Level 1 - My Wonder Studio

There once was a boy named Fred who lived in a small farming town. He was ten years old and was an only child. Most people in the town, both children and grown-ups, admired this spunky little lad, because he was always helpful and cheery. His father ran the town’s grocery store, and Fred would often help his father around the store.

Fred had a cat that he loved very much. Often his cat, Fluffy, was Fred’s only companion when he would look after the grocery store when his father had to take care of other business and his mother was at home. Fluffy would run around the store chasing mice and bugs, and sometimes Fred would run around with her—that is, of course, when there weren’t any customers.

One summer evening when Fred’s father was away for the day picking up supplies at a nearby town, Fred was looking out the window watching some of the other boys playing.

“Come out and join us, Fred,” called his friend Abe.

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Tuesday

Dec282010

Yuichi's Garden

"Why, look at you!" Yuichi said, as he patted a bright orange baby pumpkin, which looked like it had grown a few sizes since the night before. "You will grow into a large pumpkin like your brothers."

Yuichi smiled as he thought about all the many ways that Mother could prepare pumpkin. Pumpkin boiled and flavored with soy sauce, deep-fried pumpkin, and pumpkin in soup. Yuichi loved pumpkin!

He stood and stretched his arms. He was happy this morning. The hatake [1] was filled with ripening vegetables—bright red tomatoes, leafy greens, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, eggplant, potatoes, and cauliflower—all of these vegetables he had helped his father to plant. At the edge of the garden stood a beautiful ume^[2] tree, with bark that looked black in the shadows. There was also a short kaki [3] tree laden with small kakis; they still had a ways to go before they would be ripe and ready to eat.

As he looked around the garden, he noticed that the eggplant patch needed to be weeded. "Weeds must be removed while they’re still small," Yuichi said, quoting his father's lesson on weeds. "Weeds that are allowed to grow rob the soil of nutrients that would otherwise be available to help the vegetables grow large and nutritious!"