Esther Moonstomp Books

One sunny morning Tom was watching his dad clamber up the long ladder to clean the bedroom windows.

“Can I climb up and help you?” Tom asked looking up and up to the window and his dad.

“It’s too dangerous. You’ll have to wait until you’re a bit bigger,” Dad called down.

“But I want to be bigger now,” Tom sulked.

“I think you’re just right,” Dad said, “if you were bigger now, you wouldn’t be able to hide in all those small places, would you?”

Tom liked hiding and jumping out, shouting, “Boo!” at his dad.

He went indoors to see his mum. She was making a cup of tea.

“Can I help you pour the tea?” Tom asked watching the steam from the tea puff into the air.

“The tea is much too hot. You won’t be able to do that until you’re much older,” Mum said nodding her head and smiling kindly.

“But I want to be older now,” Tom sighed.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Mum said, “if you were older now, you would be too old to drink out of your favourite cup.”

Tom loved drinking milk from his favourite cup. It had a big green dinosaur on the front.

He went upstairs to see his big sister. She was in her bedroom, reading a book, which had lots and lots of words.

“Can I read that book, too?” Tom asked looking at the beautiful picture of a tiger on the front.

 “You can’t read books like this just yet. You’ll learn to read books like this when you go to big school,” his sister replied.

“But I want to go to big school now,” Tom frowned.

“Big school’s good, but it’s hard work,” his sister explained, “and think of all the fun you have at your school, playing and painting and gluing and sticking and jumping about. If you went to big school you wouldn’t do all those things.”

Tom liked playing with all the fantastic toys, making all sorts of brilliant pictures and running and jumping and skipping about at his school.

He went into the next bedroom to see his big brother. He was building a tower with the smallest bricks Tom had ever seen.

“Can I help you build your tower?” asked Tom his eyes growing at the sight of all the bricks in the box.

“These bricks are too small for you. You can help when you’re my age,” his brother said.

“But I want to be your age now,” Tom grumbled.

“It’s cool being my age but I wish I was your age a lot of the time,” his brother said, “if you were my age now, you wouldn’t want to build your own tower with your big colourful bricks.”

Tom enjoyed building his tower with his big bright bricks and then knocking it down again.

He went into his mum and dad’s bedroom. His mum was making the bed.

“Can I have a big bed like yours?” Tom asked looking at the plump pillows and huge duvet.

“This bed is much too large for you. You can have a bed as large as this one when you’re grown-up,” Mum said.

“But I want to be grown-up now,” Tom moaned.

“I think you’re just right, just as you are,” Mum laughed, “if you were grown-up now, you would be too grown-up for your comfy bed and teddy would have to go to bed all on his own.”

Tom liked tucking teddy into bed and snuggling down under the cosy covers.

He went back downstairs to see his dad. He was fetching an enormous pot of brown paint from the garage to paint the fence.

Tom opened his mouth and was about to ask if he could help. He thought about all his lovely box of paints in all the different colours of the rainbow.

Tom smiled. He didn’t want to be bigger – not just yet anyway.

***

Image credits: Freepik