Kayleigh Arcarese, a student from Paddy Hill Elementary School, took her school writing assignment beyond anyone’s expectations. At the end of third grade last spring, Kayleigh’s teacher asked the class to complete a writing assignment. Kayleigh wrote a story about a “potato” who started at a new school and really wanted to be accepted and have friends. Her idea evolved from a classroom writing assignment, to a journey that no one expected.
Kayleigh worked diligently to create hand drawn pictures about this potato’s journey in making friends at his new school. She then typed out her story to be like a book, included her drawings, printed the pages out, then stapled it and showed it to her parents, Kelly and Tom Arcarese. They were really “blown away” with what their daughter created, turning her writing assignment into a homemade book.
“When I came home and saw the homemade book, I said to my wife, ‘Wow this is really good,’” Tom Arcarese said. Kelly and Tom were not only impressed by the heartfelt inspirational message written in the book, but also by the creativity in the artwork and their young daughter’s initiative to design it into a book. “Kayleigh has become friends with international students who have come to her school. She has friends that speak different languages and are from Ukraine and Vietnam. Based on her experiences with these friends, she tied other cultures into the book. We were impressed by Kayleigh’s commitment to complete this book. She would come home from school after a long day and spend her free time working on it,” Kelly said. This led to her parents researching how to publish Kayleigh’s writing into a book that can be used to help encourage other children who are moving, going to a new school, and facing the challenge of making new friends.
The book, The Potato Who JUST Wanted a Friend, is available on Amazon and will soon be available at Barnes and Noble. The book was released on August 15, with more than 100 books sold in the first week. Kayleigh has been invited to have a table at Greece Central School’s “Back to School Bash” where she can display her book and the inspiring message to help others adjusting to a new school. She was also featured on local television news stations including Bright Spot on WHAM, News 8, and Good Day Rochester (Fox). “I feel like a celebrity, and it’s been really cool,” Kayleigh said with a smile. Kayleigh set up a lemonade stand at her house where people who purchased the book could get them personally autographed. Brandyn, Kayleigh’s older brother, was asked how he felt about his sister’s book and the media exposure, “I like it, it has been cool,” he said.
The Arcarese family is working at making the book available in local libraries and it is already featured at Kelly’s hometown of Dunkirk in their South Dayton Library. Kelly is a Greece Central school counselor and feels it is great timing for the book to help children as they return to school.
As Kayleigh enters fourth grade this fall, she really hopes that her book will help other children make new friends and be a good friend. She also wants her writing to inspire others to “Don’t give up, and keep trying.” She is considering writing a series about the “potato.” When Kayleigh was asked if she wanted to be an author when she grows up, she chuckled and said, “No, I want to be a school counselor like my mom and help teach kids how to be nice. That seems like a fun job!”
