Day 4: My Daughter, the author

My ten year old daughter has been reading the Harry Potter series.  She is currently reading the fourth book and is enjoying every minute.  She will randomly ask me questions at the dinner table because she knows I have read them and she will ask her dad if he knew some little fact from the books because she knows he has not read them.  She has also watched each of the first three movies multiple times.  That's part of the routine...read the book and then watch the movie (a few times).

Last night, as she was mixing up cookie dough, she told me she thought she'd like to be an author.  She had decided that she'd like to write children's chapter books.  You know, like J.K. Rowling does.  After school, as I was packing my bag to leave, she told me that her teacher told her if she finished her library book (Who Is J.K. Rowling?) over the weekend, then she would have read over 1,000,000 words so far in fifth grade.  Tonight, as I was making dinner, she said she was going to her room for a while because she wanted to write a story.

A bit later she returned, notebook in hand.

"Mom? I need a last name for one of my characters.  Do you have any ideas?  His first name is Daniel."  After much contemplation, she settled on Brooks.  And then she began to tell me the story idea:

"Daniel is best friends with Suzy Palmer and Mat Thomas.  They all attend Mr. Berny's School of Transforming Arts.

Daniel is a brave and curious 11 year old boy who's dad sent him to Mr. Berny's School of Transforming Arts after they find out that Daniel can transform into a snake.  Mat is Daniel's genius best friend that has an IQ of 155% and was sent to Mr. Berny's school by his Aunt who saw him turn into a dog in his sleep.

Suzy Palmer, who is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but still likes to have fun, was sent to the school because her parents kept catching her eating all the carrots at night.  One time when she was eating carrots, she had a horse nose and was galloping around and around the kitchen."

This sweet girl left her notebook on the counter at bedtime and I couldn't resist sneaking a peek at what she had been working on.  Here is a look at her notebook.  Shhh...don't tell!