Big Bears Don't Fly

Lenny longed to fly--to soar over barns, between trees, above valleys and through canyons.  He wanted to feel wind whooshing through his fur and clouds tingling his nose.  He could dance with the birds!

“But I’ll never be able to fly,” he thought. 

Lenny could not fly because he was not a bird, a butterfly or an airplane.  He was a bear cub.  And bears do not fly because they do not have wings.

So Lenny decided to look for wings.  He searched in trees, on roofs and even under rocks.  Every day, from after breakfast until his mother called him in for dinner, he looked for what he needed to fly.  But he could not find any wings.

One day, when he was climbing a tree branch in search of wings, he met a bird. 

"Boo hoo hoo," sobbed the bird.

“What’s wrong?” Lenny asked the bird.

“I want to climb boulders and trees but I have no arms,” said the bird.

“And I want to fly, but I have no wings,” said Lenny.  “What’s your name?”

“My name is Alice,” said the bird.

Side by side on the branch they sat.  Lenny thought about the wings he wanted.  Alice thought about the arms that she wanted.  Then, they began to cry.  

At first, the crying was a little sob, with little tears.  But the drops got bigger and bigger.  After a bit, they cried so loud, the tree shook and the leaves blew.  Squirrels came out of their homes and threw nuts at them to make them be quiet.  A family of rabbits thumped their feet, trying to make them stop.  Coyotes formed a circle under the tree and howled.  The crying only got louder.

Finally, an owl came out of its nest at the top of the tree. Now, owls are known to be wise. But an owl that is woken from his daytime sleep is also cranky.

“What is going on here?!” the owl demanded.

“I want to fly, but I have no wings,” wailed Lenny.

“I want to climb trees, but I have no arms,” cried Alice.

“Hush up your crying and trade your wings and arms with each other,” said the owl.  “Then you, bear, can fly, and you, bird, can climb.”

Lenny looked at Alice.  Alice looked at Lenny.  And they stopped crying.

“That’s a great idea!” They both said at once.

It was decided.

Every day, Lenny spent one hour using the Alice’s wings.  He soared over barns, between trees, above valleys and through canyons.  He felt wind blowing through his fur, and fresh air streaming along his face.  He flew fast then slow, up then down, and even sideways.  

When he came back, he loaned his arms to Alice.  She used them to climb every tree and boulder in the forest. She felt bark grazing her feathers, and the smooth boulders warmed by the sun.  She climbed fast then slow, up then down, and even sideways.  

After they had flown and climbed, they sat on the tree branch and told of their adventures. Out would come the squirrels, rabbits and coyotes to listen to their stories.  Sometimes, when the owl was not too tired, he would come too.

And that is how Lenny was able to fly.

Janet Follows The Rules

Janet did as she was told and got in trouble. 

When her mother said, “No dessert till your plate is clean,” she scraped all of her dinner into the dog dish and then washed her plate.  She did not get any dessert.

When her mother said, “Be nice to your cousin, Madeline,” Janet offered to give her a nice haircut. But she cut all of Madeline’s hair off—her cousin was completely bald!  Janet had to give Madeline her favorite hat.

When her mother was talking on the phone and told Janet to go draw a picture, she drew a picture that covered the entire wall. 

“Follow rules the right way!” said her mother.

“But my way is more fun,” answered Janet.

Her mother sent her to her room.

“If my mother wants me to go to my room,” Janet told her hamster, “then I will. But I WON”T LEAVE!”

So Janet stayed in her room.

She stayed in her room so long, that winter came. She could see snow piling up all the way to her window.  Outside, her friends were ice-skating on the pond, catching snowflakes on their noses, and building snowmen.  Janet pet her hamster.

After that, she still stayed in her room, and spring came.  Her friends climbed trees, played hide and seek, and threw balls. Janet fed her goldfish.

Next came summer.  Everyone, except Janet, was outside swimming.  Their laughter and shouting and splashing was so loud, she had to plug her ears.

Then came the fall. She watched as her friends put brown crinkly leaves into a huge pile then ran and jumped into them.  They fell and slipped and giggled.

Janet was still in her room.

And Janet had not been ice-skating, climbed a tree, been swimming, or jumped into a pile of brown crinkly leaves.  She had not left her room for an entire year.

So Janet decided to peek outside of her bedroom door and see if maybe, just maybe, she should tip toe out of her room and go outside.  

Creeping down the stairs, she saw her mother in the living room.

“Who are you?” asked her mother.  “You look like my daughter, Janet, but I haven’t seen her for an entire year.”

“It is me, Mother, and um, I was thinking I’d go outside now.”

“What a great idea,” said her mother.  Just before Janet got to the door, her mother called to her, “Be back in time for dinner—and I mean dinner tonight, not a year from now.”

 Janet giggled.

“Yes, mother, I know what that rule means.”

So Janet went outside and made the biggest pile of leaves to jump into--she jumped higher and made more noise than anyone!  And was home in time for dinner.

