- Carrie is a little girl who shrinks every time she feels small or says "I can't". One day she shrinks so small that she can ride on the back of a butterfly. The butterfly teaches her that sometimes "being small is in your mind". Through a series of adventures, Carrie learns the truth of the butterfly's words.—Stephen Cobert
- Carrie is a little girl with a problem. Every time she feels small or says "I can't", Carrie shrinks. When she sees her bathtub full of water, she gets so small she could go down the drain. When she gets on a crowded elevator, Carrie shrinks so tiny that her mother could put her in her purse.
One day, Carrie is flying her kite when it gets caught in a tree. She goes to her mother and asks her to get it down, but her mother is busy and suggests that Carrie get it herself. Carrie answers, "I can't"... and shrinks. She then goes to her brother and asks him to get the kite down. He likewise tells her to get the kite down herself. Carrie tells him, "But I can't!"... and shrinks again.
Carrie walks into the living room where her father is watching television. By now she is so tiny has to climb the arm of the chair where her dad is sitting just so he will notice her. Carrie knocks down her father's drink glass, and is washed out the door into the front yard.
Outside, Carrie feels very sorry for herself. She tells herself all the things she can't do, all the while getting smaller and smaller. By the time she is done, poor Carrie is no bigger than a flea.
Carrie finds a butterfly in her yard. When the butterfly offers Carrie a ride, she can easily climb onto its back and ride it. The butterfly takes his tiny passenger around the neighborhood, listening to her tell about her problems. When Carrie tells her host that she is too small to do anything, the butterfly replies, "If you try to do things you may find that being small is in your mind."
The butterfly flies into an open-air grocery store. He gets too close to a fruit stand and bumps into an apple, knocking Carrie to the street. The world around her terrifies the shrunken girl: dogs and cars look like gigantic monsters to her. Carrie runs to a nearby park, being careful not to get stepped on.
At the park, Carrie is so discouraged that pounds the ground with her fists, yelling, "I CAN'T! I CAN'T! I CAN'T!!". When Carrie shrinks even tinier, she realizes that she must be careful: if she says "those words" again, she might just disappear!
Carrie starts to walk home. She sees a bird stuck on a railroad track by a twig. When Carrie sees a train coming, she runs to the tracks. But a worm blocks her path, asking her, "Where do you think you're going, small stuff?" The worm towers over tiny Carrie, taunting her and telling her that a teensy speck of a girl like her couldn't do anything to help. But Carrie remembers the butterfly's wise words and runs past the worm onto the tracks.
Because she is so little, Carrie can easily get onto the track and push the twig away from the bird's foot. The bird flies free. As Carrie comes out from under the track, the bird flies back to thank her and to praise her for being so brave. Carrie feels proud. All of a sudden, Carrie grows! She gets bigger and bigger until she is almost as big as the bird.
Carrie (who is now mouse-sized) sees a group of boys playing ball. A dog grabs their ball and runs with it. Carrie picks up a stick and throws it in front of the dog. The dog drops the ball so it can fetch the stick instead. The boys get their ball back, and as they walk back to the field, they talk about how smart the person was who threw the stick. Once again Carrie feels very proud; and she grows again. Now Carrie is back to her normal size.
As she walks past a store, Carrie hears a man arguing with the cashier, accusing him of short-changing him a dollar. Carrie notices a dollar bill on the floor, so she picks it up and hands it to the man, asking if he dropped it. The man apologizes to the shopkeeper, and thanks Carrie for being such an alert and observant little girl.
When she gets home, Carrie gets a ladder and gets her kite down from the tree; then, she fixes her kite so it can fly again. Carrie takes her kite out and flies it. She has lots of fun, but the kite gets stuck in a tree again... this time even higher than before! Carrie stops to think about what she can do.
High abve Carrie, the butterfly is flying. He may be very tiny, but he is flying so high that Carrie, the tree, and even Carrie's house look small to him.
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