CHAPTER 1
Welcome to Evie's World
It is not easy being a very smart and curious little girl, even if you were as pretty as Evie! Everyone who met Evie said she had a smile that made other people smile. People were drawn to her beautiful dark brown eyes and perky nose. Her hair was light brown. She liked to wear it as a braid, long enough to hang below her shoulders and down her back. Evie was not too tall but not tiny either. She was funny, and she made other people laugh. Kids in her class enjoyed being around her. So did all of her mom's friends. People often commented that, when Evie walked into a room, the mood got better and people smiled more. People stopped and looked at her. She made the adults think about their own children and even about their own good times when they were growing up. Evie seemed to have a calm spirit that helped her friends feel better when they were sad or worried.
She seldom whined or misbehaved. This was because she enjoyed reading books and learning new words. She was able to use her words so well that she could usually explain to other people what she needed or wanted. Because she was so good with words, she was not often frustrated or mad due to people not seeming to understand what she meant. She could also understand what other people were saying to her and to each other. This made her a well-behaved child and eager to keep learning even more words and all the ways to use them. However, Evie had only a few good friends her own age. She preferred to be around adults.
Evie's mom, Rachel, was also very pretty and worked very hard as a doctor. Many people in the city went out of their way to see Evie's mom when they were sick or needed help to become healthier. Dr. Rachel was very busy helping her patients, volunteering to help charities, and working with police officers to solve cases when people died. She was also the doctor for the sports teams of a nearby college.
No matter how busy she was, though, Evie's mom always had time for Evie. Dr. Rachel could tell when Evie wasn't feeling well or seemed a little sad. She always had a bright smile and a warm hug to make her feel better. She loved to play with Evie, to sing and dance with her, and to make up stories with her.
Some of the stories Evie liked best were about the stars. Because she lived in a small city in the mountains, she could look up on a clear night and see many stars. Evie noticed that some of them seemed to be arranged into shapes. When she asked her mom about those shapes, they would both look up at the sky. Mom would make up a story about that shape. Better yet, they both would make up stories and tell them to each other. They had fun cuddling with each other and giggling about the stories they had just made up!
One group of stars looked like a huge kind of bug with giant claws and a long tail. Mom told her that the bug was a fiercely stinging scorpion, which was part of a species called arachnids. They imagined that this particular scorpion was really just trying to be friendly. They decided to name it Bugsy, even though the stars in this group made up a constellation called Scorpius. No matter how nice Bugsy tried to be, the other bugs, animals, and even people were all very afraid of him. They moved away from him whenever he came near. They would not believe that he could be their friend. They could not believe that he was anything but evil and mean. How lonely that must be!
The day after making up the Bugsy story, Evie and her mom spent time after dinner learning more about scorpions. They wanted to know if Bugsy could really be friendly. They went to the museum a few days later to look at some real scorpions in the insect collection. Evie and Mom even got to speak to the scientist working with the collection. An insect scientist, Evie learned, is called an entomologist.
The entomologist knew a lot about scorpions and was happy to answer Evie's questions. She learned that a scorpion is not evil. That word is usually used to describe a person who acts in a way that hurts other people ... just to be mean! The scorpion hunts, as do most other creatures, when it needs to find food — because it is hungry. Scorpions defend themselves when they are in danger and can't just move out of the way. But Bugsy would not lash out just to hurt someone.
There were many other shapes in the sky, and each one could be the subject for a great story. By looking up at the sky at night, Evie got to spend wonderful happy times with her mom. They also got to learn a lot at the same time. She couldn't wait to tell some of her stories to Grandpa and Grammie!
* * *
Mom loved music. Evie grew up singing and learning to play an instrument. She practiced hard as she learned to play the violin and was improving every day. Her music teacher was excited about her progress and was right there with ideas and new songs for Evie to sing and play. She enjoyed playing the violin with some of her musical friends and played along with her mom, who also played the violin.
