Sorry for the wait. Here's my first not really a story draft which is perhaps fitting as it's about one of the first not really a story books I loved.
Dear Anne Frank,
Your diary is the only nonfiction book I have ever read written by and entirely about a kid my age, instead of just another adult. Plus, it was the first nonfiction book I ever read that wasn’t toned down and presented the real world to kids. Before, I never realized how horrible the Holocaust was beyond a big, bad thing that targeted Jews. I never thought people my age like me would ever be forced into hiding, encounter death, or face other horrors. You may think I’m naive, or something else along that line, but I always believed that, sure, these things do happen, but only to adults. Your diary made me feel really sorry and sad for other kids, kids like you, who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it made me fully appreciate my luck not to be born at such a time. I’m really glad that a war isn’t going on, especially a World War (World War III would be awful!).
You know, I think the reason your words and your story struck me so deeply is because we’re kind of similar! Well, okay, I never lived during a major war, I never had to hide, I never wrote constantly in a diary (although I have written in one), and so on, but I have felt some of the things you felt. For example, I sometimes feel lonely, just like you, although my loneliness is different than yours. I feel lonely because my sister and brother, who have lived with me since I was born, have left for college. You, on the other hand, have a much more lonely loneliness, if that makes sense, because you don’t have any really good friends, except for Kitty. I think feeling lonely is unfortunate, because it makes it harder to stay happy and look on the bright side. But it is also sort of good, because, like for me, when your sister and brother come visit, you feel so much happier than you would feel if they had never left, and, like for you, when you do find a friend, it feels so much better.
I’m a chatterbox too, and, just like you, I’ve gotten in trouble because of it. But really, I don’t get why we have to get in trouble for it. Well, yes, we would get distracted, but, sooner or later, we always get back to work. But if people stop us from talking, we keep on trying to talk, to finish our discussion, or we learn not to talk to people. We learn to keep things to ourselves, and then we never share things, and friends slowly drift apart, because nobody will talk or confide in anyone, because we don’t know how to talk properly anymore!
I have also lived in many place, as I was born in Texas, moved to California when I was a year old, and then moved to Oregon just before 1st grade. My family has never lived in one place for more than 5 years, although I think we might break that record now. I think it’s fun to keep on moving, although every time you do, you have to make new friends and go to a new school and the first few weeks are crazy, ‘cause everyone is unpacking and you’re meeting all your neighbors, and you’re getting used to your new school, and it’s just insane! But it’s fun, afterwards.
I really want to be a writer too! I adore writing, and I have loads of unfinished stories just waiting to be finished. I am kind of jealous of you, because you got a book published when you were only 14. Despite the fact that its publication came about partially because of your misfortune, your book taught me that kids can write as powerfully, if not more powerfully, than adults. It taught me that books can change the world, and those books can be written by kids like me. You’re one of my role models. I want to change the world with my writing, like you changed people’s view of the Holocaust with your diary. And you have given me the inspiration, the push, to do it. If I am lucky enough to change the world even a little bit with my writing, it will be because you did it first, and I am very thankful for that one day that you decided to start a diary.
Dear Anne Frank,
Your diary is the only nonfiction book I have ever read written by and entirely about a kid my age, instead of just another adult. Plus, it was the first nonfiction book I ever read that wasn’t toned down and presented the real world to kids. Before, I never realized how horrible the Holocaust was beyond a big, bad thing that targeted Jews. I never thought people my age like me would ever be forced into hiding, encounter death, or face other horrors. You may think I’m naive, or something else along that line, but I always believed that, sure, these things do happen, but only to adults. Your diary made me feel really sorry and sad for other kids, kids like you, who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it made me fully appreciate my luck not to be born at such a time. I’m really glad that a war isn’t going on, especially a World War (World War III would be awful!).
You know, I think the reason your words and your story struck me so deeply is because we’re kind of similar! Well, okay, I never lived during a major war, I never had to hide, I never wrote constantly in a diary (although I have written in one), and so on, but I have felt some of the things you felt. For example, I sometimes feel lonely, just like you, although my loneliness is different than yours. I feel lonely because my sister and brother, who have lived with me since I was born, have left for college. You, on the other hand, have a much more lonely loneliness, if that makes sense, because you don’t have any really good friends, except for Kitty. I think feeling lonely is unfortunate, because it makes it harder to stay happy and look on the bright side. But it is also sort of good, because, like for me, when your sister and brother come visit, you feel so much happier than you would feel if they had never left, and, like for you, when you do find a friend, it feels so much better.
I’m a chatterbox too, and, just like you, I’ve gotten in trouble because of it. But really, I don’t get why we have to get in trouble for it. Well, yes, we would get distracted, but, sooner or later, we always get back to work. But if people stop us from talking, we keep on trying to talk, to finish our discussion, or we learn not to talk to people. We learn to keep things to ourselves, and then we never share things, and friends slowly drift apart, because nobody will talk or confide in anyone, because we don’t know how to talk properly anymore!
I have also lived in many place, as I was born in Texas, moved to California when I was a year old, and then moved to Oregon just before 1st grade. My family has never lived in one place for more than 5 years, although I think we might break that record now. I think it’s fun to keep on moving, although every time you do, you have to make new friends and go to a new school and the first few weeks are crazy, ‘cause everyone is unpacking and you’re meeting all your neighbors, and you’re getting used to your new school, and it’s just insane! But it’s fun, afterwards.
I really want to be a writer too! I adore writing, and I have loads of unfinished stories just waiting to be finished. I am kind of jealous of you, because you got a book published when you were only 14. Despite the fact that its publication came about partially because of your misfortune, your book taught me that kids can write as powerfully, if not more powerfully, than adults. It taught me that books can change the world, and those books can be written by kids like me. You’re one of my role models. I want to change the world with my writing, like you changed people’s view of the Holocaust with your diary. And you have given me the inspiration, the push, to do it. If I am lucky enough to change the world even a little bit with my writing, it will be because you did it first, and I am very thankful for that one day that you decided to start a diary.
I know now that the world isn’t as perfect as I imagined. I know now that it can be cruel to kids like me, along with adults, but I also know that kids, like adults, can overcome misfortune and actually use it to change the world. I know, because you opened my eyes.
So thanks,
Megha Dalal
So thanks,
Megha Dalal
