📚KIDS BOOKS👧🏼 | FANTABULOUS FACTS

GEOGRAPHY GIRL/ GEOGRAPHY BOY (nouns): LIKE NORMAL GIRLS AND BOYS BUT COOLER!

Did you know that Australia is the smallest continent
There are 7 continents on earth
5 billion people live in the largest called Asia
Are you also one of those?

Did you know the Sahara is the hottest desert
In the African sun, it sizzles
No man nor beast can walk long in that heat
The mood and the skin both shrivel

Russia and China each touch 14 countries
The Pacific Ocean is shrinking
20% of earth’s oxygen comes from the Amazon
The salty Dead Sea is sinking

The United States and Canada share
The longest border on our planet
It is 1500 miles of valleys and mountains
Now that is a fact fantastic!

Did you know that Mount Everest may be
The world’s highest peak in Nepal
But it is far easier to climb than K2
Which is situated in Pakistan

If you have ever wondered about
The biggest and smallest countries
Russia by far has the largest area
The tiniest is Vatican City

Volcanos are quite interesting things
They sometimes sleep and sometimes roar
The largest one in the world that’s still active
Is Hawaii’s Mauna Loa

Our world is a wonderful ball of creation
With plants and beasts no one’s still seen
While we have explored most of the land
Our oceans remain a mystery.

📚KIDS BOOKS👦🏻 | FANTABULOUS FACTS

OOPS! I THINK I INVENTED SOMETHING!

Crispy, salty and savoury chips
Icecream cones and corn flakes
What a treat they all are to eat
Did you know they were all made by mistake?

Another one that was meant for guns
To be fired in World War Two
Is now also used on jet planes
That magical thing called super glue

Sometimes being a bit of a mess
Can lead to fantastic creations
That’s how Alexander Fleming the scientist
Discovered the antibiotic penicillin

X-rays and microwaves are also inventions
That came about completely by chance
Also chocolate chip cookies because the chips
Didn’t melt as their baker had planned

An engineer in the navy, stumbled on the slinky
When he was working on serious stuff
Off tumbled a spring, that just kept on bouncing
And that’s where this toy comes from

Velcro fasteners - we love them or hate them
Were inspired from sticky burrs
While walking a Swiss engineer, got them on his trousers
And his dog got them stuck in his fur

Coca Cola, matches and play-doh
These inventions all so super
Silly putty and those handy sticky notes
All started out as bloopers.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

👹HADES💀

“Get in line now, don’t dawdle!” 
Comes the serious sounding voice
It’s the god of the underworld making sure
The spirits don’t make any noise

Hades the god of the underworld
Likes his land to be quiet and dark
Cerebrus, his three-headed dog agrees
With three separate growls and one bark

Hades which means “the unseen one”
Has a power no other god shares
His Helmet of Darkness makes him invisible
He can pounce on anyone anywhere

Prayers and sacrifices do very little
This mighty god is not swayed
If someone enters the spirit world
Then that is where they will stay

The bad spirits are punished by him
They carry big stones on their heads
The good ones get to swim in the Styx
And float back into comfy beds

Hades loves just one person most
Persephone his wife
He kidnapped her while she picked flowers
And now lives by his side

You can sometimes hear the rustle
Of Hades and his three-headed dog
Roaming around on a still night
When darkness cloaks the world.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🌹APHRODITE 🐚

Born from the lacy foam of the sea
Is Aphrodite the goddess of love
She is the original beauty queen
There is none lovelier on earth or above

Legend has it that this goddess
Despite her many charms
Can sometimes become jealous and mean
Many men have come to harm

She loves making people fall in love
But to herself she is also kind
Her belt that is magical, spins love triangles
A trickier goddess is hard to find

She started the famous Trojan war
Because of her spell on Helen of Troy
Paris did not have a chance against her
He was then just a love-sick boy

Venus de Milo the famous statue
Was sculpted as a tribute
To this goddess, but as to why it is armless
No one really has a clue

