Category: Junior fiction
Age Group: 7 to 9
Word Count: 20,242
The town of Tiny Hills is no ordinary town. Tiny Hills is yellow, very yellow! Why is it so yellow? Are all the houses yellow? Does everyone wear yellow? Is there a huge parking lot filled with shiny yellow cars? Well...unless you read The Lion's Teeth (the book this website is about), you might not know why Tiny Hill is so yellow.
Alright, so you don't have to read the book (yet). The next paragraph will tell you why.
As far back as anyone can remember the town of Tiny Hills has been covered in dandelions. That's right, dandelions. In Tiny Hills, the dandelion is not a weed. The dandelion is EV-ERR-EE-WHERE! Every lawn, every meadow, anywhere that anything can grow, is covered in a blanket of yellow. Dandelion Yellow!
In Tiny Hills, the dandelion flower is magic. It's the key to all the happiness in the town, especially for the children. For generations upon generations, children have grown up with the them. In fact, none of the children in Tiny Hills have any idea what a lawn looks like. Green grass? What's that? A lawnmower? Why would you need a lawnmower?
Franky, a nine-year old boy who rides his bike a lot, loves dandelions more than anyone! He knows more about dandelions than anyone too. A lot of the kids in Tiny Hills look up to Franky. He's smart, kind, adventurous. He has a big imagination. He's a really good bike rider. At the end of this story he will be a hero too. You'll see.
Franky's friends are pretty cool too. He has five of them that he hangs around with. Kimmy: she's very organized, but also an artist and a singer. Carl: he's super funny and can make up great jokes on the spot. Akina: she worries a lot, but loves purple and has courage in her heart. Josiah: he's super-goofy, great at impressions, and a terrific dancer. Suzy: she's a bit of a troublemaker and goes head first into everything.
When they get together, it's always an exciting adventure, even if they're just reading or talking. Sometimes it's about the dandelions. Most of the time they make up games and just like to be together, riding around town, or racing through Dandelion Meadow.
"Whoo hooo!" they will scream as they speed through fields of dandelions. Like Franky, they are all good bike riders. Really good
bike riders!
Meanwhile . . .
A man named Victor hates dandelions. He really hates them. He hates them so much that that he has spent his whole life trying to get rid of them. Since Victor was about ten years old, he saw the dandelion as his enemy. He looked at anyone who liked dandelions as his enemy too.
After years of suffering—day after day, year after year, walking and driving through Tiny Hills. After a lifetime of dealing with that horrible, miserable flower growing everywhere. EV-ERR-EE-WHERE! Finally, Victor has a sure-fire plan to destroy the dandelions. Every last one of them!
It's a good plan. Pure genius actually. The first thing Victor will have to do is get the town on his side. Just so you know, Victor is very persuasive. He's good at convincing people. Does this mean that all the dandelions will soon be gone? Maybe.
If Victor is successful, what will happen to all the people of Tiny Hills. What will happen to all the children?!!! Yeah, you guessed it. It would be pretty bad.
It's a good thing Franky has a plan too. A plan that might save the dandelions from total destruction! When Franky told his friends about his plan, they all thought it was "a great plan!" "A brilliant plan!" Dandelions are just flowers and can't fight for themselves. So, Franky and his friends will happily fight for them.
Thus begins the adventures of The Lion's Teeth!
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