Children's / Dance No More Eleanor

        Eleanor danced right out of bed every morning and right back into it every single night. Every morning she would twirl onto the kitchen table to take her pancakes for a whirl.  She danced  up a terriablly enormous bubble storm in the tub and gyrated while brushing her teeth. Getting dressed was quite the event with tumbles, a few swirls and a quick twirl.
        Eleanor did not walk to school but she did do quite a wonderful waltz.  “This street is always so jammed,” she thought as she danced through a suddenly blocked intersection of 85th and 3rd.  I guess Police Officer Olsen isn’t very good at his job,” She concluded with a twisty twirl.
        Every morning Eleanor leapt through her class to dance on her desk. She danced every chance she got. At recesses, show and tell, and during fire drills. Every where that Eleanor danced chaos emerged.  Even in  the cafeteria where she once slipped on green marshmallow Jell-O. It seemed to Eleanor that people were quite careless in the cafeteria and grumpy too.
        She danced so much that her teacher warned, “Dance in here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all!”  That was something Eleanor had chosen not to hear and so she danced on. She pranced like a beautiful ballerina right through Mr. Parker’s newly planted flowers on her way home from school. Past 85th and 3rd she went. For some strange reason Eleanor just could not understand Police Officer Olsen warned, “dance through here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all.”   Eleanor danced on.
        She whipped around the dining room table spinning dishes into their place. She swirled right
along with her noodles while she slurped her spaghetti with a smile on her face.   She twirled and whirled so much that her parents warned, “Dance in here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all.”
        “Maybe I should stop dancing so much?” thought Eleanor with a spectacular twirling twist.  All Eleanor ever did was dance and even then, dance some more. Nevertheless, the more she danced the more she heard, “Dance here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all!” She was starting to think they were serious and so Eleanor said, “I will stop dancing while I am…um…brushing me teeth!” It just did not seem like enough. So she stopped taking her pancakes for a whorl on the breakfast table. Her parents seemed happier and less dishes seemed to get broke, but things still were not quite right.  So she did not prance through Mr. Parker’s flowers or dance on her desk.  Her teacher seemed to smile more and Mr. Parker’s garden was more beautiful then ever. She quit dancing in the cafeteria and it seemed to her that everyone was suddenly more careful  when it came to keeping their food from ending up on the floor .
        It was hard for Eleanor to cut back on her dancing. She felt like she hardly danced at all anymore but now and then she still heard, “Dance here no more Eleanor or dance no more at all.”
         Eleanor imagined not dancing at all. She did not like that thought.  She picked up where she left off and went on to stop dancing while in the tub. She no longer went to school by way of her wonderful waltz.  She had learned to save her dancing for the right place and time.  In fact, even with her new silky slippers on she was able to resist  pirouetting right into her Ballet class.  Instead she walked politely into the studio where she was welcomed with an exuberant  “Dance here with us Eleanor!“  
         You know what? She never again heard, “Dance here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all!” Which was fine with her!  Now she had a special place where she fit right in.  A place filled with friends who often said, “come dance here with us Eleanor“.
        There is one more thing you should know. For some strange reason where 85th and 3rd meet never  jammed up again.  According to Eleanor  Officer Olsen had gotten better at his job.

            

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serrana avatar General Stranger

February 13, 2008

serrana

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serrana reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

Very cute piece – easy to imagine some comic and colorful (and probably chaotic!) illustrations for this story.  I like the implicit message of becoming more aware of the effect one has on the world (while still ending humorously with Eleanor thinking the officer has improved at his job – perception IS everything).
I think this would be a very effective, fun story to read to kids.  Find an illustrator!

