Don't Be Late

"I'm Going to the Library"

I’m going to the library,
and moving very slow,
despite the fact that it’s a place
I’ve always liked to go.
But I’m not looking forward now
to being there at all,
and that is why I’m heading there
at practically a crawl.

I’m going to the library,
and I’m a bit afraid.
It’s all because of one mistake
I’ve accidentally made.
I’m filled with trepidation
mixed with downright misery,
convinced that the librarian
is furious with me.

I know that I’m in trouble,
so I’m in a frantic state.
I also know it’s all my fault,
and I deserve my fate.
I’m going to the library,
and shaking through and through—
the book I’m finally bringing back
is four years overdue.

by Jack Prelutsky (from My Dog May Be A Genius, pg 144)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I used to love watching the Macy's Parade Thanksgiving morning.  I look forward to watching it with Isaac again this year.


The Thanksgiving Day Parade
by Jack Prelutsky


Thanksgiving Day is here today,
the great parade is under way,
and though it's drizzling quite a bit,
I'm sure that I'll see all of it.

Great balloons are floating by,
cartoon creatures stories high,
Mickey Mouse and Mother Goose,
Snoopy and a mammoth moose.

Humpty Dumpty, Smokey Bear
hover in the autumn air,
through the windy skies they sway,
I hope that they don't blow away.

Here comes Santa, shaking hands
as he waddles by the stands.
It's so much fun, I don't complain
when now it really starts to rain.

The bands are marching, here they come,
pipers pipe and drummers drum,
hear the tubas and the flutes,
see the clowns in silly suits.

It's pouring now, but not on me,
I'm just as dry as I can be,
I watch and watch, but don't get wet,
I'm watching on our TV set

Books to be Thankful For

If you want a book to read for the upcoming holiday, here are some suggestions . . .

The Firefighters' Thanksgiving by Maribeth Boelts is a perfect book for tying together the holiday and some of the people for which many of us are thankful.  The firefighters are continually interrupted while preparing their feast  but, of course, everyone eats in the end.

One is a Feast for a Mouse: A Thanksgiving Tale by Judy Cox is one that I read to the EC class last week. They had a great time listening and counting along to how many scraps the mouse collected, even though he insisted one was enough for a feast.  His eyes are bigger than his stomach and he loses his feast after a run-in with the cat, but there is a bright side when he finds one pea waiting for him in his hidey-hole.

Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson tells the story of Sarah Hale who campaigned for over 30 years, writing to numerous Presidents, to get Thanksgiving named a National Holiday.  This is not a dry non-fiction text.  It is a fun, witty, very readable portrayal of the woman who gave us our four day weekend, holiday football games and Black Friday.

It's Thanksgiving by Jack Prelustky is a collection of twelve humorous poems about the holiday.  It's Prelustky, so enough said.

Happy eating.

5 Years of Laughter

"Happy Birthday, Dear Dragon"
by Jack Prelutsky

There were rumbles of strange jubilation
in a dark, subterranean lair,
for the dragon was having a birthday,
and his colleagues were gathering there.
"HOORAH!" groaned the trolls and the ogres
as they pelted each other with stones.
"HOORAH!" shrieked a sphinx and a griffin,
and the skeletons rattled their bones.

"HOORAH!" screamed the queen of the demons.
"HOORAH!" boomed a giant. "REJOICE!"
"HOORAH!" piped a tiny hobgoblin
in an almost inaudible voice.
"HOORAH!" cackled rapturous witches.
"Hoorahhhhhhh!" hissed a basilisk too.
Then they howled in cacophonous chorus,
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
DEAR DRAGON
TO YOU!"

They whistled, they squawked, they applauded,
as they gleefully brought forth the cake.
"OH, THANK YOU!"
he thundered with pleasure
in a bass that made every ear ache.
Then puffing his chest to the fullest,
and taking deliberate aim,
the dragon huffed once at the candles --
and
the candles
all burst
into
flame!