“My Favorite Word”
by Lucia and James Hymes, Jr.
There is one word-
My favorite-
The very, very best.
It isn’t No or Maybe.
It’s Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, YES!
“Yes, Yes, you may,” and
“Yes, of course,” and
“Yes, please help yourself.”
And when I want a piece of cake,
“Why, yes. It’s on the shelf.”
Some candy? “Yes.”
A cookie? “Yes.”
A movie? “Yes, we’ll go.”
I love it when they say my word:
Yes, yes, YES! (Not no.)
“Sometimes”
by Jack Prelutsky
Sometimes I simply have to cry,
I don’t know why,
I don’t know why.
There’s really nothing very wrong,
I probably should sing a song
Or run around and make some noise
Or sit and tinker with my toys
Or pop a couple of balloons
Or play a game or watch cartoons,
But I’m feeling sad,
Though I don’t know why,
And all I want to do is cry.
“April Rain Song”
by Langston Hughes
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night-
And I love the rain.
“Smart” by Shel Silverstein
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes -- I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head--
Too proud of me to speak!
October
By Georgia B. Adams
This month the trees begin to make
Their autumn alterations;
October brings the turning leaf
In flaming variations!
Triumphant beauty clothes the hills;
The mountains are ablaze!
There's splendor everywhere to see
These gold autumnal days!
Then one day soon the whistling winds
Will hustle-bustle by,
Sending leaves a-sprawling with
A wistful, wind-swept sigh!
This month the trees begin to make
Their autumn alterations:
October brings the blowing leaf
In flaming variations!
“That Was Summer”
by Marci Ridlon
Have you ever smelled summer?
Sure you have.
Remember that time
when you were tired of running
or doing nothing much
and you were hot
and you flopped right down on the ground?
Remember how the warm soil smelled
and the grass?
That was summer.
Remember that time
when you were trying to climb
higher in the tree
and you didn't know how
and your foot was hurting in the fork
but you were holding tight
to the branch?
Remember how the bark smelled then -
all dusty dry, but nice?
That was summer.
Remember that time
when the storm blew up quick
and you stood under a ledge
and watched the rain till it stopped
and when it stopped
you walked out again to the sidewalk,
the quiet sidewalk?
Remember how the pavement smelled -
all steamy warm and wet?
That was summer.
If you try very hard
can you remember that time
when you played outside all day
and you came home for dinner
and had to take a bath right away,
right away?
It took you a long time to pull
your shirt over your head.
Do you remember smelling the sunshine
That was summer.