Mr. Hatch finds himself being more outgoing. He shares the candy, helps a sick acquaintance, and finds that he now has many, many friends. But, the mailman comes back, and frantically explains that he delivered the giant box of candy to him by mistake.
Mr Hatch, alone in his living room after the mail carrier leaves, sighs, "Nobody loved me after all." He reverts to his old way of keeping to himself, and he is quite sad. His new friends notice and remember the kindnesses he showed them when he thought he had a secret admirer. His friends come up with a plan to help brighten his day and he realizes that someone - in fact a lot of people love Mr. Hatch.
What we perceive about ourselves becomes our truth. Make sure your thoughts about yourself are kind.
Read to a child today even if that child is you.
What a lovely book! For about four years (until I lost most of my hearing to a virus) I read to kindergartners twice a week at our local primary school here in Texas in the OTTER program. (Our Time to Enjoy Reading) We had a bright, colorful room with comfy couches and over-stuffed chairs where we met the same kids each time in a one-on-one twenty minute session. I love reading aloud and since my grand kids are all now big ol' teenagers, it was fun to meet with these five and six-year-olds and enjoy the books they would pick out. We had some kids who were in the bilingual classes who spoke little or no English. That gave me the impetus to brush up on my meager Spanish so I could read to them from the pretty substantial number of Spanish language books available. I really enjoyed all of it and still occasionally run into kids who remember me and give me a hug. Sorry this went on so long! You beat me to the punch on The Bloggess' comment page about the fairy books. I was going to say the same thing you did. I would have been thrilled to find such a treasure as a child (or adult!) too.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet the kids enjoyed it as much as you did. The fact that they still remember you says a lot for how much they enjoyed their time with you. Reading to a child creates so many warm memories.
Delete