For the most part, every book published by DFP is meant to be three things: Fun, Accessible, and Challenging. First and foremost, we want all of our work to be fun and engaging to all of our readers, no matter what their age or experience. We want adults to enjoy a Shakes the Cow book as much as a toddler. Second, we hope that all of our stories are accessible to all readers. We want there to be something in each story, be it the situation, or the place, or the time, or a character in the book, that any reader can identify with. (Well… When it comes to the Bear From AUNT adventures, we hope it’s not the bad guys!) Lastly, we hope that the books are challenging with enough new words or situations that readers can learn something new with each book they read.

“We offers you quality children’s books, handmade toys, original artwork… and Dad Jokes. But… We don’t charge for the Dad Jokes.” – J. Robert Deans

Because it’s not always obvious when you pick up a book from the shelf, we have set up a quick system for you to have here for identifying our books and their suitability for your children/students’ reading comprehension levels.

Most of the books below are available from the following online booksellers, or give the ISBNs to your favorite local bookshop!

(NOTE: We are working to correct supply issues with Amazon. Please use Bookshop until these issues have been resolved.)

SHAKES first appeared in MOO THOUSAND AND PUN in 2015 and is our most recognizable character.

All Shakes the Cow books are written and drawn by Robert Deans, and have an average FLESCH score of 83.

SHAKES THE COW HARDCOVERS

SHAKES THE COW PAPERBACKS

ABOUT THE SHAKES THE COW BOOKS

In MOO THOUSAND AND PUN, Shakes wants to become an astronaut, so she takes all the training and becomes the first cow to fly a space shuttle! Unfortunately during her first space walk, she gets lost! How will she get back to the shuttle, and then home? Find out in Shakes’ first picture book adventure, MOO THOUSAND AND PUN! (2015) Hardcover, 40pp, $26.99, ISBN 978194-3348015; Paperback, 50pp, $17.99, ISBN 978194-3348237

Following her harrowing space adventure, Shakes and her best friend Percie the Penguin go on holiday to the southern jungle. While there, they discover some ancient ruins. While exploring they get split up and have to find each other! Along the way they run into ancient statues that look oddly familiar. Can they find a way out of the ruins and get back home? Find out in TEMPLE OF MOO’D! (2016) Hardcover, 48pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348039; Paperback, 54pp, $18.99, ISBN 978194-3348244

Shakes and Percie start a new adventure with their Surf & Turf racing team, and Shakes is challenging for the Formoola One championship! However, one of her rivals may not be playing fair! Can Shakes and her team win without resorting to cheating, and what happens when her rivals continue to play unfairly? Find out in MOO FAST, MOO FURRYOUS! (2017) Hardcover, 56pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348060; Paperback, 56pp, $19.99, ISBN 978194-3348251

In DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF MOO, Shakes is ready for a day off from adventuring! So she and Percie settle down with a bunch of their favorite moovies, popcorn, and plenty of root beer. Before the first movie can get started… Shakes falls asleep in her chair! She starts dreaming, and she dreams of herself in her favorite movies! She dreams of being a thief in the forrest stealing from the rich to give to the poor; she dreams of being a rebel soldier on an ice planet; and she dreams of being a sub captain trying to lead her crew to safety in a new country before her country finds them! Her dreams then inspire her to make one of her dreams come true. Find out what happens in DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF MOO! (2018) Hardcover, 54pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348145; Paperback, 62pp, $20.99, ISBN 978194-3348268

For Shakes’ birthday, she and Percie go to Cownada to visit her cousin Coco. Coco runs a bakery, and when they arrive, Coco is in trouble! Her staff is sick, and Coco needs help, so Shakes and Percie volunteer to help her run her bakery. Things don’t go so well when the chocolate machine goes awry! Find out what happens in LA MOO DU CHOCOLAT! (Includes a chocolate cake recipe that children 4 and up can make themselves with minimal adult supervision!) (2019) Hardcover, 48pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348169; Paperback, 58pp, $19.99, ISBN 978194-3348275

Shakes has been thinking about what happened in the jungle (TEMPLE OF MOO’D) and wants to make amends. So she learns the native language, and along with Percie, heads back to the Hoofito jungles to try again with meeting the members of the tribe. When they arrive, they find the tribe dealing with a problem that Percie may have an interesting solution for… Find out what that is in JUNGLE OF MOO’D! (2022) Paperback, 58pp, $20.99, 978194-3348336

The MOOSELAMBS debuted in 2017 as a response (and challenge?) to the absurdity of the then White House Press Office, and quickly became our series to help young children navigate difficult topics.

