See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Beverly Cleary Story.
Life Lesson #31 – Learn to Read Well.
Carla and her mother loved reading. Once a week, she and her mom would take home an armful of books to read. She was able to read chapter books while she was still in the first grade, and she loved reading about famous HEROES. Some of the people she read about had HELPED fight wars to win freedom for their country. Some had studied medicine and discovered cures for terrible diseases. Some had been famous teachers or inventors. Others, writers or entertainers. Carla thought of them as HEROES because they had HELPED other people and made a big difference in the world.
There were some other students in Carla’s class who only read what they had to, and they made fun of Carla for reading so much. One day when she had finished her math test, Carla reached into her desk for her library book and it was gone! Carla was really worried. Then she heard some giggling going on and saw that some girls had thought it would be funny to scare Carla by making her think she had lost her book.
Well, Carla got the book back, and the girls had to miss recess for playing such a mean trick. Mrs. Lane, their teacher told them: “You need to read about some of those HEROES Carla reads about so you can learn how to be HEROES, too.”
Carla offered to tell the girls which were her favorite HERO stories so they could read them. Finally, the girls agreed, and Carla was happy to have new friends who wanted to read. She hoped they would decide to become HEROES just like the real-life people in the books.
– Jim Lord