Aspiring Author

Turns out that my very own offspring, who has a tendency to do everything exactly like the idol he currently adores–his father–might also be just a little like me.  He loves to write, so this fifth grade assignment–to spend the weekend writing a story about someone who overcame a hardship–felt like playtime to him.  That’s my boy!

(Reprinted here with no edits by permission.)

Overcoming the Local Boys

By Samuel Butler

Hi I’m Tyler Freeman. I am called a mama’s boy a lot because I don’t play sports or anything. I always say I’m a great climber, but when the local boys tell me to climb a tree or something, I never do it.

Do you know why?

Well, I guess you don’t. I am VERY scared of heights.

So anyway, on summer vacation this year, I’m gonna prove them wrong! It is June, so I only have one week left of school. I’ll try to avoid the other boys for a while. Until summer vacation that is.

Well, I have to leave reader, bye. Wait, you want to come with me. Well why didn’t you say so. Come on! Now I go to math. Math is long and boring. After I sat through math, I went to reading. I was better at reading. After reading there was lunch, recess, and specials.

After the long week, my family decided to camp in the Grand Canyon. That was my chance! I invited Kyle, the coolest kid in town to watch me climb up the Grand Canyon. He said he would go just to humiliate me when we got back. So we got in the car and started driving. It took about an hour to get there. Once we got there we took a plane to the bottom.

We weren’t going to parachute or anything!

Anyway, we got to the bottom and we pitched the tents for the night. We pitched two, so my parents shared one and Kyle and I had to (or as my mom said got to) share a tent. The next night when my parents were asleep, I climbed. Most of the way was fine because I never looked down. But then, there was nothing to hold onto. I looked down to see if I could jump of.

Ahhh! I screamed. I’m gonna die! I thought. I jumped.

My pinkie caught on to the rock I lunged for. I pulled myself up by my pinkie. I sat on the rock. I drank some water. I had finished!! I rode the plane back down. I sprinted to my tent, jumped in and pretended to be asleep.

“Is everything alright?” my dad asked. “Yes” I said pretending to be sleepy. They left. I wasn’t scared anymore! When we returned, I took Kyle’s place as coolest kid. I was cool!