Carlos and Jeffrey (New Children’s Book)

Carlos and Jeffrey

…It is okay to be different, and dreams do come true

By

Dwight L. Roth

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I finished my new full color children’s book called Carlos and Jeffrey. It is about a Dagger Moth Caterpillar named Jeffrey who gets teased for his long spikey antennae. He is new to the neighborhood and the kids who live there are not very nice.

He meets Katy (the Katydid) who becomes a friend and can sympathize with Jeffrey. But best of all Katy can fly! Jeffrey wishes he could fly, but instead he is stuck crawling on the ground.

At the park he meets Carlos (who is a Tiger Moth woolly worm) and the two really enjoy each other’s company. They compare stories and Jeffrey learns about the old wives’ tale of predicting the weather by the color of the stripes on the wooly worm.

The two of them have a great time together. The see a beautiful butterfly and again Jeffrey wishes he could fly.  At the end of the story Jeffrey finds dreams can come true.

A great story for kids through age10. It is 11 pages long.

For a free printable pdf. copy, email me at:

dwru27@aol.com

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• The idea for a children’s book came from my blogger friend, Merril when she read my earlier post using the little Dagger Worm. In the comments she said she thought this could become a children’s book. After thinking about it for a while, this book evolved. Thank you Merril… (https://merrildsmith.wordpress.com/ )
• https://rothpoetry.wordpress.com/2022/07/25/digital-woolly-worm/

“… Wonderfully Made”

Perfectly designed

Fragile wings strong and agile

A blue-eyed beauty

NASA couldn’t design one…

Not for a billion dollars

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Cicada’s First Song

Claws firmly attached, it hangs on to my old bird house wires being swallowed up by the willow tree! Seeing it hanging there was a most interesting sight. I wasn’t sure at first if it was alive or not, so I tapped it and found it hollow. The cicada, or seventeen year locust comes up out of the ground every seventeen years, usually attaching itself to a tree, and bursts out of its shell. Then it sings with his wings trying to attract a mate. Ours are usually green in color and about twice as big as the original shell. This one is a photographer’s dream shot. I was very excited to see it hanging there.

Cicada shell sways

Remnant of its dark past life

My bird house long gone

*

Hollow memories still hang on

Cicada sang its first song

Transparent Dragonfly

Cellophane wings shine

Blue bomber sways in soft breeze

Waiting for take-off

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Beauty on Beauty

There you were in the middle of my shot

Resting on a petal sunning yourself

Surfing all that beauty

Drowning in light

Reflecting every minute detail

Flawless yet simple

Elegant

An engineering work of infinitesimal design

A gift from the creator of all wonders

The image of excellence

Beauty on beauty

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Note; I just received my copy of the new North Carolina Bards Charlotte Poetry Anthology this week. I am proud and honored that my poem, Cobwebs of the Blue Ridge, was included in this collection.

Flawless Beauty

Beauty on Beauty
There you were in the middle of my shot
Resting on a petal sunning yourself
Surfing all that beauty
Drowning in light
Reflecting every minute detail
Flawless yet simple
Elegant
An engineering work of infinitesimal design
A gift from the creator of all wonders
The image of excellence
Beauty on beauty

Photo: Dwight L. Roth

Turtle’s / Dragonflies’ Convention

Turtles // Dragon flies

All vying for position

Which one will it be?

Green hard-shell bump on the log

Or flitting blue dragon fly

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

The Amazing Damselfly

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Sitting by my little stream a Damselfly came flitting by

Zipping by in synchronized aerial acrobatics

Flying in pairs like a sparkler in a little boy’s hand

Up and down round and round up into the sky

Irridescent blue sporting two pair of black wings

Sunning and stretching showing off his long slim thorax

Trying to impress a mate without too much success

Not unlike humans who like to show off and sing

Leaf to leaf and stem to stem it moves from scene to scene

Knowing I’m there but seeming not to care

Resting in the cool of the afternoon shade

Almost caught by a leaping frog rising up from the stream

Such fragile creatures so beautiful and so fine

With a pin head brain so full and so bold

Technology beyond what man can build

Smaller than a chip with precision lines

How wonderful to be in the presence of awesomeness

So easy to simply pass it by

Never realizing never taking time to see

Lift your eyes to the beauty of nature’s finest

Photos: Dwight L. Roth

Fragile Beauty

Butterflies are fascinating and fragile insects.  They are one of the most beautiful creatures on earth.  It always amazes me that they can live,  propagate, and migrate far distances.  Their wings are so thin you can almost see right through them, yet they have such an artistic design one cannot deny the handiwork of  our creator. As I watch these amazing creatures I am in awe of everything about them.

Tiny creatures

Flitting from flower to flower

Seemingly oblivious

To the world around

Carried about

On tissue thin wings

Masterpieces of design

Painted in vivid colors

Beyond art

Migrating on the wind

Programmed GPS

Chrysalises bursting open

Reincarnated

Ephemeral beauty

For us to enjoy

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Butterfly Photo: Dwight L. Roth