DESCRIPTION (paste this): Some childhoods are loud. Some are muddy. Some are gone too fast. Mudpies and Dandelions is a journey through the beautiful, messy, fleeting years of growing up — from tiny fingers curled around a hospital blanket to cardboard boxes stacked at the bedroom door. In thirty poems and four chapters, Brian Edward McDermott walks readers from the edge of the blanket to the edge of the world. Through the first days of school and wobbly training wheels. Through neighborhood gangs and lightning bugs in jars. Through first dances and Friday night lights. Through the bittersweet moment every parent knows is coming, and no child believes will ever arrive. Illustrated in a warm classic style evoking the golden age of children's literature, Mudpies and Dandelions is a book for children who love stories — and for the adults who used to be them. Thirty original poems across four chapters of childhood. Full-page illustrations throughout. Perfect for bedtime reading, gifts, and family keepsakes. A love letter to childhood from a nurse, father, and grandfather.