|
|
Upside-Down Jellies
28 Animal Poems
For Middle-Grade Readers
(Kids About 8 - 12 Years Old)
Upside-Down Jellies - Front Cover
"Shaved Dog"
|
"Blue"
"The Pride"
"Red-Hot Cardinal"
Want Samples? Okay! |
|
from "Upside-Down Jellies" Upside-down jellies are like couch potatoes. They lie on their backs on a swampy sea bed, raising short, ruffled arms covered with mouths, and stay stuck in one spot while they wait to get fed. from "Old Cat" The animal shelter had kittens enough to give me a choice. The decision was tough. A smooth-coated kit? An explosion of fluff? With patches or stripes? White or gray? Black or buff? A leaper? A sleeper? A singer of “Mew”? A juggler? A cuddler? Age six months or two? from "Penguin Greetings" But one penguin ‒ one ‒ swims straight to me, stares hard, and starts his show, gawking, nodding, waggling, squirming, rolling, flapping, spinning, pausing quick, waggling again, again, till finally I must leave. What does it mean? |
from "An Elephant's Place" Tomorrow when you go to school, don’t bring your elephant with you. He’s better off beside the pool than imitating what you do. from "How Skunks Think" Yesterday morning we caught a big skunk in our live-trap ‒ a boxy wire cage. Hunched on its grassy floor, eating the fruit left for groundhogs, he tripped the door, snapping it shut, before spraying his skunk smell, which made our yard stink for hours, thanks to his panic and rage. from "The Pride" After they hunt, after they eat, four female lions take naps in the heat. Bellies are full. Energy’s gone. Roaring is finished. They blink and they yawn. |
"Penguin Greetings"
Looking for Activities?
Go to
Fun Stuff to Do
Weird Questions
1. If a starfish has only four arms, did it lose one in a fight?
2. When are horses' legs like windshield wipers?
3. If there's a hole in your bedroom carpet, who made it?
4. What happens when a big neon sign crashes onto your fish tank?
5. If squirrels grew their own food, would they eat it?
6. Which is ickier, spider webs or cobwebs?
7. If a cat vaults onto your head, do you need a bandage?
8. What animal tries to scare itself away?
9. If you go camping on an uninhabited island for a year
and you can take only one kind of food with you, what should it be?
(hint: not including water)
Find the Answers to These
and Many More Questions
in
Upside-Down Jellies
(Or check out the short-short versions of the answers!)