Young & Published: Short Stories by Children Who Will Change the World

By Leah L. Mabery

This book includes child-written short stories. This first edition features fictional stories by third and fourth graders. Varying in style, complexity, tone and theme, each of these stories shed light on childrens concerns, dreams and fears. They also illustrate their resilience, mastery and creativity. As it is never to late to start writing, this book demonstrates its never too early to start publishing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504918176

Leah L. Mabery

Leah L. Mabery is an attorney born in Miami, FL. Leah discovered the joys and benefits of reading as an English major at Clark-Atlanta University. As a Chicago attorney, she became committed to social justice and community redevelopment. She believes communities can be transformed through literacy. Therefore, she made it her mission to increase the literacy rate within African-American communities. To this end, she has started book clubs and writing programs for children and other initiatives to increase literacy awareness and inspire a love of reading.

Book preview

© 2015 Leah L. Mabery. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 6/19/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1816-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1817-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Acknowledgments

My Big Day

The Book of Magic

Teamwork Helps the Dream Work

Fear Slayer

The Bully Buster

How Cheetahs Got Their Spots

The House of No Return

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the young writers who are changing the world— one word at a time.

Introduction

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Literacy transforms. Literacy empowers. Literacy is the ability to read, write and speak proficiently. Too often, literacy is undervalued and illiteracy is overlooked. According to a Department of Education study, 32 million U.S. adults (14 percent of the population) are illiterate and 21 percent of adults read below a 5th grade level. The Department of Justice has found that, [th]e link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure. Over 80 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, and over 70 percent of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

As a concerned community member, these harrowing statistics moved me to action. I have found that children are