Don't Stay Up So Late—2010 Young Author Book Project

DON’T STAY UP SO LATE

Copyright © 2010 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Dr. Thaddeus Blotch, and the authors.

Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Ian Huebert. Spot illustrations courtesy of the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to any people or events, real or imaginary, is purely coincidental. Names of Disney Channel celebrities were changed at the whim of the publishers.

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.

ISBN 978-0-9827293-0-4

Printed in Dexter, Michigan by Thomson-Shore.

Design by Jared Hawkley.

Copyedited by Arina Gidwani, Katie Jones, Kate Marchewka, Frances Martin, Margot Miller, Anna Moschet, Rachel Resin, Angela Scott, Peter Stern, Rebecca Welzenbach, and Amy Wilson. 10

By purchasing this book, you are helping 826michigan continue to offer free student programs. For more information, please visit: www .826 michigan . org

This book is dedicated to the unbridled imagination and to the ritual of the bedtime story.

Also published by

Ekphrastic is Fantastic!

How to Rise or, I Put My Heart into the Close

If I Ever Saw Mr. JK, I Would Ask Him These Things

I’m Grateful for the Moon so I Can See in the Dark

Just Making Some Rhymes and Shooting Hoops

OMNIBUS, Volume 1

OMNIBUS, Volume 2

Strange Mysteries!

Suddenly My Heart Stopped for Just a Small Portion of Time

Talking Back, Giving Thanks, & Why It Never Pays to Drink the Haterade

Tall Tales & True Stories

This Pencil Is My Most Important Possession

Unsquared

Vacansopapurosophobia: Fear of a Blank Page

Vacansopapurosophobia 2

MANY THANKS TO

Kevin Carney

Sue Danuloff

Karla Graessley

Jennifer Foster

Jared Hawkley

Ian Huebert

Sandy Huizenga

Noa Iacob

Jenny Larsen

Frances Martin

Cory McEmeel

Nikki Polizzi

Jacqui Robbins

Jonathan Schwartz

Sandy Todd

Amy Wilson

Catherine Winters

without whom this publication would not have been possible.

Please see the appendix for a full list of acknowledgements.

3. Mysteries

4. Tall Tales

Jacqui Robbins

Whenever i do an author visit to a school, I first ask the students, “Who here is a writer?” I try to make the point that anyone who writes is a writer, but I usually get only a few brave hands and a lot of blank stares. “Aren’t you supposed to be the writer?” I can hear them thinking.

From the moment I walked into Erickson Elementary to volunteer with 826michigan, I knew Erickson was different. Already, the first month of school, even the youngest students were writing. And not just writing—talking about writing, playing with different genres and styles, and working hard to revise and present their work. Every one of these kids would have raised his or her hand, had I asked my usual question. They are all writers and they know it.

Soon, you will know it too. This book represents a year of collaboration between 826michigan volunteers, the fantastic and welcoming staff at Erickson, and those young, amazing writers. Tall tales, fables, and more, all of it created with imagination and hard work. Sit back and relax; you are in for a treat.

wh E r E YOU wi LL w ANDE r T hr OU gh f ANTAST ic LANDS , SU ch AS A m E xic AN j A i L , T h E m OON , AND A w O r LD wh E r E E v E r YT hi N g f LOATS

by students from Mrs. Huizenga’s first grade class

by Zachary Smith

When i Woke up I heard a rat-a-tat-tat. I went straight down the hallway and turned right and opened the attic door. I saw a green alien. The alien had eight eyes and four arms. He could make things in one minute. I grabbed him. He punched me in the nose. I called the army but the army didn’t believe me. I put him in the basement. He ran up the stairs and I told him to go back, but he didn’t do it. Then I picked him up, put him back, and put a gate up. I gave him some food. I wanted to keep him. I wanted to keep him forever.

SUPE r SNA k E

by Cody Medina

one sunday, I was sleeping in my room. A supersnake flew through my window. Supersnake was green. He was long, and he was as big as a tree. He lived in a forest. He woke me with his tail. I told my dad. I told my mom. My mom and dad didn’t believe me. I told my sister. My sister believed me. She said, “Really? He was? Wow!”

I asked Supersnake, “Why did you hit me?”

He said, “I was just playing with you.”

Then we had a good laugh. He left by going out of my window. He flew away.

by Cedric Rabbitt

today i Was in the forest. I was riding my bike, and I saw a monkey. He was red and blue and he had sharp claws and wings. The monkey was sitting on a tree, crying. I asked him why he was crying.

He said, “I don’t know how to fly.”

I asked him, “What do you like to eat?”

He said, “Bananas.”

I went to the banana tree and gave him a banana. He ate it, and then he started to fly. He played with me.

by Maya Gist

once upon a time, on a cold day, there was a talking bell and a talking nut. The nut was yellow and had big feet. The bell was long and fat. They were talking about what they were going to do Friday. It was only Monday.

The bell said, “What movie are we going to see?”

“I don’t want to go,” said the nut.

“Why aren’t we going? You wanted to go.”

“Because I changed my mind,” replied the nut. “I want to go to the gym!”

“I will go to the movies by myself,” frowned the bell.

They went their own separate ways.

by Princess Bruce

yesterday, i Was at the park. I saw a cereal bowl. The cereal bowl was square and heavy. The cereal bowl was sliding down the slide. He wanted to play with me. He asked me some questions. I told him I had to do my work first. Then he went home with me. I cleaned my room, and then I could go outside and play with the cereal bowl. We played tag, we drew, and we colored. We went inside and watched TV. We watched cartoons and ate buttered popcorn. We took a nap and the cereal bowl went to bed with me.

T h E TAL ki N g m ON k EY

by Jeffery Jackson

atalking monkey lived in the forest. He liked to draw pictures and attack cars. This monkey liked pizza. He had a friend, Piggy the fat pig. The monkey ate Piggy. The monkey said, “That was delicious. I want more Piggy.”

by Gabrielle Wallace

When i Was at home, doing my Barbie’s hair, I saw talking brains. The brains were huge—big and had robes on. They were taking a bath with their robes on. Their names were Jim and Susan. Susan was Jim’s wife. I told them my name was Gabrielle.

They said, “Do you need something?”

I said, “No.”

They were nice, and I learned that it was Susan’s birthday. They gave me cake and vanilla ice cream, and they had balloons. I asked them to take me to the Brain World and they did.

At Brain World I saw brain trees and brain flowers and brain ants and brain homes and brain candy and brain shoes, shirts, pants, and everything brain. I must be dreaming, I thought. I was so happy. But then I was missing my mom, my dad, and my older sister. The brains got me to put water on my face and that worked to help wake me up!

A c O w AND A m OUSE AT DAN c E c LASS

by Brianna Sullivan

one cold midnight, in a ballroom, there was a cow with purple dots and a mouse that was all gold. They were best friends, and they both loved to sing and dance. The mouse and the cow had a snowman dance teacher who wore a flowered hat. The two friends got ready to begin their dance class.

“Do you girls know how to do an arabesque?” asked the teacher.

“We don’t know how to do an arabesque !” said the cow. “We can’t do one arabesque. And we can’t bend.”

“We can learn how to do it,” said the mouse.

“Yes, we can learn,” said the cow.

“All you have to do is squat down and put your foot on your knee and twist,” said the snowman dance teacher.

“Let’s try it,” said the mouse and the cow together, and they did.

“We did an arabesque !” they both said. “But we need to practice a little.”

by Jacob Buhnerkemper

once there Were flying monkeys. Some of the monkeys had blue eyes and some of the monkeys had green eyes.

A long time ago, the blue-eyed monkeys killed my mom. My mom came back to life because she was a light spirit. Then I went to live on the moon with my dad. The blue-eyed monkeys decided to go to the moon to steal me. It took them a long time to get to the moon. The green-eyed monkeys flew to the moon to save me. The green-eyed monkeys and the blueeyed monkeys fought until the blue-eyed monkeys were dead. I was happy when the green-eyed monkeys saved my life and got rid of the blue-eyed monkeys.

by Le’Tia Davis

today my bed started to fly. I watched it talk to us.

It said, “Don’t be afraid. I just want to be friends.”

We ran away because we were still afraid. When we came back, my sister and I found a remote control that could control the bed. I pressed stop and it stopped. My sister and I fell asleep at six o’clock. At seven, the bed started to move. It was my mom pressing “play” on the remote control!

by Altwan Chambers

one day, when I was driving my red car in Florida on vacation, I saw a blue car. He was riding by himself. I was scared because he was riding by himself and I had never seen that before. I parked my red car, and I ran and chased the blue car. I caught the blue car and I jumped in him and slowed him down, and then I shut him down. I went home and relaxed. Later, I saw the blue car in the parking lot. He had rolled by himself. I was happy because I found that blue car again.

T h E DO g AND T h E EL f ’ S DAY

by Cameron Taylor

one morning, there was a big, fat dog who had long fur and a long nose. The dog lived in a dangerous world with his friend, the elf. The elf was green.

In winter, they ran every day. They ran into a pink dragon. They got away from the dragon. Then they ran to the worlds. The dog was too tired to run to their world that was red and blue.

Then they were eaten by a monster. But they got out. They were happy. They were so happy that they went to dinner and had a sleep-over.

by Dion Williams

tWo days ago, there was a cow on a farm. A bear had escaped from the zoo and came to the cow’s farm.

The bear said, “Let’s run to the beach.”

The cow said, “No.”

The cow went to sleep. The bear woke him up because he wanted to cook him. The cow ran away. The bear went to the candy shop. He bought marshmallows and he roasted them to eat, instead of the cow.

by Esai McAllister

last friday, I woke up in my room, and I got dressed and went to the waterpark to find a tiger. There was an orange and black tiger there that bit people with his sharp teeth. He was flying and did a front flip, and he crashed into the pool. He found a phone in the pool. Then he started talking on the phone.

I tried to sneak up behind him because I was scared, but I couldn’t sneak up. When he was asleep, I tiptoed in, and but I couldn’t get him.

He went back to his habitat at the zoo. When I got to the zoo, I went to find the tiger. I acted like a tiger and stood very still. The tiger walked next to me and stood still too. I took out my freezing gun and froze him. Finally the town was safe from the biting tiger.

by Michael Dulin

the first day of school, talking dinosaurs went to school. All of the dinosaurs were different. They were as tall as tables. Some had wings and were rainbow colored. There was a Triceratops, Stegosaurus, T-Rex, Brachiosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Velociraptor, Allosaurus, and Microraptor.

At school, they were nice. They did a word search and played games. They had recess.

The next day, they trashed the school.

The day after that, they had to fix the school. After they fixed it, the teacher, Mr. Jake, said, “Good job.” Their moms came to pick them up. They had fun at school.

T h E SUPE r DO g T h AT h ELPS PEOPLE

by Travon Stines

there Was a dog. His name was Super Dog. He was big and strong and could fly. Super Dog helped people.

On Friday, I was home in my room. I saw Super Dog run into a pole. He got dizzy. He had to go to the doctor. Super Dog flew all of the way to the doctor. He got a shot. He wasn’t dizzy anymore. He went home and rested.

Someone yelled, “Help!”

Super Dog sat up, and he said, “Up, up, and away!”

Super Dog saw a bad guy who was taking a lady’s purse. Super Dog helped the lady by doing a back-flip and grabbing the purse.

by AkiiDeAte Mallory

When i Was in kindergarten, I went to the zoo. I turned into a furry, red monkey with round ears. Every animal in the zoo, even the people at the zoo (including children), bothered me. I escaped from the jail. Then I turned into myself, and then the cops chased me. I was taken to a Mexican jail. I escaped from that jail, and then I turned into a boxer. A guy wanted to have a rematch.

The bell rang, and the guy said, “Fight.”

I threw an upper cut. I threw a haymaker. Then I turned into Michael Jackson.

by Te’Jon Patterson

adog got into my house by coming in through the back door. The dog talked to me. He was huge and had sharp teeth, but he was a nice dog. Sometimes he could be mean, too.

He had a nice wife. She was awesome. We played a game of spades, but he got hungry. He ate all of my food. I told him to get out of my house. I threw him out. I locked my door but I forgot to lock the side door. He got back inside my house. Then he became my pet dog forever.

by Vera Oakes

iam a vera-cat. I like to catch a mouse. The mouse will stop when I get him. I will drink water to make my throat feel better after eating him.

Vera-cat goes to a little school. At the end of the day, I walk home. Mama-cat is at home when I get there, and she is big. Fish is Vera-cat’s favorite food. Mama-cat cooks this a lot. Vera-cat can jump up and down five feet high! I do this when Mama-cat cooks the fish because I am excited to eat the fish.

When the sun comes down and the moon goes up, Vera-cat gets ready to sleep. I have a cozy and soft bed. And Vera-cat always lays next to her stuffed animal that is a deer.

by Brandon Runyon

once there Was a twenty-foot-tall, golden-yellow, talking lion. This lion could eat a thousand pounds of buffalo meat. He could do front-flips on a skateboard. He could do back-flips on a scooter. The lion could climb trees.

One day, at a big, green tree, the lion saw hunters. The lion sprung out, fought the hunters, and he saved Africa. They made him king.

by Mia Jihad

one day, when I was outside in my backyard, I saw a talking flower. She was pink, and she wanted to play with me. I was too busy to play because I was watering my flowers. That made her mad.

I said, “When I get done with my chores, I will play with you.”

She said, “Why?”

“Because I said so,” I said. So I finished watering my flowers, and I played with her. We raced each other. When we raced, she won. We went inside to have some pop because she was thirsty. We ate strawberry cake. She ate with her leaves. I thought that looked funny.

I put her back in her soil so she could grow taller and so she could eat and drink more.

by Zi’on Bennett

one morning, I saw the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy was bald, had on a blue dress, and she was mean. She hit me on the head with her wand. Then we started to fight.

I yelled, “Get out!”

Then she said, “Give me your tooth.”

I said, “We can do this all night if we have to.”

So we fought. She ended up getting my tooth. The next morning, I had no money and my tooth was gone. The tooth fairy had taken it.

Two minutes later, I saw her hiding behind a tree. I smacked her, and I got my tooth back. She started to cry. I started to laugh. I went back home.

v E r A AND i g OT LOST

by Persia Camara

vera came to my house today. We were going to go on an adventure. We went to my room to get kneepads and gear for our adventure. We went downstairs to the rectangular vent and crawled into it. We came to a different world. Everything was floating. We saw a floating house with gray windows. We saw people we didn’t know. They told us their names were Kimona, Punny, Tom, and Bronna. We played with them.

When it was time to go back home, we couldn’t find our way. We tried yelling and we tried to light up the vent. Then we followed our knee prints and we were finally able to get back to my house.

by Alaina Hawkins

on one summer morning, I was sleeping with my window open. I heard a noise. It was a red-andyellow, talking flower that had appeared in my bedroom. I jumped out of my bed and I screamed.

She said, “No need to scream. I’m just a flower. Did I scare you?”

I said, “Yes!”

She said, “Plant me.”

I said, “I have to get tools. I have to get water and dirt and a shovel.”

She ran away.

I said, “Hey, you,” and I chased after her and couldn’t catch her. My whole family chased her. Then my friends chased her. We finally caught her.

She said, “Let me go now.”

I said, “No. I’m going to plant you so you don’t run away again.”

So I did.

wh E r E YOU wi LL LEA r N vi TAL LESSONS , SU ch AS wh Y ONE S h OULD NE v E r S i T i N A

v OL c ANO , m A k E fri ENDS wi T h A T ig E r , O r giv E ch EESE TO bir DS

by students from Mrs. Graessley’s and Mrs. Todd’s second grade classes

h E k AN g A r OO AND T h E STOLEN P izz A

by Blake Daniels

there Was a colony of kangaroos that lived in the forest. One of the kangaroos was a ninja who loved cold pizza. The only way he could get cold pizza was by going into a human store.

He didn’t like humans. Humans got on his nerves. They were so annoying. They wouldn’t give him cold pizza just because he was a kangaroo.

One day, Kangaroo Ninja noticed a hole in the bottom of the store. He went into the hole to steal some of the cold pizza. While he was in the store, he found the pizza but some humans saw him. Kangaroo Ninja ran away and got into a car. The humans got into a car, too. The humans chased Kangaroo Ninja.

Kangaroo Ninja felt bad for stealing the cold pizza. He stopped the car and gave the humans some money. The humans let Kangaroo Ninja keep the cold pizza.

Moral: If you are going to take something from a store, you should pay for it.

by Zimaya Lowe

once upon a time, there was a girl zebra named Princess. She did not have any friends anymore because she was bossy to her friends. She used to breakdance with her friends and have marshmallow fights.

Before she left school one day, her friend gave her instructions for how to build a robot friend. But… when she turned it on, it chased her wherever she went. It chased her all day and night.

She drove to the squid who had given her the instructions to build the robot, and she yelled, “THESE ARE THE WRONG INSTRUCTIONS!”

Moral: Don’t make a friend even though you want a friend. Don’t be bossy, and you can have lots of friends.

T h E m OUSE AND T h E ch EETA h

by MacKenzie DeLauder

once upon a time, there was a cheetah named Sara. She was a peaceful animal, not like most cheetahs. She didn’t eat meat. She ate fruits and vegetables.

One day, while she was eating her fruit, she heard a sound and looked around. She saw a mouse walking by. The mouse saw Sara and started to shake. The mouse thought the cheetah was going to eat her.

Sara smiled at the mouse and said, “Hi, little one! I guess you want some cheese.” The mouse smiled back at Sara. “I guess you do, then,” said Sara. Sara gave the mouse some cheese. “How about we take a walk,” Sara said to the mouse, smiling once again.

The mouse and Sara walked through the jungle together. They were friends from that day on.

Moral: If you meet someone new, be kind.

by Jacob Hall

once upon a time, there lived a monster who lived in the sewer. The monster was just like any other monster. He liked to scare people, and he liked to drink sewer water.

