Hi, welcome. It's the Sparkle Stories podcast. This is Elizabeth of Sparkle Stories. I'm really glad you're

here for more September stories of courage. This story is called Meeting New friends, and it's from the Willowbee Tree

collection, and it has to do with school time and making new buddies, just as you might imagine.

And Clancy, our dear Clancy, is a little nervous about a new event he's going to. So the willow tree, that sparkly magical willow tree,

takes him to Cattahoula Lake in Louisiana, where he meets a deer shy duck. And in that

experience, he finds courage for making new friends. I thought this would be a perfect story for those of you,

this September, that are doing all sorts of new things, joining new classes, trying new groups.

Before I share the story, I want to encourage you to subscribe. I know I do this every episode, but Sparkle Stories is such a neat

community of families enjoying beautiful content together. We have over 1,500 original stories,

so many delightful stories to enjoy, and everybody starts for free. You just go to Spark sparklesories.com and click the button in the

top right that says start free trial sparklesories.com click the button in the top right that says

start free trial we would love for you to join us this fall okay now onto the story meeting new friends from the Willoughby Tree Collection. Enjoy. Making New Friends

In the backyard of an ordinary house on an ordinary street in an ordinary town, there was once a most extraordinary tree. It was an enormous willow tree,

and in the middle of its trunk there was a hole. Now, if you found yourself near that willow tree

with a certain wonder stirring in your heart, you might notice

a colorful sparkle coming from that hole. And what was that sparkle? An invitation to go

somewhere long ago and far, far away.

The Willoughby children, Piper, Clancy, and Little Tie recently moved to the ordinary house on the ordinary street. During the weekdays, Clancy and Piper attended the local school.

Piper, who was in third grade, was a focused and enthusiastic student

who often had her hand up to answer a question or to ask one of her own. In the short time that

they had lived in the ordinary house on Baybury Street, she had made many new friends.

Clancy, who was in first grade, was a different kind of student. He was a dreamy sort of first

...