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Children's Writers Brainstorming Lists |
Pickle things you never see...Like pickles on a Christmas tree.
Pinkerton was pink, plump, and pushy.
Playing is more fun...when two can play.
Pop will hop on the bus.
Pop! Hi, Word Bird.
Prancing like a Pony is Peculiar.
Princess Penelope's birthday was always a big occasion, and this year was no exception.
Pug the pup has fun.
push pull
Putt Putt is a tug.
Quack, Quack, Quack, thought the duck.
Quiet. Still. It is cold and damp.
Rat-a-tat tat Rat-a-tat-tat THUMP, THUMP THUMP, THUMP Distant drums Chirping horns Rat-a-tat-tat Rat-a-tat-tat
Rata was only three, but she often went to school.
Ready or not--here I go!
RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT GOOD MORNING
red/strawberries/raspberries/apples/fireman's hat
Rhinos who snowboard live for the snow.
Riddle-me riddle-me-ree, I see something you don't see.
Ring, ring. The telephone in Mystery Monster's secret detective hideaway was ringing.
Robert was a happy little horse.
Rocking and waiting to see the moon both of us suddenly turn and smile.
Sailaway, sailaway, over the foam.
Sally and her father are inventors.
Sam and Emma lived quite content in a house with a garden where they didn't pay rent.
Sam came home late.
Sam is a cat.
Sam made a tunnel in the sand for his cars.
Samuel was an outside cat.
Sarah Bryant was eight years old in 1787.
Sarah Lucy and her big family sat down to talk about what to do for fun.
Saturday morning, Joe Kenton and his father were driving to Westfield.
Saul liked to read about space adventures.
See that path? Just a trace through the woods till it joins the blacktop down the hill, but folks have been traveling it thousands of years.
Seth lived in the Kuiseb Canyon, not far from the sea, in a small house with his mother and his grandfather.
Seven little rabbits Walkin' down the road Walkin' down the road Seven little rabbits Walkin' down the road To call on old friend toad.
Shhh! Go away. I can't play. I'm sleeping.
Silly Tilly Mole woke up one morning.
Simon Henry was all business--fish business.
Sing a song of people walking fast or slow; People in the city, up and down they go.
Six kids pin on bibs.
Sniff and Snuff were running along the road.
Sniff sits on a stump.
Snip Snap is on the sand.
So frail and delicate a child was Cynthia that her mama and papa sent her to stay with Great-aunt Isabelle in the country, where the fresh air would do her good.
So you want to be a sardine.
Solomon was an ordinary rabbit, except for one thing: anytime he wanted to, he could turn into a rusty nail.
Some cats live in houses.
Some day, some day, I'm going to ride a horse.
Some grannies live in...apartments, big old houses, old people's homes, little rooms in the city, trailers, farmhouses, cottages by the ocean, nursing homes, or nowhere at all.
Some houses are bricks and some houses are sticks.
Some years ago you could turn off the main road outside a small town in Maryland onto a dirt road which stretched three miles.
Someday, if you are walking in the right forest, you might see an old footprint./Long ago--I do not know exactly when--a brave dormouse lived among the trees of the Western Woods.
Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo
Sometime the bus be's late and you have to stand in the streets and wait in weather ten times colder than a roller skate.
Sometimes the person I want to see more than anyone in the world is my dad.
Sometimes we run at night.
Splish Splash lived in the middle of a park.
Spot is a pig.
Spring at last! The Easter holidays had arrived and the wheels were out on Trotter Street.
Spring came and with it a longing to travel.
Stan was a new garbage man.
Stanley liked candy.
Staying at Sam's house is like visiting another planet.
Sue likes blue.
Sunday morning, sleeping late; pancakes piled high.
Sunny MacFarland lived in a beautiful hole in the middle of the Texas desert.
Susie and Roberto were putting on a puppet show.
Tale One: A peasant was very hungry so he bought a large plate of soup.
Talk. Talk. My crayons talk. Yackity. Clackity. Talk. Talk. Talk.
Tap heavenly powers and you'll find this dragon's moving through your mind.
Ted has ten hens.
Ten red ants rest on a stump.
Teresa lay in the sun-flecked grass under a tree at the edge of a field.
The ball is up.
The bear likes gum.
The beavers had made the pond in the first place.
The bell rang.
The boat was my father's idea.
The bride's gown was made in town, the groom's pants arrived from France, the champagne came from Spain, while Jake baked the cake.
The cat pressed his nose to the window of Mrs. Peachtree's Eighth Avenue tea shop.
The cat ran under the chair.
The cat's pajamas started out as a big piece of red cloth with white flowers.
The children went to visit their grandparents in the country.
The Clown-Around family lives in an ordinary town on an ordinary street.
