Stars in Jars
Authors: Chrissie Gittins
For Warren, Esther, Sam and Liz
I Don't Want an Avocado for an Uncle
My Dad's More Embarrassing Than Your Dad
The Best Hiding Place in the World
To My Daughter, As She Learns to Play the Qin
The Pointlessness of Not Buying Your Own Strawberry Ice Cream
Making Cream Cakes for Tina Turner
Messages from the Heart Scarab to the Heart
When I Travelled from the Country to the City
Moon Jelly Fish, Horniman Museum
Grey Heron, Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park
The Night Flight of the Pterodactyl
Dusk at the Botanical Gardens, Bath
The Return of the Wildman of Orford
The Girl Who Lives Under a Stone
What people say about Chrissie
â¦
For Vincent
William went up in a rocket
to see where it would go.
It flew round
and round
and round
the sun,
and burnt his left big toe.
Then he flew around the moon,
to see if it was made of cheese.
It crash-landed
in some camembert,
and William hurt his knees.
Then he flew through the Milky Way
and caught
a trail of stars.
He brought them home
to
his
cosy
house,
where he keeps them safe in jars.
for Alice Catherine
Arms up
Bib on
Eat up
Get down
Arms up
Bib on
Throw food
Mum down
Arms out
No bib
Get down
Throw up
Dad tries
No go
Head down
Give up
Sam, Sam, quite contrary,
bought a budgie,
wanted a canary.
Sam, Sam, quite contrary,
kissed Suzannah,
meant to kiss Mary.
Sam, Sam, quite contrary,
dressed as a pirate,
playing a fairy.
Sam, Sam, quite contrary,
ate dark chocolate,
says he likes dairy.
Sam, Sam, quite contrary,
shaved his head,
to make it hairy.
There was a young girl called Lottie
whose tum was ever so spotty,
she pulled up her vest
inspected her chest
and then went to sit on her potty.
The spots were all over her arms and her legs,
she even had one on her nose.
When she took off her socks
and wiggled her feet
she had seventeen spots on her toes.
“Don't worry,” said Mummy,
“Don't worry,” said Daddy,
“we'll go to the shop tomorrow
for a bottle of potion called calamine lotion
then we'll just see how it goes.”
By the end of the week,
the treatment complete,
Lottie was not quite so spotty.
She patted her tum and began to have fun
from that day her nickname was Dotty.
Twister sleeps in the day,
Esther sleeps at night.
Esther wakes in the morning,
gives Twister quite a fright
by poking her finger at Twister
who bites her thumb real hard.
Esther now has a plaster.
And she pulls away her finger a bit faster.
