We spent Easter Sunday with the Pesters and the Royuks eating delicious food. Afterwards, most people sacked out, and I read a story with Tara. Mrs. Royuk (Beth and Brad’s mom) and I were talking about children’s books, and I mentioned that there is one elusive alphabet book from my childhood that I just can’t find no matter how hard I try. I’ve looked for it in all the used bookstores Lloyd drags me to and on the internet, but I just can’t find it. It haunts me. I said, “It’s called I Wish I Was an Artichoke.”
“I have it,” she said.
What??! I literally freaked out. (Get it? Literally? …..never mind.)
Today at school she came into my room with the most beautiful present ever. The children wanted to know what it was so I told them about this very special book that I remembered from when I was little. Before we opened it, I predicted that the cover would still be green, the title would be in big letters, and the artichoke would be leaning to one side – not straight up and down.
I forgot that he was sad. And I’ve misremembered the title all these years, which is good – I never could remember if it was ‘I wish I was an artichoke’ or ‘I wish I were an artichoke.’ We read it together, and each page was just perfect. I forgot that it was in rhyme form – it was the illustrations that stuck with me. I especially remember the ice from this page:
The children’s favorite page was the ‘monster’ page – onomatopia.
Thank you so much, Elaine! You made a dream come true!!!!
