WRITTEN BY MARY HERNANDEZ - ILLUSTRATED BY BRANDON MCKNIGHT - BIG THOUGHT
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Written by Mary Hernandez
Illustrated by Brandon McKnight
The Parade Goes
On!
Written by Mary Hernandez
Illustrated by Brandon McKnight
I was able to work alongside Mary at Big Thought for Dear Readers,
years as she was a Community & Family Engagement
Specialist. Through our work together, Mary gave me one I take great delight in presenting The Parade Goes On
of the best gifts I ever received; a love of culturally relevant to show how kids can take charge, help each other
books, and the appreciation of a brand new hard-covered express feelings and use their imagination. As a child
book. Mary wanted all children to receive a brand new growing up I took care of my siblings, so I know first-
book. She made sure to educate us all on the newest hand the critical importance of free play and sharing
Caldecott and Bluebonnet winners, especially authors and creativity through making. I was also inspired by the
illustrators of color. stories of my coworkers at Big Thought and their
unique childhood experiences.
This is gift I passed down to my sons. Always thinking
of authenticity, Mary modeled one of the characters, That was the inspiration I needed to write The Parade
Michael, after Taylor my youngest son. His inquisitiveness, Goes On. There are some activities included in the
deadpan humor and burst of energy always amused book. I hope that the activities are helpful as you read
Mary. Mary sadly passed away earlier this year and it is with the children in your life.
bittersweet to share my memories in her very own book.
I dedicate this book to my parents, Victor and Louisa
Her persistence and commitment to complete her book
Hernandez, who taught me the importance of books,
and involve others in her process is a perfect example of art
reading, and sharing. And to my sister, Rosie, my play
imitating life. I am so proud of her work and will always
partner, for helping me with my first book. Many
cherish her deep love for families and books.
thanks to Alli Lee my editor, and Brandon McKnight,
I am glad to honor my friend and mentor, Mary. illustrator. Enjoy a cookie and milk while reading the
story about two friends, Gabe and Michael.
Erin Offord
Love,
An inspired advocate for children
Mary Hernandez
I t was two weeks until the WinterFest Parade.
Down the block from the elementary school,
Gabe was in his backyard putting the finishing
touches on his float, which was going to be a part
of the first ever WinterFest kid’s event - a mini
float parade.
Gabe was very excited about his float, he
had been working on it for weeks! Gabe
called the float the “Snowball Express”
because the float was built to hold
hundreds of soft Styrofoam snowballs.
Gabe and his friends were going to throw
the pretend snowballs into the air during
the parade and surprise the parade goers.
1 2
Gabe’s house was close to his school friends, Gabe and Michael were best friends. Usually,
everyone lived in walking distance of his home Gabe and Michael did everything together,
and school. His neighborhood was full of kids but Gabe decided to work by himself on the
including Betsy, Nicole and Noah, and Michael snowball float. Gabe was older and wanted to be
and his sisters. more independent.
Betsy Michael
Gabe Noah
Nicole
3 4
About two weeks before the “The parade has been called off ! I am so
parade, Gabe’s mom walked sorry dear.” Gabe’s mom knew how hard he
into the backyard where had been working on his float.
Gabe was working. She
looked sad. Gabe looked up and asked, “Why mom?!”
Mom shrugged her shoulders. “I really don’t
know–please don’t be upset, dear! It’s still a
beautiful mini-float!”
Gabe thought for a minute.
“I won’t mom, I’ll shake it off. Shake off
the disappointment.” Gabe told himself
and shook his hands in the air like he was
trying to dry them without a towel.
As he waved his hands, Gabe
counted to four out loud (this
was a trick he learned from
his mom, when he was feeling
disappointed).
When he was feeling really
disappointed, Gabe also shook
his feet and counted to four.
5 6
“This will all work out.” Gabe stopped shaking his
arms and legs and stood tall. “I don’t know how–
but it will! I’ll figure out a way to show my mini float
and all the floats being made by other kids.”
Gabe paused for a moment and started
scratching his head.
“Maybe we could do
the parade ourselves!”
Gabe was thinking
out loud, but knew
this was an idea
that wasn’t going to
go away.
The next day after school, Gabe caught up with
Betsy, Noah and Nicole on their walk home from
school and shared his great idea. “What if we did
the parade ourselves? I mean, we’ve already started
building the floats. I know we can do this.” Gabe
paused and tried to read everyone’s faces.
7 8
“Okay! Let the rest of the neighborhood know
there will be a kid’s parade after all! I’ll find a safe
place to have the parade, since we know the mini
floats cannot use the streets. We also know we’re
going to need a big enough space for the parade
and the people watching the parade. Maybe the
library will be a good place to start! It has a big
parking lot and a bigger field that’s also close to
the school.”
Gabe had known his friends for a long time,
all the way back to kindergarten. Now that
they were all in the third grade, he thought he
knew them pretty well.
