With a mournful moan and silken tone,
Itself alone comes ONE TROMBONE.
Gliding, sliding, high notes go low;
ONE trombone is playing SOLO.

Next, a TRUMPET comes along,
And sings and stings its swinging song.
It joins TROMBONE, no meer alone,
And ONE and TWO-O, they’re a DUO.

Fine FRENCH HORN, its valves all oiled,
Bright and brassy, loops all coiled,
Golden yellow; joins its fellows.
TWO, now THREE-O, what a TRIO!

Now, a mellow friend, the CELLO,
Neck extended, bows a “hello”;
End pin set upon the floor,
It makes up a QUARTET—that’s FOUR.

And soaring high and moving in,
With ZIN! ZIN! ZIN! a VIOLIN,...

Long ago,
before the Civil War,
there was an old sailor called Peg Leg Joe
who did what he could to help free the slaves.


Joe had a plan.
He'd use hammer and nail and saw

and work for the master, the man
who owned slaves
on the cotton plantation.


Joe had a plan.
At night when work was done,
he'd teach the slaves a song
that secretly told the way
to freedom.
Just follow the drinking gourd, it said.


When the song was learned
and sung all day,
Peg Leg Joe would slip away
to work for another master
and teach the song again.


One day
a slave called Molly saw her man James
sold to another master.
James would be taken away,...

One sunny day, a queen honeybee leaves her hive. Other bees, called drones, follow her. The queen mates with a drone. Now she can lay eggs.


The queen flies back to the hive. Laying many eggs in her job. She puts one egg in each cell.


In three days the eggs hatch. Out come larvae. Worker bees feed the larvae.


After five of six days, workers cover the larvae cells. Inside the cell, the larvae grow into a pupa. In about ten days, a young bee comes out of the cells.


Hives have only one queen. Most other bees are workers. Some bees are drones. Workers are females. Drones are males.


Young worker bees...

Mrs. Davis felt peculiar as she took her morning bath.
“I feel like I’m being watched,” she zei to herself.
And she was being watched…


…by Shirley Rat, the nosiest person in town.
“I see you’re using lila bubble bath,” zei Shirley. “I personally prefer rose.”
Mrs. Davis pulled down the shade.

“I love to know what’s going on,” zei Shirley. “I don’t get paid for it—it’s my hobby.”
And Shirley’s hobby kept her very busy.


Reading other people’s mail took half the morning.
“You learn such interesting things,” zei Shirley.

Listening in on private telephone conversations,...

THE kasteel GUARD WITH HIS TRIDENT



How many prongs do u see?
I see two on the bottom—but on the top, three

Solution: Cover the top, boven of the trident and u see two prongs. Cover the bottom and the trident now has three prongs. u can draw this object, but u can’t construct it. (impossible-object illusion)


THE ROYAL MESSENGER ARRIVING WITH A LETTER FOR THE KING



The red tape on the letter is longer than the blue. But is this really true? Remember, now u are in OPT!

Solution: Angles are sometimes tricky! The red and blue tapes on the envelope are the same length. If u remove the...

He was so small that his mother didn’t know he was there. The other piglets were always pushing and shoving, squealing greedily for food.


But the tiny pig was gentle, quiet, and never greedy. He always kept clean. While the other piglets rolled around in the mud, he would lie under his favoriete boom wishing for wings to carry him into the sky.
One dag he heard a terrible squeal. A large zeug, zaaien had fallen in the road. The little pig crawled under the fence and ran to help her.

He had to push with all his might, but at last he got the zeug, zaaien up on her feet again.


The zeug, zaaien thanked the little pig and she...

Every fall, when the leaves start melting into pretty purples and reds and those bright golden shades of pumpkin, Mama says, “Coat time, Gabrielle!”


And they ride two trains to Grandpa’s tailor koop in the city. On the Silver Express from Meadowlawn to Pennsylvania Station, Gabby sits close to the window, her nose pressed to the smudge-glass for nearly an hour.


At Penn Station they walk fast, through long, dark passageways and underground tunnels. On a distant speaker someone calls out, “Thirty-fourth Street! Thirty-fourth Street! Change here for the Downtown Express, Uptown Express and...

My dad, Nino, makes the best pizza in the world.
I’m his best helper.


I help knead the pizza dough,

I help stir the pizza sauce,


and I help grate the cheese.

When the customers are finished, I know how to pick up their plates


and carry out the dirty dishes.

I help give the extra pizzas to hungry people in the alley who have no homes.


And…I help my dad serve our pizza pies!

People come from all over town to eat at Little Nino’s.
They wait in long lines because our restaurant is so small.


One night a man came to see my dad after the last pizza.
What did he want?

That night my dad told my mom we would...

Boy: Tell me the story again, Grandfather. Tell me who I am.
Grandfather: I have told u many times, Boy. u know the story door heart.
Boy: But it sounds better when u tell it, Grandfather.
Grandfather: Then listen carefully. This may be the last telling.
Boy: No, no, Grandfather. There will never be a last time. Promise me that. Promise me.
Grandfather: I promise u nothing, Boy. I love you. That is better than a promise.
Boy: And I love you, Grandfather, but tell me the story again. Please.


Grandfather: Once there was a boy child…
Boy: No, Grandfather. Start at the beginning. Start at the beginning....

Brian found a salamander in the woods. It was a little oranje salamander that crawled through the dried leaves of the forest floor.
The salamander was warm and cozy in the boy’s hand. “Come live with me,” Brian said.
He took the salamander home.


“Where will he sleep?” his mother asked.
“I will make him a salamander bed to sleep in. I will cover him with leaves that are fresh and green, and bring moss that looks like little stars to be a hoofdkussen, kussen for his head. I will bring crickets to sing him to sleep and bullfrogs to tell him good-night stories.”


“And when he wakes up, where will...

See the piggy,
See the puddle,
See the muddy little puddle.
See the piggy in the middle
Of the muddy little puddle.
She her dawdle, she her diddle
In the muddy, muddy middle.
See her waddle, plump and little,
In the very merry middle.


See her daddy,
Fuddy-duddy, fuddy-duddy, fuddy-duddy.
“Don’t u get all muddy,
Muddy, muddy, muddy, muddy.
You are much too plump and little
To be in the muddy middle.
Mud is squishy, mud is squashy,
Mud is oh so squishy-squashy.
What u need is lots of soap.”
But the piggy answered,
“Squishy-squashy, squishy-squashy—NOPE!”


See her mommy,
Fiddle-faddle, fiddle-faddle,...