A Kids’ Book with an Epilogue? Big Food, Big Garden, Big Life

Well, sure. Why not? It has an index, too. I mean, how are you supposed to remember where that quote from Abigail Adams is without an index? Likewise, how do you appreciate the humor in Charles*–the Leader of the Prairie Voles–argument that the name of the school should be changed, if you don’t know a little something about the natural history of prairie voles? So yes. There’s an epilogue.

*Charles’s mate is named Carolyn, and one of their female pups is named Laura. That’s funny, but that’s not the joke.

#adifferentkindofkidsbook

Parliamentary Procedure? What’s That? | A Gift from the Epilogue of Miss Missy’s School

Dear Readers and Their Grownups,

Many of the reviewers of Miss Missy’s School Book I: A Pack of Farm Dogs Starts a School have commented thusly that

the sweet and entertaining story … has the added bonus of teaching tidbits of history, vocabulary, the love of learning and [natural history] of some of the animals that live in the pastures. Don’t miss reading the Epilogue.
5-Star Review

Tomorrow we’re going to look at a scene in which Aubrey and Gilbert invite Mr. Turkey and his flock to attend a meeting to discuss the establishment of a school. Mr. Turkey is a real character! But today we’re at a good point in the story to take a look at the Epilogue the reviewer mentioned.

If you’ve missed one of the short story gifts, or want to read one or two again, they are all listed and linked here. This is a link to a PDF of this Kid Blog post. Please share this post and all of the other family reading stories. Thank you!

This is from yesterday’s family reading time gift.

“And Tiger,” John asked, “What’s your role in all of this?”

“It’s parrrliamentarrry, Sir!” Tiger purred.

“Umm… I think you mean ‘elementary,’ don’t you? Will you be teaching the younger animals?” Marica asked.

“No. Parrrliamentarry prrrocedure,” Tiger held up his dog-eared outdated copy of Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised. “Rrrobert’s Rrrules!” he purred proudly.

Missy explained, “Tiger is the only one among us who knows the rules and laws of having a Mass Meeting, though where he learned them is his closely guarded secret. He has been instructing us in the proper protocol for conducting such a meeting.”

When you read that, did you wonder what in the world parliamentary procedure was? Missy explains it a little when she says, “the rules and laws of having a mass meeting…” But there must be more to parliamentary procedures than that.

The animals and people who live on Farther Along Farm really appreciate old things and ways. They talk about these things casually–as if everyone reading knows what they are, too. But not everyone does! Somethings your grownups may not even have heard of or remember. That’s why after the story of Miss Missy’s School has reached The End, there’s an epilogue–a concluding chapter that explains these old things and ways.

This is the first paragraph in

Epilogue: Old Things & Ways Explained

Some Old Things & Ways are curious. Others are much more serious. One involves an ancient myth, another, a more recent hypothesis. Whether curious or serious, ancient or recent, Marica explains the Old Things & Ways in Miss Missy’s School in a way you will understand. If you want to learn even more about a topic, you can look it up in an encyclopedia, go to your library, or search online. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, email Marica at Marica@missmissyschool.com. She’d be happy to help you learn more!

This is how the entry on parliamentary procedure begins:

Parliamentary Procedure (Chapter XII: It’s Parliamentary, Sir, pgs. 65-66)

Have you ever been with a group of people and you couldn’t get a word in edgewise? Maybe you were planning a birthday party for a friend in the neighborhood but the new kid on the block wouldn’t stop talking. Maybe your family was talking about where to go on vacation and your little sister, who reminds you a lot of Bebe, wouldn’t keep quiet, so you tried talking louder and louder and everyone ended up yelling. Or maybe a grownup leader was asking where you wanted to sell cookies and all the kids said in front of the zoo but she chose the art museum. (Not that there’s anything wrong with art museums!)

If you’ve had these problems, you can imagine what it’s like when a larger group of people need to get together to discuss a serious problem or question, or just have an orderly meeting at which everyone can contribute, and each person gets a fair and equal vote if there is disagreement. Like raising your hand and waiting to be called on, rules that all agree to follow make any sort of meeting fair and orderly.

Parliamentary Procedure is the term used for a set of rules which govern how a meeting is run. Who gets to talk? For how long? What topics can be discussed? How do people at the meeting vote to do or not do something? All these questions and more are carefully considered in a system of Parliamentary Procedures. They are called Parliamentary because even though rules for meetings go back more than one thousand years, we can trace the origin of our modern rules to the early days of the British Parliament, especially the House of Commons, around 1340. Though it took several hundred years, as time went on those rules became more and more organized and began to resemble what we have today. Tiger knows the history of Parliamentary Procedures better than anyone, but there is an ironic twist in that history that affected the American Colonies. …

Ironic twist…. What could it be?

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