Do I have to be good? Do I have to be nice? Do I have to eat with a napkin in my lap?Do I have to behave? Do I have to talk with difficult words? Do I have to dress nice? Do I have to walk straight? Do I have to obey people? Do I [...]
It’s beginning to look a lot like… holiday madness Moms going crazy Kids out of their minds Dads clueless Some snow mixed with desperation Mistletoe Credit cards It’s beginning…. By Ben, 7th grade
Every year my mom drags us to a pumpkin patch so we can get our picture taken. “Smile!” she tells us. “Smile better!” she commands. “We’re not leaving here until I get some good pictures!” she yells. So, my brother and I show the whites of our teeth and try to look happy about being [...]
This poem, “My Grandma’s Hands,” is written by a 3rd grader, who was inspired by Niobi Shihab Nye’s poem “Words Under the Words” about her grandparents. My Grandma’s Hands My grandma’s hands know how to make tortillas which she learned how to do in Mexico. My grandma’s hands know how to take care of my [...]
May 20th is Flower Day. Robin Reagler, Executive Director of WITS, often tells the story of her mother explaining to her what she needed to do to be a poet. The first thing on the list? Memorize the names of 20 flowers. So, Robin got right to work: daisy, azalea, silverbell, dahlia, magnolia, petunia, zinnia, [...]
Yesterday we looked at books written by a father and a son, so today I thought I would inspire you with a mother-daughter duo. Unlike Paul and Sid Fleischman, who achieved individual fame in their writing lives, Traci & P.J. Lambrecht are a mother-daughter team that publishes jointly under the pseudonym P.J. Tracy. The two [...]
I see with my artist’s eyes a rainbow in the sky. It has lots of color: Blue, purple, pink, orange, red, white, and green. I am at the beach. At first, the water is cold. Then the water turns hot. My mom gets into the water. It’s cold for her, and then it’s hot. Then, [...]
El mar inclinando en los ojos de mi mamá Los ojos de mi mamá son azul como el agua. Las olas son como la felicidad de ella. La corriente es como su enojo. Las rocas son la soledad. (Translation) My mother’s eyes are blue like the water. The waves are her joy. The current is [...]
Un Breve Paseo a Discovery Green El cielo era azul como un lago. La tierra era negra como una cueva, y el hielo era blanco como una ventana. Sí, había hielo, y yo estaba patinando en Discovery Green. El sol brillaba como fuego. Yo pensé que no podía patinar, entonces me agarré del muro. ¡Shwoosh! [...]
I remember reading inside the cool living room on a hot summer day, With my mom cutting fresh lettuce for dinner tonight, With my grandmother humming an old song like a radio. I remember reading inside the cool living room on a hot summer day, With hundreds and hundreds of feet of damp grass in [...]
I can open my wings. I can fly with my two wings. I can fly to my mom and dad I can fly with the birds With my two wings I can fly into the clouds. By Amaris Photo by dibytes (Diane Hammond) via Flickr
My memory is when I moved to Texas from England. I remember that we were in the airport and my mom, dad, and my sister started crying because they didn’t want to leave. They were all older than me and had more to say goodbye to than me. We moved because my dad got a [...]
One day I had no idea where we were going in the car and my mom said it was a surprise. Then, almost twenty minutes later, we came to these big green spaces. They had white lines around them and only certain people could go inside them. Apparently, I was one of the people who [...]
I watch my mom cooking away, her mind full of delicious recipes. I find her face full of concentration; my own, full of delight at the sweet smells wafting up my nose. I watch hungrily as she puts in the last ingredient and stirs it with a wooden ladle. She scoops it out into a [...]
A bird sees it as the limit, The sun as his roommate, The clouds as their mother, The rain as a grandma, An ant as something he will never reach, A prisoner as the only light, A house as its ceiling, An eagle as his house, A Christian as the door to Jesus, Karina as [...]
