Mr. Peters’ Moonlight Lessons: A Journey of Light, Love, and Belonging by Jodye Austin Gaines - HTML preview
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CHAPTER 2: You Come From Greatness
Maya sat at the table. Her homework was in front of her. It was about history.
She read the paper again. It talked about inventors and explorers. But nobody on the page looked like her.
Maya felt sad.
At school, some kids said people like her didn’t do anything special a long time ago. Maya knew that wasn’t true. But their words still hurt.
That night, Maya looked at the moon. It was big and bright in the sky.
Suddenly, her room filled with soft light. The light wrapped around her like a blanket. She felt herself float up, up, up.
She was going to the Moon!
When she landed, a tall man with gray locs smiled at her.
“Hi Maya,” he said kindly. “I’m Mr. Peters.”
Maya looked around. The Moon was glowing. There were shining rocks and floating books. She had never seen anything like it.
Mr. Peters could see she was sad.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Some kids at school said people like me didn’t do anything important,” Maya said softly.
Mr. Peters shook his head. “That’s not true,” he said. “You come from greatness.”
Maya looked up at him. “I do?” she asked.
Mr. Peters smiled. He waved his hand. Pictures floated in the air.
“See that?” he said. “That’s Harriet Tubman. She helped people escape to freedom.”
Another picture floated by.
“That’s George Washington Carver,” Mr. Peters said. “He was a smart inventor.”
More pictures came.
“There’s Mae Jemison,” Mr. Peters added. “She was the first Black woman to travel to space.”
Maya’s eyes got big. These people looked like her!
“They were strong and smart,” Mr. Peters said. “And guess what? You are, too. Their strength is in you.”
Maya smiled. She stood a little taller.
“You are part of a big story,” Mr. Peters told her. “Don’t forget that.”
The soft light wrapped around Maya again. It carried her back home.
The next day, at school, Maya felt proud. When someone teased her, she smiled.
“I come from greatness,” she said. “And so do you.”