One day, he decided to scare a kid. That night, the monster crept into the kid’s house. He tiptoed into a room. He jumped out from under the bed. “Roar,” said the monster. The kid did not scream.

The kid said, “You don’t scare me!”

“I am a monster. I am supposed to scare you,” replied the monster.

The kid grinned and said, “Well, you don’t.” The kid rolled over and went back to sleep.

The monster was sad and then mad. So he took a deep breath and roared as loud as he could. The kid screamed and ran out of the room. The monster was happy.

Moral: Always try again.

T h E ELEP h ANT AND T h E h O r SE

by Alissa Clark

once there Was an elephant. The elephant loved peanuts. She was eleven years old, and she lived in the zoo. Her name was Lucy, and her favorite thing in the world was a little, red bag that she wore on her trunk. The bag was a birthday present from the zookeeper. She kept her peanuts in the bag.

On January 1, something very bad happened. A horse named James, who lived on a farm a mile away, escaped! James was a horse who was good, but a little bad, too. He saw Lucy at the zoo. She was wearing her red bag filled with peanuts. James saw the peanuts and thought, I want those peanuts. Just as he thought that, Lucy dropped one of her peanuts over the fence. James took the peanut and started to run away.

“My peanut!” Lucy cried. “Stop, thief!” She burst out of her pen and ran after him. James was a fast runner, but Lucy was faster, and she caught up to him. She lifted up her trunk and smacked James in the side. He was hurt, so he dropped the peanut. Lucy grabbed the peanut and ran back to the zoo.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

The farmer found James on the side of the road. Farmer Jet put a Band-Aid on his side. James couldn’t walk all the way home, so Farmer Jet had to pull him in the carriage.

“I will never escape again,” James said. “And I will never take a peanut from an elephant again!”

Moral: Don’t mess with somebody who is bigger than you.

by Owen Nelson

brutis cactus is a roman. He likes to win against the Gulls. He lives in a fortified Roman camp. He likes to gamble. He challenges a regular Roman. The Roman says, “You are just bragging.”

“Ha, ha,” says Brutis Cactus. “I am at a higher rank.”

Suddenly they hear: “The Gulls, the Gulls.”

Then they both shout, “The one who wins this is rich!”

But he lost.

Moral: Bragging gets you nowhere.

by Chaz Robinson

michael Jackson kept on trying to, but he could only count a little bit. He stopped counting to go use the bathroom. When he came back, he learned how to count more. Randy, his brother, taught him to count better. M.J.’s dad told Randy to stop teaching him because he could do it on his own.

Moral: Keep on trying.

by Ryan Williams

in a sWamp there was a house, and in the house, there lived a dog named Frog. He was bad and had no friends. He could dance the Salsa, and he liked to eat pizza. He liked to eat cake, too.

One day, Frog saw Snake, and he wanted to be angry to the snake. He went over and he stepped on the snake, and the snake said, “Please, stop it.”

“No,” said Frog, and both of them ran away.

The next day, the dog stepped on the snake again.

“Stop it, please,” shouted Snake.

“No,” said the dog, and the next day stepped on the snake.

“

OOOWWW! ” said the snake.

“No,” said the dog. The next day, the dog hit the snake.

“

OOOWWW! ” said the snake.

He started to cry, and the dog said, “Did I hurt your feelings?”

“Yes,” said the snake.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

“I am sorry,” said the dog.

“Do you want to be my BFF?” asked the snake.

“Yes,” said Frog.

Moral: Be good.

T h E P ri N c ESS AND

T h E OST rich

by Aalijae Eddins

once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Vanae. She was the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. She had black and brown hair and the brownest eyes you’ve ever seen. She was so beautiful that everyone loved her and bought her presents. She was excited, but she was lonely in her big, blue castle. One day, Vanae was walking and ran into an ostrich!

“I’m sorry,” Vanae cried. “I did not see you walking.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” exclaimed the ostrich. “Would you like to play today?”

“Sure!” Vanae said excitedly.

They played all day long at the park near the castle. The princess and the ostrich had so much fun that they did not want to stop playing. It got dark, so they had to say goodbye.

The next morning, they became friends and had some lunch. The ostrich made macaroni and cheese, which was Princess Vanae’s favorite food! After lunch,

Don’t Stay Up So Late

the ostrich walked the princess home to her castle. When they arrived at the castle, Princess Vanae saw a fox and began to scream!

“What’s happening?” asked the ostrich. “Are you scared?”

“Yes!” screamed Vanae. “There’s a big fox!”

The ostrich fought the fox and scared the fox away.

“Thank you for saving my life!” said Vanae.

“You are welcome, your majesty,” said the ostrich.

“You are my best friend!” said the princess. Princess Vanae and the ostrich were friends for the rest of their lives. They lived in the big, blue castle and played games all the time. They also watched a lot of TV.

Moral: Always stick up for your friends.

by Diamond Coates

once upon a time, there were two twin squirrels named James and Private. They were playing outside and thought they saw a mermaid sitting on the huge rock in their backyard. The mermaid waved to James and Private and asked them to come over. The twin squirrels ran inside to tell their mom. She came outside, but the mermaid had disappeared.

Mom asked, “Was there a real mermaid on that rock?”

Private answered, “Yes, Mom.”

Then James said, “No, we made it up.”

Mom said, “No lies.”

Moral: Do not lie.

AS S i N gi N g

by Taleia Tooson

the dog Was being kind to the birds. He didn’t want them to go away because then he would not have anybody to watch him sing. He wanted everybody to enjoy his music at the concert. Everybody could sing along, even the birds. When everybody enjoyed his music, he was happy.

Moral: Be kind to others.

by Isabella Pusateri

once there Was a monkey named Banana and a jaguar named Spot. They both lived in the jungle. Banana liked to play, sleep, eat, swim, and make things. He could not sing. Spot could sing. One day Spot said, “Can you sing?”

Banana said, “Yes!”

Then Spot said, “Let me see tomorrow.”

But tomorrow, when he started to sing, he could not do it!

Spot said, “I knew it!”

Moral: Don’t tell someone you can do something you cannot do.

by Devin Williams

once upon a time, there was a big, sneaky tiger named Joe. Joe lived in the hot state of Arizona. His favorite thing to do was to drink water and bite his friends.

One day, while Joe was at the water hole, he saw his best friend. Ryan was lying in the sun. Ryan was a twelve-year-old boy who was tired from working all day and had decided to relax in the sun.

Joe tiptoed up to Ryan and nibbled on Ryan’s belly button. Ryan woke up and was very angry. He did not like to be nibbled on. “I am not your friend anymore!” cried Ryan as he walked away.

Joe ran after Ryan and cried, “Please, be my friend. I won’t bite you anymore!”

“Okay, I will be your friend,” said Ryan. They lived happily ever after.

Moral: Never be friends with a tiger!

by Isaiah Hartford

once upon a time, there was a boy named Jake Up. He went to school but he did not pay attention to the nice teacher. He couldn’t do his work at school, but he could run fast outside at recess. He could be nice to people that were nice to him. He was a nice kid, but not to Isaiah or his cousin, Chaz. Jake Up got suspended. He got into trouble with his family. He learned to be nice and pay attention.

Moral: Pay attention.

mr S . TODD LEA r NS A LESSON

by Chrissy Schonfeld

mrs. todd, one day, ate so much food. She became very ginormous and was always fat. The next day, all she had to eat was a lot of candy, and she ate too many chips.

Mrs. Todd learned never to do it again. Actually, one day, she was skinny again.

Moral: Never eat too much food every day.

by Savannah Heard

there Was a cat named Zachary. He lived in China once, and then he moved to Mexico.

His favorite food was pizza. He liked pizza when it was hot and sometimes even when it was cold. He loved pizza with lots of cheese and pepperoni. Zachary loved pizza so much that sometimes he would steal other people’s pizza. He would sneak up very quietly on his very quiet cat-feet.

One day, Zachary decided to steal Karla’s pizza. Karla was a pretty cat who lived next door.

“Where did my pizza go?” shouted Karla. “I just had it.”

She called the police, but all that was left were a couple of crumbs and one tiny cat footprint.

“A-ha! ” The policeman said. “There must be a cat pizza thief on the prowl!”

Zachary was such a good hider that no police could ever find him. Zachary saw Karla from his hiding place. Karla looked so sad and lonely without her pizza that Zachary decided to give it back. Karla was

Don’t Stay Up So Late

such a nice person. And she was a girl. He decided he would never steal pizza from a girl again, only boys. Zachary felt so bad that he asked Karla on a date.

“I am sorry for stealing your pizza. I will buy you a new one,” he said.

“Thanks,” Karla said.

She purred because she was happy.

Zachary said, “You are such a nice cat.”

They went on a date and had a good time. Zachary was glad he had decided to tell her the truth.

Moral: Telling the truth will make you feel better.

by Nitorie Maxwell

one day, my baby cousin started to walk. She is one year old. She hates to mock people. She wants to hop and skip. She falls and gets back up and tries again. She does not like grass, so she does it on the sidewalk. One day, she got it right. She sang and danced and played and hugged me because I helped her.

Moral: Don’t be scared; do it before you give up.

by Mayson Kissella

one day, Love-Lion was sleeping in the middle of the nighttime. Love-Bug was reading, playing on the computer, and eating candy. He got wild! He didn’t want to fall asleep, and the next day he had to go to work, and he fell asleep because he ate candy. He read a book. He swam all night. He wanted to yell but he couldn’t be mean. He should have listened.

Moral: Don’t stay up so late.

big AND ST r ON g

by Michael Wilson

there Was a gorilla and a tiger. They wanted to wrestle the biggest and strongest tiger and gorilla. They thought they were big and strong too. They were just little kids. The only thing they were good at was doing nothing. When they told the big, strong tiger and gorilla that they wanted to wrestle, the strong ones said, “This better be good.”

When they were in the jungle, they had no choice but to go into a dark, spiky room with big and strong people that acted like nice people but weren’t. Finally they said, “Let’s get this over with.”

In the first five seconds, the little ones lost! At the end…the big and strong tiger and gorilla gave them the trophy!

Moral 1: Never fight very strong people when you are little.

Moral 2: Never act like nice people when you are not, so people won’t be scared at a wrestling place.

A gir L w ENT fi S hi N g

by Shakira Gardner

there lives a big girl. Her name is Missey Mayson. She likes eating, singing, spelling, sleeping, and drinking. She lives in Alabama. She cannot twirl, speed, or giggle. She is nineteen years old. She can cartwheel, back-flip, swim, jump, and swing. She is black. She is small to her family. She has ten brothers and sixteen sisters.

On Monday, Mayson went fishing. She got a big fish. But it was big. Suddenly the fish bit Mayson on the ear. Mayson screamed.

Moral: Do not go fishing for a big fishy.

by Samantha Butler

maggie loves to try to catch Jerry the mouse all the time. Jerry is smarter than Maggie. Maggie always fails in her plans. Jerry always gets away.

One day, Jerry went on vacation way earlier than Maggie got up. When Maggie got up, she tried to get the tiny mouse who was filling in for Jerry.

Maggie did not know that Jerry was gone for the week. Anna was the name of the littlest mouse.

A week later Jerry came back! Anna left. Maggie and Jerry were happier together than being away from each other. And Maggie was back to chasing Jerry like she should be.

They lived happily ever after.

Moral: Mice can be smarter than cats.

by Tristan Williams

once there Was a tiger named Alvin. He liked to read and dance and fight. He growled loud and scratched and ran fast and counted and flipped. He lived in Africa. He was fourteen years old. He saw a zebra in a pond. He thought that he could go in and take a sip, but when he walked in, he froze straight up. The zebra laughed at him.

Moral: Think before you do something.

P.S. He never takes a bath.

by Dwayne Johnson

once upon a time, there was a dog named Duke. He was the best at spying. He spied on everyone, and I mean everybody. Frogs, teachers, and even aliens.

One day, he spied on his best friend, Chuckie, and he almost got caught. When his friend turned his head, Duke squatted down so Chuckie wouldn’t see him. He didn’t want anyone to know his secret. He was a spy.

His friends were really tired of being spied on all the time. So, they decided to play a trick on Duke. They invited Duke over to Chuckie’s house. When Duke walked in, they had a sign that said, “We know your secret!”

Duke said, “I’m not a spy!”

Chuckie replied, “Are you sure?”

Duke felt sad because he didn’t want to lie to his friend. So he said, “I give up! Now you know my secret. I really am a spy!” Duke asked, “Are we still friends? I won’t spy anymore.”

His friends told Duke they were happy because they did not like being spied on. They celebrated with

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a party. Now every March 19 they have a party to celebrate Duke not spying anymore. It is a holiday for him.

Moral: Don’t lie to your friends.

by Sophie Mosher

once there Was a blue Jay named Sophia. She lived in the forest in Washington D.C. She loved to fly. But one day, she broke her wing in a flying accident. Ever since then, she thought she couldn’t fly. “How I wish I could fly,” she would say. Every day, her babies would encourage her. Each day she would get closer to the starting area, until one day, she was all the way there. Finally, she jumped and started flying. She circled around the tree that was in the front yard. The next day, she flew a little farther, just to make sure the she could still fly. The next day, she felt so happy with herself that she just knew she could fly. Sophia felt so content with herself that she thought she could do other things she thought she couldn’t do, like driving, writing, and swimming. Sophia tried driving; it was really fun! Next she tried writing. “Hey,” said Sophia, “this is kind of fun.” Then Sophia tried swimming, but she started drowning. She saved herself just in time. “Maybe I can’t do everything,” she said.

Moral: Try before you say can’t.

by Tre’von Crawford

one day, a tiger was looking for food. The tiger’s name was Tre’von. He was hunting for a zebra, but he forgot to take a nap. He tried to catch the zebra. He took a nap because he was tired. He woke up with a lot of energy. He caught the zebra and brought it back home. Tre’von is a sneaky tiger, you better watch out.

Moral: When you need a nap, take it!

by Anna Lehr

once, in the White house, a cat slept in the sun. Then some mice came along and challenged the cat to bake a pizza. The cat said yes, and the mice said, “Okay, but we’re going to make pizza for the people who live here, so make sure you make it awesome.”

They went to the kitchen to tell the cooks they were cooking pizza. They started. The mice put white cheese and crunchy peanut butter on their pizza. The cat put fish and lots of meat on his. They put them into the oven. The pizzas were not good, so they tried again. Those were not good either, so they used teamwork and made a delicious pizza.

Moral: If you use teamwork, it will be done better and faster.

AN OLD , TAL ki N g YO - YO

by Myran Wright

once there Was an old, talking yo-yo named Marco. Marco was 5,532 years old. Marco couldn’t go to college. He couldn’t die, and he couldn’t drive. He could sleep, he could dance and make songs, and he could sing. Marco lived in Los Angeles, California. He sang when his friends played music, and he liked the summer.

There was a spelling bee one day. The champion at the top said, “I can spell much better than you!”

The yo-yo said, “Please don’t say that, you might hurt my feelings. I’m a singer, not a speller.”

The champion said, “You shouldn’t sign up anyway.”

The spelling contest began. In round three, the judge told the champion to spell “pledge.” The champion spelled it wrong! The judge asked Marco to spell “pledge,” and he spelled it right. The yo-yo won first place.

Moral: If you don’t go to school, you won’t learn anything.

by T’Kai Bennett

one time, there Was a dog named Jake. He lived in a volcano but was only twelve. He used his powers for good. He fought dogs, cats, and robots. He promised to keep the world safe, so he did. He sat in his volcano, and he got burned. He couldn’t go invisible or sleep, eat, or use his x-ray vision, but he still wished he could. Then, one warm day, he tried and he did it. He still could not sleep. He never really liked to sleep so he talked all day long.

Moral: Never sit in a volcano.

T h E w ATE rb OY AND T h E PEOPLE

by Derrick Agurs

there once lived a boy named Waterboy. He stole people’s food and took it to the ocean, and he gave it to the sharks and fish.

Before he opened the door of the grocery store, people laid down on the sidewalk so that they could trip him because he stole their food. When he fell, they ran into the store. Inside the store, there was a leak from the ceiling. They thought it was Waterboy but it wasn’t. They came outside to try to find Waterboy but he wasn’t there. He was in the store, hiding. He threw fruit and vegetables and chicken at the people and went back to the ocean. He swam to the fish and sharks so that the people couldn’t get him again.

Moral: Never be mean to people.

LENNY AND T h E c O c ONUT T r EE

by Wil Moulton

once upon a time, there lived a weasel named Lenny. Lenny was not like other weasels. He had white fur and could not climb trees. Lenny lived in Hawaii and liked to make sand sculptures all day because he couldn’t play in the coconut tree with the other weasels.

One day, he walked to the biggest coconut tree and tried to climb up it. He fell right down. He sharpened two sticks with his claws. He stuck one into the trunk of the coconut tree and then the other. He started to climb the tree using sticks. He realized he was about to reach the first coconut, but he was wobbling on the two sticks. The sticks he was stepping on cracked, and down he fell, landing face first in the sand. He shook the sand off his face, and then he heard a shaking, and a coconut fell onto his head. Lenny figured out he was not supposed to climb coconut trees like other weasels.

Moral: If you try to do something you are not supposed to do, you might get hurt.

by Vivian Barrett

once there Was a dog named Spot and a cat named Ann. Ann and Spot lived in Mexico.

One day, Ann walked to Spot’s house.

Ann said, “Let’s draw.”

Spot didn’t share any of his crayons. So Ann backflipped home.

Then Spot said, “I’ll share next time,” and he did.

Moral: Always share.

by Ja’Corey Carlton

nce upon a time, there was a boy and a bird. They live in California in a scary, dark, dark forest. The bird was always hungry, every day. He saw that the boy had delicious food, all the time, and the bird was always jealous. The bird was scared to ask because the boy might say no.

