Annie's First Novel

To: Mom. Illustrated by Anna D . . .

In a small world there was a small horse.

It was sad.

It was lonely.

And then the horse met a new friend. The End.

She conceived, assembled, wrote, and illustrated this completely and entirely on her own. She put it together at school during Free Choice Time, did the cover and first page there, then finished it at home during quiet time. It is going in the Keep Forever box.

Additionally this week, she made me a big sign that said, "Hi MoM. WOR SORRe THAT You'Re SiCe. LOVe AnnIe DAD JeMMA. We LoVe YoU." (The "sick" referencing my continued ridiculous sneezing/nose-blowing every. single. morning.) How does she know how to use and write "you're" correctly??? (I feel this puts her ahead of about 20% of the adult population.) She also lectured Jemma one day at lunch: "Jemma, there are three ways to spell the word 'to.' T-o, t-o-o, and t-w-o, which is the number." When I ask her how she knows these things, if her teacher has been talking about them at school, she says, no, she just knows.

The English major in me is rejoicing.