Ryan K.

Nick The Reader                                                             

                                        

Nick was a terrible reader. He basically couldn’t even read
one word fluently.

Nick goes to Water Elementary, home of the Water Cats. He
really looked like a normal person. Normal height, normal hair,
normal everything. He was also ordinary in everything,
subjects, specials, but he was the worst in reading.

Nick was at school and he started reading, “...and the dog
w-w-w-went to t-he par-k.” People started laughing so he got
so mad he throw a book at them. His face was as red as the
ripest apple in the world, but the children kept laughing and
laughing. They just couldn’t stop laughing until one girl, Ava,
stood up for him and yelled,

“Everybody stop LAUGHING NOW!!”

She screamed it so loud the teacher got scared!!  She was
shivering her bones out. So then Nick thanked her. But then
the teacher made Ava go to the principal's office, which
ended up getting her suspended from school!!

Nick was crying and crying because he had nobody to stand
up for him. So when he went home that day he practiced.  

He read and he read until he came to the word, “Octopus”.  
It really made him struggle. He was nervous that he wouldn’t
be a good  reader.

The next day he went to school, and it was reading time. So
he did the best at reading. It was fantastic. He was reading
fluently and smoothly. It was just amazing. “The Dog was a
Hero. He saved the the toy monkey,” Nick read out loud.
When he stopped reading his mind was blown he actually did
it. He read really good.

He was doing so well, so the teacher called his mom and
asked her, “Your son is doing very well at reading, what did
you feed him”?

Nick’s mom said, “Nick and I practiced last night.”

When he got home that day, he walked in the door and his
mom had his friend Ava hiding. There was a cake on the
kitchen table, and the lights were off, so it was really dark. It
was kind of spooky because you couldn’t see anything. It
was pitch black. When he turned the lights on, his mom and
his friend jumped out. “Surprise” they said. He asked his
mom what was going on, and she said, “We're having a party.”

He asked, “Why?”

His mom said, “About your reading”.

After he put his backpack away, Ava and Nick sat down at
the kitchen table and mom cut the cake. Ava and Nick hung
out for a while and read some more.

When the party ended Nick was exhausted because he had
so much fun. After Nick’s friend left, Nick and his mom started
cleaning up. Once they were done, Nick’s mom said,

“Do you know why I made you read last night?”

Nick said, “No.”

“So you don’t get held back.  Because if you didn’t get better
at reading, you were going to get held back”.

The next day Nick saw the principal in the hall and the
principal said, “Nick, can I talk to you?”

He said, “Sure.”

“So about your reading...the board of ed wants to talk to
you”.

Nick  gasped, “Is it because I’m in trouble”?

The principal said, “No, Nick, it’s because they want you to
read a story to them.”

When Nick walked into the classroom. Right away the
teacher said, “You’re late! Where were you?”

Nick said, “I was talking to the principal.”

The teacher said, “About what”?

Nick said, “About my reading”.

Later that day when he had book buddies, he was so
nervous, his teeth were shivering. He felt sick to his stomach.
He was nervous that his book buddy Dave would tell
everybody in his grade about his reading.

When it was time to meet the Board of Ed about his reading,
Nick’s teeth were chattering and his body was wobbling. He
really didn’t want his friends to make fun of him anymore.
When he walked in the room, there were a lot of people there.
Probably 40 teachers and professors from the college Yale .

The principal asked him to go to the front of the room to read
his story. He was so nervous!!! He thought that he may PASS
OUT!!! He took a deep breath and looked at the page. All the
words mumbled together. “Oh no!” he thought. “This can’t be
happening. What am I gonna do?” All my friends are going to
make fun of me again!” He took a deep breath again. This
time the words were clear. He read his whole story without a
problem.

When he walked out of the meeting room there were tears
coming out of Nick. His mom looked at him and said, “What's
the matter”?

Nick said “I did it! I didn’t think that I was going to be able to
read to a whole group, but I did!”

When Nick went to bed that night. He was dreaming about
playing and having fun with his friends. He also dreamed
about everyone cheering for him when he walked into class
the next day because he was able to read his story the
teachers and professors.

From that day forward, Nick kept reading and reading. His
reading got so good, that the teachers and principal decided
to have Nick skip a grade.

Nick was sitting in his room one afternoon when his mom
came in and said, “ I just talked to your new teacher, Mrs.
Wallen. She is very excited to meet you.”

The next day when Nick walked in to the classroom.  He
expected it to be so bad, but it was better than he thought.
The teacher said, “Hello Nick,” in a very kind voice.

When Nick sat down, he saw the  hardest math equation.
Someone named Grace said, “Do you want to work on this
together?”

Nick said, “Sure”.

He thought, “This is the best classroom ever.”

When Nick got off the bus his mom asked, “How was school”?

Nick said, “It was really, really good, Mom. I think I’m really
going to like my new friends.”