April 2024

A Joshua Tree

🎼clearHear A Joshua Treeclear(video)

Joshua Tree

Slow Waltz

🎼clearHear Slow Waltzclear(video)

LostCoastcover

Zachary Zucchini

clearZachary Zucchini
clear“Get in ABC order!” our teacher commands,
clearSo poor Zach Zucchini is the last one who stands.

clearZach’s the last to line up, and he’s last down the hall.
clearZach’s last out to recess, never getting a ball.

clearZach’s last in the lunchroom, so he gets the worst seat.
clearZach’s left the worst milk carton and hot dog to eat.

clearZach’s last to assemblies and must sit in the rear.
clearZach never sees the speaker; he can never hear.

clearZach’s turn is last for class duties and last to speak.
clearZach’s last to get handouts and last Star of the Week.

clearSo listen students with last names X, Y, or Z.
clearAvoid being last; switch to an “A” family.

Zach Zucchini

🎼Here's the song Zach Zucchini (video) Listen and watch
AppleclearDownload pdf

Winslow, the Wild Wheelchair Driver

Winslow, the Wild Wheelchair Driver

Winslow whirred off in his wheelchair
When lowered from the bus.
He careened up the front door ramp,
And down the hall toward us.
We clapped and cheered as he came near.
Teachers yelled and scattered.
His chair rammed the janitor’s cart,
And ten light bulbs shattered
.
He peeled off in his seat of steel.
Through the office he flew.
When he knocked the copy machine,
A thousand papers strew.
He popped a wheelie, twirling twice,
And rolled down twenty stairs.
He took a corner on two wheels,
And bowled down twenty chairs.
His wheelchair was a silver streak,
Speeding across the gym.
He struck the stage and ricocheted,
With teachers chasing him.
Winslow zoomed into his room.
Toward his desk he tore.
He yanked the brake; the tires made,
Skid marks across the floor.
Running is not allowed in school.
Now one more rule we need.
The next day signs hung in the hall:
10 MPH Maximum Speed.

Wheelchair

🎼Hear the song Winslow the Wild Wheelchair Driver! (video) Listen and watch 
AppleclearDownload pdf

Keyboard

🎼clearHear Keyboard (video)

Other Soungs

Homework Load

Homework Load

Not long ago the homework load,
Did Helen little harm.
She hiked to school with one notebook,
Tucked in her little arm.
Homework increased until the girl,
Had no choice but to pack,
Binders, texts and notebooks,
In a sack strapped on her back.
But then how Helen's shoulders slumped,
Her spine started to sag.
So Helen took to pulling books,
In a wheeled luggage bag.
As Helen grew, homework did too,
And fourth grade marked the start,
Of pushing homework to and fro,
In a large shopping cart.
Soon tractors towed her homework load.
Still Helen found no luck.
Next forklifts hauled her homework,
And then a pick-up truck.
But still the work load grew and grew,
And the truck bed overran.
So sixth grade saw Helen driving home,
In a U-Haul moving van.
Helen’s homework load reached its height,
When school closed in the fall.
For teachers assigned so much work,
No kid could move at all.

HomeworkLoad

🎼Hear the song Homework Load! (video) Listen and watch
apple-3-4clear-3-3-3-3-3-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-5Download pdf

Other Comics Page

AppleclearVisit the Other Comics Page

Tutu Tuesday

Apple Island, or the Truth About Teachers

AppleclearVisit the Apple Island Page

61Y0xhI8dLL

Bradley doesn't like school.  It's boring.  And his teacher, Mrs. Gross is crabby.  And something is terribly wrong.  It all starts when Mrs. Gross introduces a new type of math in which 6x9=54, but upside-down, 9x6=54.  Then she tell the students they don’t have to use any silent letters in their spelling lessons.  "Friend” is “frend” and “have” becomes “hav”. Bradley is dumbfounded and vows to get to the bottom of it.  He finds a book called the Truth About Teachers that tells about Apple Island, where all teachers come from.  The good teachers built an ark and came to America to set up school.  The crabby ones followed them with a sinister plan. When Mrs. Gross kidnaps the classmates and whisks them off to Apple Island, it’s up to Bradley to navigate the island’s pitfalls to save his friends and school children everywhere. 
BuyclearApple Island, the Truth About Teachers Amazon hardback
BuyclearApple Island, the Truth About Teachers Amazon paperback

I Don't Have To Do That Again

🎼clearHear new song I Don't Have to Do That Againclear(video)clearlyrics

Stuckcover

Climbing the Walls Waltz

🎼clearHear Climbing the Walls Waltz (video)

Wall

Hot Dog Song

🎼clearHear the Hot Dog Song (video)clearlyrics

hot dog

Noe School

AppleclearVisit the Noe School Page- a book without a solitary E in it.

