Here in the Button house we are HUGE fans of Julia Donaldson. Little Button’s bookshelf is packed full of the stuff, and I can’t think of a week that’s gone past where one of these twinkly reads haven’t been read. Sharing A Shell is one of our absolute favourites, and with some inspiration from the brilliant Dawn from Rhyming With Wine, I’m so pleased to be able to share this. My first ever parody. Hooraa!
Look! A mum – with a wibberley bum,
Running along by the sea.
Tap, tap, tap!
“You can’t come in!
You can’t share this towel with me”
“Or me.”
“Or me.”
“Or me!”
Look! It’s the judgy mum squad, with their wide-open beaks.
Run for your life, mum – hide!
At last, in a pool, an empty tent!
Quick, mum! Dive inside.
One mum, safe in her tent,
Under the summer sun,
Roaming all over the rock pool
In her wonderful wibberley bum cover for one.
Look! Another mum, a bright red mum.
What can this sunburnt mum thing be?
“Go away, bright red mum, whoever you are,
You can’t share this tent with me.”
“I’m a sunburnt mum, but a decent one.
Please let me share your tent.
Give me some shelter to hide from being mum-judged
And perhaps I can help you as well.”
Look! A judgy-mum, with jaws open wide.
“Fresh wibberley-bum mum for dinner – here goes!”
Out shoots a mummy-glare, quick as a flash,
Stinging the cow on the nose. Phew!
Two mums, sharing a tent,
Under a sky of blue,
Romping all over the rock pool
In their non-judgy parent haven for two.
Look! A hairy thing, trying to get in,
Wriggling and making a fuss.
“Go away hairy-legged mum, whoever you are –
You can’t share this tent with us.”
“It’s not my fault that I’m a bit extra hairy.
Please let me in – don’t be mean.
I’m au natural, I can’t deal with it now
I’m so busy trying to keep my kids happy and clean.”
Three mums, sharing a tent,
Down by the sparkling sea,
Rollicking all round the rock pool
In their wonderful parenting bubble for three.
But look how they’ve grown! The tent is too small.
“We’re all getting too fat,” they say.
“I’m fed up of the negative comments,” cries wibberley bum mum.
If that’s how you feel I wont’ stay.”
“Peace!” cries hairy mum, but nobody hears,
The other two mummies split up.
Sunburnt mum finds a nice chocolate ice cream tub.
Wibberley bum mum finds a nice coffee cup.
Wibberley bum on the cup, sunburnt’s face in the tub,
Each one pretends to be glad.
Hairy, being the go-betweener,
Knows they are lonely and sad.
Look! A storm, a terrible storm,
Between the judgey and non judgey mums.
Fragile self-worth, smashed on the rocks,
Oh, what a terrible sight!
But Look! A big tent, a beautiful tent.
Stuffed full of patience, love and good thoughts.
Wibberley bum and sunburnt stare.
Too shy to speak to each other,
Too proud to say “I really DO care!”
Listen! A voice! And out pokes a head
From the tent washed up on the shore.
“It’s ready. I’ve done all the housework.
Climb on and come in – welcome home!”
Three mummies, sharing a tent,
Happy as besties can be,
Rocking parenthood in the best possible way
In their wonderful parent haven for three!
WILD is now out in Spanish!
WILD – Our debut children’s picture book
Dad blogger Ross Good from The Stented Papa is the official storyteller for WILD!
Happy book birthday WILD!
I absolutely love this Annette! I was giggling all threat through. Please can I share your shell xx
*The way* not threat! Eek! Pesky autocorrect. 😉 xxx
I’m back! Thanks for hosting #DreamTeam my lovely #shellmate xx
Ahh, a fine tribute to the work of the most excellent Rhyming With Wine! You have quite the talent too Annette! Please can I be Mum number three, in that shell with you and Dawn? I’ll bring cake 😉 This is of course, the perfect analogy to motherhood, a fab poem. You’re pinned in the #CoolMumClub Poetry board in fine company!
Thanks for linking to #CoolMumClub
Yes please MMT! We’ve saved you a spot xx
Oh my word I absolutely love this! In fact I would love to do this over on my YouTube if you’ll let me? Will you will you? Thanks so much for linking up to #coolmumclub with this x
Yay! So glad you like it Talya. I’d love you to read it out on your channel – thank you x
Move over Julia Donaldson, you’ve got competition! Great rhyming story, loved every word x
#blogcrush
*Blushes! thanks so much Anne – I just LOVE Julia Donaldson x
Wow I wish I could rhyme, I can’t even cobble together a limerick, this is awesome! I love it! I was giggling from the off!
