Category Archives: Children’s Stories
My Board Book SillyFace has a Facebook Page
Deanie (26 months) reading our book!
My sweet little nephew Deanie, the one who at 3 months old helped me write both SillyFace and The Little Book of Laughing, is now 2 years old and reading beautifully from SillyFace!  (I think he’s a pretty good performer too!) Too cute. Oh My Goodness~~ Once again, to purchase your own copy, please visit www.msAnnaArt.com
SillyFace PreSales are Now Open
Oh My Goodness!!
PreSales are available on my website here
They sell for $15 each which includes free shipping within the United States.
The book is 6″ X 6″ and is in sturdy board book format.
The book is for babies ages 0-3.
The story includes 7 sets of regular and silly faces, “Red face anyplace, but can she make a SillyFace?” One set is for each color of the rainbow. Â “Oh my goodness.” Â The story ends with a final set, “Your face anyplace, but can YOU make a SillyFace.” Upon turning the last page, a sticker mirror is revealed, “Ok, let’s see it.”
This is Ms Anna’s 2nd self published book. Â The official release will be at the DIY Trunk Show at the Chicago Armory on November 22nd. Â PreSale copies will be delivered in time for the holidays. Â There are only 500 copies available and a large portion have already sold in PreSales. Â Reserve yours today. Â Thank you.
Yellow Face Anyplace, But Can She Make A SillyFace?
Oh My Goodness!
SillyFace Pre Sale Art Opening
Art Opening and PreSale Party
My second book is almost here and to celebrate, I am having a pre-sale book party during the second friday art walk in my studio. Â Â Come for face painting (all ages welcome), art, prints, and to be among the first to see what I’ve been working so hard on. Â The official release will be on November 22nd in my booth at the DIY Trunk show in Chicago.
PreSale Party
Friday, October 10th, 6-10pm
Saturday, October 11th, 11am-7pm
1932 S Halsted 4th Floor, Chicago, IL
Walking with Heart
Walking with Heart is no easy thing, it becomes easy to trip over things,
To knock, to bop, to tip to spill,
It’s never been easy, it’s not easy still,
But each time Lovey stumbled, her mom chimed, “No big deal.”
“As you know Lovey, as I’ve said from the start,
It’s very important to learn to Walk with Heart.”
And so outside Lovey went, into the great unknown,
Her heart wide open, her new birdfeet shown,
With every step, spaced not far apart,
Imprinted was left, little birdfeet with a heart,
And how little Lovey loved walking up the street,
Because everywhere she went, she printed birdfeet.
– from Lovey and the Grouch
A Mother Heron Story by Ms Anna
Lovey and the Grouch is a story about a young Possum named Lovey who receives a pair of birdfeet for her Birthday. Â Because of they way they print hearts when Lovey walks, she calls them the “walk with hearts.” Â Â But what happens when Lovey’s new birdfeet are stollen during show and tell in Ms Mayhem’s class? Â Will Lovey blame her enemy the Grouch? Â Will she go home and cry and plot revenge? Â Stay tuned and see! Â This and many other Mother Heron stories by Ms Anna are in the works.
The Little Book of Laughing
This Poem was Written the First Time I was Left to Babysit for my 3 Month old Nephew Dean.
(He was a big Help in it’s Creation)
It is intended to be a board book for babies 0-3.
The Little Book of Laughing
by Ms Anna
If you start laughing, I’ll start laughing too,
And I’ll bet…
The little CAT will start laughing too,
“Mew Mew, Mew Mew”
If I start laughing, the little cat laughs too,
And I’ll bet…
The GOLDFISH will start laughing too,
“Gloob Gloob, Gloob Gloob.”
If the little cat starts laughing, the goldfish laughs too,
And I’ll bet…
The HUMMINGBIRD will start laughing too,
“Zoom Zoom, Zoom Zoom.”
If the goldfish starts laughing, the hummingbird laughs too,
And I’ll bet…
The BIG TREE will start laughing too,
“Swoosh Swoosh, Swoosh Swoosh.”
If the hummingbird starts laughing, the big tree laughs too,
And I’ll bet…
The LITTLE BOYS will start laughing too,
“Hoot Hoot, Hoot Hoot.”
If the big tree starts laughing, the little boys laugh too,
And I’ll bet…
The FLOWERS will start laughing too,
“Bloom Bloom, Bloom Bloom.”
If the little boys start laughing, the flowers laugh too,
And I’ll bet…
The LITTLE GIRLS will start laughing too,
“Coo Coo, Coo Coo.”
Now we ALL are laughing and the moon is laughing too,
And when we think of who to thank, we all will turn to YOU,
“Thank You, Thank You.”
(This poem is dedicated to Jimella Lucas Todaro.)
Inside of Jimella’s magical and warm home there were many tributes to nature, Herons, and other wildlife from the Bay.
The Hatchi Catchi Wu, A Mother Heron story, by Ms Anna
“Somewhere on a moon, far far away,
A maker there was, named Hatchi who broke
and sadly now no nim could make!”
 – from the book of the nims
Somewhere in space, not on a planet but a moon, the tiniest moon,
under layers of ice, under lots of water, is the home of the Hatchi Catchi Wu.
The Hatchi Catchi Wu is a worker, a very hard worker,
He works so hard he has eight arms and eight hands,
four legs, four feet, seven eyes, eight ears, two hearts,
no mouth,
and one very small brain.
