Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

A Mom's Choice Awards Recipient!
The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services.An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow;Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

Gorgeous New Holiday Children's Book
Ernest, the miniature donkey, and his friend Chester, a retired draft horse, couldn't be more excited about Christmas. The sky is changing colors, there are wreaths hung around the barn. But when it starts snowing, Ernest and the other barnyard animals head inside, where they will be safe from the cold. However, once inside the barn, Ernest realizes that Chester is nowhere to be seen, and sets out looking for him. He soon finds him lying in the snow, unable to get up. It is now up to Ernest to get the other barnyard animals to help Chester up, so he can find shelter away from the cold. After all, the true meaning of Christmas is giving and helping others.

I have been a donkey and horse lover ever since a VERY young age, so I was ecstatic to find ERNEST'S SPECIAL CHRISTMAS, as it combined two of my favorite animals together with my absolute favorite holiday, and created a lovely new children's book that will warm everyone's heart around the holiday. Filled with an adorable adventure story, as well as magnificent illustrations depicting various barnyard animals in their everyday routines, ERNEST'S SPECIAL CHRISTMAS is sure to be a hit.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

New Adventure in an Award-Winning Series
Slowly the skies began to turn gray and it started to snow. The animals looked up as small snowflakes fell from the sky. It looked magical. "It's going to be a beautiful, white Christmas," thought Ernest. ~Ernest's Special Christmas

Ernest is a lovable miniature donkey who has appeared in three previous stories. He is friends with a kind, white draft horse named Chester. They know Christmas is near when they see the red bows on the wreaths decorating the pasture gates. It is almost time to celebrate Christmas, but the barn seems rather lonely. Ernest realizes that Chester is not in the stall.

"I better go find him. After all it's Christmas Eve. We should all be together."

As snow blankets the farm, Ernest braves the snow to look for Chester. Since Chester is white and the snow is getting deeper, Ernest almost trips over Chester. Ernest is a thoughtful little donkey and he knows he has to get Chester back to the barn. So, he quickly rounds up all the other animals and even the birds and mice join in to help. Ernest shows love and determination and helps his friend so they can celebrate Christmas together.

The watercolor illustrations are beautiful and Carol A. Camburn has created the cutest miniature donkey who looks like a huggable cuddly stuffed toy. Chester and Ernest are real friends and you can see their "real" picture on the inside of the cover. Carol has a horse named Billy and also loves cats. Laura and her husband live on a farm in New Jersey. They have made a home for homeless horses and miniature donkeys who enjoy a quiet retirement. Her life on the farm is her inspiration for "The Ernest Series."

Ernest holiday greeting cards are also available in packs of 18 cards. The inside message reads: "True Friends are the best gift of all. Merry Christmas." The book cover is darker than shown here at Amazon. There is a powdery blue background with snowflakes that is quite pretty. I even found the tiny mouse on the cover. Children and "adults like me" will have fun finding the tiny mouse hidden on every page.

"Ernest's Special Christmas" is a charming Christmas Eve adventure that shows children how love, thoughtfulness, and kindness can make the holiday season a more heartwarming time of year.

Additional books in this series (age 4-8):

Ernest and the BIG Itch - A story about problem solving and you can search for the ladybug hidden in each illustration.

Twist and Ernest - Lessons about not judging others based on appearances and prejudice

Teeny Tiny Ernest - Ernest realizes that who you are really comes from the inside and then he is not so sad about being such a small donkey.

~The Rebecca Review
Author of Seasoned with Love: A collection of
best-loved recipes inspired by over 40 cultures

An engaging tale of spirit and compassion
Ernest's Special Christmas by Laura T. Barnes is a heartwarming story of friendship between a little donkey and a hardworking draft horse. When snow falls thickly, the old horse finds himself unable to move, the little donkey must get help from his animal friends to ensure that everyone comes safely home. Enhanced with illustrations by Carol A. Camburn, Ernest's Special Christmas is an engaging tale of spirit and compassion, based on real-life events and animals at Barnesyard farm. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Great experience
My book arrived very quickly and came just as I had been told it would. It was shrink-wrapped to protect it, which was a nice gesture. I am very happy with the purchase!

Not so impressed
Such a wonderful idea, but the book did not flow as well as I would have hoped. My little ones got a little bored, and it takes a lot to bore them.But they insist they liked it...so really iffy on this one.

Twist and Ernest (Ernest Series)
Really cute book. I gave it to my Grandson on his second birthday and he just loved it. He wanted someone to read it to him right then. Great story and pictures.

