A Book for the Whole Family

Written byGalen BlumIllustrated byLisa Flynn

A Book for the Whole FamilyBy Galen Blum Illustrated by Lisa Flynn

This book is dedicated to the Children and Famlies of

Hurricane Katrina

Once upon a time there was a real nice guy.

His name was Flannel Man.

Everywhere he went he made people feel comfortable.

If you were a hand shakin’ kind of person then he would shake your hand.

If a big hug was what you liked then that’s what you’d get.

Maybe a simple nod would do and that’s what he’d give back to you.

He was just plain easy, that Flannel Man….soft and strong and easy.

Everythin’ bout him made you want to be near him.

He just rolled along from thing to thing bein’ helpful and kind and VERY VERY strong.

Some folks noticed he was different….outsiders mostly.

They’d drive through town and be mean.

But Flannel Man, he’d just smile and wave.

We fi gured he didn’t really hear them cuz’ his ears was so small.

Actually his whole head was small….VERY VERY small.

He’d say stuff like “Pay them no mind. It’s just noise” and then go about fi xin’ and makin’ things.

That Flannel Man sure loved to work!

One Fall day I asked him how his head got SO small and this is what he said:

“After years and years of just concentratin’ on what’s in front of me, focusin’ real good…..my head shrunk.

Turns out I didn’t need a big head any more. Keep it simple and do the next right thing and before ya know it….BIG things get small.”

Then he smiled….He smiled a lot.

Along came winter and it was bad…..REAL bad.

The Mayor called the Governor and the Governor called the President and the President said he’d pray for us. We sure needed it.

We could have used some money too but he said he had faith we could do it on our own cuz’ we were Americans.

Every day people had meetins’. They argued bout’ “Why?” and “How Come?” and “When’s it gonna get better?”

The reason I remember it real well is cuz’ all 243 of us had to stay in the school gym for 7 whole days. Roads closed…electric gone….it was BAD.

All the while Flannel Man worked. He nailed boards on the windows.

He cooked beans in the kitchen.

He made all the cots look pretty.

He told us stories.

Best of all...he sat with my grandma every time she cried.

Me and my friends got tired of listnin’ to the big folks so we asked Flannel Man if we could help. He said “Yep”. He said yep a lot.

Pretty soon all us kids were busy doin’ and fi xin’. We were noisy too….noisy, busy and happy.

Around the fourth day I noticed big people joinin’ in. Now everybody had a job.

At night we rested,, then played games an’ told stories an’ sang an’ danced….A LOT!

Then we slept SUPER hard.

On the last day Flannel Man woke us up…..all of us at once…with his fi ddle! He didn’t like to yell.

He said the snow stopped snowin’ and the sun was out.

He told us to pack up, clean up and go home.

When we got home there was all kinds of work to be done and we got busy! It was a mess.

That night Flannel Man came by to check on us and we were good….tired but good.

When I grow up I want to be just like Flannel Man.

He says it’s easy and I believe him.

For further informationcall Galen Blum

at 505-466-3108 or e-mail galenblum@yahoo.com

2009 by Galen Blum

Illustrations 2009 Lisa Flynn© ©