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Buddy the Globetrotter
R. E. BURKE
Writer. Author. Thinker. Storyteller
Welcome to my website. As a retired Pediatrician, I aim to inspire young minds to enjoy reading, while expanding their own imaginations and building each one's fund of knowledge. I also aim to create a better understanding of the world and our place in it. Both objectives have led me to begin a planned series of books, Buddy the Globetrotter. Although aimed at middle school readers, adults will enjoy the travel adventures as well. Each story is fiction, narrated by an adorable dog named Buddy, based on actual places and experiences. The first book, Expedition to the Frozen Continent, highlights travel to Antarctica. Currently, it is available in e-format and paperback on Amazon (amazon.com/s?k=expedition+to+the+frozen+continent). Hopefully, you the reader, will have fun going to these far-away places without ever leaving your chair.
For several years, I have shared our real travel adventures around the world with readers of our local newspaper. Now I hope to continue to do so by bringing those and other travels into this series, providing more in-depth information in a fun way, embellished as fiction should be. After you read Expedition to the Frozen Continent and future Buddy the Globetrotter books, I'd encourage you to post reviews on Amazon and to personally give me feedback that can be incorporated into making each new book in the series even better suited to your needs. My contact information is listed. Information about my prior publications is also provided on this site. Thanks for helping me to accomplish these objectives as a storyteller.
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About Me
Travel has taken me and my wife, Bonnie, to all seven continents and to all fifty states in the USA. We reside in Temple, Texas, and have four adult children and eleven grandchildren. As a retired pediatrician, I find it interesting that I am almost as well-known locally for my newspaper travel articles as for my care of children for more than three decades! Seriously, I love educating and being educated. I learned a long time ago that sometimes giving something away is not a loss, but a gain. For example, if I give you an idea and you give me one, then we each now have two ideas. So, as you read my books and posts, please share your thoughts. Feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear from you. Besides being an author, I pursue travel photography, landscaping, and family-centered activities.
Links to Amazon
URL to view information about the author and all my publications
You can access this information through either of these links:
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B081F8GKX4
or
amazon.com/author/drburke
Buddy The Globetrotter
The Complete Odyssey
January 30, 2023
Buddy the Globetrotter's travels were authored and presented one at a time as short story tales. The Complete Odyssey is a collection of all nine of those adventures into one book, unabridged. You should begin with The Expedition to the Frozen Continent and end with The Odyssey Ends. The other stories can be read in any order.
Sit back in your favorite chair and join Buddy as he ventures to some very special places on Earth: Antarctica, Galapagos Islands, Baja California, Inside Passage to Alaska, Africa, Europe, Asia, Greenland, Canada, and the Arctic. Learn about pristine and inhabited environments, the diversity of people and cultures, and the wildlife in every corner of our planet. The stories are fictional, narrated by a dog named Buddy, but the places are described as perceived and experienced by me. Enjoy!
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #9
January 9, 2023
The Odyssey Ends is the ninth and final book in a series of short story travel tales by Buddy the Globetrotter.
Greek mythology comes alive as Buddy wanders among the ruins of Ancient Greece.
Who are these Gods and Goddesses that were so venerated as to have enormous temples, theaters, statues, and coliseums built in their honor? How did they influence people's behaviors?
Like the Ancient Greeks, Buddy wonders if his actions and destiny are controlled by the Moirai (aka "The Fates"). How else can one explain what happens on this adventure? He gets lost, captivated by the unexpected presence of an old friend, and ends up on an island from which their ancestors came. On the Greek Island Thera, he senses danger in time to save lives. But at Akrotiri, the "Greek Pompeii", he becomes obsessed and unable to control his actions. The consequences are not what he expects.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #8
November 1, 2022
Buddy joins an expedition to the Arctic, navigating the ice-choked channels of the Canadian High Arctic Archipelago as they cross from Greenland to Alaska. They hope to observe wildlife, visit indigenous people, and explore landscapes found nowhere else on Earth. But no passenger ship has ever made it through at that time of year.
