Jasmine’s Big Idea

Carnival Crafting

The next day, Jasmine’s friends are coming over to work on the carnival decorations. But when Jasmine goes to answer the door, she’s surprised to see Madison standing with them. Sofia says they stopped to pick Madison up, so they’d have some extra hands. Jasmine invites them all inside. Madison seems really excited to help them; it’ll be the best carnival ever.

The girls spread out their art supplies on the floor. Jasmine explains they need to make posters to spread the word about the carnival and to advertise the pets up for adoption. Sofia suggests getting lots of different colors of crepe paper and twisting it into streamers to hang from trees. The bright colors will work well.

Madison agrees that’ll look really pretty. She loves rainbows. Keiko says she can work on drawing some dog sketches on the posters. Sofia offers to do bubble letters. Madison pulls out a bunch of glitter glue pens. Soon, the three of them are busily hunched over the poster boards, drawing, lettering, and glittering.

Jasmine isn’t sure what to do. There doesn’t seem to be any space for her. Instead, she takes out a sheet of paper and tries to brainstorm for other decorations. Jasmine twirls her hair, trying to come up with ideas. But she can’t shake the feeling that her friends prefer hanging out with Madison to her.

Jasmine speaks up, and suggests maybe using balloons as decorations. Maybe Mrs. Wallace can get a big balloon arch. Madison looks up seriously. She says that while balloons are fun, if they fly off, they could end up in a lake or tree somewhere and hurt birds, fish, or other animals. Jasmine’s cheeks turn red. Of course Madison is right.

Then, Cookie wanders into the room and climbs into Jasmine’s lap. He always seems to know when Jasmine needs some cheering up. Madison scoots over to Jasmine, saying Cookie is the cutest. She offers a stack of glitter pens to Jasmine. She could use some help with glittering. Jasmine smiles. She feels better already.

After dinner, instead of hanging around for dessert, Jasmine goes to her room. She looks at the photos of her, Sofia, and Keiko. She smiles at the picture from Halloween where they all dressed up as cats. They’d been so close. But lately, things seem different, and it bothers her. So, she decides to make some more decorations on her own.

Jasmine’s mom pops her head through the doorway to see if Jasmine’s okay. Jasmine shrugs, but her mom can see something is wrong. She sits down on Jasmine’s comforter. Jasmine turns to her mom, and confesses that she thinks Sofia and Keiko like Madison more than her. Her mom asks for clarification. She thought the girls were all friends. Nodding, Jasmine explains that they are, and that’s why she hasn’t said anything.

Jasmine’s mom points out that friends don’t have to do everything together. The three of them are used to doing almost everything together, but it’s okay to give each other space. They’re still friends. In fact, if they weren’t all friends, Keiko and Sofia probably wouldn’t be helping Jasmine so hard with the carnival. They’re doing it because they care about Jasmine.

With a smile on her face, Jasmine realizes her mother is right. She turns off her desk lamp, and calls Cookie to her bed. Dogs are the best, she says to herself. This reminds her that there are a lot of stray dogs out there who need homes of their own, or at least a safe place like Rosa’s Refuge until a forever home comes along. And it’s up to Jasmine and her friends to help them.