Tenth Full Moon

Tenth Full Moon is a 34-page picture book for children ages 4-8. Its a modern fairy tale with stunning illustrations on every page. Fairviews woods crackle with noises when the weather turns cold and people think its crows flying to the land of Poe. But thats not the real story which involves Carmina a harmless little old lady and coincidentally a witch. The magic of each tenth full moon gives her breath to live from year to year. On this particular night the moon hums behind the trees a cabbage casts a spell the wind tastes of spirits. Carmina doesnt notice but her cats do. At supper time she chooses to cook a possum that she caught in a trap. She skins the possum and puts it into her cook pot. The cabbage she took from a weedy garden turns red in the veins and she suspects it of being hexed. Out the door it goes. As the possum cooks on her kerosene stove a terrible stink arises and worries the cats not to mention Carmina. Another hex? She throws the pot and the possum out the door. Her cat Caster yowls at the big moon thats coming up which gets Carminas attention. She licks the wind to try to figure out whats going on and discovers the taste of swamp spirits. At last she realizes its the tenth full moon. She sends out a call on the wind to the Edisto swamp where spirits sleep in the mud. They glide through the woods leaving behind a briny smell. Foxes and wolves are frightened by this unusual smell and run and hide in their dens which causes the woods to crackle. Around a blazing fire the spirits rattle bones chant and call down the moons magic. In return for their help Carmina wanders the woods with them trying to find human bodies they can share.