Thursday, December 31, 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Collection of Stars 3.0

Another Mary Poppins story about stars is in the same book. In this story, Mary takes the children to a small and very dingy shop with old candy and faded decorations. They are there to buy gingerbread with a gilt paper star. The store's proprietress asks what the children do with the paper stars. The children give up their secret hiding places. They leave the store and see the store is no longer there (I won't bore you with how many times that has happened to me!) Later, much to the children's surprise, their stars are stolen and hung in the sky (see illustration). Jane asks, "Are the stars gold paper or is the gold paper stars?"

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Collection of Stars 2.0

Here's another story about stars. This illustration is from the book, "Mary Poppins". The story is called, "The Dancing Cow." It's a story about a red cow who lived a very respectable life and behaved like a perfect lady. She's spend her days teaching her calves how to moo and select the perfect dandelion. One night when "the stars looked like dandelions and the moon a great daisy," it happened. The cow couldn't stop dancing - all sorts of dances but could not sleep because she couldn't stop dancing. In the morning, her calf had to eat the dandelions alone because the red cow couldn't stop dancing. She decides to see the king and he notices a fallen star has caught on her horn. He tells her jumping over the moon is the only way to remove it. She does and returns to her normal life, but she can't stand it. She missed the dancing and the happy feeling it gave her. She figures if she keeps moving, she'll find another fallen star.

The trick is to be able to have both lives, the quiet part and the wild dances and not sacrifice either.