"Reader's Digest Assn. is proud to present Reminisce Magazine's Grand Prize Winner in its inaugural memoir contest. Our judges found Confessions of a Martian Schoolgirl an easy read of an honest story, with fine detail of growing up in the '40s and '50s on the Midwest prairie. Humor abounds amidst dark moments in an entertaining coming-of-age tale. --- Courtenay Smith, Executive Editor, Reader's Digest and Reminisce magazinesThe white schoolhouse with its red roof was directly across Osceola's main gravel road from Grandma's house. A merry-go-round reigned alone in the side yard, an octagon of wooden slab seats set in rusty iron pipes. Karl and I could push it and hop on for a few squeaky circles around the dusty grass, but it was too heavy for me alone so I didn't go over there by myself. Two freshly painted white outhouses were behind the school, ready for the school year which began on Tuesday after Labor Day. Grandma wouldn't let me go. "Karl is going! Karl can't even read, and he is going! I want to go to school," I wailed, my four-year-old heart broken. She forbade me to cross the borrow pit, even when the kids were out for recess, so I sat on the porch and watched four or five kids at a time get a really good ride on the merry-go-round due to synchronized pushing, hopping and riding.