Ryan Trares
Let me tell a story.
This is a tale about a boy named Nick, who lives with his grandmother, and the strange noises he encounters after he goes to bed. There’s suspense and monsters and ham sandwiches.
It’s titled, “Nick at Night.” Granted, it’s a short story. But I was hooked from the first page.
Anthony brought it home from school with him last week. His first-grade class has been working on writing sentences and putting together narratives using those sentences.
They had been learning about a main idea, building around that core concept. Students had read a play, and worked on paying attention to ending marks and changing their voices to sound like the character.
The kids made up characters and thought about how they’d act in a certain situation.
Then putting it all together, they had to write their own book. Anthony went with what he’s interested in — mysteries, monsters and mayhem.
“Nick at Night” follows the titular character as he hears mysterious bangs and booms as he’s trying to go to sleep. The weird noises turn out to be coming from a monster that lives in the house. While Nick is scared, he is left to wonder if the creature might not be mean, but nice instead.
There will be no spoilers in this column, but let’s just say the story comes full circle by the end.
Anthony wrote out the 12-page story, showing how he’s learned sentence structure and spelling. He also had an opportunity to illustrate his own thoughts, which as an art-minded kid, I’m sure he found the most interesting of the entire project.
There were plenty of reasons I was proud of what he had created. For one, when I was in first grade, there was no way we were writing sentences. It’s been a long time, but I’m pretty sure we hadn’t even gotten through phonics by then.
And for a child who would rather eat a plate of broccoli and cauliflower than pick up a book by choice, he certainly seemed to find enthusiasm in writing his own story.
But the most exciting part has, once again, been the imagination that Anthony displays. He’s always come up with fantastical situations and scenarios, whether it’s playing medieval village in the backyard or using Legos to make a fleet of futuristic battle vehicles.
Developing an active and healthy imagination is a paramount step toward success, whether that’s in his classes next month, whatever it is he decides to do for a career and everything in between. Even in an age of screen-time and constant distractions, he has found stimulation in letting his mind wander.
And I’m just left to wonder how quickly he’s going to pass the quality of my own writing.
Ryan Trares is a senior reporter and columnist for the Daily Journal in Franklin. Send comments to [email protected].
