Aubree - Addendum

I forgot to include an important accomplishment when I wrote my last post about Aubree...

Her school has a reading program where kids are asked to log in how many pages they read.  They can earn prizes at certain page level milestones.  At the end of the year, the student who has read the most pages wins a brand new bike.  

Towards the end of May, I got a call from one of the PTA leaders.  "What is Aubree's favorite color?  What kind of helmet would she prefer?"

Over the course of the year, Aubree read nearly 70,000 pages (and we only allowed her to count chapter books)!  She was very excited to win the bike.  The boys and I were hiding at the side of the gym, but when her name was called, the boys ran over to give her big hugs.  

Graham wanted to be in the picture with Aubree, her principal, and the new bike.

Later, Aubree wrote a narrative of her experience:

PAWS Bike, by Aubree Winters

Crossing every part of my body I possibly could, I held my breath and waited for the PTA president to announce the overall winner of the PAWS pages competition.  The winner would receive a bike and a helmet.  

I couldn't remember exactly how many pages I had read, but I knew I could win.  I had to.  I had worked hard, reading extra with an average of 6500 pages a month.  I deserved to win.  

2nd grade.  3rd grade.  The time seemed to be going slower than it ever had been as they declared the winners of each grade level.  4th grade.  5th grade.

"And now for the grand prize winner!" I clenched my crossed fingers into fists, waiting, hoping, wanting.  "She is a fourth grade girl, who read 69,957 pages!" I'm a fourth grade girl, and I'm pretty sure that's how many pages I had!, I thought.  "And the winner is... Aubree Winters!"

I jumped up and walked to the front of our multi-purpose room.  My heart was beating hard.  I couldn't believe it, yet here I was, standing in front of the whole entire school.  The bike was a mountain bike with seven gears.  The color was more of a teal than blue, which was my favorite color.

As I stood there, at the front of the room, my little brother Graham, who was two at the time, ran up to me.   What is he doing here?, I thought as I hugged him.  I looked to my left, through the double doors that led to the hall, and saw my whole family (except for my dad, who was at work). 

I wheeled my bike out into the hall and my mom explained that they had called her earlier and asked what my favorite color was so I could have a bike that was a good color for me.  So, when it was time for the PAWS assembly, they came to see me and take the bike and I home (because I couldn't bring the bike home on the bus).  After a few pictures we loaded the bike into the trunk of our green van, then drove home.  That was probably one of the happiest days of my life.