Magic Michael

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Magic Michael

   Author:  Louis Slobodkin
Copyright Date:  1944
Publisher:  Macmillan
Pagination:  44 p.
Dedication:  to My Boy Michael

Michael wasn’t happy just being my brother;

He wanted to be something—something or other.

Something BIG—something HIGH
That prowls in the jungle or flies in the sky.
And when he got to be almost four
He’d sometimes wag and suddenly roar.
Then he’d spill his milk and lap it up,

Chew the rug and become a PUP.

Or as we marched home, two by two,
He’d become a Cow and say “MOO-MOO.”

Then he’d eat raspberry jam as quiet as a mouse.
But did you ever try to read with a TIGER in the house?

Once I took him to school—we were going to have cake—
He stopped at the door and hissed, “I’m a snake.”

And as a girl said a poem ’bout a bird in a tree
Michael started thinking what could he be. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cover variants



Author’s dedication (click to view larger image)



(Image courtesy John Lutschak Books , Burlington, WI)

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Michael wasn’t happy just being my brother; He wanted to be something—something or other.
Something BIG—something HIGH That prowls in the jungle or flies in the sky. And when he got to be almost four He’d sometimes wag and suddenly roar. Then he’d spill his milk and lap it up,	Chew the rug and become a PUP.
Or as we marched home, two by two, He’d become a Cow and say “MOO-MOO.”
Then he’d eat raspberry jam as quiet as a mouse. But did you ever try to read with a TIGER in the house?
Once I took him to school—we were going to have cake— He stopped at the door and hissed, “I’m a snake.”
And as a girl said a poem ’bout a bird in a tree Michael started thinking what could he be. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .