What’s Up teams up with TIMES READS to bring you an interesting book each month. Every story reflects a value that is part of your Character and Citizenship Education (CCE).
Archie struggles with a mysterious bundle. It weighs him down and makes him slow, tired, and angry. When he tries to leave the bundle behind, it squeals like a piglet and chases after him until it is back in his arms.
Archie is tired of carrying the heavy bundle around. One day, he chances upon a gate on the way home from school. Crossing over the gate, he finds himself in a magical kingdom with talking animals. The first animal he meets is Three Toes, an enormous black rhino.
Three Toes is friendly. “What’s this?” he asks Archie, when he sees the bundle Archie is carrying. Archie explains that he has no idea what is in the bundle, although it belongs to him. Three Toes, being a very curious animal, pokes his head into the rough cloth bag. Out rolls a pair of dice.
Archie looks at the dice in surprise, then frowns. Three Toes sees that the dice makes Archie unhappy. “Why is that?” Three Toes asks.
Archie does not want to tell Three Toes at first, but the rhino looks like he would understand. So, Archie tells Three Toes his unhappy story. “The dice reminds me of quiet play,” Archie says. “And, I always get into trouble for not playing nicely.”
Archie tells Three Toes that he hates losing at games. When the games don’t go his way, he gets angry. “I go into a dark rage and shout a lot. Sometimes, I hit things or even people.”
Archie is not proud of this. His friends no longer want to play games with him because of his outbursts. Archie feels lonely sometimes when he sees the other kids having fun without him.
“The thing is,” Archie says, “I hate it when the rage comes over me. But, it’s like a fire that wells up from my belly and I cannot stop it. I just want to win so badly.”
Three Toes is sympathetic. “You remind me of me,” he snorts. “Or a young me, at any rate.” It turns out that Three Toes had the same problem with losing. “Nobody likes losing. Winning makes us feel powerful,” Three Toes says.
“I guess power is bad if it gets me into so much trouble,” says Archie gloomily.
“Power is great!” Three Toes says. “You just need to learn a new kind of power.”
Archie stares at the rhino, all ears.
“I call it quiet power, and it works for me every time,” the rhino says.
What is the Three Toes talking about? Can this new power really help Archie? Read Archie’s Cloud by Vittoria D’Alessio and Zoë Richardson to find out.
— Reviewed by NG SOCK LING
Contest
Archie gets angry a lot. He gets angry when he does not win at games. Once, while playing a board game with his friend, he got so mad that he threw the play set right across the room. The flying pieces hit his little sister and scared his friend. Archie also gets angry when his mother forgets to pack food for him to share with his class on class party day. He is so angry and embarrassed that he refuses to join the class party. He yells and hits the classroom wall. Archie is unable to control the rage that wells up in him whenever things don’t go his way. He needs help. What would you do in those situations? Write Archie a note of advice.
1. Email your note to ourcontest@whatsup.sg.
2. Include your full name, class, and school in your email.
3. Contest deadline: 1 May 2020. You could win a copy of Archie’s Cloud!
LANGUAGE CAN HEAL
Words used badly can hurt. Used well, they can heal. One person who knows all about this is Winston Tay, a professional counsellor. To do his work well, he has to choose his words carefully so that he can use language for healing. We asked Mr Tay about his journey with the English language. You can read our interview with him at our “MORE” website. But, don’t forget to come back here to finish reading the April issue!