Meet Gerald . . .

Posted February 18, 2016

In Children's books, David McElhinny, Elise Church, Uncategorized

Have you ever met someone who is so unforgettable, you just can’t stop thinking about them? If you haven’t, you’re about to. Allow me to introduce you to Gerald, of Gerald’s Journal: The Life of an Everyday Hero. He may be a fictional character, but honestly, this little boy just fills up my heart.

Tuesday, September 19

Once a week I get pulled out of free reading time to go to the gymnasium for my gym class. This is one time that I do not mind leaving class. We get to play all kinds of fun games. There are five of us that do games, but today only four because Wesley was sick again and missed school. I hope he gets better soon. Two boys don’t talk at all. My mom says it is because they are Artistic Autistic. They are named Kurt and Robbie and they like to play kickball and they are really good kickers.

Michael is a lot of fun. He tells everybody to just call him Wheels. That is because he has to use a wheelchair. He is great at relay races. He is so fast. I like Wheels a lot. He is very nice to me and always gives me a piece of butterscotch candy after class when Mr. Flukas is not looking. I think he is nice to me because he knows what it is like to be different.

Wednesday, September 20

Today on the bus Jimmy called me a retard. He said it to me real quiet, like he always does, so the bus driver did not hear. I know it is a bad word. I do not know what it means exactly. I think it means that I am dumb. I told him that he was a retard too. That just made everybody else laugh. I am not sure why it was funny, so I laughed too. That made them laugh harder and I am pretty sure they were laughing at me.

Being mean back at him did not make me feel better. It just made me feel worse. I know I should not have said that to him and maybe tomorrow I will tell him I am sorry. I will never use that word again.

Usually I try to sit in the front of the bus because Jimmy and some of the other not-so-nice boys sit in the back. But today my math class with Mrs. Watkins took long and I got to the bus late.