Compass & Codex
Download on the App Store

Compass & Codex episodes

  • Brickhaven: CH 9 | Max Goes Into the Dungeon He Built to Bring Pip Home | LEGO Stories for Kids 8-12

    With one day before Krag's ultimatum expires, Max gathers the exile camp and draws the dungeon from memory in the dirt — every corridor, every pressure plate, every branching path. He designed it to be inescapable. 

    He also built one failsafe into the Destroyer, the mechanical guardian inside: a sound-triggered shutdown keyed to the first four notes of something his mother hums without knowing she's humming. 

    Max and Pip head for the east wall together — not because Max is ready, but because there's no one else who knows the way in.

    Brickhaven is a serialized LEGO adventure story for kids 8-14 — a ten-year-old wakes up shrunk to minifig size inside the LEGO town he built, where the champion he designed now rules as a tyrant.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love building, puzzles, and adventure. For fans of The LEGO Movie, a kids' edition of Ready Player One, and classic portal-fantasy stories where an ordinary kid is the only one who can save the world.

    📚 Grab your copy of Brickhaven: The Fall (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Monday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — Max draws the dungeon in the dirt — every trap, every path
    00:02:00 — Pressure plates, a floor drop, and a water chamber with a lock
    00:06:45 — The Destroyer: seven feet tall, no face, and it doesn't stop
    00:08:45 — Three seconds of stillness — the only window it gives you
    00:09:15 — The failsafe: four notes only Max can hum
    00:10:30 — "Every wrong thing in this world has my fingerprints on it"
    00:13:30 — "I'm going in" — the decision that finishes being made
    00:14:30 — Pip steps forward: "You need me"
    00:15:30 — Max and Pip walk toward Brickhaven's walls
    00:16:00 — CH 10 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    17 min
  • Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 8 | The Most Wanted Outlaw in Four Territories Brings Gunnar a Deal | Wild West Adventure Podcast for Kids

    Calloway — the most wanted outlaw in four territories — rides down the main street of Harrow Gulch in broad daylight, and the whole town goes still. Marshal Morrow watches him pass and finds no reason to move. 

    Calloway walks straight into Mrs. Okafor's boarding house, sits at Gunnar's table, and spreads out a set of stolen Syndicate schematics: a processed Veilstone shipment leaves Copper City in three days, heavily guarded, and Calloway means to take it — because the Syndicate destroyed his father's engine the same way they're trying to destroy the Widow-Maker. 

    Vesper argues that going outlaw will burn the case they've built. Gunnar makes the call anyway — and then Vesper spots the one twelve-minute gap in the guard rotation that makes the impossible suddenly possible.

    Iron Rails & Ruin is a steampunk Wild West adventure for kids 8-14 — a fourteen-year-old engineer in 1882 Montana finds out his father is alive, and the Syndicate has fourteen days to seize every locomotive in the territory.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love trains, invention, and frontier adventure. For fans of Mortal Engines, steampunk machines and mysteries, and Wild West stories with a clever hero at the controls.

    📚 Grab your copy of Iron Rails & Ruin: Smoke & Suspicion (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Friday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — A rider comes down the main street and the town goes still
    00:02:00 — Calloway: the most wanted man in four territories
    00:04:15 — Morrow appears in the doorway — and stands down
    00:05:30 — Calloway's gaze moves on — Morrow's drops first
    00:06:15 — Calloway ties off the roan and walks into Mrs. Okafor's
    00:07:15 — Gunner's calculation: three days is a short window
    00:08:15 — At the table: stolen Syndicate schematics
    00:12:30 — A Veilstone shipment, three days out — and why Calloway wants it
    00:19:45 — Vesper's warning: a raid that burns the case isn't worth it
    00:23:15 — "We move in three days" — Gunnar's call
    00:24:30 — Vesper sits back down — and finds the gap
    00:25:45 — Twelve minutes — the window that makes it possible
    00:26:45 — CH 9 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    30 min
  • Eagle's Edge: CH 8 | Ambushed at the Sabis — the Line Breaks and Marcus Is Cut Off | Ancient Rome Story for Kids

    The Second Cohort marches into the wooded valley of the Sabis River, where the silence is wrong and the steep slopes are perfect cover for an ambush. Then the Nervii erupt from the trees in their thousands — and the Roman line, the discipline that has protected Marcus through every drill, shatters into a hundred desperate, separate fights. 

    Driven off the line and into the forest, Marcus's contubernium fights to stay together, with Petronius taking an arrow to the thigh. When the fighting finally falls behind them, the handful who made it into the trees collapse in a clearing and understand their situation: lost, deep in Nervii country, with night coming and no way back to the legion. They are alone.