The cows have grown tired of the fields.
The cracking and popping of cedar wood could be heard as the fire burned.
The day Neil came over wearing his fringed jacket and felt hat Leanna said to her little brother,--"Norman, Neil and I are going to play pioneers.
The delicious aroma of apple pie baking in the oven filled the kitchen.
The duck brothers: Little Zack, Brick and Brack, and Thackery Quack took the number 1 train on track number 2 to the city.
The eye has no shadow.
The family's cat sleeps on the windowsill where the sun is hot.
The fog hid Fred the frog.
The fox sat on the box.
The good thing about pretending I'm sick is...I don't have to go to school!
The hide-and-seek game is about to begin...The door is ajar and the rats go right in.
The kids on Snow Street had a secret fort.
The King and Queen/Invited me/To come to their house/On Sunday for tea.
The Know-It-Alls dropped in on their new neighbor one day, and found her washing dishes.
The Laird of Cockpen, he's proud and he's great; His mind's taken up with the things of the state; He wanted a wife his braw house to keep, But favor with wooing was fashious to seek.
The last 9-year-old girl to play Big League baseball was Issy Archer of the 1923 New York Yankees.
The little boat sails out of the harbor past the big ships in the open sea.
The little ghosts live in a haunted house.
The MacGooses owned a grocery store and every day they sat in it together waiting for customers.
The marsh is an edge where water and land meet between cattails.
The moon was up when Sam came out.
The morning ferry docked at Land's End Island.
The morning light wakes me.
The mornings of the paperboy are still dark and they are always cold even in the summer.
The Mouse family was on their way home.
The narrow shingled house where Grandma, Granpa, and the aunts live is wedged in between the Italian bakery and the shoe repair shop.
The one thing Billy Que had in common with the Dustdobbin who lived under his bed was this: they both hated brooms.
The Patterson family lived at number twenty-six Trotter Street.
The pups nap.
The shoemaker and his wife lived in a small house so far from other houses that their road seemed the last road in the world.
The sky is dark, there blows a storm, our cider is hot, the fire is warm, the snow is deep & the night is long: Old Father Fox, will you sing us a song?
The sky is dark, there blows a storm/Our cider is hot, the fire is warm/The snow is deep & the night is long:/Old Father Fox, will you sing us a song?
The Strange Pudding was the greatest hit ever presented by the Farm Theater.
The sun comes up each morning.
The sun has set.
The sun is up.
The sun went down, and it was dark.
The teacher went away to have a baby.
The train has a black engine with red wheels, an engine-driver with a blue coat and cap, a yellow coach with many windows--BUT WHERE IS THE GREEN PARROT?
The village children called him Mr. Gloomy.
The village of Toddlecreek is small.
The week that Mark had a high fever, Uncle Scott sent him a small metal box for trout flies.
The Wild Boars were having a huge feast.
The wood is full of shining eyes, The wood is full of creeping feet, The wood is full of tiny cries: You must not go to the wood at night!
The world was changing. (Maybe not the first line. The first page might be missing.)
The yellow mellow sunlight warmed the earth.
Theodora was arriving in the small town of Jasper, Texas, for her first summer at Aunt Mazel's.
There are many nice things about being a king.
There are many ships that fly from star to star.
There is a legend ravens tell, a legend about a wizard; a witch; and a stout, tall tree.
There once lived a king who was so kind that everyone in the kingdom loved him very much.
Pretty fun. Not bad for a celebrity book. Fun art.
There once lived a Wizard, a Fairy and a Magic Chicken.
Okay. Some fun stuff.
There once was a boy who dreamed he was a butterfly, and, as a butterfly, he always dreamed he was a boy.
There once was a boy who had weird parents.
There once was a man and his name was Isaac.
There once was a man who lived all alone in a little house on the edge of a town.
There once was a selfish old woman who would never share anything.
There once was a young artist who lived all alone, quietly, and who spent his days as most young artists do: daydreaming. (There's that stupid artist as mystic dreamer idea again. No wonder so many artists have screwed up lives. They're allowed to be irresponsible.)
There once was an old man in a yellow coat...who had a little goat, a coyote, and a bag of oats.
There was a mouse who wanted a wife.
There was a princess, a lovely princess. Her name was Little Princess Goodnight.
There was an old giant named Bugaboo Bill resided in England, on top of a hill.
There was an old man who liked to sit on his shabby old porch with his little dog Kit.
There was great excitement on the Isle of Struay.
There was nothing the innkeeper liked more than a good night's sleep.
There was once a baby who had no mommy.
There was once a little boy named Jonathan whose parents knew many things.
There was once a prince who wanted to marry a princess.
