You step out of your time machine into the year 1000 BC, at the foot of a castle. All around you is nature: trees growing purple and black varieties of apples, water running, and fascinating animals (catdragons, dog-ostriches) moving through the grass swish, swish. Ripe animal smells fill the air. You are here to find the elusive cat-dog (also called a cog): you have never seen one in real life, and you want to befriend one, just to see if it is possible. But there are no cogs in sight.
If you pull a hot dog out of your pocket to try to lure a cog to you, turn to page 2.
If you decide to travel to the future to find a cog instead, turn to page 3.
At a nearby gas station, you pick up a hot dog loaded with ketchup and mustard and take it back to the castle. “Caaaat-Doooog, I have a hot dog fooooooor yooooooou,” you say in a sing-songy voice as you explore the castle.
Cat-dog is eating a submarine sandwich and is upset with you for invading it’s space. Cat-dog attacks you and you have to make a choice.
If you run away, go upstairs, and lock the door, turn to page 4.
If you find something to use as a shield and fight, turn to page 5.
You zoom to the distant future in your floating car. News is that cogs either like it scorching hot or blistering cold. You’re on the lookout for a cog with a cat face, dog body and a tail that’s robotic. They’re usually happy creatures so there’s no need to worry! You pull up the GPS and…
If you go to the savannah, find a two-headed cat-dog that is trying to bite itself, turn to page 6.
If you find a cat-dog in Antarctica but the cat-dog runs away because they are afraid of you, turn to page 7.
You run upstairs, locking the door behind you, so cat-dog can’t get to you. You hear it scratching and beating on the door, but you are safe upstairs so you eat your hot dog to celebrate.
After the whole day goes by, you are hungry again so you decide to see if cat-dog has any more food in the basement. You don’t hear it at the door, so you sneak downstairs and find cat-dog sleeping. You sneak past it, grab a submarine sandwich, then hurry back upstairs and lock the door behind you again.
If you eat the submarine sandwich and rest upstairs until morning, turn to page 8.
If you take the sandwich and run home, turn to page 9.
Before you start fighting, you say, “Can we be friends?” Then you try, “If you don’t stop fighting with me, I’m going to eat your sandwich!” The catdog is scared and bites you: ouch! You turn around to leave; cat-dog chases after you.
“Wait!” says cat-dog, “I DO want to be friends with you. I just got scared because you came into my territory. I am sorry.”
“I am sorry too for entering your territory,” you say. You realize that in all the commotion, all of the food -- hot dogs and sandwiches -- are now on the floor, too dirty to eat.
Then, cat-dog asks, “Can I be your pet?”
If you say “Yes! Please be my pet!” turn to page 10.
If you say, “Hmmm, let’s go get something new to eat,” turn to page 11.
You find the cat-dog in the savannah and see that it is an animal with two heads: a dog head and a cat head on one body. They are fighting and trying to bite each other! You offer them a fish and bacon sandwich to calm them down. After they eat the sandwich they magically separate and all of a sudden all three of you are teleported to a kingdom of ball pits. Both the cat and the dog become your pets. Instantly, your dog gets super strength and your cat gets super speed and you get the power of telekinesis. You now have a choice:
If you stay in the kingdom of ball pits with your cat and dog, turn to page 12.
If you, your cat, and your dog, can leave the kingdom together and go back to Antarctica to be with the other cat-dogs, turn to page 13.
Brrrrrrr!! It’s so cold here in Antarctica. Quivering with excitement you spot the cog but it runs away. Noooo! Come back, you yell as the cog dashes behind a huge block of ice. Standing there freezing you remember that in your bag are some toys and hot dogs ( that you were planning to eat later).
If you lure the cat-dog with a box of cat and dog toys that you throw too far, into a portal to the past, turn to page 14.
If you trap the cat-dog with a trail of hot dogs and find out that they can talk and befriend you, 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