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Ava Bava!
Ava Gets a Hobby
By Nastassja Patmon AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2016 Nastassja Patmon
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5246-0231-4
CHAPTER 1
Meet Ava McGee. Ava is a seven year old with big brown eyes, a cute button nose and a smile that lights up the room. Ava lives at home with her mother and older brother, Caleb. Although Caleb and Ava are three years apart, you would think they were twins because they look so much alike!
Ava and her brother bicker all the time. Most days, you will hear yelling coming from the other room, "Stop Ava!" "Go away Ava!"
Ava replies to Caleb, "I'm telling!" or "You're mean!"
And their mother often tells them, "No matter what, you always love and protect each other, do you understand?"
"Yes Mommy," is always their response.
Ava adores her mother. She watches her when she does her makeup, tries on her clothes and walks around the house in her high heels. What Ava loves the most is cooking with her. Ava makes cooking more fun by turning on music and singing along to the songs. Ava's mom puts her in charge of reading the directions and getting all of the ingredients ready for the meal they are preparing. She figured having Ava read the directions was a good way to sneak in more reading.
Their daily routine during the week was the same: Wake up, wash their face, brush their teeth and put on the clothes that they had laid out the night before. Caleb rides the school bus, so Ava and her mom share the car rides every morning. Ava always has something to talk about and she loves asking questions. One particular morning, Ava decided to bring up all the hobbies she was interested in. "Mommy. I have been thinking about hobbies," she says.
"Oh really? What hobbies have you been thinking about?" her mother asks.
"Well. ..." Ava is hesitant.
"Well what? You can tell me. What is it?"
"Well Mommy, I've been thinking about karate and ballet!" Ava says excitedly with a big grin on her face. Her mother laughs.
"Whoa! How do you go from karate to ballet? How are you going to do both?!"
"Easy!" She answers, casually. "I can go to ballet on some days and karate the other days. No problem!"
"Um Ava ... I wish it were that easy, but it isn't." Ava looked sad hearing her mother's response. As they were pulling up to Ava's school her mom says, "Take some time and think about it. You can try one thing and if you do not like it, you can try something else." Ava's eyes brighten up. "Okay Ava, go straight to class, listen to your teacher, be nice to others and if you need help, find an adult. Have a great day, I love you!"
"Yes Mommy, I love you too!" Ava gets out of the car and runs off to her classroom.
As Ava sits down at her desk, her teacher, Mrs. Wilson is writing the journal topic on the board. Mrs. Wilson, begins the class with a ten-minute journal writing every day. "Good morning class" she says, "take out your journal and begin writing. You have ten minutes." Ava was not focused. She still had hobbies on her mind. She thought about what her mom told her so she decided to make a list of everything she liked and narrow down her choices to what she liked the most.
Later that day on the playground, Ava asked her friends about different hobbies they were involved in. She has one friend who runs track. "Hmmm ..." Ava thought to herself. She said no to that idea. She was not a fan of running. She has another friend who plays softball. "Cool!" she thought, but she would rather watch than play it. She did not want to get hit by any softballs. Ava became frustrated. All of the hobbies sounded neat, but not anything she wanted to do.
When her mother arrives to pick Ava up from school, she asks, "So how was your day? Did you decide on which one you want to try first?"
"No," Ava replies, sounding very discouraged.
"No? Why not?"
"I thought about it and I thought about it and I could not decide. My friends have hobbies but I don't want to do any of those. I don't know what I want to do."
"Oh Ava! You can't give up because you did not come up with something right away." Her mom continues, "I was in high school before I became a Cheerleader." Ava's eyes lit up. She had not thought about being a cheerleader. That sounded like so much fun.
Sitting at the dinner table, Ava exclaims, "That's it! I want to be a cheerleader!"
"Huh? Are you sure Ava? Cheerleading is hard work and a huge commitment." Ava's mother didn't want her to be so impulsive in her decision to become a cheerleader.
Ava continues, "Mom, I know I can do it. I will practice and stretch and..
Her mom interrupts. "That's great but it takes more than practice and exercising. You have to be a team player. You have to share with others and you have to know it is not all about you, but the whole team. Cheerleading is fun but it takes a lot of effort. Are you sure you can handle it?" Ava's mom knew she could do it. She just wanted to be sure Ava was really, truly up for it.
"Yes! I can totally handle it!"
'Alright then. Let's find you a team to join!"
Over the next few days you could find Ava on the internet, looking up cheer stuff like uniforms, songs, and videos. She became obsessed! So obsessed that she started to neglect the little things like cleaning up after herself and finishing her meals. Her mother was not pleased. She had to remind her that her new hobby comes second to her priorities.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Ava Bava! by Nastassja Patmon. Copyright © 2016 Nastassja Patmon. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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