Evie's dad and mom were divorced, and they didn't live together. There was no doubt in Evie's mind, however, that they both still cared about each other and both loved Evie very much. Evie got to spend time with each parent. She could correctly say that she had two bedrooms as well as toys and clothes in each house. Evie didn't understand the reasons her mom and dad were no longer married, but she felt very confident that she loved each of them and that they loved her. She wasn't worried about that at all!
CHAPTER 2
Kenny, the Bully
Like every child, however, there were things that worried her. Two things bothered Evie most. One was a boy in her class who lived down the street. He always seemed to pick on her. His name was Kenny. He was taller than Evie and seemed much bigger all around. He must have weighed half again more than Evie did.
At school, he would push other children around and sometimes make them fall or cry. He once did that to Evie. She told him clearly to stop doing that, but he just laughed at her. That's also what he did when other children told him not to be so mean.
His words weren't always very nice either. He was loud and kept pretending to be a wrestler, flexing his muscles and growling. Whenever he behaved that way, Evie and most of the other kids simply moved to the other side of the schoolyard. However, Kenny often followed them until it was time to get back to class.
Kenny told the class one day that his favorite hobby was watching television until his parents got home from their jobs. He always watched wrestling. When he grew up, he was convinced that he was going to be a big, strong wrestler. Kenny's behavior made Evie think of Bugsy! Perhaps Kenny could become a friend ... if only he would stop being so mean!
Evie tried several times to be kind to him, offering to help with math problems or spelling. However, that didn't seem to go too well. When he got a problem wrong, he would get mad at himself and at Evie. He would then turn into Kenny, the Wrestler.
Other children spoke to the teacher several times about Kenny. So did Evie. The teacher must have said something to him and to his parents. Things were better for a while, but they didn't stay better for long. Evie thought he might not have any friends and that he might be lonely. She was also lonely sometimes when her parents were away.
Everyone Evie knew spent time watching TV. So did she. She particularly enjoyed watching TV with her mom. When they did, they cuddled together on their big couch and asked each other questions about why there was so much shouting and why things were so loud and often violent.
"Dr. Mom" told her that too much time watching television wasn't a good thing to do. Better to spend some of that TV time learning about music, science, or practicing a sport like soccer or running. Evie even asked once if they could watch wrestling together on television. They did. Evie didn't like it at all. The wrestlers behaved very badly and even tried to hurt the referee. The program made Evie think of Kenny.
She talked with her mom about Kenny. Mom thanked her for talking about his behavior. Mom told her that she did not have to put up with the behavior of a bully. She encouraged Evie to be very clear in telling Kenny to stop behaving badly toward her. She told her mom that she had already done that and that she and other children had spoken to their teacher. She also mentioned that she had tried to help Kenny make friends.
Evie's mother told her that she had done the right thing even though it had been very hard to do. She asked if it would be all right if she also spoke with the teacher or even with Kenny's parents. Evie said yes. She promised to tell her mom if Kenny acted badly again. It was clear to Evie that Kenny wanted to get his way by using his size and acting badly. However, he stopped bothering Evie and seemed to spend more of his time annoying other children who didn't know what to do. They seemed to just put up with Kenny and hoped he would go away. Evie also told those kids about her mom's advice, to try to help them.
She wondered what Kenny might do over the summer school break. She told her mother she hoped that he might get into a choir, be part of some team, or learn to play a musical instrument. "Kids who do that seem to have a much easier time making friends!" she observed. Dr. Mom told Evie that she agreed about how much being in groups like a team or a band can help a person make friends. Mom knew how to help, she told Evie, if Kenny's parents agreed.
CHAPTER 3
What Do You Want to Be when You Grow Up?
The other thing that worried Evie was that she was not sure what kind of work she would do when she grew up. What if she worked at a job she didn't enjoy or feel good about? After all, she would be working for many, many years as a grown-up. It would not be a good thing to be unhappy about your work and your life when you had to spend so much time at your job. How would she find out what she really, really wanted to do?
