Epilogue:
More than a million children around the globe suffer from learning disability. Unlike you or me, they can't enjoy the pleasure of reading a book. That's because unlike you and me, they don't 'read' words - they see them as objects. Most schools that teach children with learning disability use 'sight words' - words that are learned visually, as opposed to phonetically. As you can imagine, there's hardly any literature available for these kids since they can't recognize 80% of the words in a book. The Dolch Project aims to create short stories for these young kids, by inviting authors from around the world. The Dolch Project aims to gather stories written for children with learning disability, using only a limited library of words – the Dolch list, which can be viewed at http://www.mrsperkins.com/dolch-words-all-printable.pdf View the Dolch Project page at
The following short strory 'Neil, Nanu & Nano' has been written as part of the Dolch Project:
Neil was a 5 year old small boy who lived with his grandfather. His grandfather whom he lovingly called 'Nanu' had bought him a fish tank with 3 fish in it - daddy fish, mummy fish and baby fish. The fish were orange in colour - daddy fish was big in size and had a black colour spot on his nose, mummy fish had a long tail with red colour on it and small baby fish was orange with a mix of yellow. Neil loved baby fish the most and had named it 'Nano' meaning 'small'. The 3 fish would swim in the water and turn at the end of the tank to race with each other. He had put white round stones at the floor of the tank along with a green plant to make the tank beautiful. Daily before going to school he would feed the fishes, wave them goodbye and rush for his school bus. On coming home, he would enjoy their play and loved to see them race. Every Sunday, his Nanu would help Neil clean the tank by removing the fishes out and filling fresh water.
One day, Neil woke up late for school and was about to miss his school bus - he forgot to feed the fishes that day in a rush. When he arrived from school, all 3 fishes looked hungry and tired - mummy fish and daddy fish were swimming fast, but Nano's swim had become slow. Nano could not stay hungry for so long and looked weak. Seeing this, Neil fed the fishes - mummy and daddy fish looked fine on eating a bit, but Nano would not eat much and moved slow in the tank. Next few days, Neil saw that Nano looked more and more weak. He and his Nanu tried hard to get Nano to eat well and swim fast, but there was no change and Nano grew weak every day. Finally, one morning Neil woke up to see Nano lying upside down at the floor of the tank - it did not swim at all. Mummy and daddy fish were swimming fast around it - Nanu told Neil that Nano had gone into a deep sleep for few days and would be ok soon. Neil was very sad that he would not be able to play with Nano for next few days.When Neil went to school that day, Nanu ran to the fish-shop in the market to find a new baby fish - he had not told Neil, but knew that Nano would never swim again. The fish-shop had many fish like Nano - Nanu took time to select one which was small in size and orange with a mix of yellow just like Nano.
On coming home, he removed the life-less Nano out and put the new baby fish in the tank - mummy and daddy fish did not go near the new baby fish soon, but in some time they all swam together and also started to race with each other. On returning from school in the afternoon, Neil was happy to see Nano swim fast and he felt like his beautiful fish-tank was complete again. He put his arms around the fish-tank and gave the 3 fishes a hug. Nanu was happy that Neil was happy and gave him a warm hug.
One day, Neil woke up late for school and was about to miss his school bus - he forgot to feed the fishes that day in a rush. When he arrived from school, all 3 fishes looked hungry and tired - mummy fish and daddy fish were swimming fast, but Nano's swim had become slow. Nano could not stay hungry for so long and looked weak. Seeing this, Neil fed the fishes - mummy and daddy fish looked fine on eating a bit, but Nano would not eat much and moved slow in the tank. Next few days, Neil saw that Nano looked more and more weak. He and his Nanu tried hard to get Nano to eat well and swim fast, but there was no change and Nano grew weak every day. Finally, one morning Neil woke up to see Nano lying upside down at the floor of the tank - it did not swim at all. Mummy and daddy fish were swimming fast around it - Nanu told Neil that Nano had gone into a deep sleep for few days and would be ok soon. Neil was very sad that he would not be able to play with Nano for next few days.When Neil went to school that day, Nanu ran to the fish-shop in the market to find a new baby fish - he had not told Neil, but knew that Nano would never swim again. The fish-shop had many fish like Nano - Nanu took time to select one which was small in size and orange with a mix of yellow just like Nano.
On coming home, he removed the life-less Nano out and put the new baby fish in the tank - mummy and daddy fish did not go near the new baby fish soon, but in some time they all swam together and also started to race with each other. On returning from school in the afternoon, Neil was happy to see Nano swim fast and he felt like his beautiful fish-tank was complete again. He put his arms around the fish-tank and gave the 3 fishes a hug. Nanu was happy that Neil was happy and gave him a warm hug.