Ladybug Stories, Poems, and Songs Magazine for Young Kids and Children November/December 2016

It’s Thanksgiving! Max, Kate, and their families are visiting Aunt Sue. Suddenly, Max points out of the patio doors. “Wow, look who else came over for breakfast!” Everyone peeks out to see a flock of wild turkeys. They are flapping and pecking at tasty acorns from Aunt Sue’s oak tree. “Big birds are dancing!” says Charlie, flapping his arms and gobbling like a turkey. Kate and Max join Charlie’s dance. Soon everyone is doing the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot!…

Anna packed her pajamas and slippers. Her toothbrush was in her backpack, too. And her favorite book. Standing by the back door, Anna called out to her father, “I’m going on vacation now.” The first time Anna went on vacation, she was four years old. Back then, she and her father took an airplane to visit her grandmother in Vermont. Now Anna was five. On this trip, Anna didn’t need to go on an airplane. And this trip was the first time Anna was going all by herself. “I sure am going to miss you, Anna-Panda,” said her father. He gave her a big, big bear hug. Anna hugged him back. “Looks like you’re all set,” said her father. “Do you have everything you need?” Anna gasped. “I forgot something.”…

December 1 Dear Children , I’m packing my bag full of icy-cold white, A bag full of sparkles to scatter tonight. Find your wool mittens, and get out your sleds. Dream bright winter dreams when you’re tucked in your beds. I’ll pass by your windows. I’ll slip through your town. The streetlights will shimmer as soft flakes fall down. The sky’s growing dark now. The frozen winds blow. I’m coming, My Children ! Your Friend,…

After the snow falls, a gray squirrel peeks out of a hole in an oak tree. He climbs up the tree’s trunk. Snow slips off as he leaps across a big branch. A brown leaf hangs from a twig above him. The squirrel stretches on his hind legs, grabs the leaf, and crumples it into his mouth. Reaching up, he pulls off one leaf after another. Soon the squirrel’s mouth can hold no more leaves. He dashes across the branch and dives down into his hole. Another squirrel peeks out of the hole. She climbs up the other side of the trunk and runs across a skinny branch. The branch bounces up and down while she pulls off leaves. She stuffs the leaves into her mouth, then brings them back…

But when I put my hat on, it makes my poor head swelter. And when I take it off, you see, my hair goes helter-skelter. “Don’t forget your hat!” Mom called, as I ran out to play. (She says the same old silly thing each nippy, wintry day.) “Oh, Mom, my hat is itchy, and it catches on my ear! Sometimes it falls below my eyes—it’s much too large, I fear.” Then Mom said, “Don’t you worry, dear, I have a grand surprise. Grandma’s sent a brand-new hat, and look, it’s just your size!” In snowball fights I always lose because my hat’s so bright. A sitting duck is what I am, a blaze amidst the white.…

Mortimer the Magic Hat could make almost anything appear. When he heard a magic spell, he could turn bits of air into squawking chickens, slithering snakes, and chittering, chattering chipmunks. The depths of his crown swirled and twirled with so much magic that he could produce dragons and mice, unicorns and house cats. Once, he even conjured up a saber-toothed tiger. But no matter how hard he tried, and no matter what magic words were spoken, Mortimer could not make a white rabbit appear. “No white rabbits? Preposterous!” said Wanda the Wonderful when she came to Mr. Quigglemire’s Magic Hat Shop. “A magician can’t be a magician without a white rabbit. It’s every child’s favorite trick! Please, Mr. Quigglemire, show me the next hat.” “No rabbits?” said Francis the Fantastic.…