Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2022 finalist Maya Imaizumi. Maya finished 4th grade this past school year and wrote a story called “Moving to America.” One judge said that they enjoyed the theme of Maya’s story illustrated with “Sakura’s adjustment to her new country and the way her classmates grew and changed as they learned how to empathize with her.” Enjoy!
MOVING TO AMERICA
By Maya Imaizumi
It was a warm spring day when the flowers of the cherry tree weren’t quite blooming yet. Sakura, an eleven-year-old girl, was walking down the street toward her new school. She had moved from Japan to America a few days ago and it was her first day of school. She did not know how to speak English at all, so she had a hard time living here. Tears dropped down her eyes as she thought of her friends who live in Japan. As she took a glance at her watch, she gasped.
“Mosugu gako ga hajimaru!”
Sakura rushed through the hallway to her classroom. She stopped right in front of the door as she took a deep breath. She felt herself sweating with nervousness. She opened the door and her new teacher Ms. Luna welcomed her in. She invited Sakura to come stand next to her and asked her to introduce herself, so Sakura did, but in Japanese.
“Konichiwa! Watashi no namae wa Sakura desu.”
Everybody gasped and realized that she couldn’t speak English. Sakura also realized that no one knew what she had said, so she tried saying words she knew.
“Me Sakura from Japan.”
Some students laughed when she said that. Sakura felt her body getting hot and red. When Ms. Luna had assigned her a seat, the class began.
The girl sitting next to her whispered to her. “I’m Mary! Nice to meet you!”
Sakura did not know what she said, but she was surprised that someone would talk to her.
At recess, Mary took Sakura’s hand and started running toward the playground. When Mary stopped, they were by a swing set.
“Let’s swing!” Mary said.
Sakura looked confused, but she decided to play with her. Sakura and Mary swung forwards and backwards. They smiled at each other and laughed. They both got off the slide and ran off towards the slide.
“You know what?” Mary said, still running, “I like playing with you.”
When they stopped and heard the bell ring, they started walking back.
Then Sakura replied, “Me too.” Then she realized that Mary wanted to be friends with her. She said “Me friend you.”
Mary looked surprised, but smiled and said, “Yes! Me friend you.”
As the bell rang and the students began to head out the classroom, Mary came over to Sakura’s desk. Mary had always wanted to be a teacher when she grew up and she thought that this was a great opportunity to help her and practice teaching.
“Can I come over today?” she asked, “I can help you learn English!”
Sakura nodded her head. “Yes!” she exclaimed, and then they walked home together.
The sun had just started setting and the bright orange sunlight had made their faces look red. The black shadows following behind looked like little twins laughing and playing together.
One day during class, Ms. Luna asked the students if somebody could answer a math problem. Sakura raised her hand and said the correct answer in English. Everyday after school, she has been practicing with Mary. Mary usually came over to her house and helped her. She would say a word and explain the meaning of that word. She would repeat what Mary said and memorize the meaning of that word. Little by little, she got better and now she was able to speak correctly and fluently. Everyone, including her teacher, was surprised.
The next day when Sakura walks in her class, students who always made fun of her came. Sakura got scared, but instead of teasing her, they said sorry.
“We thought that it might be fun teasing you because your English is so weird,” they said, “but now we all feel sorry now that you have developed your English a lot.”
“It’s okay,” she said, and they all went out to play together.
When everyone came back, Sakura saw Ms. Luna writing on the chalkboard: Happy Birthday Sakura! Then she remembered, it was her birthday! After the celebration, Sakura skipped down the street toward her house.
Then she heard the sad news: She was going back to Japan. When the class heard about this, everyone was quiet. There was a lot of silence. Somebody mumbled something Sakura couldn’t hear.
Mary wailed, “I thought you were going to stay with me. Are you going to forget about me?”
“How could I?” Sakura said.
The day Sakura left, the whole school came to the airport to say goodbye. Sakura saw Ms. Luna wiping her tears with a handkerchief. Everybody said goodbye and she went inside the airplane. Sakura started writing a letter to the class. It said:
Dear class,
The first day I came, I think that many of you thought that I was weird, but all of you helped me and now I can speak English better than any of my friends in Japan. Ms. Luna, thank you for always helping me with my work. Finally, Mary, I thank you for so many things, but right now I’m going to thank you for being my friend. I hope to see you all again.
From, Sakura
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