Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Tale of the Great Pout

Illustration by Emerson  Age:  4  Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Tale of the Late Bloomer

         This story is now in production with Tate Publishing to become a book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

The Tale of the Bad Tale

Illustration by Emerson  Age:  4 Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
Hayden the turtle sat in the clearing all alone.  His friends Audra the duck, Emerson the dragonfly, and Xavier the frog had not yet come to the clearing as usual.  Hayden had set out for the clearing an hour ago because it takes him so long to get there.  Now all he could do was wait.
He sighed, “My life is so slow and boring.  I wish my life was more exciting.”
Just then Audra the duck came into the clearing.  “Good morning, Hayden,” she said.  “Where is everyone?”
“I don’t know,” Hayden replied. 
“Maybe they will be here in a minute,” Audra said.  “I want to tell them about the rock I found in the pond this morning.”
Hayden was tired of all his friends having stories to tell about things that happened to them.  He felt left out. 
“Hey, you know, Audra,” started Hayden, “once I found a diamond on the bottom of the pond.”
“Really!” exclaimed Audra.  “What did you do with it?”
Before he could answer, Emerson the dragonfly flew into the clearing and landed beside them.  “Hey guys,” Emerson said, “what you doing?”
“Hayden’s telling about when he found a diamond in the pond,” said Audra.
Emerson leaned in close to Audra to listen. 
Illustration by Talan  Age:  3  Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
“Well, as I was saying,” Hayden began again, “once I found a diamond on the bottom of the pond.  I picked it up and took it to my home.  I hid it in my bedroom, but someone stole in the night!”
At this point Xavier the frog hopped into the clearing.  “What you doing?” he asked.
“Hayden’s telling us about his stolen diamond that he found in the pond,” explained Emerson.
With big eyes, Xavier settled in next to his friends to listen.
Now Hayden was not an experienced storyteller.  He had done okay up until this point, but he was running out of ideas of what could happen next.
“When they stole it they made a horrible mess in my room,” Hayden continued starting to squirm a little, “and I cried because they stole my diamond.”
At this point Audra became suspicious because Hayden was starting to act a little funny.  “Did you really find a diamond or are you just making that up?” asked Audra.
Illustration by Hayden  Age:  2  McKenzie, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
Hayden face turned red as a beet.  “No, it really happened,” said Hayden defiantly.  “I swear.”
Now his other two friends were getting suspicious.  “Hayden, it’s not cool to lie to your friends,” said Emerson.
Hayden could tell that his friends did not believe him, and that made his face get even redder.  Finally, he broke down in tears and confessed, “Okay, I didn’t find a diamond in the pond.  Happy?”
“Why would you tell us that?” asked Audra.  “You’ve never told us stories before.”
“I’m tired of always being the boring one,” said Hayden.
“We don’t think you’re boring,” said Xavier.  “You do lots of things.”
“You really don’t think I’m boring?” Hayden asked as he looked at his friends.
Illustration by Audra  Age:  Almost 2  Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
“No,” said all three friends together. 
“You are our friend and we’ve done lots of cool things together,” added Audra.
“Sorry I lied to you,” said Hayden as he hung his head.
“It’s okay,” Emerson replied.  “Just don’t do it again.”

For the rest of the afternoon the four friends pretended to be pirates.  The rock Audra had found became a valuable diamond.  They buried it and drew a treasure map intending to find their way back to it on another afternoon.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Tale of the Flying Frog


