This Post Comes With Cute Alert!

I’m thinking today must be my cutest post – ever! Because I’m sharing fellow Aussie kidlit author, Michael Gerard Bauer‘s adorable little granddaughter, reading ‘The Bird in the Herd’. She’s not even two!

I love the rock and read. And her adorable pronunciation. That expressive finish. And those precious moments of shared reading between Daddy and daughter. (So much love for that!) 💕

Let’s not dumb down our writing for kids. Let’s give them mouthfuls of words that they can chomp and chew, to extend their vocabulary and their knowledge of the world around them. And let’s give them rhythm and rhyme to roll with!

I’m super-grateful to doting Poppy Mike, who shared this video with me, so I can share it with you! And to Mummy and Daddy who have given their permission. This video is precious! (So is this little lass.) Thank-you.

Ruth at there is no such thing as a God-forsaken town has our Poetry Friday round-up today. I’m sharing a photo of the bird in the herd on a rainy day, for our little poppet, and also for Ruth, who loves birds. Praise the Lord, it is raining as I prep this post on Thursday.

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21 comments

  1. Oh, sooooooooooo cute! WOW to the little one reading Bird in the Herd. And, I couldn’t agree with you more–let’s give our kids rich language….gravy rich language to fatten their love of life and reading and expressing. Thanks for sharing such a sweet moment.

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  3. You are right, Kat. It is the cutest! I am happy for you that he shared with you! And also happy for your rain. We need it so badly & it will be near 70 again today, blue skies beautiful but I would take a few thunderclouds! Best wishes for more rain for you!

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    • Linda, I know you will understand the complexity of delight, relief, wonder and pinch-me that I’m feeling at the moment. We have finally had beautiful, soaking, running, gushing, spilling, filling, cleansing rain. Our crucial big dam is a vast ocean of water again. It’s still not full – but my goodness, did it add some depth yesterday! It is glorious!! And I’m still shocked. It’s been three years. Atleast. (More like four, since it’s been to this level.) I put my kayak in on the little dam last night – and just sat in it, as the rain sprinkled on my face and there are no words for that feeling. I’ll be praying for rain to soak on you, too.

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  4. Oh, my Kat! That is your cutest post ever. How precious. And I love the challenge to not dumb down the writing for children, but to “give them mouthfuls of words that they can chomp and chew.” Great advice and great example of how that can work.

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  11. Good lord, that’s impressive! But the best thing about it is not (as we can see often on TikTok) the wee one busy being impressive but the unadulterated delight in the rock and rhythm of the words. Best book review ever, Kat!

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  14. This is just soooo adorable. And as an educator, I agree – let’s share books with children which they delight in, building their vocabulary, readying them for reading – and just making life wonderful!

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  15. I recently did a poetry reading with adult poets. I commented that I write poems for children. After the reading, a man I know well but who knows little about my work said, “You said that your poems are for children. But those poems were good!” I responded, “Children deserve good poetry.” I embarrassed him and he had a hard time recovering but my point was similar to what you wrote, “Let’s not dumb down our writing for kids.” Thanks for that and for the cuteness overload.

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Comments from readers are purrrrfect!