Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul Read online

That’s when I noticed that the back of David’s head looked like a brown forest with a long, brown, hairy trail that ran down his neck. He had three big brown freckles peeking out from the forest. The top of his head looked like a cartoon porcupine with brown hairs sticking up all over. David’s ears were reddish tan with pudgy lobes that flapped against his neck when he raised his hand with only one finger. Looking at the back of David’s head, I decided this composition could be different. It could be full of imagination instead of boring and embarrassing because I had never had the chance to see anything interesting, outside of the trip to Denver.

  I opened my composition book and began to write. I wrote and wrote until Mrs. Kelly said, “Mary Ellyn, this is the third time I’ve called your name. It is time to line up to go home. However, you will stay after and write ‘I will pay attention in class’ one hundred times before you are excused.”

  On Wednesday, Maureen tiptoed around the room in her fancy shoes passing back everyone’s composition notebooks. I ignored her snotty smile and opened my book, paging past all the F’s and U’s. I couldn’t wait to see a beautiful letter at the top of my composition, entitled “The Back of David’s Head.”

  By the time I found the page, my whole body was so tense with excitement I almost fell off my seat. But what I saw made my breath stop in a gasp. Across the whole composition Mrs. Kelly had scrawled a huge red U. It was the biggest and reddest U I had ever seen. The red words in the margin swam in a blur from the tears that filled my eyes. A huge tear plopped onto the page, splashing over the comment about penmanship. I slapped the book shut and raised my hand with two fingers. I didn’t care who laughed.

  In the bathroom, I sat on the edge of a toilet and cried for a long time. After a while I heard the restroom door swish open.

  “I know you’re in here, Mary Ellyn,” Maureen Murphy’s voice oozed under the green painted metal door. “Mrs. Kelly says you’d better get back in class, right now.”

  I waited for the sound of the door swishing closed. “You just wait and see, Mrs. Kelly,” I said in a low scary voice. “Someday I’ll show you. Someday I’ll write lots of stories and SELL them for lots of money. Someday my stories will be in books! Just you wait and see.”

  And when I grew up, that’s exactly what I did.

  SO THERE, MRS. KELLY!

  Mary Ellyn Sandford

  [EDITORS’ NOTE: Mrs. Kelly and readers might be interested to know that Mary Ellyn’s work has been published in several magazines as well as Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul.]

  PEANUTS reprinted with permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

  Going to the Dogs

  If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.

  Thomas Edison

  One day my mom and I were sitting in her office looking at a magazine called Humane Society News. We read a very sad story about a New Jersey police dog named Solo that had been sent into a building to catch an armed suspect. The last thing Solo did before entering the building was to lick his owner’s face. A few minutes later, Solo was shot and killed in the line of duty. I knew how sad that officer must have felt because my own dog, Kela, had recently died. I felt like my world had ended when I lost Kela. She had been my best friend since I could remember.

  The article went on to tell about a fund-raiser that was going on in New Jersey to help buy bulletproof vests for the police dogs there. I thought, Every police dog should be protected just like the police. I may be a kid, but why can’t I do a fund-raiser to help save the dogs in our area?

  Then I found out that a bulletproof vest for a police dog costs $475. My mom thought it was a lot of money for an eleven-year-old girl to raise, but she told me to go ahead and try anyway.

  We called our local Oceanside Police Department and found out that their dogs needed bulletproof vests. At that point, I realized that I needed a name for the fund-raiser and thought since I was trying to protect just one dog’s life, I would call my program Vest A Dog.

  I decided that veterinarian offices and pet stores would be really good places to go with donation boxes and Vest A Dog flyers. I used little green Chinese take-out boxes, decorated with a picture of Tiko, the dog I chose to vest, and me. I wrote on each box “Help protect the life of a police dog by donating a dollar.”

  One afternoon, after all the boxes had been distributed throughout our community, I got a call from a local newspaper reporter who had seen one of my fliers. The reporter decided to do an article about Vest A Dog. That ought to spread the word, I thought. I asked K9 Officer Jim Wall, who is Tiko’s partner, if they would have their picture taken with me for the article and they did.

  After the article came out, I waited for a few days before checking to see if there were any donations. I was really nervous when I finally went to collect the money. Would there be anything in the boxes? I wondered. I really wasn’t sure that I could raise enough to buy the vest. But when I collected the first box, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I realized that there are many generous animal lovers out there. The box was practically overflowing with dollar bills! I kept checking back to collect the donations every few days. After about three weeks, I counted the money from all of the boxes. It totaled over three thousand dollars! I was so excited and totally amazed at the amount of money that I had raised. Not only was there enough money to buy Tiko’s vest, but Vest A Dog had raised enough to buy vests for the other five unprotected dogs on the Oceanside Police Department. I couldn’t believe it!