NoeSchoolcoverbig

A financial crisis! Cut costs! With dough running low and programs costing too much at his school, Principal Ouia insists that his staff and pupils must stop using that most popular non-consonant that follows d and is prior to f. That common writing symbol was also cut from this book!
Lipogram (from Ancient Greek: λειπογράμματος, "leaving out a letter") a kind of writing in which a particular letter or group of letters is avoided—usually a common vowel, and frequently "E", the most common letter in the English
language.

Other Comics

AppleclearVisit the Other Comics Page

Why I shop at Trader Joes

Leaving Grade 3 For the Sea

🎼clearHear Leaving Grade 3 For the Seaclearlyricsclearvideoclear(from The Elevator Family Sets Sail)

EFSSboat

Other Comics

AppleclearVisit the Other Comics Page

AI Did

Deacon & the Chips

AppleclearVisit the Deacon & the Chips Page

Deaconpaperbackcover copy
The microchips have taken control!

Why have the microchips in Deacon’s neighborhood—chips in traffic signals, ATM machines, mobile phones, and cars---started to communicate with Deacon?    Do they want to help him out, to get free ice cream, good grades, or the occasional day off from school?  No, the Chip Network wants much more from Deacon and many other children in Silicon Valley whose parents work for high-tech companies.

BuyclearDeacon & the Chips Amazon paperback
BuyclearDeacon & the Chips Kindle format
BuyclearDeacon & the Chips Apple e-book format
Buy
clearDeacon & the Chips Google Play e-book format
BuyclearDeacon & the Chips Barnes & Noble e-book format

PCT

AppleclearVisit the Thru Hiker Page

PCT2
Luke Dellar, Age 12, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

AppleclearWatch Thru Hiker video

Thru Hiker

AppleclearVisit the Thru Hiker Page

Thruhikercoverbig

Luke Dellar, age twelve, is weary of his flip-flop life. He flies to his father's house in San Diego one month and back to his mother's house in Seattle the next. He's even more tired of taking pills for his hyperactivity that has worsened since his parent's divorce. A solution to his flip-flopping, pill-popping life? Run away and hike the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2650 mile, five-month journey from the Mexican border to the Canadian border.
AppleclearWatch Thru Hiker video
Buy Thru Hiker new updated edition
BuyclearThru Hiker Amazon hardback
Buy
clearThru Hiker Amazon paperback
BuyclearThru Hiker Kindle format
BuyclearThru Hiker Apple Books e-book format
Buy
clearThru Hiker Google Play Books e-book format
BuyclearThru Hiker Barnes & Noble e-book format

Mixing Paints

Mixing Paints

Yellow and blue gives you green.
Purple blend blue and red.
But I like mixing all paints,
So I get black instead.

Mix

Punctuation

Punctuation
Cat claws to pause, small spots to stop.
Bats above balls tell us to shout!!!!!
Canes query? (Smiles!) What’re these keys? @#%^&.
Aren’t hangnails for leavin’ things out?

Dots... & dashes--“whiskers to talk”,
about every *l*e*t*t*e*r;
“Decorations”: for sentences-----
Don’t # they # make # this-
poem-look better?
🎼Hear the song Punctuation (video) Listen and watch

Elevator Family

AppleclearVisit the Elevator Family Page

ElevatorFamilytogetherjpg

🎬clearElevator Family Family of Books Trailer
"Only the best!"
WHAT’S THE STRANGEST HOTEL ROOM YOU’VE EVER STAYED IN? WHATEVER IT IS, THE WILSON FAMILY CAN TOP IT. BECAUSE FOR THREE DAYS, THEY LIVE IN AN ELEVATOR.

Snots

AppleclearVisit the Snots Page

SnotsCrestFinal7:24

Spot Quote

SpotEclipse

Our Teacher & the Thinking Cap

OurTeachercoverbig
"A fable about finding your bliss."
New edition with 25 illustrations and three songs

Our Teacher, age ten, rescues a sea lion on a beach in Oregon. As a reward, the sea lion tells Our Teacher about the magical Thinking Cap, a hat when worn reveals a person’s calling. In pursuit of the cap, Our Teacher travels around the world and learns his true purpose, what he was meant to do with his life. Along the way, he discovers the attributes he has that will make him a great teacher. Book with Tunes!

WTMelonBWTlogo

🎬clear-3-3-3-3-3-5-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-5-14-2Watch Our Teacher & the Thinking Cap trailer II

"Silent E" Comics

AppleclearVisit the "Silent E" Comics Page

Q-Qu

Other Comics

AppleclearVisit the Other Comics Page

WritingBooks

26 Assistants AI pictures

AppleclearDownload 26 Assistants picture sheet (pdf)
T TeaP-podsTwo B

Tic Tok

tictokclearAuthor on TicTok

tictok

Our Teacher & the Thinking Cap Trailer

🎬clearWatch Our Teacher & the Thinking Cap trailer

OurTeachercoverbig

Crotchety Old Man Comics

AppleclearVisit the Crotchety Old Man Comics Page

48. COManATM

26 Assistants Page

AppleclearVisit the new 26 Assistants Page
A AWC SeaE songF FineG GeeI heartXY

Spot Quote

April Fool Spot