Phineas wished, for the two-thousand-three-hundred-and-twenty-third time, that he had a different name. His father was in the army, and the family moved fairly often. No, unfairly often. There was ... [+]
Children's
Phineas wished, for the two-thousand-three-hundred-and-twenty-third time, that he had a different name. His father was in the army, and the family moved fairly often. No, unfairly often. There was ... [+]
There are mountains hidden downstairs
in my grandpa's country house
with craggy granite boulders
no bigger than a mouse.
Little trees of twigs and moss
hug miniature ravines,
where
... [+]
Bobby didn't talk much in class. When he did speak, the other children often made fun of him because he stammered. His words just wouldn't come out right. They twisted around his tongue like slimy ... [+]
There was a hippo in the kitchen. No one knew how it got there, or when, but there was undeniably an enormous, sloppy, disheveled hippo in the kitchen.
"And," I said, examining the lunch my mothe
... [+]
Sometimes I can't sleep. That's because of the bear under the bed.
One night, the bear was breathing hard.
When he breathed in, the bed lifted up off the floor.
When he breathed out, the
... [+]
"Baa, baa, baaaaa" bleated Sally. "Life on the Renaud farm is blah, blah, blaaaah," she complained. "Nothing ever changes. Same sheep. Same hill. Same rocks... WHOOPS!"
The stone beneath Sally's
... [+]
Wendell the dog awoke to the wonderful smell of summer.
Samantha the cat stretched and yawned. She could smell it too. "This is a perfect day for..."
"...going to the beach, right?" Wendell
... [+]
Billie scuffed her flip flops through the dry needles scattered over the Christmas tree lot. Pine scent filled the air. But it felt too hot for Christmas.
"How about this one?" Her mom turned a
... [+]
Lydia hugged her new purple sketchbook, pens, pencils, watercolors, and paintbrushes.
She jumped and twirled at the thought of making her very own ART.
But when she opened the sketchbook
... [+]
"Maddy, we've got some very exciting news to tell you," said Mom and Dad.
And I was very excited. I was sure it was a dog! They'd promised.
"You're going to have a little brother or a little
... [+]
Bashir looked at the sunlight coming in through the window. The weather was magnificent, but he was forced to wait here, in the shadow of the dining hall of Mimosa Boarding School.
It was a
... [+]
Paul is one of the kids in my class.
Paul always sits by himself at the back of the class. He has big green glasses, looks shy and has such a trembling voice that he sounds as if he's stumbling
... [+]
Justine and Margie had decided to take the lead in the revolt. They were discussing in muttered tones in their little brother Charlie's room. As he was only two years old, he would not be capable of ... [+]
Pauline was finishing the washing-up after breakfast while watching with amusement the bullfinches and blue birds quarreling in the garden over the crumbs of bread she had just thrown out of the ... [+]
Thomas had put on his best new school shoes, since it was the first day of the new year.
This morning, when the alarm had gone off, Thomas had woken with a jump.
But now that was already an
... [+]
I will dog sled. There's no better way to the North Pole. I will be muffled up in thirty-six layers of fur and I will drive my pack with great wild cries: Mush! Let's go! Line out! My huskies will ... [+]
Today, for my twelfth birthday, Mom gave me a pair of binoculars to watch the birds and a leatherette notebook with a chain. Notebooks with chains are for girls, and I didn't even know what ... [+]