His Fellow Aliens

The last day of school blew in cool and breezy this morning. Of late Junior has been somewhat wistful about the end of third grade. Last night he made some cards for a few teachers and brought out every single box of art supplies before deciding on his format: watercolor pencils and construction paper.

Junior's class spent the past month writing and illustrating their own picture books. The children worked really hard, revising many times in some cases. I was very impressed by all of the books; we parents heard a number of them read aloud by the authors in small groups recently. Junior's and several others' stories were about extra terrestrials.

Each book had a dedication page, and Junior's read: "To anybody who has crash-landed in a spacecraft."

That's my boy! Happy beginning of summer, everyone.

Comments

[adrienne]

Lucas always puts dedication pages in his books, and they amuse me vastly.

[Kelly Fineman]

That dedication totally rocks.

[Wisteria]

We are so far into summer that Junior just now getting out of school seems so strange. Happy Summer!

[Susan T.]

Adrienne, it was fascinating to hear the unexpected details in the books. One child's story, about bullies, included a bit about a playground aide at school who was too busy screaming at the kids to listen to the woes of one of the students. Hmmm.

Kelly F., thanks! I cracked up.

Wisteria, I know! Summer in Miss. really starts about Memorial Day, doesn't it? I can still remember those huge industrial fans whirring in May in my public school classroom.

[Chris Barton]

Junior may have just made my summer. Here's to a happy start for you all, too.

[Susan T.]

Thanks, Chris! Enjoy your summer, too.

[Jenny]

Brilliant dedication! What a creative, funny kid...

[Charlotte]

That's funny! My boy also made a picture book--his dedication was "To all my future teachers."

[Susan T.]

Jenny, thanks! Jr. worked so hard on his book, and read it complete with Martian voices, or "expression," as his teacher says.

That's a good one, too, Charlotte. What was your son's book about?

[Charlotte]

It was about a Dragon King who saved his city from a volcanic eruption. He read his with great expression too, completely unphased by dropping the book several times and ending up with the microphone cord tangled around his legs...