The Wrong Shoes: A Book About Money and Self-Esteem
The Fieldnotes of Marco P. Age 10 About me I'm a fifth grader at Venice Elementary My best friend is Amelia She lives next door Her family moved in when we were three Right away we realized we had a ton in common We're both curious interested is another word we use And we both like to explore We got in trouble when we went on our first neighborhood adventure together just days after we met We forgot to tell anyone we were leaving the yard But how could we NOT follow that fire truck We had to investigate And we've been investigating together ever since But don't get me wrong Amelia and I have a lot in common but we are different in a couple of big ways I'd rather explore outside running through the neighborhood and woods and lakes by our house although exploring inside creepy old houses or churches or museums is okay too Let's say I'm more hands on Amelia would rather explore in her mind as she calls it 7
Amelia likes books and libraries and asking people questions Either way we both like to dig and uncover and discover And actually we're both really good at both things It's just that when I'm inside too long I get antsy When Amelia's outside too long she gets itchy But we have fun no matter what And we learn a ton together Two years ago Amelia gave me a Fieldnotes journal to track what we learn I've gone through dozens since then Someday I'll go back and reread the ones I wrote when I was little They must be hilarious I've gotten much better at this Amelia says no matter where or what we're exploring the best way to learn stuff is by just writing it down I agree 8
Fieldnotes Entry 1 The Problem I picked the WRONG shoes I need new ones The Story Last year everybody loved Super Steppers So when I saw their new running shoes in my favorite colors Smashed pumpkin orange and storm sky gray 1 begged my mom to buy them for me She did They'd make me run faster than anybody in the neighborhood I'd be the hit of fifth grade For sure Come to find out Super Steppers are fourth grade shoes Larry Bondir made sure I knew this immediately When Larry saw me coming down the hallway he elbowed James and nodded in my direction James laughed Larry shook his head and called out to me Didnt know you were repeating the fourth grade Larry Said 9
