It is a typical Wednesday at Edison Elementary School in Michigan. All of the students are taking their seats in the classroom and preparing their materials as the morning bell has rung. Mrs. Jones, the teacher, is in a good mood until her eyes land on the student seated at the front row. Drew does not have any books out, and he plays with his pencils, imagining he is building the world’s tallest tower. Her eyes focus on Drew, like those of an eagle when it has spotted its prey.
“Drew, why aren’t you prepared for class like the other good students in this classroom?”
“I am prepared,” Drew said. Mrs. Jones now is frustrated; one of her eyebrows slants upward, displaying her surprise that one of her students would ever speak back to her. 
“As far as I am concerned, you will never be prepared for anything if you continue to act like this.” Mrs. Jones walks away, and she begins to write some notes on the board.
“Today, we are going to review our lesson about absolute value,” Mrs. Jones said. “Drew, what is the absolute value of negative five?”
Drew, who had been staring at the map on the side of the room, looks at Mrs. Jones with a confused face. “Africa?” The entire classroom bursts with laughter.
“What is the absolute value of negative five?”
“Oh, five,” Drew said. His face reddens as he has realized the foolishness of his previous response.
“Thank you. Next time, let’s try to stay focused.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Although Mrs. Jones advises him to stay focused, Drew already dozes off into his own world. An imagination like Drew’s is very hard to tame, and he is rarely able to think within the limits of school. Before he knows it, class is over. Right when he is about to dash for the library, he is stopped by Mrs. Jones.
“Drew, may I have a word with you?” Without waiting for an answer, Mrs. Jones begins to speak. “I am very worried about you right now. You seem to have a hard time succeeding in my class, and I am not sure you are where you need to be. If you don’t start to show any interest during my class, you could fail the sixth grade. Please tell your mother I would like to speak to her sometime soon.” Mrs. Jones pauses for an answer. Drew looks at her for a long time, but he says nothing. He feels ashamed and embarrassed.
“Yes, ma’am.” As Drew walks out of the classroom, he heads toward the library. This moment is the one that he has waited for all day. “Good afternoon, Ms. Parker,” Drew said to the school librarian.
“Good afternoon, Drew. How are you doing? Is school and everything else alright?”
“Yes, ma’am! I have some books to return to you,” Drew said. When he opens his backpack, he takes out a large pile of books that he can barely carry by himself.
“I see you have kept up with your reading, Mr. Drew.”
“Yes, ma’am I have! In fact, I wrote down a list of some books that my mother recommended I read. Does the library have any of these?”
As Ms. Parker looks at the list of books, she chuckles. “You want to read The Odyssey?”
“Yes, is something wrong?”
“Oh, no nothing is wrong. I just think that your choice of books is very unusual for a young boy your age.”
“I just enjoy learning of such archetypes like The Odyssey”
Ms. Parker smiles as she types some words into her computer. “Mr. Drew, you got lucky today. All of your books are at the back of the back of the library on the right. But, I assume you know where to look anyway.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you very much.” After Drew finds all the books on his list, he checks them out and places them in his backpack. He walks outside the school building, where the bus is waiting for him. As he walks into the bus to sit down, the children are all staring at him. All the seats are taken except for the one in the very back of the bus. Drew has no choice but to sit down in that last empty seat.  After sitting down, one of the boys on the bus immediately starts to pick on Drew.
“Hey, Drew! Where’s your house? Africa?!” The children in the bus all begin to laugh hysterically, but Drew does not seem to care. Instead, he opens one of the books he just checked out at the library and begins to read. The bus soon arrives at its designated stop. Drew gets off the bus and walks into his home. He walks into the kitchen, where he finds his mother.
“Good afternoon, Drew. How was your day at school?”
“It was alright. Mrs. Jones told me today that she would like to speak with you some time soon. She said that I am having a hard time succeeding in her class right now.”
“Well, I don’t believe that teacher knows you one bit.”
Drew looks at his mother and smiles. “Alright mom, I’m going to my room right now.”
“Okay, just try not to break anything in there.”
“I won’t, mom.” Drew opens the door to his room. The room is flooded with books, books piled so high in his room that the sunlight which comes from the windows is blocked. Apart from books, there are numerous different contraptions that he has built. From projectors, to computers with three-dimensional screens, to holograms, to even robots that clean his room. Drew smiles and says to himself, “What will I invent today?”