On the eve of your birth
word of your coming
passed from animal to animal.

The reindeer told the Arctic terns,
who told the humpback whales,
who told the Pacific salmon,

who told the monarch butterflies,
who told the green turtles,
who told the European eel,
who told the busy garden warblers,

and the marvelous news migrated worldwide.


While you waited in darkness,
tiny knees curled to chin,
the Earth and her creatures
with the Sun and the Moon
all moved in their places,
each ready to greet you
the very first moment
of the very first day you arrived.


On the day you were born
the round planet Earth
turned toward...

Every year, before the start of the baseball season, the Lazardo family took a trip far from their home in Pimlico Hills. One afternoon, while on safari in Africa, young Scotty Lazardo wandered away from camp. He returned with a dinosaur.
"Look what I caught!" he said.
"Can we keep him?" pleaded Scotty's sisters, Zelda and Velma.
"I don't see why not." said Dr. Lazardo.
"He looks kind of like my uncle Bob," said Mrs. Lazardo.
Jumbu, their bodyguard, said nothing.
Scotty patted the dinosaur on the nose. "Bob?" he tried.
The dinosaur smiled and wagged his giant tail.
So they named him Bob.

With Bob along,...