Dan loved stories, and he loved to read them out loud to his little sister. But when his teacher, Ms. Perez, gave him a part in the class play, his hands began to shake.
His part was not big. He was the king, and he had only six lines. Still, every time Dan practiced in front of the class, his voice became very quiet. “What if I forget my words?” he asked his mother at home. “What if everyone laughs at me?”
His mother had an idea. “Read your lines to your sister, just like you read her stories,” she said. Every evening that week, Dan stood in the living room and read his lines to Nina. She clapped after every line, even the boring ones.
On the night of the play, Dan's heart was beating fast. Then he saw Nina in the front row, waving at him. He took a deep breath and said his first line. It came out loud and clear. When the play ended, the audience clapped, and Dan smiled the biggest smile of his life.