by Jim Jones
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Kids Western Adventure
Date Published: 04-17-2025
Publisher: Speaking Volumes
You can learn a lot from a dog . . .
Meet Charlie Spears, a 10-year-old boy living on the High Plains of Texas in the late 1800s. Charlie lives with his Grandpa Will, who runs a chuckwagon, feeding all the adventurous folks traveling West in wagon trains. After losing his parents to illness, Charlie is often lonely and longs for a true friend. One day, by a stroke of luck and a big wag of a tail, Charlie meets a funny-looking dog named Bolo, who is also looking for a friend. Together, they embark on a journey where Charlie learns important life lessons.
In the first story: Bolo the Brave, Charlie discovers the meaning of courage and how to face challenges when a friend is in danger.
In the second story: True Friend, Charlie gains valuable insight—not to judge people by their limitations, but rather by their actions and character.
In the third story: Outcast, Charlie and his friends learn the importance of getting to know someone instead of passing judgment based on their appearance.
Together, Charlie and Bolo make new friends, confront dangers, and grow through valuable life lessons. As the story reminds us, you can learn a lot from a dog.
Excerpt
The wind blows almost all the time out on the Texas plains. It’s so constant that the only time you really notice it is during those rare times when it isn’t blowing. Today was a good day. The sun was shining and the wind wasn’t gusting so hard that you had to lean into it to keep from being blown over … or in the case of a ten year old, being blown away.
Standing beside his grandpa’s chuckwagon, Charlie looked up from his chores to see the strange looking dog he’d met the day before trotting up with a stick in his mouth. The dog came right up and laid the stick on the ground in front of him. Then he looked at Charlie expectantly, an expression that resembled a crooked smile.
Charlie threw the stick and the dog brought it back. He did it again with the same result. The stick looked funny in his crooked snout and it made Charlie laugh when the dog jumped around as he waited for him to throw it again. Charlie wondered what was wrong with the dog’s nose. It went straight almost to the end and then suddenly took a left turn; almost like someone had grabbed it and twisted. The dog couldn’t quite close his mouth on that side of his snout. Looking at the dog, he laughed again.
It felt good to laugh. Since both of his parents died of pneumonia a year ago and he came to live with his Grandpa Will, Charlie felt sad and lonely a lot of the time. His grandpa was a good man and he took good care of Charlie, but losing both your parents when you’re nine years old is one of the hardest things anyone could ever face.
“You make me happy, you funny looking dog,” Charlie said to the canine that jumped around in front of him. “I don’t know where you came from but I’m glad you’re here.”
About the Author
Jim Jones is a native Texan who lives in Rio Rancho, NM. In addition to being a Western novelist, he is also an award-winning Western singer/songwriter (International Western Music Association 2014 Male Performer of the Year; IWMA Song of the Year Award, 2019; Western Writers of America Spur Award, 2013, 2017 & 2021 for Western Song of the Year) who performs at festivals, coffeehouses and other venues throughout the West. Rustler’s Moon, Jim’s first novel, was a finalist in two categories for the 2009 New Mexico Book Awards, Best Historical Fiction and Best First Book. His novel, Colorado Moon, 2011, is the second in the Jared Delaney Series and it won the Western Music Association’s 2011 Award for Outstanding Western Book. The third book in the series, Waning Moon, was published in 2013 and was also a New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards Finalist for Best Historical Fiction. The Big Empty, a spinoff series, was published in 2016 by Five Star Publishing and it, too, was a NM/AZ Book Awards Finalist in the Best Historical Fiction category. The second book in the spinoff series, The Lights of Cimarron, was published by Five Star in early 2019. The fourth book in the Jared Delaney Series, Halo Moon, was released in November, 2022 and won the 2023 AZ/NM Book Award for the Best in Adventure category. Jim creates gripping Old West characters about whom readers in the 21st century can care deeply. They struggle with tough economic times and corrupt government officials…wait, that’s going on right now! Guess what, it was happening then, too. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Jim is a proud member of both the Western Writers of America and the Western Music Association. Although he writes about cattle rustling, Jim has never rustled cattle.
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