By Maribeth Boelts
A boy who wants the shoes everybody has, and learns what it costs to tell wanting from needing.
Jeremy wants the black high-top shoes every boy at school seems to have. His grandma counts what they've got and says there's room for what he needs, not for what he wants, and what he needs right now is new snow boots. Then his own worn shoes fall apart in front of the whole class.
This is the easiest place to start a child thinking about going without, because the want at the center of it is one they already know by heart: everybody has the thing, and you don't. Jeremy isn't poor in some far-away way. He's a boy who needs boots and wants shoes, and there's only money for one. Your child will feel every bit of that longing, and then feel what Jeremy does about it, which is the part that stays with them.