Thomas' 582nd Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a light.  It was a white light.  It was a freaky white light.  Named Mickey.  And it glowed in the night.  And it was a Harvest Feast light.  For all cat-dogs.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 581st Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a leprechaun cereal.  It was a seashell pea cereal.  It was a brown and red cereal.  It was a magic cereal.  And Thomas ate it.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 580th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He wanted to have a party.  He wanted a yogurt and honey party.  With green apples and red strawberries.  On the clouds and with the stars.  He wanted to fly with wings and feathers.  But Thomases don't have wings and feathers.  He had to catch a hot-air balloon.

The End.

(May 2013.)

October 12, 2011 -- Part 1

October 12, 2011  

Midweek  

Mid-afternoon  

Head in the clouds  

Four birthdays past  

Four more to come  

Including mine  

And my anniversary  

Shall I make a Black Forest Cake?  

Of course!  

Then come   

The holidays  

Will my brother come down 

To South Carolina 

For Thanksgiving or Christmas    

This year?    

Phone rings  

Nerves jangle  

“Hello” I snap  

As my name is mangled  

“Yes, I’m Karen”  

My patience is at an end  

Useless “no-call” list  

But this is no  

Sales call  

My brother  

Was found   

Unconscious   

In his neighbor’s yard  

A scrap of paper  

In his hand  

With my name and number   

On it  

He’s in  

Bad shape  

The neighbor tells me  

The ambulance is on its way  

But he may not make it  

It’s probably   

Too late  

I babble  

I can’t think  

I ask the same question  

Over and over  

But it is the question  

That no one can answer  

Why?  Why?  

October 13, 2011 -- Midnight

Suitcase

Open

And empty

What do you wear

To plan a funeral

Or to cheer up

A hospitalized

Person?

October 13, 2011 -- Later  

In the car  

Cradling a mug  

Of coffee   

So strong   

It hurts  

It’s two a.m.  

Miles ahead  

Are black --  

Black as the  

Too strong   

Coffee  

  

We try to talk  

My sister and I  

I ask about  

Her job  

Her husband  

Her life  

  

She responds  

And asks about  

My son    

My husband  

My life  

But one question  

Keeps coming up  

Why?  Why?  

Both of us   

Are wrapped in our   

Worry and fear and guilt  

That we dare not voice  

Because the tears  

Will start  

And    

Not end  

So we stare  

At the uncertain road  

Ahead of us  

And pretend   

To listen   

To the tunes on the   

I-Pod  

Thomas' 579th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He had a window to the world.  It was dark outside.  It was very night with no light.
Thomas stood on the bed and made a star.  Thomas was the star.  He was a shooting star.  Whoosh!  And he could fly.  He went to the sky.  He went to the moon.
"How about some breakfast?"  Thomas asked the moon.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 578th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He put on the jungle, like an apron.  And it rained.  And it was windy.
"It's raining gold!" said Thomas.  And there were gold curls on the apron.
And Thomas was happy.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 577th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  And there was a princess.  A beautiful princess.  The princess said, "Tell me a story."
And Thomas said, "No more stories!"

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 576th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was an angel.
She was wearing a red angel dress.
She wanted to dance.
She needed a Christmas tree.
But she couldn't find a Christmas tree.
So we went through the door of the church.
And she danced with the choir.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 575th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He wanted a song.  A special song.  He found a star, but he still needed a rocking banana.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 574th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a cat.  And the cat was crying.  It wasn't in the house.  It wasn't in the tree.  It was in the rain barrel.  A Thomas named Thomas found the cat.  He rescued the cat with a balloon.  And a bucket.  And it was a grey cat.  Like Molly.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Stream of consciousness poem -- part XXI

October 19, 2011

It has been

A week

It has been

A week!

It has been

A week

That has changed

Everything

For me

Thomas' 573rd Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, a Thomas named Thomas found a clue.  It was a purple clue.  It was a purple feather clue.  A purple wing feather!
A purple bird left a feather in Thomas' house, and then flew to his tree nest.
But why?

The End.

(May 2013.)

Book 185

Underwater Counting, written by Jerry Pallotta, illustrated by David Biedrzycki, Charlesbridge 2001.

