Sadiq and the Big Election

by Siman Nuurali

Sadiq smiled. “I have good suggestions!”

  “I can help you practice your speech,” offered Aliya.

  “And I’ll help you with your posters,” said Nuurali. “I’ve got some construction paper. And Aliya has some new markers too.”

  “You guys are the best!” said Sadiq, grinning.

  The next morning, Sadiq carried his campaign posters to school. He spotted Zaza and rushed to catch up with him.

  “Hi, Zaza!” said Sadiq.

  “Hey, Sadiq!” replied Zaza. “Are those your posters?”

  “Yeah,” said Sadiq. “Would you like to see them?”

  Sadiq showed the posters to Zaza.

  “These are awesome, Sadiq!” said Zaza. “Did you make them yourself?”

  “I did, but Nuurali helped a lot!” said Sadiq.

  They saw Manny across the street. He was carrying his posters too.

  “Hey, Manny!” shouted Zaza. “Can we see your posters?”

  “Sorry,” Manny replied. “I have to run, or I’ll be late for class. See you later.” He didn’t even look at them.

  “We still have thirty minutes!” Zaza called to Manny. But he had already hurried away.

  “I think he’s still mad at me,” said Sadiq, sadly.

  “I’ll help you put your posters up,” said Zaza. “Cheer up, Sadiq. It will be okay.”

  “I hope so,” replied Sadiq. “I’ve tried to talk to him. But he always finds an excuse to walk away.”

  “Maybe he had stuff to do,” said Zaza.

  “But we always do stuff together,” said Sadiq. “Now he won’t talk to me.”

  “I think he’s just focusing on the election,” said Zaza. “I’m sure once it’s over we’ll all be friends again.”

  “I wish I could tell him it’s not personal,” said Sadiq. “I want to run for president because it’s important to me. But our friendship is important too!”

  It was the day before the election. Something was strange in the house when Sadiq got home from school. It was dark. His family was not there.

  “Hello?” Sadiq called.

  “Surprise!” his family shouted. They stepped out of their hiding spots.

  “What’s happening?” asked Sadiq, eyes widening.

  “We are making an election dinner!” said Hooyo, smiling.

  “We thought it would cheer you up,” said Baba.

  “We picked all your favorite foods,” said Aliya. “I helped make the samosas.”

  “Thank you,” said Sadiq. “That’s just what I needed!”

  “Sadiq for president!” piped up his little sister, Rania.

  “High five for Sadiq,” said Amina, his other little sister.

  “High five!” said Sadiq, laughing.

  “We think you’ll do great, Sadiq!” said Hooyo. “You have good ideas. And you have practiced your speech all week.”

  “Even if you don’t win, you tried your best,” said Baba. “And that’s all that matters!”

  Chapter 5

  Election Day!

  Sadiq walked into class and sat next to Manny and Zaza. The students were chattering with excitement. It was election day!

  “How do you guys feel?” asked Zaza. “Are you ready?”

  “Actually, I’m nervous,” Manny said. “I feel like I won’t be able to talk.”

  “I think you’ll do great, Manny!” said Sadiq. “Just remember to breathe, and you’ll be okay!”

  “Aren’t you scared?” asked Manny.

  “I sure am!” said Sadiq. “My tummy feels squishy like jellyfish. My knees are shaking. And my throat feels as dry as sand.”

  “That makes me feel better,” said Manny, smiling. “Thank you!”

  Ms. Battersby clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. It was time for the speeches.

  “Sadiq Mohamed!” she called out. “Come up and address the class, please.”

  “Wish me luck!” Sadiq said to Manny.

  “Good luck!” said Manny.

  Sadiq saw all his friends staring at him. It felt like there were a hundred kids in the class!

  “I think … I should be class president,” started Sadiq. But he was so nervous he forgot his speech!

  He took a deep breath, just like he told Manny to do. That helped. He saw his good friend Manny grinning up at him. That helped even more. It all came back to him.

  “I would make recess fair,” he said. “I would make sure everyone gets to go on the climbing wall who wants to. It’s not fair for only a few people to get a chance. I would make new rules. And everyone would get equal time.”

  The students clapped at that. They liked this idea!

  “I also think we should vote on the lunch menu,” said Sadiq. “Everyone can pick their favorite food, and we’ll ask the principal to add it to the menu.”

  “Yay, Sadiq!” someone yelled.

  “Sadiq for president!” said someone else.

  “Quiet, everyone,” said Ms. Battersby. “Let Sadiq finish his speech.”

  “We can only check out three books from the media center,” said Sadiq. “I would ask the librarian to change that to five. I know we all like to read. So everyone can get more books to take home!”

  “That gets my vote!” Owen called out.

  “Finally, I think the main hallway looks kind of dull, especially on cloudy days,” said Sadiq. “We could form a club and paint it bright colors. Then it would be cheerful all the time!”

  Sadiq paused.

  “Anything else, Sadiq?” asked Ms. Battersby.

  “I hope you’ll all vote for me,” said Sadiq with a smile.

  The class erupted in cheers.

  “Settle down, everyone,” said Ms. Battersby. “We have one more candidate. Abdirahman Nur. Come on up, Manny!”

  Manny walked to the front of the class and took a deep breath.

  “Hi, everyone,” Manny started. “I was going to run for president. But I’ve changed my mind. I’ve decided to run as Sadiq’s vice president!”

  “What?” Sadiq whispered to Zaza.

  “Wait, let’s see what he has to say,” said Zaza.