How Rosie Likes Her Carrots

When Rosie took a bath, she wore her sweater in the bathtub to get it extra clean.  She was the only rabbit who wore shoes because she wanted to keep her paws out of the dirt.  And she had never made a mud pie in her life. 

Rosie liked to be clean. 

So when her mother told her to eat her carrots, Rosie said, “NO!”

“Why not?” her mother asked. 

“Because carrots come out of the ground, so they must be dirty,” said Rosie.

“Carrots are good for rabbits,” said Rosie’s mother. “They help you hop better.”

“I just cannot eat those dirty carrots,” answered Rosie.

And so, Rosie never ate a carrot. She never even tasted one.

One day Rosie went to a birthday party.  She played pin-the-tail-on-the-rabbit, leaped the highest in two jumping contests, and danced to the new ‘Rocking Rabbit’ song. All of that hopping and dancing made her hungry.

After all the games were played, there was a huge birthday cake with thick white frosting for all the bunnies to eat.  It was beautiful.

When Rosie got her first slice, she noticed the inside was golden brown with tiny specks of orange.  Just looking at it made her lick her whiskers and twitch her nose. She put her fork into it and found it was soft and fluffy.

Then Rosie took her first bite of the beautiful cake.  It filled her mouth with the taste of cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar.  Delicious!

But as she chewed, she noticed a new taste; something crunchy and a little bit sweet. It tasted so good that she wanted more—lots more! 

When she went to get a second slice, Rosie asked her friend what kind of cake it was.

“Oh, that’s my favorite too,” said her friend.  “It’s carrot cake—filled with lots and lots of carrots.”

Rosie could not believe her ears.

“C-carrot cake?” asked Rosie.  “You mean with real carrots in it?”

“Yes, real carrots,’ said Rosie’s friend.

“But that cake was the best thing ever. And it’s made out of carrots that came out of the ground!” cried Rosie.  “What if I get sick from eating dirt?  What if there are germs on that carrot?”

“Well, we do wash the carrots,” said Rosie’s friend.

“Oh,” said Rosie.  “I never thought of that.”

Rosie hopped home as quickly as she could. There, on the kitchen table was a bunch of carrots.  She poked one of the carrots, and no mud came off. She touched the whole thing with her paw, and her fur was still clean. She sniffed at the carrots, and could not smell any dirt.  Finally, she licked a little tiny bit of the carrot and it did not taste yucky. 

She remembered the white birthday cake and knew that the carrot must taste good, but she had to be sure.  So she took the carrot upstairs, made herself a bath, and cleaned that carrot from top to bottom.

Rosie closed her eyes and nibbled at the tip of the carrot.  It was wonderful. She took another bite and it was sweet, crunchy and even a little bit juicy.  Then she leaned back in the bathtub, and munched the entire carrot down to the green nub.

Rosie couldn’t wait to eat another one.  But next time, she was just going to wash it in the kitchen sink.

“Maybe,” thought Rosie, “Mother and I can make carrot soup and carrot salad and carrot bread for dinner.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll try other things that come from the ground, like radishes and turnips and beets.”

Mmmm!  Life just got a whole lot yummier for Rosie.

Banana Luke

Luke ate bananas with peanut butter, whipped cream, apple sauce and marshmallows.  He ate them on his toast, stuck to pretzels at morning snack, sliced over his macaroni and cheese at lunchtime, and stacked between cookies for afternoon snack.  At dinner, he wrapped spaghetti around a banana and for desert he dipped one in honey.

Luke loved bananas.

But one day, while reaching for ketchup to flavor up his favorite fruit, he noticed his fingers had turned yellow.  The next day his whole arm was yellow and the day after that, he was completely yellow!

“Luke,’ cried his mother, “if you don’t stop eating bananas, you’re going to turn into one!”

“I’ll try to stop, Mom,” Luke said.

Luke tried to stop. He tried to stop thinking about how fun it was to peel open a banana and discover a tasty treat inside. He tried to stop thinking about how much better all of his food tasted with a banana.

But the more he thought about not eating bananas, the more bananas he ate.

The next day, when reaching for a banana, he discovered his fingers had turned into little bananas!

 “Luke, no more bananas!” cried his mother.

“Okay, Mom, no more bananas,” said Luke.

Luke had no more bananas that day.  For breakfast, he put only butter on his toast. At lunchtime, he ate macaroni and cheese and nothing else.  And for dinner, he ate plain spaghetti.  He went a whole day without eating a single banana.

But that night, after everyone else had gone to bed, he just HAD to have a banana. 

Just one little banana, he thought. Just one.

And he ate just one little banana.

As soon as he had swallowed the last bite, his feet, his legs, and his arms started to feel soft; his body felt mushy. 

And then, a banana peel started to grow over his toes, up his legs, over his arms and finally covered his whole body. 

He was a giant banana!

When his mother came in the next morning, she saw a banana sitting at her kitchen table.  She knew it was Luke.

