Moving to New York City

2007 3rd-4th Grade Prose Honorable Mention

Lisa gazed out the window of the taxi. All she could see was tall buildings, lots of people, and what seemed like millions of roads to cross. She wished she had never agreed to coming to New York City in the first place.

Lisa had just left the airport with her parents and brother, and was riding to their new home on East 80th Street. Lisa hoped she just had a bad first impression, but she thought New York was going to be horrible.

Lisa asked, "When are we moving back?"

"Never, never, NEVER!" shouted Sam, her brother, from the back seat. Finally her family got to their new home.

The next day, Sam and Lisa walked to their school. It was only 6 blocks, but to Lisa, who was used to riding in cars, it felt more like 60 blocks.

The school day went pretty smoothly. Lisa's teacher was nice, and it didn't seem like the work was too easy or too hard. But Lisa knew she would not like school as much when recess came. Everyone but Lisa had someone to play with, and so she was left to wander around the yard for the whole recess hour.

That night at dinner, Sam told everyone about how he had made 5 new friends before recess, and then 10 more the rest of the day. Lisa only said that she liked her teacher and the work they did.

The next day was pretty much the same. School was good, but recess was horrible. Sam made 10 new friends, and said he loved New York.

"What about you?" Sam had asked Lisa.

"I hate it," she replied. And she was being honest, too. She thought it was crowded, dirty, cramped, lonely, and she missed everything about her old home.

But that Friday, Lisa's teacher assigned a project. You had to do it with a partner, and she let them pick their own. Just when Lisa knew she would get in trouble for not getting a partner fast enough, another girl came up and said, "Hey, do you want to be partners?"

"Well-OK!" said Lisa, after a moment.

"Great!" exclaimed the other girl. "By the way, my name is Jenna," she said.

After school, Lisa went over to Jenna's house. She lived on East 86th Street, and the school was on 74th Street. Lisa couldn't believe she walked all that way just to get to school.

"So," said Lisa while they were walking, "What do you want to do a project on?"

"I have a great idea. Let's do one on exploring New York City," said Jenna. "Can you think of anywhere to put in?"

"Well-the Met?" said Lisa uncertainly.

"Oh, that's a great idea!" said Jenna. "What about the Village, Chinatown, the Tenement Museum, the Whitney Museum, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, and the Cloisters?"

"What are those places?" asked Lisa.

"Oh-they're places in New York City. I'll show them to you as we go!" said Jenna.

"Great!" said Lisa.

The next day, Lisa's parents met Jenna and agreed it was OK if they went to the Whitney Museum and the Met together. Lisa thought it sounded good, but that it would not make her like New York better.

Lisa really did like the Met. There were some very pretty paintings and some famous ones, too. Jenna showed her a lot of hidden rooms, and some other cool stuff. They didn't like the Whitney quite as much.

The next day, Lisa and Jenna went to the Cloisters. It was just as good as the Met, maybe better. Lisa thought she at least liked the museums in NYC.

In their free time, Lisa and Jenna went to lots of places in New York. They covered almost everything by January.

"So, how do you like New York?" asked Lisa's mom one morning.

"I love it!" said Lisa. "There are so many cool things to do, and see, and stuff. I really love New York!"