And Then It Happened .

Master storyteller Robert P. Simpson will regale you with fifty-five tales of family, friendship and love. He will remind you of the miracle of a baby's birth through the eyes of an adoring first-time father and the joy of teaching a child to ride a bicycle for the first time without training wheels. His tributes to his departed mom, dad and friends will bring you to tears as he remembers lessons learned and love shared. But those tears will turn to laughter as he describes phone calls with telemarketers and replacing missing honeymoon chocolates in the refrigerator of a friend. In the sweet voice of a child, he will bring you back to elementary school as he recounts his three-year quest to win the Gold Button for athletic prowess, only to learn later that another youngster at another school, George Stephens, will jump into the record book and teach him lessons about winning, losing, and friendship. He will remind you that love is color-blind for children. Young Robert and Lewis never knew that their skins were of different colors. These innocent kids only knew that they were friends, best friends. He shares the exploits of Jesse James, a middle-school bully who swiped hundreds of pennies a day from scared classmates in the cafeteria lunch line. You will despise Jesse until you hear of his Christmastime generosity. Jesse was bad, but he wasn't all bad! Get the tissues ready as he recounts how his mom was always there, always teaching, nurturing and loving, even as she was suffering from a debilitating illness. "You Can Still Love" will resonate with all parents who, in good times and bad, always put their children first. The tears continue, through smiles, as he learns about life over coffee with his dad at the morning breakfast table, and then again on the baseball field where lessons about baseball are really lessons about life. And, in a touching tale of friendship, he'll tell you why you should never cross a creek without permission. Bob's fans say that he paints pictures with his words and makes them read in color, and that is exactly what you can expect in the few hundred pages of And Then It Happened ..., beautifully illustrated in full color by Frank A. Mariani.