She called the doctor.

“My son turned into a banana!” she told the doctor.

“Did he eat too many bananas?” asked the doctor.

“Yes,” answered Luke’s mother.

“There is only one thing you can do to get your son back,” said the doctor.  “Get a big bowl of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream.  Peel open your son and put him on top of the ice cream. Then cover him in whipped cream and add one cherry on top.  You will have your son back.”

Luke’s mom did just as the doctor ordered. As soon as she was done, the banana turned back into Luke!

And what did they do with all that ice cream? They had an ice cream party with their friends.

Luke still eats bananas, but only once a day, with a bowl of ice cream.

Not-Slow-Nattie

Nattie was the first sloth to cross the finish line in the race at the School Fair. The other sloth kids were still tying their shoe laces!

At the pie-eating contest, she ate three whole pieces of pie before the other kids had taken three bites!

And she ate her whole ice cream cone before it had melted all over her paws, like the other sloths.

The kids made fun of her. They said sloths are supposed to be slow—the slower the better.  They teased her with this song:

Nattie Nattie

Not-Slow-Nattie

Why can’t you slow down?

Sloths are slow

Slow as snails

Unless you’re

Not-Slow-Nattie

Nattie climbed a tree, hung from a branch, and smashed mangoes with her back paw. 

When the kids started to sing the song again, she threw smashed mangoes at them.  They were too slow to get out of the way!

One of the sloths started eating the mango off his fur. 

“Hey,” he said, “Not-Slow-Nattie could be our team champion in the pie throwing contest!”

“The other team would be covered in whipped cream!  We would win with Nattie on our side,” said another kid.

“How about it, Nattie? Will you be on our team?”

Nattie climbed down from the tree.

“Last sloth to the pie contest is slower than a snail!” she yelled.

The sloth kids ran as quickly as they could after Nattie.  And as they ran they sang:

Nattie Nattie

Not-Slow-Nattie

We are you so fast?

We’ll throw more pies

Make more mess

Because we’ve got

Not-Slow-Nattie.

Hooray for Nattie!

Hooray for Nattie!

Hooray!

Nattie and her friends threw lots of pies that day.  But the other team was covered in whipped cream because Nattie was Not So Slow!

SPIDER by Judy Ziegler

Hey Walter, looky here. Look at this big ole spider!

Hey Spidy, whatcha doing?

Opps, fly guy got stuck. Walter, how come Spidy wraps her meals up like a burrito- a fly burrito. Yuck!

Maybe she wraps it cause she doesn't have a fridge. Hey Walter, lets go have lunch.

Frightful Dee Lightful & Boo

Dear Diary, We're pretty tired today. Last night we stayed up late to watch the moon rise and listen to the coyotes howl. Boo can howl just as good as any coyote, maybe even better! What a great night!

Frightful Dee Lightful & her Spooky Dog Boo

Dear Diary, Today we went to visit Great Aunt Nose. I took my pet worm, Stringy. He got pretty tired and needed a nap - so I let him sleep in Great Aunt Nose's bed. Poor Stringy, she about scared him half to death with her screaming. I guess I'll have to leave him at home next time!

The Sound Jacob Heard

By Heather Cicero

Illustrated by Judy Ziegler

Jacob listened to the sound coming from underneath his bed.

 “Are you talking to me?” Jacob asked the sound.

“Well, a high falootin’ yes,” said a voice.  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Jacob got his flashlight and looked under the bed.

 “You’re small for a buffalo,” Jacob said.

He was just like the buffalo that Jacob had seen at the zoo, only smaller.  His hooves made a clickity clack sound on the wooden floor.  He smelled like warm oatmeal.

The buffalo looked at Jacob’s room.

“Well, pull my horn,” said the buffalo, “where’s the grass?  I’m hungry.”

“Outside,” said Jacob.  “I’ll take you to get some.”

He got dressed and led the buffalo out of his room and into the back yard.  Jacob listened to the buffalo graze.  He heard munching and tail switching sounds.  The swinging tail looked like a paintbrush.

“How about we paint with your tail?” said Jacob.

“Go rustle up some paint and we’ll have at it,” said the buffalo.

Jacob got paint from the garage. They decorated the fence, some chairs, and the swing set with hoof prints.  Then they cut up blankets and played superheroes. Finally, they made mud pies in the sandbox.

At bath time, the buffalo was dirty.  Luckily, there was a full bottle of shampoo.  Jacob used all of it to clean his friend.  There was paint, and mud, and bubbles, and water on the floor when they were done, but the buffalo got clean.

         That night, there was a sound coming from underneath Jacob’s bed.  But this time he knew—it was the sound of the buffalo snoring.

Frightful Dee Lightful & Her Spooky Dog Boo by Judy Ziegler

Dear Diary, Finally talked Mom into letting us have an outdoor Birthday party. We had the best time. Don't think anyone liked strawberry ice cream. We'll have to try another flavor next year.