For reading groups and activity directors
Six months of afternoons on Butternut Lane.
These stories were made to be shared. Each one takes ten to fifteen minutes to read aloud and ends with a Front Porch Question to start the conversation.
How a session works
Three steps and a pot of coffee.
One story per gathering
Read one story at each gathering, then talk over its Front Porch Question. There are no wrong answers and no test.
Take turns reading
A different reader for each page keeps every voice in the room. The type is 16-point on cream paper, so reading aloud is easy on the eyes.
Invite a memory
Ask everyone to bring one: a Green Stamp book, a drive-in ticket, a story about the party line. The stories are built to open those doors.
The first month
Where most circles begin.
Four gatherings, four questions. Twenty-five stories make about six months of weekly visits.
Week one · Story One
The Raffle Jar
Front Porch Question
Who ran things on your street — and who finally got to tell her thank you?
Week two · Story Two
Two Blinks
Front Porch Question
Who said goodnight to you without ever saying a word?
Week three · Story Three
The Casserole Rule
Front Porch Question
Whose cooking always came out sized for more people than were at the table — and who got fed because of it?
Week four · Story Four
Whiskers Brings a Key
Front Porch Question
What did you ever wish for on a little slip of paper — and did somebody, someday, quietly make it come true?
Ordering for a group
Copies for the whole circle.
- Large print paperback, set in 16-point type on cream paper.
- Twenty-five self-contained stories, so a member can miss a week and lose nothing.
- Every book stands on its own; there is no order to keep and no cliffhanger to carry.
The ISBN, the price and multiple-copy ordering are not final yet. When they are, this page will say so plainly. Meanwhile Dot answers ordering questions in writing, usually the same week.
Write, don’t call
There is no phone number and no “book a call” here. Replies are written, which is slower and better.