  When the officers from the K9 unit found out that they were going to be able to protect all six of their dogs, they couldn’t stop thanking me. They decided to put together a presentation ceremony where I would give the six vests I was donating to the department’s dogs. That’s where I got to meet all of the other police dogs and their handlers. I was actually a little scared of them, but the officers assured me that the dogs were very friendly. I learned that these were not just police dogs, but also the officers’ family pet. Again, I thought of my dog Kela and also about Solo. I wanted even more to make sure that these police dogs didn’t die while trying to protect people.

  Once I began presenting the vests at the ceremony, I kept seeing television reporters come in and set up cameras. I never expected to see so many news stations there! I was excited to talk with them about what I was doing. When they asked me if I was going to continue my Vest A Dog program to help protect the other fifty dogs in San Diego County, where we live, I replied, “Yes! We need to protect these dogs because they protect us every day.”

  Soon the phone was ringing off the hook! Each day, reporters from newspapers and television stations called with interview requests. They wanted more information about my Vest A Dog program and also wanted to know where donations could be made. The media is so powerful! People began to mail donations to Vest A Dog!

  Looking back, the success of Vest A Dog totally surprised me at first. Then I realized that it wasn’t unusual that a lot of other people felt the same way I did about these dogs. They just didn’t know how to help before Vest A Dog got started.

  So far, Vest A Dog has raised more than twenty-five thousand dollars and has supplied all of the law enforcement dogs within San Diego County with a protective vest! Then, just when I had achieved what I thought was my highest goal, people from all over the country began to call me to find out how to raise funds to vest dogs in their areas. So now my fund-raiser is continuing nationwide, and I have a Web page to tell other people how to organize a fund-raiser like the one that I did.

  Knowing that more and more dogs are being protected is really rewarding. It has made all my efforts more than worth it.

  Then, one day after school, my mom told me that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) wanted to honor me for the work that I had done to protect police dogs. They invited my mom and me to New York so that I could receive an award and a check for five thousand dollars! That vested another ten dogs!

  I’m so proud and happy that the money I have raised is all going to the dogs. I’m still amazed that I have vested so many dogs when I really wasn’t sure if I could vest even one. Even though some days I was tired from schoolwork, I knew it was important to continue fundraising to help save these special dogs. It was a lot of hard work but I learned that if you just keep going, you can accomplish anything. Don’t think that just because you are a kid that you can’t make a difference. Even if you think something is impossible, it can be done.

  Stephanie Taylor, eleven

  [EDITORS’ NOTE: For more information on how to start a Vest A Dog program in your area, log on to www.dogvest.com.]

  If I Could Change the World

  for the Better, I Would . . .

  Eliminate every manmade weapon and all war. I would make sure that everyone treats each other equally.

  Lance Bass, *NSYNC

  Find one positive thing that everyone in the world could believe in. Prove to everyone there is a common ground in all people, no matter what race, color, sex, faith, rich or poor. Bring people a little closer together, and remind them we’re all the same. Just try to make it through life as human beings, and remember that every life is just as important as the next.

  J. C. Chasez, *NSYNC

  Have free ice cream breaks for everybody. I would have children have more say-so in the world, and ban all guns and drugs.

  Joey Fatone Jr., *NSYNC

  Put a smile on everyone’s face.

  Chris Kirkpatrick, *NSYNC

  End racism and make equality for men and women. I would teach life through music.

  Justin Timberlake, *NSYNC

  Melt every cold heart and mold them into new warm ones.

  Scarlett Kotlarczyk, eleven

  Help people realize that people like me who learn and do things differently than them are still really the same underneath it all. We want to be liked and smiled at.

  Wilson Cook, nine

  Find another way to test drugs instead of using them on animals.

  Brandon Barger, thirteen

  Make it so every kid would have a warm meal, and no one would go starving.

  Timothy Blevans, eleven

  Open a house for all of the orphans of the world. I would get lots of people to help me take care of them.

  Stacey Bergman, fifteen

  Stop kids from making fun of other kids. Prejudice is just what we don’t need. Kids hate being ridiculed.

  Rachel Force, eleven

  Make people realize that it’s not what other people think of you, but what you think of yourself. You shouldn’t put yourself down when people say cruel things about you or do things to you, because they’re the ones that need a little Chicken Soup for their soul.

  Sarah Hampton, fourteen

  Travel back in time, and make sure the people who invented drugs and smoking never discovered or invented them.

  Lisa Cline, eleven

  Find a cure for diabetes. My little brother’s friend has juvenile diabetes. Every year my family “Walks for the Cure.” I wish there wasn’t such a disease because he has to take shots and stuff.

  Kristin Boden, thirteen

  Want everyone to keep an open mind about everything, because with an open mind, you can accomplish anything.

  Annemarie Staley, fourteen

  Make everything solar powered including factories, vehicles and all types of machinery. By doing this, there wouldn’t be as much air pollution and people could breathe easier.

  Tracye Paye, thirteen

  Give every child a grandmother like mine. She may not be rich and famous, but she has enough love in her heart for her twenty-one grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and plenty more to spare. How many millionaires can say that?

  Casey Singleton, eighteen

  Make it so that kids don’t have to go through child abuse.