After a minute of silence, Gabe started to see
smiles on Betsy and Nicole’s faces. Gabe also
smiled and decided that a smile meant they
liked the idea.
9 10
Gabe was in planning-mode and stepped into action.
“Nicole, can you work with your friends to get
snacks?”
“Will do!” Nicole said with excitement.
“Can you take care of the helpers, Betsy?”
“Yes.” Said Betsy, Michael’s older sister.
Noah was oddly quiet, then as Gabe turned to Noah,
Noah said, “You can count me in.”
Gabe high-fived his
friends then ran
ahead to see if
he could find
Michael, his
best friend. Meanwhile, Michael was way ahead of everyone on
his walk home. During his walk alone from school,
Michael couldn’t help but wonder why Gabe was
working on his own float. He knew Gabe had been
working on it because he saw the float in Gabe’s
backyard.
“Gabe is so busy, maybe he hasn’t thought about it.”
Michael thought to himself. “I always help Gabe build
his projects, but this time he didn’t ask for my help.
Seems strange. Maybe he just forgot to ask me.”
11 12
The next day after school, Michael had an idea. “I bet
Gabe wanted my help, but was too busy to ask. I know
what I’ll do, I’ll surprise Gabe! I know Gabe’s favorite
color is blue, so I’ll paint some of the float blue!”
So after school, Michael walked to Gabe’s house
and entered the backyard. Michael went into
Gabe’s backyard by himself all the time, since they
were best friends.
At the same time, Gabe walked home a little
later than usual because he had to stop and get
supplies for his float. When Gabe got home,
he saw Michael was in his backyard. Gabe was
curious why Michael was in his backyard alone,
but was happy to see him so he could finally tell
Michael about the kid’s parade.
13 14Gabe dropped off his backpack inside the house
then walked outside to find Michael painting Michael quickly saw that Gabe was not
Gabe’s mini-float blue. “Michael, what is going happy and his face started to turn red.
on here?”
“Well, I wanted to surprise you! Surprise! Doesn’t it Gabe tried to stay calm. He remembered
look better? The color really makes a difference.” what his teachers taught him.
“Name it to tame it. Name your emotion
so you can be aware of it. If you are angry,
you will see red, your face feels tense and
your brain is buzzing.”
15 16Gabe knew how he felt so he remembered to Michael saw that Gabe’s face was turning
talk his way from being so angry. a bright shade of red, and knew he made a
mistake. “I am so sorry if you don’t like what I
“Breathe in 1, 2, 3, 4. did! I was only trying to help you.”
Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Michael said sadly.
Breathe out 1, 2, 3, 4.”
“Listen before you say anything.”
“Focus Gabe.”
17 18Gabe responded, “It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just that snowballs Feeling relieved, are white, not Michael repeated, blue.” Gabe saw that “Yes, we are using Michael was sad, and our imagination. as someone a little bit We can choose older than Michael, whatever we want. Gabe knew what he It’s OUR float!” had to do. Michael always “I guess this is a repeated Gabe pretend float, so when he had that means we can something use our imagination and choose whatever colors important to say. we want. It is OUR float after all.” Gabe declared. 19 20
Gabe and Michael started
painting more of the
snowballs blue. Gabe put
his hand on Michael’s
shoulder, “You know
Saturday finally
Michael, the reason I
arrived, the day
wanted to build this float
for the first ever
alone was because my
Cedar Hills mini
teacher told me I will
float parade!
be doing big projects
by myself in school, so I
wanted to try doing this
on my own, too.”
Gabe and Michael put
the finishing touches on
the Snowball Express at
Michael’s house, loaded
Michael replied, “I the blue and white
thought that you styrofoam snowballs in
were so busy that you the wagon, and walked
forgot to ask me! Your together to the library,
explanation makes a lot pulling the wagon
more sense.” behind them.
21 22On the way to the library, Gabe felt proud, not The library was bustling with kids, families
just of the mini float, but of how he and Michael and of course, mini floats.
worked through their feelings together.
“Hey, all our friends are already here. Kids and
Gabe took a deep breath of the cool winter air and mini floats everywhere.” Michael exclaimed.
proclaimed, “I knew everything would work out!”
Gabe looked around, and could barely contain
Michael looked at Gabe and also felt proud, his excitement. “The kid’s mini float parade is
“Thanks for including me in your float, Gabe. The actually happening!” Gabe thought to himself,
parade goes on!” smiling from ear to ear.
23 24The parade went off without
a hitch. The floats were so
creative, and Gabe felt very
appreciative of the hard work
his friends put into the event.
Everyone filed into the library
for celebratory cookies and
milk, and Gabe felt overcome
with joy.
Standing on a small chair, Gabe lifted his
hands and shouted, “Kids of Cedar Hills! We
can do anything we put our minds to!”
Michael and the rest of the neighborhood
kids cheered. Gabe jumped off the chair,
and gave Michael a big high five and a hug.