Rowling avatar General Stranger

February 12, 2008

Rowling

REVIEW QUALITY: 100.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
Rowling reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

This was cute and will make a nice children’s story.  I do think that you need to strengthen the story a bit.  It seems like something is missing from it.  On page one, change “to busy to hear” to “too busy to hear”.  Good work.  Again, just try to polish this piece by strengthening the story.  It will be cute but it isn’t quite there yet.

tawnypipit avatar General Friend

February 11, 2008

tawnypipit

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tawnypipit reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

My mother’s name is Eleanor, I used it in my story also. Her exasperated parents explained, “Eleanor, you’re like a ballerina hurricane. There is a time and place for everything. Look around and you will see that your dancing is causing a catastrophe. <

Rebecca_Reece avatar General Stranger

February 09, 2008

Rebecca_Reece

REVIEW QUALITY: 0.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
Rebecca_Reece reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

What a lovely little story!  I would love to see this piece published with some flirty, flighty, “Elouise”-esque illustrations.

One thing I would do to make the story appealing to a child’s desire for repetitios candor, instead of only having the teacher use the phrase, “Dance here no more Eleanor or you’ll dance no more at all,” and then just saying that Eleanor “heard” it, why don’t you have the officer, the doorman, the teacher, her parents, and all of the others who are familiar with Eleanor use the phrase?  It is a good story now, but with a bit of editing, it really could make a delightful children’s picture book!

Hope this is helpful,

Cheers!

Rebecca Reece

trinid avatar General Stranger

February 04, 2008

trinid

REVIEW QUALITY: 100.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
trinid reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

Whata great book and lesson.  I would love to the manuscript with the pictures.  My only concern is that the lanuage you slelcet maybe put you in a bit of a no man’s land.  Children old enough to comphrend this level of English would little interes with this book, many of them already know this lesson of right place right time.  I think you wish to target it towards a more toddler-young child audience, say between 3-6 y/o?  For this age group, especially the younger, more impersonable children, you might want to simplify the lanuage.

RoadHousePress avatar General Stranger

February 04, 2008

RoadHousePress

REVIEW QUALITY: 100.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
RoadHousePress reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

This was adorable. And a great story for children because so many are told don’t do that here.. even if its not dancing. And you end it on a wonderfully funny note that children will love.  Some of your wording seems up a level for the story (like gyrate and exuberant) but I guess they could ask what it means? Just something to think over.  Gave you 10s regardless.

SecularProphet avatar General Stranger

February 04, 2008

SecularProphet

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SecularProphet reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

Overall, the story was very well thought out and strongly conveyed its moral at the end. If I was a kid, I’d probably pretend to be Eleanor now.

DCAllen avatar General Stranger

February 04, 2008

DCAllen Prolific-icon-medium

REVIEW QUALITY: 100.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
DCAllen reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

This is better. Often I hear poetry in this, and then suddenly it’s gone. Are you trying for rhyme and meter? If so, it would help to shorten some of the sentences, concentrating on cutting down on constructions like “suddenly blocked intersection” which are a sort of bump in the road.

Otherwise, I like this piece more and more.

Proofreading notes:
been to busy to hear = been too busy . . .
the dinning room = dining
like a ballerina hurricane. (very nice)
brushing me teeth!” (intentional use of me?)

Kimmer avatar General Stranger

February 04, 2008

Kimmer

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Kimmer reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

This story in general was quite nice. I, howeveer, stumbled reading it as it didn’t have a flow to it.  I kept getting lost as to where she was. I also wasn’t sure if ‘Eleanor’ actually got on the table to dance or whether she just danced around the table. More clarification is needed and more character development would be great. I am also not sure if your intent was to partially rhyme throughout the story or not. I am not sure if it exactly works it that was truly your intent. Rework your story, try expanding a little more on the characters so we can picture them and become part of the story (as right now I feel as if I am outside it.) and rethink the rhyming. I look forward to reading about Eleanor again.

Tragicangel003 avatar General Stranger

February 03, 2008

Tragicangel003

REVIEW QUALITY: 100.0%(1 vote ) personal info reviewer stats
Tragicangel003 reviewed Version 6 - Read 100% of the Item

been to busy to – been too busy to – in the third paragraph I believe

Other than that and a few other basic errors it was a great story and totally reminds me of my sister. She used to dance and twirl too much. But it wouldn’t have been as fun to say “Dance here no more, Brandy..” Thank you. I much enjoyed it and I like the meaning of there’s a time and place for everything. Thanks again…

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cjbowenrd

Age: 30
Loc: Herlong, CA
Gen: F
Last Login: March 23
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