In the year 2040, you decide to take a roadtrip to Hollywood. You’ve always wanted to see the Hollywood sign in real life and to walk along the Walk of Fame. You and your friend pull up to the sign and notice a giant obsidian building in the way. You’ve never seen something like this before. You roll down the windows of your car and hear screaming, growling, and gurgling. A raspy voice yells, “BRAINS!” The doors of the building rattle. Your friend says, “I saw this on Youtube! I DARE you to go inside.”
If you go into the building on the dare, turn to page 2.
If you are a scaredy cat and instead dare your friend to go in, turn to page 3.
You go into the building. You aren’t a scaredy cat. It is dark and spooky, and you can hear the zombies shouting. You run straight to the elevator and get on. There is a zombie above you, on top of the elevator shaft. You can hear the zombie scratching above you as you ride down to the basement. The door opens to alligators. There is a lab that was onced used to run experiments on the monsters. There are vampires, werewolves, and zombies. You look around the lab to find something to fight the monsters with. You know that vampires don’t like garlic, and werewolves don’t like silver. You also know that a vampires’ weakness is bad puns, so you say, “That is a big mistake”, while holding a steak.
You try to escape but the monsters chase you. Finally, you make your way back to the elevator. You ride all the way to the top of the building.
If you escape from the top of the building by a zipline, turn to page 4.
If you don’t leave the building, turn to page 5.
“I double dare YOU to go inside the building. If you go in, I’ll give you $5,000!” you say.
Your friend goes into the building. They try the window but it makes too much noise—glass shattering, scratching, squeaking. Then they try the back door. They disappear into the building.
If you wait 10 minutes and then send a drone in, turn to page 6.
If you chase your friend into the building, turn to page 7.
You glide down the zipline and ride to the woods in a random car that’s just there. There are zombies in the woods and everyone is lost. Daniel has a drone that he tapes top GPS to in order to find you all, but it doesn’t have service in the woods so it doesn’t work.
You’re all surrounded by skeleton horses and zombies. You run away from the zombies fast and zigzag to break their ankles.
If you get into a rocket and have the zombies breathe in a serum that cures them through the rocket fumes, turn the page 8. If you use a teleportal to escape to the top of the building, turn the page 9.
You decide to stay in the building instead of escaping on the zipline. You head back down to the lab. You think you saw something interesting downstairs. You go back down and you find holy water, silver, and swords. You know of a potion that will work on these monsters and you have all of the ingredients you need. The holy water will defeat the zombies, and the silver will defeat the werewolves. The ingredients will need to be mixed together and put in a very special spray bottle. When you spray the bottle, it has a special voice box that will say bad puns to the monsters.
Turn to page 10 if you want to combine all of the ingredients and use the potion and the special spray bottle to defeat the monsters.
Turn to page 11 if you want to lock the basement and find somewhere safe to stay for the next 24 hours to make it to another day.
After 10 minutes, you send 4 drones in after your friend and 1 comes back out. You decide to go inside to find the rest of them.
You find that 1 was eaten by a zombie. The other two are lying dead on the floor, so now you really need to find your friend who has the charger.
You go into the basement of this dark building and find your friend being held hostage by the mad scientist making the zombies!
If you try to rescue your friend, turn to page 12. If you leave the building to get help, turn to page 13.
You open the door to see two more doors. Unsure, you pick the first door. Now you are trapped in a portal. There is no sight or sound of your friend. You feel very nervous.
You open another door: all you see are trees shaking and you seem to be in a maze. You quickly close the door after seeing a dinosaur. You open yet another door: it’s an abandoned science lab.
If you choose to complete an escape riddle to leave the building, turn to page 14.
If you choose to open ANOTHER door with sounds coming out from the other side, turn to page 15.
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
(space to write your own ending)
inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing.
Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members.
SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT
We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Homework support is available for all subjects, for students ages 7–18.
WORKSHOPS
We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementaryaged writers.
IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS
Our trained volunteers go into local public schools to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.
FIELD TRIPS
Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.
OUR STORES
Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. In addition, our online store is always open; visit the Robot Supply Co. at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!
WRITING IS
We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things
We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)
We study the writing we want to do so we can try it
We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose
We work with a group of writers who help and support each other www.826michigan.org
A way to figure things out by ourselves
A way to help us connect to our world
A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become
A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world
826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities.
We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization.
We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands.
As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.
The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.
by Gerald Richards, CEO