DCD fourth grader William McLean has been exercising his creative writing muscles. Last summer as part of his DCD summer project, he decided to write a weekly fun newspaper as a way to stay connected during COVID with friends and family. He called his newspaper, “The Daily Cat” and maintained a loyal subscriber list of 24 people. Finding that his readers loved his paper, William got inspired to write his first book and used his time during July and August to work on this special project.
When he returned to DCD for in-person learning back up in September, William took a little break from writing. Feeling the pull to finish this creative endeavor, he picked it back up in November and finished off “The Nut in the Bunch”, a story about Ace Chippy, a detective chipmunk and all of the crimes he solves. With the humor and deep imagination of a 4th grader, it’s laughing out loud story about Ace Chippy’s encounters, crime scene clues, and resolutions.
William’s uncle Thomas, an artist and who is also familiar with book publishing, helped him bring this project to fruition designing a cover for him and aiding him with the book’s layout. William was so excited when the twenty-four self-published copies arrived in the mail. He couldn’t wait to share them with his original “Daily Cat” subscribers. One of these subscribers, Ms. Carla Haith, DCD Lower School Head was honored and touched to receive one of these limited copies!
William is busy working on a sequel. While the pandemic has felt isolating to many kids, it’s wonderful to see examples of children taking advantage of this quiet, less hurried time to get inspired and pursue something creative that clearly feeds their souls.