Five Sides of Tuesday · ages 9-14

The Goal That Counted

The idea: being sure is not the same as being right; say how sure you are.

Danya and Beto shake hands over the football on the new chalk spot, with Lan in goal and Hedda on the bench.

Read it

Who is in this book

Danya a child of the Green Asks "how do we know?"
Manywhy Never stop at one reason; ask what else made it happen from ThreadForge
Beto a child of the Green Takes things apart
Lan a child of the Green Goes first; makes a friend in a minute
Hap Say honestly when luck lined things up from ThreadForge
Hedda Say how sure we are, the way historians and scientists do from ThreadForge
Rheo Turn an all-or-nothing switch into a dial from ShadeForge
Inkling a child of the Green Names what she notices

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

In football, a ball that hits a player's arm is not always a foul; the rules look at whether the arm made the body bigger or moved towards the ball. Source
Feeling sure about something you saw is not the same as being right. Eyewitnesses who are very confident can still be mistaken. Source

Stretched

The ball jumped exactly at Beto's arm off the bump by the drain. What we simplified: Nobody can be sure what a ball hit in a busy game; that is the point of the book.

Made up

Brightfield School and the game are made up. Manywhy, Hap and Hedda come from ThreadForge, and Rheo from ShadeForge.

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then a chalk line drawn on the playground by the drain, the new 'not sure' spot goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.