Al Marsiglia

Stella is a Starfish, but not an ordinary Starfish. Stella doesn't swim. Stella walks, skips rope, dances and does cartwheels! She is very different from all the other fish and because of this, Stella's family and friends make fun of her and call her names. This goes on day after day.

After a long time of this ill-treatment, Stella can't take it any longer and one night decides to leave home. She packs her things, climbs out of her window and makes her way along the ocean bottom until she comes upon a large anchor attached to a chain that goes to the surface. Being very curious, Stella climbs the chain and discovers it is attached to a boat. She climbs into the boat and finds a place in the bottom in a box on some rags where she can rest. The boat starts up and Stella thinks she is on her way to some strange country, but the boat only goes a short distance and stops. She then sees the men on the boat throw a net over the side and she realizes she is on a fishing boat and the boat is over her hometown of Fishburg. Before long she sees the net being hauled up. Caught in the net are members of her family and friends. Stella is very distraught and realizes that unless something is done, her family and friends are going to end up in someone's fry pan. But what can she do? She sees there is a man at the controls of the fishnet and after thinking very quickly and very hard, Stella comes up with an idea. She decides she will run at the man at the controls, do cartwheels and yell Boo! Of course, the fisherman at the control has never seen a Starfish run and do cartwheels and yell Boo, so he becomes startled and releases the lever that controls the fishnet. The fishnet opens and all of Stella's family and friends are saved as they fall safely back into the ocean. Stella jumps off the boat and returns to her hometown.

When she gets home her friends and family and all the fishes in her town are there to greet her and thank her for saving them. They love her and never make fun of Stella again.

The moral of this story is: Don't make fun of someone you think is different than you. It is wrong and someday you may need them.