ORIGIN STORY Our Fairy GodMother
in her own words:
Around 1960, my sister and I were typically driven to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house in Columbus, Nebraska to spend the weekend with our female cousins, because our moms and dads were busy with what would be called “date night” today. We had lots of rules to follow, but the biggest one was, “The oldest gets to go first.” Pecking order by age was strictly adhered to at the grandparents’ house.
Grandpa loved to share his pocket change with us. We would line up (the oldest first) and he would place coins in our little hands. Then, we got to walk two city blocks to the neighborhood grocery store to buy penny candy. Yes, there were packaged candies for only one cent. With all the coins grandpa gave us, we were on a sugar high most of the weekend!
Getting us to sleep at a decent nighttime hour was difficult for the grandparents. Grandpa just went to sleep in his bed in his room with the door closed. Poor grandma was charged with producing slumber upon four hyper girls ages 6-11. We lay down, all five of us, in a double bed in the spare bedroom. The window was open to allow for the cool summer breeze, and the near-by railroad crossing threw honking and clanging noises into the air, through the window, and onto us, along with the heavy scent of honey suckle. We could not sleep!
Grandma sang lullabies, she counted out the times tables, she talked us through a visualization of a calming waterfall and lake, and she even had us each blow “all our troubles” into a paper bag which she hung on the clothesline to “dry up and blow away,” leaving us restful. Nothing worked.
Then, she told us the fairy godmother and flowers story. She would whisper, “What’s your favorite flower?” We would whisper back. If we didn’t know the name of a flower, she would say, “What’s your favorite color?”, and then she would advise us of some names of flowers of that color. Each of us had our favorite flower and a beautiful dress to think about in our dreams. It was either this story, or our eventual carbohydrate crash and exhaustion, but we finally fell asleep.
I dedicate this story to my grandma. I had shared this story with my sister and cousins prior to publication, but they don’t remember it the way I did. I claim accuracy. Grandma told us many more make-believe stories, which I may write about at a later date, not caring how my sister and cousins remember them.
Even though this book is intended for children ages 4-12, I used adjectives in this book that are at the eighth grade reading level, because I believe that children will learn if you encourage them. You encourage them with high interest stories and higher-than-age-level vocabulary. To test the reading level, I used several national reading screens. You, too, can test the reading level of any reading material by typing in some text on a website specific for reading levels. The sites I used include Flesch-Kincaid, Coleman-Liau, and SMOG.
I want the reader to participate in this story, so I added the last blank pages that allow the reader to draw their favorite flower and their fairy godmother dress. If multiple readers use one copy of this book, simple blank pages of paper will be required.
Grandpa loved to share his pocket change with us. We would line up (the oldest first) and he would place coins in our little hands. Then, we got to walk two city blocks to the neighborhood grocery store to buy penny candy. Yes, there were packaged candies for only one cent. With all the coins grandpa gave us, we were on a sugar high most of the weekend!
Getting us to sleep at a decent nighttime hour was difficult for the grandparents. Grandpa just went to sleep in his bed in his room with the door closed. Poor grandma was charged with producing slumber upon four hyper girls ages 6-11. We lay down, all five of us, in a double bed in the spare bedroom. The window was open to allow for the cool summer breeze, and the near-by railroad crossing threw honking and clanging noises into the air, through the window, and onto us, along with the heavy scent of honey suckle. We could not sleep!
Grandma sang lullabies, she counted out the times tables, she talked us through a visualization of a calming waterfall and lake, and she even had us each blow “all our troubles” into a paper bag which she hung on the clothesline to “dry up and blow away,” leaving us restful. Nothing worked.
Then, she told us the fairy godmother and flowers story. She would whisper, “What’s your favorite flower?” We would whisper back. If we didn’t know the name of a flower, she would say, “What’s your favorite color?”, and then she would advise us of some names of flowers of that color. Each of us had our favorite flower and a beautiful dress to think about in our dreams. It was either this story, or our eventual carbohydrate crash and exhaustion, but we finally fell asleep.
I dedicate this story to my grandma. I had shared this story with my sister and cousins prior to publication, but they don’t remember it the way I did. I claim accuracy. Grandma told us many more make-believe stories, which I may write about at a later date, not caring how my sister and cousins remember them.
Even though this book is intended for children ages 4-12, I used adjectives in this book that are at the eighth grade reading level, because I believe that children will learn if you encourage them. You encourage them with high interest stories and higher-than-age-level vocabulary. To test the reading level, I used several national reading screens. You, too, can test the reading level of any reading material by typing in some text on a website specific for reading levels. The sites I used include Flesch-Kincaid, Coleman-Liau, and SMOG.
I want the reader to participate in this story, so I added the last blank pages that allow the reader to draw their favorite flower and their fairy godmother dress. If multiple readers use one copy of this book, simple blank pages of paper will be required.