    Eagle's Edge is a Roman adventure story for kids 8-14 — a sixteen-year-old recruit takes the oath, marches into Gaul under Caesar, and learns what war actually is.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love history, battles, and adventure. For fans of Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth, the action of Percy Jackson, and classic stories of ancient Rome.

    📚 Grab your copy of Eagle's Edge: The Making of a Soldier (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Thursday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — Into the Sabis valley — and a silence that feels wrong
    00:02:15 — Perfect ambush country: trees left, deep river right
    00:04:30 — Petronius stiffens — hand drops to his gladius
    00:05:45 — The first arrow — the line shatters
    00:07:15 — "Move!" — Marcus breaks his freeze
    00:08:15 — The Nervii erupt from the trees — every man fighting alone
    00:23:00 — "Leave me" — "No. We stay together."
    00:24:45 — Drusus falls — six men left
    00:26:30 — The survivors collapse in a clearing
    00:28:45 — Night coming, no food, no shelter, no way back
    00:29:15 — "We're alone."
    00:30:00 — CH 9 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    32 min
  • Treasure Island: CH 8 | Alone on the Island, Jim Meets a Wild Marooned Man | Classic Books for Homeschool

    The moment the boats touch sand, Jim slips away from Long John Silver and vanishes into the island's jungle — alone, with a single-shot pistol and no idea where he's going. 

    He pushes through strange, towering trees and climbs a steep hill for a vantage point, only to freeze when the bushes begin to part nearby. 

    Out steps the strangest figure Jim has ever seen: a sun-burned, goatskin-clad wild man who turns out to be Ben Gunn, marooned on the island for three long years. And Ben knows two things Jim desperately needs — every inch of this island, and exactly where the treasure is hidden.

    Treasure Island is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate adventure retold for kids 8-14 — a twelve-year-old cabin boy finds Captain Flint's treasure map, and the one-legged sailor a dying pirate warned him about is already aboard his ship.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love pirates, treasure, and high-seas adventure. For families who want the original Stevenson classic told in clear, modern language — a natural fit for homeschool reading alongside Peter Pan and other timeless adventure tales.

    📚 Grab your copy of Treasure Island: The Map (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Wednesday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — The boats touch sand — Jim is ashore with the pirates
    00:03:30 — Silver scatters his men and keeps Jim close
    00:05:15 — "Best stick close to me, Jim-lad" — the most dangerous beast on one leg
    00:06:15 — Silver's back turns — Jim slips for the tree line
    00:07:00 — Swallowed by the jungle — alone on Treasure Island
    00:08:30 — Moving silent — stalking through a wild, towering forest
    00:12:30 — A treacherous scramble for the hilltop
    00:17:30 — The island spread out — then a rustle in the bushes
    00:19:30 — A wild, goatskin-clad man steps into the clearing
    00:22:30 — "I know where the treasure is" — and he moved it
    00:26:30 — The deal: passage home, a fair share, and cheese
    00:28:00 — CH 9 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    31 min
  • Colony in Danger: CH 16 | A Lone Ant Lures the Hunters Into a Wasp Nest | Fire Ant Survival Adventure for Kids

    Pinned under the clover with the wounded Silas fading, Cinder and his friends are nearly surrounded — the pill bug patrols now move like a real army, quartering the whole basin. 

    So Cinder makes the call no one wants: they split up, and he becomes the bait. Drawing every hunter onto himself with false trails and doubled-back tracks the old captain once taught him, he leads the patrols straight under a yellow-jacket nest — and drops it. The gamble works. 

    But when the dust settles, Cinder is alive, alone, and lost, with no idea how to find his way back.

    Colony in Danger is a nature adventure story for kids 8-14 — a young fire ant scout, Cinder Marlowe, has just days to figure out why the colony's food is disappearing before everyone starves.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love animals, survival, and adventure. For fans of Watership Down, the Warriors series, and the world of Empires of the Undergrowth — with real fire-ant science woven through every chapter.

    📚 Grab your copy of Colony in Danger: The Fire Ant Kingdom (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Tuesday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — Pinned under the clover, nearly surrounded
    00:02:45 — Silas is fading — and the patrols move like an army
    00:03:00 — Cinder's call: split up, and he'll be the bait
    00:05:00 — A shared scent trail — Bram Selwick's trick
    00:06:00 — Cinder breaks cover — the decoy run begins
    00:07:30 — False trails, doubled-back tracks, and a chunk of bark
    00:11:00 — Out of options — a yellow-jacket nest above the gully
    00:11:45 — The nest drops — the gamble works
    00:13:30 — Alive, alone, and lost in the meadow
    00:14:15 — CH 17 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    16 min
  • Brickhaven: CH 8 | A Trap at the Gate and an Impossible Ultimatum | LEGO Stories for Kids 8-12

    A guard slips into the exile camp at midnight with a warning: Krag has turned the west gate into a trap, with orders to seize whoever carries the double-scored satchel through at dawn. 

