Oh – the never ending to do list! The reader doesn’t need to move past the inside cover and the overwhelming feeling sets in – that big long list that never ever seems to get shorter . . . The one here has some doozies on it – fix leaks, go to dentist, wash the windows, put dishes away, cancel Saturday (??!) Sigh, aren’t you tired already? And then we meet Leo. Leo has that problem that many of us share – no matter how hard he worked, there was always more to do. As his list expanded, he wished there were two of him to better handle things. And poof! There were.

When Leo opened the door and found “another him” we were pretty impressed in Division 5. “Awesome!” “Is that his clone?” “Wha. . . he must be dreaming!” “It’s fiction!” “Yep, it’s a book.”

(Now, this is the one time I don’t need to wish there were more of me. When responding to books – my students have it covered – they have the most brilliant things to say. I just need to do my part and read!)

The strange thing is two Leos doesn’t seem to make it better, there just seems more to do. So what about three? Four? Five? As more Leos come on the scene, the workload seems to increase. Hmm . . . of course! More people means more laundry, more cleaning, more organizing, more strategizing about being better organized. By the time nine Leos arrived on the scene, I had students with their mouths hanging open in amazement.

“This is soo fiction!” someone exclaimed. (Were we believing it up to this point?)

Ten Leos on the scene. Cooking, list making, brewing tea, grocery shopping, sweeping, climbing ladders, it doesn’t stop.

One student got that hold on here look suddenly, “Wait! Wouldn’t a Mom do this stuff?”

I was about to retort, “Hey, are you kidding with ten kids? No way.” But then I realized that this child comes from a family with children in the double digits! And he is asking that question? Oh poor Mom!

“Hey, if there’s more of you, you can’t get smarter!” someone ( quite a smart someone, I might add) shouted.

The last pages show us a lesson that so many of us keep forgetting. Do less. Leave time to dream. You really can’t do it all, so pick and choose and do what you love really well!

A lovely excuse to ignore the laundry pile and go read a book. Thank you Peter H. Reynolds!