Gladiolus and the Hair Don'ts
A free read-along sample.
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For every little heart that has ever felt like a hard moment would last forever.
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Gladiolus was a little monster with a LOT of hair. His mom called him Glad. And it wasn't ordinary hair. Oh, no. It was a magnificent, marvelous, wonderfully wild cloud of blue, purple, and golden-yellow curls! Glad loved sunny afternoons with Max, his big fluffy dog, listening to music while his curls danced in the breeze. His friends said he had the best hairdo in town. And if you asked Glad? He would have agreed.
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One morning, Glad wandered into the kitchen. "Morning, Mom!" But his curls had grown so long, he could hardly see where he was going. He took one step. Then another. Then— BONK! Straight into the coat rack! Mom turned from the sink. "Oh, Glad!" she laughed. "I think someone needs a little haircut!"
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Glad pushed the curls away from his eyes. "But I like my hair!" "I know you do," Mom said gently. "Just a little trim, so you can see." Glad touched his curls. Seeing where he was going would be nice. And Mom had cut his hair plenty of times before. "Okay," he said. "But just a little." "Just a little," Mom promised.
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Mom set up her haircut chair in the big bathroom. She put on her hairstylist's apron and draped a cape around Glad's shoulders. Max settled onto the floor nearby. "Ready?" Mom asked. Glad nodded.
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Snip, snip, snippity, snip, snip! Blue curls floated to the floor. Then purple ones. Then golden-yellow ones. That seemed like an awful lot of hair for a little trim. "Mom?" "Almost finished!" Snip, snip!
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"All done!" Mom held up a little mirror. Glad looked… and gasped. His hair was short. So short. SUPER-DUPER short! He no longer had a hairdo. He had a… HAIRDON'T! "This is TERRIBLE!" Glad groaned. "Oh, it looks fine," said Mom. "You're my handsome little monster!" But Glad didn't feel handsome. He looked like he'd lost a fight with a lawnmower!
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That night, Glad couldn't stop thinking about his haircut. Everyone will laugh. They'll think I look ridiculous. What if nobody wants to be my friend? The thoughts grew bigger and bigger. Much bigger than his hair had ever been.
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The next morning, Glad pulled his sweatshirt hood way, way down. "GLAD!" It was Poppy the People Pleaser. "What's with the hood? Did a squirrel move in up there?" Glad almost laughed. "No. I got a haircut." Slowly, he pushed back his hood. "Oh," said Poppy. "That is different." Glad's stomach sank. Then Poppy smiled. "But you're still Glad. The same Glad I wanted to play with yesterday, and the same Glad I want to play with today." Glad wanted to believe her. He really did.
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But sometimes the unkind things we tell ourselves are louder than the kind things others say. All morning, Glad thought about his hair. When someone giggled, he was sure they were laughing at him. During the subtraction quiz, all Glad could think about was the wonderful hair that had been subtracted from his head. A hundred beautiful curls minus… EVERYTHING! He didn't do very well.
The end. Talk Cards for this book