    The usual courier is a thirteen-year-old girl with a limp — so Pip takes the satchel himself. He nearly outruns the ambush, until a second line of soldiers closes the field and Krag takes him. 

    By midday the ultimatum arrives: Max has one day to stand in the town square and publicly renounce his claim to be the Builder, or Pip goes to the dungeon. And Max knows that dungeon better than anyone alive — because he built it.

    Brickhaven is a serialized LEGO adventure story for kids 8-14 — a ten-year-old wakes up shrunk to minifig size inside the LEGO town he built, where the champion he designed...now rules as a tyrant.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love building, puzzles, and adventure. For fans of The LEGO Movie, a kids' edition of Ready Player One, and classic fantasy stories where an ordinary kid is the only one who can save the world.

    📚 Grab your copy of Brickhaven: The Fall (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Monday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — A guard slips into camp with a warning
    00:02:30 — The west gate is a trap — the target is the satchel
    00:05:30 — A limping thirteen-year-old is the courier — so Pip goes instead
    00:09:00 — Dawn at the arch — the trap springs
    00:12:30 — Pip runs, and a second line of soldiers closes the field
    00:16:00 — Krag's ultimatum: renounce the Builder, or lose Pip
    00:19:30 — Max maps the dungeon he built — and the Destroyer inside it
    00:23:00 — "I built it" — Max takes responsibility
    00:25:00 — CH 9 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    27 min
  • Iron Rails & Ruin: CH 7 | The Syndicate Takes Gunnar's Contracts as Dutch Confesses | Wild West Adventure Podcast for Kids

    Seventeen hours after the High Pass run, the Syndicate's revenge arrives by special courier: an official order revoking every one of Gunnar's freight contracts, dressed up as safety violations. 

    Gunnar does the math — without that income, the Widow-Maker is finished in 143 days. But the harder blow comes from his oldest friend: Dutch finally confesses that on the night Gunnar's father disappeared, someone paid him to be far away — and he's carried that guilt in silence for six months.

    Iron Rails & Ruin is a Wild West adventure series for kids 8-14 — a fourteen-year-old engineer in 1882 Montana finds out his father is alive, and the Syndicate has fourteen days to seize every locomotive in the territory.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love trains, invention, and frontier adventure. For fans of Mortal Engines, adventures and mysteries, and Wild West stories with a clever hero at the controls.

    📚 Grab your copy of Iron Rails & Ruin: Smoke & Suspicion (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Friday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — After High Pass: steady hands and an ordinary repair
    00:01:45 — Marshal Morrow brings an order he's ashamed to deliver
    00:05:00 — Every contract revoked — the math comes out to bankruptcy
    00:09:30 — In the shed: Gunnar confronts Dutch
    00:12:00 — The night his father vanished — Dutch confesses
    00:15:15 — Paid to be gone — so no one would be there that night
    00:17:15 — "I'm not there yet, Dutch — but I'm still here."
    00:19:45 — CH 8 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    21 min
  • Eagle's Edge: CH 7 | Marcus Captures a Young Enemy His Own Age in Belgica | Ancient Rome Story for Kids

    Three days after surviving the Sabis, Marcus and the Second Cohort march into Belgica — the land of the Nervii, who Caesar calls the most warlike people in all of Gaul. 

    On a scouting patrol at a river bend, painted warriors erupt from the trees, and Marcus fights for his life in the mud — then pins a young Gaul his own age and takes his first prisoner. 

    Ordered to guard the captive, Marcus trades a silent look with a boy who carries a carved boar token while he carries his dead father's medallion, and the line between enemy and equal begins to blur.

    Eagle's Edge is a Roman adventure story for kids 8-14 — a sixteen-year-old recruit takes the oath, marches into Gaul under Caesar, and learns what war actually is.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love history, battles, and adventure. For fans of Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth, the action of Percy Jackson, and classic stories of ancient Rome.

    📚 Grab your copy of Eagle's Edge: The Making of a Soldier (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Thursday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — Painted warriors and a captured boy (the cold open)
    00:00:30 — Marching into Belgica, three days after the last battle
    00:04:15 — The tribune's warning: the Belgae are the fiercest in Gaul
    00:08:00 — Drums in the distance — the Nervii are tracking them
    00:11:00 — A scouting patrol at the river bend
    00:11:45 — Nervii scouts burst out — the skirmish erupts
    00:15:15 — Face to face with a Gaul his own age — and a prisoner taken
    00:20:30 — Back to the column: a captive for Nerva, a new duty for Marcus
    00:27:45 — A carved boar token — and his father's medallion
    00:32:15 — CH 8 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    35 min
  • Treasure Island: CH 7 | Jim Warns the Captain, Then Leaps Into Silver's Boat | Classic Books for Homeschool

    Treasure Island finally rises from the sea — Spyglass Hill and all — but Jim is the only one aboard who knows what waits there: Long John Silver's pirates outnumber the loyal men nineteen to five, and they plan to strike the moment the gold is found. 

