Achieving Greatness “Slower Than the Rest” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic short story about a young boy named Leo. He is “slower than the rest” in his classroom of friends. Until one day he finds a turtle on the side of the road. The turtle brings out the fast in Leo. In the beginning, Leo was moved out of his class because he was slower. He could never be happy after he was moved from his friends. Soon enough, he finds Charlie, a turtle who helps Leo with being happy. Charlie makes Leo feel like he is never alone. In the end, Charlie brings out the accomplishment in Leo. Charlie helps Leo feel proud, He helps Leo feel fast. This story shows, just because he is slow doesn’t mean he can’t become great. …show more content…
He was unhappy that he could no longer talk to his old friends. Leo was lonely because he couldn’t talk to anyone. For example in paragraph five, the author states, “Leo had been separated from the rest of his classmates and placed in another room with children as slow as he.” and a little bit later in the paragraph the author states, “He saw no way to be happy after that.” This shows that Leo was unhappy, and that he wanted to have a friend to talk to. As well, this proves that he was unhappy,needed a friend, to comfort him, to talk to him, and also to make him