THE HITCHHIKER

I didn’t even know,

My little hitchhiker,

I never caught his name,

Over highways we flew.

I was all warm inside,

He took his ride outside,

Holding on for dear life,

To the trunk of my car.

Not until we had parked,

Did I see the poor thing,

Crouched against the trunk rim,

All aquiver was he.

The tiny little mouse,

On unfamiliar ground,

Across the car he ran,

Upon the grass he jumped,

No stop to say goodbye,

The petrified mouse flew,

Running to get away,

As fast as he could go.

.

Sure wishing he stayed put,

And not traveled afar,

The little hitchhiker

So far away from home.

WEE THREE: A MOTHER'S LOVE IN VERSE

Many years ago before I born, when my mother, aunt and uncle were small children, myGrandmother Helen Springer Moran began writing poetry, about and for her children.

She began her poems from their perspective and how they saw the world.

She wanted her poems to be published more than most things in life, though I was to learn this much later. She passed away about six months before I was born, I didn’t even know that her poems existed till many years later, when my own mother lay dying.

The one thing besides, having her children around her, that she enjoyed most was having those same poems read to her over and over again. They brought back lovely memories of her childhood to her in her last days.

Many children don’t have the ideal childhood, I was one of them. I wonder if in fact there is such a thing as an ideal childhood or is it only in the imagination of Hollywood?

When I first decided to take these poems my grandmother wrote, lengthen them, and add my own, thereby publishing, Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, it was first a gift to my mother and grandmother. It was a way for me to honor their memory and the memories of children. I wanted to help people to reconnect with the child within and to bring a link back to families.

Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, carries with it the best memories of childhood. In both its lessons and its joys, for childhood is full of both.

I was raised in a family of nine, we were very poor. Not every memory of my childhood is good, in fact most aren’t. Yet, my intention was to focus on the best and greatest things that it held.

Those are of imagination, beauty, joy, discovery, and gentle lessons. The lessons that give us boundaries and teach us responsibility without harm, as told in “Punishment.”

Wee Three: A Mother’s Love in Verse, is meant to be read to the young or the young at heart. It was written to help me remember the innocence and joy that we all begin life with and share that with others.

It is a childhood keepsake book, to be passed down between the generations, bridging the gap, between life as it was in the past and life that is yet to be.

My hope is that it will bring joy, wonder, and imagination back to the world. Today, we live in such a fast paced technological society; it seems we have lost so much of life’s pleasure in just being.

WRITING FOR A CHILD PART II, WHAT MAKES A GREAT CHILDREN'S BOOK?

Have you ever heard a piece of music, smelled something and all of a sudden a feeling washed over you, bringing back a happy or sad memory? Great children’s books will do the same thing. They will take your heart and mind to back to the memory of days gone by.

If you consider books to be only teaching tools, remember the warm glow that special book brought you. Think about it, can you feel the joy, sadness, warmth, and yes even the smell of the place you were in, when first you heard or read that special book?

What was that book, was it one of the classics like, Little Women, The Cat in the Hat, Charlotte’s Web,Treasure Island or another book? When writing for a child, you should remember the world that they see and hear. Find within yourself the beauty and wonder of life as it unfolded around you when you were young. The book will hopefully take even an adult back to the silly, clever, imaginative or wondrous world that still lies within them.

Take Dr. Seuss’, The Cat in the Hat, many of us remember it being read to us as a child. Our eyes lit up and we giggled as the clever rhymes told a wondrous story. If we picked it up again today, to read to a child or just for our own enjoyment, maybe it would help us to once again find the spirit of the child within us, waiting to be let out.

Remember the sweet sad, touching story of Wilbur the pig being saved from slaughter by a spider named Charlotte? Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White is considered a true classic in children’s literature, yet it is written from the point of view of a pig and a spider.

So what makes a great children’s book? It is a story that holds the heart, mind and spirit of a child within its pages. It is a book that can be picked up years later by an adult and they will again be swept up into the story all over again. Maybe like The Cat in the Hat, the adult will find themself once again chuckling, reliving their own youthful innocence.

Charlotte’s Web, might once again make you cry, feel the pain, loneliness and simplicity of life, nature and the love that fellow creatures can have for one another.

Perhaps you will feel the adventure again that you found in Treasure Island, and remember the days when you played pirates.

Little Women, might bring you back to a kinder, gentler world. A world that is forgiving, even in the face of darkness and pain.

No matter the age of the person, a great children’s book will delight both the child and the adult. It will sweep all the world’s problems away and take you into the land where you will once again live the glorious days of your own youth and innocence.

Whichever book you remember most clearly the message remains the same. The story, prose or verse must capture the essence of the heart of the child. It must see the world through their eyes, if it is to be a book that is to be picked up generation upon generation.

WRITING FOR A CHILD

So much of writing for a child is in the remembering to think like a child. The most popular children’s books today are told from the perspective of the child.

