Boy's story of kindness lands in popular magazine

CLEARWATER — Logan Grutchfield recently discovered that being nice to someone can pay off.

Logan, 9, a fourth-grader at McMullen Booth Elementary School, will be recognized in the December issue of the popular children's magazine Highlights for Children. The magazine, whose readers generally run from ages 6 to 12, invited children to explain in 100 words or less how they had "caught the nice bug" — performed some small act of kindness for another person.

"We got over 1,000 submissions for the 'nice bug' feature," said Hillary Bates, who works in public relations for the magazine.

Logan, the son of Dana and Scott Grutchfield of Clearwater, was among 11 children nationwide whose short stories of good deeds were published.

"I was shocked and happy," he said.

Logan's tale involves a friend at school who hit him. He did not hit back, but rather offered the friend a snack and a chance to go first playing his favorite video game. The gesture apparently impressed Logan's classmate.

"The two boys are better friends than ever," said Logan's father.

Logan has no intention of entering more contests or becoming a writer. He has set his sights on computer programming and design.

"He's a talented little man," Scott Grutchfield said of his son. "We're just flattered that his work was found entertaining enough to publish."

The family said they'd be pleased if Logan's story inspired others to do kind deeds as well.