She has quite a few children
But her favourite by far is Eros
Sometimes an angel, sometimes an imp
He is always wild and mischievous

Filled with both beauty and brains
Aphrodite is graceful and stately
Roses and doves, spears and conchs
Make up the vibe of this powerful lady.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🐦‍⬛APOLLO🏹

Unlucky in love is this god of the sun
But everything else he has aced
Music, poetry, art and healing
He can even spread a plague

He can look into the future
Sometimes that makes him sad
Other times he uses that knowledge
For good things and for bad

Also a bit of a troublemaker
Apollo lost his powers twice
But not for long, he can sweet-talk a storm
When he is being extra nice

He loves his mother Leto a lot
And has saved her life a few times
The first time was when he was four days old
He was a gifted child of light

Apollo is also the god of the muses
He inspires them in their art
Their poetry can bring tears to your eyes
As the words sit around your heart

This god of goodness also has his bad days
Then diseases spread fungus-like
Making Apollo lose his temper
Guarantees one a terrible life

Apollo, like his sister Artemis
Is brilliant at archery
The laurel, raven, the bow and arrow
Are symbols of his divinity.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🦉ATHENA 🕷️

Daughter of Zeus, king of the gods
Athena is a special one
She was born from the head of her father
Grown up, with her armor on

She is known for her intelligence
She is said to be brave and wise
She has always been a guide and teacher
To gods and humans alike

Athena’s special symbol of power
Is the wise and sensible owl
She’s an expert fighter, there’s no one like her
Or like her owl, no other fowl

She sometimes does get angry
Like all gods tend to do
That’s when she turns folks into spiders
And gives them Medusa heads too

Legend has it that the first spider
Was a lady who did weave
The goddess Athena became jealous of her
Ever so beautiful embroidery

Medusa too started out as one
Of her pious lady priests
Zappity zell! Athena cast her spell
The priestess became a beast

The Parthenon is her temple
It stands in Athens, Greece
So if you ever find yourself there
Pay your respects to Athena please.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🔱 POSEIDON 🌊

“Shiver me timbers! I’ll whip up a storm!”
Comes a booming voice from the mist
Poseidon the god of the oceans and seas
Has got his undies in a twist

This god of the waters is often upset
To him anger comes easily
He’ll magically make a thunder cloud
And bring down rain and sleet

Poseidon is Zeus’s brother and folks
Find it hard to say which one
Is more powerful, brave and strong
On this point they keep mum -shhhhh!

People know that if they take sides
The gods may become mean
Then the dog may eat your homework
And Dad could holler and scream

Poseidon’s little loo secret
This story also cannot miss
Look it up, it is a bit gross
His special “Poseidon’s Kiss”

Poseidon has his own weapon
He keeps his trident safe
And points it at a gentle sea
When he wants to make big waves

He also loves the queen of gods
And Hera loves him back
That is one big secret that
Zeus hasn’t quite cracked

So next time you’re caught in some rain
And don’t have an umbrella
Just say “god I wish this would stop”
Poseidon can sometimes be a jolly good fella.

KIDS BOOKS | THE QUESTING QUILL-O-MAN

There was once a young man
Well he was not quite twelve
He always kept behind his ear
A porcupine quill

Sometimes that quill was purple
Sometimes like the sun
He painted them with loving hands
Our curious Quilloman

The story goes that one night while he
Chased villains in his sleep
A kindly witch came floating down
And said “O Quilly listen to me”

“If you want to live nice and long
And have adventures far and near
You must carry a colourful quill
Tucked neatly behind your ear”

And so our quirky Quill-o-Man
Thought he must heed these words
And that is how he collected
One thousand quills I’ve heard

“O Quilloman, O Quilloman!”
Everyone who passed him cried
“Why do you carry all these quills
Who will you stab tonight?”