  “Sadiq has a lot of good ideas!” Manny went on. “I didn’t really come up with any ideas. I will be voting for Sadiq for president. I hope you all will too!”

  “What?” Sadiq said to Zaza, louder this time. “Did he say he would vote for me?”

  “I think he did!” said Zaza, laughing.

  The whole class was talking at the same time. Some students were clapping for Manny and Sadiq. Some kids gave Manny fist bumps as he walked back to his desk.

  After speeches for the other positions, Ms. Battersby handed out ballots. The ballots had a line for each of the four positions.

  Everyone wrote down their vote and put it in a box on Ms. Battersby’s desk. Soon, all the ballots had been cast.

  “Okay, everyone,” said Ms. Battersby. “I will count the votes during recess.”

  Recess seemed to last forever. Sadiq didn’t even join the kids playing soccer. He couldn’t focus on that today! He was too excited about the election.

  “I wonder how everyone will vote,” said Zaza. “I am so excited for you guys!”

  Finally, it was time to go back to the classroom. Ms. Battersby announced the results once everyone sat down.

  “The position of secretary goes to Owen. Our treasurer will be Suliat. Manny has been elected as vice president. And our new class president is Sadiq!” she said. “Congratulations to you all!”

  “Yay!” shouted Zaza. “Congrats, Sadiq! Way to go, Manny!”

  “Congrats, Manny!” said Sadiq, shaking his friend’s hand. “Thank you for your support. I am so glad you’re my vice president. We can make a lot of good changes together.”

  “Thank you, Sadiq!” said Manny. “You really did have a lot of good ideas. I am sorry I was upset before. Friends again?”

  “Friends forever!” said Sadiq, laughing and hugging his friend.

  He couldn’t wait to begin his job as cla
ss president!

  GLOSSARY

  ballot (BAL-ut) —

  a document that shows the choices in an election

  budget (BUH-jit) —

  a plan for how money will be earned and spent

  campaign (kam-PAYN) —

  the steps taken by a candidate to try to win an election

  candidate (CAN-dih-dayt) —

  a person who is running for a position in an election

  check (chek) —

  a document that allows you to give money to someone else through a bank

  election (ih-LEK-shun) —

  a process where people vote for who they want in office

  government (GUH-vurn-ment) —

  a system that is used to run a country, community, or other group

  president (PREZ-uh-dent) —

  a person who is elected by the people in a country or other community to lead them

  samosa (suh-MOH-suh) —

  fried pastry filled with spicy beef, chicken, fish, or vegetables

  secretary (SEK-ruh-tary) —

  a person who helps a group take notes and keep records about the group’s plans and decisions

  treasurer (TREZH-ur-ur) —

  a person who manages money for a group

  vice president (VISE PREZ-uh-dent) —

  a person who helps a president with their work or duties

  TALK ABOUT IT

  Ms. Battersby said that doing hard things is how we grow. What do you think she meant by that?

  What were Sadiq’s reasons for running for president? Why do you think they were so important to him?

  Running for president is hard for Sadiq. Who supported him along the way? How did each of these people help him?

  WRITE IT DOWN

  Imagine you are running for president of your class. What ideas do you have to help people? Write the speech you would give.

  Have you ever had to compete against a friend? How did it feel? Write about what happened.

  Write a story for Sadiq’s school newspaper about the election. You can interview Sadiq, Manny, and others for your story.

  MAKE A CAMPAIGN POSTER

  Sadiq and Manny made posters in their campaigns for class president. Make your own campaign poster. Imagine you are running for class president. Your poster explains why people should vote for you.

  What You Need:

  plain paper

  pencil

  colored markers

  poster board

  What to Do:

  Come up with a headline for your poster. It could be “[Your Name] for Prez!” or “Vote 4 [Your Name].” Or it could be something more creative, like a rhyming phrase, pun, or joke using your name.

  Brainstorm 2–4 ideas for what you will do if elected. How will you make things better for your classmates?

  Do you want your poster to include art? Consider drawing stars, flowers, a ballot, or something else.

  Choose a design from the examples below, or make up your own.

  Practice drawing your design with pencil on the plain paper. Make another practice poster if you want to keep improving it.

  When you like the way your practice poster looks, repeat the design on your poster board using the colored markers.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Siman Nuurali grew up in Kenya. She now lives in Minnesota. Siman and her family are Somali—just like Sadiq and his family! She and her five children love to play badminton and board games together. Siman works at Children’s Hospital and in her free time she enjoys writing and reading.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  Christos Skaltsas was born and raised in Athens, Greece. For the past fifteen years, he has worked as a freelance illustrator for children’s book publishers. In his free time, he loves playing with his son, collecting vinyl records, and traveling around the world.

  Published by Picture Window Books, an imprint of Capstone.

  1710 Roe Crest Drive

  North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  capstonepub.com

  Copyright © 2022 by Capstone. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.

  ISBN: 9781663909862 (hardcover)

  ISBN: 9781663921901 (paperback)

  ISBN: 9781663909831 (eBook pdf)

  ISBN: 9781663909848 (eBook)

  Summary: Ms. Battersby has announced that Sadiq’s third-grade class will be having elections for student government! Everyone is buzzing with excitement, but Sadiq isn’t sure about any of it. Should he run for one of the positions? He does lots of research and gets good advice from his family. Sadiq finally decides what he wants to do … but a good friend has the same idea! Can friendship survive an election?

  Designer: Tracy Davies

  Design Elements: Shutterstock/Irtsya