Can I Fly?

2021-22 6th Grade Public Purpose Books

One day Gary the gopher looked outside and saw birds flying by. He rushed downstairs to go tell his parents his new idea. "Mom, Dad, I want to fly!" yelled Gary slightly out of breath from running. Gary's parents looked at each other, then his Mom told him, "Gary you can't fly, you're a gopher; gophers don't fly." Gary did not care what they said, he was going to fly anyway!

Marble

Dedication: To Heidi Franklin and Emma Pope for helping me edit my idea for this book!

He ran up to his room and then got to work.&nbsp;

At that moment, Gary’s friend Harry the horse walked by.&nbsp; “Hi!” Harry greeted Gary.&nbsp; “I am going to fly soon,” said Gary.&nbsp; Sadly Harry admitted that he did not think that gophers could fly, “I’m horrified that you won’t hover,” sighed Harry.

One of Gary's friends, Suzie the sheep was nearby, so Gary thought that she might like to hear him share. When Suzie saw Gary she said, "Salutations sir, sit somewhere then share!" "I want to fly!" responded Gary. Laughing Suzie said, "Someone like you shall not soar." Gary did not care what she said, he was going to fly anyway!

Stars pattern

Gary was sad, nobody thought he could fly.&nbsp; Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him saying, “Olivia the owl is at this opening, are you okay?”&nbsp; “I want to fly but all my friends and family say I can’t,” Gary responded.&nbsp; “Never give up on your dreams do whatever it takes to fly and maybe you can fly with me someday,” she responded.&nbsp; “That gives me an idea!” said Gary who was very happy. (He was kind of confused that she did not speak with all O’s in her second sentence, but was too happy to care.) He shouted thank you to Olivia, smiled big, then raced home.

Watercolor texture 2

He ran out of his room and then outside. He dashed to the tallest rock and then he…

About the Author Mary Waits was 11 almost 12 when she wrote this book. She wrote this as a school project to read to the Head Start preschool. She was so excited about this project. It did not take her long to think of the idea for this book. She thought of it the day they told her about this project. She thought about her book day and night till she finished adding ideas as they came to her. When she got bored of watching TV or playing on her computer she would immediately go work on this story. She always wanted to fly so she thought she might take her dreams to her children's book. She always loves to see children happy when reading when they learn how to fly or even watch the character tame the dragon. Mary Waits has always loved reading and so she is so happy to share this with others too!

Across the field was another one of Gary’s friends, Carrie the cow.&nbsp; “Come, creature,” said Carrie as she greeted him.&nbsp; “I want to fly Carrie,” responded Gary. Tickled, Carrie was when she heard this. “Gophers can’t cruise,” laughed Carrie. Gary did not care what she said, he was going to fly anyway!

Name

Safari may block some audio or video from playing automatically and ‘read to me’ will skip these. You can configure this in Safari’s preferences.