Alyson's Essay
by Lisa W.
“Settle down,” said Ms. Bingo, “school isn't over yet!” Alyson's sixth grade class was celebrating because they had only two hours of school left before winter break. “Before we leave, I would like to give you your homework assignment to do over winter break.” The class groaned. “Now don't go bananas!” continued Ms. Bingo, “We will spend the next hour starting your essays. Alyson, your head is in the clouds!” she snapped. “The essay is going to be on an assigned subject. Tyler's is the Great Salt Lake. Marissa: Vikings. Alyson: Edward Grover. Emma's is the Redwoods . . . ."
Edward Grover . . . Edward Grover . . . “Who’s that????” Alyson had never even heard of him!”
“Alyson, Alyson,” Ms. Bingo's face loomed into view,” I know Edward Grover will be a tough nut to crack, but you will find that he invented many great things!”
“Yeah, but finding information on him will be like finding a needle in a haystack. I’ll bite the dust in this project!” whined Alyson.
“All right, I will give you a different one, but keep it under your hat. How does Bran Monistat sound?”
“On second thought, I’ll stick with Edward Grover,” sighed Alyson.
As soon as she got home, Alyson told her mom about the problem. “Honey, I'm sure you're just making a mountain out of a molehill.” Over the first few days, Alyson left no stone unturned and went to four different libraries, but all of them were either out of the inventor books or had never had them. Finally her dad told her she was probably barking up the wrong tree. So Alyson stayed up late surfing the web and burning the midnight oil. Her sister tried to help by telling her that every cloud has a silver lining because Alyson was really down in the dumps.
On the last day, Alyson's friend Kelsey came over to chew the fat and lend an ear. She was a top banana in inventing things and also a science nerd so she knew at once who Edward Grover was. “This essay is going to be a piece of cake!” said Kelsey. ”Now just be the second fiddle and listen." Then Kelsey told her all about Edward Grover and his great accomplishments.
“Now I’ll have to write until the cows come home to finish it,” said Alyson.
“I’ll stay here and help if you want,” offered Kelsey.
“You are a true-blue friend, but it's O.K. I think I can take the bull by the horns from here.”
Alyson worked until the eleventh hour. She was up against the wall, but she finally got it done. And at school the next morning when asked about her project, she grinned and said, “Oh, it was a bowl of cherries.”