Tag Archives: children

The Robot

Posted in Objects, People by

Mother Streusel

This summer I’m building a robot,

A robot that looks just like me.

He’ll do all my chores and my homework.

Soon all of my time will be free.

Mother Streusel

I’ve told everybody about it.

They’ll see what a genius I am

When he attends all of my classes,

While I stay at home eating jam.

Mother Streusel

I’ve tinkered each day in my bedroom.

I shut the blinds and locked the door.

The summer has flown by like lightning.

There’s only a week or two more.

Mother Streusel

It seems now I have a dilemma

With my life-sized robotic man:

Although he does carry my likeness,

He can’t do the things that I’ve planned!

Mother Streusel

School is beginning tomorrow.

It seems all my great plans fell through.

I can’t let them think I’m a failure.

There’s only one thing I can do:

     Mother Streusel

I’ll walk and talk like a robot

While he’s at home behind closed doors,

He’ll lay in bed just like I would

And I’ll go to class and do chores.

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

The Library Book

Posted in Objects by

    Mother Streusel

I borrowed a book from the library

There still are three weeks till it is due

I’m sure I can read the whole book by then

In fact it might only take two

Mother Streusel

It seems now I have missed the deadline

The book was due two days ago

I hate to return it before it’s been read,

This book full of things I should know

Mother Streusel

It’s been now a month since the due date

I’ve just read a handful of lines

The library’s leaving me messages

I’ve racked up a long row of fines

Mother Streusel

The library finally stopped calling

Perhaps ‘cause I moved out of state

It’s been two long years since I borrowed that book

I read it today and it’s great.

Mother Streusel

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

Mother Streusel Will Be Battling In A Poetry Competition AND She Has Written A Book!!!!

Posted in Contest, People, Uncategorized, win, winner by

Mother Streusel

Guess what? I, Karyn Linnell, AKA Mother Streusel, will be competing in a highly prestigious children’s poetry competition in just a few days! It is the 2014 March Madness Poetry competition where amazing poets, or “Authletes,” from all over the world are pitted against each other until only one poet remains! There are only 64 spots in the competition, and only half the poets make it past the first round. Most of the “Authletes” competing are well-known poets who have published books of poetry. Let’s just say this is going to be tough! This is about as intense as it gets in the world of children’s poetry. You will probably be hearing many pleas for votes from me, because I want to win!!! You can follow the competition here at www.thinkkidthink.com. The competition starts on St. Patricks Day, and you can begin voting for my poem on March 19th!

Mother Streusel

Mother Streusel

Also, every “Authlete” will be donating a book of poetry, and all of those books will be won by one lucky classroom. I decided to create a book of Mother Streusel’s Useless Rhymes called Ugh! Ink Is Getting Everywhere to donate. It has 40 poems, and about a dozen of them have never been published on this blog…and they never will be! Bwa ha ha! Wish you had a book of Mother Streusel’s Useless Rhymes, too? You can get Ugh! Ink Is Getting Everywhere here in either paperback or hardcover. If you would like signed copy, please email me at karyn@motherstreusel.com to pre-order. I will be placing a bulk order when I have 25 people who want signed copies.

Mother Streusel

This is the front of the book…

...and this is the back of the book!

…and this is the back of the book!

I am very excited about this competition, and I hope that you will vote for me (unless you like my competitor’s poem better.) It’s a really fun and exciting event, so be sure to follow along at http://www.thinkkidthink.com. I and all the other “Authletes” really appreciate your participation! It’s what makes March Madness Poetry so much fun.

Aunt Mabel

Posted in Food, Objects, People, Words by

        Mother Streusel

Whenever we have dinner

At the home of my Aunt Mabel,

I must be extra careful

And polite while at the table.

Mother Streusel

Aunt Mabel is quite sensitive

To any sign of crudeness,

And I never can predict what words

Offend her with their rudeness.

Mother Streusel

She asks me what I’m learning

And expects me to reply.

I try to answer safely,

But things often go awry.

Mother Streusel

One year it was the alphabet.

What problems could there be?

Aunt Mabel lost her temper

When I said the letter P.

Mother Streusel

Aunt Mabel started choking

Upon a piece of onion

When I said my class had read

The tall tale of Paul Bunyan.

Mother Streusel

One year we got into a fight.

She said that I began it,

Because I said uranus

While listing off each planet.

Mother Streusel

You doubt she is that sensitive?

I promise you that it’s true.

Last year she nearly sent me home

When I said the word shampoo.

Mother Streusel

Mother Streusel

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

The Shark

Posted in Animals by


Mother Streusel

Chompy was a shark

Who liked to swim around

A deserted and volcanic

Island that he’d found

Mother Streusel

He loved the great volcano

Its molten lava glowing

With joy he’d watch it sliding down

So quickly it was flowing

Mother Streusel

Chompy was inspired

And from shipwreck debris

He built a large aquarium

Mounted on a ski

Mother Streusel

It took a lot of physics

And a lot of engineering

To make an aqua-lava sled

Built for shark fin steering

Mother Streusel

He used a rope and pulleys

And a giant lever

To get up to the top

(My that Chompy’s clever!)

