From “Bee” Happy by Barbara Curie, illustrated by Vera Gohman.
Inscription on the inside flap: “Christmas 1973 – from your Sunday School Teacher Sharon Matherly.”
Well Ms. Matherly sure picked a winner. This isn’t just a smug sermon, it’s a RHYMING smug sermon.
* denotes most preposterous sentence construction by which to allow rhyme to occur.
Hugh and Bonnie sat pouting awhile,
and Mother said “Why won’t you smile?”
“Oh Mom!” together cried Bonnie and Hugh,*
“It’s raining outside; we have nothing to do.”
“Is that all that’s wrong?” they heard Mother say.
“I could use two helpers; it’s cleaning day.”
So she put them to work sweeping the floor,
and started them singing so they pouted no more.
They made a game of dusting each room.Mother was happy and they lost their gloom.
Like all great poetry, this one leaves the reader many things to contemplate:
What were the kids going to do outside? Do they keep their PS3 outside or something?
What kind of game can you make out of dusting a room?
Does Ray Parker Jr. appear to tell them “Dusting makes me feel good?”
Luckily, scholars have found answers to some of our other questions:
Does this poem have any sort of Biblical verse to go along with it? (Yes, Acts 9:36.)
What is the bee’s name? (Buzzy)
What happened to his other two legs. (Hugh pulled them off.)
Does the book end with any sort awkwardly worded moral? (Yes. “Make others happy and smile a big smile; then you will be happier all of the while.”)
Filed under: jacked up, kidlit, poetry friday
Thanks for the laugh…it’s genius to post something this bad! I’m still giggling about your “scholarly” analysis.
Hi Sam,
Actually in the classic All of a Kind Family the mother makes a game of dusting the room by hiding treasures in it–sometimes money, sometimes buttons. And scientists have found that smiling forces the brain to release seratonin –so if you force yourself to smile like a hyeana, you will soon feel better, if only because you realize how ridiculous you look smiling like a hyeana. So the book’s Moral is a Sound one.
In my own quasi victorian childhood in the 1970s, I embroidered a bee picture much like this with the motto “Bee thrifty.” Now I hate spending money (although if I had more, perhaps that would change).
Very funny. Especially the part about the other two legs. I had to scroll up and look again!