Mightywaybooks Presents: Kids and Kindness - Encouraging stories for children 8-13‪.‬ Story Time

Alan Treadwell's cousin Hannah has been coming over every afternoon since the start of Summer. Unfortunately, she only wants to play Hide and Seek and Alan has had enough. His only interest is the baseball game going on across the street. Tired of being ignored, Hannah promises she is never coming back. On the one hand, Alan is glad she is gone, while on the other hand he realizes he now has no one to talk to. Attempting to change Hannah's mind, he finds out he is too late. Looking at the fence surrounding his backyard he understands it is the fence keeping him safe from Jimmy Fishburn, but it is his fear of Jimmy that keeps him away from baseball that he loves.

Alan Treadwell is overweight. More than anything he wants to play baseball with the neighborhood kids who meet at the field across the street. Unfortunately, there's someone standing in his way- a bully named Jimmy Fishburn. Will Alan ever get the courage to stand up to Jimmy, or will he spend the whole summer hiding behind the tall wooden fence where he feels safe?

In Chapter 9, Angie refused to let The Mustard Seeds help her figure out how to make up for disturbing Mr. Mitchell's classroom. However, Angie soon saw a way to make a difference. She began helping others in her school by greeting them, carrying books, opening doors, becoming a reading Buddy and helping a classmate organize her desk. When Mr. Mitchel noticed that Angie's good deeds were inspiring others to do the same, he called her The Good Will Ambassador of Clover Elementary School. Both Mr. Mitchell and Principal Todd believed Angie deserved a chance to attend the Father/Daughter Dance. And while their decision made Angie happy, she still wondered who was going to take her.

Last week, Angie saw Mr. Mitchell enter the main office for his meeting with Principal Todd and secretly waited to see if the meeting went well. Morgan saw Angie and decided to stay with her until they got an answer. Once Angie got the courage to ask Mr. Mitchell if Principal Todd would let her go to the dance, she was surprised to find they had decided she would have to come up with a punishment on her own to show everyone that her apology was sincere. When Morgan told her the Mustards Seeds would help, Angie appreciated the offer, but realized this was something she had to do on her own.

In our last episode, Angie decided to take the Mustard Seeds' advice and give her teacher, Mr. Mitchell a sincere apology. Angie shared with him that she really did want to attend the dance and asked him if he would speak with Principal Todd. Mr. Mitchell saw every day as a beginning which offered everyone a new start, so he told Angie he would speak to Principal Todd. And even though Angie left Mr. Mitchell's classroom still not knowing if she would be allowed to attend the Father/Daughter Dance, she was pleased because she believed there was still a chance that she could.

Tara had an idea to help Angie and wanted to share it with the rest of the Mustard Seeds. Unfortunately, she was late to school and had missed everyone, so she would have to wait until the end of the day to tell them. After school, Sam had been delayed, so Tara still didn't get her chance to share. Once Angie admitted that she wanted to go to the dance, the girls told her she needed to start by giving her teacher, Mr. Mitchell a sincere apology. Tara thought that was the best thing to do and decided she would hold on to her idea and save it for another time.