You know the FRUSTRATIONS:
Colds are annoying. Flu and intestinal infections are miserable and even scary.
Babies & the elderly are seriously sensitive, with the CDC reporting hundreds of thousands of annual hospitalizations for flu-related complications.
Children in daycare & preschool get sick even more times per year (called "daycare syndrome").
When your child gets sick, often the caretaking parent gets sick too, and then the rest of the family. Illness and its expense can spread to grandparents, relatives, and coworkers.
You may lose income & even risk your job, by losing productive energy or taking time off work.
Costs quickly add up for over-the-counter remedies, doctor visits, medications, car trips, as well as the time spent to acquire those aids.
Every doctor or hospital visit, even if paid for by insurance, costs not only time, but is yet another exposure to even more sick people and their germs.
Let this book SAVE YOU money:
Every time a child does NOT put his or her hand to mouth, is one less chance to get sick.
Every illness that this book helps prevent can mean hundreds of dollars in your pocket. Multiple illnesses prevented in a year can literally save a family thousands.
This book not only helps prevent many of those illnesses, but it does so in a way that delights your child.
No more need for nagging reprimands
Proven to work:
This book is the result of a day of utter exasperation. Nothing we said kept our toddler from putting his hand into his mouth. Often three days after venturing out of our house, he would be sick. He would pass it on to me, and soon my husband would be sick too. If our son stayed home, we all stayed well---but who wants to be so limited? In a moment of inspiration, my husband made up an early version of these stories which held our tyke 's attention, and had him giggling with glee. After telling these stories a few times, all we had to do was to say gently, "A little bird flew over" whenever we saw our toddler 's hand moving toward his mouth. His hand would immediately go down, and he would smile. Before long the hand-in-mouth habit was "gone." In the process our son was "cheerful and cooperative."
Professional Praise:
"I would like to recommend "A Bird Flew Over." As a nurse, I can say it is important to educate our children on health situations. This book creates an awareness that children need. I am happy that this book is available in a bright, fun, and adventurous way to actually make it "fun" to learn about public health hazards."
---Rochelle Forrest, RN, MSM, Founder of Createhealthnaturally.com
For ages 0-8
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Summary:
Famed detective, Victor Lightning, solves one crime mystery after another, with wild and humorous action involving quick reflexes and a ready tranquilizer gun-always landing the perpetrator safely in police custody.

Advance Praises:

"I really like how Victor Lightening keeps tranquilizing people. All the characters say super funny things. It's so cool that no matter what place Victor is, he can find a clue. I think kids who like detective stories would like this book."
-Isaac, age 8

"Look out Raymond Chandler. There's a new kid on the block and he actually is a kid. Philip Marlowe meet Victor Lightning, and for readers of noir crime novel adventures meet the boundless energy of young author Erik McShirley.
"Erik's tales of Victor Lightning is an angular, rock-um sock-um tumble down an old-school private eye rabbit hole all delivered from the wild prespective of a new-school child. Talk about a fresh slant on a shop worn genre. The beauty of it all is that you never for a moment forget that it's from the prespective of a young mind churning out gum-shoe exploits. With that firmly in mind there is much to enjoy in Erik's take on things. His spare style gets to the point in a hurry with loads of action usually ending with the bad guy behind bars.
"Erik's tales start at night in the midst of some pivotal action. Not much warm-up: you're thrust directly into the flames. These stories have something of a common rhythm and format in how suspects are introduced, almost as if his stories are meant to be the foundation for a TV crime series script. But the use of language is unlike anything I have read before and there are loads of surprises. The word "BANG," however, does get used quite a bit. Perhaps that's the word that might sum up best what Erik McShirley has delivered at such a young age - a lot of BANG for your reading buck I can't wait to see where both Victor Lightning and Erik wind up over the next few years. Check him out now so you can say you knew him when. Apparently this young author's career has started with a BANG "
-Dan Manas, Filmmaker, BestLightProductions.com

"I think children and adults would like this book because it has comedy and is good clean reading. I love that Victor Lightning is smart and in any situation he can find the solution to the predicament. I think it's great how Erik was able to give each thief his own personality. It's a great story."
-Abby, age 11

"Erik provides an entertaining and exciting story about a detective who values justice and safety for even the criminals he captures by not using a lethal weapon. Victor Lightning is a likeable character who always gets 'his man' and rights the wrong that occurred in each chapter. I enjoyed the humorous remarks of all the characters and the exclamations pronounced with every defining moment, such as the discovery of a clue or the unmasking of the villain.
"The detective adventures of Victor Lightning are right on target for a Dick Tracy style storyline. Erik is able to capture the reader's imagination and guides you through 'seeing' what it is you are reading. A remarkable children's book written by a child, for readers of any age to enjoy "
-Kira Turner, Preschool Teacher

"My friend Erik Mcshirley is a young author with a grasp of life and understanding that he is able to transfer to the written word. I look forward to more of his writing in the future."
-Tug Hawkins, Pharmacist

DOES YOUR CHILD crave your attention, when you have other things you need to get done? DO YOU NEED a hands-free game that's so simple you don't have to think about it, but still holds your child's attention for long periods of time?DO YOU WANT your child to have a head start on avoiding some real-world problems and dangers?IS YOUR CHILD interested in fifire fifighting, policing, ambulance driving, or rescuing people?DO YOU WANT to expand your child's sense of service to others, and his or her confifidence to be heroic?DO YOU NEED to play with your child, WHILE you THINK about and DO other things?. . . If you answered "YES" to any of these, then this book is coming to YOUR RESCUE Whether you are a parent, grandparent, baby-sitter, older sibling, or caregiver, this book can save YOU time and energy, while satisfying and engaging your little hero-in-the-making.A great help for groups too -- parties, sleep-overs, day-care centers, etc.LARGE INTERIOR TEXT for easy reading.Use at home, around town, or on vacation.Sirens. Speed. Authority. Saving the day. Mastering the problem.. . .Entertain AND positively influence your child.Recommended for use with children 3 to 6 years old.

These sixty nuggets range in size from token pebbles (just four lines long), to a 523 line poetic story of one days adventure with a camera and a sister. Like polished journal entries, these compositions are snippets of joy, heartache, contemplation, nature, faith, fun, work, triumph and growth---all from the heart and mind of a teenaged girl laboring to consciously choose the bricks of her internal foundation on which to mature. Noname (no-NAY-me) wrote all of these poems between the ages of 9 and 19, while traveling the United States with her family---on a shoestring and a prayer. Now 35 with a family of her own, and settled in the middle of the country, she has edited and illustrated this volume, hoping it will comfort, help, and encourage other teenagers with their own struggles on their roads to adulthood. "Awesome Great flow, good detail, great everything My] favorite--'Sunset at a Creek.' Great that there are religious poems. Overall--perfect " ---Gracie Brown, 16 "Filled to bursting with the whims, fancies, and worries of a young woman, this is the most genuinely human collection of poems I have read. A teenage girl lives minute by minute, seeing the same world in a completely different light with each moment. This book speaks to that in a very delicate way. It is a comfort to know that whether you are traveling the country in the 70s and 80s or trying to keep up in a suburban high school, our problems and joys are all the same. This collection is an elegant, encouraging read." ---Sophie Cameron, 15