Muddle’s

Trunkful
of
Fun
What’s inside my trunk? Four brisk breakfasts
that ran away from their shadows. Can you
February 2025 Volume 35 Number 5 cricketmedia.com $6.95
find a matching shadow for each of them?
Cover art by John Sandford
by Perry Pastry Answers on page 35.
I Spy
Art by
Happy Hart Mila is adding color to her mural!
Can you spy the 11 objects below in the big picture?
What do you think it will look like when Mila is finished?
Answer on page 35.
e o ut for us
Keep an ey ! We are go ing to roll
thro ugh this magazi
ne w ith yo u!
2
My Tea Party
Max and Kate
Art by Annie J. Won
Now it’s your turn to set the table for tea!
Art by Brita Granström
What You’ll Need: What to Do: Story by Mick Manning
scissors ❖ Cut out the tablecloth
along the green dotted line.
❖ Cut out the objects below
and arrange them on the
tablecloth.
Who wants cake?
Max's daddy is sawing up the old apple tree
in the backyard. A storm blew the tree down.
3
 Tea Party

LADYBUG TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. LADYBUG TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold. LADYBUG TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
by Eileen R. Meyer
Art by Annie J. Won
Set the table: saucers, cups.
Get the kettle, fill it up.
Heat the water, won’t be long,
’Til we hear our teatime song.
Taste the treats that I helped make:
Pumpkin bread and apple cake.
Teddy’s thirsty for his tea,
There’s the kettle, singing . . .
“ !”
Daddy leaves some of the trunk standing. It is
cold outside, but he looks hot and sweaty.
4
 Next Daddy gathers nails and wood for building.
Max helps.
5
 Did you find all
these answers?
How many mice
did you spy?
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Page 14 Back Cover
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Kathleen Andersen, Editor; Hayley Kim, Assistant Editor; Suzanne Beck, Senior Art Director; Shavan Spears, Designer; John Sandford, Artist, LADYBUG bugs; Christine Voboril, Permissions Specialist; Laura Woodside, SVP Education Products;
Barb Clendenen, Director of Circulation and Fulfillment.
Grateful acknowledgment is given to the following publishers and copyright owners for permission to reprint selections from their publications.All possible care has been taken to trace ownership and secure permission for each
selection. Image credit for “I Spy” as follows: 2 Lyudmyla Kharlamova/Shutterstock.com; “The Memory Tree,” text © 2015 by Shari Maser, art © 2015 by Mary Ann Fraser, image credit for “The Memory Tree” as follows: 8–12 (BG)
Attitude/Shutterstock.com; “Windy Day,” text and art © 2019 by Laura Logan; “On The Ladder,” art © 2012 by Kathleen Marcotte, image credit for “On the Ladder” as follows: 14–15 (BG) David M. Schrader/Shutterstock.com; “The
Old Man of Dumbree,” art © 2012 by Logan Kline; “The Corner Store,” text © 2019 by Jessica Williams, art © 2019 by Priscilla Alpaugh; “When Barking Dogs Wake Me,” art © 2005 by Sachiko Yoshikawa; “Let’s Do the French
Toast Dance,” art © 2015 by John Nez; “Sugar-on-Snow,” text © 2015 by Thea Schwartz, art © 2015 by Lindsey Manwell; “Betty Botter,” art © 2020 by Larissa Marantz; “Where’s the Muffin?,” text © 2019 by Sheila Kerwin, art ©
2019 by Julissa Mora; image credits for “Our Wide, Wide World” are as follows: 34 (globe) BVilleda/Shutterstock.com, (RT kids) CoolFinger/Shutterstock.com, (RT book) GN.Studio/Shutterstock.com, (apple tree) Szasz-Fabian Jozsef/
Shutterstock.com, (tree frog) Dennis Laughlin/Shutterstock.com, (owl) FotoRequest/Shutterstock.com, (ladybugs) KoreyM/Shutterstock.com, (squirrel) Albert Beukhof/Shutterstock.com, (boy on stump) Volurol/Shutterstock.com, (tree
rings) Triff/Shutterstock.com; “My Tea Party,” art © 2015 by Annie J. Won; image credits for “Muddle’s Trunkful of Fun” are as follows: 40 (RT) Jibon/Shutterstock.com, (BG) Iliveinoctober/Shutterstock.com, (egg, bread, muffin,
waffle) Buch and Bee/Shutterstock.com.
Printed in the United States of America.
1st printing Quad Sussex, Wisconsin January 2025

