A CHOICE-FILLED ADVENTURE STORY
THE HAUNTED CASTLE AND THE LEGENDARY RINGS Written by Students of MR. GRAMBAU’S FOURTH GRADE CLASS at ABBOT ELEMENTARY
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 are in a haunted castle in Japan near Mount Everest. You see snow and water. There is not enough food in the castle. The food there has been poisoned! You can try to escape, or you can help the people who have been poisoned.
If you decide to escape, turn to page 2. If you decide to help others, turn to page 3.
1
You decide to try to escape. Outside the castle, you find a tiger on one path and a wolf on the other. You try to talk to the wolf, and he says, “You are stuck in the 1900s! To find a way out, you need to find three golden rings.” You set out to find the golden rings. On your way, you pass a red house, climb over a big hill, and end up at a volcano. To get the rings, you have to wear a fire suit to not get burned. But you don’t have one yet.
If you decide to talk to the tiger, turn to page 4. If you decide to go in without the suit, turn to page 5.
2
You decide to stay at the castle to help the people who have been poisoned. You have to get them tons of water. You travel to the top of Mount Everest and melt some snow for water. It doesn’t work. You take the people who have been poisoned to a different place in the castle, then leave the castle and go to a nearby house to get non-poisonous food. When you return, you feed the people food that hasn’t been poisoned and make blankets for them out of yarn and leaves. You start a fire with sticks that you carry around. You search around the castle for medicine. While you’re searching the castle, you find a clue about who poisoned the food! First, a knight’s armor fell down by itself when there was no wind. The lights shut off, but there is no storm or anything. Then, you find a secret door. A ghost of a past king who didn’t like the kingdom was hiding in the secret room with the poison and the cure! He has a floating crown. You can go through a portal to fight the ghost in the underworld or you can try to take the cure to save everyone.
If you decide to fight the ghost, turn to page 6. If you decide to cure everyone, turn to page 7.
3
You decide to go talk to the tiger. You ask about the other way to escape. The tiger says, “I will help you. But you need a special key. You can find it in the magic tree, and you can get the key by fighting my evil twin brother. The key unlocks a room full of cheesy pepperoni pizza! If you eat a certain piece it will help you escape the 1900s.” You follow the tiger’s instructions and unlock the room full of pizza. But the slices all look the same! You decide to eat as much pizza as you can in order to escape. Finally, after the last piece, a door opens. Behind the door is a field to freedom. It is green and full of flowers and cheetahs. You go to a well and wish to get to safety and for no more homework. You ride on a cheetah and swim to a house for safety where you find cheesy pepperoni Italian pizza and candy. You finally escape! The End
4
(start again at page 1)
After waiting a 100 years, the lava has dried. You walk across the dried lava to get the rings. As you grab them, a lava monster appears! The lava monster is black, orange, and yellow with cracks all over its face and body. It stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and has lava dripping down its arms. You can only see its mouth, eyes, and eyebrows. The lava monster is wearing a red and white t-shirt that says “Larry Zuru the Lava” on the center. As you try to run to safety, you see Larry’s pet, a two headed crocodile, that slithers towards you. Suddenly, you realize that you’re surrounded by hundreds of crocodiles. The next thing you know, you are tied to a chair, looking out the window to see a futuristic city. You untie yourself from the chair and realize that it is the year 3020 from a building displaying the date. You find the ring in your pocket. As you try to use it, a friend pops out of the ring. You also see a poster of your face on a building outside the window. The poster says, “This hero saved the world! If you see this person, bring them to the police station to accept their award.” Your friend asks you to go on an adventure with them.
If you go to the police station to accept your award,
write your own ending. If you go on an adventure with your friend,
write your own ending. 5
(start again at page 1)
You decide to take the portal to the underworld and fight the ghost! When you enter the portal, the ghost is right in front of you, it is now visible in the portal. Unfortunately, another ghost tells you that you cannot stay in the underworld for long. You have 1 hour to defeat him and it resets every time you enter the portal. Now that you can see the ghost, he looks like the king from Burger King with a long beard and almost see through blue skin. Suddenly he lunges at you and you realize you need to go get a weapon from the castle. You go back to the castle and find a ghost sword near the portal that is almost invisible. When you get back to the portal, it is about to close so you dive under it. Now that you are in the underworld, you need to search for another portal. You also see the king flying away with ghost guards around him. You run after him, but the guard stops you. You ask him the story and he says his ex-wife (the queen) almost poisoned him! You are so surprised that you do a front flip over the guards to attack the king. They put up their spears to stop you and you realize that they are also ghosts, so you run away with the sword. While running, you find a castle and poltergeist that is also seeking revenge on the king. He tells you that he was almost poisoned too! You ask him if he wants to work together to fight the king or you can ignore him.
If you work together with the poltergeist, write your own ending. If you ignore the poltergeist, write your own ending.
6
(start again at page 1)
You decide to cure everyone. The cure is in a bottle just like the poison bottle. It’s round with green water inside. There isn’t only one bottle, but half a dozen more, but you have to hunt them down! You find a clue on the first bottle, and it leads you to a big, fancy guest bedroom in the castle. There’s a circular queen bed. You find the next bottle after you go through a secret passageway in the closet. You find another clue that leads you to the basement, with a maze of random stuff like old books and rotting food. You have to get to the other side of the maze to get to the next bottle and clue! There you find a stairway to the king’s old and big room. The bedroom is attached to the first secret room you find! The room has torn up pictures with him and the people of the kingdom. He doesn’t like the kingdom because they poisoned him. You have to be careful though, there’s TNT under a pressure plate in the room, and if you step on it, you go KABOOM! You accidentally step on the pressure plate and get launched through the roof into the water outside! There’s a fish in the water who shows you a secret trap door.
If you go through the trap door that the fish showed you,
write your own ending. If you turn back time and step around the pressure plate,
write your own ending. 7
(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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A way to figure things out by ourselves
We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)
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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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