Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Poor Fanny feels as if she doesn’t have a thing to wear! She can’t afford any new ball gowns, and the ones she saved after the family lost their fortune all seem old, outdated, and shabby. But Polly has the knack of making even an old dress look new and fresh, so F…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Polly is a young woman of integrity. As such, she knows she can’t follow the modern trend of stringing young men along to flirt and make them fall in love with her, especially when she knows she can’t return the sentiment. So she does a very hard thing, and is then…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Polly is still just a young woman who wants to have fun and enjoy life. She seems so grown up and responsible! But one night she just wants to enjoy herself. Not surprisingly, she has a wonderful time. But poor Fanny, who has gr…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Will Milton, who is Polly’s younger brother, visits his sister every Sunday. They sing, eat, and have serious discussions together. They also include little Maud, who is rather lonely and appreciates the chance to visit with Polly and Will. Then there is little Jan…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Six years have passed since we last joined Polly on her visit to the Shaw household. Now she is older, wiser, and ready to embark on a new adventure. This time, she is planning to “go around the city, making music all the time.” At least, that is how one young woma…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here are the two final chapters, or staves, of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, as read by my father, Kenneth Luker. This time as I was listening to this old favorite, I was struck by how Scrooge is already prepared to learn and change from the Ghost of Chris…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. In A Christmas Carol, the different chapters are referred to as staves because when a piece of music is written, such as a Christmas carol, the paper it is written on is marked with five-lined staves, or staffs (same thing). So, when we refer to the different chapt…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here is Stave Two of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, as read by my father, Kenneth Luker. In this episode, Scrooge meets the first of the three spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Past, specifically, Scrooge’s past. Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Today we have a special treat! My father, Kenneth Luker, has agreed to be a guest host on our podcast for the next five episodes. We have a tradition in our family of reading A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, on the Sunday nights in December. Somehow, it just …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Soon it will be time for Polly to go back home to her loving family. But before then, she introduces the Shaw family to the joy that comes from listening to Grandma’s stories. There is so much that everyone can learn from that wise old woman! And then there is one …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. After Tom’s bicycle accident, the young people of the Shaw household are so good and kind to each other that Grandma becomes worried that something bad is going to happen. But, things never run in a smooth course, and this chapter is full of scrapes and mistakes an…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Polly is still visiting the Shaw family, and sometimes she feels homesick for her own family. You see, her own home is filled with love, and to her surprise, the Shaw home is not. Polly can’t understand why, but she sets to work to do the small and simple things th…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here is the first episode of Louisa May Alcott’s delightful book, An Old-Fashioned Girl. Here we meet Polly Milton as she leaves her home in the country to go visit Fanny Shaw, who lives in town and is already quite a young lady. Polly, who is nearly the same age a…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When we last left Frank and Joe and their father, they had been tied up by the smugglers and were awaiting being forced into Li Chang’s boat, bound for China! Things look very grim for our heroes. How can they possibly escape and see the smugglers come to justice? …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Brave Frank and Joe Hardy start exploring the hidden cove under the cliff at Barmet Bay. Not only do they find a secret channel where boats can come in and out of the area unseen, but they find the smugglers’ lair, and a weak and frail prisoner who has been held ca…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Where could Fenton Hardy, Frank and Joe’s father, have gone? He was last seen in the vicinity of the deserted old Polucca place. So Frank and Joe and several of their chums decide to go explore the whole house, just in case he may be there. What a surprise they hav…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. After rescuing the young man from the water after his almost fatal encounter in the bay, Frank and Joe Hardy are understandably concerned about him. Their father thinks the young man, who seems to be using an assumed name, may be in the secret service, trying to di…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here is the second exciting volume of The Hardy Boys Mysteries. In The House on the Cliff, Frank and Joe Hardy stumble on a mystery as they and their friends Biff, Chet, and Jerry, are riding their motorcycles around Barmet Bay one Saturday in early June. When they…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Poor Peter has been so lonely and disgruntled and, most of all, jealous this whole summer. Instead of having Heidi to himself up on the mountain pasture, she has been spending all her time with Clara. And even when she decides to come up to the high meadows with hi…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When I was a little girl, I remember begging and pleading with my parents to let my dear cousin, Susan, spend the night. Almost always my parents were happy to let her stay and we would stay up late and tell stories and talk about how we hoped our lives would go. S…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Winter has come to the mountain once again. But instead of being snowed in on the mountain pasture and unable to go anywhere, Heidi and Grandfather have moved to the Hamlet. In the little town of Dörfli, Heidi goes to school, teaches the reluctant Peter how to read…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Who is Heidi waiting for? Goat Peter wants Heidi to come with him to the high pastures, but she is waiting for some special, long-awaited visitors. She is so happy when the doctor arrives to stay for a while. He is sad and despondent, but just being around Heidi he…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Finally back in her mountain home so dear, Heidi has to visit Grandmother, and go out to the pasture with the goats, and listen to the music of the wind in the fir trees. But most of all, she enjoys spending time with Grandfather, who has also been deeply affected …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. The mystery of the Sesemann ghost has been solved, and without delay, in order to save her life, Heidi is allowed to go back up to her beloved mountain meadow with Grandfather and the goats, and Grandmother, and Goat Peter! When has a homecoming ever been so joyful…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. After a wonderful, long visit, Grandmama Sesemann has to go back to her own house. Heidi and Clara miss her, but soon there is something to distract everyone from her departure. The Sesemann house is haunted! Every morning the front door is found to stand