Charlie the Hat
S.E. Hicks
Author Bio
S.E. Hicks (pseudonym) is a retired physical education teacher and coach. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Hicks completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Physical Education while attending William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri and holds a Master’s in Education which he received from the University of Kansas.
Over his career as a teacher, S.E. Hicks has taught on every level, pre-school thru secondary, including elementary teacher certification. In addition to teaching, S.E. Hicks has also worked as a physical education resource teacher for a major metropolitan school district where he designed, wrote and administrated curriculum inclusive of daily lesson plans for elementary classroom instructors. His innovative and creative approach to instruction led to a 100% success rate in urban elementary students learning to swim
As a Track and Field coach, S.E. Hicks coached 15 high school State Champions, thirteen NCAA Division one National champions, one NAIA National champion and one Olympic Gold Medalist. During his career as a teacher/coach Hicks also owned and operated a personal training business. As an exercise physiologist, Hicks holds certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Council on Exercise, National Academy of Sports Medicine, Advanced Physical Fitness Specialist from Coopers Clinic and the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Hicks’ expertise in fitness is highly regarded in the Kansas City metro area.
Description
The children’s book, Charlie the Hat by S.E. Hicks is a fully hand drawn illustrated story about a lively spirited baseball hat. The story takes the reader on Charlie’s travels from the hat factory in Taiwan to a ball yard in Jimmy Hunter’s neighborhood. Charlie is unique among baseball hats as he has a shiny silver button that sets him apart from all other baseball hats. Given to Jimmy by his father as a birthday gift, Charlie and Jimmy Hunter become best of friends. The pair go everywhere together, school, church and the ball diamond.
One fateful day Charlie is blown from Jimmy’s head and is lost for a long, long time. While separated from Jimmy, Charlie endures many hardships. He is caught up in a tall tree for a time fighting the elements. Eventually, Charlie falls from the tree down onto the dirt road beneath the tree. Ultimately, he is kicked into a ditch by a passing car. Soon it rains. Charlie begins to float down the ditch. The water in the ditch carries Charlie to a creek. Overtime the creek becomes a river. By now Charlie is a mess. Fortunately he had one thing, one thing he could hang on to. One thing that would help him cope with his situation. He still has his shiny silver button. It is his Shiny silver button that shines in the sunlight leading to his rescue. Having finally landed on a sand bar his shiny silver button catches the eye of a fisherman. Charlie is found and rescued by Jimmy’s grandfather who hangs him in a tool shed. Many years later Charlie is reunited with an all grown up Jimmy.
Charlie the Hat is a fun heartwarming story that has as an underlying theme, a value that is often over looked by teachers and parents alike. The value of self-esteem. Teaching the value of self- esteem to a young child is so very important. If a child has strong self-esteem he/she will have a shield of armor against all that life will throw at them. Charlie’s story exemplifies a fact that when all is lost, having just one positive self-perspective can make good things can happen. Charlie’s story will truly put a smile on your face.
Book excerpt
Charlie was a hat
Charlie was not just any hat. Charlie was a brand new baseball hat.
Charlie was a red hat with a bright yellow bill. What made Charlie very special was the shiny silver button right on top.
Charlie was made in a hat factory. Ed’s Hat Factory made lots of hats for lots of people.
Ed’s Hat Factory was in Taiwan. The people there like to make hats.
Ed made hats for Tom’s Auto Shop, Bill’s Welding, Mac’s Cafe, Betty’s Candy and Mike’s Bait Shop. There were even hats for Ed’s Hat Factory.
After the people of Ed’s Hat Factory made Charlie they put him in a box. Charlie didn’t like being in a box. He didn’t like it at all.
There were a lot of other hats in the box, but Charlie could not see them. It was dark in the box.
One day the box was put in a crate with a lot of other boxes. Every box was full of hats
The crate was then put on a big freight boat
Charlie asked “Where are we going?” No one knew. Charlie was very scared.
Charlie was so worried about where he was going that he got tired and fell asleep.
Charlie slept a long, long time. While Charlie slept the boat rocked back and forth keeping Charlie asleep
.
After a long time, Charlie was suddenly awakened by a man who took him out of the box. “Yay!” Charlie said. “I’m out of the box!”
“Where am I and who are you?” Charlie asked
.
“You are at the hat store and that is the hat store clerk,” said one of the other hats. The clerk then put Charlie on a shelf
.
There were lots of other baseball hats on the shelf. There were black hats, green hats, blue hats, purple hats, and orange hats. But Charlie was the only red hat with a bright yellow bill and a shiny silver button.
The other hats made fun of Charlie, especially his shiny silver button. Charlie didn’t seem to mind though, he knew they were just jealous.
One day a man came to the store and bought Charlie.
“This hat is for my son Jimmy’s birthday.” said the man. He then put Charlie in a sack
.
Charlie didn’t like being in a sack, but he was not alone. There was Gary the baseball glove, and Bob the baseball! They all became good friends.
When they got to Jimmy’s house, Jimmy’s Dad took Charlie out of the sack. “Yay, I’m out of the sack!” said Charlie
.
Then Jimmy’s Dad put Charlie in a box and wrapped the box with birthday paper. Charlie said, “Oh great, I’m back in a box again.”
