Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup for Little Souls: The New Kid and the Cookie Thief

CHICKEN
SOUP
for
LITTLE
SOULS

The
New Kid
and the
Cookie Thief

Story Adapted from
The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox

Story Adaptation by

Lisa McCourt

Illustrated by

Mary OKeefe Young

Backlist, LLC, a unit of

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC

Cos Cob, CT

www.chickensoup.com

For Tucker.
L.M.

For my cousin Suzanne and her beautiful family;
I couldnt have done this without my models, Paul and Katie.
M.OK.Y.

For Christopher, Travis and Riley, who have all been new kids and survived.
J.C.

I dedicate this book to the little kid in all of us.
M.V.H.

To all the kids and their first day at school.
P.V.

The new kid, I thought, hating the sound of it. Thats what Ill betoday. Everyone will notice me. Everyone will know I dont belong.

I wished for the hundredth time that I werent so shy. Talking to new people was always hard for me. Especially a whole new school full of kids. My stomach hurt just thinking about it.

My big sister, Jen, tried to cheer me up. Here, Julie, she said. Take this bag of Choco-Bites to school today. At lunch time you can share them with the other kids. Itll help you meet them.

Choco-Bites were the most popular, best cookies there were. Everybody loved them. But could they really help me make friends? Thanks, Jen, I said. But I dont think Im brave enough to share these with complete strangers.

Thats the whole trick to making friends! Jen said. Dont wait for the other kids to be friendly. Be friendly first.

Ill try, I promised her.

I was so nuts with worry all morning that I fed cat food to the dog, tried to put my shoes on the wrong feet, and almost forgot to brush my teeth. I walked the short block to the bus stop wondering what absent-minded thing Id do next.

A boy about my age was sitting on the bus stop bench when I got there. He didnt say a word to me, so I pretended not to notice him. He probably can tell Im new, I thought.

I sat on the bench and worried some more about my first day of school. What if no one talked to me all day? What if no one at this school ever liked me at all? I had been too nervous to eat breakfast, and now my tummy was rumbling.

To make myself feel better, I opened the bag of Choco-Bites beside me and ate a cookie. Then the boy on the bench reached into the bag and took a cookie, too. I thought about Jens idea that sharing the cookies would help me make friends. Should I talk to the boy?

While I was deciding what to say, the boy took three more cookies! He barely even looked at me as he took cookie after cookie from the bag and munched away. How rude! I thought. Hes not even saying thank you. Im not going to try to make friendswith a cookie thief. If I werent so shy, Id tell him to get his own snack!

I decided that if he was going to eat up my whole bag of Choco-Bites, I might as well get some before they were gone. So for every cookie he took, I took one, until just one cookie was left. The boy took it out and smiled at me. Then he broke it in half and popped half in his mouth while he handed the other half to me.

Just then, the bus pulled up. I stomped away from the bench without looking at the cookie thief and got on the bus. I sat by myself feeling worse than ever. Everyone around me seemed to know each other. They joked and laughed and whispered secrets until I felt the tears filling my eyes. A whole new school full of kids, and the first one Id come across had eaten up my only chance for making friends. Some of the kids even said hi to the cookie thief as they boarded the bus. They called him Brian.

When the bus stopped at the school, everyone ran off like they knew exactly where to go. I followed them, trying to be invisible. Finally, I found my classroom.

Im happy to meet you, Julie, said the teacher with a big, warm smile. Mr. Robinson had dark, curly hair and the kindest eyes Id ever seen. When he talked to me, I felt like he knew just how scared I was and how hard it was to be the new kid.

When everyone was in their seats, Mr. Robinson said, We have a new student today. Lets all welcome Julie and show her what a friendly class we are. I felt like a hundred unfamiliar eyes were staring at me. Is there a friend anywhere here for me? I wondered.

At least Mr. Robinson didnt make me tell the class about myself. He just led me to an empty desk by the window and gave me some books. I looked at the girl in the seat next to mine. She was wearing a fuzzy green sweater and she looked like shed be nice. Maybe shell be my friend, I thought.

Behind her was Brian, the cookie thief. He smiled at me when I noticed him, but I didnt smile back. Who wanted a rude boy like that for a friend?