The Thirsty Rose and the Happy Horse

Photo credit: Through My Lens Photography

 

This 8-year-old kid named Dillon from Boise, ID wanted his book to be in the library so badly that he sneaked it onto the library shelf WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE MANDATORY CATALOGING PROCESS.

True Library Crime!

The book is called The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis by Dillon Helbig His Self. It is an 81-page illustrated story about a moose, time travel, and pilgrims among other things.

Spoiler Alert: Dillon’s favorite part of the book is when he (his self) gets eaten by a giant turkey and then gets pooped out of its butt in the forest.

A librarian found the book on the shelf one day. The librarian’s name is Paige. Not even kidding. When I was pregnant with Alex, a friend of mine suggested that I name him “Doctor.” Why? So that he would always get respect. Because he would always be introduced as “Doctor Fu.”

True Chinese priorities.

So Paige put Dillon’s book into the lost and found until Dillon’s mom called to get the book back. The librarians were so enamored with this book that they gave the book this made-up Whoodini Best Young Novelist award. They also jumped through hoops to get this book officially added to library catalog in the Graphic Novels category.

At one point, there was a wait list of 125 people who wanted to check out Dillon’s book. Random House offered to publish the book, and others have called the library to find out where to buy a copy.

What makes this little kid’s book so special? The librarians said that "it was obvious that Dillon had put so much time, effort, and dedication into this book" that they wanted to give it the recognition it deserves.

Adorbz.

Here are a couple of books that I would like to present for the (also made up) FU-dini Best Young Novelist Award. My boys wrote these tomes that I would like to publicly recognize on this fine Tuesday Fus-day.

Alex wrote a book when he was six years old called The Very Thirsty Rose. It’s basically two extremely long sentences. Our protagonist has a LOT of problems. Our rose is very thirsty, as the title suggests, but a drink is just out of reach. As a rose, he has no arms to reach out with and no legs to walk. Bad thing after bad thing! BUT this dramatic story has a happy ending because the rose CAN talk and eventually gets his needs met.

Looking back, I can't help but see this story as prophetic. Alex has had challenges in his life, and at one point he became overwhelmed and despondent. But he has come across many angels and compassionate helpers who have encouraged and advocated for him in surprising and touching ways. You can see the full text of this visionary work at the end of this post.

Chris authored and illustrated this book in high school to ask a friend to Homecoming. It is so sweet and original. It’s also a charming and understated invitation, so suitable to Chris’s personality.

Chris, the Happy Horse, By Chris Fu

This is Chris, the horse. He is happy because he loves many things. (I love many things.)

He loves hay. (I love hay!)

He loves new horse shoes… (I love new horse shoes!)

He loves Sunshine… (I love Sunshine!)

But what he would really love most is... (But what I would really love most is…)

If *lucky girl!* went to HC with him! (HC?) The End 2014

I love that Dillon Helbig got famous for doing something he loves. But he definitely got this recognition because he's a cute, little kid. LOTS of people put time, effort, and dedication into LOTS of things. Not only do most people not get the acknowledgement they deserve, but many are humiliated or disgraced for trying.

Honestly, Dillon’s book is probably not great. I can tell by the plotline. After he gets pooped out by the turkey, he ends up in “a cave that turns things green.” He then exits the cave through a portal back to his home and is visited by the Grinch.

There’s a little kid inside each one of us who is hungry to be seen and cherished. The good news is that we all have the ability to share warm appreciation for the efforts of others. I grant you all FU-dini Awards today and I hope you will pass them along. A smile and a high-five will do.

Thank you for reading, friends!

The very thirsty rose
By Alex Fu

Once up on a time there was a very thirsty rose now this rose did not have any house’s near by with watering can’s only a watering can to bad it was next to the corner and he was only next to the other corner and there was another bad thing he could not walk and there was another bad thing he did not have any arm’s and there was another bad thing he could not go under the soil and he could not thin of any idea’s when he was a man with a tray the man was walking around town to sell cookie’s excuse me the rose said wow! The man screamed I had never seen a talking rose before said the man can you reach that watering can and water me please said the rose yes said the man but I better hurry some people are waiting for me and told me to hurry up so the bakery man got the watering can and watered the rose ah that’s better said the rose and the man went back to work and the rose lived haply ever after the end