Without any hesitation, Gabe and Michael
looked at each other and said at the exact
same time, “SNOWBALL FIGHT!”
25 26Gabe’s Mindfulness Tips Build Your Own Mini Float
Adapted from SEL Dallas Materials for Any Mini Float
1 – Pencil 20 – Sheets of
1. Breathing Box
1 – Ruler construction paper
Think of a box. Breathe in for the count, hold for the count,
breathe out for the count, hold for the count. Repeat as 1 – Pair of Scissors 5 or 6 – Sheets of
needed. 8.5 x11 white paper
1 – Glue stick or White Glue
1 – Piece of poster board or
2. Shake Up, Shake Down 1 – Paintbrush
card stock
Shake one arm eight times, then the other arm and each 1 – Spool of String (Kitchen
1 – Hole puncher
leg. Repeat eight times, then four, two and one. Repeat the string will do!)
activity in ascending order (One, two, four and eight). 1 – Box of crayons or markers
1 – Shoe box or box of
comparable size
3. Name it to Tame it
Name your emotion so you can be aware of it. If you are
angry, you will see red, face feels tense and your brain is Directions
buzzing. If you are happy, you will be smiling, face is not Step One: Take off the lid from a box and flip the box upside
tense, you are at peace. As long as you are aware of how you down.
feel, you can overcome any difficulty you may encounter. Be
aware of your feelings during difficult situations. Feelings Step Two: Cover the bottom of the box with white glue, and
come and go. Circumstances can overwhelm and be spread it out with a paintbrush. You can also use a glue stick.
challenging. Simply acknowledge presence of feelings and
act on them using Name it to Step Three: Put a piece of construction paper over the glue on
Tame it. Name your feeling the bottom of the box and smooth it out with your hands. Cut
and under any situations away any extra paper that comes up over the sides.
and positive solutions.
Step Four: Trace all sides of
Our unpleasant feelings
the outside of the box onto
will eventually pass.
pieces of construction paper,
Other feelings will
then cut out the shapes.
replace those unpleasant
feelings.Step Five: Glue the cut out shapes onto the four sides of the Aunt Norma’s Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
box (hint: use the same method as in Step Two and Three) Ingredients
Step Six: While the glue is drying, take your poster board and 1-1/2 cup butter (softened at room temperature, not melted)
build walls that will go inside the float. Measure the two long
sides of the float then about 3-6 inches up. ¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
Step Seven: Before you cut out the poster board, draw
the designs you want to appear on the walls of the float 1 egg
(remember the bottom of the poster board will be covered by 1 tablespoon vanilla
the box, so only design the part you will see!)
1-1/2 cups flour
Step Eight: Cut out the poster board, then paste the walls on
the inside of the float (you should be able to see your design 1 teaspoon baking soda
on the outside of the float). 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Step Nine: On your poster board, draw four circles - these will 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
be your wheels. Paint your tires if you’d like, cut them out then 1 teaspoon salt
glue to the bottom sides of the box on all four corners.
3 cups oats (uncooked; use 3-minute or old-fashioned, not
Step Ten: Hole punch a hole in middle of smallest end of the instant) 1-1/2 cups raisins
box. Place your string and tie at one end. Pull to make sure
your mini float moves with ease. Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter and sugars in a large bowl with hand mixer
until fluffy (about 3 minutes).
3. Add egg and vanilla and continue beating until mixture is
creamy (about 1 minute).
4. In a separate bowl, combine (stir gently with a whisk or
fork) flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.5. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture a little at a time,
beating slowly just until the two are combined – do not
over mix. Dough will become thick.
6. Stir in oats and raisins by hand with a spoon.
7. Drop dough by teaspoonful onto an un-greased cookie
sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies to allow them to
spread while baking. Additional Thanks To
8. Place in oven and bake for 8-9 minutes, or until golden in
color. James Adams, Eva Arreguin, Armando Banchs,
LeAnn Binford, Deborah Carey, Christina Cordero,
9. Carefully remove cookie sheet from oven and let cool 2-3 Michael Cotten, Quenesha Curry, Anthony DiPiazza,
minutes. Gabriel Willis DiPiazza, Kiara Dismuke, Kristi
10. Gently remove cookies from cookie sheet with a spatula Flanders, Armando Granado, Shelby Harris, Rosie
and transfer them to a rack or platter where they can Hernandez, Lauren Holder, Pholesha Johnson,
continue to cool. Christina Kelso, Alli Lee, Maria Marwill Magee,
Brandon McKnight, Greg MacPherson, Christina
11. Enjoy! Morales, Erin Offord, Taylor Xavier Offord, Laura
Recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies. Once they are cooled, Orange, Kendall Pigeon, Byron Sanders, Lisa
cookies can be stored at room temperature in a sealed container Schmidt, Karim Virani, Sean Walker, Charlotte
for 4-5 days. Cookies can also be frozen for up to 2 months. Willis, Nora Wilson, Frankie ZunigaYou can also read
