Transcript

QUEENIE: How great to see you here again at the Kids’ Poetry Club podcast. While we wait for Little Dazzy Donuts to start, I wanted to remind you that kidspoetryclub.com contains YouTube videos of illustrated poems and a packet of activities based on this week’s episode. It’s all free. Okay … let the fun begin …

Let's have some fun 

with things that rhyme

welcome Kids 

it's poetry time!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Welcome back to Kids Poetry Club with me, Little Dazzy Donuts, and a massive thanks to Dan, who is today’s STAR of the episode for reading out the introduction poem that you just heard. Remember that you can also be a STAR of the episode – just check out kidpoetryclub.com for more details.

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I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun today because we're going to spend the next 15 minutes listening to three poems on this week's chosen topic. Plus, we’ll be calling up a special guest, and Queenie promised to drop by the Club, and that means we’re guaranteed plenty of fun. So, while I play our intro music, get wriggling around to find a comfortable spot ... I’m so excited! It's time for this week's Kids’ Poetry Club!

Music

So, let's start off with club registration. This is where you get to shout out your name and get a club point for being here. So, on the count of three, shout out your name so that I can hear you through your phone, computer, or radio.

Let the drum roll begin. Here goes …. One. Two. Three! ….. Excellent!

Now, I wonder what this week’s topic will be?

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Oh, hang on … that’s the Kids’ Poetry Club phone. I better get it in case it’s urgent.

Hi, this is Little Dazzy Donuts at Kids’ Poetry Club.

Sammy Showers: Hi Little Dazzy Donuts, it’s Sammy Showers.

Hi Sammy. Good to hear your voice. Is everything okay?

Sammy Showers: Oh yes. I was just preparing my weather forecast for the rest of the day, and it looks like we’re going to have heavy rain. So, I thought I should let Queenie know in case she’s planning a hike. I don’t want her leaving home without her raincoat and getting all soaked.

Well, that’s so thoughtful of you, Sammy! I actually think that she’s already out on her hike. But I’m sure that she’d have taken her raincoat with her. She wears it with such pride. Have you seen her in her hiking outfit?

Sammy Showers: Actually, I haven’t. Being a weather forecaster I tend to look up a lot, and so I miss a lot of things. I look at the clouds, I watch for rain and snow, and I wait for the sun to peek through. So, I tend not to see what’s happening down on the ground. Sadly, it also means that I’m an awful driver – it’s so difficult to watch the road when you’re also watching the clouds. These days, I leave my car at home and walk places – but even that can be dangerous. Have you ever noticed that they put lampposts all over the place? So, what sort of hiking outfit does Queenie have?

Well, Sammy – she hikes in a pair of bright red boots, wears a purple backpack that has a strong smell of tuna and banana sandwiches, and then wears a green raincoat that has a very large chicken painted on the back of it!

Sammy Showers: You know what … I really admire Queenie. I wish I had the confidence to walk around with a chicken raincoat. Oh well, I better go look out of the window and see what the weather’s doing. I’d hate to miss a slight change in wind speed just because I’m busy chatting to you.

Thanks, Sammy. I really appreciate you calling. Let’s chat again soon!

Thinking about what Sammy was saying about Queenie, why don’t we use today’s episode to focus on the topic of Being Yourself. It’s something that Queenie does SO WELL.  While we wait for her, why don’t we read our first poem, which is all about being yourself. It’s called “The Amazing and Wonderful Me” and it looks at the importance of being yourself rather than trying to be someone else just to fit in. But how do you think this first poem will get here? How do you think the Poetry Postal Service will deliver our first poem? Listen carefully …. Here it comes …

It came by train! That actually sounds like a really nice way for a poem to travel. Well, now it’s hear, let’s listen to our first poem … “The Amazing and Wonderful Me”

If I act like you, and look like you,

and sound like you, then isn’t it true

that the world then has two people

exactly like you.

Now, I know that you’re wonderful -

you’ve told me before –

but the world only needs one

and doesn’t need more.

What the world really needs

is a me and a you.

With you being you, and not me

being you too.

Because, really, I like how I look,

and like what I like,

like hiking and poems

and riding my bike.