One day, the bird was pecking the boy’s head for some cheese. They got into a fight. The cheese fell into the stream and went down a waterfall. The boy told the bird, “You should have just asked me for the cheese before you pecked me.”

After that, the boy and the bird had a good relationship.

Moral: Never give cheese to a bird or it will go crazy.

h O w T h E TU r TLE w AS STUN g

by Michael Peterson

once there Was a turtle named Dave who lived in the city. He could fly and shoot lasers out of his eyes. When the lasers hit someone, it stung. There was a mirror who wanted to fight the turtle. The turtle said, “Why do you want to fight me?”

The mirror said, “I just want to fight you, okay?” So they started. The turtle shot a laser at the mirror. It reflected back, and the turtle was knocked out for one week.

Moral: Never shoot lasers at glass.

by Lynda Acosta

one day, a lucky, brown cat was sitting upon the sun. Then a dog came in from the moon. “Hi,” said the dog. “My name is Belling.”

“Hi,” responded the cat. “My name is Kenny.” The cat asked, “Do you want to play with some—”

Belling interrupted. “Yarn? Well, if it’s yarn, no, I don’t want to play with yarn, because yarn is for cats.”

“Try it,” said the cat in a tiny voice.

“Okay, I’ll try,” agreed Belling. Belling tried playing with the yarn. He did a flip on the trampoline. The yarn went around his body, and he grabbed it when it got to his head. “Hey, Kenny! I like playing with yarn. I can play with yarn all day.”

Moral: Always try something even though you’re positive you won’t like it.

TU r TLE AND T h E T ig E r

by Abigail Bost

there Was a seven-year-old tiger who liked popsicles and lived in the forest. He did not know his ABCs. And he didn’t know how to swim in the pond. His brother, the turtle, asked, “How do you spell ‘book’?”

And Justin the tiger said, “B-T-O. No, I know how to spell it, but I was just kidding.”

“What, you were kidding?” said the turtle.

“Yeah, I was kidding,” said the tiger.

“Why?”

“Because,” Justin replied. “But did I spell it right?”

“No!” said his brother, the turtle. “Do you know your ABCs?”

“No,” Justin admitted.

Moral: You need to know your ABCs.

T h E SUPE r S c O r P i ON NA m ED c OLEN

by Alexandrea Matheny

once upon a time, there was a super scorpion named Colen. His best friend’s name was Gabby.

One day, Gabby was trying to impress her friends by moving some boards by herself, and she dropped them on herself accidentally.

Colen was walking down the street, and his belt rang, telling him someone was in trouble. It was his best friend Gabby.

Colen asked, “What’s wrong?”

Gabby told Colen that she dropped some boards on herself. Colen came and got the boards off of Gabby and saved the day.

Moral: Ask for help when you need it.

T h E f LY i N g DAD

by Perkita Sanders

once upon a time, my dad tried to fly like a bird. He climbed up a tree, and he stood on the end of the longest branch. He flapped and he flapped and he flapped his arms and tried to fly. Sadly, he fell down from the tree on his leg and broke it! A lady who was walking her dog saw my dad fall from the tree, and she called the ambulance. My dad learned his lesson and never tried to climb up a tree or fly again.

Moral: Don’t try to fly if you can’t fly.

by Charles Carter

deep in the Jungle lived Cheetah Charles. Cheetah Charles was the greatest African cheetah ever. He was the best at fighting crime and hunting for food, and he was the fastest runner in the wild. The lions, tigers, and panthers were all jealous of Cheetah Charles, because he was the best at everything.

One day, Cheetah Charles was hunting for food when a group of panthers, lions, and tigers ganged up on him and tried to beat him up. Again, Cheetah Charles was too strong for anyone to hurt him.

But Cheetah Charles had a bad attitude, and it upset the other animals. So the other animals decided that they were going to play a trick on Cheetah Charles to put him in his place.

The lions said, “We should trick him into a trap, and then he will never be able to escape!” All the other animals began to laugh and chant, “Bye-bye, Cheetah Charles.”

The next day, the lions, tigers, and panthers set up a trap to defeat Cheetah Charles. The trap they set

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up was a huge hole in the ground covered by moss and tropical leaves near the waterhole that Charles frequently visited. The panthers planned on cornering him by the waterhole and making him fall into the trap! That hot afternoon, the lions told the panthers to get ready. Cheetah Charles was on his way to the waterhole. All of the panthers went to the waterhole and patiently waited.

Finally, Cheetah Charles arrived, and they started to slowly get closer and closer to him, positioning him right where they wanted him. Cheetah Charles felt like something was going on, but it was too late. He stepped onto the moss-covered trap and fell in! All the panthers laughed and cheered, “We did it! We did it!”

Cheetah Charles tried to get out, but the hole was too deep for him to jump out. Cheetah Charles realized for once in his life he needed help. “Help! Help!” he cried, but no one listened. Finally, after two days, he was crying and a lion came to the hole he was trapped in. “You see, Cheetah Charles, you are not the greatest, because eventually you will need help with something,” said the lion.

Moral: You might be the best, but eventually you will need help.

by Jayvon Walker

the dog Was little and the cat was little, too. The dog asked, “Do you want to race?”

The cat said, “Yes, I would like to race.” They raced in the park.

The dog said, “I am faster than the cat.”

Moral: Do not brag because you will maybe lose or you will maybe win the race. Do not brag because no one will play with you.

SNO wb ALL AND gi N g E r

by Bethani Minor

one day, at an old house, two cats named Snowball and Ginger lived. They were sisters. Snowball was as white as snow and when she fell outside, she blended in with the snow. Ginger was the color of ginger spice. The cats liked yarn. One day, they were fighting over it, and they pulled the yarn and, boom, it broke, and my mom said they had to go downstairs. They ate cooked vegetables. They had to drink sour milk. “I’m never going to do that again, because I don’t like sour milk,” yelled Ginger. The next day, Snowball and Ginger shared the yarn.

Moral: It is not fun to fight.

A b EA r T ri ES TO TAL k

by Kevin James

once upon a time, there was a medium-brown bear who loved to talk to people. Most people didn’t want to talk to the bear because they were busy, asleep, or scared. People would say, “It’s a bear trying to talk to me. Bears can’t talk!”

One day, while Bear was trying to talk to some people, Animal Control came in a green car and chased him away. Bear hid in a gray car until they were gone. Bear saw a man coming from his friend’s house. The bear jumped out and scared the man. The man fell to the ground.

Bear said, “Hello! I am not going to hurt you!”

The man said, “Hey, I didn’t know bears could talk.” The man and the bear became friends.

Moral: Be friends with everybody.

by Mercedes Phelan

there once Was a girl named Mercedes. She loved everything, but she would not fight, push, pull, or kick. Also, she was a fantastic girl. But when she got to her school one day, people were mean to her. People beat her up.

The next day she told the principal, and they got in trouble. Big, big, big trouble. And they got detention. Then they cried so hard that they even got in trouble at home. They got very angry. They smacked their mothers. They got a spanking.

The next day, they were nice, very nice. Then they walked to the park and had a good time.

Moral: Do not be mean, be nice.

by Naomi Alvarado

once there Was a horse who went to Meijer. The horse wanted to get a shiny My Little Pony toy with her birthday money. She forgot her money at home! So she stole it, and then she went back home. She felt extremely bad, so she returned the My Little Pony. She said she was sorry to the manager and gave back the My Little Pony toy. The manager told her she did the right thing by returning the toy. On her next trip to Meijer, she remembered her money.

Moral: Don’t take it if you didn’t buy it.

by Gracious Phillips

there Were four girls: Merecedes, Mayson, Zimaya, and Gracious. Gracious told Zimaya to jump off of a huge tree, and she did. She broke her arm and leg. She went to the hospital and had to stay there for a few days. When she came back, Zimaya and her friends had dessert and told secrets. They watched TV, and they watched a scary movie. And they drank juice.

Moral: Never jump off of a tree because you could hurt yourself.

by Angelina Holmes

once upon a time, there was a monkey named Nico who lived in Michigan with his family. Nico loved to go grocery shopping to buy food for his family.

One day, Nico did not have any more money to buy food. He decided to go and get a job. He went into town and found a restaurant where he wanted to work as a chef. The name of the restaurant was the Sparkly Chunky Junk Monkey.

The chef at the restaurant told Nico that he did not have a job for him. “I have enough cookers!” said the chef.

Nico left sadly, without a job. Nico came back to the restaurant once a week to try to get a job as a chef. One day, the chef got sick. Nico got a call from one of the cookers.

“We need your help. The chef is sick, and we need you to take over for him,” said the cooker. Nico took over for the chef. He cooked for everyone. His best dish was banana pie. Everyone loved it so much. The

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chef came back and everyone told him about the special banana pie.

The chef said, “Thank you for taking over for me. You have a job as long as you want.”

Nico said, “YES!” Nico went grocery shopping for his family that night.

Moral: Give someone a chance, you might be surprised.

by Aiden Young

fox and Eagle were at the park playing on the swings. Fox said, “Let’s have a race.”

Eagle said, “Fine.”

They started to race, and Fox said, “I’m better than you!”

Eagle knew that braggers never win. Fox saw meat on the ground, and he stopped running and started eating. He got full and fell asleep while Eagle was still flying.

Eagle won the race.

Moral: Braggers never win.

by Corey Doe

the tiger Jogged in a Jungle and found some bananas and ate them. Then he took out his skates and skated to the jungle. He ran into a tree. Then he met a monkey and said, “Where did you come from?”

The monkey said, “I’m from the jungle, too! It was very nice meeting you, bye.”

Moral: Never wear skates because you will run into a tree.

by Jacob Egnor

once upon a time, there were four animals. There was a mammoth, a wolf, a bat, and a tiger. Mammoth was walking and bumped into Tiger. Tiger growled and challenged Mammoth, but Mammoth passed and didn’t want to play, so he went to play with Bat. Bat taught Mammoth how to fly, but he kept falling. Mammoth went to race Wolf. Wolf raced Mammoth, but Mammoth lost the race. Mammoth went home to take a long rest.

“Tomorrow,” said Mammoth, “I’ll just walk in the forest.”

Moral: Do what you can do.

SELENA AND mi LEY m ET A ST r AN g E DO g

by Alexia Easley

once upon a time, Selena and Miley lived in a jungle. In the jungle, Miley found a dog and Selena found the dog last. Since Miley had found it first, she took the dog and did her things with the dog. She swung on vines, acted like a dog, and talked to him. Then Selena took the dog and did her things with him. She talked, and she barked. Miley came back and to get the dog, and Selena didn’t want to let her. They both pulled the dog’s arms, and the dog bit them.

Moral: Don’t go to strange dogs.

by Danny Kline

once upon a time, there was a spying eagle named Golde. He liked to spy on girls. He LOVED to spy on girls’ clubs all the time. He spied on boys only sometimes.

One time, he was driving around, and he saw some girls and decided to spy on them. He got on the roof and was looking through the glass of the skylight. He threw a rope around the chimney. He began to climb down to peek in the window. He fell down the glass and got caught by the girls. The girls looked up and saw Golde peeking at them. They ran screaming into the closet. The girls grabbed a broom. One of them peeked out the door and saw Golde sitting and waiting. They ran after Golde, swinging the broom to scare him off. He ran out of the door like a cheetah and jumped into his car. He drove off as fast as he could. From that day on, he decided he would never spy on girls again.

Moral: Never spy on girls; you might get caught.

wh E r E YOU wi LL D i S c O v E r T h E m OT iv ES

b E hi ND c ON f OUND i N g q UANDA ri ES ,

SU ch AS T h E m YSTE r Y O f T h E NASTY ic E

cr EA m , T h E c ASE O f T h E mi SS i N g S h A rk

TEET h , AND D r . j ELL - O ’ S j ELL - O PLAN

by students from Mrs. Winters’s three-four split

by II John Roberts

Who’s the one who is always solving mysteries? That’s me, Detective Joe. I live in northwest Alabama, in a house that has a secret that only I know. I disguise myself as an actress in a movie called One Diamond Adventure. I’m twenty-two, and I’m single. It was a Wednesday, maybe a Thursday. Anyway, I was at Walmart, shopping for a pooper-scooper.

Then, all of a sudden, a lady ran up to me and said, “Hi, my name is Jennifer Tough and my husband’s name is Oliver Tough, and we have an emergency. Someone stole my husband’s rainbow-colored diamond, right over there!” She pointed to the empty diamond container.

I asked her some questions, like, “Did you see the robber’s face?”

She answered, “Only a glimpse of it. He had red eyes and a gold leather jacket that had a bag of J.J. in its pocket. He was white and had freckles. His teeth were rotten and yellow. I told him that they came up with a new product called toothpaste. I sighed and said, ‘You

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should try it.’ Right then and there, he pulled out a gun and hit me on the head with it. I was knocked out cold, that’s all I remember.”

“Interesting,” I said, with a serious look on my face. I asked her, “What time did this happen?”

“Twelve pm, sharp,” she said with a quickness. I jumped a little. It was raining pretty hard. I followed the footprints that led to the empty diamond container and then followed them out. I grabbed a sample of DNA, so when my DNA scanner came in the mail, I could use it.

My dog Copper was my partner in crime. He has a detective outfit too. He has a black cowboy hat and black sunglasses and a long, black leather jacket.

At last my DNA scanner came. I sampled DNA. I knew who it was: Frank Frankendoodle, an old friend of mine. Good thing I knew where he lived. I got the cops right away. They went to his house and broke the door. Crack! T hat day he went to jail, and the diamond was returned. My work here was done.

Case closed.

by Jalen Allen

my friend and i are detectives. We are Tom and Rick. We are on the Case of the Missing Fudge.

One time, Tom and I wanted some fudge. We went to the store. We asked Mr. Cojack for some fudge. He said, “Sorry, we are all sold out.”

We looked at each other and said, “We have a case on our hands.” We went outside.

Tom said, “Why did we see Key-Key with fudge?”

I said, “I think Key-Key had someone hide the fudge. Almost every day Mr. Cojack says, ‘We don’t have any more fudge.’ And every time, Key-Key comes out with fudge.”

We went to school. We saw Low-Low and KeyKey under the tree, eating fudge. I said, “I think LowLow is helping Key-Key hide the fudge. Let’s follow them after school.”

When we got out of school, Key-Key and LowLow were leaving. We jumped on our bikes. We rode through the woods. We were near them. They could not see us because we were in the trees. They stopped

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at a nasty house. They went in. We followed them. They opened the closet. We saw lots of fudge. We ran out of the house. We finally got them! That’s why we saw Low-Low and Key-Key hanging out, even though they used to hate each other. We busted back in. We said, “We got you redhanded.”

Then Mr. Cojack gave us free fudge for, like, a year. We were like, “Yeah!”

T h E m YSTE r Y O f T h E NASTY ic E cr EA m

by A’Nya Griffin

one day, tWo friends Went outside to play with each other. They had some money, so they wanted to buy something. They were lucky, because it was summer, and the ice cream truck comes in the summer. Molly and Drake hoped the ice cream truck would come, and it did. They heard the song. They dashed to their houses, got the money, and went back outside to the sidewalk before the ice cream truck could even get there.

The ice cream truck got to them. The man was new because Molly and Drake had never seen him. The man had a nametag. His name was Dumb Bum.

The man said, “Hi, what can I do for you?”

“Hi, my name is Molly and this is Drake. Can we get some ice cream?”

“Yes, what kind would you like?” said Dumb Bum.

“I would like the peanut butter ice cream.”

“Okay, and you?” asked Dumb Bum.

“I would like the Bat Snacks ice cream swirl.”

“Yes, sir. Do you need something else?”

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“No, but thank you!”

The ice cream truck left then. Dumb Bum said, “Moo, hahahaha.”

Molly and Drake sat down on the front porch. They tasted it, and then spit it out and said, “That is the NASTIEST ice cream I have ever had, and I mean really nasty. What’s in there?”

“This has to be a mystery, because the man was new, the ice cream is nasty, and when the man left, he looked back. So there has to be a mystery,” Molly said.

“How do you know for sure?” asked Drake.

“I just know. Tomorrow we will ask him some questions.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.” And they went home.

Then it was the next day, and they got up and went outside at ten am and played until the ice cream truck came. Finally, the truck came. They saw him. When he got closer, they started to ask him some questions.

“Hi, it’s me, Molly, and Drake,” Molly said.

“Oh yeah, how are you guys?” asked Dumb Bum.

“Great! Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Okay, what made you become an ice cream truck person?” Drake began.

“Well, I love kids and love people, and ice cream is good, so that’s why,” the ice cream truck driver responded.

“How old are you?” Molly asked.

Dumb Bum said, “Sorry, you don’t need to know how old I am.”

“Thirty-nine!” exclaimed Molly.

“How did you know?” asked Dumb Bum.

Mysteries

Drake continued, “If you like kids so much, do you have any of your own?”

“No.”

“So, how do you know they are good?” Drake questioned, and Molly added, “Okay, yeah, so if you don’t know how they are…”

“You don’t have a point,” said Dumb Bum. “That’s enough questions for today. Are you guys going to buy something or not?”

“No.”

“Okay, well, I’ve got to get going,” said Dumb Bum, and he drove away.

“Can you come in my house?” Molly said to Drake.

“Yes, but why?” asked Drake.

“Because we can look up his name on the computer,” said Molly.

They got on the computer and looked up his name. “It says he has been in jail three times,” said Molly.

“And what he did, was to go around in an ice cream truck and destroy the ice cream!” exclaimed Drake.

“I was right!” said Molly. “And he had a different kind of ice cream truck. So he wants to destroy the ice cream, but why would he?”

“I don’t know,” said Drake.

“Well, we are going to know because we are going to find out. We are as smart as nerds.”

