A CHOICE-FILLED ADVENTURE STORY
THE BIG INSECT CATASTROPHIC FIGHT Written by Students of MS. PADGEN-SOUCY’S 5TH GRADE CLASS at MITCHELL 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 sitting in a dog park at sunset. You yell at the rain for ruining the perfect sunset. You hear crickets, and then a scream! You can run, or you can investigate to find out what happened.
If you decide to run, turn to page 2. If you decide to investigate, turn to page 3.
1
When you hear the scream, you run. You are running to a bomb shelter away from the scream. Inside the shelter, there is a vault. There are fire ants in the vault. When you go into the shelter, you see it has beans, meat, and a bunch of chips! There’s also money in the shelter. In the shelter, you can still hear the scream. The scream sounds like it is following you and is right outside your door. In the shelter, you are trying to look for your family. It is silent now. You eat all of the beans and meat in only 2.1 seconds! You’re stress eating. The screaming is back, and is coming from the same door it was coming from earlier. Luckily, you have a baseball bat in the shelter to go out and investigate! You step outside and see a gigantic spider climbing on top of a couple of fangirls! The spider is HUGE! It is 5 feet tall! The spider is with a centipede. It is a big centipede that is 10 feet wide! You have to make a choice: do you get rid of the spider and centipede to save the fangirls? Or do you run away?
If you decide to save the fangirls, turn to page 4. If you decide to run away, turn to page 5.
2
When you investigate, you discover a cricketsized Godzilla terrorizing a city of crickets. The mini Godzilla is also fighting cricket-sized bobble-headed, flying beluga whales, Shrek, Mr. Krabs, and Elon Musk. After they fight, they begin to sing and dance. They have a singing and dancing battle. They are wearing hot pink sparkly dresses. The song goes: “Slay what you wanna slay and let the slay shout! Slay soul sisters, slay sister mister!” You decide to sing with them. Your voice is loud and squeaky. When you sing, glass breaks. You can help Godzilla or Elon Musk and the others.
If you decide to help Godzilla, turn to page 6. If you decide to help Elon Musk and the others, turn to page 7.
3
First, you give the spider a quick hug. One at a time, you and the fangirls whack the spider and the centipede like a pinata. The spider and the centipede become paralyzed. You and the four fangirls run back to the bunker. On the way to the bunker, you hear a loud screech. The spider is upset! A giant frog has snuck into the bunker! The frog shoots his tongue at the centipede, narrowly avoiding our head. The spider hides because it has become frightened of the frog. You soon find out that the frog is one of the fangirls’s pet when she says “good boy” to the frog. You befriend the frog and take it as your own pet or take home the giant spider as a pet. The End
4
(start again at page 1)
You run away from the spider and centipede. You throw the bat at them to make sure they don’t come after you. You run to a bus stop and hope the buses are still running. The bus can take you to see the President so you can make this a national emergency! You get to the bus stop and have to wait 26 minutes for the next bus to come. Instead, you take a cab. You are in Boston so it’s easy to find a cab and you don’t have to wait very long. You choose to get in the cab. Then, one of the small spider babies that’s 5 feet wide gets on top of the cab! It makes the drive very difficult. The spider baby throws you a pickle and you eat the pickle, but it makes you feel really sick! The spider baby gets knocked off the cab and we can finally get to our destination! You go to the airport so you can take a plane to D.C. You get on the plane and it starts to fly, but suddenly it can’t fly anymore because there’s a centipede! Your plane has to land in New York City. In New York, you get on a train to go to D.C. On the train, you’re almost to your destination but then you run into the fire ants again! The train driver gets scared and runs away so the train doesn’t work. You are in Baltimore. You have to walk to Washington D.C. When you get there, you meet the President. The President doesn’t believe the story. But, the spiders and centipedes show up and the President gets scared! You take a plane to Paris. There are spiders on the plane! You have to go in the sea and swim to safety. Finally, you are all safe! The End! 5
(start again at page 1)
The floating bobble-headed beluga whales are mad at you because you don’t help them. The whales follow you. You run away from the whales really fast. Godzilla runs with you, and he runs like a T-Rex. When you get to a cafe, Mr. Krabs comes out of nowhere! Sophia the First also shows up and starts singing. She is singing “Slay What You Want to Slay” and “Let It Go.” Mr. Krabs and Sophia come running at you. Ariana Grande is a barista at the cafe, and Sophia wants Ariana to sing. Ariana sings “Seven Rings” and then “A Whole New World.” Olivia Rodrigo is back from her world tour and comes into the cafe. She announces that she got her driver’s license. Olivia is riding a giant worm. She starts fighting the beluga whales and Godzilla. Olivia wins the war against the beluga whales but not Godzilla. Olivia decides to leave. She wants to know if Godzilla still wants to fight. The beluga whales come back to life and side with Olivia’s worm.
If you team up with Olivia, write your own ending. If you team up with Godzilla, write your own ending.
6
(start again at page 1)
You decide to help the beluga whales, Elon Musk, Shrek, and Mr. Krabs. Elon Musk, Mr. Krabs, and Shrek gain super saiyan mode. They create a super crab, swamp, and money bomb. This bomb is a giant orb made of crabs, the mud from Shrek’s swamp, and Elon Musk’s money. They throw it at Godzilla. His scales light up as he shoots a beam out of his mouth in retaliation. When he shoots the laser beam, he grows 50 times bigger. The laser beam cuts through the earth. You go ultra-instinct. This is like super saiyan mode times three million! After this happens, Godzilla’s laser beam hits the super bomb, creating a massive explosion. The explosion turns all the leaves into chocolate. Majin Buu arrives and eats the chocolate. He accidentally runs into Godzilla on his way, so you end up winning the battle! The End
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.
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 elementary-aged writers. IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day 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. In addition, we hold regular Writers Clubs, in which small groups of students are able to work on a writing project over the course of a semester, culminating in a publication. We also partner with schools to hold Family Writing Labs: laughterfilled events in which families to come together and participate in an evening of engaging writing activities and community connection. FIELD TRIPS Always full of surprises and theatrics (and usually a visit from our crotchety editor, Dr. Blotch), our Field Trip program is an experiential writing extravaganza. We welcome teachers to bring their classes in for field trips during the school day. Students join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is 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. Often the field trip writing is connected to a second leg of the students’ journey, whether a trip to a museum, library, or local record label, thanks to our many incredible community partners. 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. We have two locations: Ann Arbor Robot Supply Co. at 115 East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor and Detroit Robot Supply Co. at 1351 Winder Street in Eastern Market in Detroit. Our Ann Arbor location is open for in-person shopping, and you can visit the Robot Supply Co. at onwardrobots.com at any time. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!
WRITING IS
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)
A way to help us connect to our world
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
A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become
We work with a group of writers who help and support each other
A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world
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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
826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
Find out more at 826michigan.org