Most Recent: Decisions and Changes – posted 12/24/2025 see summaries below
A Cartwright Advent – by Sibylle
Summary: Christmas traditions leads to pleasant memories from years past.
Written for the 2017 Advent Calendar
Rating: G 1,400 words
A Long and Twisted Path – by Sibylle
Summary: This story tells about Marie’s first time living with Ben and his two sons. The beginning wasn’t easy …
Rating: K+ 5,600
All the Fun of the Fair – by Sibylle
Summary: Ben and Adam visit a small fair on their way West. Prequel 1835
WC: 670 Rating: K
Summary: An unexpected guest brings a lot of surprises to the Cartwright brothers. A story told by a twelve-year-old Joe.
Rating: K Word Count: 3265
Before the Hanging – by Sibylle
Summary: Just how much tension can a man go through in a mere four hours? Find out in this look at “Death at Dawn.”
Rating: T Word Count : 3,231
Ben and Adam on the Road – by Sibylle
Summary: WHB Inger My Love Even Ben wasn´t always the perfect father.
Rating: K WC 1250
Summary: Cousins, cousins and more cousins. Hop Sing’s relatives make the Ponderosa a real China-Rosa. Poor Ben isn´t very happy about that and even less about his three sons.
A little parodistic comedy set around 1854, a late prequel .
Rated: K+ WC 3600
Christmas Decorations – by Sibylle Summary: Decorating for the holidays doesn’t always go smoothly. A lighthearted story about Christmas preparations.
Written for the 2019 Advent Calendar
Rating: K+ Word Count: 1335 words
Christmas Presents – by Sibylle
Summary A prequel about a young Little Joe, set in the fall of 1850 while Adam is away in Boston.
WC 2100
Church Picnic (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: It’s a short story about a peaceful Sunday afternoon in town with the whole family. Or wasn’t it so peaceful? Prequel: around 1846.
Rated: K+ WC 3550
Crime and Punishment – by Sibylle
Summary: Abigail Jones and Joe Cartwright take a journey together on business neither of them ever expected to have.
Rated: T WC 4700
Das Kirchenpicknick – by Sibylle
Summary: Die Familie Cartwright besucht ein Kirchenpicknick, alles ist harmonisch und friedlich – oder doch nicht? Prequel 1846
Das Verursacherprinzip – by Sibylle
Summary: Eine kleine kurze Geschichte über Hop Sings täglichen Ärger mit den Cartwrights und dessen Folgen, angesiedelt um 1853.
Rated: K+ WC 1900
Summary: Little Joe hat einen schweren Unfall, während Adam auf ihn aufpassen soll 1845. Über Rückmeldungen würde ich mich sehr freuen.
Rated: K+ WC 4200
Decisions and Changes – by Sibylle
Summary: A female teacher in Virginia City; what Abigail Myers thinks about her life, education, and the general situation during the boom of 1876. With a response from Adam Cartwright.
Rating: G (2,465 words)
Die heiligen drei Könige – by Sibylle
Summary: Die kleine nachweihnachtliche Geschichte spielt in der Nacht zum sechsten January 1846 auf der Ponderosa. Und beginnt damit, dass Adam aus dem Schlaf gerissen wird ….
Erstveröffentlichung in der deutschen Bibliothek im Dezember 2011
Rated: K+ WC 2300
Summary: Ben waits for Adam on his first day at school. Prequel, 1837/ Seedling Challenge
Rated: K Word count: 1660
Summary: Adam und Ben denken beide aus gegebenem Anlass an ihre gemeinsame Fahrtzeit zurück 1844 .
Rated: K+ WC 4000
Family Traditions – by Sibylle
Summary: Family is also who you choose, and so are traditions.
Written for day 18 of the 2021 Advent Calendar.
Rating: G Word Count: 1705
Summary: The consequences of a fight at school. Prequel 1854
Rated: K+ WC 600
Grandfather and Grandson – by Sibylle
Summary: Adam and his small grandson make some discoveries about what really matters in life.
1,600 words Rating: K
Summary: Hoss and Joe alone at home. A prequel
Rated: K WC 600
Summary: Hoss’s Journal 1849-1853 A “Camp in the Pines” story
During the four and a half years when Adam’s away at college, Hoss grows from a boy into a young man. In the process he learns a lot about big brothers, girls, love, and especially himself, but Joe and Adam are seldom far from his thoughts. A prequel.
