Selection: E-55

E-55

Grade level: 5

Word count: 1842 words

Author: Mike Ciecierski

Synopsis: When it's time to think about a career, follow your interests. Work is more pleasant if you get to do something you enjoy.

Excerpt: However, when she was not talking on the phone, Nick's mom always talked to him about school and careers. She wanted him to become a doctor. She said Nick had a talent for science, so a career in medicine was the right one for him. He had something else he wanted to do.

Although his mom wanted him to be a doctor, Nick thought the career he would really want was to make movies.

As he passed the coffee shop, he recognized his neighbor, a man who sat at the corner table and drew in a sketch book. Nick knew that the man was a successful artist. One time when Nick and his mom were in the coffee shop, the man talked to them about his work. He had said, "When I was young I had a real talent for art. But my father wanted me to be a bus driver, so that's what I did. After many unhappy years in that career, I decided that art was what I was supposed to do. So I corrected the mistake I made. Now I do the kind of work I love."

Question: Read these two excerpts from the selection. In what way are Nick and the man in the coffee shop alike?

1. They both wanted to pursue a career that was different from the one a parent suggested.
2. They were both interested in making movies.
3. They both followed a parent's advice and pursued careers they did not like.
4. They both had a parent who was a doctor.