The next day, Molly and Drake got some police officers. The police officers were not wearing their suits, they were wearing regular clothes. The ice cream truck came.

“Ha, ha! We know what you are doing, you’re taking different ice cream to make it nasty to make your own ice cream the best,” said Drake.

“So you guys know who I am. So? You can’t do nothing about it!” said Dumb Bum, the ice cream truck man.

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“We can’t do ‘nothing’ about it? That’s what you think, but you are wrong,” said Molly.

Just then, a guy came to get ice cream, but really it was an undercover police officer. There was another guy on the street who was undercover as well! “You’re under arrest,” said the undercover police officer.

“Why?” said Dumb Bum.

“Because we’re the FBI,” said the officer.

“Oh, no!” said Dumb Bum.

“Oh, yes!” said the officer.

“Why? You guys tricked me!” said Dumb Bum.

“Sorry, not our fault! Well, nice knowing you… not! ” said Molly.

And Molly and Drake got their real ice cream truck person back.

by Dahlia Rose

iam Joana, and i am eighteen. One day, I was sunbathing, and I decided I’d wash my car. So I zoomed to my car, which was as gross as a pile of mold, and I started to clean it. I didn’t want my gold bracelet to get dirty, so I set it on my blue table, next to my chain. I was scrubbing away when a man snuck up to get behind me. I saw him pick up my gold bracelet, so I sprinted into action. I zoomed but it was too late. The man had already crawled over the fence and zoomed away.

I searched my yard to find some proof, but all I found was his ID. I looked at his ID. His name was Bob. Sorry Bob, but you are going to jail soon. I looked even closer. So you live on Parkwood. But look—the rest is stained with coffee.

I zoomed to Parkwood and started checking houses. They all were pretty quiet except one. I heard a man inside screaming, “My name is Bob. Yes, it is. I stole a bracelet. Yes, I did.”

So I zoomed inside. I saw a man on a green sofa. I zoomed up to Bob and yelled, “Why did you steal my

Don’t Stay Up So Late

gold bracelet?” He started to stutter. “I knew it, Bob!” I got on the phone and called the police.

A police officer sprinted up to me. Joe, a different police officer, yelled, “What’s wrong?”

“Bob just stole my bracelet!” I exclaimed.

“Where’s the bracelet, Bob?” screamed Joe. Joe got the bracelet and sent Bob to jail.

by Elizabeth Conaster

one day, i Went into my school and the bell had just rung, right when I walked through the door. I went down the hall and went into my classroom. Five minutes later, when the announcements were supposed to come on, they didn’t, so that left a mystery! Da da da!

Anyway, my name is Elizabeth, and I had a problem to solve. I went to my friend A’Nya to ask her if she had noticed that the announcements didn’t come on, and she said, “Yes, I did notice that Mr. Carney’s announcements did not come on.”

I responded, “Do you think anyone else noticed that?”

Then A’Nya said, “Maybe. Let’s go ask Hunter and R.J.”

So A’Nya and I ran as quick as lightning across the tiny classroom to tackle one of them. When we got to the table, I said, “Did you guys notice that the announcements didn’t come on?”

Hunter said, “Duh, who didn’t notice it?”

Don’t Stay Up So Late

R.J. said, “Yeah, yeah, what he said.”

In a quick flash I said, “Good, you guys need to help me and A’Nya find Mr. Carney. We will ditch school during the middle of workshops, when everyone is talking with their group and everything is really loud, and no one’s paying any attention to anything besides their group.”

“Okay,” said A’Nya.

“Okay,” said R.J.

“But can we go to the cafeteria first to get some food from Mrs. Cathey, like some bagels with cream cheese?” asked Hunter.

“No,” said R.J. “It is not a good time right now, and we need to solve the Mystery of, umm…?”

“We need to solve the Mystery of the Missing Principal, and I know just the place to look!” I said.

“Where?” said everyone else.

“The Lair of Firehead Hailey,” I said. “Now come on, let’s go.”

So we all went off into the deep places, in the deep dark woods, toward Nancy Park, and right past Nancy Park, there was a deep, dark, scary forest with smoke coming out of the grass and tree stumps all over the place. All of a sudden, all of us saw something, and it was Mr. Carney being yelled at by Firehead Hailey. She was saying, “Why did you get the job as the principal and not me? I would have made a way better principal than you, because I would have tortured the students to be my minions and servants and do everything for me!”

Mr. Carney said, “That is not how I teach kids at Erickson Elementary, and you shouldn’t treat them like that either. Besides, they are only in first, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade, so I think I got the job as the principal because I was more caring and thoughtful

Mysteries

about the kids. You can always get another job as a principal somewhere else, like East Middle School on the east side. Now, can you unhook me from this post? My back is starting to cramp up really badly.”

So Firehead Hailey let Mr. Carney off of the pole and said, “We need to stop fighting.”

And the mystery was solved.

by Franklin Goode

once upon a time, there was a hungry cat called Captain Cat III. He looked into his crystal ball and saw a big, fat, tasty guinea pig named Sugar. That’s when he started looking up names. He saw Fat Albert, he saw Mousy the mouse, but he did not see anyone who owned a guinea pig. But then he got an idea. He thought for a second. He looked up who owned Sugar the guinea pig. He looked. It was Big Ear the elephant. He lived in Mexico.

Captain Cat III had a big trip. He stole a passenger jet and flew to Mexico and crash-landed in an office building! Captain Cat III was okay—and he had crashed into Big Ear’s house! Captain Cat III busted down the door and took Sugar. He ran to the airport and stole a jet that was as fast as a bullet. He took Sugar to his lab to find out more about her species. Five minutes later, the SWAT team and the army busted down the door and he was sent to prison. Three months later he busted out!

T h E mi SS i N g m AS k

by Romeo Davis

once there Was a ninJa. He was so small, he was a mini-ninja, and he had lost his mask. He thought it was his friends who had stolen it. He checked their big temple again, and it was not there. Then they found the mask in the Great Temple of Giants and Big Ninjas. They were fighting, and he decided to get their ladder and smashed them all in the head with it, and they were happy. They lived happily ever after.

T h E STOLEN

mi LL i ON - DOLLA r ri N g

by Ilana Hall-Vit

Chapter One

one saturday night, Kala and her friends, Germy, Anna, and Jonny, were on their way to the cafeteria for prom. They all got into Germy’s new, shiny black car and drove off from Anna’s house. They pulled up to Milan High School. They made a couple of turns, and they were in the cafeteria. There were glowing lights on the floor and walls from the disco ball. There was a snack table, too. After they got their snacks, more friends and people came. Then it started: prom was on. Hey!

While Anna and Germy were dancing, something happened. Anna had a ring. These two boys and girls had a team. Their names were Sierrha, Sarha, Jhon, and Mike. The ring that Anna had was her grandma’s, that her mom had had, but Anna’s mom gave it to Anna because her grandma had died. When Sierrha, Sarha, Jhon, and Mike split up, they all started to dance. Then the dance floor was crowded. While Anna and Germy

Mysteries

were dancing, Sierrha and Mike bumped into them on purpose! And when Sierrha helped Anna up, she took the ring. Gasp!

Chapter Two

then it was time to pick the princess, and that’s when Anna recognized that her ring was gone. Anna dashed to Kala and Jonny. She was talking so fast, you could count to ten and be done. As fast as a cheetah running, you couldn’t hear a word she was saying. She said, “Some-so-some-one stole the ring that my grandma gave me.”

Then, after they were done talking, they were on their way to look for it. They checked all around the school until they were right back in the cafeteria. They saw clues. There were big footprints right in the parking lot. Germy drove all of them around the block. There were these glowing lights from people walking around the family park. They all got out of the car. Anna and Kala discovered that there were little tiny pieces of glass on the floor.

Anna said, “They look like they were from my ring.”

“They probably are,” said Jonny. “Here is one more.”

They all continued what they were doing. They were still strolling until they came to a stop. There they were, back at the shiny black car.

Chapter Three

as soon as they found the diamond, they started walking toward the building. They all walked into the building, and it was like a palace. They found two

Don’t Stay Up So Late

people at a desk, writing. They saw keys on the desk. They snuck up to get them. Anna reached out and got them. Germy noticed another diamond.

“They’re the crooks!” said Kala.

“The rings must be in this little box,” said Jonny. He opened the box with the keys Anna had.

Anna realized it was Sierrha and Mike all along and said, “Why did you want to take my ring?”

Sierrha said, “So we could sell it for one thousand dollars.”

Anna had a plan. She locked them up behind a door in the building for a week and stuck the diamonds on the ring again. Fair endings.

T h E m YSTE r Y O f T h E h AUNTED h OUSE

by Micheal Pepper

my name is micheal. I am nine years old. I’m here to tell you about the craziest thing that happened to me. Oh! You should know that I’m a detective. I forgot to tell you. Well, let’s get back to the topic. One year ago, when I was in Mrs. Winters’s class, we were all going to the Detroit Zoo in a bus, and I was talking to Trevor.

“Trevor, I can’t wait until we get to the zoo, can’t you?” I asked him.

“Yeah!” said Trevor.

“So, can’t you, Frankie?” I said.

“Yeah!” said Frankie.

“Man, I hope we have a lot of fun together—best friends forever, right?” I said.

“Yep!” they agreed.

“Keep it down!” said the bus driver. “Oops, I made a wrong turn, umm…”

“Turn around, we’re in a huge graveyard,” said Mayceeclair. “Elizabeth, hide me.”

“We’re out of gas, too, that sucks,” said the bus

Don’t Stay Up So Late

driver. “I guess we’re going to have to stay the night.”

“Noooo! ” we all screamed together.

“You’ll be okay,” said the bus driver.

“Where’s Micheal?” asked Frankie.

Trevor said, “He’s by the house.”

“Let’s go!” said the bus driver. They all went in. They went into a room. I was as hungry as a bear, which is why I was investigating the house, but when I walked into the kitchen, I saw a ghost. I ran into a different room, and everyone went to bed.

We woke up the next morning, and we heard a horn and looked out of the window. We saw a bus. We said, “We’re going home,” but there was one problem. There were ghosts everywhere.

“We have to take the bus. Trust me,” I told everyone. I didn’t want them to know about the ghosts. We made it to the bus and got home. Mom and Dad were happy to see us.

by Tiana Epps-Belcher

Chapter One: Meeting Miley

today Was a day nobody could forget. There was a Miley show, and it was free. A lot of boys and girls wanted to see it. Meanwhile, a boy was second in line to get a ticket, but he was too scared. The ticket lady put the “Sold Out” sign up. The boy got mad! He went home and put on a mask and a dark suit and named himself Gasilla. He didn’t like that name very much, so he named himself King Kong instead. All he could think about was the costume. It was too dark, so he put on a metal black suit, and he stood up and said, “I…like it.” He thought of many different names until he came up with a name he liked: Darkness. Darkness went back to the studio, broke in, and grabbed Miley. He blasted out of the studio with his foot, put her in his ship, and then went into the rocket. She didn’t want to go, so she was buckling slowly, and he grabbed the seatbelt and buckled for her. The rocket started to countdown.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

Meanwhile, in the studio, the ticket lady told the parents of Miley that the little boy had stolen her. They all ran outside.

3—2—1—Blastoff!

They were too late.

They blasted off together. They were off, but Miley was afraid of going too fast on a rocket. She said that she didn’t feel real good. Darkness said, “You’re not going to…” And she did. She threw up. It got all over him, and he almost threw up, too, but he didn’t. While they were on their way to the moon, they kept looking for food.

Miley turned around and said, “Why are we going to the moon? Why can’t we just go to your house?”

He answered by saying, “Because you can sing really loud with no one screaming, and Mom doesn’t like loud noises.”

“Well, that’s a pretty good reason.” Then she asked in a normal voice, “What is your name?”

He said in a normal voice, too, “Darkness.”

She turned around and said, “I like that name.” And they both smiled at each other.

Then they heard a loud noise. It was an asteroid that had hit the antenna. They both said together with worried faces, “If we don’t fix the antenna, we’re dead! ”

Darkness said, “You can’t die, I’m your numberone fan.”

Then Miley said, “You are a fan of mine?”

Darkness replied, “Well, of course…everyone is! You didn’t know that?” Then they remembered the antenna. Darkness said, “Hey, why don’t I just go out there and put the antenna up straight and we’ll be saved!”

Miley said, “That’s a good idea, if you don’t want to die.”

“What? We’re not going to die!” he said.

“I said you, not me. I take good care not to die!” she yelled.

“Well, trust me,” Darkness said. He put on his spacesuit and helmet, opened the door, and jumped out. He fixed the antenna and tried to get back in, but the door closed. He saw Miley trying to open the door. Meanwhile, a huge asteroid was about to hit him when the door opened, and he climbed in.

He fell on the ground, and Miley got on the floor and said in a quiet voice, “Are you okay?”

He touched her face and said, “Yeah, but I’d rather die than see you suffer.”

“Really?” she said.

“Really,” he said.

“That’s so sweet,” she said.

“Not as sweet as you are,” he said. Then Miley suggested that they go to sleep.

“Goodnight,” he said.

“Goodnight.”

Chapter Two: The Black Helmet

When they woke up, Miley said, “Good morning.” Darkness said, “Good morning.”

Miley screamed.

“What part of ‘no screaming’ don’t you understand?” Darkness asked.

“No, not that, go look in the mirror!” she said. He screamed.

Miley was walking in circles, saying, “How can you grow one inch more than me?”

“It’s not that bad,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. It’s really bad, and what’s up with your voice?” she said.

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He said, “I grew. You expect me to have the same voice when I’m one year older than you?”

“Wait, how old are you?” she said.

“That doesn’t matter,” Darkness replied.

“What matters is how you did this, and take off that metal black helmet,” she said.

“Okay.”

“Wow,” she said.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” he said.

“No. You look very handsome,” she said.

“Well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. It is prom at my school, would you like to go with me?” she asked.

“Well, I want to go, but I have to see if I can. I think we’re staying on the moon forever,” he said.

“You are such a jerk,” Miley said to Darkness, pointing at him. Then she turned around and said, “I can’t believe I was actually falling for you.” Then she stomped into the bathroom. She really wanted to get off the moon. She started to cry.

Darkness said, “Come on, Miley, you have to play at your concert.”

“No. I’m mad at you!” she said. Meanwhile, at the studio, the parents called the police, but the police wouldn’t help because they had other missions.

All of a sudden, there was a loud voice saying, “If you don’t get off the moon, I will throw a bomb at you and you’ll be dead! Ha ha ha ha! ” He continued to laugh in an evil way. Miley ran out of the bathroom and grabbed Darkness and ran back into the bathroom and locked him in. She ran to the controls and started to drive.

Meanwhile, at the studio, they called a detective, and he got there faster than you can blink. He told

them that his name was Detective Joe. They told Detective Joe that they had gone to the moon. Detective Joe said, “That boy always wanted to go to the moon.”

The dad of Miley said, “That’s all we need to know.”

Just when Detective Joe was about to take off in his rocket, they messed up in the studio. When the detective stopped the rocket, they wanted to see what he looked like. He got out of the rocket and Darkness said, “Dad!”

“Son!” Joe said.

Miley’s dad said, “You’re father and son?” They were very shocked.

Joe heard Miley call his son Darkness, so he renamed him Nathan. They returned home from the moon. Miley ran upstairs with Nathan to show him all her medals.

He said in a soft voice, “They’re beautiful.” She looked at him. They got closer, and they kissed. They ran downstairs because Nathan had to leave. They said goodbye. Nathan and Joe ran to the forest where there was a fire with a lot of people with hoods on.

One guy said, “What is our evil plan today?”

To be continued…

by William Lamar

one day, flash Was called by the police to solve a crime. He was ten years old, and he lived in Michigan. His job was to solve crimes. He was really fast at solving crimes, and that was why the police had called him. Flash was too cool for school.

The police called because Thunder, the bad guy, was destroying computers. Thunder liked to throw computers at buildings. This made people angry, because he was stealing computers and breaking buildings. He also snuck into buildings in a disguise and destroyed everyone’s Word documents.

Flash traveled to California where Thunder lived. When he arrived, he saw a red hat at the scene of the crime. Flash remembered that Thunder had a red hat. Thunder liked red because he loved fire. Flash knew that Thunder’s favorite game was checkers, and it was on the computer. He also saw crumbs of Thunder’s favorite cereal, Lucky Charms, next to the computer. He liked Lucky Charms because it was sweet, and every morning he liked to eat cereal.

Mysteries

Flash went into the building and caught Thunder in the office destroying more Word documents! Why didn’t the police catch him? They were trying to catch Jack, Thunder’s friend. Jack was a bad guy, too! When Thunder’s friend Jack was not there, he turned his computer off, because Jack liked to be mean.

Then Thunder had dinner. Thunder liked dinner because he got everything he wanted. Thunder liked chicken for dinner. Flash knew this about Thunder, because he was hiding. Flash jumped up and pushed the backspace button on the computer and deleted everything. Thunder fell to the floor because Flash pushed him down.

Thunder can’t read Jack’s e-mail anymore.

T h E E x PLOD i N g S ch OOL

by Jacob Kalusha

agent crazy Was tall and fat and had a beard, and his partner, Bob, was fat and had a beard, too. Agent Crazy was twenty-five years old. They were both janitors at Henry Ford Elementary.

They were trying to stop the bombs that were blowing up schools because Bomb Voyage was trying to explode all the schools in the world. Bomb Voyage had forgotten to bomb Henry Ford Elementary, and now they had to stop him before time was up.

They decided to trap him by throwing a huge net at the front door of the school when he came in. They threw the net, but they missed him.

