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A
List
by Arnold Lobel
One morning, Toad sat in bed.
"I have many things to do," he said. "I will write them all down on a
list so that I can remember
them."
Toad wrote on a piece of paper:
A List of things to do
today
Then he wrote:
Wake up
"I have done that," said Toad, and he crossed
out:
Wake up
Then Toad wrote other
things on
the paper:
A list of things to do
today
Wake
up
Eat Breakfast
Get Dressed
Go to Frog's
House
Take walk
with Frog
Eat Lunch
Take nap
Play games
with Frog
Eat Supper
Go to Sleep
"There," said Toad. "Now my day is all
written down."
He got out
of
bed and had something to eat. Then Toad
crossed out:
Eat
Breakfast
Toad
took his clothes out of the closet
and put them on. Then he crossed out:
Get
Dressed
Toad put the list in his pocket. He
opened the door and walked out into the morning. Soon Toad was at
Frog's front door. He took the list from his pocket and crossed out:
Go
to Frog's House
Toad
knocked at the door.
"Hello," said Frog.
"Look at my list
of things to do," said Toad.
"Oh,"
said Frog, "that is very nice."
Toad said, "My list tells me that we will go for a walk."
"All right," said
Frog. "I am ready."
Frog and Toad went on a long walk. Then Toad took the list from his
pocket again. He crossed out:
Take
walk with Frog
Just
then there was a strong wind. It blew the list out of Toad's hand. The
list blew high up into the air.
"Help!"
cried Toad. "My list is blowing away. What will I do without my list?"
"Hurry!" said
Frog. "We will run and catch it."
"No!" shouted
Toad. "I cannot do that!"
"Why not?" asked
Frog.
"Because," wailed Toad, "running after my list is not one of the things
that I wrote on my list of things to do!"
Inferencing
Check
How does Toad feel?
Frog ran after the list. He ran over hills and swamps, but the list
blew on and on. At last Frog came back to Toad.
"I am
sorry," gasped Frog, "but I could not catch your list."
"Blah,"
said Toad.
"I cannot
remember any of the things that were on my list of things to do. I will
just have to sit here and do nothing," said Toad.
Inferencing Check
How does Toad feel now?
Toad sat and did nothing. Frog sat with
him.
After a
long
time Frog said, "Toad, it
is getting dark. We should be going to sleep now."
"Go to
sleep!" shouted Toad. "That was the last thing on my list!"
Toad wrote on the ground with a stick:
Go to sleep
Then he
crossed out:
Go
to sleep
"There," said Toad. "Now my day is all
crossed out!"
"I am
glad," said Frog.
Then Frog and Toad went right to sleep.
Inferencing Check
How does Toad feel now?
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