And now for something much lighter...  and a completely different genre...  Children's Literature anyone?
Beginning Texts for a picture book

"Willowmeena's Garden Guest"

...by Lana Butler

Willowmeena loved worms. Especially one big worm. She loved it so much that given a whole garden of worms, she could pick Fred out right away. Fred, of course, was her worm.

Fred was no ordinary worm...no way. He was bigger and fuller than any worm Willowmeena had ever known. She found him in the garden last spring when Mom started planting the vegetables. When she picked him up, he wiggled so much that he filled her whole hand and made her feel all tickly inside.

The tickly feeling made her squeal and put Fred down in a hurry. Willowmeena thought Fred was the greatest garden friend ever. This was going to be her second garden and she noticed that Fred and his friends had all returned to celebrate the new spring. Fred did have a great many friends.

Willowmeena had many questions about Fred and the garden. How do you tell if a worm is a boy or a girl? Mom sometimes had difficulty answering Willowmeena’s questions but she did have an explanation for Fred's size. She told Willowmeena that Fred got really big from eating the good, rich dirt that the composter made for the garden... from all last year’s organic waste.

Willowmeena decided to see just how big Fred was. She laid him by the side of her foot and stretched him out, ever so gently - his head at her toe and his tail at her heel - or maybe the other way round...it was sort of difficult to tell just which end was which sometimes.

Willowmeena wanted to be bigger like Fred - so she tried a little garden dirt too. It was a little gritty at first -

Willowmeena could hear scraping noises when she chewed. Mom was not impressed, she made a "yucky" face at Willowmeena. Willowmeena didn't think it was so bad, sort of like potato skins or unwashed garden carrots she said. Mom asked if she was hungry and gave her an apple.

Willowmeena liked the apple better then the garden dirt. She thought maybe Fred would too. She found Fred and tried to give him a bite of her apple. Mom told her Fred would like the apple better after it started to

Decompose. Mom said that means turn back into soil. So Willowmeena ate her apple and left the core, with one bite left on it, in Fred's corner of the garden.

Willowmeena looked for Fred every day when her and mom played in the garden. Some days he was under the dirt making food for the garden plants. On those days, Willowmeena played with his neighbours, the slugs and "potato bugs". Mom said she couldn't remember the bug’s real name but Willowmeena thought

"potato bug" suited this little bug just fine, since it looked just like a little potato to her.

Near the end of the garden season, Fred was nowhere to be seen. Mom said Fred was getting ready for winter. Willowmeena imagined Fred sorting his winter clothing, storing little packets of compost bits to snack on all winter, and insulating his bedroom to stay warm.

During the winter, Willowmeena thought about Fred. When they made their Winter Soups and Stews, Willowmeena always remembered to put the skins and peels in the compost so Fred would have fresh dirt next spring. She wondered how big he would be after all his winter snacking, maybe from her heel to her toe and around the front of her foot. She knew he would not get much exercise...it would be too difficult to chew through the frozen ground.

When the snow finally melted and the rains came, Willowmeena could hardly wait to start the garden again. Mom said that Fred might not choose their garden to live in this year and not to get her hopes up too high.

Willowmeena was not worried. She knew that her garden with its rich compost dirt and Sunflower and Basil plants to discourage pesky bugs, would be just what Fred was looking for in a garden. Besides, it would take

too long to crawl to another garden and his mom and dad would miss him too much if he left.

When Mom started turning the dirt over to start the planting - Willowmeena was right there, knees in her ears, watching for Fred.

Willowmeena squealed that familiar worm tickle sound and Mom turned to look. Willowmeena held up two hands. "Look Mom! Fred brought guests for lunch - can I have two apples for snack today?"

Mom shook her head, smiled and held out her arms, inviting a hug. Willowmeena giggled as she landed in Mom’s arms. "Oh Willow, I love you."