After we read it, Will thought he’d like to write a book. The result was a gruesome tragedy dedicated to his friend Creight. I was so tempted to censor his morbid ending (we make a point of not allowing Will to watch anything but benign gunless, commercial-free TV shows on PBS and we don’t have any toy guns in the house, but viewing the documentary “Raising Cain” a while back made me realize that a little semi-violent fantasy is probably normal and maybe even healthy for boys). Still I did offer my apologies to Creight’s parents.
Here’s the manuscript for Will’s debut novel, page by page. Plus the final bloody illustration, which I don’t think Will actually intended to make bloody at all. He was just enjoying his red marker.
Cover Page: “The Doggy Cat Book” by Will
Page 1: This book is dedicated to Creight Lawrence. I love Creight.
Page 2: I’m the cat of the colors.
Page 3: I’m the drawing and I can talk. He just says, “Dear Will.”
Page 4: The cat dies because someone hunted him down.
About the author: Will Addington is 3 years old. (This was all the information he was willing to reveal).
So grab some construction paper for a cover and some white paper for the pages, staple it all together, and see if your kids want to write a book of their own. Maybe theirs will end more pleasantly. I need to try this again because just this weekend Will made a giant leap from furious scribbling to drawing giant-bodied people with tiny stick legs and arms and nearly imperceptible dots for eyes.
And if you have any suggestions for channeling Will's gun-toting, hunting-down-animal instincts -- or if you think these things are best left unchanneled and uncensored, let me know.
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