Illustration by Emerson  Age:  4  Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
           The afternoon sun shone brightly on Polliwog Pond.  Four friends sat on the bank of the pond talking.  Audra the duck, Emerson the dragonfly, and Hayden the turtle were listening to Xavier the frog brag about how far he could jump.  He had been bragging all day long. 
Finally, his friends had had enough.  Emerson the dragonfly said, “Instead of telling us about how far you can jump, why don’t you show us?”
“Yeah, Xavier, show us,” said Audra.  “Can you jump to that lily pad out there next to the big log?”
Xavier looked out at the lily pad next to the big log.  It was a LONG way from where they were.  Truthfully, he had never jumped that far before, but he didn’t want to look bad in front of his friends.
Hayden looked out at the lily pad as well and gave Audra a nasty look.  “Audra, there’s no way Xavier can jump that far and you know it.”
Illustration by Audra  Age:  Almost 2  Paris, TN
Mrs. Natalie's Childcare
Xavier didn’t like the fact that Hayden had said he couldn’t do it, even though he was probably right.  “Who says I can’t jump that far,” said Xavier defiantly.
“We all do,” said Audra.  “So put up or shut up.”
That did it.  Xavier was going to jump to that lily pad or die trying.   He backed away from the bank of the pond to get a running start.  Then he took off with all his might and leaped as hard as he could.  He sailed through the air and landed in the water two feet from the lily pad.  Splash!!!
He came up to the surface of the water and swam back to shore.  He didn’t even look at his friends because he could hear them giggling.  He backed farther away from the shore and tried again.  This time he fell just one foot shy of the lily pad.  Splash!!!
Hitting the water that hard really hurt, but he didn’t even say a word.  He climbed back out of the water and decided to use a different strategy.  He grabbed a long cattail that was next to the shore and bent it back.  When his friends saw what he was doing, they got nervous.
“Hey, Xavier, you don’t have to kill yourself trying to make it to that lily pad,” said Hayden nervously.  “Audra, was just being mean suggesting something that was that far away.”
“Yeah, Xavier, this is not a good idea,” said Audra.  “I just wanted you to stop bragging.”
Xavier looked at his friends defiantly and hopped onto the bent cattail.  It shot him into the air.  This time he flew past the lily pad and landed on the big log with a thud.  He slid off the log into the water and didn’t immediately come to the surface.
Audra panicked.  She swam as fast as she could to where Xavier had gone under and dipped her head under the water.  She saw him sinking to the bottom and grabbed him with her bill.  She pulled him to the surface and dragged him back to shore.
Xavier lay there coughing up water and moaning.  “He’s alive!” shouted Audra.  Then she turned on him angrily and said, “Don’t you ever do something that stupid ever again!”
Xavier hurt too bad to argue with her.  Then Audra calmed down and said, “I’m sorry I told you to try for that lily pad.  That was mean.  You scared me when you hit that log.”
Xavier looked up at his friends and said, “I’m sorry guys.  I didn’t mean to scare you.  That was probably the most stupid thing I have ever done.”
His friends didn’t argue.  For the rest of that day the friends talked about Xavier’s crazy flight through the air and how scary it was.  From that day on if Xavier ever decided he wanted to brag, his friends would just look at him and say, “flying frog.”  That was all it took.

Lily's Rainbow Adventure


            Lily sat on the welcome mat on her front porch looking across her wet yard.  The rain had just stopped, and a beautiful rainbow had appeared in the sky.
            “I wonder what it would be like to walk over a rainbow,” Lily said to herself.
            She closed her eyes and pretended she was walking on top of the rainbow.  It was made out of colored bricks.  From the top of the rainbow she could see for miles.  She could see her house and her grandma’s house.  She could see the store and the park where she loved to play. 
In the park she spied something behind a tree.  Could it be?  It was a dragon.  Lily spread her arms and flew through the air to the park.  She landed next to the tree where the dragon was hiding.
“Hello,” Lily called to the dragon.  The dragon did not come out.  “I won’t hurt you.”
The dragon carefully stepped toward Lily while she held out her hand.  When the dragon came close enough, Lily rubbed its scaly nose. 
“Would you like to fly with me to the rainbow?” Lily asked the dragon.  The dragon nodded and the two friends flew together until they landed on the top of the brick rainbow.  They sat together and watched the world beneath them.
Lily woke up from her lovely daydream and sighed.  “I wish I really could sit on top of a brick rainbow,” she said as she went back into her house.

The Adventures of Polliwog Pond: Teaching Tips for These Stories

The Adventures of Polliwog Pond: Teaching Tips for These Stories: Hi, my name is Natalie Wade.  I have a master's degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with an emphasis in Child and Family Studies from...