Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Ayuh to Z Challenge - M

My theme: Book Titles A to Z written by Maine authors,
and a poem for that title each day for the month of April.
The poem is not about the book, but is written with the title as inspiration!


Welcome to M!

M is for
A Mountain of Mittens
by Lynn Plourde
A Mountain of Mittens

The days were cold, I needed mittens to wear
But I could not find even one matching pair
I picked up a mitten I threw it behind
Where were the pairs, am I losing my mind?

I rummaged, I rifled, I rooted and foraged
Until I had tossed every mitten from storage
I’d thrown all my mittens behind in a heap
Until pretty soon those mittens were deep

I then spun around to go back out the door
To see if somewhere I could find any more
But there in my way was a big mitten hill
Of singleton mittens no doubles...until

There at the bottom of Mount Mitten I spied
A nice red and blue one with white fuzz inside
And there on the top was a white fuzzy mitt
With blue and red inside, turned right-sided it

Was the match to the other! No more need be found,
Now all I need do was get over this mound
I climbed up one side and stood on the peak
Slid down the other, with a loud shriek!

Eureka! I’ve found them! My mittens! A pair!
But then from its foothills, my mother’s stern glare,
“And what will you do with this mountain of mittens?
There’s more than enough for the three little kittens!”

So I stuffed them all in a big bag to deposit
That mountain of mittens back into the closet!
Mount Mitten will grow as the springtime draws near
And should be much higher by this time next year.

©Donna JT Smith, 2014

Lynn Plourde is a native of Dexter, Maine, and now lives in Winthrop, Maine. Here's her website link.
A Mountain of Mittens about the pile of mittens in the school's Lost and Found, and how it is getting out of control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make Way for Ducklings
by Robert McCloskey
I remember this one being read on Captain Kangaroo when I was a child.  I've used a Robert McCloskey book earlier for the letter B for Blueberries for Sal.
In this book, a busy city makes way for ducklings, allowing them to cross the busy street in safety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney is my very favoritest book ever.  I loved painting lupines with my classes each year.  I love how Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, looks a lot like the author.  In this book a granddaughter is told by her grandfather that someday she must do something to make the world more beautiful.  She vows that she will do three things: travel, settle down by the sea, and somehow make the world more beautiful.  When she is grown, she fulfills all her promises, as she comes to live in a little house on the ocean after a life spent traveling to faraway places. She then scatters lupine seeds all over the coastal village, creating beautiful spots of colorful flowers everywhere.
She also wrote Eleanor, which was one of my E books.

Brought to you by the letter M!

Magnificent!

And now for the nifty letter N!

4 comments:

  1. Very clever and nice poem. I love children's books!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Cathrina! Such a pretty name! Is the "th" pronounced /th/ or /t/?

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  2. Thanks for the book new to me, Donna, and the poem is a marvelous true-to-life story isn't it? You do have a gift for the story, the rhythm & the rhyme! My favorite that really brought a smile: "There’s more than enough for the three little kittens!”"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Linda. I think I still have a mountain in my closet somewhere.

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