Why is the Harry Potter series such a success? Is it because there is magic, witches, goblins and strange magical beasts, potions that make you shrink, brooms to fly. Yes this is some of it, for we would all like to believe we can become more, that magic can fill our lives.

But the other and more important part is that the books do not talk down to children. They aren’t adults giving another lesson clothed in magic. They are about learning to fight the good fight. They are about being responsible for ones actions and the difficulties of growing up.

They teach lessons of how “cliques” and bullying can hurt. They teach the truth that there is worth in every child and that more lies below the surface then can be seen in who someone hangs out with or whether or not they are popular. They teach it is okay to be different and not okay to be cruel, greedy or power hungry.

Yet these stories are told clothed in a way the child can accept, they are told from the way a child thinks and feels. So often in writing a child’s book, what leaves the child cold is the author is thinking like an adult and not like a child. As a result the book or story comes across as just another adult lesson, one that just proves once again that adults don’t understand.

Fourth of July today and yesterday

Fourth of July in years past was celebrated with fireworks, parades, picnics in the park most of which we still have today. But what is different today from all the generations before us?
Yesteryear, the families in many of the smaller towns across the country, from young to old would gather in the town square to celebrate.
A small parade would go down Main Street, there were always little children dressed in homemade costumes in the parade. There would be the local town band, or school marching band and a float or two. Our veterans and those soldiers home from leave would march side by side with the local mayor and a few town officials. Small children would be on the shoulders of their parents and few would miss anything.
Afterwards the ladies would go off to get the food ready to bring to the town square, the gents off to set up the tables, sometimes having a sip of local brew. The children would usually play until it was time to wash and dress for the festivities. Yes even for a picnic everyone would dress nicely; even the poorest of the poor would put on their best.
There was a little bandstand where a couple of musician would gather, playing songs for the fourth.
The sound of the Barber Shop Quartets would fill the air, with the noise of the sack races, three legged races and many other types of games and sporting events for the young or young of heart to join into, relieving the excess emotion a day of socializing can bring.
Laughter could be heard over the music from the band stand and when the musicians took a break, why there was always someone to sit in, having brought their own guitar or banjo. Later on in the evening there would be dancing.
It was a day to celebrate not only our countries freedom, but a day to put aside differences and celebrate life with each other. It was a day where young and old could find the pleasure in the day and each other. Families and friends would talk, play, eat, sing and dance together.
It however wasn’t a day where you sat in front of the Television or brought your game boy, or cell phone to text your friends. Nor was it a day to separate yourself from those around you. It wasn’t a day to exclude others or a day when each family kept to itself as an island alone in the world, jaded with contempt for the simplicity of those that were making merry.
Well my friends do what do you think we can do to bring back a bit of the simple pleasures in life? Do you think we can find commonality in each other again? Can we slow our world just a bit to find the time to play the silly games of sack races? Or are we to be forever isolated from each other and our children as they text their friends and we text ours? Not talking to each other nor finding the joy in the moment. Can we find once again find the pleasure of life without some technical gadget hanging from our ear or in front of our face?

THE WONDER OF BUGS

When I talk about Wee Three, its meaning to me and what I hope it will mean to others, I always write and talk about the innocence of childhood. When in fact many have not had the greatest childhoods, many children go to bed hungry, live in war torn countries with their innocence ripped from them before they are old enough to even know the world.
It is not that I am unaware that this is happening. It is that I choose to try to bring lightness of spirit back into our society and world. To bring an acceptance of each other whatever our differences, to find a way for all of us to find the place inside ourselves of joy, innocence and a place of reclaiming and relearning what we can be.
Our world has gotten too serious, focusing on all the blight, problems and stress. Many have forgotten the simple joy of a walk in the rain. Jumping in puddles, watching a bug and really seeing it as if for the first time, not as a nuisance but as another creature on our planet, and trying to figure out what the bug is up to.
Each species has its place in our world and without one of them our world would be different. Now in the case of bugs some would say this would be a good thing. Yet without them we would be wallowing in a world filled to the brim with dead trees, plants, food and an assortment of other trash.
We may look on that bug only for the trouble it may cause us. When in fact we should see it for what it is a helper in life. It may appear ugly to our eyes, yet beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to another of its species it may be the most beautiful.
Do you find a bug a nuisance? Can you look beyond the problems it may cause you temporarily and see that it has a place? Can you see its beauty and wonder what it does and why it does it?

Let me know what you think? Is there a bug that you like? Do you consider them all a nuisance or are there some that you can find beautiful?

Wondering

The other day on Twitter my friend @TheFourOrders asked me if we had lost our wonder? I began thinking of all the times I have spent watching the stars, listening to the wind move through the trees.

The moments spent making cloud pictures, finding a new bug that I had never seen before and marveling about its beauty. Sitting and listening to the stories of my parents, the elders in our community or watching people walk their dogs.

It also made me think of what television or playing video games is making us lose. The trips to the mall that are taken, not because we need something but as a means of entertainment.