All MooseLamb books are written by Elinda Deans with artwork by Robert Deans. Sam co-wrote “Brewing Tolerance.” MooseLamb books have an average FLESCH score of 85.

MOOSELAMB HARDCOVERS / PAPERBACKS

ABOUT THE MOOSELAMB BOOKS

SPICEY’S TALE tells the story of what happens when an unhappy moose and a fun-loving lamb meet… and what happens next. This book is the “origin story” of Spicey the MooseLamb, and the introduction to the MooseLamb family. (2017) Hardcover: 52pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348121; Paperback: 58pp, $20.99, 978194-3348343

SUNDAES IN THE PARK WITH SPRINKLES is the story of two bears who meet as children and eventually fall in love. When it’s time to start a family, they get married, but have to adopt, which is when they find a young MooseLamb all alone. Ice Cream often soothes a broken heart, but how does it bring two hearts together? (2019) Hardcover: 50pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348176; Paperback: 54pp, $20.99, ISBN 978194-3348350

BREWING TOLERANCE introduces readers to two new MooseLambs, Rosey and Matcha, both of whom have been bullied at school. When they see their bully get bullied themselves, they have to decide what to do next: what makes them feel better, or what’s the right thing to do? And what does their decision mean for their future? (2022) Hardcover: 56pp, $29.99, ISBN 978194-3348220; Paperback expected for Holiday 2025!

The MIGHTY HIPPOFARTAMUS came about when a then 9-year-old Kidlet wanted to make a book. Robert coached her so that over time she did more and more of the book’s production. Now, Hippo is mostly Kidlet’s, with Robert helping where needed, to tell the adventures of Grand Punwick’s premiere superhero, who keeps it classy and gassy!

All Hippofartamus comics are written by Kidlet and Robert, with Kidlet doing more of the art duties with each subsequent issue. Hippo comics are not FLESCH scored, and are ONLY available via the DFP Web Store. Issues One and Two are currently out of print.

In the first Hippofartamus, we were introduced to Hippo and her rogue’s gallery of Odorangutan, Elefunk, and Pine Clone. In Hippofartamus II The Electric Stinkaroo, Hippo was called in by police captain Cop-a-Squat to defeat a giant mechanical turtle that was terrorizing the Grand Punwick Fair. In the third issue, HIPPOFARTAMUS MEETS TOOT-AN-KAMOON, Hippo is on holiday in her alter ego Patty Moss. She is visiting the Pyramids, and while there a mysterious beam wakens the moomy and creates havoc all over the ruins. Will Patty – as the Mighty Hippofartamus – be able to calm the crowds, find out what’s causing the moomies to rise, and stop the chaos before it’s too late?

A fourth Hippo story is in the works, planned for 2025, with a fifth planned for 2026, to be followed by a trade paperback collecting all five stories that will be commercially available along with all of our books.

A silly homemade card for Elinda based on a favorite film and Kidlet’s request to watch a James Bond film at age 8 inspired Robert to write her a spy adventure chapter book more appropriate to Kidlet’s age group. Inspired by a TV series he watched as a child, and the card made for Elinda, STANLEY, THE BEAR FROM AUNT was born!

All Bear From AUNT books are written & drawn by Robert Deans with an average FLESCH score of 83.

THE BEAR FROM AUNT originated as illustrated hardcovers between 2015 and 2020. All five original hardcovers are out of print. The paperbacks feature rewritten, expanded stories, and all-new artwork. Despite being numbered, these books can be read out of order.

THE HONEY DON’T CASE (01): AUNT joins forces with another nation’s intelligence agency to discover why the world’s honey supply is drying up – and why the world’s honeybees are disappearing! Stanley is assigned to work with the agency’s best agent, Marco. Can he and Marco work together well and figure out the mystery in time? 2020, 222pp, $16.99, ISBN 978194-3348206

THE CASE OF THE PUSHY OCTOPUS (02): The aquatic division of AUNT transfers a case to AUNT and Director Leo assigns it to Stanley. Along with the case, Stanley is also assigned a new partner from aquatic, Percie the Penguin from the Shakes the Cow books, who is also an AUNT agent! The case i a weird one, in which the agents have to figure out why there are glaciers forming in weird spots across the world, like at the Equator! 2022, 264pp, $17.99, ISBN 978194-3348282

