Silvia Stella

Bob was back, so they decided to go. So, they said goodbye to the cat, but their home was so far away. Bob asked Treeman how they could go home. Helpfully, Treeman had a little bit of the lollipop that made them fly one week ago, so they ate the lollipop and flew and flew until they reached home.

Age 8

Silvia, age 8, lives in Detroit, Michigan. Her favorite books are the Series of Unfortunate Events series. She likes to write fiction and nonfiction. She also enjoys baking, cooking, and playing piano. Those are some things that make Silvia happy. Silvia also has two gerbils: Rocky and Walnut. Walnut has fur that looks like a cappuccino coffee and Rocky has plain black fur.

Cocoa’s Big Adventure

“Bum bom brom bum bum bum bum,” the royal trumpets go as Carmel Cake, the ruler of Candia, steps out of their castle.

“Good morning my royal candy subjects,” they say.

Out of nowhere, Cocoa the chocolate bar rushes through the crowd to get to Carmel. “We need to talk now,” Cocoa says. “We need to talk about Candia.”

They rush into the castle and go up three big flights of stairs to get to Carmel’s office. Carmel and Cocoa sit down.

“Candia isn’t a very safe place. We have to make it safer,” Cocoa said in a serious tone of voice.

“It’s time I asked you if you would like to travel to the Ice Cream Mountains and Fudge Valleys on a mission to make

the mean citizens kinder,” Carmel says. “But you will have to make the candy citizens kinder by the one thousand year anniversary of kindness in Candia, because if everyone in Candia isn’t kind by our one thousand year anniversary of kindness, then one thousand years of kindness will be lost. The anniversary will be happening in twenty-four hours, so try to not waste any time.”

“It’s too much for me to handle right now. I have to deal with other important things. That’s why I asked you. So, do you want to go on the mission?” Carmel asked.

“Of course, Carmel! You know how much Candia means to me!” Cocoa exclaimed.

“First, I would like you to go to the Ice Cream Mountains and Fudge Valley city hall to talk with some of the citizens there. Then you can get to the other citizens but you might not need to, they'll probably just tell the other citizens what you told them,” Carmel instructed.

Then Cocoa walked down the three big flights of stairs and walked through the doors excitedly. Cocoa ran the fastest they ever had to get back home. When Cocoa walked through the door of their house, Cocoa quickly got out the peanut butter, jelly, and two pieces of bread for a sandwich. First, Cocoa toasted the pieces of bread, then Cocoa put the peanut butter and jelly on the bread. After that, Cocoa packed up the sandwich and joyfully walked through the door.

Cocoa immediately got a bike and a helmet from the Renta-Bike station near their house. It only took a few seconds because all Cocoa had to do was to pay, then grab a bike

and a helmet. Cocoa was excited when they first got on the road toward the Ice Cream Mountains and Fudge Valleys. But Cocoa got tired from all the peddling. So, halfway Cocoa stopped at the brown sugar beach to have a nice picnic looking out at the beautiful caramel river. It took eight long hours, but Cocoa finally got there.

When Cocoa arrived at the Ice Cream Mountains and Fudge Valley city hall, Cocoa looked around and found lots of mean people. All of them were yelling at each other and doing other mean things like hurting each other. Everyone was also wearing name tags so people could find out who they were fighting.

“Ms. Sprinklelicious, you shouldn't be fighting Ms. Pretzela, and Ms. Pretzela you shouldn’t be mean to Ms. Sprinklelicious. I know you both have differences, but that doesn’t mean you can call each other names and be mean,” Cocoa said in a soft but serious voice. Ms. Sprinklelicious and Ms. Pretzela looked at each other, then hugged happily.

Then one person from the crowd said, “Why would anyone have to be mean? So, if Ms. Sprinklelicious and Ms. Pretzela can be kind to each other, then we can be kind too.”

This is what the crowd sounded like right after:

“Yeah!”

“YEAH.”

“You’re right!”

“YEAH.”

“You’re right!”

“Yeah!”

Suddenly everyone started hugging each other and saying sorry.

This is amazing, Cocoa thought. Wow, I already showed most of the citizens of the Ice Cream Mountains and Fudge Valleys why being mean is bad.

Suddenly, everyone rushed out and talked to everybody else about why being mean is bad. Out of nowhere, a spark exploded into the air, revealing a scroll, which fell into Cocoa’s hands. Cocoa opened the scroll and read:

Please come back to my castle to get ready for the Anniversary of Kindness. I request that you’re back in eight hours, so that we won’t waste any time.

Yours truly,

Carmel Cake, Ruler of Candia

Cocoa quickly packed up their stuff and got on a Rent-a-Bike to head back to the Royal Castle. In no time at all, Cocoa was back at the Royal Castle. But when Cocoa got back, they could barely get through a crowd of people surrounding the Castle. Some of the people had flags and others had banners that said stuff like, “One Thousand Years of Kindness Parade” and “Kindness Parade.”

Cocoa excitedly rushed through the crowd to get to the doors of the castle. When Cocoa walked through the door, Carmel Cake came rushing down the stairs. “Cocoa! You’re just in time. The parade will start in five minutes. Thank you, for helping me with the Kindness Anniversary. Now it's time to celebrate!” Carmel Cake said happily.