Aww this is the best thing i read al week ! Its a beautiful tribute to Julia ( you were better than her )
Aw love this!! We are big fans of Julia D too. She is a legend in our house;)
This made me laugh so much! I love Julia Donaldson books but this gave me a real giggle! xx
This is so cute, I’ve not heard of Julia Donaldson but I bet my friend who has kids has x
Lols, so funny! But also kind of sweet, we definitely need to not be judgy – everyone is just doing their best and I like the sense of cameraderie 🙂
Oh this was Brilliant. Thanks for the giggle. Loved it. #DreamTeam
Jules would love this I am sure. It is one of my absolute favourites and your version is brilliant! #dreamteam
Love this. Weirdly we read Sharing a Shell last night but I prefer your version! #dreamteam
Love this! We’re big Julia D fans in our house too. We don’t have Sharing a Shell but I’m going to have buy it now. Not sure it will be as good as this version though… #DreamTeam
Oh i love Julia D, she’s a genius! I love how you captured all the different mums together on the beach, mad how we judge and are self conscious when we all struggle with the same issues! #DreamTeam
Quite the talent going on there. More of the same please! #DreamTeam
This is GREAT! #dreamteam
This post really made me chuckle! #DreamTeam
As usual you have made me smile as I read this. I wish I could write like this, brilliant as always #dreamteam
What a great poem, made me chuckle! Don’t have that Julia Donaldson book yet (not sure how we have bloomin’ loads of them..) 🙂 #DreamTeam
Aw this is hilarious! You clever stick! Its really creative and funny! Rollicking Wiggerley Bum!!!! Ace!
That’s awesome! 🙂 Made me laugh in the office. And everyone looked at me …
We are huge Julia D fans too! This was a brilliant parody. Cleverly written and enjoyed it very much.
This is just so lovely and funny too! Beautifully written!
This is amazing! We love Julia Donaldson too and my mummy would be the hairy one! #DreamTeam 😉
Hehehe! I’m still laughing as I write this. What a great parody! 🙂
We love Julia here. That was top notch too
Loved this. Funny and kind of sweet.I don’t know what I would have done without my mum friends. We love Julia D in our house too.My kids are getting a bit big now to read them. Will miss them sooo much. End of an era.
So clever, I’ll have to look out for the Julia Donaldson book too as my children are big fans. #dreamteam
Oh this is so sweet! I love Julia Donaldson – and I love the moral to your take on it.. #blogcrush
I love this! Very funny and well written! Definitely a good read to wind down for the night. #DreamTeam
Love this alternative. We have a large collection of her works too. #CoolMumClub
Returning via #DreamTeam
I say you have a hidden talent there – love this version and you rhyme so well #dreamteam
This is brilliant!
Julia Donaldson is a firm favourite here too haha xx
That’s a really cute poem about moms! I love the big tent and now they’re all sharing for three:) Thanks for hosting #DreamTeamLinky
This is so clever! Great first parody. I can’t wait to read more! Thanks for having me as a co-host this week on the #dreamteam!
Who is wiggling?! This shell is getting wiggled! Oh wait, it’s me wiggling. Sorry. #DreamTeam
I too am a massive fan of Julia Donaldson. My question is when will your book be coming out? so funny on the #dreamlinky
This is great! I haven’t read the original (missed out there), but I’m sure this is better and funnier! #dreamteam
Brilliantly funny! I loved this! Spit out a bit of coffee during the read too! <3 <3 #blogcrush xoxo
This is brilliant! We love Julia Donaldson but I think this might be even better… #dreamteam
Very good! We love Julia Donaldson in our house too – such clever stories #DreamTeam
Annette hun i love that poem !! i think everyone far and wide should read it , we are also big fans of Julia Donaldson here
We love Julia Donaldson over here – brilliant Parody, it did make me laugh haha!
A very cute poem! And a funny one to read for the beginning of the week:)
We love Julia Donaldson, but hadn’t heard of the shell book yet. Have you seen her most recent one, about the bear and the girl and the magic shoes? It’s great.
How creative! I haven’t seen this book I don’t think but we do love Julia Donaldson!
Oh I love this! I love Julia Donaldson and this parody is so clever! You’re a natural at this!
LOVE!!! Can I please come live in the tent too?! This is an awesome parady, as good as queen donaldson herself!xx
We adore Julia’s work, too. You are very talented xx
I am not familiar with Julia D but I had such a great read of this and a chuckle too
Good laugh that. Well done, you!