I’ve talked before about how my daughter is a writer. While I was cleaning my 5-year-old son’s room today, I discovered a notebook that proves he, too, is a storyteller.
While he’s just learning how to read and write, he clearly has a story going on in his head. The notebook is filled with page after page of self-portraits. How do I know he’s been drawing himself? Because he’s always wearing a cape with a capital letter “B” – the first letter of his name.
In some scenes, he’s on a boat with sharks surrounding him. In others, he’s facing a tornado or a volcano. Sometimes he’s standing on top of our house. In a few, he’s battling monsters, sword in hand. In every one, he’s smiling.
It’s hard sometimes to know what’s going on in my little guy’s impressive mind. When he’s happy, his whole face splits in a grin and his dimple flashes. And he’s happy a lot. But I also know he has worries—whether his friends can come over, if he’s good at T-ball, if he can have just one more cookie (“please, please, please, Mama!”). These he shares with me.
But this little insight into his inner dialogue thrills me.
My wonderful agent, Nicole Resciniti, once reminded me to make my protagonists the heroes of their own stories.
I hope my son never stops being the hero of his own stories.