My Budding Author/Illustrator

The other day I fell down the outside stairs. Dolly had been inside drawing away in a notepad that Aunt Knittery had given her and when she saw me gimping about after Sir had helped me back inside the house, she brought me her masterpiece. "Mommy," she said, "I decided to give this picture to you because you got hurt on the stairs. It's a princess, and I made her hair like yours so it might help you feel better."

A few hours later when I was feeling a bit better, I called Dolly and asked her to tell me the story about her picture. "I don't know." she said "I just made a princess." "You did," I told her, "but every princess has a story.... 'let's write this princess' story together. Go get your notepad and I'll help you." My intention was to help her get some printing practice in as well as encouraging her creativity. In the end, I did most of the printing except for a word or two on each page and I discovered quite a bit about my little girl.

(Dolly's part of the story is what's written in blue
and she did all the illustrations unassisted)

THE PRINCESS, THE FAIRY AND THE KING
by Dolly and Mommy

CHAPTER ONE

(the princess)

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a castle. She never was allowed outside because the beast who lived in the swamp, wanted to eat her. But there was a kind and wise fairy who had a magic wand and she was going to rescue the princess by using her magic wand.

CHAPTER TWO

(the fairy)

But the wand was missing! Without her magic wand, the fairy could not help the beautiful princess. So, the fairy travelled for many days until she met a king. He was sitting on a rock under a big tree. "Hello," said the fairy. "Can you help me fix my magic wand?" "Yes, of course!" replied the king, "Where is it?" "I think it is on top of the mountain." said the fairy. "Last week a giant bird swooped down and took my wand and flew away. I need you to climb the mountain and get my magic wand. So the king did.

CHAPTER THREE

(the king)

After the king gave the fairy her wand, he decided to go with her and help her rescue the princess. Only when they got to the castle, the princess was gone! She had gone looking for the fairy in the woods. But she had left a note on the castle door when she left. "Dear Fairy," the note read "I am in the woods. Love, Beaute." So the fairy and the king dashed into the woods. When they got there, they heard a terrible roar! The beast was about to gobble up the princess!

CHAPTER FOUR

(the beast)

"Stop Beast!" shouted the king. The shout startled the ugly monster so that he dropped the princess and tried to grab the king instead. But he couldn't because the fairy used her magic wand and turned him into a duck. And with a quack, he waddled away. The king rushed to the princess and carried her to the castle where she got better and they fell in love. So they got married, and lived happily ever after.

(and the magic wand)
THE END.