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In the story, Alexa ends up telling her
teacher, after which half of the kids
in the class then admit that the twins
were bullying them, as well. In real life,
E’yannie’s mother brought the actual
bullying incident to the attention of the
day care director. “It was rough,” Shantia
Benson said. “But I told E’yannie, ‘You
can’t care what anyone thinks. You’ve got
to know you’re beautiful.’”
Referring to why she wrote her book,
E’yannie said: “I wanted to write my own
book to show all the other kids how I feel
and what I’m going through. “About the
story The Bully Twins, she said, “I want to
tell kids who are being bullied to speak up.
Bullying is kind of a serious issue these
days. The book is for showing other kids
how to speak up.”
Just like in the story, when E’yannie ed to
the bathroom to cry, she too soon heard
Za’rayah’s small voice from outside the
door asking, “Are you ok?” E’yannie writes:
‘I opened the door and there stood my
little sister. I’ve never been so happy to see
Zoey. There’s nothing better than family.’
Just like with Alexa, the bullying experience
taught E’yannie that no matter how tough
a sibling can be, no one is better at having
your back.
A Driven,
Dauntless Defender
After meeting E’yannie, it’s apparent she’s
condent and funny. er mom Shantia
Benson describes her as a creative,
lovable girl with a great imagination. She’s
an observer of the world around her and
is comfortable speaking freely about her
feelings and experiences - both the good
and the bad.
These qualities are important for anyone
planning to be a writer. She’s proud of
herself, as she should be, for her writing
accomplishments. “E’yannie is denitely
a natural-born leader,” said Gabrielle
Baggetta, E’yannie’s fourth grade reading
and writing teacher at Samoset.
According to Baggetta, E’yannie knows
how to stand up for herself, but she is
good at standing up for others too, if she
perceives an injustice. E’yannie is quick
to volunteer to help, whether by assisting
Baggetta with tasks, or by encouraging a
student who’s struggling with classwork.
“She’s really into making sure people get
what they need,” Baggetta said. “She’s
an asset to the classroom.” For example,
when a new student came to Samoset
this year, not surprisingly, E’yannie
volunteered to show the student around
their classroom and around the school.
“She likes to make sure people feel
included,” Baggetta said. “She likes
helping people not feel lost.”
In the fourth grade, writing gets more
technical - and difcult - than ever before,
Baggetta said, but E’yannie has risen to
the challenge.
“She can take an idea and run with it,”
Baggetta said. She added that if E’yannie
gets frustrated, she always pushes
through. She’s denitely a problem solver
with her writing,” Baggetta said. “She’s a
great writer now, but she knows she can
always get better. So, she keeps pushing.”
How to Get the Book
You can purchase E’yannie’s book and its
accompanying coloring book on Amazon.
com. The Crazy World of Alexa paperback
costs $15 and the kindle version costs
$10. The Crazy World of Alexa: Coloring
Book is available for $10.
E’yannie is considering writing a second
book, with more stories of her life with her
family, possibly this time including her
grandmother and uncle as characters.
Na’zaire, who in the first book as a
newborn was basically relegated to crying
and lling diapers, might play a larger
role now that he is mobile, smiley and
gets excited every time E’yannie enters
the room.