Mr. Pelican Goes Fishing: The Story of Catching Your Supper

Mr. Pelican needs to catch his supper!

The bird’s first name is known as Tucker. 

He scoops his beak into the river. 

He thinks the waves will be a giver. 

If asked, he will eat almost anything,

And so will most of his tiny offspring. 

See turtles and birds swallowed in whole,

As ducks and goslings crawl in a hole. 

He’s not the nicest creature around.

If he sees your toes, they might ground. 

Ground up in his stomach into pieces.

Toes weren’t meant to have decreases.

Lookout for the pelican finding his food,

Or you might be the one pursued. 

Mr. Pelican is always hungry!

He lurks throughout the back country. 

If you meet him, try to give him cookies. 

Then, run like you aren’t with the rookies. 

The sugar will fill his belly in full,

And he can’t over your eyes pull wool.

 

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters

Checkers: The Story of A Black and White Cat

Checkers is a 

Feline cat.

He’s black and white,

And that is that.

His coat has squares

Of different shades.

He likes to play

Games like charades,

But he’s really best

At games on a board.

He’s cuter than cute

And so adored.

He’ll win your pieces

From the game, 

And to be sure

Chess is not the same.

He’ll jump over you,

Or he’ll go askew.

Then he will have won

Out of the blue. 

Don’t be fooled!

He’s not just a cat,

But a master mind

That wears a checkered hat!

 

Copyright 2021 Jennifer Waters

PUMPERNICKEL synopsis

LOGLINE

When freckle-faced eight-year-old Pumpernickel enters a cereal-box photo contest, her big imagination, and a small-town letter-writing campaign, help her turn an ordinary dream into something wonderfully unforgettable.

 

PITCH

Eight-year-old Pumpernickel has always believed her freckles make her special. So, when she spots a cereal-box photo contest, she’s sure this is her moment to shine. From her family’s kitchen in Honey Brook, Pennsylvania, she launches a letter-writing campaign that sweeps through her town, inspiring neighbors to join in her quest. What begins as one girl’s hopeful entry becomes a heartwarming celebration of community, creativity, and the magic of believing in yourself.

 

SYNOPSIS 

Eight-year-old Pumpernickel has more freckles than spots on a Dalmatian, and she adores every one of them. To her, each freckle is special, like the tiny caraway and poppy seeds in pumpernickel bread. She believes her freckles make her memorable, and she dreams of being remembered by everyone. One morning at breakfast, her father jokes, “If you had a nickel for every freckle!” Pumpernickel, quick with imagination, wonders if she could somehow make her freckles worth real nickels. When she spots the Cerealworks box on the kitchen table, she notices a smiling girl printed on the front and learns about a contest to have your picture featured for six months. She decides then and there that she is going to win.

 

Her parents humor her enthusiasm—her father snaps photos on the family camera, and her mother cautions her not to get her hopes up—but Pumpernickel can’t stop dreaming. She even starts a letter-writing campaign, asking friends, neighbors, and the people of Honey Brook, Pennsylvania to write to Cerealworks on her behalf. Posters of her freckled face appear all over town. Weeks pass, then months. The mailman never brings the letter she’s waiting for, only junk mail and bills. Her excitement fades, though she still clings to a small spark of hope. Then one afternoon, she returns from school to find an envelope from the Cerealworks company waiting for her.

 

Ignoring her father’s warning not to be disappointed, Pumpernickel tears it open. At the top of the letter, the word WINNER blazes in bold print. She’s done it! Her parents can hardly believe it. Her mother rushes her to the grocery store so they can see her face on the cereal boxes. At first, none of the boxes on the shelves feature her photo, and disappointment floods in until a store employee rolls in a cart stacked high with Cerealworks boxes covered with Pumpernickel’s smiling face. Overjoyed, Pumpernickel declares she has “made it to the big time.” Her mom jokes about saving her prize money for college, but Pumpernickel insists this is only the beginning—she’s going to be a model. She hands out cereal boxes to delighted shoppers, thrilled that her freckles have made her both famous and happy. In the end, Pumpernickel realizes that freckles really can make you rich, not in money, but in nickels, smiles, and dreams come true.