art © 2013 by Lee White

When Kate arrives, Max grins. “Look, Kate!
We have our own tree house.”
We Love Our Readers!
Download our free printable valentines at cricketmedia.com/valentine.
6 35
 A Tree’s Look what we made!
Our Wide, Gifts
wide World
by Sara Greenleaf
Trees give us many treats: crackly leaves
to run through, crunchy apples and sweet
peaches to eat, shade on hot days. They can
apple tree
be homes for birds, squirrels, and bugs, too.
Even after a tree falls or is cut down, its stump
is not just a lump! Some stumps make great
spots for kids to play. Other stumps are
tree frog Owl wonderful shelters for little animals and
insects.
You can learn about a tree from its stump.
When you look at the top, you will see light
ladybugs squirrel
and dark rings. The light rings show how
much the tree grew each spring and early
summer. The dark rings show its growth in
tree rings late summer and fall. If the rings are thick,
the tree grew quickly; thin rings mean growth
was slow. To find out how old the tree was, “We can play in it together!” says Kate.
count the pairs of light and dark rings. “And we will remember the old apple tree,”
Thank you, trees, and tree stumps, too! says Max.
34 7
 The Memory Treeby Shari Maser We have a dentist appointment later!
Art by Mary Ann Fraser The buzzer is set!
to set the big clock!
d er
in

em
ar d
I n ee
im e! Uh-oh. What
t’s t
e ss i time IS it?
I gu
A maple tree arched across Katie’s backyard.
It’s MUFFIN
When the summer sun was hot, Katie and her daddy sat TIME!
in its shade, drinking lemonade. Squirrels—and sometimes
Katie—liked to scamper among its branches.
8 33
 -to ckety
kety BONG! BONG! BON
Tic G!
Clickety- clockety
ybug, le & Th On crisp autumn days,
such a busy day!
have et ever ything Katie and her momma
We w ill we g done?
Ho w watched the leaves redden
We can do it!
We
ju st have to
watch the ti and fall. Together, they
me.
jumped into raked-up
leaf piles.
I put the muffins in the oven, This alarm will go off when
so I’m setting my kitchen timer. it’s time to feed Tater.
On cold winter days,
the maple sparkled in the
snow, giving Katie's family
sweet sap to tap. They
made syrup for Katie to
pour on her pancakes.
by John Sandford
32 9
 In the springtime, new leaves
unfurled, fresh and green. Katie and
Momma hung bird feeders from the
maple’s branches. The tree welcomed
goldfinches and sparrows, and the
backyard burst into song.
Then one storm-tossed night, when
Katie was asleep and the birds sheltered
under the eaves . . . lightning struck.
In the morning, splintered branches
and blackened bark littered the lawn.
Only a jagged stump still stood.
Katie’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m
going to miss our maple tree.”
“I’ll miss it, too,” Momma said.
“We can chop maple logs to keep
our woodstove burning for a long time,”
Daddy said. “We’ll be thankful.”
The maple-wood fire warmed them
from their noses to their toes, all
through the cold autumn and winter
months. But Katie still missed her
favorite tree.
10 31
 Where’s the Muf f in?
Lyrics by Sheila Kerwin
Melody adapted from “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”
#2
Art by Julissa Mora
e e e. x
& 4 e e e e. x
G
Do you know where the muf - fin ran, the
Oh, I know where the muf - fin ran, the
#
Spring came. Daddy and Katie patted the soil
& e e e. x e e e. x e e e. x
Am D G
around a freshly planted sapling. The sapling grew
strong and healthy, but it was too small to shelter
the birds.
muf - fin ran, the muf - fin ran? Do you know where the
Summer came. The sapling leafed out, but it
muf - fin ran, the muf - fin ran. He’s ri - ding with the
#
was not tall enough to make shade.
e e .
Am D7 G
Autumn came. Just a few golden-red
& e e e e q leaves fell, not enough for a leaf pile.
(