Agent Crazy chased after Bomb Voyage. Bomb Voyage ran around the school, and Agent Crazy waited for Bomb Voyage to come back around the school and hid before he saw him. Agent Crazy tackled Bomb Voyage and sent him to jail.

c ASE O f T h E mi SS i N g

m AS c OT PA rr OT

by Hunter Boudrie

my name is david, and, well, some people call me Sid. I know, pretty stupid, right? Anyway, my school is called Parrot Rock. That’s because we have a parrot for a mascot. Oh! And here’s my picture. I have two other friends and here they are. This is Ed, and here’s Steve. My teacher, Mr. Link, is all about science, and my classmates are all weird, except Jessica. “You always dream about her,” Ed says. He’s right.

Steve, a nerd in my class, is still trying to impress a girl. Her name is Alyssa. Actually, she’s Jessica’s twin sister. “Alyssa, will you go out with me?” Steve asks.

“No, you nerd!” yells Alyssa, slamming her locker shut.

“Oh, I’ll never get a girl,” mopes Steve.

“That’s because, well, you’re a nerd,” I tell him.

“So?” Steve says.

“Well, go get plastic surgery.”

“Oh help, please, someone help me!” yells a teacher.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Our parrot mascot, he’s…he’s gone!”

“What?”

“Yes!”

“Well, do you know who did it?” I ask.

“No. I went to get a donut and, poof, he’s gone.”

I think I know who did it, I say to myself. Bumper B. Bully.

Duh…duh…duhhhhh.

“Stop that,” I tell Ed, and then I see Bumper with a parrot, and it looks like Erryn the parrot! As we spy on Bumper, Jessica shows up.

“What’s up, guy?” says the hottie. (I mean Jessica.)

“We are spying on Bumper,” I tell Jessica.

“Okay, can I help?” she asks.

“Well, sure, yeah, we could use a girl detective, yeah, I mean…”

“Hey!” Bumper interrupts.

“What?” I ask.

“Give me my camera,” Bumper says.

“Here. Rrraw. Help. Help. Rrrraw! ” says the parrot.

“Shut up, Erryn!” Bumper says.

“He’s got Erryn, get him!”

Then Bumper starts to run!

“Stop!” yells a hall monitor. “Give me the bird.”

“Here.” Bumper gives Erryn to the hall monitor.

“Rrrraw, thank you, rrraw, yeah!” says the parrot. And that’s how Erryn is returned, and how Jessica and I become girlfriend and boyfriend. Well…later.

by Jaylah Austin

groceries, groceries. When she was holding up the store, she broke the cash register and stole five dollars. After she left, I went to my house, but she grinned at me. I turned the key in my house door and went inside, closed the door, and took a quick nap. When I woke up two hours later than expected, it was 4:59. I looked out of my window. Her house was dark, not even one light on. I suspected she was not home. So I called my bank, Nation’s Dollars Money Bank. They said, “ Someone’s robbing our bank. Help!”

“Give me all the money right now. Just give me the money and no one gets hurt, okay?” said Angry Allison. She was wearing all black and a girly mask, but it was still daytime outside. Why was that? I called one of her crime suspects, who I used to work with. Now she’s on the path of a detective, one of mine. Easy Emily. She is easy, after all, she came to the bank. She had twenty bags of money in her hands, but me, I could tell they were bricks. The floor trembled beneath us. It got higher and higher. We could not hear each

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other because cars and trucks were buzzing.

“Allison, you, you, evil human being,” I yelled.

“I am going to jump with my parachute,” she said.

“You can change your bad ways now, Allison,” I said.

She bolted over to Emily and grabbed the bag of bricks out of her hand. Emily’s hands were as slippery as butter.

“Emily, no, don’t,” I wailed. “She was going to steal the money.” I thought, I left the money on my kitchen counter.

I sprung into action. She jumped and I hollered, “Yippee!”

“It’s not over yet, you two hairballs!” Allison hissed.

“Yes it is,” Easy Emily and I yelled.

My name is Detective Zariah Edwards, and I love being a detective.

T h E m YSTE r Y O f

T h E STOLEN j E w EL r Y

by SaVaJay Mallory

one day, i had a party, and I had millions of pieces of gold jewelry. My jewelry filled one hundred billion chests. I wore ten rings, two crosses, and one gold watch. My friend Batscam wore the same. When the party was over—you know, at midnight—Batscam was tired so we fell asleep. Tick tock.

When we woke up our jewelry was gone, so we checked the whole house. When we checked the bathroom, it was as messy with blood as a junkyard. There was a gun in the bathroom.

I called the police. They traced the finger marks on the gun. His name was Hulk-Bologna. Scareman and Batscam checked the whole town of Scareman City. On West Side Street, we found a jewelry trail. We found the villain’s house, got the jewelry back, and the villains were put in jail, and we were happy again.

c A m AND T h E m YSTE r Y O f T h E STOLEN b A b Y

by Cade Hine

Chapter One: Baby Prologue

one day, cam and her best friend, Eric, were at Eastside Mall. Cam was excited because today was the day that you could get free ice cream—all you can eat—and they were selling her favorite, banana splits. When it was Cam’s turn, someone shouted, “Help! Someone stole my baby!” Cam dashed with Eric to the area where the lady was shouting. The officers were there, asking her questions. She said, “I left my baby right here, for just a minute, to get him some ice cream. Next thing I know—he’s gone.”

Cam saw a lady leaving the area with something in her hand wrapped in a towel. “It looks like a baby,” Cam said. Cam ran to the lady and said, “Stop!” The mysterious woman looked back and started to run.

Mysteries

Chapter Two: The Chase

she kept running through people, and even jumped benches. Then she was out of sight. Eric spotted her running down escalators. Eric said, “There she is!”

Cam looked at her and said, “Click.” Then she was gone. Cam and Eric went back to get their ice cream. They spotted an officer. Cam ran to him and said, “We know who did it.”

“Who did what?” the fat cop asked, munching down on his donut. Some crumbs were on his bushy mustache.

“We know who stole the baby.”

“You do? ” shouted a woman behind them.

Cam nodded. “She said, ‘Click,’” Eric told them about her photographic memory. Cam said, “The woman is in a khaki jacket and a blue dress with black shoes and brown hair and big black glasses.”

The officer pulled out his walkie-talkie, and he said everything Cam told him. He said, “Send all units to look around every store in this mall. I don’t care how long it takes to catch this woman.”

“Yes, sir,” the officer on the walkie-talkie replied. He told Cam and Eric that he would take care of it from here. Cam and Eric nodded. Eric said, “Come on, let’s go get more ice cream.”

“No!” Cam said.

Chapter Three: Searching

cam and Eric were looking for her everywhere and then, dddiiiinnnnngggg! T he bell to the jewelry store went off. A man ran out of the jewelry store, and they saw the woman with a baby in her hand. Cam saw the same guard, searching. Cam ran to him and said, “The two thieves are running.”

Don’t Stay Up So Late

“Which ones?” the guard asked.

“The man who robbed that jewelry store, and the woman who stole the baby. We’ll go after the man, you go after the woman,” said Cam.

The guard nodded. “Freeze, hold it right there!” the guard said, holding up his gun. “Call in all units.”

Cam and Eric ran after the man from the jewelry store. “Hold it right there,” Cam said. But the man kept running. He did not stop. Soon, the man grew tired. There was an escalator he had to run down to get away, but he just fell. Cam ran over to him. She told Eric to get a guard. She’d look after the jewelry thief. Eric came back a few minutes later with a guard. He handcuffed him, and he told him he’s going to jail for twenty-five years. When they got back, the woman was also handcuffed.

Chapter Four: Mystery Almost Solved

the woman said, “Look at the baby. It’s not hers.”

Cam and the officers looked at it. They asked the mother if it was hers. She said, “No, it’s not mine.” Cam asked why she ran, and she said, “You were chasing me, and I didn’t want you to take Bobby.”

“Who’s Bobby?” Cam asked.

“My baby, of course,” she laughed, smiling. Then Cam said, “Click, wait, I saw that baby before. You have a partner. You swapped babies, didn’t you?” The guard asked Cam what the partner looked like.

* * *

Mysteries

Chapter Five: Mystery Solved

“yes, she has brown hair, a red dress, red dance shoes, three gold necklaces, and one gold bracelet.” Then Cam saw her. “There she is!” shouted Cam. The guard caught her before she could run.

“Is this your baby?” the guard asked the mother.

“Yes, this is my baby! Jimmy, I missed you so much!”

Cam now gets free ice cream whenever. Cam did it again!

by Trevor Greca

one evil day, there Was a lightning and thunder storm. The weatherman said it would be bad. When the Museum of Natural History got broken into, they knew who to call: Detective Trevor! And they knew who did it—Bad Guy Bill, because Trevor had put all the other criminals in jail. Trevor went to the scene of the crime. Bad Guy Bill, as quiet as a mouse, had stolen the diamonds from the museum. They all went to Bad Guy Bill’s house. No one was home. They busted the door down. One hour later, Bad Guy Bill got home and they arrested him. The End…Well, not for long.

Months later, he broke out of jail—a crazy man on the loose. He found a new home and got married. One year later, they found Bad Guy Bill, the crook. They watched his every move, and the cops moved in, and they put him in an inescapable jail. Well, they thought that, but he escaped on a boat. Then a shark bit the boat and Bad Guy Bill died.

T h E STOLEN PU r PLE ri N g

by Fatima Laouali

Chapter One

today is the day Marrie McArthur found out that her one million dollar ring was stolen. Dun, dun, dunhhh!

One day, Marrie was getting ready to go to the prom with her boyfriend. His name was Brian. He was seventeen years old. She was sixteen. He went to her school.

“Mom, I’m set and ready for the prom,” Marrie said excitedly. She had on a long, sparkling purple dress, with a purple ring and purple high heels. She walked down the stairs. When she got all the way down, she looked for her mom. Brian was at the end of the stairs.

“Hey Marrie,” Brian said.

“Hey, let’s go,” Marrie said. They closed the door, and they were on their way to prom.

Five minutes later, they were at East High School. When they walked into the gym, it was decorated all

Don’t Stay Up So Late

over. This guy came to Marrie and saw the ring. “I like your ring. Can I see it?” the guy asked.

“Okay!” Marrie said. He looked at it, and then he left. “Hey A.J., how you doing?” Marrie asked her friend.

“Good. Hey, where is your ring?” A.J. asked, clueless.

“What are you talking about? It is on my finger,” Marrie said. Marrie looked at her hands and didn’t see her ring!

Chapter Two: Finding the Villain

all through the prom, Marrie was not having fun.

“Brian, can we go home?” Marrie asked.

“Okay,” Brian said, and they drove off.

The next day it was bright and sunny. Brian came to see Marrie.

“Hey, what happened at the prom?” Brian asked.

“Someone took my one-million-dollar ring,” said Marrie.

“Oh yeah, I saw a boy come up to you. Did he take the ring?” Brian asked.

“Well, he saw my ring, and he liked it, sooooo, I think he did!” Marrie said.

“He is my lab partner,” Brian said.

“What’s his name?” Marrie asked.

“David.”

“Do you know where he lives?” Marrie asked.

“Kinda,” said Brian.

“Okay, let’s drive there,” said Marrie.

“I think this is his house,” Brian said. Knock, knock, knock. “Hi, does David live here?” Brian asked the lady.

“Yes, and are you Brian Miller?” asked the kind lady.

Mysteries

“Yes,” Brian answered.

“Come in,” she said. “My name is Jessica Johnson. My son is upstairs doing his homework. Is this very important?” Jessica asked.

“Yes,” Brian said. “David stole Marrie’s one-million-dollar ring!”

“Oh no! Do you have proof?” Jessica asked.

“Yes, we do,” answered Marrie. She gave Jessica the tape of the prom. When the tape was over, Jessica gasped. “David!” Jessica yelled. David came running to see what was the problem. “Yes?” David answered.

“Give Marrie’s ring back now! ” Jessica said. David pulled out her ring.

“That’s it,” Marrie said. “That’s my ring.”

“Why did you take her ring?” Jessica asked.

“Because Marrie is rich,” David said. “I’m sorry.”

“Well, I want you to go to jail for one year,” declared Marrie.

“Fine,” David said, “but I’ll be back…”

Dun, dun, daaaaaaa!

by Mayceeclair Davis

my detective is a teacher, Mrs. Kich, and she’s forty-two years old. There are thirty-two kids in her classroom. They go on a field trip. For the field trip, they went to a farm. The class saw a house. It was haunted. Jenna went into the house, and the class followed her.

They didn’t hear one noise inside the house. Tom got very scared. Tom said, “I don’t think this is a good idea.” The whole class yelled so loud that the ghost woke up.

The ghost came out of its room. The class heard all sorts of noises. The class tried to run out of the house. The ghost sat on the door so they could not get out. The ghost pulled the class into different rooms.

The class was so scared that Tom screamed over and over. Jenna tried to get out but she couldn’t. Jenna said to herself, Why didn’t I ask if the class could go into the house?

The teacher was worried. She couldn’t find her class. She was scared. The class yelled so loudly; they

Mysteries

were very frightened. The ghost took all the kids to the attic. Jenna found her way out. She was frightened. Tom said, “I think I found my way out,” and he had. He almost went outside to find his teacher, but instead he decided to help his class, so they could be safe.

Then Jenna thought she had found her way out, but as it turned out, she couldn’t get out after all. The teacher heard a noise; she thought she heard kids, and she followed the noise.

Six minutes later, she found the noise. She stopped next to the haunted house. The kids were still yelling until they heard a noise. The teacher said, “Hello? Hello? Hello!”

The kids were yelling, “Help!” about three million times. It was annoying. The teacher had a flashlight to see inside the house and some tools in case it was a trap. The teacher was as brave as a tiger. She went into the attic where she found all the kids. She got so mad that her class was in a haunted house. They were in big trouble.

When the class was all safe, they went back to school. The kids were scared that they were going to get in trouble. The teacher talked to them. She asked, “Why did you go into the house?”

“Are you the real teacher or not?” Jenna asked. And suddenly, the teacher was gone, so the kids screamed. The ghosts had turned the teacher into a ghost. The kids ran away, except for Jenna. She was the last one. The ghost locked the door and turned Jenna into a ghost, and the kids never saw Jenna again.

by Corbin Fields

one good and calm day at Michigan Machine Weather Inc., they completed a freeze ray, and just then, a big bomb exploded, and there was: The Mysteries. Dr. Jell-O Mysteries. Dr. Jell-O had brownish-reddish hair. He’d used knock-out gas to knock out cities, and he’d stole the freeze ray machine. The guards called Detective Corbin. When he arrived, he saw brown-and-reddish specks of hair and specks of Jell-O.

Detective Corbin asked the scientist what the evil doctor could do with the invention. The scientist said, “He could instantly freeze the city, or, with lots of wire, a motor, a super-powerful generator, a telescope, some super glass, nine hundred million pounds of JellO, and super rubber, he could do something we don’t know how to build.”

And eight-year-old Detective Corbin said, “I know what it is, but the problem is, where is he hiding?”

Professor Lego said, “Well, the other stuff is five blocks down on the right, where our supplies are being held.”

Corbin said, “Thanks for the information, but it is three am. He must be close, and the closed Jell-O warehouse three blocks down is where I think he’s hiding.”

Later, at the Jell-O Hideout, Dr. Jell-O had already stolen the other pieces of equipment and the machine had been built. But the detective knew he had already gotten the stuff, and he barged in and said, “You’re under arrest!”

Then, Dr. Jell-O said, “I suppose you want to know why I made this machine called the Jell-O Maker.”

Corbin said, “Yep!”

Dr. Jell-O said, “You see, when I was a kid, I loved Jell-O so much, it took up the whole house. So my mother got rid of the Jell-O as fast as lightning and grounded me from Jell-O for as long as I lived there. I have no money to buy Jell-O, so I made the Jell-O Maker. Here, I’ll give you an example. Now, watch as this blue-and-green radio turns into Jell-O.” And, boom, as quick as a wink, there was Jell-O.

Dr. Jell-O screamed, “It works! It works! Now I will test it on a human…you! ” When he looked up, Detective Corbin saw a self-destruct button. He snuck over, as quiet as air, and hit the button. Dr. Jell-O flew in the air and landed in Jell-O prison. The warehouse turned into a big Jell-O ship. It then turned into a big glob of Jell-O, the size of a skyscraper and as long as a giant cloud.

As for Detective Corbin, he is now the commander of all detectives.

by Teryn Robinson-Cowling

one day, there Was a girl named Alise. She loved the color blue and she hated Miss Peaches, the girl who had been trying to kill her for nineteen years!

She was sitting on the couch one night with her daughter Teryn. They were watching “iCarly” when they heard something at the door. Alise said, “I’ll get it.”

At first, she just stood there. Then she yelled, “RUN TERYN!” Teryn vanished up the stairs. Miss Peaches quickly grabbed Teryn.

Alise yelled, “Teryn!” and dashed upstairs. “Teryn!” She was gone. Alise called 911, but it didn’t work because she had forgotten to pay the phone bill.

Alise changed into her flower shirt and her skinny jeans and her jacket. It was weird because the jacket had a note pinned to it.

It said:

To Alise: See you tomorrow. Love, the girl that you hate, Miss Peaches.

Mysteries

Alise went to Miss Peaches’ house. She kicked the door open, and she saw her favorite book, Enchanted. Then Alise heard a scream: “Mommy!”

“Teryn!”

“Mom, come quick!”

So Alise zoomed as quick as a wink up the stairs. She could hear Teryn in a closet.

Teryn had asthma. She could not breathe in the closet, and the closet was hot. It had a lock on it. Alise saw a hammer. Quickly, she grabbed it and smashed the lock open. Then Alise saw a phone. She called 911. Alise thought, I’m so glad she paid her phone bill.

“Hello,” the lady said.

Alise said, “Please, get the ambulance, please.”

The lady said, “On it,” and hung up.

Alise dashed back to Teryn. “Don’t worry, sweetie. They’re on their way.” Then Alise asked Teryn, “Where is Miss Peaches?”

