“I Find Some Friends,” Friend, Nov. 1973, 46
I Find Some Friends
Can you match the clues in this poem and the short quotations with pictures of characters from well-liked books? You’ll rate high if you can also name the author and book in which each appears. But more important, if you read each book, you’ll have hours and hours of excitement, adventure, and enjoyment.
Over and over a miracle happens—
I open a book and find some friends:
Down the hole are White Rabbit and Alice, 1
And out in a boat where the river bends
Are Mr. Toad and the Mole and Walrus, 2
And there’s Charlotte, who spins till summer’s end. 3
Page after page I share their adventures:
I follow Pied Piper from Hamelin town, 4
I build a raft on the Mississippi, 5
I look at the world from upside down, 6
I feel my nose grow long and then longer, 7
I know the blue dolphin’s familiar sound. 8
Over and over from books on the shelf
I learn a little more about myself!
Louis was the best-liked young male swan on Upper Red Rock Lake. He was also the best equipped. He not only had a slate and a chalk pencil around his neck, he had a brass trumpet on a red cord. 9
Jenny stood at the gate, waiting for them. She seemed taller in her city clothes, thinner and more delicate. But she was the same Jenny. Her arms were held out to Jethro, and for that moment when he ran toward her, all the shadows were lifted from the April morning. 10
The appearance of the horses and the added confusion of people coming from the cabin roused Sounder to new fury. The boy felt his knees give. His arms ached, and his grip on the dog’s collar was beginning to feel clammy and wet. But he held on. 11
They were all humming the melody now and when the chorus came again, Mrs. Boast’s alto, Ma’s contralto, and Mary’s sweet soprano joined Mr. Boast’s tenor and Pa’s rich bass, singing the words, and Laura sang, too, soprano. 12
But most important of all, Thomas believed every word Sam said.
At the same time every day Thomas rode his bicycle down the hill to Sam’s house and begged to see her baby kangaroo. 13
Beside the entranceway, looking at her with dark, unblinking eyes, stood the biggest rat she had ever seen. 14
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another his mother called him “Wild Thing!” and Max said “I’ll eat you up!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything. 15