My Very Own Reading Book

A couple of months ago, my husband was searching for his old football videotapes and Number Two, while "helping" him, came across the very first book I ever wrote. I thought I was five when I wrote it, but I was six, and I thought it was "My Very First Book," but it was the above. So my official bio actually lies.

The book is made of 8.5x11 sheets of manila paper folded in half with a purple oaktag cover (is it called oaktag if it's purple?). The title is multicolored crayon, and there is an illustration of a crayfish-like creature, one of the few things I could ever draw. The back has a poorly rendered profile of my brother, pouting, and says "Nuj, Gr 2" (yes, I was six in Gr 2).

Here is a list of titles in this book, which is really a collection of short stories:

"The Whistle" by Jaime Jamie
I apparently edited this sometime after writing it, because I "fixed" the author name error and then wrote a big NO over the first page. Self rejection at age six. Harsh.

"The Baby" by Jaime Jamie
Unfinished story, also with "NO" written over it.

"Elizubith" by Jamie
No text written on this one.

The next ones were written when I was older, as evidenced by the improved penmanship, spelling, and author attribution, as well as length.

Bobby's Adventures by Natalie Jacobus

"Bobby's Scare"
Wherein Bobby spies on his sister. This story is over three pages long and also displays evidence of later editing.

"Bobby Meets a Girl"
Wherein Bobby makes a new friend. Four and a half pages.

"Bobby's Easter" (3 pages)

"Bobby's Letter" (one page, unfinished)

I was going to say Bobby's Adventures was my first unfinished trilogy, but since it extended to four pages, that doesn't apply.

Maybe next week I'll post a story or two, to show that despite my interest in fiction as far back as 30 years ago...I sucked.