Oscar and the Noisy Children

Mom's Choice Award Gold Medal, 2024

The book emphasizes teamwork and how people’s different abilities can be helpful. – Foreword Reviews (2023)

Five children crash through Oscar’s quiet woods. But when one of them splats into a sticky situation, Oscar must decide whether to stay silent or sound the alarm.

Do you know a child who feels left out? Does your child ever get angry because of something others have done?
Then this is the book for you!

When four other children leave Nathaniel behind as they go for a walk in the woods, Nathaniel is hurt and angry for being left behind. He tries to follow them, but in his frustration, he is not paying attention to where he is walking. 

Fortunately, Oscar the shy troll is watching the noisy children who have invaded his quiet woods. When Nathaniel become stuck in a muddy place, Oscar first tries to alert the other children. Together they find a way to rescue Nathaniel.

But when they are slow in coming, Oscar tries to help Nathaniel to no avail. 

Finally, the other children arrive, and they all work together, each using their own unique skills, to pull Nathaniel from the muddy place.

This story teaches children to be aware and considerate of others. It also demonstrates working together to solve a problem while affirming that different skills and temperaments each have a role and purpose.

Oscar and the Noisy Children is an adventure gone wrong that ends happily and sets a positive example for young readers.
– BlueInk Review (2023)

An appealing story of a woodland resident with a big heart.
– Kirkus Review (2023)

Betty Cetas enjoys traveling and has visited many places around the world. She especially loves the log cottage she bought in the remote woods of Finland, where she spent summers with her family and friends, telling fanciful stories of a provincial troll, a shy moose, and an impish fish. She and her husband, and their little dog, Jesse, live half the year in Tucson, AZ and the other half in Portland, OR. Oscar and the Awful, Horrible Smell is her first book with many more to come.