The Brave Umbrella
by Namu Marupudi
By the door of the school stood a wooden umbrella rack.
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About this story
By the school door stands a wooden umbrella rack, where big black umbrellas line up tall and serious like soldiers. At the very end leans Dot: a small red umbrella with white spots, overlooked every single time it rains. 'Too small,' she thinks. 'Too small to be any use.' Then one afternoon the sky turns the color of slate, a storm hammers the playground, and Tara — the last child left without an umbrella — says the words Dot has waited all her life to hear: 'You'll have to do.' Out in the rain, Dot opens wider than she ever has, and finds four children pressed safely beneath her — until the wind comes for her, folding her backward, and a small voice inside whispers, 'Let go. You're too small for this.' A stormy, triumphant story about being chosen last and discovering what you're made of.
- Slate — a dark gray color, like the sky before a storm
- Rattle — to shake with quick knocking sounds
- Spoke — one of the thin rods that hold an umbrella open
- Seam — the line where fabric is sewn together
- Crowd — to squeeze together closely, like the children under Dot
- Astonished — very, very surprised
- Shriek — a short, loud, startled cry
- Hammer — to beat down hard, like heavy rain
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