Monday, May 15, 2006

The Apple -- A Little Book for Mother's Day After

The Apple

Prologue:
There are all different kinds of apples. Some are green, and yellow, and red. Apples grow in apple trees. We pick our apples from apple trees. We eat them. They are fruit.

The Story

He's taking an apple from a tree. He's eating the apple. He's done. He's taken an apple with him. He put the apple in a bowl.

Someone visits him.

He takes the apple.

"Oh. No!"

He is too sad. He draws a picture of an apple. He kisses it . . . and he says "I love you."

He hangs it up.

My son wrote this little book in his own hand when he was four. His mother only added the capital letters and some punctuation. He already had those cool quotations. Happy Mother's Day, the day after.
—me strauss Letting me be

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is he reading Steinbeck yet? ;)
So often our children are underestimated.
Four years old, huh?
Wow. I was still writing about Dick and Jane...

~michaelm

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Michael.
He's 21 and writes like a dream. This has a lovely sense of story for a four-year-old child. Doesn't it. Thank you for reading and comment on it.

Anonymous said...

Four years! I think I was engrossed in school...just not writing. Aren't kids amazing. Thanks for sharing.

I hope you had a great Mother's Day!

Anonymous said...

That is very impressive writing skills for at just the age of four! Beautiful and innocent.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Jennifer,
I can't imagine a minute in your life when you weren't totally engrossed in everything. You are a captivating woman. I'm sure you were a captivating child. :)

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Hi Travis,
He was talented and sweet even then. Still is now that he's taller than his six-foot tall mother. I'm a very lucky little girl.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful sense of story.
Amazing, actually.
None of my daughters are writers. Readers, yes.
I'm still helping my oldest daughter decipher Hemingway and Carver short stories.

~m

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Michael,
That's wonderful. Try some Steinbeck too. Kids usually take to him very quickly.

Anonymous said...

I'm currently 1/3 of the way thru "East of Eden"...
I've always loved Steinbeck.

~m

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Yeah, Michael, I should have known that. I think my favorite is still "The Pearl." The imagery really got to me. I was struck by its simplicity. That's when I started to find writing interesting.

Anonymous said...

the children will outsmart the elders.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Yeah, Billy,
and they do it with such candor.

Anonymous said...

Happy (late) Mother's Day Liz.

"ME" Liz Strauss said...

Thank you, Robert.
Thank you for coming by.