Kids Loved It!
Bought this book as a Christmas gift for my nieces and nephews (ages 2 - 8). Both art and story were loved by all. Looking forward to the rest of the Ernest books, and I know the kids are too.

Teaching kids values from real world animal stories
I hope there will be more books from Laura Barnes because this is so wonderful.I have given this book to numerous kids who just absolutely fall in love with the characters and story.The smile that this bookbrings is priceless. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (4)

A Mom's Choice Awards Recipient!\
The Mom's Choice Awards®honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services.An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow;Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books, Florrie Binford-Kichler
Founder of Patria Press, Inc. - an award-winning independent publisher, President of PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book is an honored recipient of this distinguished award.

A charming, award winning book
Elston is a rooster who cannot contain his powerful urge to do what roosters are born to do, "They Crow!"The other barn animals complain when he wakes them at the crack of dawn.
"Why do you have to make that racket every morning?"
"I'm not sure," answered Elston."I just do, do, do...." And with that he utters another extra loud, "Cockle doodle doooooooo."
The animals all agree that just one morning; they would like to sleep in.

The next morning Elston stuffs his beak in the hay bale to prevent himself from crowing.He holds his breath.He feels like he is going to burst.His whole body puffs up trying to stifle his crow.It takes all of his effort to not do what comes naturally to him. Exhausted from holding back his crow, he falls back to sleep.

"Elston! Elston! "Wake up," shouts his donkey friend, Ernest.Ernest tells him that he is needed to be who he is.He is needed to crow and wake everyone up in the morning.Elston discovers what can go wrong when you try to be something you're not. Celebrate who you are!

Elston and Ernest is the fifth in this award-winning Ernest Series.Awards include: Teacher's choice Award, Mom's Choice Award, and the Silver Ben Franklin Award.
All stories include tales about real-life animals as well as valuable life-lessons.Look for the cute little critter hiding on every page.

Ideal reading for children ages 4 through 8
Elston is a barnyard rooster who thinks the other animals don't like him because it's his job to wake them up so early every morning. Ernest the donkey tries to persuade Ernest that he's got it all wrong. But Elston decides to quite being a rooster and become something else instead. An humorous adventure ensues as all Elston and the rest of the barnyard animals find out that it is their differences that make them each both special and useful to all the others. Ideal reading for children ages 4 through 8 (there's even a cute little critter hiding on every page just waiting to be found!) and a popular addition to school and community library picturebook collections, Ernest And Elston is charmingly written "life lesson" by Laura T. Barnes and wonderfully illustrated with 32 watercolor works of art by Carol A. Canburn.

Fun read!
Everyone wants to be liked and most of us don't want to be different. And that is Elston, the rooster's dilemma. He believes the barnyard animals don't like him because he wakes them up every morning. Ernest, the donkey, attempts to assure his friend that the animals may not want to wake up so early in the morning, but they like Elston.

Elston decides that it would be better if he wasn't a rooster and didn't crow. But everything goes awry when Elston tries to be something he isn't. Elston and everyone else soon discover how special they each are, differences included.

Ernest and Elston is a fun, yet educational book that can help children appreciate themselves and their own differences. The illustrations are inviting and warm and will draw the children into the story.

Armchair Interviews says: Ernest and Elston is part of a series that children will enjoy and learn from.





... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

A Mom's Choice Awards Honoree!
The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services.An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow;Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

Teemu Tiny Ernest
Great book!My toddler loves this and requests it to be read to him.It really teaches us to look at how special each one of us is no matter what.

Another Great Ernest Book
This has become a favorite of the kids I gave it to for Christmas. It's a great story about learning find your strengths and to like yourself for who you are. It's a great story for younger kids, with wonderful illustrations too. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Destined to Become a Classic!
I recently purchased the five book series of Ernest the Donkey for my granddaughter.I believe the series is destined to become a much-loved classic.Ernest is a delightful little donkey with honest qualities and human-like character that animal lovers often see in their "friends."The illustrations are beautiful, too.I just wish the series was available in a board book for toddlers.

Ernest and the Big Itch (Ernest Series)
Really cute book. I gave it to my Grandson on his second birthday and he just loved it. He wanted someone to read it to him right then. Great story and pictures.

Ernest and the Big Itch is adorable
I have all of the Ernest collection so far.Laura Barnes does an excellent job with these stories.I have given them to all my neices and nephews as well as my child.I personally like to read them myself.Perfect book for all kids. ... Read more

Product Description
Clear and to the point, Monarch Notes provide students and interested readers with an excellent supplement for the understanding and appreciation of the world's great writing. Each volume helps the reader to encounter the original more fully by placing it in historical context, focusing on the important aspects of the text and posing key questions. ... Read more