THE BOY WITH THE YELLOW CHALK (No Illustrations)
Pages 1–2
One morning,
a boy found a yellow piece of chalk.
So he drew a sun.
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Pages 3–4
The sun needed a sky.
So he drew one.
The sky needed a hill.
So he drew that, too.
Then the boy climbed up.
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Pages 5–6
At the top,
he found a very grumpy cloud.
“Go away,” said the cloud.
The boy frowned.
He could have drawn a storm right back.
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Pages 7–8
But the boy thought…
the cloud already had enough storm inside it.
So instead,
he drew the cloud a little sun.
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Pages 9–10
“That won’t change me,” said the cloud.
“Maybe not,” said the boy.
And he kept walking.
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Pages 11–12
Soon the boy came to a very dark forest.
The trees twisted.
The shadows stretched.
And the path disappeared.
So the boy drew…
a light.
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Pages 13–14
Then another.
And another.
And as he walked,
he left little lights along the way.
Not because he needed them anymore.
But because someone else might.
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Pages 15–16
At the end of the forest,
the boy found a wall.
A very tall wall.
A very gray wall.
And someone had drawn an ugly face on it.
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Pages 17–18
The boy picked up his chalk.
He could have drawn an ugly face right back.
He almost did.
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Pages 19–20
Instead,
he turned the angry eyes into two little birds.
He gave them wings.
And drew a great big sun above them.
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Pages 21–22
The boy stepped back.
The ugly face was still there.
But now…
it wasn’t the only thing you could see.
The boy smiled.
And kept walking.
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Pages 23–24
A little farther on,
the boy found a small creature sitting all alone.
The creature said nothing.
So the boy sat beside it.
He didn’t need to fix anything.
He just stayed awhile.
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Pages 25–26
Before he left,
the boy drew a smile on the ground.
The creature looked at it.
Then drew one too.
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Pages 27–28
The boy kept going.
He drew flowers where the road was empty.
Stars where the night was dark.
A bridge where the way was hard.
And sometimes…
he drew nothing at all.
He simply smiled.
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Pages 29–30
Then one day,
the chalk broke.
SNAP!
The boy stared at the tiny piece in his hand.
“Oh.”
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Pages 31–32
He turned around.
And that’s when he saw it.
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Pages 33–34
The little lights were still glowing.
The birds were still flying.
The flowers were still growing.
And far away…
the little creature was still drawing smiles.
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Pages 35–36
Someone had drawn another lantern.
Someone else had drawn another flower.
And someone the boy had never even met…
was drawing a sun.
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Pages 37–38
The boy smiled.
He had given away little bits of sunshine everywhere he went.
He hadn’t asked for anything back.
And somehow…
there was more sunshine than when he started.
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Pages 39–40
Then—
PLOP.
Something landed beside his foot.
The boy looked down.
A little yellow piece of chalk.
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Pages 41–42
The boy picked it up.
He didn’t know where it came from.
Maybe someone remembered him.
Maybe nobody did.
It didn’t really matter.
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Pages 43–44
Because the boy had learned something much more important.
He couldn’t choose what everyone else drew.
He couldn’t make every cloud happy.
He couldn’t make everyone like him.
And that was okay.
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Pages 45–46
But every day,
the boy could choose what he added to the picture.
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Final Spread
There would be gray days.
There would be dark forests.
There would be ugly pictures.
And sometimes,
people would throw a little storm his way.
But the boy knew he didn’t have to throw it back.
He could add kindness.
He could add laughter.
He could add forgiveness.
He could add love.
Not because someone would give it back.
Not because everyone would like him.
But simply because…
the world could always use a little more sunshine.
So the boy knelt down,
picked up his chalk,
and drew…
a sun.