There was once a wise old mouse who lived with his young mice in the corner of a cellar.
There was once an Emperor Penguin who was so fond of fine clothes that he spent nearly all his money on them.
There were three of them: the old woman, Merry; the old man, Grumble; and Johnny, the bound-out boy.
There's a bundle of straw stacked up 'round a pole down in the dell on a big bumpy knoll./There's a shiny brown bottle on the wall up high.
There's a crisp in the air from I-don't-know-where but it might be a snowsong whistling.
There's a farm that I know
Unlike any other farm--
As the sun goes down
the air gets warm
and the birds wake up
and the wildflowers bloom
and the sheep jitterbug
under a round rolling moon.
There's a witch under the stairs and I know it.
These are the cryes of London Town.
They eat like pigs, those Thingamajigs.
They fit together like a song and a dance...like a wink and a smile...like peanut butter and jelly.
They say that if you creep into an evergreen forest late at night you can hear the trees talking.
Things did not always go well for Murdley Gurdson.
This beautiful day, when you go outside, look carefully.
This book's about Schnorky the Wave Puncher, who lives in our town.
This is a frog.
This is a story about Elfie--the best dog in the whole world.
This is a story of a wish come true.
This is Arthur's house.
This is Buddy.
This is Dorrie. She is a witch.
This is how the story begins.
This is Joe. This is Joe's backhoe.
This is Little Ten.
This is me. My name is Camera.
This is Mike.
This is my apartment building.
This is my book; it will open wide to show the pictures that are inside.
This is my tree.
This is the house where the scary ones hide.
This is the story of Jeremy, who was determined to pin the tail on the donkey.
This is the story of three kittens, George, Ginger, and Gigi.
This is the way the cat walks Pit pat, pit pat This is the way the cat walks On Halloween night.
This small person, Tana Jones, had everything she wanted except the thing she wanted most.
This way or that way?
This way to the throne room, but you'd better beware.
Thomas the tank engine is ready to make a trip.
Three dogs lived in Alison's house.
Three kind mice mix up a cake.
Through the night sweet dreams I'll see: Ten thousand things that I can be.
Tiffky Doofky, the garbage collector, went his rounds in a jolly mood.
Tigger was a brown Burmese cat.
Time for bed, dear.
Tip Top is in the tent.
To start at the beginning, the Woods lived on a farm on top of the top of the highest mountain in these parts, a way up where the wind is your neighbor all year round.
Today is secret day.
Today Mommy's taking me to her office instead of where I go, which is sort of like my office. (TERRIBLE first sentence. Took me a while to figure out what she meant.--Rick)
Today was like every other day on the farm.
Tom's mother cried.
Tonight, when we stepped out from Grandmother's house, the moon floated above her lawn--a circle like an eye the night would never close.
Toward the end of summer, when the grass needs cutting and wildflowers stretch from here to the barn and back again, my parents take their private, no-kid vacation.
Tracy opens a Word Window.
train on the track clickety clack
Trees are very nice. They fill up the sky.
Trip Trap is a tan ram.
Trouble always found Tekleh.
Two brown eyes, one pink nose, ten busy fingers, ten pink toes.
Two days before Christmas, Ben and Jane's grandma and grandpa came to stay at the house on Exeter Street.
Two little boys climbed up to bed.
Uncle Joe just says hello, And Uncle Dan will shake your hand, but don't turn your back on Uncle Jack.
Uncle Joe just says hello and Uncle Dan will shake your hand, but don't turn your back on Uncle Jack.
Uncle McAllister lived in Scotland.
Uncle Slim just got in from Texas--the biggest and best state in the whole U.S.A.
Up in de hills, where the streams are cool, where mullet an' janga swim in de pool, I have ten acres of mountain side, An' a dainty-foot donkey dat I ride, Four Gros Michel, an' four Lacatan, some coconut trees, and some hills of yam, an' I pasture on dat very same lan' five she-goats an' a big black ram.
Up went the goat.
Upstairs, down the hall, under Benjamin's bed, an alligator likes to hide.
Val has gum.
Wally was a warthog who worried a lot about a lot of things like grizzly bears, and ghosts, and little green men from Mars.
Walter made a magic wand from a stick he found in his backyard.
Way back in the olden days people turned to evil ways.
We are going to see the animals.
We hear of the Easter Bunny who comes each Easter Day before sunrise to bring eggs for boys and girls, so we think there is only one.
We looked...We listened...We decided to take the shortcut home.
We need to see a golden zoo.
We went to the beach, just Grandma and me.
We're back!
Wednesdays were always hectic on the Isle of Struay, for that was the day that the boat brought mail and provisions from the mainland.
Wee Gillis lived in Scotland.
Well before the woodcock calls, when morning still looks like night, my mother rises.
