Meet Marcus: quick hands, big heart. He loves everything about basketball practice, except one thing. Every week the captains pick scrimmage teams, and every week the same two kids get picked last and barely play. This week, it's Marcus. He has something to say, but saying it is the hard part. Follow Marcus and Sprout to learn how to build brave words, with RESPECT, at the right MOMENT, so they really get HEARD.
The storyteller reads to you. Just tap the big button!
Even a tiny sprout pushes up through the dark dirt so the sun can find it. Speaking up works the same way: something small, something brave, and it's how you grow.
Word Power
Tap each word. Then, if you want, say one out loud.
Now YOU say it: “With RESPECT, at the right MOMENT, I can be HEARD!”
Say it out loud, loud enough that Sprout can hear you!
Sprout's Growing Meter
Do each part to help Sprout grow. 0/9
Marcus's Week of Being Heard
Read the scene. Try the move. Learn how brave words get heard.
Part 1
Picked Last
“Just keep it in.”
Tuesday practice. Coach Mac blows the whistle: scrimmage time. Two captains step up and start picking teams. “Darius.” “Kayla.” “Jayden.” One by one, kids jog to their side. Marcus waits. And waits. It's the same every week: the same two kids get picked last, and then they mostly sit. This week, one of them is Marcus. He gets three minutes at the very end. On the walk home, a lump sits in his throat, hot and heavy, made of all the words he didn't say.
Sprout says: A lump in your throat is usually words that want out. Before we let them out, let's look at what everyone is feeling. Tap to see.
What's everyone feeling?
Say it: “My words are in there. They matter.”
Part 2
A Brave Breath
The lump is still there the next morning. Sprout leans in close. “Before brave words,” Sprout says, “comes a brave breath. Not to push the feeling away. Just to make room for it, so the words come out steady instead of shaky. Breathe in, slow and easy. And let it out, even slower. No rush.”
Sprout says: Breathe with Marcus. In through your nose, slow and easy… and out through your mouth, even slower. Feel your voice settle.
Breathe with Marcus
Say it: “A brave breath first. Then brave words.”
Part 3
What Do I Really Want?
“Okay,” says Sprout. “The words want out. But wait, which words? When something unfair keeps happening, the first words that show up are usually the loud ones. Payback words. Quit words. Let's dig under those and find what you really want.” Marcus thinks. He doesn't want the captains to get in trouble. He doesn't want to quit basketball. What he wants is simple and fair: everyone gets real playing time.
Sprout says: Tap each one. Which is the real want, hiding under all the noise?
Find the real want
Say it: “Under the mad, there's a want. I can name it.”
Part 4
Build the Words
Now Sprout gets excited, leaf-waving excited. “This is my favorite part. We build the words like steps. Three little steps, so they come out with RESPECT. First, say what you SEE. Then, say how it FEELS. Then ask: could we TRY something?” Marcus builds his three steps, one by one.
Sprout says: Tap each step to build Marcus's words.
Build the three steps
Say it: “I see. I feel. Could we try?”
Part 5
The Right Moment
The words are built. But Sprout holds up a leaf like a little stop sign. “One more thing, and it's a big one. Even perfect words can get lost if they land at the wrong time. Words need a MOMENT, a time when the other person can really listen.” Thursday practice comes. Marcus watches for his moment.
Sprout says: Tap each moment. Which one gives Marcus's words the best chance to be HEARD?
Pick the best moment
Say it: “Right words, right moment.”
Part 6
Practice It Once
“One rehearsal,” says Sprout, “so the words feel like yours.” Marcus stands tall in his room. Eyes up. Voice steady. Respect in every word. He isn't practicing to be perfect. He's practicing so the brave part comes easier.
Sprout says: Help Marcus rehearse. Tap each step and hear it the way Coach Mac will.
Rehearse with Sprout
Say it: “Eyes up. Voice steady. Respect on.”
Part 7
The Big Choice
“Or you could just… not.”
Practice ends. Sneakers squeak toward the door. Coach Mac is stacking cones by the bench, and he has a minute. Marcus's heart pounds like a fourth quarter. The words are built. The moment is here. And a small voice whispers, “Or you could just… not.” What should Marcus do?