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters

A SHINY NOSE synopsis

LOGLINE

When a little girl’s mother dies of cancer, a Christmas reindeer makes the world a brighter place. 

PITCH

As a copywriter for Chicago’s Montgomery Ward, Robert May drafts an original Christmas story about a reindeer. In the wake of the Great Depression, he tries to write something hopeful with holiday cheer. Although his boss is wary of a story about a “shiny” red-nosed reindeer named Rudolph, Robert’s daughter, Barbara, is comforted through the tale when her mother dies of cancer. In time, the story becomes a best seller, and it’s even adapted into a very famous Christmas song and franchise.

SYNOPSIS

In 1939, when Robert May, a Montgomery Ward copywriter, decides to write a poem about a reindeer with a shiny nose, he hopes the world will become a brighter place. Many families could still feel the effects of the Great Depression. Instead of making the annual coloring book, Robert drafts an original Christmas story about an animal. After all, his daughter, Barbara, loves reindeer, especially with Santa Claus and his sleigh. Although Sewell Avery, CEO of Montgomery Ward, is doubtful that the poem about a reindeer is the best idea, he approves Robert to write the piece. With the original name Rudolph, Robert sets off on brainstorming for the story. Coming home from work that evening, Robert wishes for more for his family than the tiny, unkept two-bedroom Chicago apartment. He checks on his bedridden wife, who had been suffering from cancer for the past two years. He explains he’s been working on his poem about Rudolph the reindeer all day again. His wife hopes his writing is a big hit with the shoppers, and his daughter runs to him to hear the latest version of the story. Although his daughter Barbara is sad that her mother is sick, she finds joy in her father’s reindeer story. 

As Robert reads to his daughter at bedtime about a reindeer named Rudolph with a very shiny nose, she falls asleep. Later in the week, Mr. Avery agrees to consider drawings of Rudolph from Denver Gillan from the company art department. Robert tells Mr. Avery that he’ll spend the whole weekend at the zoo with Denver, researching the attributes of deer to create Rudolph. When Saturday morning comes, Barbara goes with her father and the artist to the zoo to make drawings of deer. Unfortunately, Barbara’s mother is too sick to accompany them. The next week, Robert sits at his desk, scribbling on pads of paper and throwing them in the trash can. As he stares out the window, he cannot see through a thick fog from Lake Michigan. He realizes that Rudolph’s nose can shine like a spotlight through the fog on Christmas Eve, so Santa can make his deliveries. While at work, when the phone rings, and Robert hears his wife’s mother on the phone, he feels sick to his stomach. He sobs on the way to the hospital, trying to figure out how to tell his daughter that her mother has passed away. When he tells his daughter that her mother has died, she cries and cries and collapses in his arms, kicking and yelling. 

After his wife’s funeral, Mr. Avery suggests that Robert doesn’t have to finish the Rudolph poem. Robert insists on finishing it. He wants to finish the story for Barbara. After a few more weeks of writing, Robert bursts through his apartment door one evening and announces he has finished the story about Rudolph. His daughter is so pleased and thinks her mother would enjoy the story. By Christmas, 2.4 million copies of the poem are distributed to Montgomery Ward shoppers to great success. Rudolph is almost as famous as Santa Claus, making the world a little brighter after all.

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters

CANDY CANE TWIST synopsis

LOGLINE

A high school choir dances the ballet at Christmas, and everyone sings hallelujah!

PITCH

The Hallelujah Chorus meets The Nutcracker at Head of the Class Middle School. When student Elvis Drummer joins the school chorus in hopes of starting a music career like Elvis Presley, the students plot against their teacher to save themselves from the public humiliation of dancing the ballet at the holiday concert. 