West of New Hampshire and east of Vermont there is a village.
What a way to start a day!
What I remember most about that summer is the dust.
What is that gross, disgusting smell?
What is that under Mother's covers down by her feet wiggling and twitching and tickling her toes?
What's going on?
What's that on your head?
When can a ribbon shoot arrows?
When Daddy picks me up at the day-care center and takes me to the grocery store he says, "Well, Corey, what shall we have for dinner?"
When dinosaurs go visiting, they wear their nicest clothes.
When Grandma and I go to visit Great-grandma, Great-grandma gives me a hug.
When Grandma came to stay she said to Madeleine..."I have been to Mount Desert Island, far away, and seen the shape of a great whale rolling in the deep...but I have never, no never, seen anything as tremendous as you!
When I go to Grandma's, I walk the railroad tracks from town, tie by tie.
When I take a bath, I leave the door open just a little and I keep my towel right next to the tub in case I get soap in my eyes.
When I wake up I look out my window. Morning in my city is like a gray blanket with green stripes.
When I wake up outside my window there is a morning mist, hiding everything but a big droopy spiderweb loaded with emerald raindrops.
When I was a small boy I went to a school in the south island of Japan.
When I was not yet old enough to wear long pants, Mama always worried that I might drown in a neighbor's pond.
When I was six, I wasn't courageous.
When I was young, I got up at daybreak every weekend to help Papa clean out the barn, and feed and water the horses.
When I'm up high in my treehouse I'm all alone.
When Jack McTavish married sweet Marion McGillicuddy, they counted their money and talked things over seriously.
When Mom came in and said it was time to get up, Jim said, "I don't want to," and hid under the sheets.
When Mom came in and said it was time to get up, Jim said, "I don't want to," and hid under the sheets.
When Mr. and Mrs. Porcupine had their first child, they were delighted.
When Mrs. Toggle's children arrived at school in the morning, they changed in the hall from their boots to their shoes.
When my great-grandfather was young--a hundred years ago, he likes to say, but that's not true--he went to school on prairie roads in a wagon pulled by horses.
When Papa was away at sea, and Mama in the arbor, Ida played her wonder horn to rock the baby still--but never watched.
When Priscilla's teacher told the children to draw pictures of their families, Priscilla put her mama on one side of the paper and her papa on the other.
When Rosina arrived in New York Harbor, the first thing she saw was the Statue of Liberty.
When the fire bells r-i-n-g-s, fire fighters stop whatever they are doing.
When the monkey family strolls down the street, they dance and sing and stomp their feet.
When the pumpkins came walking, creeping and peeking, sneakily stalking, last Halloween...I was tongue-tied.
When the school bus dropped him off at home, Matthew ran straight to his father's room.
When the sun goes down and the moon comes up and the old swing creaks in the dark, that's when we go to the park, me and Loopy and Little Gee, all three.
When we were quite small, we lived on a ranch in Montana.
When will the snow trees grow?
When winter came, Norman and his friends played ice hockey.
Whenever Timothy saw himself in the mirror, he felt happy.
Where Bobby lives there is a hill--A hill so steep and high, 'Twould fill the bill for Jack and Jill their famous act to try.
Where's the baby?
Who ate the cherries?
Who has a tail? I don't--do you? Look inside and you'll see quite a few.
Who killed Cock Robin?
Who looks good?
Whose leaping legs?
Whose mouse are you?
Whose tubby snout?
Wilfred had been on the road for a long time.
William sat scrunched in the corner on the back seat of the van.
Willie White was not very polite.
Wind in the night sky that hurries the ragged clouds along a moon path.
Winni Allfours wanted a pony more than anything else in the world.
Winter is over. Spring is here again.
Winter is the time for snow.
With mournful moan and silken tone, itself alone comes ONE TROMBONE.
With this weird warning my Scottish grandmother served soft-boiled eggs for lunch: "When you're done eating, give your eggshells a beating! Never leave them whole!"
Within the beautiful city of Prague, fierce hatreds have raged for a thousand years.
Yellow school buses large and small.
Yesterday my whole family met me at the door.
Yo! Yes?
Yonder is the farmer on a jet black horse.
You are downtown and there is a gentleman giving baby elephants to people.
You are downtown and there is a gentleman giving baby elephants to people.
You know...it makes a fellow think.
Young Yusuf and his family lived a long time ago in an African village in the heart of the rain forest.
Yula kept house for the Wind.
Zack and Elizabeth wanted a go-cart.
Zum. Zum buzzz, Zum. Zum. Buzz. Berlioz had been practicing for weeks, and now just when the orchestra was going to play in the village square for a gala ball, a strange buzz was coming from his double bass.