Category Archives: Children’s Stories

A Second Year of Meggie’s Adventures Begins

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It’s the first anniversary of Meggie’s Adventures! Last September I started this blog to write about all my favorite things: travel, ice cream (and gelato), flowers, going to the beach, and collecting postcards. Many of the stories take place when I was young, which is why the blog is called Meggie’s Adventures. But as I like to point out, I still love ice cream, flowers and travel so that hasn’t changed!

My first post was A Family Day at the Beach when we used to go to the beach in Maine. It’s been wonderful having this blog and I’m looking forward to a second year of fun adventures.

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Beach Days

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Meggie’s family used to take weekend trips to Maine to go to the beach.  When they got close to the water she always rolled down her car window to smell the crisp and salty ocean air.  This was one of Meggie’s favorite childhood memories, along with collecting shells in her pail and building castles (with moats).  These pictures from the coast of Maine are reminders of the excitement of that first scent of the ocean.

Amanda in Malta by Darlene Foster – Virtual Tour

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Darlene Foster is introducing her new book with a virtual blog tour! This is the latest exciting adventure from her Amanda Travels series. If you’d like to see what other bloggers involved in the tour have written you can check out this post from Darlene’s blog.

Here’s a description of the story:

Amanda receives a postcard from her best friend, Leah, and is surprised to learn that she is in Malta with her aunt. Reading between the lines, she senses Leah is in trouble. Desperate to help her, Amanda travels to Malta with her classmate Caleb and his parents.
Amanda is intrigued by this exotic island in the middle of the Mediterranean, full of colourful history, sun-drenched limestone fortresses, stunning beaches and fascinating birds. But…who is killing the protected birds? Who stole a priceless artifact from the museum? And why is Leah acting so strange? She couldn’t possibly be involved in these illegal activities, or could she?

Join Amanda and her friends as they visit ancient temples, an exciting falconry and the enchanting Popeye Village, as they try to get to the bottom of the mystery of the Sleeping Lady.

Darlene explains the purpose of including food in her stories:

Traditional food is important to every culture. I like to have Amanda try the local food when she travels. Children need to know that people eat different food in other parts of the world and they should at least try it. It bothers me when travellers insist on eating food only familiar to them. Amanda likes to cook and try out recipes so she collects ideas as she travels and makes them for her parents. I remember a teacher showing us how to make chilli con carne at school as part of our studies of Mexico. I was so excited I made it for my parents who had never had it before. They became lifelong chilli fans! Also, I find eating is a good place for dialogue to happen. In real life, people tend to discuss things over a meal or a beverage.

Here’s an excerpt from Amanda in Malta: The Sleeping Lady

“Now what?” Amanda stared at the closed door. “How am I going to find Leah?”

She felt a lump form in her throat.

Caleb’s mom placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s find something to eat and think about it. I’m sure there is a reasonable explanation.”

“Like maybe she’s been kidnapped or something,” said Caleb.

His mom glared at him. “Caleb! That is not helping.”

Mr. Sorensen looked at his phone. “You’re sure this is the right address?”

“It’s the return address on the postcard, so I assumed it was where she was staying.”

As they walked down the street to a café they had spotted on the way, Amanda turned to look at the house once more. Did a curtain move in an upstairs window?

Fresh pastries that looked like turnovers were lined up in the window of the coffee shop. A sign below them indicated they were called pastizzi.

Amanda suddenly felt hungry and pointed to the display. “I’ll have one of those.”

Caleb chimed in, “I’ll have two of them.”

Mr. Sorensen bought a plateful and brought them to an outdoor table.

Amanda bit into the warm, fluffy pastry formed in a triangle and stuffed with ricotta cheese.

“Yum, this is good!” She wiped her greasy hands on a napkin.

A small boy scurried by their table, bumping into it.

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” shouted Caleb as he grabbed his drink before it fell over.

Be sure to read all the books in this exciting Amanda Travels series!


1. Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask
2. Amanda in Spain: The Girl in the Painting
3. Amanda in England: The Missing Novel
4. Amanda in Alberta: The Writing on the Stone
5. Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music
6. Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind
7. Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action
8. Amanda in Malta: The Sleeping Lady

Darlene Foster grew up on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, where her love of reading inspired her to see the world and write stories about a young girl who travels to interesting places. Over the years she worked in rewarding jobs such as an employment counsellor, ESL teacher, recruiter, and retail manager, writing whenever she had a few spare minutes. She is now retired and has a house in Spain where she writes full time. When not travelling, meeting interesting people, and collecting ideas for her books, she enjoys spending time with her husband and entertaining rescue dogs, Dot and Lia.

Amazon Canada here

Amazon UK here

Amazon US here

Barnes and Noble here

Chapters/Indigo here

Social media links

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DarleneFosterWriter

Twitter https://twitter.com/supermegawoman

Blog https://darlenefoster.wordpress.com/

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/darlene6490/

An Ice Cream Adventure

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“Here’s your ice cream.  Eat it outside.”

Meggie takes the cone.

