Twinkle Twinkle, Little Spud

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr

Twinkle Twinkle, Little Spud

Once upon a time, there was a blue-eyed, blonde-haired potato. Now, unlike all the other potatoes, this potato was not satisfied with just lying in the ground. Oh, no! This was a potato of very special talents, and she was not one to be satisfied with the normal lot of your everyday, run-of-the-mill potato. She did not dream of becoming a baked potato or a mashed potato. Not even a French fry. No, this potato was going to be a star.

You might wonder just how it was that a potato could hang up there in the night sky and twinkle away with all the other stars. Well, that’s not the kind of star we’re talking about here. This potato was going to be a star of the stage.

Now, this potato already was the pride of all the other potatoes. She was in first grade. In addition to learning her math facts, she was reading chapter books. While all the other potatoes couldn’t even tell you how many fries it takes to be a super-size, our potato could tell you how many pages she had read that day!

But even those potatoes who had come to expect the unexpected from the blue-eyed, blonde-haired potato wondered if maybe she was stretching the limits of a potato’s abilities.

Well, the blue-eyed, blonde-haired potato bided her time. She knew that stardom was not something that would happen overnight. If she could just find a role that was suited for her, even a small part, she knew she had talent that would appeal to the crowd.

And then her opportunity came. It was a production of “To Market, to Market,” making its world premier at Drake Elementary School. She was to be a dancing potato. It was such a momentous occasion that all of the other potatoes came to see her perform.

And she did not disappoint them. She proceeded to butter up those potatoes, as all of their eyes were focused on her. As she left the stage, they realized that her aspirations were not half-baked ideas.

“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spud” is the first of eight short stories in Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Adventures, a collection of stories about my daughter’s adventures, written for her twenty years ago.  It’s a reminder of the fun that a little girl had while participating in a grade school play based on “To Market, to Market,” a children’s book by Anne Miranda that puts a new spin on a classic nursery rhyme.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Spud
The Tiny Princess
Blue and Blonde Sprinkles
Jenny Comes Home from School
Smiles in the Pumpkin Patch
The Happiest of Birthdays
The Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Starfish
The New Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Girl
~~~
Sweet Dreams

Ken Gierke

38 thoughts on “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Spud”

  3. Oh, beautiful, Ken – the writing is delightful! This could easily stand solo as an illustrated children’s book. Applause for including the “tension” between star and “other potatoes”. A children’s story with a life-long message.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Pingback: The Tiny Princess | rivrvlogr

  13. Pingback: Blue and Blonde Sprinkles | rivrvlogr

  14. Pingback: Jenny Comes Home from School | rivrvlogr

  15. Pingback: Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Adventures | rivrvlogr

  16. Pingback: Smiles in the Pumpkin Patch | rivrvlogr

  17. Pingback: The Happiest of Birthdays | rivrvlogr

  18. Pingback: The Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Starfish | rivrvlogr

  19. Pingback: The New Blonde-haired, Blue-eyed Girl | rivrvlogr

  20. Pingback: Sweet Dreams | rivrvlogr

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