Jerome the Gnome

 Tiny books written by Jerome the Gnome, with a tiny folder to put them in

Yesterday after school Henry was full of gnome lore. A few weeks ago, his class went on a field trip to "Gnome Countryside," which sounded kind of lame to me but is apparently a major touchstone for the kindergarten experience. He was thrilled by the little folders left behind by the gnomes that were the same design as the ones they themselves use in their writing workshop! It seems that the gnomes also inhabit their classroom. Henry said sometimes their little toolboxes are left in the class, with tiny pencils in them. I grew fascinated, in spite of myself. Pretty soon Henry had installed himself at the craft table and was making a gnome's writing folder for a certain gnome: Jerome the Gnome. The folder has a "green light" side for works in progress and a "red light" side for finished works. He made a tiny alphabet chart with a tiny picture illustrating each letter. And then he wrote books-- miniaturized versions of the books they compose at school, with the same page design. But these were books from Jerome's perspective. The first one was "Gnome Countryside," which told the tale of how the gnomes heard a lot of noise and hid in their house-- hiding out from the marauding kindergarteners outside.  The second one was "Writing, by Jerome," which showed the gnome at his writing workshop, writing a story. It was a boy writing a gnome's book about a gnome writing a gnome book. The next Don deLillo?