And I realized that a part of the meaning of Wee Three is its ability to help us to remember the simpler times. The games of our youth, and the joy and wonder that children are born with.

Somewhere along the way it seems we as a society have lost our ability to find this wonder and joy. Can we remember, can we reclaim it?

WONDERING

Have we lost our ability?
To find the wonder in the day?

To look upon the sky so fair,
Make pictures from the clouds above.

Watch the gentle breeze blow the leaves,
Hear the calm voices of the trees.

Pet a dog or watch a kitten,
Open our hearts to see their joy.

Can we still sit so quietly?
Listening to the birds in song.

Do we still see the miracles?
In the uncomplicated things.

Where is the time to watch the stars?
Or see the moonlight shine so bright.

Anger and tension fills our lives.
Killing us with the fear and stress.

No time left to teach our children,
See the glory and the wonder.

Trouble-free, fun and banter too,
All the natural, simple play.

Is it worth the fury and strain?
We give ourselves and children too.

Are we losing our precious time?
With all the running to and fro.

Where has all of life’s glory gone?
Can we reclaim our wonder now?

Copyrighted 2011 Marta Moran-Bishop


Wee Three is a book of verse and memories. But it is also a means to regain and to share that innocence and joy we had as a child. My hope is that in its pages people will find a way to remember the times before the mall or shopping became our means of entertainment. And we as a society will begin to look once again at the pure innocent wonder that life has for us.

What do you all think? Can we as a society reclaim our sense of wonder? Can we help our children to find fun in simple, natural play again?

War and Children

Before I was born my mother, her mother and her grandmother going back for generations lived through one War or another.

For my mother it was World War I, World War II, the Korean War, The Vietnam War, The Gulf War. There has always been one War or another. But what toll does it take on our children? What toll will it take on their children and all the future generations?

Does it solve anything? Has it made the world a better place? Sometimes yes for I know I wouldn't want to be living in a world controlled by the Hitler's of the world. Yet most wars only serve to cost more lives, more lost innocence and more children without a parent.

I believe we need to start looking for another solution in this world. We need to help our children learn to look for the best not the worst in people. To teach them to respect other peoples, cultures and find things that can be shared and learned.

On this Memorial Day I am thinking not only of the boys, men, and women that serve and served our country. But also of the cost to all the children around the world who lost their innocence, parents and lives to war.

My hope is that we find a way past hatred, judgment of others because of their race, religion, culture or difference.

THE GLORIES OF A CHILD'S IMAGINATION

There is not much better then the morning I spent with the kindergarten classes at the Berlin Memorial School, doing a reading of Wee Three.

This particular morning I decided to ask the children what they would like to be if they were not a human. I was thrilled with the different answers I recieved.

Tyler wanted to be a duck and Amanda a river. When I asked them why they chose these two particular things. Amanda told me she would like to be able to flow free seeing the world, tumbling over the rocks without the need to worry about being hurt.

Tyler said that he thought that ducks were beautiful, they could swim and also walk on the ground. He particularly enjoyed watching them in the when they were in the water bobbing there heads for food.

I told them when I was little I wanted to be a bumblebee. Because I could fly over the garden wall and into the cherry tree. I could eat and eat and eat all day and never wash my face or comb my hair. This brought many giggles and lots of laughter.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end. So I wrapped up my reading with snow magic and let the blue jays, cardinals and woodpeckers fly in the form of colored wings to the delight of us all.

Wee Three Hits the Road

January 25 is my birthday so it is only fitting that my very first reading is done the very next day on January 26th. It is at the Berlin Library and will be for ages 4to 6.

I am of course a little nervous after all I am taking my grandmothers, mothers and my childhood memories written in verse on the road.
I am excited yet as you all can imagine am also suffering from a bit of stage fright. I must remember another lesson my mother taught me.

Always focus on others, remember to make eye contact and bring each person into the process. Interact with both the children and their parents and make the day a fun and happy place for all.

I am overjoyed to be sharing Wee Three, it has been a long time coming and I hope to continue the tradition of connecting across the ages. Wee Three is a book that can be enjoyed by all ages. It can be read to the young by grandparents and parents. Or an adult can read it for the pure enjoyment of reliving your own innocence, youthful dreams and childhood joys and lessons learned.

In it's pages one can always find something that will make you remember a bit of your childhood, a wonderful memory that you had with your own children or parents.

So I hope you will all wish me luck.

Events

After many calls and more voice messages left, yesterday I finally set up my first two events. I have a reading at the Senior Center in Clinton MA and a reading set for the Berlin, MA library. My first event so far is the day after my birthday and I am excited. Hopefully there will be a large turn out. But even a small one to get my feet wet and begin getting Wee Three out there is a blessing.

With luck I will have a full calender soon. Am I afraid of speaking in public? I guess in some ways it is something we all fight. Yet I am looking forward to the challenge and the chance.