather up the coins and run straight to the general store to buy some candy. He tried to make his candy last as long as possible, doing things like licking a piece of candy one long stroke at a time instead of sticking the whole thing in his mouth. Now he had a candy shop of his very own.

    The phone rang and brought Peter back to reality. He heard Papa talking but he wasn’t really listening.

    Papa hung up and told Peter to open the bottom drawer near the cupcakes and get out six candies that said Happy Birthday on them and put them on six chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting. Papa said he would put them in a box when he came back from using the bathroom. He was sure Peter could cover the store for a few minutes.

    Once Peter was alone, he did as his papa asked. The smell of the mixture of the vanilla and chocolate was too much for him to handle. How fast could he eat a cupcake? He looked at the shelf lined with cupcakes and

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