Children’s Corner

What is a “Children’s Corner”?

One of my children had a special place to sit and read. It was a warm, cozy corner, in the living room, between a bookcase and one wall, next to a heat register.

As a kid, I didn’t have an actual special “corner,” but I liked to read in bed, especially on weekend nights when I was allowed to stay up later than usual. Sometimes my parents would forget to check up on whether I had “finished the next chapter” and turned out the light. You probably know how it is when you are so engrossed in a story that you just have to find out what happens next. Before you know it, you are in the next chapter, and the next, and the next!

There was a song I liked in the 1965 television movie “Cinderella” that came out when I was seven. The lovely actress Leslie Ann Warren played Cinderella. She sang, “In my own little corner in my own little house, I can be whatever I want to be” (Here is a link to the words of the song from the Rogers & Hammerstein musical. http://www.songlyrics.com/rodgers-and-hammerstein/my-own-little-corner-lyrics/.).

Maybe your bed is your special place, or a fort you have made. It might be behind the sofa or a table covered by a blanket, making a tent, or a big cardboard box. Maybe you don’t leave it up all the time, but just for awhile.

Or, maybe your special place is a swing outside, or sitting on a branch of a tree, or a place where you like to walk. It can be anyplace that works for you.

This idea of having a special place where you can go to think your private thoughts, doodle and dream, read and imagine–whatever you want, really–is what I had in mind when I named this page the “Children’s Corner.” My wish for you is that you find the ways to make your dreams come true, even if it takes you a lifetime.

You might like my poem:

(First published in Hopscotch for Girls magazine (June/July 1999). Reprinted with permission of Shannon Comins (art) and Fun For Kidz Magazine).

Here are four stories by me you can read for free:

“Lewis the Giraffe.” East of the Web, August 2024. Cover art by Lane Waldman. https://www.eastoftheweb.com/node/7339. I first wrote “Lewis the Giraffe” in the 1990’s. There is a real giraffe named Lewis. He lives at the Pittsburgh Zoo. He is old! He turned 19 years old this year. But, he was not born yet when I wrote my story.

“The King of Maragor,” Skipping Stones: A Multicultural Literary Magazine for Teens. Sept. 5, 2023. https://www.skippingstones.org/wp/.

“Something to Look Forward To,” Ember: A Journal of Luminous Things. October 27, 2021. https://read.emberjournal.org/.

“Slippers for Molly” (story by me) and Pink Bunny Slippers (song and performance by Eliza Waldman), April 2020, https://christinagwaldman.com/childrens-stories-slippers-for-mollys/. Don’t miss it!

Did you ever …

… make a gum-wrapper chain? I guess chewing-gum doesn’t always come in paper wrappers anymore, but that’s okay. You can cut other papers to “gum-wrapper size” and use them to make a pretty Christmas tree chain. See instructions and pictures at “New Twist on Christmas Gum Wrapper Chain” (blogpost, this website).

Here is a list …

… of some of my favorite children’s books, “Books to Beg, Borrow, but not Steal” (blogpost, this website).

My new children’s novel is The Voice of the Wooden Dragon. https://christinagwaldman.com/the-voice-of-the-wooden-dragon/

Copyright Christina G. Waldman and Lane Waldman 2024. All rights reserved (no copying without permission from Lane and me).

Last updated 6-8-26.