So, from this moment on

I’ll be happy to be

the uniquely amazing

and wonderful me.

Gosh, I like that poem. What a wonderful thought that the person in the poem learns to be happy with themselves, and to see themselves as a “uniquely amazing and wonderful me”.

Talking of someone who is amazing and wonderful … it sounds like Queenie is arriving. I can hear her walking up to the Club now.

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Queenie: Hi Little Dazzy Donuts! Hi everyone!

Hi Queenie. How great to see you here at the Club. How are you doing today?

Queenie: I am doing SOOOOO WELL! Rhyming School went really well today. We’re studying one of my favorite poets. His name was Robert Frost, and he lived 100 years’ ago. Do you remember what it was like 100 years’ ago, Little Dazzy Donuts?

Ha! No I don’t Queenie. As wonderful as it would be to live to be 100, I’m happy to report that I’m a long way off that. But, I do know about Robert Frost. So, which poems have you been studying?

Queenie: Well, today, we were reading his poem called “The Road Not Taken”. It’s all about someone having to choose which road to walk down, and choosing the one that others hadn’t taken … and how that decision made such a big impact on his life.

Well, Queenie, Robert Frost’s poem actually fits perfectly with today’s topic of Being Yourself.

Queenie: Ooohhhh …. I like that theme! When I was on my hike today, I came across a group of hikers and they all made me think about Robert Frost’s poem. It was sooooo funny. They all looked the same – it was like they all went shopping together to buy the same clothes and hiking boots… and not a single one had a chicken on their raincoat! Well, I walked with them for a while, and it turned out that they all watched the same television shows, ate the same food, and liked the same music. Eventually, we reached a point on the hike where they all wanted to follow the main track, and I decided to head down a smaller path to see what was down there. Little Dazzy Donuts, I was wondering – were those hikers all really exactly the same?

Well, I doubt it, Queenie. The truth is that we’re all different. We’re all unique. Our fingerprints, ears, smells, and even how we walk are all unique to us. Plus we’re all different in the way we think – what we believe, value, like, dislike, and so much more. That all adds up to making each one of us different and special. Actually, I have a nice poem about that – would you like to hear it?

Queenie: Oh, yes I would. I’m in the mood for a good poem.

Great – well this poem is called “One Of A Kind”.

You can tell from my fingerprints

that I’m one of a kind

but if my fingers don’t convince you

there’s more you can find

by checking out my ears

and the way that I walk,

and that special “me” smell,

and the way that I talk.

I’m a unique package,

the only one that you’ll see,

that has the exact combination

that adds up to me.

Queenie: Oh, I like that poem, Little Dazzy Donuts. We really are all different. As the poem says, I’m a unique combination that adds up to being me. Nobody else has the exact same combination. I’m as unique as a snowflake! But, if everyone else is also a unique snowflake, why do some people hide those differences to look and sound like others, like all of the people on the hike?

Well, Queenie – that’s a great question, and I bet I know who has the answer. Why don’t we call Donna Worry at the local college? She’s an expert at answering questions like that.

Queenie: That’s a great idea. Let’s call her now.

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Donna Worry: Hi, this is Donna Worry. Worry is my name, and Worrying is my game.

Hi Donna, it’s Little Dazzy Donuts. I’m here with Queenie. We’re talking today about the importance of being yourself, and we were wondering if you have any idea why some people hide their differences to look and sound like everyone else?

Donna Worry: Hi Queenie. Hi Little Dazzy Donuts. How great to hear from you again … and, yes, I do have some thoughts. After all, I specialize in worrying – and people who are trying to fit in are generally doing it because they are worried about looking different. You know, from a really young age, people can feel the pressure to fit in… to be cool … to be like those around them and not different.

Queenie: Gosh, imagine not being able to be yourself. To have to hide away aspects of who you are. That sounds like hard work, and also doesn’t sound like fun. If I did that, I’d end up surrounded by people who aren’t like me at all, and I’d have to pretend to be like them. I so enjoy wearing my chicken raincoat that I just can’t imagine what it would be like to leave it at home just so that I can fit in with everyone else. I don’t wear it to be different – I just wear it to be me. I’m just being myself.