Sprout says: This is the big one. A brave breath first, then pick the choice that gives Marcus's words a real chance to be heard.
Pick Marcus's choice
Part 8
Coach Mac Listens
Coach Mac sets down the cones and looks right at Marcus. Really looks. He listens to all three steps without interrupting once. Then he says, “Thank you for telling me. I mean it. I cannot fix what nobody tells me.” He rubs his chin. “Rotating teams. Let's try it next week.” Being HEARD doesn't always mean everything changes right away. But this time, the ask lands.
Sprout says: THAT is what being heard looks like. Tap each piece of it.
Tap what being heard looks like
Say it: “My words landed. I was heard.”
Part 9
Pass It On
Next practice, the teams rotate. New captains, new mixes. Marcus gets real minutes, and so does Tasha, the other kid who always got picked last. Afterward, Tasha jogs up. “You talked to Coach, didn't you? I've got a thing too. At school, our table never gets a turn to share our art. But I wouldn't know what to say.” Marcus grins. He knows exactly where to start.
Sprout says: The best part of learning something is passing it on. Tap what Marcus tells Tasha. Then here's one for YOU: what is one thing a grown-up you trust should hear from you?
Pick what Marcus tells Tasha
Say it: “Pass it on.”
Story complete
🌟 You learned how brave words get heard, with Marcus and Sprout, all nine parts! You earned your Heard badge, and look how tall Sprout grew!
And here's the secret: the three steps aren't just for basketball. They work anywhere something unfair keeps happening: in class, at home, on the bus. Take a brave breath. Say what you see. Say how it feels. Ask, could we try. Then pick your moment, and let your words be heard.
Want to say it one more time? “With RESPECT, at the right MOMENT, I can be HEARD!” You can record and hear yourself, or just say it out loud, your choice.
Say it out loud, loud enough that Sprout can hear you!
Tell a grown-up: ask me about the three steps. I see, I feel, could we try.
For Grown-Ups
What this builds (transformative SEL): Agency (“I can do it”) with a thread of Collaborative problem-solving (“We solve it together”).
This comic practices agency: noticing something unfair and speaking up about it. The tool (a brave breath, then three steps: say what you see, say how it feels, ask could we try, delivered with respect at a moment the listener can really listen) turns a lump-in-the-throat feeling into words an adult can act on. A collaborative problem-solving thread runs underneath: the ask is an invitation, “could we rotate teams?”, not a demand, and the fix is something the child and the adult try together.
A word to the coaches and teachers reading this: it costs a child something real to walk up to you. They are risking looking silly, being brushed off, or making things worse, and they usually rehearsed it more times than you will ever know. How you receive the words matters as much as what you decide: thank first, decide second. And Coach Mac's line is worth saying to the children in your care, out loud and often: “I cannot fix what nobody tells me.” It hands them a standing invitation to speak.
It's also a deliberate literacy builder: the oral sentence frames “I see…, I feel…, could we try…?” are built step by step as taps, and the three Word Power words (RESPECT, MOMENT, HEARD) are the topic vocabulary.
This is a practice tool for rehearsing skills, not therapy, counseling, or a clinical service.
For some children, speaking up is more than butterflies. If their words have been laughed at, brushed off, or punished before, staying quiet can feel like the only safe move, and a cheery “just tell a grown-up!” can sting. This story is built to stay kind in that case: Marcus's silence is never shamed, the choice to speak stays his, and being heard is shown honestly, it does not always bring instant change. If your child has gone quiet about something that seems heavy, meet it gently and get the child real support; this is a practice tool, not therapy.
Conversation starters: Was there ever a time your words really got heard? What is one thing you wish a grown-up knew? If you could change one thing about school or practice, what would you ask to try?
This is a practice tool for rehearsing skills, not therapy, counseling, or a clinical service.
Privacy Note
Nothing is saved to a server and nothing is sent anywhere. The optional “Now you say it” recording is device-only: it is never saved, never uploaded, and is gone the moment the page closes. Recording and playback are always optional: a child can skip the mic entirely and just say it out loud. No child accounts, no personal data collected. The Read aloud narration uses a recorded storyteller voice and only reads the comic, never you.
