Illustration by Wanda L. Brown
brownhouse_art
My name is Polly Pepper
And I live on Orchard Lane.
My house is very organized.
It’s rustic, clean and plain.
I love to pick ripe peaches
And bake pies to give away.
I always have a perfect plan,
At least until today.
NOW-
There’s a cricket in the peaches
And a turkey in my trunk!
A goat came down the chimney.
And she’s dancing on my bunk!
—-
Yes, it rhymes. Rhyming is good. Rhyming is fun. Rhyming makes us happy! And the increasing annoyance of the chirping cricket soon becomes apparent.
Polly Pepper lives a quiet life picking peaches and baking pies. One day a chirping cricket arrives on the scene causing her animals to start behaving in unpredictable and extraordinary ways. Polly must learn to focus in spite of the distractions so she can bake her pie. THERE’S A CRICKET IN THE PEACHES is a picture book complete at 500 words for children ages 4 to 8.
How could I not write this story? After searching everywhere for the source of that annoying cricket, I finally found it, and literally exclaimed, “The cricket’s in the peaches!” to my daughter-in-law while on the phone. That led to me remembering that time I put our last surviving turkey in the trunk of my car to take into town to live with the chickens. There were my first two lines! And yes, our chickens can swing and pump with their tails. They also fly for bananas, but I digress. A squirrel did come down the chimney into the basement, and jump up to a high window sill and essentially fly across the room onto a freshly-made bunkbed. But, alas, “squirrel” is not an appropriate rhyming word due to pronunciation variations, so, the squirrel is now a goat! Problem solved. And, I did indeed chase our daughter’s horse down a county road in 110 degree temperature (heat index higher). Fun times. Not. But I knew the horse had to figure into my story. My cats and dogs are always doing crazy things and I did rescue a beaver once, but he wasn’t fishing. 🙂
If you are interested in the status of my current projects, I’d love to hear from you at bclark@iowareflections.com
Barbara