Treasure Hunting

 Last week, Beckett’s friend from down the street asked him to come over to play. Before that, the two have always just played in our yard. 

The moment his friend asked him, the feet of my once-cautious child had already started down the driveway to this new place, his head barely looking over his shoulder for approval before he was out of sight. Down the hill they went, leaving Nathan and me just staring at each other, dumbfounded at the moment of boldness that just happened.

He returned home hours later with sparkly eyes and a toothy grin, regaling us with their adventures. 

A few days later, we were at an indoor water park for spring break. Nathan and I were taking turns plummeting down the huge water slides with Beckett. A few hours into our visit, he ran into a friend from school. Next thing we knew, he was asking us if he could go down the water slide without us. His feet already moving toward the slide, his head barely looking over his shoulder for approval before he was out of sight. Off they went, leaving Nathan and me just staring at each other, dumbfounded that our once-cautious child kicked us to the curb.

He emerged from the water slide a few minutes later with those same sparkly eyes and that toothy grin.

This was fresh on my mind this week when we read the magical picture book Oona by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa. Oona was a feisty, brave, treasure-hunting mermaid who lived in the ocean with her best friend, Otto the sea otter. Oona discovered a crown lodged in a chasm that piqued her interest. After several failed attempts, Oona moved on to other less exciting, non-treasure hunting ventures. But, DiPucchio said, “she was missing her spark, and a mermaid without her spark is like a seagull without an appetite. Unnatural.” Seeing this, Otto tried to cheer her up with a new shell, which she used to help her successfully get the crown.

Beckett’s acts of boldness reminded me just how important friends are to nudge us to find our spark. Like Oona, we need someone to help us treasure hunt so that we can return with sparkly eyes and toothy grins. Because a person without bold, new adventures is just...unnatural. 

#oona

#kellydipucchio

Voldemort May Rise, But...

I thought I knew how November 8, 2016 would end because the storybooks had always told me so.

Harry Potter...Voldemort is defeated.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe...The witch does not prevail.

But we know the ending to November 8, 2016.

It was not enough to vote early and wear my “Hillary is my homegirl” t-shirt hidden under my teacher sweater...I should have known.

As my post-traumatic feelings rear their ugly heads, I remember something special about the early hours of election day 2016...A little girl named Grace.

I read my first graders Grace For President, Kelly diPucchio’s precious picture book, about a little girl that runs for class president in a competitive campaign against a classmate. She persists despite her challenging, but complacent opponent, and wins. We discussed the vocabulary...campaign, candidate, slogan...we analyzed the theme and beginning, middle and end.

In 2016, in what I thought were the moments leading up to a watershed election, this book was particularly exciting. My version of working the crowd of brilliant first graders… Dedication and a commitment to meaningful, love-filled change always win.

What I forgot about are the complex stories, the stories with multiple plotlines. I forgot about the stories in which we wonder how the protagonist will ever overcome. I forgot about the complex stories when the dark side is sometimes victorious.

Voldemort will rise and Aslan will fall.

This week when I read Grace for President to Beckett, though, I was reminded at the end that there is an illustration of her, as an adult, being sworn into office. I was reminded that her story didn’t end when she won her class election. I was reminded that real stories only end when we stop. We have to acknowledge that sometimes the bad guys are victorious AND trust that ultimately we will persist with our belief in what is good. Ultimately, we can fall and rise again. Ultimately, means nothing at all really. The only conclusion to the story, the only final word, is that we keep going, keep trying.

I’m afraid of what’s to come, but I know we’ll figure it out. Ultimately, Grace taught me to persist.

#graceforpresident

#kellydipucchio

#childrensliterature