I Think Mrs. Willet is My Fairy Godmother

I Think Mrs. Willet is My Fairy Godmother Written and Illustrated by Amelia Leidy 2

Everyone is excited about going to the book fair today, except me, I am frustrated. All my friends are going to look at books in the fifth-grade section, but I cannot look at those books because they are too hard for me to read. 4

When we got to the book fair Mrs. Willet, my teacher, asked me why I was not looking in the fifth-grade section. I told her because the books were too hard for me. She said, Meghan you can read any book you want to and I will help you do it. I went over to the fifth-grade section and at first nothing caught my eye. Then I saw a book with Cinderella on the front. My day went from frustrating to exciting! We all purchased our books and went back to the classroom. 6

Back in the classroom Mrs. Willet let us read our new books. The only problem with that was I could not read it. She came over to me and I sighed. The letters are all mixed up. I can not read this, I said. She handed me a see-through purple sheet of paper and laid it over the book. It made it so much easier to read! Wow thank you Mrs. Willet, I said. 8

While I was not looking, Colin my annoying tablemate, decided he thought it would be funny to hide my pencil box from me. I knew it was him because he is always picking on me. I stood up and said If you do not give me my pencil box back, I am going to tell on you. I stood up and started walking towards Mrs. Willet and I saw him slide the box onto my desk. Colin is the reason boys annoy me. 10

Mrs. Willet came over to me and put her hand on my shoulder and said Meghan let s stay on task and read your book please. I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but I held it in. Maybe if she had not sat me next to the most annoying boy in class, I would be able to pay more attention. She is always having to come over and tell me to get back on task. 12

Later that day, Mrs. Willet pulled out a sheet of paper and said, This is a sign up sheet for the school play. I encourage you all to sign up to audition. A rush of excitement came over me. But then I remembered that I am really bad at rememorizing. I know rememorize is not the right word, but I use it because I always have to memorize something and then go back and rememorize it. Mrs. Willet could tell I was nervous about signing up and came over to talk to me. Meghan are you excited that this year s play is Cinderella? You should sign up to audition for the role of Cinderella, she said. But I don t think I can read and remember all those lines, I said. She told me that she would help me memorize the lines and to come see her during recess. 14

During recess, I reluctantly walked to Mrs. Willet s classroom. She handed me the script for Cinderella and with one glance I knew I would not be able to memorize it all. Why don t we try putting the words to steps and movement, she said. We went over the lines and matched each line to a step. By the end of recess, I had almost all the lines memorized! See, you can do it! Whenever you are frustrated or think you can not do something, I want you to tell yourself that you can do anything you set your mind to, said Mrs. Willet. She called this positive self talk. 16

That afternoon I flew to the car with excitement. I could not wait to tell my mom about signing up to audition for Cinderella. I practiced my lines and steps all night until I could not keep my eyes open any longer. 18

The next day I ran into school ready for the Auditions. I was so nervous. What if I forget my lines or embarrass myself in front of everyone, I thought. Colin walked by me and shoved me with his backpack. I wanted to shove him back but I thought about what Mrs. Willet told me about positive self talk. I told myself that I had those lines memorized and I was going to do great. I also had to remind myself that Colin was just a stinky, smelly, silly boy. 20

They called my name and it was my turn to audition. You got this, I whispered to myself. I got up on the stage and immediately froze with fear. I saw Mrs. Willet in the crowd. She stood up and did the first step with me. All the lines immediately came back to my brain. I went through each line, delivering the best Cinderella impression ever. I left the audition feeling proud and confident. The theater teacher told us that she would post the cast list by the end of the day. The whole day Mrs. Willet had to put her hand on my shoulder to keep me on task because all I could think about was what role I was going to get. 22

The bell rang and I rushed to the theater. My heart was pounding and it felt like it was going to pop out of my chest. I pushed my way through the crowd and there it was. In big bright purple letters was my name next to the role of Cinderella. I could not believe it. I was going to be Cinderella all thanks to the help from Mrs. Willet! Colin better watch out. As my first act as Cinderella, I am going to have my fairy godmother turn him into a mouse! 24