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I'm Connie Britton and today I'm going to be reading you The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister
written by Linda Ravin Lotting and illustrated by Suzanne Beaky.
Each morning, while Ernestine ate breakfast and Nanny O’Dear
prepared lunch. Ernestine’s father zoomed out to work and called, “Live life to the fullest, Ern!”
And each morning Ernestine’s mother zipped out to catch the bus and said,
“Make every moment count, E!” And each morning Hugo from next door asked,
“Ernestine, do you want to play after school?” But Ernestine never had time…
…because her busy, well-meaning parents had packed her after-school schedule.
On Mondays She sculpts with Clay Lumpkin.
On Tuesdays she does water ballet with Miss Goldfisher.
On Wednesdays she knitted with Mrs. Pearl Stitchem.
On Thursdays she took tuba lessons with Mr. Oompah.
On Fridays she yodeled with Little Old Lady Hoo.
On Saturdays she studied karate with Grand Master HiYa!
And on Sundays she practiced yoga with Guru Prakash Pretzel.
Thank goodness the Buckmeisters had Nanny O’Dear to help Ernestine stay on schedule.
Nanny made sure Ernestine got to all her classes.
But sometimes they were so busy, things got confused.
When Mr. and Mrs. Buckmeister dashed home from work late one night,
they noticed Ernestine looked pale.
“Maybe she needs some face painting lessons” said Mr. Buckmeister
Nanny O’Dear just said,
“Oh, dear.”
On her way to lessons each day, Ernestine slowed down long enough to watch Hugo play in his yard.
He flip-flopped on his trampoline, giddy-upped like a cowboy,
and bounced his ball. One afternoon Hugo shouted,
“Look out!” as his ball sailed over the fence and landed in Ernestine’s tuba.
WHOMP!
Ernestine bounced the ball to Nanny and squealed, “Bounce it back!”
“Oh dear,” said Nanny, “It’s time for tuba.” Ernestine sighed and passed the ball back to Hugo.
That night, Ernestine practiced yoga in bed.
She inhaled
and stared at her busy schedule.
She exhaled
and thought about Hugo,
and how he got to flip-flop and giddy-up and bounce.
Then Ernestine had an idea.
The next afternoon Ernestine announced, “Today I scheduled something new!”
“But you have yodeling,” said Nanny. “It’s written on my…
have you seen my calendar? And where’s my phone? Oh, dear…”
Ernestine giddy-upped across the yard to the park.
“Ern-e-stine!” panted Nanny. “Now we’ll be late for yodeling - or is it knitting?”
Ernestine reached the hilltop and flopped onto the grass, pulling Nanny down with her.
“Oh, dear!” muttered Nanny. “Look!” Ernestine sang.
Nanny stopped huffing and noticed the valley below.
“My, the view is heavenly!”
“That cloud looks like a pineapple!” said Ernestine. “No, a bunny…”
“Or… whipped cream?” suggested Nanny.
Before long they were imagining that they were tiny bugs and the world was huge.
Then they were pioneers building a twig fort,
and Nanny showed Ernestine how to make a daisy crown.
Meanwhile, Little Old Lady Hoo
called Mrs. Buckmeister to report that Ernestine had missed yodeling.
Mrs. Buckmeister called Mr. Buckmeister.
“It’s not like Ernestine to get off schedule. I know she’s with Nanny, but where could they be?”
They tried to call Nanny O’Dear, but she didn’t hear her phone.
So the Buckmeisters set out to find their daughter.
“Have you seen Ernestine?” the Buckmeisters asked at knitting class.
Mrs. Stitchem replied without dropping a stitch. “Knit one, purl two. Sorry, I can’t help you.”
They dashed to karate. “Hi Ya!” called the Buckmeisters.
“Is Ernestine here?” Grand Master HiYa answered
“No!” With a flying twist.
“Maybe she’s at water ballet.” called Mrs. Buckmeister.
"Is Ernestine here?"
The Buckmeisters zoomed to Clay Lumpkin’s studio.
There were lots of children sculpting, but no Ernestine.
They rushed to yoga. “Is Ernestine here?” they whispered.
Guru Prakash Pretzel was meditating, and all he said was
“Ohm… ohm…”
“Ohm?” wondered Mr. Buckmeister.
“Oom?” said Mrs. Buckmeister.
“Oompah! She must be at tuba!”
“HAVE YOU SEEN ERNESTINE?” Mrs. Buckmeister yelled over the blaring horns.
But Mr. Oompah didn’t hear a word.
By the time they looked everywhere, the Buckmeisters were dazzled and frazzled.
“This is what poor Ernestine does every week,” Mrs. Buckmeister panted.
“No wonder she always looks so pale,” added Mr. Buckmeister.
Then, off in the distance, they heard bubbles of laughter.
The Buckmeisters trudged up the hill.
And there was Ernestine, her cheeks as rosy as apples.
“Ernestine Marigold Buckmeister!” called Mrs. Buckmesiter.
“Where have you been?” “Oh, dear!” Nanny stuttered. “Well, you see…”
“We were right here!” Ernestine squealed. “It was my idea. We saw pictures in the clouds and rolled
down the hill and pretended we were bugs and then I was a princess… and I want to do it again!”
The Buckmeisters were stunned.
“I like taking lessons, but can’t I stop some of them?” pleaded Ernestine.
“But how will you live life to the fullest without sculpting and swimming?” asked Mr. Buckmeister.
“Right,” Mrs. Buckmeister agreed. “And how will
you make every moment count without yoga and yodeling?”
“Like this,” Ernestine said. Everyone inhaled.
Then they exhaled.
“My, the view is heavenly.” said Mrs. Buckmeister.
Since that day, Mrs. Buckmeister bikes to and from work and has taken
up gardening. Mr. Buckmeister tries to get home early once a week to build a treehouse,
and Nanny O’Dear has discovered the joy of flying kites.
As for Ernestine, some afternoons she practices karate with Hugo.
And sometimes she plays the tuba.
And sometimes she just plays.
The End.
I love this book. I love reading almost as much as I love playing
and you know I think that the two are very closely related.
Because when you play, when you really get to play and be creative,
that's storytelling.
And next time you're playing and outside and just letting your imagination run wild,
imagine if you wrote some of those ideas down,
you would be creating a story and that's why reading is so much fun,
because the sky is the limit in terms of the stories that you can tell
and the things that you can read.
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