A second grade student at Park Forest Elementary School is getting quite a head start when it comes to literature.
While most kids her age stick to reading children’s books, seven-year-old Poppy Rusca is busy creating her own series of books centered around a character she named “Miss Plumpy.”
Since the middle of last year, Poppy has written over 60 short books detailing her character’s adventures. The books have become a sensation in her second grade class.
It’s not just Poppy’s classmates who enjoy her work. The books have become so popular they are passed out in other classrooms, published on the district’s website and shown at teacher workshops.
“Poppy’s books have created quite the phenomenon,” says Vanessa Tomasko, Poppy’s teacher. “She was very motivated by the writing process and was happy to take stories home or keep them in her folder. As her writing evolved, and she began [writing] her Little Miss Plumpy series, other students started to notice.”
This is the second straight year that Poppy is in Tomasko’s class. The teacher says it wasn’t long before she realized the first-grader had a special talent for storytelling.
Poppy says she based the lead character in her stories on a Halloween princess costume she wanted, adding that she “feels very happy” that her books have made such an impression on the school.
“I wanted to be a plumpy princess but mommy said, ‘do you know what plumpy means?’ and she said it meant fat,” Poppy says. “So that’s how I got the idea.”
According to Poppy, the books involve the title character’s escapades with her enemy, a duck. “She gets into trouble but she always get s what she wants in the end,” Poppy says.
Poppy also credits Tomasko for helping her develop as a student and writer. “She gives good tips when it’s writing time,” Poppy says.
While other students were busy playing games in their free time, Poppy would always write and draw. That’s when Tomasko discovered a few of her stories lying around the room.
“She was always writing, drawing, and asking me to staple her stories together,” Tomasko says. I started finding pages and pages of her writing and drawings all around the room. She was crafting stories that were fun to read with impressive content.”
Poppy not only continues to write extensively, she’s also inspired classmates to begin writing their own stories.
As a teacher, Tomasko is thrilled. After hearing her kids constantly asking Poppy about when her next story would be finished, seeing them all developing as writers and students is a joy.
“Her stories have inspired other kids to create their own books and series, often during [free] time,” Tomasko says. “This experience has reminded me how powerful peer feedback is to our developing writers.”
Poppy’s passion for writing grew out of her love of art. Before she began writing stories, she spent most of her time drawing and coloring pictures.
Poppy’s mother, Nicki Rusca, agrees with Tomasko that crafting stories is easily her daughter’s favorite hobby. No matter what toys are around, all she wants to do is write and draw.
“It was pretty much coloring before she could write,” Rusca says. “To the point where any free time at home she didn’t really play with many toys. I mean, occasionally, but the majority of the time it’s just the art table, doing some kind of creative thing. In the last year, she’s been writing, letters, notes and now these books.”
Rusca echoes Poppy’s sentiments about her teacher, saying she could not be prouder of her child.
“[Tomasko] has been very encouraging,” Nicki Rusca says. “She definitely has kind of kept the wheels moving for us. She has some very nice ideas. It’s been a very positive experience. I’ve got parents saying that they’ve read the books, all of her friends have gone home and told their parents about them.
“It isn’t something that we’ve made [Poppy] do, she just genuinely likes writing books and illustrating them too.”