“She told me she was going to the store because she was going to get me something that was not healthy.”

Alise said, “Well, that’s not going to happen.”

Then they heard the ambulance. Alise vanished downstairs and told them to come in. The police zoomed upstairs. They grabbed the girl and put her into the car. As soon as they put her safely into the car, Miss Peaches came. Alise flashed outside and kicked Miss Peaches. Then the police came, and Miss Peaches went to jail.

As Teryn grew up, she decided she wanted to be an art teacher, because her grandma told her that she was good at art. Every time she saw her mom, Alise, it reminded her of Miss Peaches.

Alise and Teryn became wonderful, grateful, thoughtful people.

ck

by Zariah Edwards

hi there! i’m Joe bluebird. I am thirty-five years old. I live in a motel in Africa. I travel a lot because I am a detective, and I’m always trying to solve a mystery. I am looking for my crystal rock, which someone stole from me. I think it was Angie Floubenski, because she was jealous when I got it from General Dinker Bluebird. I think he’s crazy for hiring her. She was a problem from the start. She could never keep her eyes off of my crystal.

I went home and felt a draft. I looked around and I saw my patio door open. I wondered if Angie was here. I bet she was, because I don’t see my crystal where I normally put it. I guess I put it somewhere else? I’m going to look for it. I’ll check the cupboard. Nothing there but platters. Maybe it’s under my bed.

Vroom!, a car went outside. It’s Angie. I know it’s her. Come on, I’ve wasted time. I need to leave right this minute.

I’m right behind her as she goes into a building with clues. I bet it’s her crew, Josh Lafart and Gingo

Grose. Oh my gosh, I can’t catch them. They are going as fast as a mouse running away from a cat. My head is spinning like the Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.

I got it! I can get there before they do, and get them when they walk in the door.

I am doing back-flips and back-bends, and then I hit Angie. She looks at me.

“Where is it, Angie?”

“Where’s what?” she asks innocently.

“You know what I am talking about,” I say in disbelief.

“No, I don’t!”

“Look,” I say, “I am not going to go back and forth with you. Where is my crystal rock? If you don’t tell me where it is, I will—”

She stops me. “Do what? What are you going to do? Take me down? No, you won’t do anything.”

“Give me my crystal rock!” I demand.

“Here,” she says, finally, “but don’t forget, I can GET IT BACK!”

POPY w AYNE AND j ESSE w AYNE

by Jesse O’Neal

popy lives in foster care, and he wanders the world. His partner, Jesse, is super strong. He and Jesse can lift a semi-truck. Jesse has a special superpower—it is a sting blower. Popy has one too—his is thunder lightning. They love to fight crimes. Crimes are fun to solve, they think, because you get a chance to save the world. Some of the villains they fight are Nick, Cordin, Slim Jim, Jim Slim, Mrs. Toot Toot, Mr. Jasen Masen, and Mr. Greca, a.k.a Trevor.

One day, Jesse’s teacher from college, Mrs. Winters, got kidnapped. He did not like it, so he called up his partner, Popy Wayne. Mrs. Winters did not answer her door when they went to investigate. Then Popy saw footprints coming from the back door. He saw a part of a rope and a gun. They put on plastic gloves, and they held walkietalkies and box-cutting knives and dusting brooms. They held a scooper called the Mager. Then they found out it was Nick, Cordin, Slim Jim, Jim Slim, and Mr. Jasen Masen, and they were as mad as bears. “Why did you kidnap her?”

“For her billion dollars,” they said, “and her jewelry.”

by Brandon Webb

detective michael has a dog named Zoe. He loves animals but not people. He lives in Florida, and he is thirty-two years old. He has a friend named Justin, and Justin has lots of animals. He has a dog, a cat, a bird, a snail, two fish, and a hamster.

Detective Michael is trying to solve the Crime of the Stolen Shark Teeth. It all started when Mrs. Johnson bought twenty shark teeth. She bought some of the shark teeth in Florida and doesn’t like to talk about them because she thinks someone will steal them, and then someone does.

Detective Michael searches the classrooms for clues. He finds eight green feathers. They belong to some animal that has green feathers, and he can only think of one person who has an animal with green feathers, and that is Justin.

He does not want to think it is Justin, so he goes to the library, and a book says that there is only one of the rare green birds left in the U.S. He goes to Justin’s house, and Justin is not there. He opens the door,

Don’t Stay Up So Late

and Justin has a new animal he has just brought home: a green bird. Detective Michael says, “Do you have something new to show me?”

“I have twenty shark teeth,” Justin says. “I stole them, but don’t tell.”

Michael says, “Well, I have to send you to jail.” And the green bird is stolen, too.

T h E STOLEN j E w EL r Y

by Nicholas Lundy

one day, i Was on my computer looking at phones when I got a message that said, “There’s a crook named Slim Jim. He’s stealing jewels.” I was at the apartment and found the handprints. I went to the lab and found the crook. It was my worst enemy, Slim Jim. I was shocked Slim Jim was in the city, stealing gold chains.

“Hey, Slim Jim.” He turned around. “You were stealing jewelry.” He ran as fast as a cheetah, but I, Detective D, was lucky. Slim Jim had to stop to catch his breath. Slim Jim stopped. There was no more crime to solve.

I went back home as quick as a flash. I got another message that said, “There’s a crook named Crock Pot stealing phones.” I’m on my way. D out.

wh E r E YOU wi LL m EET LA rg E r T h AN L if E ch A r A c TE r S , SU ch AS A b OY wi T h wi N g S , A YODEL i N g gi ANT , AND A gir L wh O i S NO bigg E r T h AN A PEN ci L

by students from Mr. McEmeel’s and Mrs. Foster’s fifth grade class

f LATS

by Ethan Kelly

there once Was a boy in Italy. His name was Flats. Flats, as you can tell, was flat. And he was also very tall.

When Flats went to school, he couldn’t fit in well. When it was art time, he ran out into the hallway.

Though Flats could do something special: Flats could change colors. When he played Hide-and-Seek, he always won.

In fact, he made it to the World Championship of Hide-and-Seek and took home the big, gold trophy. Then, one day, a new man came to Italy.

He said, “I am the Hide-and-Seek Champion of Scotland. I hear there’s a boy named Flats. Bring him here!”

“What do ya want, punk?” said Flats.

The man exclaimed, “I want the title of World Champion that you possess. I challenge you to Hideand-Seek. If you win, you will be the best Hide-andSeeker.”

“And if you win?” asked Flats.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

“You must never play again!” exclaimed the man. Everyone gathered in the park for the championship finale. Flats and the man hid in their most secret spots. Flats clung to a tree trunk and turned brown. The man cleverly cloaked himself with a machine he had invented. The searchers commenced seeking. At first, they were off-track. Then they started wandering closer to the hiding spots.

Flats was nervous when a seeker passed him. The man tried not to sweat so they couldn’t hear him.

Thirty minutes passed, the tension grew, the crowd mellowed, the hiders nearly panicked. Then, finally—

“Found you!” shouted the seekers. Nervously, Flats looked up, afraid the seekers referred to him.

But no! The man was the one found when his machine ran out of diesel.

“I won! I won!” shouted Flats.

“Our boy won!” shouted Mr. and Mrs. TwoDimension.

“No! I can’t lose!” shouted the man in demise. “But I’m a man of my word. You’re the World Champion.”

The man moved back to Scotland and Flats returned home to rest as the World Champion of Hideand-Seek.

mich AEL AND chri S

by Sophia Parrinello

there i Was in egypt. I was searching for ancient mummies and other historical, fantastic, valuable things, such as jewels and princes who had died. I found a story buried under the dirt. The story was about Princess Zeema and Michael the Giant.

People say that Princess Zeema was killed by some one-thousand-foot male on May 12, 1858. Now it is May 11, 1906. Legend says that bad things will happen every year on May 12, such as Princess Zeema coming back from the dead, Princess Zeema retelling the story of her death, people dying, and the one-thousandfoot man killing nearly everything in his path. No one knows if he does this on purpose or not. No one has gotten so close to his face that they could talk to him or get a good view of his eyebrow.

One day, a small boy named Chris Lander wanted to meet Michael to see if the giant could talk things out with the people in Egypt and to see if he’d stop hurting people. Princess Zeema got squished by his uniquely large feet, and not chewed up, because he crushed things with his feet.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

Suddenly, May 12 came, and everybody went into their houses and looked outside their windows while Chris Lander stood outside and warmed up to climb Michael. Michael came from behind Chris and nearly squished him. Yet, Chris leapt out of the way.

Chris got aggravated and climbed his leg and reached his face. He noticed that one of Michael’s eyes was permanently shut, and he said, “He’s blind in one eye!” Everybody gasped with relief. Instead of Chris making him feel bad, he made the giant feel proud. When things were okay, Chris introduced Michael to everyone, and they told him what he had done to Egypt. He told them that he honestly didn’t know why he did that.

He felt bad, and when he asked them if he could help, they all yelped, “NO!” They said that because they knew it would make things worse. Instead, he helped with taking things down and putting things up.

Do you know how he was blind? They took him to the doctor, and he said that a tumor was in there, and they didn’t know where it was from. They just let his feet be, because they didn’t know what to do.

One day, Michael got rushed to the hospital. They ran a test on him, and he had died. Everybody cried because Chris Lander had died too. They both came to be great historical figures to the people of Egypt. They were celebrated on May 12, and people sang happy and sad songs. The most important things that they did were to CRUSH buildings and toys, and to climb things.

T h E ST r ON g EST w O m AN ON EA r T h

by Danielle LeMaster

have you heard of the strongest girl on Earth? Her name was Kimberly Mistymist. She was born February 5, 1726.

When she was born, people said she was as tiny and skinny as a pencil. She cried so loud as an infant that her tears looked like a rainstorm. She was so hungry, she drank her milk from ten cows a day!

Kimberly was four when she started school. The kids thought she was strong because she lifted her parents’ horse and wagon with one finger.

One day, when she was ten, she was exercising. She decided to lift her log cabin. The cabin slipped from her hands and broke in half.

Her parents were so mad, they grounded her. Kimberly stomped her feet because she was angry and made an earthquake that shook from Michigan to Texas. She kicked up mounds of dirt that were so enormous that it made up the Appalachian Mountains.

When she grew up and moved to her own house, people saw that she was the strongest woman on Earth.

wh

by Chad Dusina

born With Wings, this boy was ready to be the first human being to fly without a plane. This amazing boy had a pigeon for a friend.

One day, he was nominated to be the youngest man to go to war.

He was fifteen and he was an air fighter. He went to World War II. He came home with one shot in his wing, but he was all right.

He loved the summer because in the winter, he could only play video games, but in summer he could fly like the wind and play all day. He played catch, kickball, and basketball.

There had even been news reports of one flying person around U of M’s campus, but it was just Chad, the boy with wings.

The next day, when he woke up, he wasn’t inside. He was outside, sleeping on a clothesline on the U of M campus. This was odd because he didn’t remember going there. Then he saw a fake bat on string flying on the clothesline.

O fr A m ED T h E b OY wi T h wi N g S ?

Chad untied the bat and flew away with it. As he looked at the bat, he saw the initials QM. “Quinn Michael?”

He realized he was being framed for stealing materials from the chemistry lab. Quinn’s plans didn’t work. He got caught trying to steal someone’s stink bomb. The boy with wings was cleared of all charges.

by DaQuann Harrison

once upon a time, there was a really flexible and very strong hero named Zackery. He was born in Gary, Indiana. He once went to gymnastics class and he was the top. When Zackery would lay in his bed, he could hear grasshoppers all the way down the road and people talking next door. Also, he was only twenty-two years old.

“Zackery! Get up, wash up! I need you to go to the bank,” his mom said one morning.

“Mom, I need money because I am trying to go to Disney on Ice tonight. Hip-hip-hooray!” Zackery got up and got dressed and went to the bank.

“Hi. May I withdraw $300 from my mother’s bank account?” asked Zackery.

“Yes, sir, you can,” replied the cashier.

“Thank you,” Zackery told the cashier.

“You are very welcome,” the cashier replied. “Help! Help! Help!” the cashier hollered.

“What is wrong?” Zackery yelled.

“Robbers! Robbers!” the cashier said.

“Call the police and tell them that we are at 1512 Miles Street,” Zackery said. “Which door did they go out of?” Zackery asked the cashier.

“The back door,” the cashier replied. “Wow, he can flip!” the cashier said.

Secret Agent Foster Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Special Woman showed up. “Where did Zackery go?” Secret Agent Foster asked.

“They went out of the back door,” the cashier replied.

Woosh! Woosh! Look at Secret Agent Foster go!

“Remember, call the police,” Secret Agent Foster shouted.

“Oh yeah!” the cashier screamed.

Ring, ring, ring! “Emergency!”

“What’s the address?” asked the operator.

“Okay, this is a bank, and a man named Michael Jackson robbed the bank,” the cashier replied.

“Michael Jackson!” The operator told the cashier, “He is wanted for an armed robbery. I’m sending help now!”

“Thank you,” the cashier told the operator.

“You are welcome,” the operator replied.

Ring, ring, the police sirens sounded.

“Where is he?” the police officer asked.

“They are in the alley. I think he is hiding behind the garbage can,” the cashier replied.

“Okay!” the officer said.

“Hit the alley and the garbage can, boys,” the chief told all the cops.

“Ten-four,” all the cops replied.

“Help! Help!” Zackery and Secret Agent Foster said.

“Where are you?!” the cops asked.

“Behind the garbage can!” Zackery said.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

“Here we come!” the officer said.

“Freeze, M.J.! Thought you could hide, huh?”

“Yeah! Because you been hit by, you been hit by a smooth criminal. Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! Dun! ” M.J. sang.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will go against you in the court of law. You have the right to get your own attorney. If you don’t, the court will assign you an attorney. Take him, boys,” the chief said. “And good job, Zackery, Secret Agent Foster, and the cashier. You all did awesome,” the chief said.

“I will be back, y’all,” M.J. replied.

“Don’t mind him,” the chief said.

“We know,” all replied.

“You have been hit by a smooth criminal! Yeah!”

by David Wright

many years ago, a baby was born, but this baby was no ordinary baby. A few days after he was born, the baby was measured five feet, eleven inches and weighed one hundred and two pounds. The worst thing about him was that the growing didn’t stop.

The townspeople talked and talked about it but never did anything until the growth spurts started to happen. When he was five, he was measured again. They had to say he was “five hotels stacked up,” because the measuring tape stopped at the end of his big toe. The estimate was very accurate, though. This growing didn’t stop there; it seemed that he grew one hotel each year. When he was six, he was six hotels high, seven years old, seven hotels, eight years, eight hotels, until he was forty-three. The townspeople started to talk more and more about what they should do, but one of the things they hated most about him was his horrible yodeling. Their plan was to banish him to a far-away place. They told him he was banished and he agreed without hesitation.

He moved but that didn’t help them at all, because that big lumberjack was so big and his vocal cords were so loud, they still heard his horrible yodels.

Some of the townspeople formed a secret group called the Yodel Stoppers. They made tons of plans to stop his yodeling. They finally came up with a plan to stop it once and for all. All they needed was a really long rope, and they had one.

They went looking for him, and it took days before they found him.

“Hey, Tiny, can you walk this way for us?” asked the leader.

“SURE!” answered Tiny. Bam-bam-bam! His feet shook the earth with each step.

“Now!” commanded the leader.

“OH, NO! AHHHHH!” shouted Tiny. He fell hard, breaking up the land and spreading it apart. He had made the biggest quake ever. He plunged into the lake, crashing down, making it hundreds of thousands of feet deeper.

As he came up for air, he placed his hand on a piece of land, leaving a handprint. The Yodel Stoppers hit his hand with pick axes, TNT, and more until he fell…

He did—and he never came back up. They celebrated for a while until they felt guilty, and that feeling grew and grew until they actually started to miss him.

To honor him, they named the things he did. The deep lake is an ocean. The broken-up pieces of land are called “continents” and his handprint…Michigan. Also, to this day, people still yodel.

By Henry Booker

it Was a basic summer day and Shawn was swimming, but it was not right. He’d had bad luck all day. The reason he was swimming was because the girl he liked was so hot! She gave him third-degree burns.

He had bad luck because he was so good at everything. His cartwheels blew away the cheer squad. He got straight As; he even finished his classes in a minute and a half. The thing was, he was just too good at everything. People called him Energy.

He wasn’t even that cool. To him, he was just your average teenager: baggy pants, shirt with skulls on it, and thirteen. Since everyone thought he was so good at everything, he got his college degree, and they even let him choose his career without an interview.

He chose to be a background dancer for Usher, because he was so good with his feet. Dance Revolution had to make three games until they could match his curriculum.

One day, the moon said that the people on Earth liked seeing him the most, more than anything else.

Don’t Stay Up So Late

When the sun heard, the sun challenged him to have a race around the world to see how people would react. Not knowing they were interfering with time, they sped ahead forty-eight years. Shawn was elderly and couldn’t show that much energy. He learned his talent couldn’t help him forever. He started to do things on his own again, and Father Time rewound him back to teenage age.

When Shawn died at age ninety he left a note: Move, think, and learn, and life will push you forward.

TALL PAUL

by Miles Davenport

there once Was a boy named Paul, and he was one hundred feet tall. Nine hundred more feet and he would have been as tall as the Empire State Building. He hated playing Hide-and-Go-Seek because he was so big. He would always be found, but he couldn’t find anyone. A lot of the time, he would cry. Everybody hated when he cried; it was like a huge rainstorm. His parents only found him one pair of clothes. He wore extra-extra-extra-extra-extra large.

One day, some guy named Steve with a race car challenged Paul to a race. The race was to go all the way to Texas and back. They would start on Sunday at twelve pm.

