Spring Fling Kid Lit Contest

I’ve been looking forward to the Spring Fling Kidlit contest for a while, but I was stuck on a story about cherry blossoms inspired by a beautiful GIF and as a tribute to my mother’s hometown of Macon, Georgia. In the end, I just couldn’t figure out a way into it. Last minute inspiration struck from a totally different direction, and “What Jada Found on the Nature Walk” is what I wrote instead. Hope you enjoy!

GIF by Carlotta Notaro (Carlotta’s Instagram)

What Jada Found on the Nature Walk

Lane found a perfect L-shaped stick,

Randall a heart-shaped rock.

Jada picked up a grocery sack

and a lonely baby sock.

Eva arranged a neat bouquet,

Greer grabbed a sweetgum ball,

Jada picked up a coffee cup

and a dirty plastic doll.

Reyna retrieved a roly-poly,

Ace a piece of moss.

Jada picked up a scrunchie

and an empty tube of gloss.

Simon spied a shiny beetle, perfectly preserved,

Belle saw broken robin eggs and tiny baby birds.

Jada picked up a can, two straws,

and a crumpled paper bag,

three bottle caps, a piece of string,

and a ratty, tattered rag.

The class returned with leaves and stones

and a newfound love for spring,

but Jada threw her finds away,

and didn’t keep a thing.

She tossed her stash,

but Jada gained a lasting souvenir:

a passion to clear the trash away

from the nature she holds so dear.