Preface Missouri is honored to have the Gateway Arch shining high to repre sent all who settled the West and The Missouri Reader is based on the early primers that were used by those settlers Those pioneers knew as we know today the importance of reading The Missouri Reader is filled with poems riddles hidden pictures stories and nonfiction From an easy counting poem and a read-along rebus fable with pictures for words to a chapter book and even a play this book has something for readers of all ages Some of the pieces in The Missouri Reader have come from research such as the biographies about Sacred Sun and Thomas Hart Benton or the story behind Missouri’s bootheel Other pieces mix nonfiction with fiction such as Pony Express Mail And scattered throughout the book are works of poetry and fiction with Missouri connections such as Missouri Backyard Bird Count and An Osage Legend The story Dogwood also has a personal connection Although entirely fictitious it is set on a trail in the Ozarks where I too have taken dogwood hikes since 1972 I hope children parents and teachers across Missouri enjoy reading these pages I also hope schools across our state actively use this book by having their students take the Missouri Pledge sing the Traveling Round Missouri song act out The Time Machine and learn from the other stories and poems Your Missouri friend Judy Young iii
For all the young Missouri readers For your teachers your families for you For Missourians I’ve had the pleasure to meet And for those that I haven’t met too J Y For Sue and Mike Fahy K L D iv
Table of Contents A Missouri Pledge 1 Missouri Backyard Bird Count 2 Molly the Mule 6 Hidden Symbols of Missouri 10 Thomas Hart Benton and the Missouri Mural 13 Sacred Sun 17 Performance Poetry An Osage Legend 20 Day and Night Poems 26 The Missouri Bootheel 29 The Experiment 33 Fun at the Fair Riddles 43 Pony Express Mail 47 Traveling Round Missouri Song 52 Dogwood 55 Sonnet to the Gateway Arch 70 Reader Theater A Time Machine 72 A Missouri Timeline 84 I’m from Missouri 89 v
