Hi friend,
Welcome back.
I'm so happy that you joined me today.
My name is Teresa Marie and tonight I'm going to read a story by author Ann Mazer and illustrator Steve Johnson about a boy who finds a salamander in the woods and imagines the many things that he can do to turn his room into the perfect salamander home.
So if you haven't already,
Let's find a comfortable position,
Relaxing or laying down in bed.
Get your pillow,
Your blanket,
Maybe a sip of water,
Maybe your favorite item that you like to have with you.
As we begin to slow down and close our eyes,
If you feel comfortable,
And let's take a couple of deep breaths together,
Okay?
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
Let the frustrations of the day begin to melt away as you relax and listen to the sound of my voice.
Disagreements with friends or family can just be placed to the side as we free our mind up and give it a break.
And we read it a storybook too.
Okay?
Here we go.
The Salamander Room by author Ann Mazer.
Brian found a salamander in the woods.
It was a little orange salamander that curled through the dry leaves of the forest floor.
The salamander was warm and cozy in the boy's hand.
Come live with me,
Brian said,
And he took the salamander home.
Where will he sleep?
His mother asked.
I will make him a salamander bed to sleep in.
I will cover him with leaves that are fresh and green and bring moss that looks like little stars to be a pillow for his head.
I will bring crickets to sing him to sleep and bullfrogs to tell him goodnight stories.
And when he wakes up,
Where will he play?
I will bring carpet in my room with shiny wet leaves and water them so he can slide around and play.
I will bring tree stumps into my room so that he can climb up the bark and sun himself on top.
And I will bring boulders that he can creep over.
He will miss his friends in the forest.
I will bring salamander friends to play with them.
They will be hungry.
How will you feed them?
I will bring insects to live in my room.
And every day,
I will catch them and feed the salamanders.
And they will make little pools of water on top of the boulders so they can drink whenever they are thirsty.
The insects will multiply and soon there will be many bugs and insects everywhere.
I will find the birds to eat the extra bugs and the insects and the bullfrogs will eat them too.
Where will the birds and the bullfrogs live?
I will bring in trees for the birds to roost in and make ponds for the frogs.
But birds need to fly.
We can lift off the ceiling.
They will sail out in the sky,
But they will come back to my room when it's time for dinner because they will know that the biggest,
Juiciest insects are there.
But the trees,
How will they grow?
The rain will come through the open roof and the sun too.
The vines will creep up the walls of my room and ferns will grow underneath my bed.
There will be big white mushrooms and moss-like little stars growing around the tree stumps that the salamanders can climb on.
And you?
Where will you sleep?
I will sleep on a bed under the stars with the moon shining through the green leaves of the trees.
The owls will hoot.
The crickets will sing.
And next to me,
On the boulder with its head resting on a soft moss,
The salamander will sleep.
The end.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I hope you enjoyed the story that I shared with you.
I really enjoyed reading it to you.
It's one of my favorites.
It's time to go to sleep now.
Good night,
Sweetheart.
Sweet dreams.
You truly are such a miracle.
Don't you ever forget it.
The light in me sees the night in you.
Namaste,
Sweetheart.
Good night.
