Young Author Update

Dayna was published in our local newspaper. It was an exciting day to see her story in print. She wouldn't let either of us read it until it was in the paper, and it was well worth the wait.

You can see the article here.

Here is the text of her story:

“Louise”
By Dayna Wilson,
third grade

Once upon a time in a flower garden at the zoo, there lived a six spotted ladybug family. The mom’s name was Megan. The dad’s name was Leo. The oldest daughter’s name was Mei. The brother’s name was John. And the youngest daughter’s name was Louise. Louise was good in Aphid Math and Social Studseeds. She loved reading and writing and music. But there was one thing she could not stand; she has seven spots instead of six spots!

Everyone made fun of her, even her best friend said, “No offense, but you kind of look funny. Ha! Ha! Ha!”

“Even you turned your back on me!” screamed Louise. At lunch break Louise, very upset, went straight to her room and buried herself in her covers.

“Louise!” called her mother, “time for lunch!”

“I don’t want to come down, make John bring it up!” she yelled bitterly.

In less than five minutes, John came up. “What’s the matter, Louise? Tell me everything,” he said.

“Well, my best friends, Emily, said I look funny…I don’t want my extra spot! I’m soooo tired of it!” yelled Louise rolling her eyes. “Everyone makes fun of me!”

“I know,” John said calmly. “When I started Beetle Bug Kindergarten, nobody had seen a six spotted ladybug before and everyone made fun of me, too.”

“Really?” asked Louise.

“Really,” assured John.

“Here’s what I do when someone makes fun of me. I count to twenty before I get mad, and if they keep bullying, I … 1. ignore, 2. walk away, 3. walk further, 4. stand by a teacher and 5. tell,” he said.

“OK! I’ll be sure to do that next time,” said Louise. And with that she ate her aphids and sprinted off to ladybug school.

Emily greeted her at the door saying, “I’m so sorry for calling you that. Are you mad at me?”

“Nah,” said Louise. “I guess I’m sorry for stomping away like that.”

“Oh, it’s OK,” responded Emily. “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go play!”

During recess, Frank, the bully, said sarcastically, “Having a good time? Sorry to ruin your six-seven frenzy, but I just wanted you to know you look really ugly with those seven spots.”

Louise was about to get mad, but John’s words zoomed through her head. Louise said nothing.

“Too afraid to say something?" Frank jeered.

Louise walked away.

“Aw, did I hurt your feelings?” he whined.

Louise knew he didn’t mean it so she walked further.

“Oh, I’m sorry to bother you.”

Emily said something, “You stop it, Franklin!”

“Oh, I’m soo scared!” snickered Franklin.

That was it! Louise ran to the teacher and told. The teacher made Franklin stop what he was doing and walked around the school with him, talking.

The next day at recess, Franklin said sorry and told Louise, “I’m sorry, I’m not going to bed right away and I don’t know how to handle it.”

“I forgive you,” said Louise.

The recess whistle blew.

“Bye!” called Frank.

“Bye!” said Louise.

“Wow! How did you do that?” asked Emily.

“I ignored, walked away, walked further, and told,” she replied.

“But you didn’t get mad right away,” Emily said.

“Well, God gives me grace and I need to use some too.” Louise said.

Later when the class was sharing their writing, Frank asked to go up. Frank said, “I wrote an essay on bullying and I learned that it is NOT, I repeat, NOT OK to bully other people because the way they look.”

“Raise your hand if you’ve been bullied. I’ve been kind of a bully to you guys and I’m sorry,” he said. The class clapped and then whistled.

After school, Louise gave Frank a second chance and said, “I loooved your story. Would you like to be my friend?”

“Of course!” said Frank.

At home, Louise told her family about Frank.

“But I thought you and Frank were enemies,” Mom and Dad said.

“You can always change,” said Mei.

“I guess you’re right,” said Mom. “Let’s go out to dinner tonight,” suggested Mom.

“Sure!” agreed Mei, Leo and Louise.

“How about we invite Frank,” said Dad.

“Yeah,” answered Louise.

That night when they were at “Aphid-n-Grill” Frank said, “I hope nobody ever makes fun of Louise again.”

When Louise heard that, she almost spit out her Mountain Dew.

At bedtime, Louise said, “Tomorrow is a new day when we can start over.”

Moral: It isn’t ok to bully someone just because of how they look.