Making Giant Snowballs encourages children to show acceptance and kindness--especially to people who are different from themselves.
I'm grateful to feature my friend Linda Smith's beautiful photos of a magical Manitoba winter.
Making Giant Snowballs
The playground looked like one big snowy field. It looked like one field but Willow the kitten knew it wasn't. She knew that it was divided into two sides. This side was for kittens. The other side was where puppies played.
Snow twirled like tiny birds. Willow looked up into the sky and opened her mouth. Snowflakes landed on her tongue and melted. The snow tasted like rain.
Willow picked up a clump of snow, rolled it between her paws and made a snowball.
"Hey," Misty the kitten called, "Look what I made." She ran over with a snowball balanced between her paws. "Mine is bigger than yours."
Willow brought her snowball closer to Misty. "I think mine—."
Misty smashed her snowball into Willow's. "Let's work together and make it even bigger."
The two kittens patted snow onto the snowball and it grew and it grew and it grew.
"Now we need to roll it on the ground," Misty said. And she said, "No, you're doing it wrong." and "No, don't do it like that. Do it like this." and "No, you're not listening to me." and "I said, you need to do it like this." and "Watch me closely." and "Here, let me do that for you." and a whole lot more but Willow was no longer listening.
A puppy ran across the field.
Some kittens arched their backs. Others ran away. Some just watched the puppy run. Willow and Misty watched.
The puppy ran to...the...kitten's...side and, and ran to Willow. "Can I play? I'm good at making snowballs."
Misty stood between Willow and the puppy. "She can't play with us."
Willow looked at the puppy and then she looked at Misty. "Why not?"
"Because. Because," Misty said, "She's not our friend. She doesn't belong here. She needs to go back to the puppy side."
"But maybe..."
"No! Maybe nothing. We worked really hard making that clump of snow into a snowball. And then she sees it, comes running over here and...and... She wants to take it from us because that's what puppies do. They take things."
The puppy picked up a clump of snow, rolled it into a snowball and handed it to Willow.
"No!" Misty knocked the snowball out of the puppy's paw. "Go away. We don't want you here, dog. Go back to your side of the playground."
The puppy turned around very slowly and—.
"Wait," Willow said.
"If you play with her," Misty said, "I won't be your friend anymore. No one will. You'll be all alone."
"I'll be your friend," the puppy told Willow.
Willow picked up a clump of snow, rolled it into a snowball and handed it to the puppy. "Let's make a giant snowball," she said.
"You'll be sorry." Misty ran off to play with another kitten.
Willow and the puppy patted a snowball and giggled, rolled a snowball and giggled. And they made one, and they made two, and they made three giant snowballs.
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Finn happily lives with two cats.
February on this blog
Sunday, February 2
Guest post: Author Christina Myers
Out of all the books I reviewed in 2024, my review of The List of Last Chances received the highest number of page views. I sent Christina Myers an email to congratulate her on the popularity of her book and invited her to be a guest on my blog. To my delight, she accepted the offer. I can't wait to introduce her to all of you!
Sunday, February 9
Love Stories: a collection
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Sunday, February 16
Two Paths (short story)
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Sunday, February 23
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