Daisy got up, took out her notebook and started a new list called Friendship Words. She wrote down fun, laugh and share. Then she looked at the friendship bracelet on her wrist. It was a bit tattered, and the bright colors had faded since the day Emma had tied it on Daisy’s arm. They had promised never to take them off, and both girls had kept their word. Daisy added the word special to her list. Daisy had made up her mind.
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, Daisy got up a little earlier than usual. She risked going through Mrs. Bookman’s bushes, which could be a little prickly, to get to Emma’s house without going by Samantha’s house. Today, she needed to talk to Emma alone.
She waited patiently until Emma came out.
“Hi, Emma,” she said, waving.
“Hi, Dais ...” Emma stopped. “I mean Dynamite Dramatic Determined Dazzling Daisy.”
“Thanks,” Daisy said, appreciating the effort Emma had made, “but I’m going back to using my regular name.”
“Really?” Emma asked.
“I wanted a new, special name to make everyone forget Lazy Daisy,” Daisy said. “But my new name was so special no one could remember it. And even if they did remember it, they got tired of saying it all the time.”
“Well,” Emma said, “I’ll still use it if you want.”
Daisy looked at the friendship bracelet on her wrist.
“Thanks,” she said. “I know you would, but it seemed like you were talking to me less when you had to use my long name. I didn’t like that.”
“I didn’t either,” Emma replied.
Then Emma handed Daisy a piece of bright yellow construction paper, which Emma had hidden behind her back. On it she had written in violet-colored glitter glue Daisy’s fabulous long name.
“I made this for you,” she said handing it to Daisy. “I figured even if I couldn’t say it all the time, you’d still know that I thought it was a really great name.”
“I love it!” Daisy said. “And I know just what I’m going to do with it.”
Chapter Fourteen
That afternoon, Daisy decided to finish her homework after dinner. She carefully hung the sign Emma had made for her on the door of her bedroom. Then she went outside, lay down on the grass and looked at the sky. She added fluffy and puffy to her list of Cloud Words. She felt the breeze on her face.
Then she counted how many seconds it took each cloud to drift out of her line of sight. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,” she said, as a big, white, fluffy one went by.
Suddenly a shadow appeared. Daisy looked up to see Grant standing over her, staring.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m watching the clouds,” she said.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it’s nice and peaceful,” Daisy answered.
Then she smiled.
“I’m being lazy,” she said, stretching her arms up over her head.
Grant thought for a minute.
Then he did something surprising.
He lay down next to Daisy and watched the clouds, too.
“I like this,” he said. “It’s different.”
“I think it’s delightful,” Daisy said.
They watched a few more clouds go by.
“I guess I like being a little different and a little lazy,” Daisy said.
“Me, too,” Grant said. “Too bad lazy doesn’t rhyme with my name.”
Daisy sat up and laughed — a full out, deep, belly laugh. All this time she hadn’t wanted to be Lazy Daisy and now Grant wished he could be lazy just like her!
As she lay down again, Daisy thought about her conversation with Grant. And she kept coming back to two words — delightful and different. That’s all she wanted to be.
Delightfully Different Daisy. Just right.
Daisy’s Wonderful Word Lists
FAVORITE RHYMING WORDS
sweet — treat
flower — power
sun — fun
bright — light
look — book
ANIMAL ALLITERATIONS
Awesome Antelopes Are Athletic
Big Bears Behave Badly
Clever Cats Claw Couches
Daring Dolphins Dive Deep
Elegant Elephants Eagerly Eat Éclairs
Fluffy Fun Flamingoes Flutter
Glittering Golden Goldfish Glide
Handy Hippos Hammer Houses
PERFECTLY PAIRED WORDS
bouncy balls
chunky chocolate
comfy couches
flying flags
summer sun
CLOUD WORDS
cotton candy
wispy
white
fluffy
gray
puffy
floating
D WORDS
dynamite
dependable
dusty
diamond
dramatic
dizzy
divine
determined
drowsy
dazzling
different
dreamy
delightful
E WORDS
expensive
entertaining
extraordinary
elegant
enchanting
exciting
QUIET-TIME WORDS
good-night
sweet dreams
snuggle
dreamy
hush-a-bye
drowsy
lullaby
MADE-UP WORDS
coolio — super
Iska-biska — How are you?
Ilpa-dilpa — Fine, thank you.
Mahatzi — Let’s go!
glubby — feeling blah
kersapped — confused
fun
laugh
share
Text © 2013 Sandra V. Feder
Illustrations © 2013 Susan Mitchell
ISBN 978-1-77138-169-7 (epub)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Kids Can Press Ltd. or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
This is a work of fiction and any resemblance of characters to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Kids Can Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative; the Ontario Arts Council; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Government of Canada, through the CBF, for our publishing activity.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Kids Can Press Ltd. was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters (e.g., Band-Aid).
Published in Canada by
Kids Can Press Ltd.
25 Dockside Drive
Toronto, ON M5A 0B5
Published in the U.S. by
Kids Can Press Ltd.
2250 Military Road
Tonawanda, NY 14150
www.kidscanpress.com
Edited by Sheila Barry and Debbie Rogosin
Designed by Marie Bartholomew
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Feder, Sandra V., 1963–
Daisy’s defining day / written by Sandra V. Feder ; illustrated by
Susan Mitchell.
(Daisy)
ISBN 978-1-55453-780-8
I. Mitchell, Susan, 1962– II. Title III. Series: Feder, Sandra V., 1963– Daisy.
PZ7.F334Dad 2013 j813’.6 C2012-904397-4