Shakespeare and Mice

Today I may have met the next Shakespeare. I tutor kids who are below their reading level. Right now I am working with an eight year-old named Sebastian who has great plans for the future.

We were sitting there talking about our lives when I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He leaned back in his chair, looked me square in the eyes and spoke as though his plan were more structured than the empire state building. He said "I'm going to do two things. I am going to be a helicopter pilot, and a writer." I was obviously intrigued. I asked him what made him want to be an author. He said " I've got ideas for some books I'm going to write. I'll tell you them. The first one is called 'The Alligator and the Mouse'. Then I'm going to write 'The Alligator and the Mouse 2'. I'll probably keep going through about 10 of those. Then I'll write 'The Ground Hog and the Mouse'. They all will have to have a mouse in them."

I would like to point out that I didn't laugh once. Not once. After that he told me who he was going to have illustrate the books and talked about what he would do once he was rich and famous. I get the feeling I am going to really enjoy working with this kid. Who knows, maybe he will be kind to me someday when he is super rich and ultra famous for his mice books.