When Jimmy opened the box, Charlie was very excited to see Jimmy. Jimmy put Charlie on his head.
Charlie liked that a lot!
The birthday party was fun. There was cake and ice cream for everyone. Jimmy had so much fun he got chocolate icing on Charlie’s bright yellow bill. Charlie seemed to not mind; it tasted good. The icing left a stain
.
Jimmy took Charlie outside to play with Gary the glove and Bob the baseball. That’s when Charlie met Mickey the baseball bat.
They were five good friends and they played baseball every day.
Jimmy wore Charlie everywhere, except at school or church. That’s when Jimmy would hang Charlie on a peg.
Charlie didn’t like hanging on a peg very much. He liked being on Jimmy’s head, or on the bed post at night.
One day Jimmy got up in a hurry and put Charlie on his head.
“Where are we going today?” Asked Charlie.
“We are going to see my grandparents. They live in the country” Jimmy told him.
Jimmy’s Dad drove the pick-up truck out of the city. Charlie thought it was fun riding in the truck. There were lots of things to see along the road.
When they got to a dirt road, Jimmy got out and climbed in back.
Jimmy sat in the back of the truck, hung on tight to the rail, and said “Okay!” The truck started to move down the dirt road. Faster and faster the truck went. Soon the wind started to blow real hard and just like that, Charlie was off Jimmy’s head. Up, up in the air he flew. Charlie was flying in the wind!
When Charlie stopped flying, he was stuck up in a tall tree.
Minutes went by. Hours went by. Days went by. Weeks went by. Months went by. Charlie was stuck in the tree a long, long time.
It rained on Charlie. It snowed on Charlie. Sometimes there were lots of bugs that crawled all over him. To make things worse, a bird pooped on Charlie’s bright yellow bill!
One day the wind started to blow real hard. The wind blew just right and blew Charlie out of the tree. Charlie said “ Yay, I’m not stuck in the tree any more!”
Down, down, down Charlie fell. He landed in the middle of the dirt road. He laid in the dusty road for several days.
Soon a car came down the dirt road and ran right over Charlie, kicking him into the ditch! “Oh great,” said Charlie “ I’m in a ditch! I don‘t like it here either.”
Now, Charlie was a dirty mess. He had a chocolate stain, a bird poop stain, and a car grease stain. He had tire track marks and he was covered in dirty road dust; at least he still had his shiny silver button.
Charlie was in the ditch a long, long time
.
One day it started to rain. It rained real hard.
Soon the ditch was full of water and Charlie began to float down the ditch
.
Down, down, down the ditch Charlie floated. He floated all the way to the creek.
Charlie floated in the creek a long, long time. He floated in the creek until it became a river.
Down, down, down the river Charlie floated. He floated in the river until he landed on a sand bar.
“Yay, I’m out of the river!” Charlie said.
Charlie was on the sand bar a long, long time. Charlie missed his friends.
One day a little boat with a motor came up the river.
The sun was out and shining bright. Charlie’s silver button was glistening in the sun light.
The man in the boat saw Charlie’s silver button shining in the sun light. He stopped the boat and picked Charlie up.
He was a very old man already wearing a hat. It was a Mike’s Bait Shop hat. The man tossed Charlie in the bottom of the boat on top of a pile of smelly fish. The old man took Charlie home with him
.
When they got to the old man’s home, Charlie was taken to a tool shed and hung on a rusty nail.
Charlie did not like being in a box or a tree. He did not like being in a sack or a ditch. He did not like being in a creek or a river. Nor did he like being on a peg or a sandbar. Charlie did not like any of that at all.
Charlie didn’t like hanging on a nail either, but it was better than floating in the creek.
There were lots of other things in the shed. There was Fred the fishing pole. Tim the tackle box, Hank the hammer, and Sam the screwdriver. There was even a car jack named Jack. Charlie had new friends!
One dark night Charlie felt something chewing on his bright yellow bill. It was Randy the rat. He was chewing a hole in Charlie’s bright yellow bill where the chocolate stain was!
Charlie didn’t know what to do. He was a real mess. He had a hole in his bright yellow bill where the chocolate stain was. He had car grease stains, tire track marks, bird poop stains, road dust and he smelled like fish. At least he had his shiny silver button.
Charlie was in the shed a long, long time.
One day out of the blue the door to the shed opened. It was the old man and he had someone with him. The old man said to the other man, “If we are going fishing, you better grab that hat.”
The other man took Charlie off of the nail.
“Hey,” the man said. “Where did you find this hat? This looks like my old baseball hat.”
Charlie then saw the man’s face. It was Jimmy! Only Jimmy was all grown up.
Charlie was very happy to see Jimmy again! Even happier to be on Jimmy‘s head.
Jimmy said to Charlie, “Where have you been?”
Charlie thought for a minute.
Then Charlie said “I have been in a box, a crate, a ship, a shelf, a sack, a peg, a bed post, a truck, a tree, a road, a ditch, a creek, a river, a sand bar, a boat, and most recently I have been hanging on a nail in a tool shed! What about You?”
Author Website
http://anchorlegpressllc.myfreesites.net/