You see our oddball Quilloman
Had adventures in his mind
Where he roamed with his best friend
Sir Lancelot the knight

Together they fought battles
A lot of blood was spilled
The knight fought with his lance
And our hero with his quill

Then while on an adventure
One medieval Wednesday
Sir Lancelot lost his lance
While he was stabbing away

Quilloman was so shocked
He dropped his own quill too
Blade-less and point-less
There stood the warriors two

It is believed that was the day
That turned the tide for Quilloman
He stopped collecting piny quills
And had pockets full of sand

Our brave Quilly continued his
Madcap make-believe
Surfing in his sandy bedroom
In goggles and his briefs

Every few years, Quilloman hears
Of how he can improve
His ruddy health and his adventures
And finds hobbies anew

So next time you see someone who looks
Like they’re having too much fun
Surfing or flying or poking at things
You’ll know you’ve met Quill-o-Man.
Image: Generated via Recraft illustration software

KIDSBOOKS | THE HAPPY SUBMARINE

There was once a little sub 
He was called Eleos*-Blue
His daddy had swum in world war One
His mummy in world war two

He had grown up being taught
That his role was to fight
To carry sailors in deep waters
Where there was zero light

His little body had been trained
To dive in extra deep
Sharks and squids and anglerfish
Would never make that trip

But in his tinny tiny heart
The little sub didn’t like
The grownup chore that they called war
He was a happy little tyke

When the admirals saw that he
Would beam with the purest joy
Everytime he was visited
By a little girl or boy

They took him to the water park
And put him in the pool
And there he still swims happily
There never was a sub so cool!
* Eleos: In ancient Athens, Eleos was the personification of mercy and compassion – the counterpart of the Roman goddess Clementia.

KIDSBOOKS | THE CHEEKY GALA

There was once an apple 
The Gala variety
She would preen and pose all day
For all the world to see

The other apples told her
To be fruity and be kind
To watch the world quietly
But Gala paid no mind

One day while the apples
Sat in the produce aisle
A naughty little child came by
With a naughty little smile

They looked at him quietly
Maybe he’d go away
But Gala preened, oh she beamed
She loved being on display!

The little boy saw the apples
And almost passed them by
But then as she did a little jig
Cheeky Gala caught his eye

He pounced on the dancing fruit
She would be his lunch
Your imagination should tell you that
The next sound was a - “Crunch”!

KIDSBOOKS | THE SCARECROW PROTOCOL

Hi ho! I’m a scarecrow 
I’m made of sticks and sawdust
Any clothes that you don’t want
I very happily adjust

Your little shirt might be too small
Your pants may come to my knees
But I just take some sawdust out
Wearing them becomes a breeze

So if you see me somewhere
In a field or in a glade
Drop off a scarf, a glove or a hat
Or a drawing that you’ve made

If you can put them onto me
That would be just a charm
But if they don’t fit, sometimes I’m big
Then just knot them on my arm

And if I’m already wearing
Too many clothes and it is hot
Don’t share any outer wear
Just wave and say good luck!

And that’s the Scarecrow Protocol
For all who pass us by
Sometimes it’s your clothes we’d like
At others, just a friendly hi!

KIDSBOOKS | THE WONKY TOY BLOCK

There was once a toy block 
The kind that’s in a set
Of twenty blocks all sharp and square
Some blue and others red

Bendy Block stood starkly out
Because she was quite grey
She also had one dented edge
That made her lean sideways

While the other blocks climbed up
To build a tunnel or a house
Bendy would lean back and watch
As timid as a mouse

She’d straighten to ninety degrees
From the surface where she sat
But within a minute or two
She’d slowly lean right back

One day the building blocks all heard
A loud crash from within
The family photo had fallen down
With a mighty gust of wind

The glass was whole but the stand
Had broken into two
The lady tried to mend the break
With a tube of super glue

But that didn’t work so she looked
Around for inspiration
She spied the bendy little block
And used it for elevation

The photo with its smiling faces
Stands again up on the dresser
Bendy is the happy prop
As the frame now leans back on her.