Slice of Life Story Challenge #25 - The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog

My focus this month is to explore writing invitations, mostly through newly published picture books, but possibly some other mentor texts as well.

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems 
by 

Paul B. Janeczko,

 

Richard Jones (Illustrations)

 

Holly Mueller's review

it was amazing

bookshelves: 2019-book, animals, anthology, mock-caldecott-2020,poetry, humor, invitation-for-writing, how-to, diversity

What a delightful new anthology of poems, all organized around How-T0s of various kinds: Mix a Pancake, How to Be a Snowflake, A Lesson from the Deaf, and of course, The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog. I LOVE the illustrations by Richard Jones, and all the writing inspiration that could come from this book!

Writing Invitation: Write a How-To Poem or a connection to one of the How-To Poems in this anthology.

     Because there were several poems that reminded me of things I loved as a child or that my children loved (toasting marshmallows, making pancakes, basketball, riding bikes, swinging, playing jacks, watching and drawing birds, making snow angels, catching snowflakes, enjoying fireworks, making grass whistle through my thumbs, and nighttime prayers), I'm going to incorporate both a How-To poem and childhood memories.  I lift a few lines throughout the anthology to help me!

How To Be a Child

Let the sun wake you up

and feel your feet on the cool

oak floors.

It's Saturday! No school!

Stretch and yawn,

hear your tummy rumble for breakfast.

Skip out to the kitchen,

already smelling of something yummy

and laugh at the heart-shaped

pancakes that flip into the air,

and cover them with warm syrup.

Then run out to the yard in bare feet, 

feel the grass tickle your toes

and hear the red-winged blackbird's

conk-la-ree trill,

welcoming a warm spring day.

Pick a blade of crabgrass

flat and wide,

and grass-whistle for your friend

to come over and play H-O-R-S-E

in the driveway.

Aim shoot,

aim miss...that's an H!

When you're tired of that,

run over to the swing,

up in the air till you can see so wide,

so high that the leg of the swing set

pumps up out of the ground.

Making your belly flip-flop,

and drop back down.

After swinging and saying goodbye to that friend, 

grab your bike 

from the garage,

pedal fast over the crunch of the gravel drive.

Head down the road to another friend's house

and skid to a stop. 

You're just in time for tomato soup

and grilled cheese!  

You can smell it through

the screen door.

When you're done with lunch,

it's time for a game of jacks.

Throw them down

on the ground

toss that ball

not too high

now pick, quick.

Man!  She wins again!

Play Barbies all afternoon 

until you have to go home for dinner.

You want to call and beg for more time,

but you know they'll say no.

You still have to do a few

things on the chore list 

before bed.

After hamburgers,

sit out by the fire, stir it with a stick

and toast marshmallows

to a perfect crisp brown

before it bursts into flame.

It tastes like summer,

soon to arrive,

when every day can be like today.

Yawn, stretch.

It's time for bed.

Heavy eyelids start to close.

But first, a prayer,

breathing in and out ---

whisper,

Thank you, God,

for everything.