Rated: K+ WC 25,500
House Jack Built (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: An offering of shelter and memories, to each his own.
Written for the 2018 Advent Calendar
Rating: G 1,410 words
Summary: Pa is away and …. A little comedy about fights, the mail, and an old friend. Typically?
Rated: K+ WC 1900
Summary: Written for the 2016 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar.
Rating: K 2,050 words
Little Girl in Pink – by Sibylle
Summary: Adam meets a little girl on the road to Virginia city that he better never found.
Rated: T WC 600
Lumberjack Contest (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: A young Ben takes part in a lumberjack contest, but the consequences aren’t what he expected.
Rating: K+ Word Count: 2,893
Summary: Five-year-old Hoss makes a dangerous decision that affects his parents, and especially his older brother. Adam isn’t adjusted to Marie yet, and the danger Hoss is in makes his problems worse. A prequel set around 1842 shortly before Joe’s birth
Rated: K+ WC 10,000
Mama Inger Deutsche Fassung – by Sibylle
Summary: Was kann den fünfjährigen Hoss dazu getrieben haben, von zu Hause wegzulaufen? Seine Familie macht sich große Sorgen und sucht ihn verzweifelt, doch er bleibt spurlos verschwunden ….
Rückmeldungen würden mich sehr, sehr freuen!
Rated: K+ WC 10,000
Many Shades of Guilt – by Sibylle
Summary: Guilt and mistakes – nobody is free of them. It’s not only the big guilt following bad deeds that can affect your life, but also mistakes and misinterpretations. There are many shades of guilt, as even the Cartwrights had to learn.
Rated: K+ Word count: 10354
Summary: A teen-aged Adam’s prank causes not only him alone to think things over.
Rated: K+ WC 3800
Summary: A short vignette about a morning on the ranch
Rated: K+ WC: 570
New Year’s Traditions – by Sibylle
Summary: Roy Coffee helps not only Ben in his grief.
Rating: G Words: 2.500
Written for the Bonanza Brand 2023 Advent Calendar
Summary: A visit from Ben’s old friend leads to a startling realization.
Rated: T WC 2200
Paper Toy-Theater (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: Adam wishes to share a Christmas memory with Hoss, a memory begun by Inger.
Rating: K+ 1175 words
Note: This story was written for the Bonanza Brand 2020 Advent Calendar, originated in the Forums.
Summary: Adam Cartwright relates an early adventure of the three Cartwright brothers
Word count: 6191 Rating: K
“Polluter Pays” Principle (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: If you would like to know why Adam always wears black you must look at an incident that seriously affected not only him but the whole family.
Rated: K+ WC 2100
Summary: Adam’s upcoming return from Boston affects his brothers in an unexpected way.
Rated: K+ Word Count: 1,015
Summary: It´s a brief glimpse at a time Joe needs his oldest brother to prevent him from a big mistake.
Rated: K WC 600
Smell of Bread (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: Adam visits the Ponderosa.
Rated: K+ WC 640
Stagecoach Robbery (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: Adam wonders what his brothers are doing downstairs in the big room …. A short comedy
Rated: K+ 595 words
Summary: WHIB/WHB to “The Ride”
Ben remembers his first argument with a three-year-old Adam.
Rated: K WC 650
Three Kings (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: In early 1847, a winter’s night on the Ponderosa leads to an unexpected gift for the three brothers and the whole family. Prequel
Rated: K WC: 2100
Treasure (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: A special keepsake brings back Adam’s memories of the early history of Virginia City, and one unforgettable person in particular.
K+/ Word count: 1421
Written for the 2022 Bonanza Brand Advent Calendar
Summary: Clearing out a neglected corner of the barn leads to unexpected development for Adam and his family.
Rated: T Word Count: 2044
Wanted Poster (The) – by Sibylle
Summary: A wanted poster prompts Ben and Adam to re-examine a moment from their journey West.
Rated: K+ 600
Summary: Jamie tries to learn more about his oldest new brother, but gets something unexpected in the end!:
Rating: G Words: 1,800
