We’ll get back to Question Time tomorrow but it’s Sunday, when we do #beginnings. Since there was recent discussion about my writing for kids, how about we do the start of DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE, book one in the ECHO FALLS TRILOGY? It came out the same year as my adult book OBLIVION and won the Agatha Award for best children’s mystery.
Ingrid Levin-Hill, three weeks past her thirteenth birthday, sat thinking in her orthodontist’s waiting room. You’re born cute. Babies are cute. Not hard to guess why – it’s so everyone will forgive them for being such a pain. You grow a little older, and people say, “What beautiful hair,” or “Get a load of those baby blues,” or something nice that keeps you thinking you’re still on the cuteness track. Then you hit twelve or thirteen and boom, they tell you everything needs fixing.
2 Comments on “Beginnings”
Greetings!
How true the last two lines. :^)
A relief from the wildfire smoke today, with beautiful weather.
Good afternoon to all!
I used to give my sixth graders this reality check the first week of school when we were going over school rules and room rules and expectations. I would tell them that they used to get away with things without consequences getting by on “cute” but they were grown up now and “cute” isn’t going to work any more. Some grew up a bit faster than others but they did learn to show up on time prepared with sharpened pencils, required materials and completed assignments. I figured that those three things were the most important life skills I could teach them. Too many adults have been fired for inability to do those three things. Self-discipline and delayed gratification are very valuable traits that you can learn.