SYNOPSIS

This year is about to be different at Head of the Class Middle School in Hoboken, New Jersey. Elvis Drummer, named after the king of rock’n’roll Elvis Presley, is joining the choir in hopes of starting a music career. Little does he know that choirmaster Forte Piper plans to combine singing with ballet in the annual Christmas concert: The Hallelujah Chorus meets The Nutcracker. Mr. Piper is famous for popping candy canes into the mouths of students if they are caught talking in the middle of choir practice. He keeps a handful of candy canes with him at all times, ready for anyone babbling. In case he needs to pull someone off stage, he uses a shepherd’s crook, which looks like a huge candy cane. During the first choir practice, Elvis is frightened at the thought of the entire school seeing him embarrass himself in a ballet-chorus routine. Elvis and his soloist friends, Griff Gig, Amanda Sonatina, and Vicki Viola, each got candy canes popped in their mouths for complaining to Mr. Piper about dancing the ballet. Despite their complaints, Mr. Piper says they are starting their first vocal-ballet practice the next day. He asks them to come prepared, wearing leotards and tutus. 

 

In attempt to protect their reputations, Elvis and his three soloist friends pass the word to the rest of the chorus members to go along with Mr. Piper’s choir practice until the December 14, the night before the holiday performance. Then, they devise a plan to distract Mr. Piper by pretending that Griff goes missing. They want to lock him in the closet with Griff until the performance is finished. Almost every day until then, Mr. Piper charges the students to do pirouettes, and the students wish they had signed up for band or orchestra, where they could at least practice a musical talent. Finally, when performance night arrives, Mr. Piper is tricked into looking for Griff in the music closet, and Elvis happens to close the door behind him. Elvis explains to the crowd that Mr. Piper went missing, but the choir will sing on. He performs his own rendition of “Blue Christmas.”

 

After several holiday selections, Mr. Piper shuts off the electricity from the circuit breaker box inside the closet. The auditorium goes black, and Amanda rushes to let Mr. Piper and Griff out of the closet. Mr. Piper appears on stage in a tizzy in his leotard. The audience laughs as though it is a joke. And so it is, but it is also the best choral performance in the history of Head of the Class Middle School. Mr. Piper insists the students perform the finale as scheduled, singing The Hallelujah Chorus with The Nutcracker ballet moves. Elvis is mortified, but the crowd goes wild with cheers. All he wants to do is sing, sing, sing! 

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters 

THE CHRISTMAS WOODCUTTER synopsis

LOGLINE 

When a woodcutter’s daughter gives the Christ Child her bed on Christmas Eve, she will never forget him.

 

PITCH

A little child visits a woodcutter’s home in France on Christmas Eve. After being welcomed by the family to warm himself at their hearth, Marie, the woodcutter’s daughter, offers the child her bed for the night. After a restless night’s sleep, Marie and her brother Valentine find the little child, who reveals himself as the Christ Child, singing with angels. The child then plants a fir branch that bursts forth into the first Christmas tree, and he disappears. The woodcutter’s children promise to remember the visitation of the Christ Child, even if no one else ever believes them. 

 

SYNOPSIS

A little child freezing in the cold on Christmas Eve knocks on the ice-and-snow-covered kitchen window of the home of a poor woodcutter in Fourcès, a small town in France. Marie, the woodcutter’s 10-year-old daughter thinks that the boy has lost his way. Valentine, 12, the woodcutter’s only son, invites the child to sit by the fire. The wife of the woodcutter warms the last of their vegetable supper stew for the boy. The boy thanks the family and nibbles on day-old bread from their table. The mother pours the child the last of their milk from the icebox.

 

Then, Marie insists that the little child sleep in her bed for Christmas Eve night. Instead, she will sleep on the kitchen bench made by her father. As the family settles into their beds, Marie has difficulty falling to sleep. She watches the snow out the window as a star shoots into the distant night sky. She finally drifts to sleep, only to be awakened by music. Marie asks if anyone hears the singing and the harps and wonders if she is having a dream. Valentine slips into the kitchen to peer through the window, and the children realize they have been visited by angels who are dressed in silver robes with golden harps and lutes. While the cherubim and seraphim sing, a group of child-like angels gather beside them also appearing in silver robes. Then, Marie and Valentine turn to see the little child standing next to them in a golden robe and crown. He opens the front door of the poor woodcutter’s home in the breaking dawn and dances and sings with the angels. Amidst the excitement, the woodcutter and his wife hurry to the front porch with his rifle.

