Honey Girl & Bella: A Hero's Journey is a delightfully written and illustrated book for children at the 3rd grade reading level. Wonderful for read-aloud, and loaded with vocabulary and situations to challenge and entertain independent readers. Look for the ways we show examples of empowerment and facing bullies, overcoming obstacles, making friends outside one's normal sphere, seeing leadership as a function of heart, accomplishing a goal in the face of doubt and opposition. Illustrations are entirely hand-cut colorful paper. Search each page for extra critters, sometimes hidden.
This is the story of farmyard chickens that respond to the need to fix two big problems: a bullying rat in the farmyard, Ralf, who seems to be the source of a lot of arguments and hurtful rumors; and suddenly Raven has reached into the kitchen window and snatched Lady's golden heart pendant, then flown off with it. The story unfolds with wise old Manx cat suggesting to Honey Girl that after Old Rooster retired the farmyard needs a new leader – and it could be her. Reluctant at first, Honey Girl insists she hasn't a single idea how to do that.
When Honey Girl and her friend Bella assert they want to get the heart back for Lady, Manx cat encourages Honey Girl to find courage, face risk, and return as a leader. Now the pair of chickens go on their quest and meet obstacles and enemies and make friends with an unlikely group, a flock of crows.
Drawing on some elements of The Hero's Journey, an underlying theme of many of the world's greatest tales of discovery, triumph and salvation, our story includes: 1. A Reluctant Responding to the Call, 2. Hearing the Message of a Mentor, 3. Receiving Visitation from the Supernatural, 4. Overcoming Obstacles and Foes, 5. Experiencing a Personal Transformation, 6. Enlisting an Unlikely Ally, 7. Returning the Treasure and Bringing Change to the Land.
The Hero's Journey could be described as a set pattern of steps that need to be taken to bring transformation to an individual and ultimately to all the people. The stories of Greek heroes, tales from ancient India, Viking myths and even modern literature and movies such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars – all show that the Hero's Journey can be as much a story telling tool as it is a template for all of our life experiences.