  Kristen Hamilton, eleven

  Make every capable person do one hour of community service per month. This would include cleaning up rubbish, bathing and feeding homeless people, and planting trees.

  Trevor Burton, nineteen

  Make sure that no one in the world is harmed because of their religion.

  Pratima Neti, eleven

  Stop child labor, which is unfortunately still going on in this world. Children deserve the right to live, and working at a very young age will not give you that freedom.

  Jessilyn Yoo, twelve

  Pay teachers more, because teachers are the foundation of all learning. Without teachers, the world would just be a useless space full of useless people.

  Angela Rotchstein, fourteen

  Make sure that everybody in the world is able to read. Reading is the world’s greatest gift for the mind and imagination.

  Jessica Behles, fourteen

  Have everybody just agree to disagree instead of fighting. After all, we are all different, and have our own ways; this is the spice of life.

  Jill Ananda, fourteen

  Plant the rainforests back all over the world, so that the trees will grow and the rivers will flow. I would bring back the animals that have died out, but without the dinosaurs!

  Kyla Cangemi, ten

  Make the world a happier place with no bombings or school shootings.

  Chap Arst, thirteen

  Show everyone the love that my adoptive mother showed me. I was angry at the world because I thought no one loved me or could ever love me. No one wanted a thirteen-year-old girl, but she came along and showed me that people could and do care about me. I would definitely give that to any person in this world. Love is all the world needs.

  Mia Sifford, seventeen

  Give every child a blanket, not only to keep them warm, but to snuggle with. We each need something to hold onto, and a fuzzy blanket would help keep away the problems of the world, if only for a moment or two.

  Steve Hayden, thirteen

  Let all the kids in the whole world know that they can succeed in anything that they put their heart into. There is always a solution for problems; you just have to look in your heart to find them.

  Alysia Escalante, thirteen

  Fix that hole in the ozone layer so the heat of the sun won’t kill us.

  Nikole Pegues, eleven

  Ask everyone in school to say one nice thing to another person every day. Have every family tell each other they love one another.

  William Baun, twelve

  Have people talk to each other and listen more, and make sure that everybody would have enough play time.

  Neil Gogno, nine

  Stop all the violence that is on TV, which is where people get the idea that it is okay to hurt or kill someone. When we were channel surfing, my stepmom and I saw seven guns and three acts of violence all in one minute; even my dog got scared!

  Bethany Hicks, twelve

  Want everyone to have at least one best friend that they could count on.

  Andrea Hawsey, eleven

  Create vehicles that would run on natural resource waste material to stop the pollution.

  Rosie Huf, eleven

  Get more clubs and activities going so that people would stay away from gangs, drugs and crimes.

  Stacy Luebbe, fourteen

  Bring back all our lost loved ones for a day.

  Rita Koch, ten

  Make sure that all children in the world can go to school, and have Chicken Soup books so they know that they aren’t alone.

  Allison Opsitnick, twelve

  A Run to Remember

  Thirteen can be a challenging age. Not only did I have to adapt to my changing body; I also had to deal with my parents’ bitter divorce, a new family and the upsetting move from my country home to a crowded suburb.

  When we moved, my beloved companion, a small brown pony, had to be sold. I was trashed. Feeling helpless and alone, I couldn’t eat or sleep, and I cried all of the time. I missed my family, my home and my pony. Finally, my father, realizing how much I missed my pony, purchased an old red gelding for me at a local auction.

  Cowboy was without a doubt the ugliest horse in the world. He was pigeon-toed and knock-kneed. But I didn’t care about his faults. I loved him beyond all reason.

  I joined a riding club and endured rude comments and mean snickers about Cowboy’s looks. I never let on about how I felt, but deep down inside, my heart was breaking. The other members rode beautiful registered horses.

  When Cowboy and I entered the events where the horse is judged on appearance, we were quickly “shown the gate.” No amount of grooming, vitamins or unconditional love would turn Cowboy into a beauty. I finally realized that my only chance to compete would be in the timed-speed events. I chose barrel racing.

  One girl named Becky rode a big brown thoroughbred mare in the race events. She always won the blue ribbons. Needless to say, she didn’t feel threatened when I competed against her at the next show. She didn’t need to. I came in next to last.

  The stinging memory of Becky’s smirks made me determined to beat her. For the whole next month I woke up early every day and rode Cowboy five miles to the arena. We practiced for hours in the hot sun and then I would walk Cowboy home. On the way home I would be so tired, those five miles seemed twice as long.

  All of our hard work didn’t make me feel confident by the time the show came. I sat at the gate and sweated it out while I watched Becky and her horse charge through the pattern of barrels, acing the course with ease.

  My turn finally came. As I nudged Cowboy forward he stumbled, and almost fell, much to the delight of the other riders. I jammed my hat down on my head, stroked Cowboy’s big red neck and entered the arena. At the signal, we dashed toward the first barrel, quickly whipped around it and with perfect precision rounded the second and thundered on to the third. We tore around the final curve and shot for the finish line.