So much is hoped. So little is known. So much is uncertain.
Can they break through multi-year sea ice?
Can Buddy's elite canine patrol keep them safe from polar bears?
Will their precautions against covid work?
Will indigenous people welcome them?
Are narrow channels deep enough to cross?
Will they succeed?
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #7
January 21, 2022
Polar bears are marine mammals, dependent upon the ice. That is where they live, hunt, breed, and rest. The scientific name is ursus maritimus. A common name is ice bear.
Ice Bear Escapade is a sub-Arctic adventure into the fasting habitat of polar bears. Despite its adaptations, the very existence of this Arctic icon is threatened by global warming. Readers will learn why.
Once again, Buddy's impulsive actions get him into trouble. This time he is totally unprepared to survive the harsh conditions when he gets lost on the tundra. Where will he find shelter and food? What happens when he comes face-to-face with the Arctic's top predators? Who are the caribou-eaters and what do they do with him?
Visit Amazon.com and get your copy of this latest adventure, or the entire series if you are new to it. Your posted reviews would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #6
July 6, 2021
Romp with Buddy from the "kingdom of happiness" to the "roof of the world" then into the "belly of the rooster" and along the "trails of the samurai".
Learn how sixty percent of humanity lives on Earth's largest continent. Once again, you will be able to travel to the far reaches of our globe from the comfort of your home and favorite chair.
The story is fiction, but the places are real. So, regardless of age, readers interested in places to which they have never traveled in Asia will find this adventure fun, informational, and insightful.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #5
Navigating Europe: Castles, Canals, and Canines
February 27, 2021
History comes alive as Buddy takes us along cobblestone streets, canals, and interconnecting waterways in this part of the Old World, revealing origins of our current civilization. Castles and cathedrals remind us of a time when nations were just forming. During his travels, Buddy meets other canines as well as unexpected challenges. Share more in his personality, his feelings, and his humor. Capture the flavor of Continental Europe as you travel with buddy from the polders of the Netherlands to the transcontinental land of the Tsars.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book # 4
Exploring Africa
September 21, 2020
Africa lures us, perhaps like no other place on Earth. Why? Is it the diversity of life and landscapes on our second largest continent, the prior heart of the supercontinent Pangaea? Or is it because humankind arose from the grasslands of her interior millions of years ago? Whatever the lure, our understanding of her mystique can be molded by exploring her major ecosystems and how their inhabitants survive.
Buddy takes us on a journey from the coastal environments and ancient medinas of Morocco, and into the high Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa. Learn about the current and ancient cultures of the people who inhabit those areas. Explore life in the Sahara Desert, an area covering the northern third of the continent.
Discover the challenges to survival, as Buddy does when he becomes "lost luggage" and ends up in Southern Africa. Explore savanna ecosystems that cover half of the continent, as Buddy relates tales of his experiences in the Kalahari Desert and its lush Okavango Delta. Broaden your understanding of the history of Africa, as you visit Cape Town and the very tip of this cradle of humankind.
C'mon, join Buddy on another informative, interesting, and intimate adventure. You'll be glad you did.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #3
Journey From Baja
To Alaska
June, 2020
Now available in e-format and soft cover print on Amazon. The series genre is juvenile fiction, but the tales blend a sense of adventure and realism suitable for advanced and other readers. Journey From Baja to Alaska is based on our travels to Baja, Haida Gwaii, and the inside passage to Alaska.
Biodiversity, a forgotten culture, majestic glaciers, and a pristine wilderness await you along the western coast of North America. Discover the world's aquarium at the Sea of Cortez, surrounded like a horseshoe by the Sonoran Desert, born by tectonic forces splitting the land of northern Mexico. Visit Haida Gwaii, an archipelago created by similar forces, where descendants of Canada's First Nations people continue ancient traditions. Find wildlife treasures along the inner passage of interconnecting waterways and islands in the world's largest temperate rainforest. Complete your journey at Glacier Bay, carved by remnants of the Ice Age, which continue to calve gigantic shards of ice into the lower tidewaters.
