- Hello everyone.

I'm Ebony Mitchell, former Miss Arkansas, and now the Director of External Affairs for the Arkansas Food Bank.

And today, we're going to be reading "Carlie Rae and Crew, Rainforest Day" by Letia Wyatt.

Carlie Rae couldn't wait to get to Mrs. Tenney's class today.

It was a special day, Rainforest day!

She loved that Mrs. Tenney shared the new subjects for the week on Fridays.

It gave her something to smile about and boy oh boy did she love to smile.

All week long she had been bubbling with excitement to learn about this part of the world.

She even picked her favorite creature: the blue morpho butterfly!

She learned about these butterflies with Mama.

The rainforest is a really big space, Carlie Rae learned, with trees of all types and lots of flowers and water.

As Mrs. Tenney spoke about the rainforest and different animals and plants, she played slow and soft rainforest sounds with cool soothing water.

"As we listen to the rainforest sounds let's have nap time," Mrs. Tenney told the class.

Mrs. Tenney hoped that her students would have a peaceful rest and dream about what they had just talked about in class.

The sounds of the soft water made Carlie Rae quickly drift to sleep.

In her dreams, she saw the rainforest in Costa Rica.

There she came across Chewy the Caterpillar.

Chewy was a bright green with tiny little legs and beady eyes.

Carlie was surprised that Chewy could talk.

She had never heard animals or insects speak before but she was dreaming, right?

What Carlie Rae loved best about Chewy was that he loved to be tickled, and by crawling on her skin, he tickled her back.

Chewy was Carlie Rae's tour guide in this tropical rainforest.

"So Carlie, we are in the Costa Rican Rainforest, where you will find so many different kinds of plants, animals, and insects."

Carlie began to dance with joy and soon Chewy began singing this little song.

♪ Hop to the Beat ♪ ♪ Clap, clap ♪ ♪ Move with your feet ♪ ♪ Clap, clap ♪ ♪ Move to the side ♪ ♪ Clap, clap ♪ ♪ Boogie all night ♪ ♪ Clap, clap ♪ ♪ C'mon and dance with me ♪ ♪ Clap, clap ♪ ♪ Catch the rainforest beat ♪ Chewy and Carlie Rae sang this song as they skipped down the thick green path.

In the distance, Carlie could see a monkey swinging on a canopy tree.

She giggled as the monkey began to play with a banana.

Chewy explained to her that the path they were walking was called the Green-Eyed trail because of how bright trees provide a nice covering as you walk.

"What kind of monkey is that, Chewy?"

"Oh, that's a white-coated Capuchin monkey!"

"He has a white beard, kind of like an old man or Santa Claus," Carlie laughed.

"Exactly," said Chewy.

"What's special about him is that he loves bananas.

So don't take his fruit, Carlie, or else he will get very angry."

Carlie watched the monkey with very curious eyes, making sure she paid close attention to her actions, as to not bother him from his playtime.

Walk the trail.

Move like a snail.

See the fish in the water.

Let me hear you holler.

This adventure through the Costa Rican Rainforest was fun.

Carlie loved seeing all the pretty flowers and happy trails of trees.

She was pretty happy about the bright colors and cool breezes she felt.

With Chewy by her side, she couldn't lose.

As Carlie noticed a pretty waterfall, she turned to mention it to Chewy, and all of a sudden, Chewy was gone.

She searched high and low for him but he was nowhere to be found.

Normally, Carlie Rae would be afraid, but she remembered what he taught her about listening to the waters and following the trees.

One foot in front of the other, explore and let's discover.

No need to be afraid.

I'm hip hopping, Carlie Rae.

She could hear Chewy's voice in the trees say, "You should never be afraid to go on a journey alone.

Trust yourself and know that things will work out for the best as long as you believe.

So just listen to the trees."

At that moment, Carlie saw this bright beautiful morpho butterfly sitting on the branch of a tree.

She remembered this being her chosen creature in class.

As Carlie got closer, she noticed the butterfly had a smile on its face.

"It's Chewy!"

Carlie screamed.

Indeed it was Chewy.

Her tour guide wasn't lost at all, he was just on his journey to a new adventure of self-discovery.

(bright music) Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did.

Bye.