The Bossy Letter H
by Daniel Errico
Illustrated by Michiko Cayce
The Letter H lived in the Land of Words.
She was always bossing the other letters around.
It started when she was a lowercase h.
When she went to the playground, she told everyone where they should play.
She always made sure that she got the slide.
At play time she made the other letters build her a castle of blocks.
When she was done being the queen of the castle, she had a demolition crew stomp it down.
When she went to the theater, she told all the actors what they should be saying.
She made everyone clap for her at the end.
When she got older, everyone knew her as the bossiest letter around.
She had her own farm, and she loved being in charge.
One day her fields of grain would not grow.
She knew that they needed water.
She yelled at the clouds and told them to rain.
But they didn’t listen because they were clouds, and they couldn’t be bossed around.
The hens weren’t laying eggs.
She told them they’d better start.
But they didn’t listen because they were hens, and they couldn’t be bossed around.
The dirt would not grow corn anymore.
She said, “I’m the boss, and you’d better grow corn!”
But the dirt did not listen because it was dirt, and it couldn’t be bossed around.
She started to realize that she wasn’t in charge of everything.
She stopped being so bossy.
The rain fell on its own and helped the grain grow.
The hens laid their eggs.
The corn grew in the dirt all on its own.
She was so happy that she gave baskets of grain, and eggs, and corn to all her friends.
They all loved their gift.
But she still couldn’t help telling them the best way to eat it.
In the Land of Words, nobody is in charge of everything…at least not all of the time.