A couple of days later, the race was about to start. Ready, set, go! Paul took about ten steps and they could not see Paul or the car. Then they got a complaint from Texas that a car was there, but the tall guy had left. Everyone looked toward the finish line. Paul had crossed.

As it happened, the car had run out of gas, so Steve

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had to stop. Since then, every month, someone will come and race the tall, big-bearded Paul. Even though Steve lost, people think they can beat Paul. Paul always wins.

by Sterling Robinson

once there Was a little boy who was not so little, even though he was a baby. His mom lived in fear of him because he was so big. She named him TRex. When he was four, he ate everything! Pretty much all the food in the house. His mom got mad, so she kicked him out. He shed a tear and that tear made his mom a fifty-foot-long pool.

He found some free land and built a seven-hundred-story house. It was seven hundred acres long. When he turned five he was swimming in the ocean. He was fifty feet tall. He found food. He would grab fish, throw them in the air, and then catch them in his mouth. That would not do, so he grabbed a whale by its tail and threw it in his mouth. He said, “I want pasta.” So he went back and grabbed a King Cobra and pythons. He said, “Pasta’s ready.” He picked up his fork and started eating.

Next he went to the farm and bought one hundred sheep. He took their wool off and made a blanket. Then he ate the sheep. At nine pm, he went to sleep. He

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was cold because he’d forgotten to dry off. So he went to the equator to dry off. Then he went back to sleep. He woke up and took twenty spears and put them together by using sap for glue. Then he put one boulder on each side. Next, T-Rex started lifting the weight. One day, he saw people fighting. They said, “This is my land.” That’s how the fight started. T-Rex threw everybody on the right land. Then he pushed the countries apart. He jumped on Atlantic City. That’s when it sunk. After that, he went to London, he went to a lake, and he saw some kind of fish-dino. It was scary to see a giant. It went underwater and never came back up. After that, T-Rex went back home. When he went to sleep, he died because of the poison in the snake dinner. They dumped him in the ocean and that made it deep.

by Taia Woodward-Curtis

there Was a boy named carl, and he was somebody you didn’t want to be around. His mom Jennifer was as sweet as pie, but Carl was the biggest bully ever. He didn’t care about anyone, all he did was eat. He could eat a whole box of cereal—including the box —all by himself.

One day, a new kid named Chase came to school. Carl wanted to say something rude and take his lunch, but he wanted to wait a couple of weeks to let the new kid get settled before he bullied him. Carl did this so that he wouldn’t get caught beating Chase up. The other bullies went right away to beat up girls and boys, but Carl knew better, and liked to wait to beat everyone up.

Two months went by and Carl decided that today was the day to play a little game with Chase. Carl thought that it was really cold outside. His hands were frozen. Carl had the idea to beat Chase up in the snow.

“What’s your name, punk?” Carl asked.

“Uh, Chase, Chase Griffin is my name.”

“Well, Chase, let’s play a little game,” said Carl.

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Carl began to hit Chase in his stomach but Carl’s life flashed before him, even before he put his hand on Chase. Was it true? Did Chase know how to fight? Carl began to cry, “Mom, where am I? Waaahhh.”

“You’re all right, but why were you trying to beat me up?” Chase asked. “I haven’t even done anything to you, but I’m going to warn you, don’t mess with me,” Chase explained.

“I’m not scared of you,” Carl yelled out. “Now move back or I’ll punch you,” Carl said.

“Fine then, punch me,” Chase yelled.

“I think I am going to like you,” Carl said. “You wanna be friends?”

“Sure,” Chase said happily.

For a week, Carl and Chase were like best friends. Chase became a real bad bully with Carl. Chase even had to get moved to the back of the class for smacking a boy across the face, while Carl was eating a desk! Everybody started telling stories about Carl and Chase. For months, everybody was scared of Chase and Carl, even the teachers and principal.

After a couple of months, Chase came right up to Carl and said, “Give me your sandwich.”

“You can have a piece, it’s peanut butter,” Carl said.

“Oh, I hate it, it’s sticky. Chump, you better have something good tomorrow.” Chase began to get in a group with all the boys, and Carl couldn’t be in it. The boys liked Carl because he always did something crazy, like, one day he ate the whole swing set at recess and the principal was really mad!

The next day, when Carl was walking home from school, Chase and his whole group began to talk about Carl. Carl began to cry. “Cry, baby, cry,” Chase said.

“Uh-oh, man, you better stop,” the other boys said.

“I’m not scared of him,” Chase said. Carl zoomed real

fast to Chase and dumped his face in the snow back and forth.

“You’re supposed to be my friend,” Carl said, “but I guess you’re not.”

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Carl’s mom asked.

“Chase isn’t my friend anymore.”

“Oh Carl, did you beat him up?”

“Yes,” Carl said.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because he is not my friend, now leave me alone,” said Carl.

The next day, Chase said, “I’m sorry, and you don’t have to see me again because I am leaving. I’m moving to Mississippi.”

“Good,” Carl said.

“Well, bye, Carl,” said Chase.

“Bye, Chase,” said Carl. After a few months, Chase and Carl both missed each other, but at the end, there was no more trouble for the both of them.

by Brian Sullivan

once, in virginia, there was an oak forest, and that’s where Billy Bob Joe was born. Billy Bob Joe was not normal; he was born from a tree.

One day, when a plane crashed into a farmer’s house, Billy made the farmer a bigger house. In gratitude, he gave him his dog. Billy Bob Joe named the dog Spot. Spot was a good digger. After a big storm, a lightning bolt hit a tree, which started a forest fire. Spot dug a tunnel under the fire, making it collapse when Spot got out. Luckily, it starting raining and that killed the fire.

Spot and Billy Bob Joe helped people out until December 7, 1850.

Once, after a big snowstorm, their fireplace had a fire going and a spark flew, catching their house on fire. Billy Bob Joe ran in, saving everyone! Except for himself: when a beam fell, he got trapped, and the house caved in on him. That was the end of Billy Bob Joe. You could say he was the most helpful person who ever lived.

T h E big OLD LADY

by Chevaun Johnson

she’s big and fat and also old. Her name is Nena.

She has a big stomach and a wrinkled body. The unusual thing about her is that she keeps everything in her stomach. She keeps her money, clothes, comb, brush, food, drinks, toys, shoes, makeup, and nail polish there. She’s too big to fit into her house, so she lives outside in a tent on the ground.

One day, she took out her comb and started combing her hair. She put it into a ponytail and went to sleep. She heard a howl. She was not scared. She woke up and got a rubber sword and a flashlight. She flew on the flashlight and turned it on as she flew to where that howl came from. It was a wolf that couldn’t go to sleep. It got on Nena’s nerves. Finally, the wolf stopped howling and Nena went back to her tent and went to sleep.

The next morning, she woke up and took out her toothbrush and toothpaste from her stomach and brushed her teeth. She got out a bottle of liquid soap and went to the river and poured the soap in the river.

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She mixed it with a paddle and took a bath. She got out her blanket and dried off. Then she went back to her tent and put on her clothes, which she got from her stomach. She called a taxi, and it came. She had to ride on top because she was too big to fit into the taxi. She dented the taxi, and the taxi was crushed into small pieces, even the taxi driver. She felt sad, so she moved to her own big island and lived happily ever after.

by Reyannah Nelson-Chambers

in a small toWn there is a girl named Aaron. She is thirteen years old. Twelve years ago her mom died of a disease spreading around the colon. Aaron now lives with her stepmother, Aveil, pronounced like evil. When her mom died, Aaron had to move, and she missed those times when her life was simpler.

“Aaron! Wake up! You’re late!” Aveil said. Her aunt Rose said, “Don’t wake her up. She can wake up when she wants to and spend a whole entire day with us.” Aunt Rose was the nice one.

Aaron jumped out of bed, looked in her old raggy basket, pulled out overalls and a dirty white shirt, and ran down the stairs. “Hey, sweetie,” Aunt Rose said. “What are you wearing? I can’t have you going outside dressed like that, now go upstairs and change. You can go in my dresser and pick out something special.”

“Oh, she doesn’t have time for that now,” Aveil yelled. “Now sit,” she barked. “Eat your oatsy-oatsee.”

Aaron sat down and stuffed almost the whole bowl in her mouth.

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“Slow down, honey,” Aunt Rose requested.

“Okay,” Aaron said with a mouthful of oats.

“Time to go. Okay, Miss Lazy Pants?” Aveil yelled. “Hurry with it, now.” Aaron put down her spoon. She picked up her blue polka-dotted rubber raincoat and ran outside. Aaron ran so quickly that her aunt didn’t even have time to blink.

Zoomushhh… “Hi, Mrs. Halen, am I late?”

“No, but you’re early.”

“Early?” Aaron repeated.

“Yes, early. Oh Aaron, I’m afraid you left your books at home. Can you go get them, please?” Aaron’s face lit up in embarrassment. She opened the door, looked straight ahead, and ran. Aaron was running so fast, as fast as a jaguar, and then she stopped.

“Rose, you little monkey! No, you’re a sloth because you’re slow. I told you to mail the bills eight weeks ago. Oooww! I’m just so sick and tired of you always being so goody-goody, GET OUT NOW!”

Aaron saw the collectors taking everything they owned. Aaron ran to her aunt.

“What’s going on, Rosie?”

“Aaron, I didn’t pay the bills and now they’re taking everything we have.” Aaron looked at a collector and saw that he had a valuable box that belonged to her mother, Avigail. She was so beautiful, and that was the only thing that she had to remember her. Aaron ran up to the man loading the item into the truck.

“No, sir, please don’t take it, please! I’m begging you, please!” she pleaded.

“Okay, okay,” the creepy man repeated, “it’ll be eighty dollars.”

“I don’t have eighty dollars but I’ll give you twenty, sir,” she pleaded. The creepy man looked around to see if any of his crew members were there.

“Hey, kid, I’ll make you a deal. How about you give me the twenty and you get your gift, okay?”

“Yeah, just give it to me!” The man gave it to Aaron and went back to work. Her stepmom looked at her in shock.

“Aaron, good!” she bellowed. “You have money, buy all of our stuff back now, you twit!”

“Sorry,” Aaron whispered.

“Sorry, sorry for what?”

“I spent all my money getting that box back from the man, Aveil.”

“You and your aunt Rosie get out right this instant, you brainless monkeys,” Aveil yelled and stumped away. Aaron looked at Rose.

“What’s going to happen to us?”

“I don’t know, darlin’, but I guess we can call a taxi.”

“If we do, where are we going to go?” Aaron questioned.

“Well, darlin’, I never told you this, but your stepmom used to be nice.”

“Nice?” Aaron repeated. “Rose, have your funny.”

“No, I’m serious.” Rose giggled. “She used to be rich. She married your dad who owned a production farm, and they got money every five minutes, and I am a singer, Aaron. Remember, I used to sing to you at night when you were a small baby?

“Anyway, when your dad died, she lost her fortune, and I quit my career to help her, and she had to sell her mansion to make up for the money, and I bought her an old, casual house out here, and well, when my sister died, I had to take care of you, and when your stepmom found out about that, we came here to live with her. That’s when she became mean and treated you badly.”

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Aaron laughed through the story Rosie told her for hours. Then she stopped laughing.

“Aaron, good luck, there’s a taxi.” Aaron got into the taxi.

Rose told the driver, “Drive to Hollywood, and fast, sir.”

“Sure, just sit back and relax, okay, sure, and ma’am, that will be two hundred dollars,” said the driver.

Rose nodded. “I’ll give it to you later.”

When Aaron woke up, she was at a mansion in Hollywood. She got out of the car. Aaron looked up and saw a house. It was the biggest one she’d ever seen.

“Wow, Aunt Rose, is this really your home? ” she quickly said in excitement.

“Well, darlin’, yes, it is now. Hurry up, it’s chilly out here,” she said, walking herself to the door. Aaron rushed in behind her.

Once she was inside, Aaron couldn’t stop smiling.

“Rosie, it’s so…”

“I know. Messy and old looking, right?” Rose said, and looked at Aaron, who was confused.

“No! I was going to say big and beautiful!”

“Oh! Well, I still say it needs work. Honey, are ya hungry?”

“Madame,” a strange voice said behind Aaron.

“Oh yes, Aaron, Thomas is our butler. Thomas, this is my sister’s daughter, Aaron. She is our new house-guest. Can you show her to her room, please?”

“Yes, Madame.”

“Oh, and Thomas, can you make me a caldeslro with alsterato de cese sauce and a glass of passion-fruit juice, please?”

“Yes, Madame,” he murmured. That seemed to be all he could say. Yes Madame, yes Madame, right away

Madame. Who says Madame now? Aaron followed him upstairs. He walked slower than a slug. Finally, when she reached the bedroom where she was going to stay, she was hoping for something cleaner, fancier, better, and definitely bug- and rodent-free. He opened the door and…

“Wow!” Aaron yelled. Aaron saw a lamp and an actual dresser. A window and a phone and a well-made bed. Right then Aaron knew that her life was going to be good.

by J’Shawn Richmond

there Was this couple that always wanted to get married. Their names were Bob and Shala; they were engaged. They set a day to get married. The day finally came, and they got married on January 31, the last day of the month. They had so many people there; there were over a thousand people at the reception. They always wanted to have a baby boy. They wanted to name him Bob, Jr. The best day of their lives came: they had a baby boy. But when they had him, they could not see him. He was there, but they could not see him. They felt him and everything, but they could not see him. They were scared, but then they saw him. Shala screamed because she was holding him. They went back home, and Bob, Jr. was nice, and no one could see him. He always liked the radio. One day, he heard about a crime on the radio, so he snuck out the window and went to go catch the bad guy. He was the fastest boy on the block, and he just had to run, not take a car. So he caught the bad guy and saved a lot of gas.

by Janeja Johnson

one day raven and lisa begged their mom to go outside and play.

“Lisa, you girls and your dolls can go outside for twenty minutes,” their mom said finally.

“Okay, Mom.” The two girls went outside to play dolls. Raven had to get her other doll, but she found a bin of black stuff on the other side of her. She tripped on a log, and guess what, Raven, the nice girl, melted inside of the black substance! Lisa called and called for Raven, but she could not find her.

Three days later, Raven came back, all in black, and her hair was red and black as well. Everything she touched would die or get scared and run away. Raven could run very fast, and she also had scars all over her face.

Lisa called, “Raven, Raven.” Raven came out and threw Lisa all the way to her room. Lisa remembered what Raven had fallen into, the black substance.

A scientist had wanted to make everyone strong so they wouldn’t need to go to the hospital. When that

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didn’t go so well, and everyone started doing crazy things, Lisa became just like Raven. The only thing she had to do now was stop her sister from crushing the Earth.

Raven sensed that somebody else was just like her.

“I knew it!” Raven said with a smirk on her face. “It’s Lisa.”

Lisa jumped all the way to school where Raven had set her trap.

“Lisa, you found me! Now I will kill you.” Raven stood up and slapped her. Lisa was done. The black substance transported her to space, where she was left to die. Nobody could stop Raven now! Lisa was still in space, and she was running out of air. Raven, with one hand, went to space and crushed Earth. Oh no.

Lisa and Raven were normal again, and dying. Lisa was trying to think before it was too late. Raven was floating away.

“I got it,” she said, gasping for air. She closed her eyes and thought of the dream-come-true book.

“That’s it.” She dreamed that everything was back to normal again. Boom, it happened. Wait, that black substance is still there, right? Guess what came out of it? Your worst nightmare…

Bloody Mary! Beware your sudden death tonight!

by Amber Clark

miea is a super baby! She was born on February 2, 2010. She was just born and new. She was at home.

In two minutes, she was going to turn into a super baby. Her power was that when she says, “Gogo,” her clothes change into super clothes. When she whines, she hurts people, and ever since she has been hurting people, she’s made a lot of people sad.

“Oh my God, look at my pants and shirt! They are growing into a dress! What is going on with me? Where am I? Cool, I’ve got superpowers! Wow! What is this one? Oh! I can hurt people, or should I say bad people! Wait! How can I talk, I am only like, I don’t know, I was only born two days ago, what am I going to do with myself? I have to go see a specialist to see what is wrong with me. Wait, how am I going to get there? I don’t have to go. I am just going to go out in the real world and work my powers! There’s the cat door. I am out!

“Oops!” the super baby continued, “I did not mean

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to do that. I keep killing people? I probably made a grave for somebody just now. What power is this one? I just made a building crash down. Aaahhh! God, help me, please.

“Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing to me?” the super baby asked the being in front of her.

“I am here to help you with your powers. I am going to give you two options: take them away or keep them,” said God.

“Well, I am going to let them go because I don’t like hurting people.”

“Okay. They are gone,” God said.

“Thank you,” said the baby.

by Jamyia Wade

it Was summer, and the sun was shining. Lisa was walking down the sidewalk. Lisa was short, had long hair, was beautiful, and loved to cook. The unusual thing about Lisa was that she had a big, empty stomach!

Five minutes later, a bull got loose and was destroying the town, knocking down cars and people. Somehow, Lisa wanted some milk that had just come out of the cow. Then the cow said, “Mooooooo.” She ate the cow, and then people were screaming. She was going “crazy!” The bull was inside of her. Next thing you know, she made a loud “Rrrrrrrr.”

Suddenly, some woman came and got a big huge vacuum and sucked all the stuff and jelly out of her stomach, and she got tired after a while.

Next, she got shorter and shorter, and then, finally, she was small again, and the town was saved.

by Gabriella Herrera

once there Was a girl named Katherine. She was so tiny that when she was born, she was the size of a pencil sharpener. When she was fifteen, she was the size of a pencil. She couldn’t go outside because dogs thought that she was a stick. Katherine’s best friend was a small black ant. When she was at home, she spent most of her time baking and cooking food for her brothers and sisters. She could never be by animals because she could get eaten by them, but she loved to be by humans. Her dream was to meet a human and make friends.