Evie was old enough now for people to start asking her, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She really didn't know and wasn't sure how to answer the question. Mom listened carefully when Evie talked about her worry. Dr. Rachel was very comforting and kept telling Evie that it had taken her a long time to discover what she would love to do and how to make a career out of doing what she enjoyed. She assured Evie that, in time, she would also discover her future work. She encouraged her not to worry so much about it. This was a time to explore, to learn many things, and to make many friends, Mom told her. The more she learned about a great many things, the sooner she would discover subjects that brought her joy and passion. Those would be the things she would most enjoy spending her time doing and learning more about.
"When did you first know that you wanted to be Dr. Rachel?" Evie asked.
"When I was about your age," Mom replied. Mom told her that she was always curious about science and loved to study bugs and look at leaves and flowers through the microscope that Grandpa and Grammie gave her when she was very young.
Dr. Rachel also wanted very much to help people and animals, especially if they seemed to be sick or hurt. "I wondered how I could help," she said. "Sometimes just being with people who were sick, reading them a story, singing a song for them, or just holding their hand would make them feel better."
As Mom grew up, she met more people, including some doctors her parents knew. They kept telling her how sure they were that being a doctor made a real difference in the neighborhood and in the much wider world. "That's the kind of difference I wanted to make," Dr. Rachel said to her daughter. She came to feel that studying medicine was the best way for her to make that difference. This was true even though becoming a doctor was a long and difficult thing to do. Dr. Mommy told Evie that her wish and hope for her was that she would discover her own favorite way to make a difference.
Evie also talked with Grammie and Grandpa about how to make that discovery, and they were very helpful. They told her that she shouldn't worry, because that moment of discovery would happen for her. However, there were five things she could do to make that special moment of discovery come faster.
"Please tell me what they are, Grandpa. I will write them down," Evie said. She was very interested!
Grandpa began by explaining the first important lesson. He said, "First, learn about as many different things as possible. If you study a wide variety of things — like music, science, history, geography, art, and even current events — you will be a much more interesting person. Other people will want to be around you and be your friend."
Grandpa went on to tell Evie about the second of the five things. He told Evie that we all have the chance to create our own "army of friends from the people you get to know and people who come to know you. None of us can get along in the world or be truly successful without a network of friends we can call on for advice and help when we need it. They, in turn, will be able to call on you when they needed help."
Creating your own army? Hmm, Evie thought. I have already met many people — grown-ups and kids. I guess I just need to keep doing that ... meeting people and making friends! "Grammie, what is the third important thing I should learn?" asked Evie.
"It is a very important thing, Evie," Grammie said. "It is service. Service to others means working hard to be the kind of person who wants to help and who doesn't walk by a problem without seeing some way to make things better. Perhaps you might help a charity by being a volunteer or donating part of your allowance. Maybe it can mean helping other students with homework problems they don't understand. There are many, many ways to be a helping person. You just have to understand how important that is in life and make up your mind to become known as Evie, the kind person one who helps others!"
"Thank you, Grammie," said Evie. "What about the other two things I should think about?"
"I'm glad you are so excited about learning these five life helpers," Grandpa said. "Okay, here's the fourth one: having fun and enjoying humor!"
Evie wondered what Grandpa meant. He explained that fun helped make life enjoyable, helped make people succeed in times of trouble, and helped give people other ways of seeing the world.
"Having fun by doing things you enjoy or are curious about doing makes us smile and enjoy each other's company and our lives. No matter what you do or how fortunate you are, having a sense of humor makes a very big difference. Be a person who enjoys, Evie. Always remember that!" Grandpa said.
"I will try, Grandpa, I will try."
"That's four important things, but what's the fifth one?" Evie asked.
Grammie told her that perhaps this fifth important idea was the most important of all. "It is imagination!" she exclaimed. "It means that inside your mind you can think anything you would like. You can go on trips around the world or to the moon. You can think about your hardest problem and imagine a solution. You can meet anyone you would like, even if they lived thousands of years ago. Inside your mind, with your imagination," Grammie said, "you can become anything you want to be and do anything you want to do. Just use it a lot; just enjoy your time thinking about many things, many places, and many people!"
Evie thought about that last idea of imagination for quite a while, and then she thanked Grammie and Grandpa for their advice. She said that they had given her a great deal to think about and imagine about.