Donna Worry: You are Queenie. You are embracing what makes you unique. I think that’s because you feel comfortable with who you are, and so you don’t feel any pressure to follow the crowd just to fit in.

Queenie: So, if someone is following the crowd, and they want to be themselves instead, what should they do? I guess they shouldn’t just go and paint a giant chicken on their raincoat as that just turns them into me, and I’m already me. I’m not sure the world is ready for more than one Queenie!

Donna Worry: Well, that’s a question with a really long answer, Queenie, and so we’ll have to chat more about it in another call. But, a good starting point is to build confidence. It helps a lot if someone becomes more comfortable with who they are, learns to like themselves, becomes proud of their strengths, and is kind to themselves. There’s a lot more to it – but that’s a great place to start.

Queenie: That’s wonderful advice, Donna. Thank you!

Donna Worry: My pleasure, Queenie. Before I go, I’d love to share a quote that’s worth remembering: “Be Yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”

Queenie: Thanks, Donna. I’m going to write that down on a piece of paper, and pin it up in my bedroom. I’ll then say it to myself when I look in the mirror each morning as I brush my hair. I’ll write it in big rainbow colors, “Be Yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” What a wonderful saying to start each day with. Thanks, Donna, and chat with you again soon.

SOUND

Well, Queenie, we’ve reached the final poem of the episode.

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Queenie: We have? What about the answer to Rhyming Rita’s riddle from last week?

Oh my gosh, yes! I forgot about that. Well, how about we give the answer next week instead?

Queenie: Phew! I was hoping that you’d say that as I haven’t solved the riddle yet. I think I need another week!

That’s good then. For those who don’t remember the riddle, we’ve included it in the PodPack for this week’s episode as a reminder and, next week, we’ll definitely give the answer.

Well, our final poem for this week is nicely on the topic of Being Yourself, and is called “Me and You”, and it’s about how every one of us is a Me! But, how do you think the poem will arrive? How do you think the Poetry Postal Service will deliver this final poem today? Listen carefully …. Here it comes.

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It came by motorbike! How fantastic. I wonder if the poetry postal service uses the same sort of motorbike as Queenie rides! Okay then, now it’s here, let’s listen to our final poem, “Me and You”.

I am me … and you are you,

but there’s only one of me,

and there are lots of you.

It seems to me to be quite true

that there’s only one me,

and there’s seven billion you.

So, I’m unique and special:

a one of a kind.

The only me ... in the whole humankind.

Now, if I am me … and you are you,

I suppose it’s also true

that, each of you

see yourself as a me,

which means that it’s easy to also see

that this world contains seven billion me.

Each one, unique and special:

a one of a kind.

Each one, the only me... in the whole humankind.

Wow!

Now my head’s spinning

from the wondrous news

that there’s only one of me,

but that it’s equally true

that I’m surrounded by people

that are me’s, but called you.

What a wonderful world

where we all can be

a unique and special me.

Well, sadly, that was our final poem for this episode.

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I hope that you’ve enjoyed our topic today of Being You. It has been such fun highlighting all of the wonderful ways that we are different, unique, amazing, and special, and that those are all things that we should embrace as we feel confident in who we are.

Don’t forget that there are lots of ways to join in with the club. If you go to kidspoetryclub.com, you’ll see a wonderful drawing by our Club illustrator, Dot Cherch, based on one of the poems we heard in the episode. You can also see the PodSnack video for the episode and download the episode’s PodPack of activities. They’re all free. Plus there’s information on how to send your poems and drawings into the club, including your entries for the Spring competition. There’s also information on how you can be the STAR of the episode who reads out our introduction poem. You’ll find everything you need at kidspoetryclub.com.

It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining me, Queenie, Sammy Showers, and Donna Worry.  I hope you enjoyed yourself, and hope you’ll be back for more next time the Club meets. Join us again next week when we’ll have a new topic, a new guest, and more fun.

As ever, let's finish with our short goodbye poem:

We've had some fun 

with things that rhymed

goodbye Kids 

until next time!

This is Little Dazzy Donuts saying .... keep rhyming!!!

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