The Hatchi Catchi Wu is working,
he is building whoosits and whats for the little nims.
The nims are inventors and thinkers and dreamers and
the nims may be quite clever,
but the nims have no arms and the nims have no legs
and the nims only see their world through
one small eye.
But what an eye they have, for dreaming all the time,
but with no arms and with no legs and being mostly a mind,
a perfect friend under this deep blue sea was one of Hatchi’s kind.
And make the Hatchi did, all night and all day
because that’s all that he knew,
having a very small brain.
Sadly, once upon a time,
the Hatchi Catchi Wu started slowing down
and soon there formed a line!
The longer the line, the longer the wait
and it wasn’t very long before the mighty Hatchi Catchi Wu would break!
Not only was Hatchi broken, he was sad,
for no one could make.
Everyone was cold and hungry and tired and sad.
In fact, it got so bad, that it wasn’t very long before the very meanest of the nims got mad.
He would yell and he would scream, and still the helpless Hatchi Catchi Wu could not build a thing.
Then out from the line a group of hungry nims cried
And no matter their frowns and no matter their tears
The helpless Hatchi lay broken, fulfilling their fears.
If the nims had fingers, they could point them at one to blame,
but even this knowing would not change a thing.
The nims couldn’t be mad, the couldn’t sit and cry,
they had no one to blame as they sifted side by side.
Then out from the line came the smallest nim’s voice
and this group of great thinkers was left little choice
but to listen.
And the little nim spoke very loud and she spoke from her heart,
“I don’t want any more things, I just want the Hatchi to re-start.”
And then out from the line came the very wisest of the wise nims who spoke,
“Perhaps the key to fixing Hatchi is to take a look at how he broke.”
“It seems we nims were busy making things all for ourselves,
and the Hatchi Catchi Wu was busy stocking all of our shelves,
but in all of this making, we nims took no time
to make sure that the Hatchi was healthy and fine
and now, he’s broken.”
“Eureka! Â I think I know how to fix him!
Come one nim, come all nims, come out of that line,
let’s all surround Hatchi and I’ll share my great design.
It seems Hatchi doesn’t KNOW he’s tired,
let’s ask for him to go to sleep.”
And after a few hours of resting, Hatchi’s two hearts began to re-beat.
“It seems the Hatchi doesn’t KNOW he’s thirsty, in this great ocean,
let’s ask for him to drink!”
And through his eyes he was refreshed and all seven began to blink.
“It seems the Hatchi doesn’t KNOW his arms and legs are overworked,
let’s devise a plan for them so they don’t get any worse!”
And with each knew way the nims cared for him,
Hatchi would show new signs of life.
And before too long Hatchi was working again
to the little nims’ delight.
And from that time, it’s been centuries,
The Hatchi Catchi Wu can make anything,
but as he does, there is a new nim decree,
that the Hatchi  must not be overworked and
must be kept healthy.
And from that time, the Hatchi happily makes
And taken care of propper,
He never again did break.
-The End-
“The Dawning”
Well, I have been doing editing on How to Grow a Spaceship.  I submitted my Little Book of Laughing to the Work in Progress Grant competition on the SCBWI webpage and I wrote an MS called The Dawning which is a poem based picture book (And it will be part of my poetry book, Lemon’s Don’t Grow on Trees.)  The Dawning is about my first morning out on Willapa Bay in Washington and witnessing the birth of twin deer as the sun rose.  Here’s a sneak at the beginning-
“In a misty morning, with twinkle lights aglow;
The cool air made fog rise, the sun still lay low;
From the dark of the forest, I could see from my bed;
A simple sweet shadow, which became a deer head;
I heard “crunch” in the marsh, as she tottled about;
The mud squished beneath her, breath steamed from her snout;
Then suddenly still standing, by my window;
Paced cool in the twilight, golden coat in the starlight;
Only glass stood between us, I didn’t know what to do;
Do YOU know what it’s like, to have a deer stare at you?
Flowers lined the mantle, sea glass and stones;
Carefully placed with sea shells, feathers and bones;
A curve on the horizon, glimmered slivers from the sun;
A wakened songbird’s calling, that the dawning has begun.”
-That is 137 words in.  (Can you tell by the meter I’m a shakespeare fan?) I think this guy will be about 400 words or so, maybe, hopefully less.  It is based on a true story of getting to visit my very magical aunt Jimella  in her secluded home out in Oysterville, Washington.  The very first night I was there, I woke in the morning to a deer who was staring at me through the window as the sun rose.  At about dawn, the deer went off to hide in the bushes.  I went into the kitchen to sit and have tea with my aunt and read Oracles when out from the bushes came the deer who had been staring at me all morning since the crack of dawn and out behind her came two soaking wet hobbley wobbley brand new born twins!   This poem is going to hopefully capture that event.   I hadn’t planned on writing this story, but just started writing it a few days ago and just decided to let it unfold.
Everybody Hoops but me… is available for purchase online
My very first story, both written and illustrated, is available for purchase online. Â I have a special listing on my square up website (Same company as the square card reader and twitter) here: www.msAnnaArt.com
Everybody Hoops but me…
A Mother Heron story written and illustrated by Ms Anna
Anna Todaro's Blog 