Sadly, she died at the age of twenty-six when she got eaten by a hawk. One day, she was outside for the first time in her whole life, and she was talking to her ant friend. Her friend did not die because she was hiding behind a rock. Her friend said, “I will always remember my best friend.”

by Imani Johnson

there Was a girl named Humungous. She was eleven years old. She had a saggy butt, and her pants always sagged. Her waist was six feet wide. Her face was one inch. Her cheeks were so saggy that they took up most of her face. Her lips were so big they looked like a huge bubble. She got hungry every minute and she could eat one thousand Big Macs in one day.

After eating all the Big Macs, her stomach was so full that she had to see how much she weighed. She stepped on the scale, and the scale broke. She wanted to weigh herself because she said she felt like she was pregnant. She got off the scale and then got back on. Hopefully it worked. She was waiting and waiting and waiting and finally read that she was two thousand pounds. She ran outside and screamed. Every time she ran outside, her stomach hit her in the face and made a slapping sound. Everybody teased her and called her a lazy, dirty pig. She started crying.

“Boooo,” Humungous cried.

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While she was crying, her tears made a new lake in Washington, D.C. It was called the Lake of Tears. After she made the lake, she went to go for a swim in it.

She kept swimming. Everybody wondered why there was a new body of water. People went there every day, just like Humungous, and they threw quarters in the water to get rid of the devil.

Humungous went underwater and picked up all the quarters and went to the mall and bought clothes, shoes, and shirts. Then she went running and lost a bunch of weight.

She weighed herself, and it read one hundred pounds. Then she felt happy and proud and jumped up and down, hooray!

by Avery Cosey

avery Johnson is a cool character. His bones are made of rubber, and he’s flexible. He can do a slam dunk, and he is strong. He can break the backboard. Last time, he came back onto the ground and broke the floor, and he didn’t die at all.

One time, someone called for help. It was his clone, Avery. They both had the same powers, so they could do the same things.

ThE grEAT ADvENTUrE Of cAPTAiN SiLLY & SErgEANT DOrkEY

by Chad Greive, Jr.

captain silly Was born in a taxi in 1966. At twentysix, he was living in Michigan, in his mom’s house. He loved to work on computers. His mom and dad died in a horrible car crash in 1997. Then he lived alone. He did not know his grandparents. He did go to school. He did not have a driver’s license, because his mom was in heaven. Captain Silly had a good friend named Dorkey. Captain Silly had superpowers. Captain Silly’s superpowers were to see in the dark, jump two hundred feet, and breathe underwater.

One day, he went on mission to get something for his mom before she died. It was called Underpants, and it was a bottle of goo that gave him superpowers. One day, an 8.0 earthquake hit Michigan. His cat died. It jumped out of a window and a truck hit it. So the goo fell and broke. He did not know about the goo. The next day he slipped in the goo, his hands too. The goo started to get tangled.

“I feel something weird,” Captain Silly said. There were no lights, and there were broken windows and

loose dogs everywhere. Then the aftershock hit.

Two years later, he became an agent. His friend Dorkey came over with bad news. His wife, Linda, was captured by Captain Donkey. He was with the Diefths, a.k.a. thiefs.

“No, no, no,” he said. They had to get her back and their bottle. They were getting Captain Donkey because he had the Icky Sicky Gooey Oozy. He would not give it up, so Silly had to get it. Don’t forget, Dorkey went too. They left at one o’clock. He arrived at the island 4.3 days later. The island was filled with fifty thousand soldiers. BOOM! Half of the island was blown up. BOOM! BOOM! BANG! BANG! AK-47s were everywhere. Silly jumped two hundred feet to the tent.

“You came back,” Captain Donkey said.

“Yeah, to get Linda and the bottle,” said Captain Silly. Silly got the bottle and took off. Then Dorkey arrested Captain Donkey and tied him up to a pole.

“Linda, Linda, are you okay?” Silly said.

“I’m fine,” Linda said.

“Let’s get out of here.”

They ran, and a big gap was right in front of them—two hundred feet in front of them. To the boat they jumped. Silly and Linda made it, so Silly pulled Dorkey up, and they went home.

Ten years later…

“Can you go on another mission?” the secret agent guy asked Captain Silly.

“Sure, why not.”

“You have got to capture Donkey to get Dorkey’s—”

“What?!” Silly interrupted. “His wife?”

“Yes,” said the secret agent.

Three years later, Captain Silly and Sergeant Dorkey

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had a heart attack and passed away, but they did finally put Captain Donkey behind bars.

Twenty years later, Donkey escaped from prison. Donkey was living the good life, but Linda put his badge on Silly’s grave. It was a rainy night. Boom! Lightning hit the badge, bringing Silly back to life. Silly put the badge on Dorkey’s grave. Then the lightning hit Dorkey’s grave. Boom! Both of them went home to tell how Silly came back to life, but Dorkey told a different tale. He said he was alive the whole time. So they had to get Donkey one more time.

“I hate catching Donkey,” Dorkey said.

“Me too, me too,” Silly replied.

They both had to dig holes. It was dark by the time they made it to camp. It was three am. Everybody was sleeping. They snuck into the camp. They got Captain Donkey.

“Help! Help! Help!” Captain Donkey yelled. All of his soldiers were marching in.

“Fire!” the commander screamed.

“Run for your life,” Dorkey said, holding Captain Donkey.

Then the army came. Everybody froze. They put Captain Donkey in maximum security. He was sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison.

“I feel bad,” said Dorkey.

“I don’t,” Silly replied. They did not know the world was going to end ten days later. BANG! T he world collapsed. They were in an airplane, and they both had no food or water.

“LOW FUEL!” Dorkey cried. “There is water everywhere. We’re going to die.”

“Shut up!” Silly yelled. “If we can land this puppy in shallow water, we will be able to live.”

Three days later…the house they started building was finished.

“Finally, our house is finished.”

Boom! A meteor hit the house and blew it to pieces. Ten more meteors hit Captain Silly and Sergeant Dorkey.

They are gone.

R.I.P. Captain Silly.

R.I.P. Sergeant Dorkey.

by Lawrence Rowley

nce upon a time, there was a little boy, John Hawaii. Everyone called him Tiny. Tiny was very quiet, and, of course, tiny. Tiny was always sneezing and always had a drippy nose. One day, Tiny got a bad cold. His mom and dad were worried about him, because he was never this sick before, and he was so small.

Tiny hated having a cold, so he held in his sneezes as long as he could. This made his parents even more worried. They kept telling him to sneeze, but he wouldn’t.

As Tiny grew up, he started to get bigger, but the cold never, ever went away. When Tiny became an adult, he was seven feet tall and four hundred pounds, because after having a cold for twenty years, he ate a lot of healthy foods.

He knew, one day, he would have to sneeze, but he didn’t want to, because he knew it would be HUGE! At this time there were only forty states, but not for long.

Plop! A pile of snot hit the ground and it was green

and slimy. Tiny knew he was going to have to sneeze. He decided to sneeze toward the ocean so nothing would be destroyed.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, he ran as fast as he could, until he got to the beach. Ah-chew, chew, chew, chew, chew! The whole world shook, and there were boogers everywhere. The whole world was messed up. Cows were turned over, buildings were crushed, and there were even kids in swimming pools with the water out of them, because of the earthquake.

He decided to run away. He was never seen again, and legend has it, he never shaved, got hairy, and was called Bigfoot.

Also, over time, the boogers were covered by sand and became Hawaii.

by Amber Ingram

“WoW, i can see everyone from up here,” Lizyana reported. “I can even see Ms. Famin. She is raking her yard.

“Hi, Ms. Famin,” called Lizyana.

“Hello, Lizy,” hollered Ms. Famin. “Could you lift me to talk to you? Tomorrow, I’m throwing a huge welcome party for my cousin, Maya. She’s coming from New York. I need you to get some supplies. Here’s a list,” explained Ms. Famin.

Lizyana read the list. It said:

• Streamers

• Food

• Balloons

• Ice

• Punch

• Games

Lizyana went to Meijer, shaking the city on her way. She got the supplies and came back to Ms. Famin’s house.

“Lizyana! Hurry, come quick,” hollered Ms. Famin.

“What’s wrong?” asked Lizyana.

“Pick me up, quick,” yelled Ms. Famin. Lizyana picked Ms. Famin up. “Lizyana, Angela just called. She said that her car died, and so did Carin’s, and Maya is going to be here any minute! Can you help me?” exclaimed Ms. Famin.

“Sure, what do you need me to do for you?” asked Lizyana.

“Okay, you go and get them and their…their, oh yeah, cars. Go get their cars. I’ll stay here and set up everything for the party. Oh! They’re by the parking lot,” exclaimed Ms. Famin.

Lizyana set Ms. Famin in her backyard. “Okay, I see them. They’re in my reach!” exclaimed Lizyana.

“Get them!” hollered Ms. Famin.

Lizyana put her hand down. “Climb onto my hand,” yelled Lizyana. People climbed onto one hand. With the other one, she picked up the cars. She put the people in the backyard and the two cars in the driveway. She picked one car up and opened the gas lid.

“Oh, that’s the problem,” Lizyana said.

“What’s the problem?” asked Ms. Famin.

“The problem was that they had no gas. I’ll go get gas. Oh! Wasn’t Maya supposed to come tomorrow?”

“Yes, but she’s spending the night here with me,” replied Ms. Famin.

“But you already had streamers up. Also, two guests are here, too!” explained Lizyana.

“We are spending the night here!” reported Angela and Carin.

“They are the only three people spending the night, and please, go get gas quick,” hollered Ms. Famin.

Lizyana went to get gas, but when she came back, Maya was already there. “Maya, you’re here,” hollered Lizyana.

“Hi, umm, who are you, and how do you know my name?” asked Maya.

“Well, uh, I’m Lizyana. You can call me Lizy for short. Ms. Famin told me all about you,” Lizy replied excitedly.

“Oh, okay. Famin, what are the streamers for?” questioned Maya.

“The streamers are decorations for the house,” Ms. Famin said sarcastically.

The next morning, Ms. Famin told Lizyana to take Maya to a store, so Ms. Famin and her two friends could set up the party. Thirty minutes later, Ms. Famin told Lizyana to bring Maya back home. When they got back…

“SURPRISE, Maya!” everyone screamed.

“Umm, Ms. Famin, I have question. Why are the streamers so small?” asked Lizyana.

“The streamers are small because, well, you are very, very TALL!” hollered Ms. Famin.

“Right. Also, I have one more thing to tell you,” reported Lizyana.

“What?” yelled Ms. Famin.

“LET’S PARTY!” hollered Lizyana.

Suddenly, everyone was shaking for one split second. Then they started dancing and eating at the snack table.

When the party was over, Lizyana went home and so did the others. Maya and Ms. Famin went to bed. That night had been the best night of their life.

by Rashard Frierson

it Was the Worst rainy day in forty years. A pregnant woman was at the hospital for a checkup to see when the baby would be born. The doctor said it was going to be a boy, and that he was due in eight weeks. The next day, her water broke and she was rushed to the hospital.

The baby was born, but he was as small as the pregnant woman’s palm. They could not figure out a name, so they just called him A.T. A.T. was born six inches long.

After he became twenty years old, he grew to be three feet. When he was twenty-one, he was three feet, seven inches, and there he stopped growing. He became lonely with no wife, because he was too short. He ended up getting a small dog, so they would be the same.

They went everywhere together: the movies, dinner, breakfast, even out to the mailbox. They never were apart. They moved to Switzerland and didn’t like it. They didn’t act like it, but A.T. was a secret

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millionaire. He lived in a big beach house. Thirty years later, there was a hurricane, and it flooded up over six feet high, so people either got on top of their houses or got a boat.

A.T. was gathering up his stuff, and he was looking for his dog. He looked everywhere for his dog, and he couldn’t find him anywhere. He went out looking in a boat and went to the dog pound for other dogs to track down his scent. While he was there, he found somebody just as short as him who was perfect for him.

They both loved each other, but they had to save it for later because A.T.’s dog was in trouble. They had twenty days to split up so they could track the dog’s scent.

Later, they found the dog and let him play, but the adults went off alone. A.T. didn’t even know the lady, but he proposed to her. Years later, he got married to her.

They both grew to be five feet, six inches tall and lived a long life together.

APPEND ix

About 826michigan

826michigan is a non-profit tutoring lab and writing center for students between the ages of six and eighteen. All of our programs are totally free and are offered with the intent of inspiring students to write. Our commitment to this value springs from the belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

826michigan is one of eight chapters of 826 National, a non-profit organization that saw its beginnings at 826 Valencia in San Francisco. Cofounded by teacher Ninive Caligari and authoreditor Dave Eggers in 2002, the aim was to start a nonprofit organization that focused on mentoring kids in creative writing. In 2005, 826michigan joined the ranks of 826 Valencia, 826LA, 826NYC, 826 Seattle, 826 Chicago, and 826 Boston in pursuing this aim. As of 2009, the newest chapter—826 DC— was added to the national lineup.

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Our programs are divided, more or less, into six parts:

writing workshops

Every three months, 826michigan releases a brand new writing workshop schedule, consisting of a huge variety of workshops on everything from puppeteering and postcard writing to cartooning to poetry and fiction writing. Each workshop is planned and taught by volunteers, and is designed to promote students’ interest in a particular writing subject— often a subject that wouldn’t be covered by the school curriculum. The diverse professional backgrounds of our volunteers lends a unique slant to every single workshop that is offered. For the current workshop schedule, visit our website at www.826michigan.org.

We also offer a year-round Drop-In Writing workshop—an hour-long time period during which volunteers and students of all ages try a different approach to writing through engaging and unusual exercises.

in-school partnerships

Every year, 826michigan teams up with a school in nearby school districts—most often Ann Arbor, Detroit, or Ypsilanti—for a special long-term project. In the past these projects have focused on specific kinds of writing—memoir, tall tale, mystery—and have culminated in book publications such as Suddenly My Heart Stopped for Just a Small Portion of Time and Tall Tales & True Stories, as well as chapbooks like Strange Mysteries!

The extended nature of these partnerships allows us to go into greater detail and more completely explore the subject matter, affords our volunteers the

opportunity to forge stronger relationships with the students, and provides the time necessary for us to help the students all the way through the editing and revision process.

826michigan also offers several In-school Residencies each school year. The purpose of these residencies is twofold. First, they allow us to come to students who may not be able to get to us; second, they allow us to assist teachers where they need it most: in their classrooms. Through our residency program, we send volunteers into the same classrooms every week for an entire school year to assist teachers with various tasks, such as working one-on-one with students, grading papers, facilitating small group work, lesson preparation, cleanup, and any other things the teacher may ask of them.

drop-in tutoring

During the school year, 826michigan offers free drop-in tutoring. Thanks to our huge volunteer tutor force, our writing lab transforms into a place for students to come after school to work on homework or other projects. Here, the students are able to meet individually with tutors and work together to finish their homework.

Drop-In Tutoring is offered every Monday through Thursday when school is in session, beginning at 3:30 pm and ending at 5:30 pm; and Monday through Thursday from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm at West Middle School in Ypsilanti.

field trips

Just about every other Friday throughout the school year, 826michigan hosts classes from local schools for pretty much the most fun you can have on a weekday

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morning. By far the most emotionally exhausting of our programs, the Storytelling & Bookmaking field trip walks students through every step in the building of a story, with some heckling from our grouchy inhouse editor, Dr. Blotch. Together, the students create characters, begin writing the plot, and build up to a climax. Then, the students individually resolve the story, illustrate their books, and finally receive printed and bound copies of the story to take with them.

publications

Almost all of our programs are structured with an end product in mind: students will often produce a chapbook of their writing, or put on a performance of a script, or hold an art exhibit, or stage a public performance of some sort. With such end products as the goal, students write and create with more enthusiasm, and are able to leave with a physical record of what they’ve achieved, which they can show to their friends and families. Students take pride in their good work, and 826michigan honors that by professionally publishing at least two collections of student writing, as well as numerous chapbooks, every year to showcase the great young writers who spend time with us.

the liberty street robot supply & repair

Our gateway to the community and our most effective marketing tool is found in our storefront, the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair. We carry a full line of Better Bot’s Robot Repair Co. products, as well as Design by Asimov, Dr. Blotch’s Latest Inventions, and the Liberty Brand lines. The robot enthusiast can get everything from the Robot Toupee/Party Hat to an Ultra-Flex Suspension Coil to a Whistling

Femur to a Robot Soul to a Positronic Brain. We also carry a full line of emotion upgrades for your bot, as well as robot kits, pinhole cameras, and all manner of robot toys.

Acknowledgements

Unbridled amounts of gratitude are due to everyone on the next few pages.

Erickson Elementary

Principal: Kevin Carney.

Teachers: Karla Graessley, Jennifer Foster, Sandy Huizenga, Cory McEmeel, Sandy Todd, and Catherine Winters.

Student Teachers: Nisa Almaraz, Janelle Barker, and Rhonda Sanders.

Para-pros: Heather Fischer, Mehgan Hilobuk, Charles Jones, Angela Munganga, and Camille Woods.

Writing Specialist: Mary Streeter.

826michigan

On-site In-school Coordinator & AmeriCorps

Member: Frances Martin.

Publications Intern: Jared Hawkley.

In-school Volunteers: Sue Danuloff, Jenny Larsen, Nikki Polizzi, and Amy Wilson.

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Typists: Noa Iacob, Jenny Larsen, and Frances Martin.

Workshop Teachers: Jared Hawkley and Jonathan Schwartz.

Introduction: Jacqui Robbins.

Copyeditors: Arina Gidwani, Katie Jones, Kate Marchewka, Frances Martin, Margot Miller, Anna Moschet, Rachel Resin, Angela Scott, Peter Stern, Rebecca Welzenbach, and Amy Wilson.

Other

Illustrations for cover, title page, and chapter spreads: Ian Huebert.