My husband, a long-time teacher, who is now taking it easier, often wakes up saying, “Oh!  I missed the yellow school bus this morning!”

How about you?  Yes, June, July, and August are over.  And maybe someone who helps you learn is asking you, “What did you like most about summer?”  Or “What’s your favorite thing about being back in school?”

Seeing your friends again?  Or are you in a new school and find that all your friends are gone and all the new people and things to learn are scary?  Or what is your teacher (who could also be your homeschooling mom or dad) asking you to write about?

Well, I’ll give you an idea and you see if it works: 

If you were the main character in a story what qualities would you need to have?

I’ll name just one and let you take it from there:

An important character, often the main character in a story, needs to be a do-it-yourselfer.

So what is a do-it-yourselfer?

Someone who thinks creatively:  Bree when she realized that the boy she had just saved from drowning pronounced his name in a different way—not the way her Irish family would say it.  It opens a world of clues.  (Raiders from the Sea, chapters 1 & 2)

Someone who knows how to make something work:  Jordan when he needs to escape captivity.  (Escape into the Night)..Someone who figures out how to do something, even though they might not have done it before.

Someone who knows how to be safe, even when faced by a dangerous situation:

Anders when Kate faces a dangerous bull.  (Chapter 6, The Disappearing Stranger)

Now you take it from there.  Okay?