Average is
Amazing!!!
Yesterday, in a student-webinar,
a participant had asked me a genuine question that most of us could most possibly
relate to!
‘How can I speak with confidence?’
Well, this post on Jay Jay
or Jordan Johnston, a sixth grader could well have a cue and a clue on that!
Jordan Johnston is the protagonist of Andrew Clements’ feel-good children’s novel titled, About Average, published in the year 2012.
Jordan Johnston is the protagonist of Andrew Clements’ feel-good children’s novel titled, About Average, published in the year 2012.
‘Not short, not tall. Not
plump, not slim. Not blonde, not brunette. Not gifted, not flunking out. Even
her shoe size is average. She’s ordinary for her school, for her town, for even
the whole wide world, it seems’.
But everyone else her age—on
TV, in movies, in her sixth-grade class—is remarkable. Tremendously talented.
Stunningly beautiful.
Jordan feels doomed to a life wallowing around somewhere in that vast, soggy middle. So she makes a goal: By the end of the year, she will discover her great talent in life. By the end of the year, she will no longer be average. She will find a way to become extraordinary, and everyone will know about it!
These above lines form
the epigraph to this inspirational children’s novella!
In fact, Jay Jay has to find
a way!
Out of the doom!
Her way!
How pray does she do
that!?
That forms the crux and the
rest of this engaging feel-good read!
A good-at-heart girl, Jay Jay
loves to be nice to her classmates and everyone around her! And that’s because,
she always remembered what her mom had told her once in the past –
“If you can’t say something
nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Playing the violin was a
battle that gave her trouble!
However, for once Jay Jay
feels that she’s not gonna give up on playing the violin!
That’s her resolve!
Why?
Because she feels that,
in the past eight months of her sixth grade days, she’s given up on so many
things!
The violin was now, her last
chance to have a go!
And above everything else, Jay
Jay felt absolutely sure that one day her moment of triumph would be real, a
part of her life!
And for this, she started
working out all by herself on a list, on a pretty sheet of paper!
1. Thing I’m Great At
2. Things I’m Okay At
3. Things I Stink At
However towards the end of the novel,
she feels with such intense conviction that, her potential, her capabilities
and her talents are beyond all these petty lists!
In fact, now she realizes with
conviction, that, none of them mattered unto her!
The last line of the novel
bespeaks to her newly acquired confidence -
‘Jordan, Plain and Average,
was completely happy about everything, including herself’.
But how does she do that?
And for this, you’ve gotta
grab for yourself a copy of Andrew Clements’ About Average right away at that! ;-)
And well, through this loveable,
feel-good-read, Andrew vroom drives
home the wonderful truth that, in order to have a rewarding, fulfilling life,
one need not necessarily be exceptionally talented or gifted!
One just needs to celebrate
their life, their personality, and their humanity in all its goodness! By being
aware that, being average is indeed joy! Being average is indeed amazing!
And the little subtle message
that author Andrew true-proves through Jay Jay, is that,
mean, cheap and nasty
behaviour from bullies around you, could be quite easily won over, by your innate
sweetness, goodness and niceness!
On this last note, let me
authenticate the same, with a lovely passage from off Chapter Nine to the book
for us all -
Being nice to people would be
so easy if the world were filled with Kylies. Being nice to someone like Marlea
was a whole other thing.
Being nice to Marlea? Was that
even possible?
The question hit Jordan
like an electric current. Her heart actually began to pound.
And the next thought lit her
up even brighter: I should do that!
Figuring out how to be
genuinely nice to that girl? Even if she got meaner and meaner and meaner? That
would be pretty amazing!
At the very least, it would
mean taking niceness to some new level.
It would require something
way beyond your average, everyday niceness.
‘Everyday niceness!’ :-)
Sounds so nice, ain’t it!? :-)
image: amazondotcom
drawing: Mark Elliott