The friends of Sunset Cove
Children remember characters long after they forget instructions. These are the ones doing the teaching.
Mia the Loving Mango
The one who notices first
Mia sees what other people miss. While the rest of the cove is busy playing, she is watching the edges for the friend who went quiet, the one who stopped joining in, the one whose smile did not reach her eyes. Then she does the harder part. She walks over. Her love is not loud, and it is never just a feeling. It is a choice she makes out loud, where the lonely one can see it.
- Lives
- Under the leaning palms at Sunset Cove
- Best at
- Noticing how someone else is feeling, and caring enough to do something about it
- Always carries
- A smile, love, and an open heart
- Afraid of
- Someone being left out while everyone else looks away
Toby the Turtle
The one waiting to be asked
Toby wants to be included. He wants a friend. He just does not know how to say it, so he waits at the edge of the game and hopes somebody notices him first. Every child has been Toby at least once, sitting right next to the fun and feeling a whole beach away from it. His story gives that feeling a name, and shows him something braver than waiting: telling someone how he feels, and asking to join in.
- Lives
- Just past the tide pools, in a place that still feels new
- Wants
- To be included, and to have a friend
- Best at
- Waiting, patiently, longer than he should have to
- Learning
- That saying how he feels helps, and that it is okay to ask
Love is something you do
Mia doesn't just feel kindness. She acts on it, first for a hermit crab, then for a lonely turtle.
Mia notices a need.
A hermit crab needs a shell. Mia stops to help, because kindness begins with paying attention.
Mia makes room.
Toby gets a friend, a game, and a place to belong. Love turns a new place into a home.
Character questions for the car ride home
Three questions that turn a story into a conversation.
Which one are you more like today, Mia or Toby?
Who at school might be sitting on the edge like Toby?
What are eleven seconds of brave that you could do tomorrow?