Children’s Story | WritersHideout.net

The New Family at Mango Street

Value in Focus – Commitment

“April 23 is English Language Day,” chirps Melissa, jumping up and down.

“My my! What a revelation dear. What would we have done without you reminding us,” teases Lindsay, tickling Mel.

Mel bursts out laughing loudly. “Guys, what I meant was April 23 is a very special day for all of us and I just wanted to make sure none of you forgot about it.”

“What are your plans for that day?” questions Rocky. “I want to do something special to promote our beautiful English language,” dreams Jennifer.

“I have an idea,” enthuses Lindsay. “Mango Street’s house no. 10 has been recently occupied by a family who are not fluent in English language.”

“Where are they from?” questions Melissa. “I don’t know that but I heard the lady there talking to the grocer. She had great difficulty in explaining her requirements. Her son and daughter too could not understand much. Why don’t we help them improve their English?” wonders Jenny.

“It is a brilliant idea. Shall we go and let them know what we think?” asks Rocky. “Not now pal. We will go to meet them tomorrow,” decides Jason.

Next day, the five friends ring the door bell of house no. 10. A young girl opens the door and smiles at them.

“May we come in?” asks Mel. “We are your neighbours.”

The girl calls her mother. The sweet fat lady invites them inside with a smile. All of them sit on the cane chairs laid out on the front porch.

Jason explains their plan of helping them to understand and speak better English. The lady seems obliged and tells them about her family and how she did not understand English very well.

“We will help you aunty in learning how to speak and understand our language,” says Lindsay.

The lady shakes her head smilingly. She points to the fruits on the table. Rocky picks up one fruit at a time and names it. Jason asks her to repeat. She tries a few times and is able to call each fruit by its name. Her son and daughter learn the names too.

The friends stay for about an hour. By that time, the mother and her kids have learned the names of most things in the kitchen.

“We have to go now but we will be back tomorrow and teach you complete sentences,” announces Jenny.

The lady offers lemonade and cupcakes to all of them and says goodbye, smiling happily.

The friends visit the new family at 10, Mango Street every day after school and help them to learn new words and sentences. In about two weeks, the new comers are able to converse in pretty good English and have no difficulty at the super bazaar and at various social gatherings.

On the English Language Day, the new family throws a party for the five children who through the commitment and hard work had made speaking and understanding English easy for them.

Jason and Jennifer together with their parents come to the party and so do the others.

Their hostess gives a speech at the end, praising all the five children who helped them to overcome their difficulty in speaking the English language and made them feel comfortable in a new place.

The five friends are happy and their parents are proud of their kids for helping the new family learn the English language.

Value in Focus – Commitment

English Language Day – April 23, 2018

Written By: Amita is a Story Writer and a Spiritual Writer.

To share your feedback, write to her at [email protected], or leave a comment below.

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

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Felicity and the Sapphire Dress – Children’s Story

“Are you sure you want that in your outfit?” asked Felicity. Felicity had thrown herself into becoming a fashionista and making clothes. Her younger sister Susan had asked her to help her make an outfit and wanted her favorite heart clip with the pink feather with the silk midnight blue dress they had made but Felicity wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t think it would look nice with your dress”, said Felicity. “But it’s beautiful,” Susan said. “Well, if we aren’t doing the clip why don’t we use the sapphires”, said Susan pointing at the sapphires Felicity had been collecting. That satisfied Felicity so the two sisters set to work.

“Let’s call it the sapphire dress”, said Felicity and Susan nodded. Soon they were finished so they decided to have a picnic with their friends. When they were gone a shadow came creeping into the house.

They tiptoed into Felicity’s workshop and stared at all the valuables in the room open-mouthed. Then the sapphire dress caught her eye and she ran to it and her jaw dropped. She looked around to see if anyone was there and saw no one, so she grabbed the dress and put it in the bag she was carrying. But when the thief had been looking around she had been sadly mistaken for there had been someone around.

Will, Felicity’s helper had been cleaning out Felicity’s closet when the thief had come and Will had jumped into the closet and watched her every move and when the thief had been looking around Will had closed the closet.

When the thief was safely out of the room Will came out of the closet and went outside through the back door to the neighbor’s house and went to tell the girls all he had seen. Soon he was at the neighbor’s house and saw the girls playing tennis.

“Felicity! Susan! Come quickly!” he yelled. “What is it?” asked Felicity. “Why should I tell you when I can show you”, replied Will.

They came just in time to see the thief come out of the house. “Stop you thief!” yelled Will. “What is she stealing?” asked Susan, running.

“Your dress ma’am”, answered Will. The thief stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Susan, Felicity and Will, then things all seemed to happen all at once. Felicity ran and slid on the grass and grabbed the bag but the thief pulled it back.

“GIVE ME BACK THE DRESS! NOW!!” yelled Felicity and she pulled the bag away from the thief’s grip and gave her a hard push that sent the thief falling to the ground. Are you okay Miss?” asked Will and Felicity nodded. “Alright thief, time to face the music!” said Susan and she pulled off the thief’s hood.

It revealed a very grumpy face underneath. At the same time the three gasped and breathed “Samantha!”.

“Why did you do this?” asked Felicity. “I was jealous of your talents and wanted to take one of your necklaces and say it was mine so I could get rich and famous. Then I saw that blue dress and decided I wanted that and, and…I guess you know the rest”, she said. Her nose was running and tears were rolling down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry Felicity”, she said looking up. “I guess it’s okay, but never do that again”, said Felicity. “Come on let’s play tennis”, said Susan. I’m going to go”, began Will. “You too Will”, called Susan. So the four played and had loads of fun and they lived happily ever after.

The end

Contributed By: Shivani Verma – Shivani is an 8 year old, budding story writer who lives in the US. She loves to express her creativity through music, dance, sketching and writing stories. You can contact her at: [email protected]