    Jim slips below to warn Captain Smollett, Dr. Livesey, and the squire, and together they begin a dangerous game of pretending nothing is wrong while they quietly arm themselves. 

    Then, as Silver leads a shore party toward the island, Jim makes a reckless choice — he leaps into the pirates' boat to shadow the man who wants him dead.

    Treasure Island is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic pirate adventure retold for kids 8-14 — a twelve-year-old cabin boy finds Captain Flint's treasure map, and the one-legged sailor a dying pirate warned him about is already aboard his ship.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love pirates, treasure, and high-seas adventure. For families who want the original Stevenson classic told in clear, modern language — a natural fit for homeschool reading alongside Peter Pan and other timeless adventure tales.

    📚 Grab your copy of Treasure Island: The Map (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Wednesday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — A sleepless night, then a cry of "Land ho!"
    00:03:30 — Spyglass Hill — the island from the map is real
    00:06:00 — Jim warns the captain: nineteen pirates against five
    00:10:30 — In the great cabin: seven loyal men against nineteen
    00:12:30 — Arm quietly, act normal — give Silver no reason to suspect
    00:17:00 — Silver proposes a shore party — and it splits their numbers
    00:19:45 — On deck: Silver organizes the landing, the captain picks the party
    00:24:00 — Silver's boat pulls away for the island
    00:25:15 — Jim makes a reckless leap into the pirates' boat
    00:29:00 — CH 8 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    32 min
  • Colony in Danger: CH 15 | The Pill Bug Siege Has Happened Before — and It's Starting Again | Nature Adventure Story for Kids

    Back at the hollow, the team patches up the wounded Silas and pieces together what they saw: Thane Reed's pill bugs aren't just raiding — they're building a fortress, hoarding food, and holding prisoners. 

    Then Silas reveals the worst part: this happened fifty seasons ago, when the pill bugs laid siege to starve the Kingdom into surrender, and the colony only survived through a secret deal no one will admit to. 

    As pill bug patrols spread out to hunt them and fresh tracks cut straight toward home, Cinder realizes the siege is starting again — and the only way to stop it is to rally every creature in the meadow.

    Colony in Danger is a nature adventure story for kids 8-14 — a young fire ant scout, Cinder Marlowe, has just days to figure out why the colony's food is disappearing before everyone starves.

    Perfect for kids 8-14 who love animals, survival, and adventure. For fans of Watership Down, the Warriors series, and the world of Empires of the Undergrowth — with real fire-ant science woven through every chapter.

    📚 Grab your copy of Colony in Danger: The Fire Ant Kingdom (Book 1) — available now on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ

    New chapters every Tuesday. Follow us now!

    00:00:00 — Back at the hollow, patching up a wounded friend
    00:03:00 — What the pill bugs are really building
    00:04:45 — A siege that happened fifty seasons ago
    00:07:00 — "This time, nobody hides the truth."
    00:08:30 — Spotted — the patrols fan out to hunt them
    00:12:45 — Fresh tracks cut straight toward the Kingdom
    00:13:45 — Cinder's plan: rally every creature in the meadow
    00:14:50 — CH 16 — What Comes Next

    Send us Fan Mail

    I am the author of serialized fiction books for kids, teens, tweens and young adults, including:

    - Brickhaven: A Bricks Fan Fiction Adventure

    - Colony In Danger: A Fire Ant Adventure

    - Eagle's Edge: A Story of Rome, Gaul and the Making of a Soldier

    - Treasure Island: A Classic Adaptation

    - Iron Rails & Ruin: A Novel of Steam, Sorcery and the Lawless Montana Territory


    📚 All five books -- are now available on Amazon: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Reed-Sterling/author/B0H2ZM86WQ


    📖 Wanna check out all five series for yourself?  Get all five Chapter 1s free: https://compass-codex.kit.com/middle-school-reader-group


    Thank you for listening!  This is Reed Sterling.  Remember: Never stop exploring unknown worlds.


    16 min

About Compass & Codex

From the publisher's feed

Adventure history and adventure science — fiction stories for boys. 

Compass & Codex is a serialized storytelling podcast for boys ages 8–14 and the families who read with them. Every…