Underwater Counting is a number book and a concept book.  I waited a bit to give this book to my four-year-old son because I thought he might find it confusing: With exception of 0 and 1, this book counts to 50 by twos.  When I did give him this book, however, he recognized the numbers up to 30.  I know he doesn't understand the counting-by-twos concept right now, that will come in time, but he does recognize the numbers.  The facts in this book are interesting enough to engage the adult readers, and the text is well-written.

Underwater Counting is also a visually stunning book.  The vibrant illustrations seem to swim off of the pages, and are so accurate, this book could be used for reference.

My son loves the aquarium and loves numbers -- this book is perfect. 

Thomas' 572nd Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He was a Prince Thomas named Thomas.  And he lived in a castle.  He stomped on his pillow.  And on Mommy's foot.  Because he wanted a light in his room.  So he could read his ABC book.  About a Q for Queen, who lived in a castle.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 571st Story -- Illustrated.

Once upon a time, there was a mermaid.  The mermaid was in rainwater.  she was beautiful.  And there were fish in the rainwater with the mermaid.  They were in a picture.  It was a painting made of rainwater and sea-green feathers.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 570th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, the birds were singing.  They were saying, "Good morning, Thomas.  We miss you and Hop-Hop.  And your bubbles and chalk.  On the front porch."
But Hop-Hop was sick.  He didn't feel well.  His stomach hurt.  And he was crying.
And it was raining.

The End

(May 2013.)

Book 184

Sometimes I buy "children's books" for myself.  This is one of those times.

The retelling of the classic fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, by Mahlon Craft is well done and faultless, but the real star of this book is the sumptuous artwork by K. Y. Craft. 

K. Y. Craft creates the most amazingly beautiful artwork for the books that she illustrates.  Every book is like visiting a gallery or an art museum.  The artwork in Sleeping Beauty, as evidenced by the cover, is no exception. 

So while I will read this story to my young son, and will show him the pictures, this gorgeous book is going in MY bookcase.

Thomas' 569th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He was sad.  He was sick.  His stomach hurt.  His legs hurt.  His arms hurt.  He farted.  He sounded like an airplane.  He sounded like Daddy.  And Thomas felt much better.

The End

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 568th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.  He had a cup.  He built a cup.  It was in his room.  By the window curtains.  To catch the rain from the clouds.  The clouds rained circles and diamonds.  And then Thomas blew the clouds away.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 567th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a deep, dark swamp.  There were colors in the deep, dark swamp.  And there was mud in the deep, dark swamp.  And there was a stinky, sticky sludge.  It was brown, dark sludge.  It was hot and full of bubbles.

And there was a Thomas named Thomas in the deep, dark sludge.  And there was a scary dark house on the swamp.  And there were monsters in the dark house.  Thomas locked the monsters in the house. With a K key.  The monsters are sleeping.  No more monsters.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Book 183

Little Critter, Just a Storybook Collection, by Mercer Mayer, Harper Collins 2012.

I think that Little Critter must be somewhere between four and six years old, because my four-and-a-half year old "little critter" acts an awful lot like this one. 

The genius of Mercer Mayer's Little Critter books is that he takes ordinary, everyday situations and he shows them from the point of view of a young child.  That sounds easy to do, but it's not.  That's why kids like the books.  That, for and the peanut butter and pickle sandwiches.

As a mom and a dubious adult, I laugh out loud at these stories, not necessarily because of what Little Critter does, but because of the expressions on the grown-up faces.  More than once they have mirrored my own.  Although, I don't have a problem with peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, as long as the pickles are sweet and not dill.

Thomas' 566th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there were dancing shadows.  On a black steam engine.  They were on top of a steam engine.  And they were dancing with the smoke.  On a night when the moon was lost.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas 565th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time,
the whole world
went haywire.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 564th Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was an alien.  He wanted to be yellow.  So he could fly.  He was green and dry.  He painted himself yellow.  With paint.  Then he was green and yellow.  And he could fly.  He flew away.  But he'll come back.  For magic pancakes.

The End.

(May 2013.)

Thomas' 563rd Story -- Illustrated

Once upon a time, there was a Thomas named Thomas.
He found a magic hat.
The magic hat could make him fly.

The End.

(May 2013.)