Welcome to another edition of “Behind the Scenes of The Dream Doers Series”
[In case you haven’t yet been in front of the scenes of The Dream Doers series, it starts with The Dream Doers and the Summer of Secrets. In this young adult novel that you can listen to for FREE, (I’ll share how at the end of this post), best friends Alex and Tyler are forced to battle bullies, face their fears and keep strange secrets the summer they learn to do what they dream.]
Featured in today’s article is main character Alexandria Jean Wilkins. Here are some basic facts about Alex as of the beginning of Book 1:
- Age: 11
- Birthdate: July 21
- Parents: Rick and Anna
- Sister: Jessica (Jessie), age 19
- Brother: Terry, age 18
- Brother: Lee, age 17
- Brother: Samuel, age 15
- Brother: Christopher, age 14
- Hair: Brown
- Eye Color: Blue
- Height: 4’10”
- Frame: Slender, Athletic Build
Alex was born on a hot summer afternoon on July 21 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on the exact day the doctor said she would be born. Nothing unusual happened that day. Her dad brought her mom to the hospital, and she was born a few hours later without any problems.
She seemed as normal as any other baby. Except for one thing: she wouldn’t stop crying!
From the moment she was born, she was the unhappiest baby ever. She cried when her mom held her. She cried when her dad held her. She cried when one of her brothers or her sister came near her.
She cried when the nurses held her, changed her diaper or laid her down. The only time she stopped crying was when she ate or slept.
But as soon as she finished eating or as soon as she woke up, little baby Alex would start crying again.
Doctor after doctor was called in to examine the “Cry Baby” to find out what was causing her to cry and cry and cry. Every doctor that checked her out said she was as healthy as could be and couldn’t figure out what was making her cry.
Since they couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her, they let her parents take her home five days after she was born.
She cried all the way home. She cried some more when she got home. She cried that whole night.
Then the next morning, her seven-year-old brother Terry brought her a book. He sat on the floor next to her crib and started reading to her.
As soon as he started reading, she stopped crying. Amazed, her parents learned that the only way to keep her quiet was to read her a book.
Soon her dad quit his job at the bank and opened his own book store just so he would always have enough books to keep her happy!
But something happened when she was five that made her never want to cry again even if no one was reading her a book. What happened has nothing to do with her big dream of winning a gold medal as a tennis player in the Olympics, but it has a lot to do with meeting her best friend Tyler Davis and the neighborhood bully Zachary Graham.
I’ll tell you a little about Zach’s background in next week’s “Behind the Scenes” article.
Until then, you can hear the whole “Front of the Scenes” story for FREE. Just visit TheDreamDoers.com and fill out a super short form.
Enjoy the story!
To your dreams,
Bonnie Jean
