(Host) Ever wish you were really young again? To his great surprise and against his will, commentator Jules Older recently found himself back in kindergarten.
(Older) Not long ago I was a judge in the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. The judging took place at Vermont Public Television, where my fellow judges and I read stories by school kids from kindergarten through third grade.
As they were passing out judging assignments, I silently prayed, “Give me third grade. Give me second. Even give me first. But please, please don’t give me kindergarten!”
I like kids, but my feeling is, the closer they get to adulthood, the more interesting they are. And when writing’s involved…can kindy kids write anything other than their name? Their first name?
“Let’s get started,” said Judy. “The entries are to be judged on story and pictures, and how well they go together. The first pair of judges will deal with…” Third grade, I wished. Third grade, third grade, third grade. “…will deal with kindergarten. And the first kindergarten judge will be…” Not me, not me, not me. “…will be Jules Older.”
There I was. Back in kindergarten. Along with Pat Nelson, a librarian from Berlin Elementary. Together, we started to read the kindergarten entries.
The entries we judged were lively and surprisingly sophisticated – a lot of these kindy kids knew how to tell a story, knew how to set up a punch-line. Halfway through my pile, I came across a story that was less sophisticated than the others. In this one, there was precious little story, and the drawings were kind of primitive watercolors. It was by a five-year-old named Scott Lariviere from North Springfield, Vermont. In his picture book, Cowboy Johnson, Scott (who’s the son of a logger and a home care-provider) gives his five-year-old version of a day in the life of a cowboy. Read over my shoulder, here’s how it goes.
Page 1: A smiling cowboy wearing a big cowboy hat and roughly rendered chaps, with a lariat in his hand. The caption reads: “What a hot day to lasso bulls.”
Page 2: Same cowboy, now on his pony: “What a nice day to be riding a horse.”
Page 3: Nearly abstract painting of a person: “What a nice day to be walking.” And this is followed by, “What a nice day to wash a bandana,” and, “It is fun to go to a ranch.”
Then comes the page that won my heart. It’s a picture of a black kettle over a blazing campfire. That’s all. The caption reads: “Cowboy Johnson eats stew.” I guess it won everybody else’s heart, too. Cowboy Johnson was the unanimous choice for winner, kindergarten division.
And when I went to the awards ceremony, Judy said, “Your guy is here. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble spotting him.” Nope. Not unless some other kid was dressed up in boots, spurs, vest, chaps and a big cowboy hat.
Afterwards, I got Scott to autograph my copy of Cowboy Johnson. Sure enough, he wrote only his first name.
This is Jules Older in Albany, Vermont, the Soul of the Kingdom.
Learn more about the Young Writers and Illustrators Contest and read Cowboy Johnson.
Jules Older is the author of more than 20 books for children and adults, and is a passionate outdoors enthusiast.