Oh boy, do I have something to tell you! As you can tell from my previous diary entries, I have not had the best time since starting high school. I'm not exactly what you would call the "cool" guy in school. I'm not very tall and I'm not coordinated enough to play any kind of sport. I'm the guy that most people look at and think, "That kid is such a nerd." That's right, I'm a nerd. Although, it wasn't until I got to high school that I realized this. High school jocks can be cruel. They were always picking on me because I always had a book in my hand. What's wrong with always wanting to learn? There's more to life than just baseball and football. Sure, being able to hit a home run or throwing a touchdown pass may take talent, but how about taking a Calculus course as a freshman in high school? Now, that's what I call talent! Anyways, enough rambling, let me tell you what happened today! I did something nobody believed I could do, and not only that, I was the only one who could do it. Take that you big dumb jocks! So, in PE, my most dreaded class, on the agenda for today was climbing the nearly impossible rope. Of course, when our teacher announced what we would be doing today, all the jocks howled with excitement. They thought it would be a piece of cake. The captain of the baseball team and football team both stood up first volunteering their muscles to ascend to the top of the rope to prove to everyone how awesome they were. The teacher made them play rock paper scissor to decide the first victim of the dreadful rope climbing. The captain of the football team was up first. Mr. Buff guy thought with all his muscles, he'd have no trouble climbing to the top. Too bad his muscles weighed him down and he came tumbling to the gym floor. After everyone was done laughing, the captain of the baseball team was up next. Attempting to try a different approach, he grab the rope and tried to climb as fast as he could. Nope, didn't work. He also fell to the gym floor. After a few more attempts by some other athletes, the teacher was about ready to give up, until I raised my wimpy little arm. The teacher was in as much shock as everyone else when I volunteered to try, but I wanted to try. Of course, as I stood up and made my way to the rope, I began to hear shouts of, "He can't do it! Nerd boy won't even make it off the ground! He really thinks he can climb to the top?" But that's exactly what I did. That's right, I climbed the rope all the way to the top. I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces! Classic.
Sheep Mountain
Source: Wikipedia
Author's Note:
The original story, The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds, is about a brother and sister who wander off and fall asleep on a mountain. After falling asleep, the mountain begins to rise until the top of the mountain is no longer visible. The parents become worried and begin to look for their children. They ask many animal such as a bear and coyote if they have seen their children. No one has seen them, but the coyote is able to sniff them out and realize they are on top of the mountain. Many different animals such as a jack rabbit, lion, and bear attempt to climb the mountain to reach the children, confident they should be able to do so, but each of them fails. A measuring worm comes along and wants to try, but he is ridiculed and told there is no way he can climb the big mountain. Much to their surprise, after a month of climbing the worm was able to do what no one else could, reach the children and bring them safely back to their parents.
Bibliography:
"The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds" by W.T Larned. Source: American Indian Fairy Tales
I immediately thought of the flag scene in Captain America when I read this. The modern retelling was very well done, and I enjoyed how you did it. The only thing I could suggest is separating it into a few more paragraphs. Diary entries aren’t always one solid block of text after all, and it makes for an easier read when you’re writing in a more stream of consciousness style.
ReplyDeleteHello Marissa!
ReplyDeleteI also read this original story, and let me say I love what you did with it. You changed the setting completely and put a whole new spin on things. I thought you did great adding the Wimpy Kid story mixed into the other one. At first I wondered how you were going to make it work because I read your Author's note first, but you perfectly tied in the main elements of the story. Great Job!
I liked your story! It’s nice to see the underdog win, especially when none of the people who stereotypically seem like they could win this challenge can hold a candle to the narrator. I do wonder where the main character obtained the upper body strength to climb the rope so easily, though. Maybe it was from all of the heavy calculus books he had to carry from class to class. Anyways, I think you did a good job!
ReplyDeleteHey Marissa!
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed by the changes you made to this story! When I went to read the author's note, I certainly did not expect the original to be so different from your tale. The idea of the nerdy kid beating all the others at climbing the rope is such a clever and creative derivative from the original story!