THE CASE OF THE CHICANE MUTINY (03): It’s a slow day at AUNT when Percie calls on her friends for help. It seems there may be something nefarious going on in the current season of Formoola One racing. Shakes is in the running for driver’s champion, but she and Percie are convinced her rivals are playing dirty. They ask Stanley and AUNT to help investigate without interfering in the racing. Can Stanley learn enough about Formoola One and find out if one of the other teams are cheating without interfering with any of the races? This book acts as a companion volume to the Shakes the Cow book MOO FAST, MOO FURRYOUS. 2023, 318pp, $19.99, ISBN 978194-3348312

THE CASE OF THE CATERPILLAR DRIVER (04): After proving himself in CHICANE MUTINY, Tyler has a chance to train to be a field agent. Unfortunately, he starts to feel sick, and wants to resign from AUNT. He then finds out he’s not sick, it’s his time to transition from a caterpillar to… something else. He’s not sure, but he’s nervous about his new future, both as an insectoid and an agent. But after his transition, Tyler is kidnapped by a group who thinks transitioning is wrong. Can Stanley and the rest of AUNT find him before something happens? 2024, 270pp, $19.99, ISBN 978194-3348329

A chance to bring Elinda’s Chrys the Flying Pig into the Grand Punwick mythos gave Robert the chance to work in a genre that delighted his generation four decades ago: the solo game adventure book! Utilizing all corners of the Grand Punwick mythos, STEER YOUR OWN STORY books are a fun way to revisit the characters our readers have come to know all their young reading lives as their reading levels advance.

Steer You Own Story books are written and drawn by Robert Deans with a FLESCH score of 89.

STEER YOUR OWN STORY launched in 2019 with THE MYSTERY OF THE FLYING PIG. The series features characters pulled from all of Grand Punwick books, and offers the opportunity for supporting characters like Percie the Penguin, Frank (Bear from AUNT), and Cue (Bear from AUNT) to shine. STEER is a solo game adventure book series inspired by the “Choose Your Own” books popular in the 1980s.

FLYING PIG is unique as the reader first chooses the character they wish to be before they jump into the mystery, either Shakes the Cow or Stanley, the Bear from AUNT. As Stanley or Shakes, you investigate the rumors of a Flying Pig roaming around Grand Punwick, and determine if it’s just a rumor, or see if you can meet the pig, and find them a new home! (2019) Paperback, 192pp, $15.99, ISBN 978194-3348183

The second STEER YOUR OWN STORY is expected to debut in time for the 2025 holiday season!

NOTE: GRAND PUNWICK MYSTERY THEATER is exclusive to SATURDAY MATINEE members of our Patreon

GRAND PUNWICK MYSTERY THEATER is a series of short stories and novellas delivered via email “Cliffhanger” style, chapter-by-chapter, to DFP’s Patreon members (our PUN PALS) every Saturday at Noon. The stories rotate between a trio of series, all written by Robert who also provides the accompanying artwork. The stories are set throughout history, with ties to Grand Punwick. The series making up the Mystery Theater are…

DASH AND DOTTIE: Inspired by the soft-boiled noir film series The Thin Man, Dash is a former police officer and private detective who retired when he married socialite Dottie. However, Dash’s past along with his old friendships often catch up with him, leading Dottie to prod him to go back to his old life once in a while, “for fun.” These stories take place between the late 1920s and early 1940s.

THE COUNTESS: Set in the mid-1960s, these stories follow the post-criminal exploits of one of the world’s most notorious jewel thieves. Grace (aka The Countess) has long since given up crime, but still can’t convince some of Shetland Yard’s finest of that fact. As she enjoys life, she often finds herself in the middle of awkward situations in which she is suspected by authorities when she is trying to help solve the mystery, often behind the police’s backs!

EMPRESS OF THE SKIES: A direct homage to the Saturday afternoon cliffhanger serials of the late 1940s, EMPRESS is told over two eras: the early 1940s and today. The 1940s chapters feature the exploits of The Empress, a heroine who emerged during the World War to save her people from the atrocities of the “grand plan.” Eighty years later, The Empress is back, helping citizens in another persecuted community. But, just who is it behind the helmet, and what is their link to history?

If you enjoyed the samples, or just want to jump in and get reading, you can join our Patreon as a Free member, or join the SATURDAY MATINEE tier for all the GPMT stories for just $12 a month, which also gets you artwork, behind-the-scenes information, and more! Become a PUN PAL today!