Fantastic and delightful fun filled chapter book for kids
wins top Indie Award for Children’s/Juvenile Fiction

Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare by Sands Hetherington is the Winner of the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Children’s/Juvenile Fiction. The Indie Awards reception will take place at the Harvard Club of New York City from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday May 29th, during the Book Expo America.

This delightful and kid pleasing book is an after lights-out adventure story that will delight young readers and middle graders who relish roller coaster fantasy and fun, filled with unforgettable characters and an astonishing and inventive collection of magical whatchamacallits.

The book is all about the nighttime adventures of a young boy named John, who is not ready to go to sleep, and his friend, a bright red crocodile named Crosley who turns up under John’s bed.

They sneak out of John’s house using Crosley’s “I-ain’t-here-doodad” which makes them invisible to John’s parents. They then embark on an adventure chasing down enemies and cleaning up one mess after another as they solve the earthshaking mystery: who stole all the pineapple cheesecakes from the only factory in the world that makes them!

The investigation starts out fine but things get a little crazy when Crosley, who is allergic to water, gets wet. Hilarious things happen when Crosley’s allergy to water kicks in, and when they get to the pineapple cheesecake factory and meet Big Foot Mae, the investigation gets more complicated and zany than either of them bargained for.

Kids titter with enjoyment with the use of new words that parents won’t understand. Luckily, each Night Buddies book contains a glossary. Parents take note in Crosby Speak:

Snerk!, Snk-Snork!, Wuff!, Fup!: Waking up noises
Snog!, Gnf!, Gorf!, Gak!, Snert!, Snorf!: Expressing annoyance
Splut an’ Blather!: Expressing extreme annoyance
Yigg!: Oh no! Rats!
Excelsior!: Totally super!
Redolent: Smelly
Har?: (Questioning) What? Huh?
Pardonay-moy!: Bad French for Pardon me!
Gruk!: Sound made when stomach goes up into throat
Liverish: Queasy
Regurgitatin’: Hurling lunch
Put the kye-bosh on: Stop
Yerk! Yerk!: (Laughing) Ha! Ha!
Jeeks!: Gosh! Golly! Gee whiz!
Ba-Gruff!, Blorp!, Brp!, Bruk!, Erp!, Gop!, Gruk!, Grup!, Gupp!, Korp!, Rk!, Roop!, Rrrup!, Rruhk!, Rukk!, Rup!, Uk!, Urrk!, Urruk!: All Burps

To help finish the third book, Sands Hetherington has created The Night Buddies Adventure Contest for kids. The goal is to find new words to add to the expansive Crosby Speak vocabulary. The winning words will be in Book Three of the Night Buddies Adventures series. Excelsior!

About the Author

Sands Hetherington credits his son John for being his principal motivator. Sands raised his son as a single parent from the time John was six. He read to him every night during those formative years. He and young John developed the Crosley crocodile character in the series during months of bedtime story give-and-take. Sands majored in history at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and has an M.F.A. in creative writing and an M.A. in English from UNC-Greensboro. He lives in Greensboro.

What People Are Saying

“This little book is a winner!”
—Grady Harp, Hall of Fame Amazon Reviewer

“Hetherington seems to have the right ingredients for a classic children’s whodunit—talking animals, an unsolved mystery and a brave hero willing to face unforeseen foes…”
—Kirkus

“Stating that Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare is a creative, imaginative and delightful tale is simply giving it its just desserts. Yerk! Yerk! Yerk!”
— Drew Aquilina, International award-winning cartoonist and author, Green Pieces: Green From the Pond Up

“Night Buddies is visionary, conceptual, and a forecast of fun for children and schoolteachers alike. Author Sands Hetherington with mastery unveils creativity with purpose, inventions in language, and makes reading fun.”
— Al Carrozza, author of Universal Enzyme

This fast-paced, warm-hearted story is written in several amusing dialects and will appeal to kids from 8 to 10 or 11. Boys who are reluctant readers will especially enjoy it.”
— P. Joy Webster, school librarian and author of Don’t come here, Julie! chosen as Book of the Year 2010 (Young Adult Science Fiction category)

Quotes from Second, Third and Fourth Graders

“I liked all the things Crosley had, like the I-ain’t-here-doo-dads, whatchamacallits, and the way he laughed: Yerk! Yerk! Yerk!” — Maria B.

“I loved Night Buddies. It was a great book. To tell you the truth, you read better than Mrs. Hunt.” — Mandy W.

“The story was great, and I’m not lying to you. I loved the whole thing.” — Your friend, Rick

“I normally think books are boring, but yours was great!” — Rocky

“I liked the word excelsior. How did you think it up?” — Aaron

“I want one of your books. How much does is cost?” — Jaime

“I thought it was the best story in the world. My favorite part was the part when Crosley started doing the Black Bottom. I really loved it.” — Mary D.

“Night Buddies is a good story. I like it a lot, especially when Crosley looks at the pineapple cheesecakes and starts drooling everywhere and when the salamanders get in the room and can’t get out. Then they start getting sick and some of them throw up.” — Noni M.

“I like when Crosley locked the iguanas in the spider wire.” — Sara T.

“I think if you draw a picture of a pineapple cheesecake, the next morning it will be gone! Oh, next time you go somewhere, like to the publishing building, don’t forget your I.D. gimcrack for a special author!” — Maria B.

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