She wanders into the backyard garden filled with lavender,

butterflies and hydrangeas.

Hummingbirds zigzag.

Ice cream starts dripping.

A bumblebee chases her.

Safe!

Meggie should eat the

melting ice cream.

Then she sees a chipmunk.

A new adventure begins.

This is a story I wrote earlier this year where the limit was 50 words. Although it’s about Meggie it’s definitely fiction – she would never let her ice cream melt!

Letter from a Pen Pal

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I wrote a story about Meggie a few months ago called Letter to a Pen Pal. Here’s what happened next.

The time passed slowly as Meggie waited to get a letter back from her new pen pal Philippa.  She asked the teacher almost every day if the letters had gotten there.  Finally the teacher said after morning recess, “I have a surprise for all of you.  Here are your letters!” Meggie looked at the neatly printed envelope with her name on it and managed to open it without tearing the envelope or the stamp.
“Dear Meggie, Thank you for your letter.  It is very nice to have a new pen-friend.  I am called Pippa by my family, and we have a dog and a cat. This is a postcard from our holiday in Cornwall.”

Meggie read the letter and was happy to have a new pen pal (or pen-friend).  She was already thinking about what to write in her next letter. She decided to ask about school and if Pippa had a pet. Meggie carefully placed the letter in a jewelry box with her other treasures to remember her new friend!

Something about Vegetables

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Some of Meggie’s favorite foods were apples, ice cream, and chicken noodle soup.  But she didn’t like most vegetables. She ate carrots and she liked potato chips (which she considered a vegetable). But that was all.

Her mother tried to get her to eat peas, but Meggie hid them in her mashed potatoes. This wasn’t such a good idea because she would sometimes eat mashed potatoes and then she’d accidentally eat some of the peas. 

One summer Meggie’s family went to a farmer’s market where there were lots of colorful flowers and produce, including vegetables. Her parents bought some sweet corn (something she really liked) and as they walked around she saw a basket of cucumbers. The person at the booth let her take a slice of one to try. When she bit into it she had a surprise – she liked it! It made her think she might try other vegetables, which she did. But she still doesn’t like peas.

National Library Week

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This is National Library Week and I wanted to share a story about Meggie (me!) going to Story Time. The library is one of my favorite places and it always will be.

Story Time at the Library

Story Time was starting soon and Meggie walked to the library with her older sister. When they went inside she tried to be as quiet as possible, but her penny loafers went clackety-clack on the wooden floor. She said “Shhh” to her shoes, hoping they would stop being so noisy.

The children’s librarian let everyone know when Story Time was about to begin. Once they were seated the librarian said, “Sit quietly and if you have a question please raise your hand.”  When they listened to a story about a rabbit Meggie raised her hand and asked, “Can rabbits really talk like the one in Alice in Wonderland?” 

After Story Time Meggie loved looking at books and always wanted to take home more than she could carry.  Her sister would check the books out on her library card.  Meggie asked, “How old do I have to be to get my own card?” The checkout person said, “You can get a card when you are six years old.”  Would that ever happen?  But still, it was so much fun carrying books home to keep for a while and read over and over. To Meggie, reading and Story Time were wonderful adventures.

#NationalLibraryWeek

The Idea of Travel

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It started with reading books about places near and far. It didn’t matter where it was – Meggie wanted to go there! She had a little suitcase that had belonged to her older sister and she was always ready for adventure. Whether it was a visit in the family car to see her grandmother in Pennsylvania or a day trip to the beach, she was the first one in the car saying “Are we there yet?” After she read Alice in Wonderland she wanted to go to England and see hedgehogs. When she was nine her family moved from Massachusetts to California and they traveled on Route 66. Meggie liked seeing the mountains, the desert and the interesting places to stop along the way. And after all these adventures she still likes to travel!

Collecting Postcards

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Meggie always thought that one of the most enjoyable things about going on family car trips was collecting souvenirs. She saved placemats from restaurants that had puzzles to solve and mazes to navigate. She also liked shells (mostly unbroken) from the beach as well as maps from museums. But the postcards she collected became some of her favorite souvenirs. One time Meggie bought an album of postcards that she could look at like a book.

This was another exciting place to visit!

Today she has a drawer full of postcards from places she has been. They are still wonderful souvenirs and they bring back delightful memories.

Snow, Sleds and Mittens

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After it snowed Meggie would think about what she should do first. Would she go skating at the pond down the road, build a snowman in the yard, or go sledding on the hill by her school? First she needed to see how cold it was. If it was extra cold staying near the house would be the best choice, although Meggie didn’t pay attention to the temperature until she couldn’t feel her nose or fingers! But her Mom always made sure she had on a hat, mittens and a scarf as well as boots. This took a long time to accomplish.

Sometimes her choice depended on whether there were other kids out sledding or making snowballs. She loved sledding down the hill as fast as she could but didn’t like climbing back up pulling the sled. That was hard work.

Once the snow started to fall Meggie liked to play outdoors as much as possible. It made the winter months go by quickly, and it was lots of fun!