Waltur Buys a Pig in a Poke and Other Stories is the first in a series of humorous early readers featuring Waltur, an impulsive bear who sometimes doesn’t quite grasp the meaning of English language idioms. With his best friends Matilda and Darwin, Waltur learns, through trial and error, the folk wisdom behind the old saying, “Don’t buy a pig in a poke.”

In the second story, “Waltur Counts His Chickens Before They Are Hatched,” Waltur tries hard to not count his chickens before the eggs hatch. But he can’t help counting on the fact that he will have many baby chicks . . . won’t he?

And in the third story, “Waltur Leads a Horse to Water,” he believes that he can not only lead a horse to water, he can make it drink. The horse, however, does not agree.

Waltur Buys a Pig in a Poke and Other Stories can be purchased at independent bookdealers, chain bookstores, or online bookstores, including amazon.com

Behind the Book

The very first time I thought about idioms was at the age of thirteen, in Beginning French, when I translated “il a jeté un coup d'oeil hors de la fenêtre” as “he threw his eye out the window.” The laughter that greeted my translation made me realize that I had erred in a big way: the teacher explained that “jeté un coup d’oeil” was an idiom and thus did not mean exactly what it said (threw the eye), but meant something else: glanced.

The second time I thought about idioms was a few years later, when visiting with friends who had a four-year-old son. One of the adults present said, “I can’t do that, I’m all tied up,” and without missing a beat, the four-year-old said, “I don’t see any ropes.” It was at this point that I realized I wanted to write about the humor of taking idioms literally. My desire to write such stories — to introduce children to idiomatic expressions, and perhaps even to amuse adults — came to fruition with the creation of Waltur and his friends Darwin and Matilda. — Bg