Winter came. The sapling stood sturdy

muf - fin ran? He e - scaped a - gain to - day.
in the snow, but it was too slender to
Gin-ger-bread Man. They hopped the mid - night train!
tap for syrup.
Katie hugged the little tree. “Thanks
for trying. You’ll grow into a great big
maple someday.”
She told Momma, “I’m glad we
Where did that
muffin go?
planted the sapling. But I still miss
our old tree.”
30 11
 Then Katie had an idea. She dashed to her room, Betty Botter
pulled out paper, watercolors, and brushes and began to A Traditional Tongue Twister
paint. She painted their old maple in the summertime, Art by Larissa Marantz
shading the family with its leafy canopy. In autumn, Betty Botter bought some butter,
dropping red and yellow leaves. In the snow, with the But, she said, the butter’s bitter;
sap bucket full. In the springtime, dotted with birds. If I put it in my batter
“Look!” said Katie. It will make my batter bitter,
“Let’s tape this picture to the window,” said Momma.
But a bit of better butter
“Right where we used to see our big old maple tree.”
Will make my batter better.
That night, as Momma, Daddy, and Katie watched
So she bought a bit of butter
the sun set, they saw their new sapling outside in the
Better than her bitter butter,
snow, waving its branches as if to say hello.
And she put it in her batter
And the batter was not bitter.
So t’was better Betty Botter bought
a bit of better butter.
12 29
 When enough syrup is ready, Grandpa
fills a small pot. “You get the snow, Chester,
and meet Mama and me in the kitchen,”
he says and hands Chester a bowl.
Chester walks outside to a patch of
clean snow. He scoops up the snow,
packs it in the bowl, and brings it into
Grandpa’s farmhouse.
In the kitchen, Grandpa is at the
stove boiling the syrup. He sticks the
candy thermometer into the pot. “Just
the right temperature! It’s maple sugar
now,” he says and removes the pot from
the heat.
Mama opens the jar of pickles she has
brought. Grandpa pours a little of the
cooled maple sugar onto the snow in
the bowl. He gives Chester and Mama
each a fork.
Chester twists his fork into the sugar-
on-snow and puts it in his mouth. Then
he takes a bite of a pickle and says, “Mm!
Sweet and sour, sour and sweet.” With a
big grin, he adds, “A maple treat I love
28 13
 On the Ladder Grandpa leads Mama and Chester to the sugarhouse.
When he smells the sweet steam of the boiling sap,
Chester forgets about crying. Grandpa lifts him up
to peer into the pan. The sap bubbles and foams as
it thickens. Soon the watery sap will boil down to the
thick, golden syrup Chester loves to have on pancakes.
Grandpa feeds wood to
the fire under the pan of boiling syrup.
Mama and Chester carry wood from the
woodshed into the sugarhouse for the fire. They make
many trips from the woodshed to the sugarhouse and
back again. Soon Chester’s arms are tired. His hair is
sticky from the sap steam.
What differences can you find between these two pictures?
14 27
 Chester interrupts, “Grandpa, I love
the horses.”
Grandpa replies, “I know, Chester.
And you can visit them in the barn
when we’re done with the day’s work.”
Grandpa points to the trees on the
hillside. “All the sap is flowing down as we
stand here. I put in tubing. I’m getting
older, Chester. I can’t haul gallons and
gallons of sap to make syrup anymore.
That’s a lot of work for a grandpa. The
sap flows from the taps in the maple
trees through the tubes right into the
sugarhouse.”
Chester tries not to cry. He loved
watching Grandpa lead the horses down
the hillside with their load of sap. The
horses held their heads high even as they
waded through the mud and melting
snow.
Answer on page 35.
26 15
 The Old Man of Dumbree
by Edward Lear ❦ Art by Logan Kline
There was an old man of Dumbree,
Who taught little owls to drink tea;
For he said, “To eat mice, is not proper or nice,” “Don’t forget the pickles, Mama,”
That amiable man of Dumbree. Chester calls as he climbs into the truck.
Mama and Chester drive out of
How many happy mice can you find?
town along the river’s edge and up out
of the valley toward the mountains.
The pavement turns to dirt. Patches of
snow cover the road ahead of them.
They drive by a barn with a caved-in
roof. Chester recognizes the collapsed
barn and knows they are almost at
Grandpa’s farm. Grandpa will be waiting
with the draft horses, ready to bring
down buckets of sap from the maple
trees on the hillside.
Sure enough, Grandpa waits in the driveway.
Chester climbs out and runs to him.
“Where are the horses?” he asks as Grandpa
wraps his arms around him and hugs him.
“I thought you were going to ask that,” Grandpa
says. “The horses won’t be helping this year—”
16 25
 Sugar-on-Snow
by Thea Schwartz
Art by Lindsey Manwell
“When the wind is in the east, then the sap will run the
least,” Mama whispers in Chester’s ear. “When the wind is
from the west, then the sap will run the best.”
Chester opens his eyes. “Is today the day? Is the wind
from the west?” he asks.
“Yes,” Mama answers. “Grandpa called from the farm. It’s
been clear and cold at night and sunny during the day. The
sap is flowing, and he’s waiting for us.”
Chester jumps out of bed. He puts on his long underwear,
wool socks, jeans, and sweater. He gobbles down his scrambled
eggs and gulps his orange juice, then pulls on his snow boots
and snow jacket.
Answer on page 35.
24 17
 The Corner Mr. Ted
Store Then we dip-a dip-a
the bread into the mix.
milk
Dad Do the flip-a flip-a;
you can use your hands!
Rocket
money
Cal
for their groceries.
Last we slap-a slap-a And slop-a slop the syrup.
the toast upon a plate. Yum! French toast is great!
by Jessica Williams
Art by Priscilla Alpaugh
18 23
 Can you do
Let’s Do the French this?
popcorn
Toast Dance by Cynthia Yoder
Art by John Nez
First we chip-a chip-a butter
the egg against a bowl.
Then we drip-a drip-a
the eggie-weg out whole.
bread
Then we splash-a splash-a
some water on the egg,
And we shake-a shake-a
cinnamon or nutmeg. A television plays a soccer game,
.
Next we whip-a whip-a
the mixture with a whisk. “That’s eleven dollars, please.”
22 19
 When Barking Dogs Wake Me
by Deanna Calvert H Art by Sachiko Yoshikawa
dropped it!” He searches the floor near the When barking dogs wake me,
I bowwow along.
When howling dogs wake me,
I join in their song.
When thunderstorms wake me,
I holler, “BOOM! BOOM!”
When sirens awake me,
I wail to their tune.
When kitty cat wakes me,
I pet her and purr.
When breakfast smells wake me—
chocolate
I'm too tired to stir.
money
Cal
Rocket
ice cream
20 21