Front End, Back End

Hettie and Gil have hopped and kicked all over the evening field. Now the big cows are lying down, and Hettie wants to lie down too.

Front knees, bend.
Back end . . . boing!

Her springy back end stays stuck up in the sky.

Gil laughs. Gil pushes. (Not like that!) Then, as the sky turns blue, Gil bends his front knees too, and the two friends end up nose to nose, tails in the sky, both stuck. They laugh until the boing goes right out of their back legs.

With a chant toddlers can act out with their own bodies, soft watercolor art that moves from sunset gold to starry blue, and a quiet, whispered ending, Front End, Back End turns the wiggles into a sleepy "Hmph."

For ages 2–4.