To my mom and dad who always encouraged me to sing my heart out.
Amelia loved to do many different things. She loved to play tag with her little brother Alex outside, read her favorite books and eat super berry‐ burst ice cream.
But the thing Amelia loved to do most of all was sing!
She would sing on her way to school…
While playing with her toys…
On the swing set in her backyard…
Even while brushing her teeth!
But never ever EVER in front of anyone else!
When she was all alone, she loved singing more than anything in the world but singing in front of other people made her feel like she had butterflies in her tummy…
…like her legs were made of jelly…
…and like she had a jump‐jumping frog in her throat…
But, one day at school, Miss Viola the music teacher came into class to talk about the school talent show that was coming up.
Miss Viola announced: “Everyone is welcome to participate in the talent show. You can put on a play, you can do a dance number…you can even sing a song!”
When Amelia heard this, she became so excited! Amelia knew right away what song she would like to sing in the show.
But Amelia quickly became very worried. “I’m scared of singing in public”, she thought, “No. It would be way way way too scary to sing in the talent show. I won’t do it”, she decided.
As she walked home that day after school, she was sad that she wouldn’t be singing in the talent show. But she was just too scared.
When she got home her mom and dad were there and they noticed she looked very sad. “What’s wrong Amelia?” they asked.
Amelia told them all about the talent show and how she couldn’t do it because she was too scared. She told them all about the butterflies and the jelly‐legs and the jump‐jumping frog in her throat.
Her mom looked at her with a big smile: “When I was your age I loved to play the piano but I was too afraid to play in front of anyone else. Then one day your Grandma gave me some advice that helped me feel better and not be scared anymore! ”
“What did Grandma tell you to change your mind?” Amelia asked.
“She said that I had a wonderful gift and should share it with the whole world. But Grandma also gave me a good trick…Close your eyes and imagine the audience as a bunch of monkeys! It wasn’t so scary to play piano in front of a room full of funny‐looking monkeys!”
“Hmm…Maybe that could work for me too” Amelia thought.
So Amelia went to school the next day, took a deep breath, and signed up for the talent show.
For the next few weeks, she practiced singing everywhere she went. She sang on her way to school, while playing with her toys, on the swing set in her backyard and even while brushing her teeth!
When the night of the talent show finally came around, Amelia was still scared but she was determined to face her fears and sing her song in front of everyone.
She watched as Scott played the flute and Hannah did ballet and Zoe did her gymnastics routine. Then it was finally Amelia’s turn.
Amelia got on stage, closed her eyes, and she sang better than she ever did before! At the end of her song, the whole audience clapped for her! She was so happy that she finally faced her fears!
But what amazed Amelia the most was that while she was singing her song there were no more butterflies in her tummy, her legs did not feel like jelly and there was no frog in her throat anymore!
But the audience did look pretty funny as monkeys though…