The Pencil Project

By James Ryan Orr

Compulsively readable, The Pencil Project is an emotionally engaging story that will draw you in and inspire you to change the world.

Colleen is a girl who wants to do something that is real, real and big, real and big and world-changing. When her fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Kent gives a class project to ‘Change the World’ Colleen, along with her classmates, accept the challenge with astonishing results.

When Colleen hears about school kids in Africa who do not have access to pencils and other school supplies, she begins a pencil drive. What began as a school project soon takes on a life of its own, growing into something that is real, real and big, real and big and world-changing.

Nadege is one of the kids in Africa who received Colleen’s pencils. This inspires her to work hard to become the best she can be. Nadege’s quest for knowledge and her desire to change the world leads her to the US. In an unforeseen twist, the ripples caused by Colleen’s pencil project touch their lives in ways they could never imagine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Develop Africa
• Release date: Nov 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9780986023040

James Ryan Orr

Story Background / Meet The Author: I challenged my 4th graders at Richlands Elementary School to change the world. I didn’t know where the project would go but I knew that if any class could pull it off, it was that group. It didn’t take long for the classroom to come alive with information about kids all over the world who had worked incredible things to better the lives of others. We learned about Yash Gupta, Alex Scott, Anne Frank, Nkosi Johnson, Iqbal Masih, and Malala Yousafzai. We reached out across time and distance to walk with them for a season and the class caught on to the understanding that “kids can change the world”.I am proud of what my students came up with, from gathering donations for homeless shelters, raising money for medical research, to providing insight and supporting solutions on how to feed children in our own community that were going without meals. The day the story, The Pencil Project, was truly born, was when Colleen Newbold shared her idea with the class (collect pencils and school supplies to deliver to Develop Africa). It was in that moment that I realized that the pencils she was collecting could assist great young minds/hearts in Africa that were lacking the proper tools to grow and express the wonder that lived within. I remembered telling the class that “some child in Africa could have the cure for cancer locked inside of them waiting to be released, and these pencils that Colleen is collecting could be the key that brings that gift to the world”.A little dramatic, sure, but also something that could be true. The kids needed to know just how powerful their actions were, not just for themselves, not just for those directly affected by their projects, but on a bigger and longer lasting scale, they needed to know that kindness brings light into this world in many forms. I needed to teach them that there’s no telling how far one caring act or one encouraging word can go.The idea of acts of kindness moving across the world stayed with me and I began to write. Although The Pencil Project is a fictional story, it is born out of the very real heart of a class willing to change the world.3 Steps to Change the World (from The Pencil Project)Find a problemWork toward fixing the problemWhammo, world changed!James Ryan Orr, Author, The Pencil Project

Book preview

The Pencil Project

James Ryan Orr

Copyright © 2017 James Ryan Orr

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1979765235

ISBN-13: 978-1979765237 

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the compassionate, the courageous,

and for those who dare to place their heart at the finish line.

Also, to all the students I’ve been blessed to work with,

thank you for making me a better person.

Instructions on how to change the world

Find a need

Work at it

Whammo, world changed

CONTENTS

Introduction

Prologue

The Assignment

Colleen, the Giggling Girl

Real Superheroes

The Far Reaches

A Voice

Pencils and Presentations

The Girl in the Village

The Card with Stars on It

Extra Portion of Light

To America

What God Orchestrates

The Tears between Stars

The Accident

Standing in the Sacred Places

Epilogue

Author’s Note

Afterword By Sylvester Renner

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what happens to the good deeds you do? Some people have the good fortune of seeing the immediate impact of the good they did, but for most of us, we never find out if that small action we took had any positive impact on someone’s life.

What if I told you that when you take one tiny step to help someone, you are actually doing something that is real, real and big, real and big and world changing? That is exactly what a group of Fourth graders discovered.

A simple class project, ‘Change the World’ and this group of amazing kids took the challenge with amazing consequences. In The Pencil Project, we see how one selfless act changes the lives of others in another continent across the world.

This story draws you into a classroom somewhere in the US and you get to meet everyday children and their amazing teacher. We see as these little hearts expand to think beyond the surface and search out deeper meaning in life. Then you travel with a pack of supplies halfway around the world to a village somewhere in Africa, to another classroom and yet another amazing teacher.

We get to meet the remarkable Colleen, a girl who shone brighter than the brightest crayon. The Pencil Project (which this book is named after), was Colleen’s way of changing the world. She began a pencil drive that took on a life of its own. This book chronicles the journey which the pencils took all the way to Africa, and focuses on the ones that ended up in the hands of Nadege, a girl living in the heart of the Cameroon forest; one without access to supplies.

The pencils make such a huge difference in Nadege’s life and she is able to go on to become one of the brightest stars of her time. But the story doesn’t just end there. The amazing class project, inspired by Mr. Kent, carried out by Colleen and chronicled by Michael, another classmate who was also part of the project, comes around to touch the lives of the very people who made a decision to do something real, and it happens in a way they could never have imagined.

There are so many lessons to learn from this story, and the one that stands out the most is the truth that good deeds are like ripples; their effect is felt way beyond what we could possibly imagine.

‘The Pencil Project’ will make you pause and think, stir up your emotions and we hope, stir up in you the desire to do something real and world changing. No matter the effect it has, you will find it quite hard to put down till you’ve read the last page.

We invite you to turn the pages and discover a world, similar to ours, but different in so many ways. A world where doing something that is real, real and big, real and big and world changing is as simple as finding a need, no matter how little, and doing something about it.

Prologue

My name is Michael and the story I’m about to share with you is real, real and big, real and big and world changing. Being a writer, I’ve been part of many stories over the years, but this one has a special place in my heart. I think out of all the things I have seen and been a part of, what I am about to tell you is the most miraculous. Although now I’m an adult, I still remember it all like it was yesterday, the magic of being 10 years old. Sometimes I can close my eyes and I’m there again, Mr. Kent’s 4th grade class at Woodland Elementary School. I have often wondered why I remember so much of it. From where the pencil sharpener was kept on the back bookcase near the window with the pine trees outside, to the poster of Mr. Kent’s dream car (1970 Chevy Camaro, silver with racing stripes) that he kept on the wall near his desk, it’s all in there, in my mind I can still walk around the room. I think it’s because it’s the year I found something in myself that I was supposed to keep. It’s the year where I saw special things happen in my life and