Don't Bring Me Bad News

By Kecia A. Johnson and Lindsey Bailey

In "Don't Bring Me Bad News," Lee Hughes, a competitive perfectionist, thinks he needs everything and everyone to be perfect just for him to have a good day. Lee believes he is definitely above the wild kids on the substandard morning news team he joins at the beginning of the school year. Every day Lee complains to his twin sister, Kiojah, abou

• Language: English
• Publisher: Acacia's Ark LLC
• Release date: Feb 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781736073513

Kecia A. Johnson

Kecia Johnson was born and raised and still resides in Gainesville, Florida. Inspired by her experiences with students as a middle school reading teacher, K-12 writing coach, and elementary and high school media specialist, she decided to explore storytelling and creative writing. She was drawn to students who were reluctant to engage in literacy activities because they struggled in those areas. The encouragement from five friends, support from family, and divine inspiration led her to write and publish her first children's book, Don't Bring Me Bad News, with Can You Handle the Truth? and subsequent books in the series underway. She hopes her books will give children positive experiences with literature, a good laugh, and something to talk about. She holds a BS in journalism and an MA in mass communication with concentrations in writing for print news and multimedia storytelling from the University of Florida.

Book preview

Don’t Bring Me Bad News by Kecia A. Johnson

The Kiojah and Lee Book Series, Book 1

Copyright © 2021 by Kecia A. Johnson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or in any way for any reason, without the written permission of the publisher.

ISBN (softcover): 978-1-7360735-0-6

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7360735-1-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020924891

Illustrations by Lindsey Bailey

Book design by Jill Ronsley, suneditwrite.com

Ebook by Sun Editing & Book Design

Microphone and headphone vector graphics by Vecteezy.com

Published by Acacia’s Ark LLC

keciajohnson.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the USA

To dear family and friends, who are my buttress,

to chosen and precious children,

and to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

all my love and sincere appreciation

Twins Kiojah and Lee Hughes

live in a make-believe town in Florida.

They take turns telling this story in every chapter,

each from their own point of view.

In this way, they give the reader

a peek into their family life

and an all-access pass to the fifth grade

at River Forest Elementary School.

Contents

1. New Year, New Team

2. Practice Makes Disaster

3. Making the Team

4. Patience—Nobody Got Time for That

5. In My Feelings

6. Cut!

7. Talk about Change

8. Tech Troubles

9. New Challenges

10. Not Perfect, but Good

11. Good to Great

About the Author

Kiojah

New Year, New Team

Blood crept out around the tiny rocks that were jammed into the fresh scrape on Fallon’s knee. Fallon was the most popular girl at our school. To be honest, everyone knew her, but many people didn’t like her.

What did you do that for? she screamed from the sidewalk as her knee went from pink to bloody red.

You shouldn’t have stepped on my shoes, Jordan screamed back, standing over her.

Savage, said Lee, my twin brother, shaking his head.

I ran over and grabbed Jordan’s arm. It’s not that serious, Jordan, I said.

Lee and I were friends with Jordan and had tried to keep him out of trouble since we were in kindergarten.

Kiojah, she knew what she was doing. It’s only the second week of school and she’s steppin’ on my white shoes. These gotta last! Jordan said.

We looked at him.

Jordan, is that really what you’re thinking about? Lee asked.

I didn’t see you, Fallon said.

I could tell that the fall still had her shook. I helped her stand up.

Well, you shouldn’t have been runnin’ Jordan barked. Next time you will watch where you run.

I’m not going to let y’all worry me this morning, Lee said, shaking up his ginger berry smoothie. Mama made smoothies for us every day. School hasn’t even started and you’re already carrying on.

I shook my head.

Mrs. Harris’s voice sounded over the school’s intercom. Mrs. Harris worked at the desk in the front office. She helped everyone who visited River Forest Elementary School. She may as well have been called auntie because she knew the families of all the kids at our school.

"Goooood morning out there in Gator Land. Teachers, please turn on your classroom TVs to Channel 60 for the WLFD Morning News Show. From now on, the school news will begin at 7:45 every morning on Channel 60. Make it a great day everyone," Mrs. Harris said.

Leaning on my shoulder, Fallon limped into the classroom behind Jordan. Talk about the morning news bubbled up as our teacher, Ms. Ferguson, looked for the remote control to turn on the TV. Today was the first day of the Morning News Show since the start of the school year.

All right, everyone in your seats, Ms. Ferguson said.

Fallon and Jordan stood near Ms. Ferguson, each telling their version of the story. Fallon eventually walked out of the class with a bright orange pass to the clinic. Jordan went to the time-out desk. That meant a call to his Mama and no recess. I sat down in my seat and wondered who would be on the news team this year.

I didn’t hear nothin’ about tryouts, Jimmie said.