• 4 months ago
by Aisha Saeed
illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Transcript
00:00THE TOGETHER TREE by Ayesha Saeed
00:08Illustrated by Luyen Pham Rumi joined Miss Garza's class on the first
00:14warm day of spring.
00:16Icicles melted from trees.
00:19Water dripped from the caves.
00:22Droplets trailed down the windows.
00:25Rumi is from San Francisco Miss Garcia said.
00:29On the other side of the country.
00:32Let's make him feel at home.
00:35Rumi got the best seat in class.
00:38Next to the class hamster waffles and Lolo the goldfish.
00:42The kids started at Rumi.
00:45But Rumi stared out the window.
00:48At recess, the grass looked so green against the sky full of sunshine and blue.
00:54Ellis raced down the slide.
00:57Ayesha played tag with Han.
00:59Rumi twirled a twig beneath a shady old willow tree.
01:03When he heard a laugh, he looked up.
01:07Three kids stood by the swings.
01:10His shoes are ugly Ayesha said laughing.
01:13And Big Ella giggled.
01:16The laces are untied too.
01:18Han didn't think it was funny.
01:21He didn't say a word.
01:23Rumi looked down at his shoes.
01:26He'd colored them with friends back home where the cypress trees grew and the fog rolled
01:31deep.
01:32Back home they played kickball.
01:35Back home, they built sandcastles.
01:39But things were different now.
01:41He twirled his twig beneath the shady old willow tree and something began to hurt.
01:47In music class later that week, when Mr. Simon played the flute.
01:52Ayesha crumpled and tossed a paper.
01:55It landed on Rumi's shoe.
01:58When Ella saw, she smiled and giggled.
02:02Han simply stared.
02:04Rumi studded his shoes the painted cars, rainbow, and balloons.
02:09He tried his best not to cry.
02:12The next day, at recess.
02:15Ella skipped.
02:17Amber ran.
02:19Han crossed the monkey bars.
02:21And Rumi stayed alone by himself.
02:25Tossing a twig beneath the shady old willow tree.
02:28Then Amber picked up a pebble.
02:31He flung it in the air.
02:33It flew.
02:34It spun.
02:36It spluttered.
02:37It scraped against Rumi's knee.
02:41This time Ella didn't giggle.
02:43Everyone stood still.
02:45And Rumi felt something salty and wet a tear slide down his cheek.
02:51Rumi.
02:52Han called out.
02:54I was wondering if, maybe if it was okay.
02:58If I could play with you.
03:00And that's when Han looked down and saw what Rumi was doing with his twig.
03:05He was drawing.
03:07A beautiful world out of dirt.
03:10At the end of class that day.
03:12Ayesha slipped Rumi a note.
03:15I'm sorry.
03:17I hope you are okay.
03:19The next day Han and Rumi drew together building butterflies and castles from dirt.
03:25Ella asked to play.
03:27Connor and Devon did too.
03:30Sure Rumi said.
03:32And soon everyone joined in.
03:34Everyone except Ayesha.
03:37He had wandered back to class.
03:39Rumi watched him through the window where he had a pile of blocks on his desk.
03:45And then he looked at the kids.
03:47His brand new friends in his brand new city and said.
03:52Let's all go inside too.
03:54Together they ate lunch the next day.
04:19And later, at recess.
04:22They played all together.
04:24Beneath the shady old willow tree.
04:27For Walid.
04:29A.S.
04:30For Masi Tenz and Sebastian.
04:33L.P.
04:34Author's note.
04:36In kindergarten, my son became the target of bullying at the playground.
04:42At first he wasn't telling me what was happening, but I watched him withdraw into himself and
04:47I knew something was very wrong.
04:51When he finally started to share bits and pieces, I was horrified, he was being taunted
04:56for his beautiful brown skin.
04:59He was mocked on the playground for his reserved nature.
05:04And my third generation American son was told to go back where he came from.
05:09I stopped by the school during recess the day after he told me and saw him all by himself
05:15under an enormous shady tree twirling a stick on the ground.
05:19I saw the bullying that followed.
05:22It was heartbreaking to witness.
05:25But I saw something else that day too.
05:28I saw other children looking on.
05:31And I saw their concern.
05:33They were upset about what was happening but didn't know what to do.
05:38In my experience, one of the most powerful things someone can do in addition to telling
05:43an adult is to reach out to the person hurting and give them the gift of your presence.
05:49Being there, simply being their friend can remind them they are not alone.
05:54With this story, I was drawn to the idea of a tree, its branches spreading far and wide
06:00providing shade and a safe shared space for the children to come together.
06:05I hope this book based on my own family's not so happy experience can be a starting
06:11point for conversations about the importance of kindness and the power of bystanders and
06:16what such spaces may look like in your own lives.
06:20Ayesha.
06:22The End.