LIHU‘E — Stuffed animals, books and toys invaded Lia Yamasato’s room.

All of this without her realizing it.

“You should do something responsible today,” her mother Natsumi told the girl, a student at Elsie Wilcox Elementary School.

That formed the basis for Lia’s essay “Character Counts!” sponsored by the Kaua‘i Association for Family & Community Education.

Lia thought about reorganizing her room and when she got there, “I couldn’t believe how messy it was. It had stuffed animals, books and toys all piled up on top of each other. They invaded my room,” she wrote in her essay that earned first place honors for Kaua‘i.

With the help of her mother, Lia installed two new bookshelves and donated some of the stuffed animals and toys, capping the task by sweeping the dusty floor and using citrus cleaning sprays to wipe up everything.

“Voila! A clean room! That was a big responsibility,” Lia wrote in her essay that advanced to become a state winner at the contest.

For her efforts, Lia, the daughter of Aaron and Natsumi Yamasato, was presented with gift certificates from Border’s Books & Music.

Lynette Muranaka is her writing teacher at Wilcox Elementary School.

•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com