Day 13: BOOM

Hardwood floor rattles. 50-year-old walls shake,  G’s caterpillar ABC toy starts playing in the darkness. It’s 5 a.m. and I’m too afraid to blow dry my hair because it involves touching an electrical outlet.

Storms scare G too.  The two days in September where it rained 7 inches also involved a thunderous parade and a little boy who hid his head in our shoulders.

My next farm kid story involves the reason we stare at online radar as if it’s the last lap of the NASCAR Daytona 500.

Local Illinois author Lettie L. Crays writes about weather in her book Timmy the Turtle and the Storm.  And as I go into the description part of my post... I realize the book sits on the nightstand in G’s room where the little guy just fell asleep (I don’t make this stuff up, folks.)

I met the author this month while at the Chris Cringle craft show in Champaign-Urbana, my lovely alma mater town.  She signed our book with a heartfelt note to G on the front cover. 

In this book Timmy the turtle and his friends watch puffy clouds make shapes in the sky.  While you and I know these as cumulus clouds, the author doesn’t go into scientific detail on what brings on the storm.  Crays writes how animal characters react to difficult situations such as a huge clap of thunder.  After the storm passes the animals offer each other reasons why the storm was so loud.

“We must figure out why the rainstorm was so different from the pleasant showers that wash off the dust and make the air smell fresh, “ said Timmy the Turtle.

Illustrator Joe Rollins draws the scenes in black-outlines filled in with greens, blues, browns and yellows.  The storm’s progress can be seen be looking at the yellow Brown-eyed Susan flower on almost every page.  Petals blowing westward as the rainstorm approaches.  Petals wilting in heavy rain. 

How many times did we open our front door this summer and hear thunder but receive little rain?  Sigh.  Too many times we missed a good rain by a simple 6 miles.  Such is a life of a weatherman, or in our case: a farmer. 

What books sit on your little one’s nightstand tonight?

Lauren

My Library List:

Preview Day: 30 Days of Farm Kid Stories
Day 1: One Moment
Day 2:  Perfect Pizza
Day 3:  Our Heartland
Day 4: Pasta Fistful
Day 5: One Fast Grower
Day 6: Farmer Seuss
Day 7: Just One Cookie?
Day 8:  Frowns Turn into Smiles
Day 9:  BOO-HA
Day 10: Big Red Barn
Day 11: Magic with Vegetables
Day 12: Call to Action

Our blogging host Holly Spangler writes  “30 Days on a Prairie Farm” this month on her blog: My Generation.