Harvey and the Horrible Sneeze

Originally published in the Say Good Night to Illiteracy Bedtime Storybook, 13th edition, with illustrations by Halley Palmer. Copyright 2007, Hackberry Press, Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Incorporated.

Harvey Herkimer Snirkfoozle
Woke one morning needing to sneeze.
This sneeze was a doozle.
It felt like his nose was full of bees!

“Ahhh…” said Harvey,
He said it again.
He was all ready to sneeze;
But then –
To his dismay, The sneeze went away.
Harvey had no choice
But to get ready for the day.

The feeling came back
When Harvey walked to school.
His eyes got all teary.
His mouth began to drool.

“Ahhh…” said Harvey,
He said it again.
He was all ready to sneeze;
But then—
To his dismay,
That sneeze went away.
Harvey had no choice
But to continue on his way.

The feeling came back
When Harvey was in class.
His nose started to wiggle.
He hoped the feeling would pass.

“Ahhh…” said Harvey,
He said it again.
He was all ready to sneeze;
And then—
His eyes began to water.
His nostrils began to flare.
“Ahhh” he said again, louder,
And leapt up from his chair.

“Achoo!” sneezed out Harvey.
“Achoo!” he sneezed once more.
“Achoo!” he sneezed a third time.
“Achoo!” sneezed sneeze number four.

Harvey sighed.
He opened his eyes.
He looked around the room.
He gasped in surprise.

Where once there were walls,
There was only a floor.
The windows were gone,
So was the door.

His teacher was staring.
How wide were her eyes!
Where there once was ceiling;
There was only blue skies.

“Class dismissed,” said his teacher
With her hands on her head.
“Go home, Harvey.
Go home. Go to bed.”

Harvey walked home,
Kicking rocks with his toes,
Carrying a box of tissues,
With a clothespin on his nose.

When you feel that tingling
From your nose down to your knees,
Think of Harvey Herkimer Snirkfoozle,
And his horrible, horrible sneeze.

This work by Amy K. Nichols is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.