The Mom Weekly Volume 102: July 22, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Notes:
Here is another installment of 100 First Lines for Volume 100. I’ll try to finish all 100 in the next few weeks. This week is the “Picture Book Edition.” And there are 30 selections. I could have done many more! This brings us to 40 first lines out of 100!
I hope this inspires some good memories of us reading these books together. Maybe you’ll even take some of them out of the library, or read them the next time you are home.
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
(Funny aside: As I was formatting this, my editing software (ProWritingAid) tried to autocorrect /replace “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with “The Starving Caterpillar” Obviously, I had to override it. LOL)
First Lines, Picture Book Edition
When I was young in the mountains, Grandfather came home in the evening covered with the black dust of a coal mine.
—Cynthia Rylant, When I Was Young in the Mountains
In the beginning, I was. I was for a long time. Then things began to happen.
—Regina Doman, Angel in the Waters
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made magic of one kind
and another
his mother called him “WILD THING!” And Max said, “I’LL EAT YOU UP!” and he was sent to bed without eating anything.
—Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are
Once there was a peddler who sold caps.
—Esphyr Slobodkina, Caps for Sale
Once there was a triangle that was—as most triangles are—always busy.
The triangle spent its time holding up roofs, supporting bridges,
making music in a symphony orchestra,
catching the wind for sailboats,
being slices of pie and halves of sandwiches,
and much, much, more.
—Marilyn Burns, The Greedy Triangle
On Monday, Farmer Greenstalk dropped his watch down the well.
—John Himmelman, Chickens to the Rescue
In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of—
The cow jumping over the moon
—Margaret Wise Brown, Goodnight Moon
Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
—Margaret Wise Brown, The Runaway Bunny
Once upon a time, there was a yellow cat with black spots in his fur. His name was Pickles.
—Esther Averill, Fire Cat
In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.
—Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
A little boy planted a carrot seed.
—Ruth Krauss, The Carrot Seed
Pinkerton was pink, plump, and pushy.
—Helen Lester, Me First
One winter morning Peter woke up and looked out the window. Snow had fallen during the night.
—Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day
Early in the morning the farmer feeds and milks his cows.
—Jan Pfloog, The Farm Book
Go to sleep, Max, said Max’s sister Ruby.
—Rosemary Wells, Max’s Bedtime
How are you Feeling?
—Saxton Freymannn and Jooste Elffers, How Are You Peeling? Food with Moods
Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. The little train rumbled over the tracks.
—Watty Piper, The Little Engine that Could
It was a pleasant summer morning, so Frances took her bat and her ball and some chocolate sandwich cookies and went outside.
— Russell and Lillian Hoban, Best Friends for Frances
It was a quiet evening. Father was reading his newspaper. Mother was feeding Gloria, the new baby. Frances was sitting under the kitchen sink.
—Russell and Lillian Hoban, A Baby Sister for Frances
The day Helen gave Martha dog her alphabet soup, something unusual happened.
—Susan Meddaugh, Martha Speaks
Once there was a miller’s daughter who got into a heap of trouble.
—Diane Stanley, Rumplestiltskin’s Daughter
Every year at springtime, Rebecca Estelle planted just enough seeds in her garden to grown vegetables for the long winter.
—Linda White, Too Many Pumpkins
The important thing about a spoon is that you eat with it.
—Margaret Wise Brown, The Important Book
Anna dreamed she was bird. But when she woke up, she wasn’t.
—Kady MacDonald Denton, Would They Love a Lion?
A mother bird sat on her egg.
—P.D. Eastman, Are You My Mother?
In an old house in Paris
that was covered with vines
Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.
—Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline
On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool, In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool, He was splashing … enjoying the jungles great joys … When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.
—Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who
Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel. Her name was Mary Ann.
—Virginia Lee Burton, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
Now the Star-Belly Sneetches
Had bellies with stars.
The Plain-Belly Sneetches
Had none upon thars.
Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches
Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?
Dr. Seuss, Too Many Daves
Interesting/Notable:
What I Went Through to Meet My Daughter
Please read, or at least skim this article, to the end. It had me in tears, happy tears. Even though I subscribe to The Free Press, I hadn’t come across this article until Dr. Naomi Whitaker—a national treasure — shared it on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/napro_fertility_surgeon/).
You may remember that I shared the PBS documentary “Below the Belt” nearly two years ago. As I wrote then:
“(This) documentary is about endometriosis and how misunderstood it is, how little it is treated, and how that should change. One of my biggest takeaways was that people–especially women– need to be advocates for their own health, and to persist even when not getting answers.”
I am so grateful for the work done by these careful and skilled surgeons to help women in this way, when others dismiss their symptoms and propose band-aid solutions that can often make these conditions like endometriosis worse.