Join Buddy. Learn about these unique places along the world's third largest continent, and marvel at how often his heroism safeguards the journey.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book # 2
Adventure in the
Enchanted Islands
March, 2020
Enchantment awaits you in the cold equatorial waters just west of South America. As the sunrise and gentle winds remove clouds of mist that engulf Galapagos, islands born of volcanic activity lay ready to expose the diversity of life they now harbor. Much of the life born and nurtured here cannot be found elsewhere on Earth.
Adventure in the Enchanted Islands is the second book in a series of Buddy the Globetrotter travel tales.
Join Buddy as he explores lush vegetation, barren moonscapes, and a mesmerizing undersea world. Discover giant tortoises, fascinating birds, and bizarre behaviors. Feel his vibes as events trigger a sixth sense that puts Buddy on a mission to protect fellow travelers from unbeknownst dangers.
Buddy The Globetrotter
Book #1
EXPEDITION TO THE
FROZEN CONTINENT
September, 2019
First in a series of travel tales told by Buddy, young readers will relate to his emotions while learning facts about this pristine wilderness.
Few people or dogs have or ever will visit this frozen continent, upon which all life depends. En route to Antarctica, Buddy explores the historical Falkland and South Georgia Islands. Learn about the landscapes, the ocean, the ice, and the wildlife that survive this incredibly hostile environment.
Feel the emotions that draw him close to "Betty", another Maltese from Bhutan.
Discover how his sixth sense enables him to become an unlikely hero.
Join Buddy and observe nature in a transcendental way, beyond most human's experiences.
Other books by R. E. Burke, MD, PhD
(available at amazon.com)
Madison Meets Magical Morpho
NOW AVAILABLE IN SECOND EDITION ON AMAZON (see related blog 11/28/2020)
This is a picture-story for young children about a girl who is on a hike with her parents in the Costa Rican rainforest. Madison is startled by a large, blue butterfly. Her fear progresses to friendship as she finds beauty, magic, and human attributes in the Blue Morpho. She blends magical thinking and curiosity as she learns a host of facts about butterflies and other rainforest inhabitants in her adventure.
Archway publishing. Copyright April, 2018
ISBN (sc): 978-1-4808-6019-3
ISBN (hc): 978-1-4808-6017-9
ISBN (e): 978-1-4808-6018-6
Beyond the Quest to Become a Physician
As a young and impoverished child, I knew my life's purpose was to become a physician. No one could have predicted the tortuous path I would travel in that quest and beyond. In this true memoir, I weave childhood, adolescent, and other personal experiences with the latest information on brain development to provide insight as to how one's experiences influence whom that person becomes. I discuss the interplay of genetics, expression of those genes, and cognitive-socio-economic influences. From my personal challenges and experiences, I provide insight gained not only to the quest but also to the profession. This should be useful for anyone struggling to become a physician, for parents wanting to help their children become successful, and for medical students or physicians considering career options and life after becoming a physician.
Archway Publishing. Copyright December, 2016
ISBN (sc): 978-1-4808-3984-7
ISBN (hc): 978-1-4808-3986-1
ISBN (e): 978-1-4808-3985-4
Photo Journey Baby's First Year
This book "offers a winning combination of personal photographs and professional medical advice to chronicle what parents and other caregivers can expect from a baby's first year."(Kirkus review)
I provide anticipatory guidance for expectant and new parents in a unique format. It is a photo-documentation of one infant's growth and development (our grandchild) that begins with a prenatal ultrasound and ends with a first year birthday celebration. But it is relevant to all babies. Common age-related milestones are captured in the photos, and sage advice is given in a concise, warm, and encouraging bedside manner. This makes for a quick read and ready reference.
Create Space. Copyright September 2013
ISBN-10: 1484808541
ISBN-13: 9781484808542