Mando Tula with Ruby on the Side
by
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Hearin’ music, Ruby cries
And then begins to panic!
“Where’s that music comin’ from?
Is Pappy’s mando magic?”
Jiggin’ in one shoe, she shouts,
“That song makes me happy!
But who’s in Pap’s mandolin
Playin’ a tune so snappy?”
Peerin’ in the hole, she says,
“No magic can this be!
Come on out here, little one.
Old Ruby wants to see!”
Through eight squinted eyes,
Tula gives eight little peeks.
Two twinkling eyes stare back
Through wrinkled rosy cheeks.
Tula speaks...
“I’m Tula Tarantula
And much misunderstood.
I just want to find a friend.
I really wish I could!”
Ruby shouts, “A friend? Me, too!
You look just fine to me.”
Ruby lifts Tula out
And holds her on her knee.
“Folks might be skeered.
I’ll hide you for a spell.
But when they hear you play,
Why things will go quite well!
“Now get back in that mandolin
And let those eight feet slide!
We’ll call us MANDO TULA
WITH RUBY ON THE SIDE!
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About the Book
Young Tula Tarantula sits sobbing on the Bald Knob. Ever since her little brother Bubba Boo got spider-napped, she has remained alone. Tula likes her neighbor Ruby singing and playing jig music, but Ruby has been quiet lately.
Old Ruby lives by herself in the same holler with no friends or family. She’s sad because no one is around to hear her play or sing or to dance to her music. One day Tula hides in Ruby’s pappy’s old mandolin, hangs by her eight legs, and lets her eight feet slide across the strings playing a jiggin’ tune. At first Ruby wonders if her pappy’s mando is magic. But when she realizes what has happened, she and Tula discover a shared love of Ozark mountain music and a new and special friendship.
Using the colloquial language of the old Ozarks, this children’s story tells the tale of a lonely tarantula and the friendship she forms with a neighbor over a love of music.
About the Author
Dr. Sue “Sudi” Clifton is a retired educator and author of thirteen books. Sudi first saw tarantulas while living in the Ozarks and knew she’d write a children’s book about these intriguing creatures. Sudi now lives with husband Woody in Mississippi and Montana but visits the Ozarks often.
Jeanette “JNET” Jarmon is a board-certified art teacher and has served as a university art professor in Mississippi and Kenya, Africa. She developed an award-winning video series entitled The Creative Child that showed on Mississippi Educational Television. A grandmother, she currently lives in a picturesque river setting in Mississippi.