Sparkle Poetry

May was poetry month at our local library. The librarian put together a poetry contest, so naturally I had Sparkle enter. We looked through the poems she has been writing each week for the past few weeks and she selected her favorite. I typed it for her and she made a few more changes. I printed the updated version and we delivered it to the library the day before the deadline. Sparkle's entry was the first and only entry that day. However, apparently a few more entries trickled in the following day.

A few weeks later, the librarian asked if they could read Sparkle's poem at the family storytime when they announced the winners. Sparkle got really shy but gave permission. We couldn't make it to storytime, but the next afternoon we got a message on the answering machine to call the library. Sure enough, Sparkle had won.

Sparkle got her picture taken in front of the kids poetry section of the library, and she received a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. She also had to sign a photo release and she freaked out because she couldn't remember how to write her middle name in cursive. However, all was well.

Today I took her to Barnes & Noble to spend her gift certificate. Turns out Barnes & Noble sells lots more than just books. It also has Lego, games, journals, toys, note cards, and gadgets. It also has lots of books with colorful pages and comfy chairs. Sparkle would pull a book with a catchy cover off the shelf and start reading, as if she were in the library. However she agreed that most of the books she saw weren't worth spending the money on. She knew that we had many of the titles at home or could borrow them from the library. I started browsing for her and suggested different titles and toys, but none that she was willing to spend *her* money on.

As I reshelved the books and toys that didn't past muster, I saw a book by Shel Silverstein that I had never heard of before: Everything On It. I showed the book to Sparkle, and her eyes lit up as her arms automatically reached out for the book. Yes. this was what she wanted. She didn't even flip through the pages.

As soon as we got home we had poetry teatime. Sparkle read from her new book.

I thought, how appropriate. Sparkle wrote a poem for that won a poetry contest, and she used the gift card she won to buy a book a poetry!