Today’s cozy read‑aloud features six small, vivid poems from Valerie Worth’s Animal Poems, paired with Steve Jenkins’s beautifully textured collage artwork. Each poem offers a moment of close attention — the enormous quiet of a whale, the quick shimmer of minnows, the bright hover of a hummingbird, the steady presence of a bear, and the surprising resilience of a cockroach.

For this video, I shaped the reading around a soft “Small Windows Into the Animal World” arc: how a poem can take one creature and let us see it freshly, with curiosity and gentle delight.

Before recording, I created a small index‑card collage:

a bright green fish with gray fins, centered in my handmade red‑with‑white‑dots frame.

This small creative ritual helps me enter the poems’ world with intention and steady focus.

🎥 Watch the full cozy read‑aloud and enjoy this warm, quietly fascinating exploration of animals through poetry.