Mother Streusel

Up on the volcano

In a tank of water

He balanced in the sled

It couldn’t get much hotter

Mother Streusel

He started to lean forward

And it began to slide

Down ol’ Chompy flew

On a molten lava ride

Mother Streusel

He finished off the ride

With a crazy triple twist

He landed in the ocean

And the scorching metal hissed

Mother Streusel

It was so fun that Chompy made

His own amusement park

So kids can sled down lava

In a big tank with a shark

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

The Perfect Day

Posted in Animals, Food, Objects, People by

       Mother Streusel

I’ll daydream for a moment

And imagine something fine

The most heavenly day ever

A day perfectly mine

Mother Streusel

I’ll wake up at a sleepover

To sunshine and birdsong

Probably in Florida

‘Cause that’s where I belong

Mother Streusel

I’ll wear my purple dress

Then get something to eat

Perhaps a piece of pizza

Or anything that’s sweet

Mother Streusel

I’ll go dress up my dolls

To make sure they look pretty

And then build them a castle

Or maybe a whole city

Mother Streusel

I’ll paint a lovely painting

And jump on a trampoline

While riding on a pony

And then I’ll become queen

Mother Streusel

Or maybe be a doctor

To help kids who are sick

I’ll make medicine that tastes

Like candy on a stick

Mother Streusel

My head will hit my pillow

When that day finally ends

…Or maybe I will have

Another sleepover with friends

 © 2014 Karyn Linnell

William and the Train

Posted in Animals, Contest, facebook, Food, Objects, People, Uncategorized, win, winner by

This poem was written especially for an awesome kid named William! His mom, Kiah, won the official Mother Streusel Facebook Contest. Congratulations to them both!

Mother Streusel

William sat quietly

Doing puzzles with a cat,

When he heard a funny sound

Go rat-a-tat-a-tat.

Mother Streusel

It wasn’t like a drum.

It didn’t sound like rain,

But when he heard the whistle,

He knew it was a train.

Mother Streusel

Sure enough a train arrived

Just a moment later,

Puffing smoke and shiny red.

He’d never seen one greater.

Mother Streusel

‘Get in!” the conductor cried,

“And help us if you can.

We need someone to drive this train,

And you are just the man.”

Mother Streusel

William hopped aboard.

He heard the engine sputter.

“How do you make it go?” he asked.

“Just feed it peanut butter.”

Mother Streusel

There never was a train like that!

The more peanut butter fed

The faster it would go,

And down the track it sped.

Mother Streusel

A hundred miles an hour

A thousand, a million!

No one drove that peanut butter

Train better than William.

Mother Streusel

How could William make that train

Do what it could do?

I guess he understood it.

He liked peanut butter, too!

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

The ABC’s

Posted in Food, Fruit, Objects, People, Words by

        Mother Streusel

I told my little brother,

“Now that you are three

It’s time for me to teach you

About A, B and C.”

Mother Streusel

He said, “I know those letters.”

I asked, “Do you indeed?”

He said, “Of course I do.

I can even read.”

Mother Streusel

I decided I would test him.

I figured he was lying.

“A is for…” “Banana,”

He answered without trying.

Mother Streusel

“A is for banana?

It certainly is not!”

“B-A-n-A-n-A.

Yep. Three A’s, like I thought.”

Mother Streusel

“No, A is for apple.”

“But apple just has one.

There’s more A’s in banana,

And now can we be done?”

Mother Streusel

“No, let’s do B now.”

“Okay. Flibbertigibbet.

There’s no word that I know of

With more B’s to exhibit.”

Mother Streusel

I nearly lost my temper

But I thought, “He’s only three.”

I took a breath and tried again

With the letter C.

Mother Streusel

“I’ll try to ask a different way

So you’ll know what I mean.

Can you tell me what ‘Car’ starts with?”

He said, “Yes, with gasoline.”

© 2014 Karyn Linnell

The Siren of the Garden

Posted in Animals, Food, Fruit, Mythological Creatures by

Mother Streusel

The beauty of the ocean

The mermaid, is a flirt,

But the siren of the garden,

The wormaid, lives in dirt

Mother Streusel

She swims through the soil

She dives between the rocks

Her home is Compost Cove

Where she combs her wormaid locks

Mother Streusel

All the worms adore her

They listen for her song:

“Banana peels and rotting pears

We’ll feast on them till dawn!”

Mother Streusel

A goddess of the underearth

A soil-sodden queen

The legendary wormaid

Half-worm and half-sardine

© 2014 Karyn Linnell