About the Book
OntOnt, a very perspicacious groundhog, dreams of faraway places while living a marvelous life close to nature, good friends, and family. The first in a series, this tale begins the adventures of his close-knit Blue Ridge Mountain community. OntOnt has wanderlust and knows he is blessed by a Great Universal Spirit that tells him life’s secrets, including how to talk to vegetables.
OntOnt’s family consists of two younger sisters, Dibbie-Do and Yummie; his little, fat-stomach brother, Milton Baby, who cries when OntOnt teases him; and their religious grandmother, Kimmama, who loves entertaining their extraordinary guests and threatens to use a birch switch if anyone misbehaves.
Born on Groundhog’s Day circa 1928, OntOnt is around twelve, yet his keen knowledge of life causes him to ponder many mysteries and play tricks on others to illuminate life’s mysteries. Part of OntOnt’s good humor comes from the assurance from his guardian angel that he has great personality and is destined for greatness. He calls Timber Lilly his girlfriend, and loves the wise counsel of her one-legged moonshiner father, Crip.
This first tale explores OntOnt’s convictions that he lives on the Island of Paradise with a Great Universal Spirit guiding everything. Through adventures with family and friends, including DC Fox, Decatur the Skunk, and Grandpa Ghost, everyone has a wonderful Christmas in spite of having so little money. Soon, the season will change and OntOnt’s dreams of faraway places, of sharing the Great Mystery with the whole world, will continue coming true.