A CHOICE-FILLED ADVENTURE STORY
THE MEEP ALIEN AND THE STOLEN CANDY Written by Students of TRACEY’S 3/4 CLASS at ANN ARBOR OPEN
FIRST EDITION AN 826MICHIGAN DIGITAL PUBLICATION
Copyright © 2022 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, and the authors. The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study. By purchasing this book, you are helping 826michigan continue to offer free student programs. For more information, please visit: 826michigan.org
You travel through space on a business trip to get to Meepland, which is like Mars. You are a meep agent and a spy on a mission. Meepland’s capital is New York City. There are carnivorous flowers and lots of trees on Meepland. Some Meeps look like cats. Others have hats covering their heads. Some Meeps look like stick people with pom-pom hair. They make a “meeping” sound, but all Meeps sound different. You go to one of the five caves in New York City to try to find a Meep alien who wears a pink tuxedo with green polka dots and blue stripes. The caves are at the bottom of a deep canyon. This alien is the last of its kind, and it is very dangerous. The Meep alien committed a crime: it stole candy! You can follow and fight the Meep alien, or you can walk away and leave.
If you decide to follow and fight the alien, turn to page 2. If you decide to walk away and leave, turn to page 3.
1
You get lost in the cave and you’re far enough behind that they can’t see or hear you. When you try to go back up, you notice the ladder you used is gone! You keep following it into the cave, and you find a disco party. You accidentally slip on a pebble and the alien sees you. The alien says, “Are we gonna make it?” Maybe you can find a booger or you can find a crystal. The alien brings the candy to the disco party.
If you decide to find a booger, turn to page 4. If you decide to find a crystal, turn to page 5.
2
You want the glory of punching the alien in the face, but you decide it is too dangerous to fight the alien. You can’t take the risk! So you decide to hop on your rocketship and report back to your boss in the capital, New York City. You fly into space, but you forget where New York City is. While you are flying, your ship starts to make weird noises like MEH MEH MEH. Your ship falls toward the sun! You are running out of fuel. You feel nervous. One person finds an emergency rocketship. They press a button, and the small rocketship breaks off of the big rocketship before it crashes into the sun. You only have enough fuel for one flight. You must choose whether to go back to Meepland or go somewhere else.
If you decide to go back to Meepland, turn to page 6. If you decide to go somewhere else, turn to page 7.
3
You are still in the cave at the disco party and you notice the alien is so scared that it shoots a booger out of its nose!! The alien is worried because Meeps might steal the candy. “Oh no! Here come the Meeps! We are in trouble . . .” The Meeps come in to have a dance battle. One Meep waves their hands in the air and pretends to conduct music. One does backward rope jumping. One does a disco point. Another one spins in circles. Then one does a cartwheel! Another one does a pogo jump.
If you want to keep dancing, write your own ending. If you want to leave or go farther into the cave,
write your own ending. 4
(start again at page 1)
The crystal you find in the cave has magical powers of X-ray vision and being able to find the alien Meep that stole the candy. When you hold the crystal in your hand, it tells you what direction the alien Meep went! The crystal tells you to go right, then left, then right again. You must find the alien to get the giant Kit Kats, lollipops, and chocolate. You follow the directions the crystal gives you, and it leads you straight to the alien!! You yell to the alien, “Give me back my candy!” The alien runs away, so you follow. Once you catch the alien, you must box with it to win your candy back. During the boxing match, the alien puts up a good fight. You lose five teeth, but you win the match! You complete your mission, and you head back to the surface. The End
5
(start again at page 1)
When you choose to go back to Meepland, you go back and eat brownies from a special bakery in Meepland. But the people seem kind of weird! They talk gibberish a lot “fsjsfljsfjisefjisefjiejieqiq8ur” and some are dancing weirdly in the kitchen. After eating the brownies, you run to the bathroom, and when you go to flush, a secret passage sucks you into the toilet! As you go down the toilet, you use your walkie-talkie to communicate with the group. The rest of the group meets up, and you find a secret spy area with toys and computers. On the computers there is a secret brownie recipe. You learn there is a special ingredient that is a potion! The potion makes it SEEM tasty, but the bakery people work with the alien that stole the candy. There are three new secret doors. One of them has an alien on it, one has a piece of candy, and one has a money sign on it.
If you choose the door with an alien on it,
write your own ending. If you choose the door with a piece of candy on it,
write your own ending. If you choose the door with a money sign on it,
write your own ending. 6
(start again at page 1)
You decide to go to Candy & Pancake land, which is in a different universe. You find some very yummy and sweet things there! There are no Meeps in Candy & Pancake land. Weird, edible people made out of bacon live there. You are a little bit bigger than these bacon people. They speak part Meep and part another language. There are bacon people roaming around the planet eating pancakes and candy. They dive into a butter river and climb up donut and cupcake mountains. You start to eat a donut mountain, but the bacon people start attacking you! You get syrup from a waterfall and use it to try to melt the bacon people, but it doesn’t work. At least it was delicious! You decide to go back to New York City, where things can go back to normal. You just want to go home! The End
7
(start again at page 1)
(space to write your own ending)
THE END 8
(start again at page 1)
(space to write your own ending)
THE END 9
(start again at page 1)
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. We believe that with one-onone attention from caring adults, students improve their academic performance, develop a sense of belonging, and discover the unique value of their voices. We also believe that the more fun a student has, and the more directly we speak to a student’s interests, the more we can help students find the fun in learning. That’s why our programs are more than just extra homework. All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their individual voice. ONLINE LEARNING LAB In the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned all of our programs online. Our priority is to ensure the safety of our community, while continuing to offer engaging, high-quality opportunities to students. Each of our main programs—Schoolwork Support, Workshops, Field Trips, and In-school Projects—has been reimagined for the virtual space as part of our new Online Learning Lab. For the 2021–22 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well! SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18. Generally, we offer this program at three locations: at our Liberty Street Lab in Ann Arbor, at the Michigan Avenue Branch of the Ypsilanti District Library, and at our Winder Street Lab in Detroit’s Eastern Market, though in-person programs are on pause this year. We have added a Virtual Schoolwork Support program. Students are paired with two tutors to work on assignments for school and writing projects of their choosing.
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826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
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