Wednesday 25 May 2016

The Green Sweater Girl’s Family



One day, the Green Sweater Girl’s teacher asked everyone to draw pictures of their families. The Green Sweater Girl got out her crayons and got to work.

The Green Sweater Girl lived with Mama and Daddy. Her sister, Monica, was nine, and her twin brothers Casey and Colin were seven.

The Green Sweater Girl loved Monica, Casey, and Colin. Sometimes, though, being the youngest was hard. Monica could read long books, but the Green Sweater Girl couldn’t.

Casey and Colin got to help Daddy build a treehouse. The Green Sweater Girl wanted to help, but she dropped the hammer because it was too heavy. The hammer hit her foot, and left a purple bruise.

“You’re too little to help,” Casey said.

“See how you got hurt?” Colin said.

Remembering those things made the Green Sweater Girl sad. At home later, she found Monica doing her homework at the kitchen table.

“I’m tired of being too little,” the Green Sweater Girl said. “I hate being the littlest.”

Monica put down her pencil and smiled. “That must be hard. But being the youngest means you can learn cool stuff from me and the twins. You get to play and color while we have to do homework. And you know what else? There are some jobs that are perfect for you.”

Monica went to the pantry and got a box of cookie mix and a bag of chocolate kisses. “Your hands are just the right size to help me unwrap these kisses so Mama can make your favorite cookies!”


Saturday 21 May 2016

The Green Sweater Girl Gets Her Nickname

The Green Sweater Girl was not always called that, because she didn’t always have her green sweater. Her real name was Beth.

Beth loved the color green, and she had lots of green things in her house. Her favorite tree was a huge, dark green pine growing outside her window. She had a quilt with green and white squares on her bed, soft green pillows, and curtains with tiny green shamrocks on them. Her favorite stuffed animal was a green frog with a red and green bow around its neck.

Beth went to the Small Pond Preschool. This year, she would move from the Tadpole Room to the Frog Room, for big kids. Mama took Beth and her brothers and sister shopping for school clothes.

“You’ll need a sweater,” Mama said. She showed Beth a table full of colorful sweaters. “Choose the color you like best.”

Beth looked at all the colorful sweaters. There were red ones, blue ones, orange and yellow ones. There were purple and pink ones, and even some with many colors in them. They were all beautiful, but none were perfect.

Finally, she spotted just the right sweater. It had shiny gold buttons, and a pocket for special things. Most important, it was green, Beth’s favorite color.

“You have too many green things,” her older sister said.

“Green is ugly,” her twin brothers said.

But Mama just smiled. “It’s a lovely sweater,” she said. “You can be our Green Sweater Girl, because loving green is part of what makes you special.”