open, eve…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When Mr. Sesemann returned from his trip to Paris, he discovered how much his little daughter, Clara, was devoted to her young companion. Heidi may have caused a bit of upheaval in the household, but she is full of kindness and consideration as well. And she found …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Poor Miss Rottenmeier! She thought her idea of bringing a companion for Clara Sesemann would give her some relief from the hard work of caring for the girl. But now that Heidi has arrived, life is more surprising and disorganized that she ever would have believed. …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When the village schoolmaster sends word that he expects Meadow Nuncle to send Heidi down to school, Nuncle has other ideas. Even the pastor comes to reason with him, but Nuncle is obstinate. Heidi will stay as free and happy as the little birds and the goats. But …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Let’s go with Heidi as she accompanies Goat Peter to the high mountain pastures with the herd of jumping, bleating, engaging animals. Heidi soon learns each goat’s name and little characteristics. She has never been so happy in her life, and when the sun begins to …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here are the first two chapters of the enchanting story of Heidi, the little Swiss girl who is taken to live with her grandfather in a tiny cottage in the Alps. In these chapters you will hear how Heidi is taken up to Meadow Nuncle’s house by her Auntie Dete—and le…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Now we are reaching the end of the tales of King Arthur and his Knights. But even though today’s selections end with the passing of King Arthur, you can find many more tales of chivalry and bravery and even other legends of King Arthur in the public library. Today …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Finally, the time has arrived for the Seat Perilous to be filled! Sir Bors, who is a very valiant and virtuous knight, is granted a special vision in which he sees the knight who will fill the seat, although when Sir Bors sees him, he is still a tiny baby. King Art…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Lynette, a beautiful but very proud and haughty maiden, begs for King Arthur to send his very best knight to rescue her sister from the clutches of four evil knights. She insists that Sir Lancelot be the one to help. King Arthur, however, has another idea as a diff…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When another white stag appears, the court of King Arthur again sets off in pursuit of high adventure. This time, the quest comes to Sir Geraint, who defends the honor of the queen. Then we learn about Sir Lancelot of the Lake, who lived an idyllic childhood in Fai…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Here are the adventures of two noble knights and one of King Arthur’s young cousins: a foundling prince. Sir Gawain and Sir Tristram both find the lady of their dreams, and oh, the amazing, magical, and astounding adventures that King Arthur and his knights underta…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are radiantly happy at their castle in Camelot. Almost every seat is filled at the Round Table, and very soon after the knights have made their solemn vows, their words are put to the test when a lovely maiden in distress appears in …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. In these selections of King Arthur and His Knights, you will learn about how Merlin built the Round Table, where King Arthur received the amazing sword, Excalibur, and how he met and fell in love with the beautiful and charming Guinevere. Now sit back, relax, and l…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. There are many, many versions of the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Some of these legends were written down more than 500 years ago in about the year 1470 by Sir Thomas Malory, who put them into a book he called Le Morte D’Arthur, or The…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When Jimmy Bean plucks the first spring weeds from the flower bed under an open window at John Pendleton’s house, he overhears some information that may make all the difference for Pollyanna and her future. But can other people overcome their pride and stubbornness…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It is easy to play the Just Be Glad Game when everything is going well. It’s a little harder, but, according to Pollyanna, even more fun when it’s hard to think of something to be glad about. But what happens when the most terrible thing of all comes to pass and an…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Could Aunt Polly really be softening toward her loving niece, Pollyanna? Nancy thinks so, because Aunt Polly sent her out with an umbrella because she was afraid Pollyanna would be caught by a thunderstorm. And now Pollyanna is beginning to see the tenderness with …

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Do you remember that old Tom the gardener once mentioned to Nancy that long years ago Aunt Polly had quarreled with a lover? From watching the way Mr. Pendleton has softened under Pollyanna’s sweet friendship, Nancy has decided that the old lover was Mr. Pendleton!…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. When Pollyanna walks back home after her unsuccessful meeting with the Beldingsville Ladies Aid, she takes a path through Pendleton Woods. Here she finds Mr. Pendleton who has fallen and broken his leg! Her resourcefulness brings him relief, and soon Pollyanna beco…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Pollyanna has a big heart. She finds something about just about everything in her world to love, from a scraggly kitten to a stray dog, and even to a little homeless boy. And she is already winning the hearts of those around her, including Mrs. Snow and, of course,…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. What an extraordinary child! That is the reaction Aunt Polly, and in fact, many of the residents of Beldingsville seem to exclaim when they make Pollyanna’s acquaintance. Not only does Pollyanna not realize when she is being punished, for example, but she takes the…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. In 1913, American author Eleanor H. Porter’s most famous book, Pollyanna, was published. Here is the delightful story of eleven-year-old Pollyanna (named after her mother’s two sisters). When Pollyanna’s beloved father dies, Pollyanna is sent to the town of Belding…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. How discouraging it is for the Hardy boys. They really want to locate the stolen loot and clear the good name of Mr. Robinson, but where could it be? Like the active boys they are, they decide to take a ride along the railway on their motorcycles, just to take a br…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. It seems the Tower Mansion theft will soon be wrapped up! The boys’ clever strategy to foil the incompetent Chief Collig and Inspector Smuff’s plan to question Jackley gave Mr. Hardy the chance he needed to hear Jackley’s dying confession. The criminal’s last whisp…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. Having found the red wig hidden in the bushes, Frank and Joe are sure the identity of the car thief will soon be discovered. They have a hunch that perhaps that criminal is the same one who perpetrated the Tower Mansion robbery, and if it is, then Slim Robinson wil…

Send us a text Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. The Hardy boys, Joe and Frank, are very busy in today’s episode. They are determined to learn the skills of detective work that their father uses every day, so they begin by trying to observe the things around them very carefully, including some peculiar tire track…