Ayuh to Z Challenge - A

We begin our Blogging from A-to-Z April Challenge as we journey through books written by Maine authors, with a poem I've written for the title of the book (though not necessarily about the book).  Yea!

 A is for:

Drummmmm rrrrrrolllll.

(Very good drum roll!  I am very impressed.  I did not know I could play the drums.)

Animal Hide and Seek 

by Dahlov Ipcar

I remember that my English class in high school once went to Dahlov Ipcar's farm home to visit with her, learning about her illustrating and her life.  I wish now that I'd paid better attention!  She has lived in that same farmhouse since 1937.  Her parents are sculptor, William Zorach, and artist, Marguerite Zorach.  Her father, William Zorach, sculpted the fountain figure in the Patten Free Library park in Bath, Maine.

Dahlov has written and illustrated a number of books.  She has a unique illustrating style - very recognizable.  Our local, Patten Free Library has Ipcar's murals on the children's area walls.  Her work is also found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.  Ipcar still lives and paints in the 1860s farmhouse that she shared with Adolph for nearly seventy years.

Animal Hide and Seek was her first book, though she'd done the illustrations for Margaret Wise Brown's book, The Little Fisherman, earlier.  I found this copy at the Kittery Trading Post when traveling back from Pennsylvania last week.  But it can be found in most Maine bookstores, libraries, and homes.  The deer on the cover may be seen in a mural on the Patten Free Library's wall in the children's section.

Animal Hide and Seek shows portraits of the animals on one page and then puts them in their habitat, camouflaged.

For more information:
Animal Hide and Seek on Amazon
Animal Hide and Seek on Islandport Press
Information about Dahlov Ipcar
Information about Dahlov Ipcar
This is not a commercial site.  I am not selling books.  I don't get anything if you decide to buy a book.  That's your business -

Don't even tell me if you did. 

I don't want to know. 

Just tell me if you liked the poem -

which you will find below.

Animal Hide and Seek

Moose, put on this dark, brown coat
and, Goose, these feathers gray;
Moose and Goose will not be seen
From so far away.

Please, Squirrel, stand so very still
and wear this trunk-gray shirt,
Gopher, you will look real sharp
If you blend in with dirt.

Oh, Fox, you know in any light
We'll see your coat of red,
So stay abed all day till dusk;
Come out at night instead.

Mole, I know you cannot see
But we can still see you,
So stay inside your tunnel dark -
Wear this velvet mumu.

They try to hide but always seek

Their habitat safety;

And that is why that's where I go

To find where they could be.

The squirrel's on the tree trunk

The gopher's in that hole

The fox is in her cozy den

A tunnel holds the mole.

Look behind the cedar tree

And you may spy the moose;

Look amongst the lily pads

And there you'll find the goose.

To really hide and not be found

They need to find new places;

They should go where I won't know

And not leave footprint traces.

So, Squirrel, go hide in a boot,

Gopher, wear this big hat;

Fox, climb high upon a chair

And curl up like a cat.

Big Moose, if you'd lie very still

You'll fit under the bed;

Where once there was a pillow,

Goose, sit right there instead.

Climb above the fireplace, Mole,
And sit upon the mantle
Put your paws up in the air
And hold onto this candle.

Now they will be much harder

To find at Hide and Seek;

To find them in such places

Could take me till next week.

If they don't want to do that

Camouflage will have to do

If they blend in with where they live

We wouldn't have a clue.

Now scatter off and try to hide
I'll seek you out again;
One, two, three - four and five,
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

Ready or not, here I come
Where are you squirrel and moose?
No gopher, fox nor mole, but -
I hear the honking goose!

©Donna JT Smith, 2014

Today's post was brought to you by the letter A.

Amazing!