Natural Born Leader

Jared is disgusted with Odyssey Middle School’s student council. It has ignored his suggestion for a Political Sabotage Awareness Week and chosen Appreciating America instead, with proceeds helping hungry people in developing countries. Jared sees the same popular students winning every election and decides the school needs a candidate who will challenge them.

In the student newspaper, he discovers a poem called “People We Know,” written by new student Charles VanHorn. It describes large predatory dinosaurs killing weaker ones until only the powerful remain. Jared assumes the dinosaurs symbolize the student council, while their extinction means student government has outlived its usefulness. Dwayne is less certain, but Jared is thrilled to find a writer who appears to share all his political opinions.

Charles has recently transferred from a separate special-education school into Odyssey’s first program integrating students with special needs. He enjoys being among more people and has adjusted especially well socially. Jared knows none of this when he introduces himself. Charles says he loves dinosaurs, but Jared takes every literal comment as another clever political metaphor. He persuades the uncertain boy to run for student council and promises to make him a star.

Charles is afraid of speaking before crowds and admits that he does not talk very well. Jared offers to speak for him and announces the campaign to a group of students and Sarah, who is reporting for the newspaper. He presents Charles as a brilliant reformer driven into politics by student-council corruption. Sarah suspects Jared is creating a puppet candidate and demands to hear Charles answer questions for himself.

When Sarah asks who the dinosaurs in the poem represent, Charles describes actual prehistoric animals. Jared and the other students keep turning his answers into political symbols. Trees become passive students, plant-eating dinosaurs become weak leaders consumed by stronger ones, and a museum becomes a way to retire the old council. Charles’s simple knowledge produces better answers than Jared’s elaborate interpretations, and Sarah admits that he may be a strong candidate. Jared finally decides Charles should do all the talking.

The campaign embraces dinosaur slogans and pictures. Each time Charles shares another fact about prehistoric life, students discover a message about school government in it. He becomes increasingly popular, and Jared proudly tells Whit that the election is nearly won. Yet when Whit speaks privately with Charles, he learns that the poem truly concerns dinosaurs. Charles does not know what the student council does or what its members are supposed to do.

Principal Johnson confirms that Charles is in the new special-education class and that the newspaper has accidentally printed the title of a different poem above his work. Whit sees that Jared has built an entire campaign on a misunderstanding. With Charles scheduled to address the whole school the next day, Whit and Jared visit his home and explain the situation to Mrs. VanHorn.

Charles realizes that Jared’s faith in him has vanished as soon as he learns about the special class. He refuses to be treated as incapable and points out that God has made him special. That means he can do meaningful things, including things other people cannot do. His determination convinces his mother, Whit, and Jared to let him continue. Jared offers to help prepare the speech, but Charles insists upon writing his own.

Before the school, Charles openly explains that he is a special-education student and that his poem has no hidden political meaning. He may not be the smartest candidate, but his teacher has taught him that what matters is how well a person uses the mind he has. After studying student government with his mother, Charles has developed ideas of his own. He proposes that the council create several possible themes for school events and let all students vote, giving everyone a real part in the decision. The election result remains unknown, but Charles has already proved that he can understand a responsibility, speak for himself, and offer leadership no one else can provide.