Little Witch, Little Witch

Do you remember reading the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” in elementary school? It was something of a staple in mine. I don’t think I could even come close to figuring out how many times that book was read to us in Primary and Grade One. Honestly, for someone who was consistently at a reading level a grade or two higher than the grade she was in, it was kind of boring. I can appreciate the rhythm of it and the artful illustrations now, as an adult, but little me got tired of it very quickly.

Maybe that’s why I decided to write my own version.

This is the earliest memory I have of writing a story. I was spread out on my bedroom floor with a few pieces of printer paper and my bin full of markers. The story was hardly original, It followed the same pattern and rhythm of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”, but I put my own twist on it. That twist was Halloween since that was the next holiday coming up. I started the book with a character called “Little Witch” in the place of the Brown Bear, and proceeded through identifying various characters associated with Halloween, including things like a Jack-O-Lantern and a ghost. Each page of the story was accompanied by a Crayola marker illustration, also done by yours truly, and the final product was stabled together down the sides of the paper, like it was a “real book” (by my six-year-old standards, at least).

I intended to give my masterpiece to my teacher, but shyness and anxiety were as powerful then as they are now. Ultimately, I think I chickened out of giving it to her myself and just snuck it onto the shelf at the back of the classroom when no one was watching. Of course, she found it anyway, and I couldn’t avoid being asked about it. For all my worries, though. She was very impressed with my early writing talent and very glad to accept my gift, even if I had been sneaky about giving it to her.

Last I knew, she still had it years later.

I wrote more stories throughout elementary school and junior high, some of which even won prizes or were published in student magazines. Some of them either I or family members still have copies of. Looking back at some of them now, it’s hard not to cringe a little bit. I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re all bad, but they’re all very obviously products of the ages I was when I wrote them. My writing has grown with me and - while I still enjoy writing fanfiction and retellings of other stories sometimes - these stories are more developed and more personal than that Halloween reskin of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” was. My themes have become more reflective of the age and perspectives of a twenty-eight year old, my spelling and vocabulary have improved immensely, and I can’t just stealthy slip my stories onto the classroom bookshelf to avoid my fear of rejection anymore, but I’ve kept writing. In all the years since that first book, I’ve never lost my love of creating stories.

I don’t illustrate my own stories anymore though. While my writing skills have definitely evolved and improved, I’m afraid drawing never really proved to be my strong suit.