Double, double toil and trouble;Fire burn and cauldron bubble.Fillet of a fenny snake,In the cauldron boil and bake;Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog,Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,For a cha

In the shelter, caged, she cried,“Let me out.” I touched the pawpoked through the bars to reach my hand,set her free and brought her home. Midnight cat, black on black,yellow eyes wide, undersizedbeauty, frail, with blunted tail.Played through my day

It’s not so easy being meI am a threatened bat, you seeNot many think I’m very cuteWith stringy wings and fuzzy suit I should be loved for how I tryTo eat the pests that multiplyI nightly dine on bugs that biteBy echo-dining while in flight The far

WHY DO CATS purr? We have wondered about that soft and soothing sound since cats became our companions over 5,000 years ago. You’re right if you think that cats purr because they are happy and content. Cats choose to purr, just like you choose to lau

GoblinsOn the porchesGlare with slitted eyes,Waiting for their callers:Children in disguise. Throats ofLiquid fire,Eyes of candle flame—Demons in the darkness,Pumpkins when they’re tame.■

MY NAME IS FAUNA, but Mom and Dad sometimes call me Magpie since I talk a lot. They call me “animal magnet,” too, because animals like me. I don’t mind at all because I like them, too. In fact, what I really, really want is a pet of my own. My dad ha

1. _______ house4. Smaller than a forest6. Fairy _______7. Fear of spiders: arachno_______11. To perform or accomplish13. A large stone14. Untidy17.Opposite of nay19. _______ hang in haunted houses23. Old witch25. “Quoth the Raven, ‘_______ more.’”27

IT HAD ALL gone wrong right from the start. Kishna had so looked forward to meeting his cousin from the city, exactly his age, whom he had not seen since they were practically babies. There’d be so much to share, or so he thought. How excited he had

SIMON LAY IN the wheat field, hidden from the eyes of anyone who might happen to pass by. He was plucking stalks of wheat and linking the straws together to make a circular network of spokes and struts, trying to distract himself from worrying about

IF IT WERE up to Dad and me, we would have all kinds of pets. We love animals. But every time I ask for a cat or a dog, Mom says, “Katie Plante, you know it wouldn’t be fair to have a pet with nobody home all day.” Somehow, even though Dad and I outv

A LONG TIME ago in Edo, Japan, the god Kashima sat in his shrine, as still and heavy as a statue. His shrine stood atop a large hill, and through the doorway he could see the patchwork of farms, rice paddies, and wooden huts spread out below. A peasa

My linessink under the surfaceof my mind,rise and sink again,like bobbersdipping with the weightof nibbling trout.Words,what mystery fishdeep in my brainis pulling youdown?■

LUCY LARCOM WAS once one of the most famous and beloved poets in America. Today she is best remembered for her autobiography, A New England Girlhood, which tells about her growing-up years as a mill girl, toiling in the dusty and noisy cotton mills o

EVERYONE KNOWS that “clothes make the man”—or any person, for that matter. So let’s examine what our glad rags, or fine clothes, are made of. Many fabrics are named after the places where they were first produced. Calico, for instance, originated in

1. Luck or fortune4. Charm worn to ward off evil or bring good luck7. The walls have _______8. Bad omen: an ill _______ blows9. Destiny10. Astrologers interpret the influence of _______ on human affairs14. Wagers16. Number of years since your birth17

“ASHLEY! OUR SANDY is singing again!” The stage manager called to me, and I moved to the wings to watch. While our star, Kayla, was belting out “Tomorrow,” the hound sitting next to her had decided to chime in as well, his earsplitting a-roooo echoin

WHEN I CAME forth, thinking to empty my boat and go a-meditating along the river, I learned to my chagrin that Father’s pig was gone. He had leaped out of the pen sometime since his breakfast, but his dinner was untouched. Here was an ugly duty not t