 

After realizing they are in the presence of the Christ Child and angels, the woodcutter and his wife fall to their knees in reverence. The angels and the Christ Child continue to sing and dance on the early Christmas morning in the French countryside. Marie, Valentine, and their parents join in the celebration and make merry music. Then, the Christ Child breaks a main branch of a nearby fir tree from its trunk. He plants the bough of this fir tree deep into the ground and says it will be the first Christmas tree. The fir branch bursts forth into the sky and grows into a full fir tree, decorated with golden apples, silver nuts, and wooden toys. The Christ Child disappears into the early morning air. Marie and Valentine take the gifts from the tree and deliver them to the other homes in the town. They keep their favorite gifts for themselves. Marie tells her brother that they must never forget the Christ Child, even if no one believes them. Marie says that she knows that the Christ Child is real because she gave him her bed for the night, and the bench was very hard. To this day, children everywhere decorate Christmas trees in honor of the little child and remember the faithfulness of the woodcutter and his family. 

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS synopsis

LOGLINE

A wedding cake baker puts magical romantic fortunes in Christmas crackers and finds lasting love for himself and everyone else.

PITCH

Tom Smith gets more than he bargained for when his own magical love fortunes enchant a longtime customer in his wedding cake shop into falling in love with him. After reading the fortune in her Christmas noisemaker, she wants to marry him and eat wedding cake for the rest of her life. His wedding cake shop becomes known as a place where romantic messages for his customers prove true. His Christmas crackers are a worldwide phenomenon!

SYNOPSIS

Tom Smith, a wedding cake baker from Clerkenwell, London, loves Christmas crackers. His wedding cakes sit delicately in his shop window on fine china, decorated with colorful icing. Waiting for his own true love, he just keeps baking wedding cakes. In the year 1847, he introduces his crackers, which crackle like logs put on a fire in a twist of paper. Then one day, an elegant customer walks in the shop and announces that she has found a wedding cake for when she gets married. Mr. Smith asks when the wedding date is, so that the cake is finished on time. She explains that she’s not engaged yet, but she will be very soon when she finds the right man.

Then, she inquires as to the noisemakers in his shop, and Mr. Smith explains that those are his Christmas crackers, where he put magical love fortunes that come true every time. Believing that she needs all the love messages that she can get, she grabs a handful. Mr. Smith says he’s considering putting sweets, jewelry, and small toys in some of them. He thinks that expanding the merchandise might increase business. She opens her first cracker with a pop. Reading the love note in her Christmas cracker, the brunette woman gasps and looks up at Mr. Smith. She whispers out loud: “You’ve just met your true love.” Mr. Smith stammers and scratches his head. Before Mr. Smith could say anything else, Charlotte Thompson, a woman he has known since childhood, throws her arms around him and kisses him. She asks him to marry her, and she says that she’ll take every wedding cake in his shop for the rest of her life. He thinks her behavior is outrageous, and it must be Christmas magic from the fortunes.

 

At first, Mr. Smith tries to fight back, but after a moment, he figures there is no use in fighting with a gorgeous woman who loves his sweets. Christmas crackers! Mr. Smith cheers and kisses her back. He asks her to be his Mrs. Smith. She says “of course” and paints his lips with icing. Their shop becomes known as a magical place where romantic messages read by customers prove true every time, even if there are a few bumps along the way. Each year at Christmas, the lasting love of the Smiths is so overwhelming that it causes their Christmas crackers to spread all over the world. So, Mr. and Mrs. Smith live happily ever after with wedding cakes and magical love all around them.

Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters