Ladybug Stories, Poems, and Songs Magazine for Young Kids and Children November/December 2015

The moon watches over the dark plains of South Africa. Lovu the elephant calf sees it and thinks it is a huge elephant tusk guarding the night. It makes him feel safe. He snuggles beside his mother, and she wraps her trunk around him. He goes to sleep. The moon watches. Mithi the giraffe calf sees it and thinks it is a giant silver leaf. When her neck grows long enough, she will pick it. She presses close to her mother’s side, flicks her tail, and dreams of eating the juiciest leaf in the world. The moon watches. Dube the zebra foal sees it and thinks it is the brightest zebra stripe of all. When he is big, he will run faster than all the other zebras and catch the…

Natalie is drawing a picture for her family. She grips a pencil and carefully draws the face of each person. But how do I draw the hands? Natalie wonders. I’ll ask my sister. She skips down the hall to her sister’s room. Sarah is typing away on her computer, working on a project for her English class. “I’m drawing a picture. Could you show me how to draw the hands?” Natalie asks. “I can’t right now. I’m doing my homework,” Sarah says, staring at her computer screen. “But it will just take a minute,” Natalie says. “Not now, Natalie!” “Aw, man!” Natalie heads down the hall. She looks at her picture again. It needs color, she thinks. The markers are on the top shelf in the hall closet. I’ll ask…

The new baby . . . tugs on my tail, shrieks a hurricane gale, laughs loud–GUFFAW! as she steps on my paw, steals my mom’s lap for her afternoon nap, gurgles and spits, gets applause when she sits. But she . . . strokes my soft coat, and she tickles my throat, spills her milk–yum! lets me lick off her thumb, opens up drawers I never sniffed in before, howls in the moonlight and kisses me goodnight. She’s still a bit soggy, but her first word was “doggy!” I guess she’s OK. The new baby can stay.…