Nancy Mouseman stood by herself in the playground. Once or twice she opened her mouth to speak, but then lost her nerve and remained silent as the other children bustled obliviously past. It wasn’t that they were mean on purpose, it was just that Nancy Mouseman was easily ignored. She was the kind of girl who seemed to disappear wherever she was, the classroom, the playground, even at home. Like a chameleon, she blended effortlessly into every background she found herself in.
In class, she was conscientious and quite clever really, but the teacher didn’t really notice her either, for she never spoke in lessons, never shared her opinion and never ever ever put her hand up.
K McCallam ©
Nancy Mouseman sat on the bench at the side of the playground. She huddled herself deeper into her coat as a torrent of excited school children rushed past her, disturbing her sensitive disposition. Someone looked like they were about to approach her. At once, she buried her head in her book, but her spectacles soon began to steam up in the drizzle of the Monday morning. She snivelled and snooked, wiping a sleeve across her runny nose. The year 5 at the other side of the bench left in disgust. She was used to that. Today was non-uniform day and the others had come to school flaunting their new and expensive clothes. Nancy had managed to find an old cord skirt...
K McCallam ©
Nancy Mouseman was sitting on the sofa of the Common Room. She was almost hunched into the furniture, so scared was she of drawing attention to herself. Anna Jenkins, in 8B, had asked her to come, so she had against her better judgement, and now Anna was nowhere to be seen - Nancy was all alone, yet again. ' I bet she never wanted to hang out with me anyway' thought Nancy.
Furtively, she glanced around the spacious room. There, in the centre, sniggering away and swishing her golden locks like a catwalk model, stood Chloe Davenport. She was surrounded by a gaggle of adoring fans - girls who wanted to be like her, boys who were desperate for her attention. How Nancy longed to be just like Chloe, but it would never happen.
She looked down at her jam-stained skirt, her laddered tights and her increasingly, inadequate footwear.
K McCallam ©
Nancy With a Twist
Nancy Mousmeman shuffled into the great dining hall, her heart thumping as it always did. The cacophony of pupils' chitter-chatter rang in her ears. "Why did it always have to be so loud?' she thought. Looking at her feet, she made her way over to the lunch queue, pumping the sanitiser gel three times before joining the others. As hungry mouths were dutifully fed, she filed in towards the pile of trays. She would have to take one of course, but she hated the noise the tray made when she did so; the others would stare at her. Then, there was the troublesome problem of untangling cutlery from the jumbled containers, not to mention balancing a glass.
She tried hard not to think about what would happen when the bell went for afternoon lessons. She was an easy target. Pushing her spectacles up her nose, Nancy approached the serving station. She was greeted with a welcoming smile.
"Oh hello, I don't think I've seen you today. It's Chicken Kiev or Vegetable Lasagne, but I do have one piece of Quiche Lorraine left for the teaching staff if you prefer?" K McCallam©
Profile: Nancy Mouseman
Background – she is a loner and never has anyone to play with, no close friends
Appearance – not very fashionable, not very pretty
Character – shy and slightly suspicious of others
Vocab Bank
Taciturn, lonesome, humble, meek, mild-mannered, timid, fretful, twitching, furtive, furtively, downcast, averts her eyes
Squinting, small stature, whispering, lank hair, mousy hair, knock-kneed, gangly, battered shoes, tattered clothes, spotty, hankies up her sleeve, scrawny,
Teased, tormented, ignored, barely notice her presence, kind and good on the inside, big-hearted, bites lip nervously, suspicious, with suspicion, suspiciously, With caution, Cautiously, Quietly and carefully
What not to do...
Nancy Mouseman was by herself she tried to talk to people but they didn’t like her because she was different. She was small. She was quiet. She wore glasses and she didn’t wear the right stuff and She did not get envited to parties and she sits by herself in class. She doesn’t put up her hand much. She is nice but she isn’t treated nice by uvers.
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