Once Upon a Twice
Text copyright © 2009 by Denise Doyen
Illustrations copyright © 2009 by Barry Moser
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doyen, Denise.
Once upon a twice / by Denise Doyen ; illustrated by Barry Moser. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: A cautionary tale for mice written in nonsense verse.
ISBN 978-0-375-85612-9 (trade) — ISBN 978-0-375-95612-6 (lib. bdg.) — eISBN: 978-0-375-98091-6
[1. Stories in rhyme. 2. Nonsense verses. 3. Mice—Fiction. 4. Conduct of life—Fiction.] I. Moser, Barry, ill. II. Title.
PZ8.3.D7545On 2009
[E]—dc22
2008011125
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
Dedicated once, twice, thrice:
To my son, Paul Doyen, who recited “Jabberwocky” with me.
To my mentor, Ann Whitford Paul, who insisted on a protagonist.
To my husband, Michael Doyen, who first showed me a Barry Moser print.
—D.D.
And for my friend Jeannie Braham.
—B.M.
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
First Page
About the Author and Illustrator
ONCE UPON A TWICE,
In the middle of the nice,
The moon was on the rice
And the Mice were scoutaprowl.…
They runtunnel through the riddle—
Secret ruts hid inbetwiddle—
But one mousling jams the middle!
Whilst he goofiddles, others howl:
“Who’s the holdup? What’s the matter?”
Night’s qui-etiquette is shattered!
Eldermice race toward the chatter;
Scattered line, slowed to a crawl.
What do they find?
A riskarascal in repose,
A mouse who stopped—to smell a rose.
“You there! Jam Boy!”—now he knows
His name, bestowed in front of all.
“You brought our scamper to a drag!
Dropped preycautions, raised a flag!”
Jam shrugs, he laughs, mouse-scallywag,
Brags, “I’m not a-scared of anything.”
Aghast, the eldermice surround!
Jammed in the middle, he is bound
To hear their lecture: cold, profound.
A hounding Warning Song.
They sing:
“Beware the dangershine of Moon,
Do not disturb the bugs of June!”
The elder mouncelors whispercroon
A tune that tells Jam what to fear:
“Danger’s lurking in the lettuce,
’Tween the celery, stalkers get us!
Open moonlight is a menace.
Trust in shadows—disappear.
“Cold eyes of gold watch without wink
For our ears and tails of pink.
From out the air, the field, the brink,
They slink up on a mouse at play.
“If those who swoop or them that pounce
Glimpse just a whisk! an inch! an ounce!
Jaw-claws will trounce a wayward mouse.
Renounce jamfoolery!
Go home and stay.”
The knot of mice comes quick undone;
The rest resume their furtive run.
Jam starts for home, but then, for fun …
Shuns every warning, jumps the fence!
Jamagination in a flurry:
“I won’t scamper! I won’t scurry!
A clever mousling need not worry.”
Furry overconfidence.
Off on his own, our hero, Jam,
Seeks adventure—on the lam,
Sneaks un -aware, -afraid, -asham’d;
He rambles past the haven reeds.
Jam Boy’s breaking all the rules,
Enamored by a beetle’s jewels.
Glassy water, shining dewels
Will fuel bravado, mouse misdeeds.
Out in the open, in the clear,
Where any wisenmouse would fear,
Jam licks his paw, he grooms an ear,
And never hears approaching hisssss.
Half-submerged, a slender queen
Esses ’cross the pond unseen,
Espies the furlickt mouse’s sheen,
Sly serpentine—bound not to miss.…
There’s a roil!—a coil!—a lash!
Sssssssnake attacks! Mousling dashes!
Startled squeak-eek! A final splash!
Alas.
Silence descends like mud a-deep.
All the creatures round the beach
Hold their breath, their tails, their screech;
A silly mouse too brave to teach
Has reached his early dead a-sleep.
But no!
Jam scritchscrambles in a log!
Heart a-poundin’, mind a-fog,
Disturbs a tadpole-tailed frog,
Then hogs her hiding place till dawn.
Skulking back—he hugs the walls,
Familiar, worn, grasshadowed halls
That lead to Sweet Home after all!
Rejoicing calls: “Our Jam’s not gone!”
Mouse years go by.…
Jam, wiser whiskers now grown long,
Survivor, Keeper-of-the-Song,
Retells his tale of youthful wrong
To mousling throngs—a thrilling ham:
“When the Moon is full awake,
She’s the ally of the snake.
You wanderyonder by the lake?
Make no mistake … you’re in a jam!”
The world afield is dangerouse.
Foraging is—for a mouse—
A nightly knightly duel and joust.
The House of Mice has many mourned.
Remember:
Once upon a twice,
In the middle of the nice,
The moon was on the rice—
Jam’s mice-advice is: “Be forewarned!”
Denise Doyen studied creative writing, poetry, and design at Stanford University. She earned a master’s in film direction from the American Film Institute and has directed children’s television for Disney. A writer at heart, she went back to school to concentrate on writing for children. Once Upon a Twice is her first book.
Denise lives in Pacific Palisades, California, where her husband, two sons, and two cats kindly put up with her nonsense.
Barry Moser is an acclaimed illustrator who has won a National Book Award for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds, written by Cynthia Rylant. My Dog Rosie, written by Isabelle Harper, was a Parents Magazine Best Book of the Year, and the New York Times named Jump Again! More Adventures of Brer Rabbit, written by Van Dyke Parks and Joel Chandler Harris, one of its Ten Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year. His works can be found in special collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the British Museum, and the Library of Congress.
Barry lives in Massachusetts.
Denise Doyen, Once Upon a Twice
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