Rally George

About the Book

This book is a collection of short stories that are graded for 8 through 14 years or age. Each of these has its own topic and style. Hence, there is some difficulty in attempting to provide a general classification. The closest to an overall picture is that these stories will make you laugh, cry, and feel emotion. Each of these stories contains a different mix of these above ingredients, but all will leave you satisfied. “Bird in the Rabbit Hole” shows how two different creatures work and live in harmony. They help each other and provide delightful mutual company. They even keep one another from being consumed by an enemy. This is a very simply play with a small cast: two major performers, and three minor roles. The dialog and action will appeal to very young performers (seven to nine-year-olds). There is ample opportunity to “ham” it up, making the show a lot of fun. While the theme is serious (rabbits and birds being live quarry to predators), there is sufficient comic relief. And (of course as is the case for all stories by the author) the story has an up-beat ending.

“Foiled Treasure Hunt” portrays relationships between children who can be forgiving. Cindy gets an authentic looking treasure map in the mail. She, and her two friends Nancy and Lonnie follow it and dig up a delightful treasure. However the map was a fake done by Pranky as a cruel joke. They show him what they unearthed, and thank him for finding such a great treasure. Pranky is baffled. What is the explanation?

“No Room for Dolls” tells of a little girl who was forced to abandon three dolls when the poor family moved halfway across the country. There simply was no room in the small van. Each doll has advantages and weaknesses. Spurred on by the love of the girl, the dolls pool their resources to make the trek to follow the girl to her new home, a distance of 500 miles. On the way, they meet many people who help in different ways. And they manage to help others. The three dolls also encounter a number of obstacles where they work together to find a way out of each dilemma. Is a distance of 500 miles too far for these three dolls?

“Trading Toys for Candy” describes the evils of bad monsters that trick the children into some very foolish trades. While the parents are away on a two-week vacation, they leave the older children to look after the younger ones. A bunch of bad monsters seize the chance to take advantage of the children. Little by little, the bad monsters fool the children into trading food and beds for candy and ice cream. Now there happen to be good monsters, but the bad ones outnumber them by far. Can the good monsters manage somehow to regain the children’s food and beds?

“Trottin’ Trickin’ Race” is a humorous poem with rhythm and complex rhymes. The jockeys ride on different animals. The race begins with six runners, and one by one, four of them drop out of the race for one reason or another. The race concludes with cotton pickin’ Dorsey on his trottin’ trickin’ horsey, versus pistol-packing Mama on her crystal-cracking llama. Dorsey is one highly dishonorable rider, and he will stop at nothing to win the race. Dorsey tries some very nasty and illegal tricks. How can honest Mama compete with the evil Dorsey?

“Floating on Air” is the tale of a daring young girl, and her two faithful friends. They board a balloon that is safely tied to the ground. The fire-eater accidentally spits flame and burns the mooring rope, and the balloon takes off. The three girls are held captive in the runaway balloon, which flies, over the city. The view is beautiful until they realize that the balloon is headed --- uncontrolled --- toward the Atlantic Ocean.

“The Youngest Spy” is a humorous story of Margy, a courageous girl who must sneak into the enemy headquarters to steal the secret plan for an invasion. The enemy occupies a tall building that has no windows or entrance. The only way to enter the building is from th

About the Author

Ira Cochin worked as an engineer for 15 years in industry for such companies as Kearfott, and Bendix. Then he was a professor for 36 years at New Jersey Institute of Technology. During his professorship, Ira became blind and then deaf. He went for training at the Helen Keller Center for the Deaf-Blind. He became the world’s first deaf-blind professor to teach engineering. His accomplishments appeared in the New Jersey Supplement of the Sunday New York Times in December 18, 1977. Ira Cochin has written eleven novels, two technical books, and dozens of articles in various trade journals.