[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-88346-en":3,"doc-seo-88346-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},88346,3848291630094,"Emma Wilson","https://eur-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45",1,"Story & Novel","Aminata and the Red Spiky Ball - Story","Aminata, a curious girl, becomes frightened after hearing adults talk about a sickness caused by a red spiky ball. When a red ball accidentally hits her face, she believes she will get sick and die. Her grandmother explains the truth: a tiny virus can spread through nose and mouth fluids, making some people seriously ill or even die, but most recover. She then teaches four practical ways to stay well, starting with careful handwashing with soap.","Aminata and the Red Spiky Ball  \nEnglish  \nCopyright © 2021, SIL International and SIL LEAD, Inc.  \n[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)[ ](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc.  \nOriginal story for African context funded by All Children Reading A Grand Challenge for Development  \nAminata and the Red Spiky Ball  \nWritten by  \nHazel Large, Christine Brodie, and Tara Huberty  \nIllustrated for Asia by  \nChandra Kurniawan  \nThe Aminata book series is funded by SIL International and SIL LEAD, Inc.  \nEnglish  \nAminata was a very curious girl. She liked to listen to the things that grownups say, especially when they didn’t know she could hear them. Sometimes she heard them say good things. Sometimes she heard bad things, and sometimes she heard things that made her afraid.  \nOne day, Aminata heard her mother and grandmother talking about a sickness that comes from a red spiky ball. Some people got very very sick and some people died. Aminata became very scared. She started looking everywhere for the spiky ball so that she could run away before it made her sick.  \nThat afternoon, Aminata’s mother sent her to buy some oil. As she walked to the store, Aminata looked carefully for the red spiky ball, but she didn’t see it. After buying the oil, Aminata began walking home. On the way, she saw some boys playing. Suddenly, their bright red ball shot forward and hit Aminata in the face. She began to scream.  \nShe screamed so loudly that the neighbours all stopped what they were doing to see what was happening. Aminata ran home crying.  \n\"What’s wrong?\" asked her grandmother as Animata’s family came to see why she was crying.  \nAfter taking some deep breaths she explained, \"The boys were playing with their red ball and it hit me in the face. Now I am going to die. \"  \nThe family was very puzzled. \"Why will you die?\"  \nAminata sobbed, \"I heard mother and grandmother talking about a red ball that can make you very sick and you can die. The red ball hit me, so now I will get sick and die!\"  \nHer brother laughed, ‘Aminata is so silly. That sickness is just a story.’  \n‘No,’ said grandmother, ‘It’s real. Let me tell you about it.’ The children sat down to listen as grandmother explained about the new sickness.  \n‘It’s a sickness that comes from a germ called a virus. This virus is so small that you cannot see it. But doctors have looked at it with a special machine and say it is like a small, red spiky ball. If the virus gets inside your body, it can make you sick.”  \n\"You mean like malaria?\" asked Aminata.  \n\"A little like malaria, but you don’t get it from mosquitoes. The virus travels through the fluid in our nose and mouth. Some people get the virus but they don’t even feel sick. Some people only feel a little bit sick, but other people get very sick and have to go to the hospital. \"  \n\"And some people die?\" asked Aminata with big scared eyes.  \n\"Yes. It’s very sad. But most people get better after a while. So we don’t have to be scared,\" said grandmother.  \n\"I don’t want to get sick and go to the hospital,\"said Aminata, and a big tear rolled down her cheek.\"I don’t want you to get sick either,\" said grandmother, \"so I’m going to tell you four things we can do to stay well. \"  \n\"The first thing is you must wash your hands very carefully with soap. You must do it often—when you come home from shopping or being near other people, before you eat, or after you have touched anything from outside the yard. It is good to wash your hands many times every day. \"  \nMoussa looked at his hands. \"My hands are not dirty,\" he said.  \n\"But you can’t see the germs,\" said Aminata.  \n\"That's right,\" said Grandma, \"so wash your hands even if you th","cbCaioawteVWAM8D","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioawteVWAM8D","pdf",6306105,2,19,"English","en",105,"# Aminata's fear of the red spiky ball\n## The accident with the red ball\n## Grandmother explains the virus\n## Handwashing to stay well","[{\"question\":\"Why does Aminata think she will get sick after the red ball hits her?\",\"answer\":\"She overhears adults talking about a sickness linked to a red spiky ball. When the bright red ball hits her face, she believes the sickness will affect her too.\"},{\"question\":\"What does Aminata’s grandmother say actually causes the sickness?\",\"answer\":\"Grandmother explains it is caused by a germ called a virus that is too small to see. Doctors say it is like a small, red spiky ball, and it can enter the body and make people sick.\"},{\"question\":\"What first step does grandmother teach to help keep people well?\",\"answer\":\"Grandmother’s first advice is to wash hands very carefully with soap and to do it often—such as after coming home, before eating, and after touching things from outside the yard.\"}]",1784272825,29,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"aminata-and-the-red-spiky-ball-story","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/aminata-and-the-red-spiky-ball-story/88346/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-25","2026-07-17",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why does Aminata think she will get sick after the red ball hits her?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"She overhears adults talking about a sickness linked to a red spiky ball. When the bright red ball hits her face, she believes the sickness will affect her too.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What does Aminata’s grandmother say actually causes the sickness?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Grandmother explains it is caused by a germ called a virus that is too small to see. Doctors say it is like a small, red spiky ball, and it can enter the body and make people sick.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What first step does grandmother teach to help keep people well?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"Grandmother’s first advice is to wash hands very carefully with soap and to do it often—such as after coming home, before eating, and after touching things from outside the yard.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,95,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},90,"story-novel",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":137},"General","general"]