In the year 2030, a group of people from the Grand Canyon build a haunted house in outer space. They use materials from Antartica, the jungles of Africa, and Florida. This means the house is made of wood, mud, leaves, orange peels, and snows on the inside. The haunted house floats like a spaceship and stays hidden for 20 years until you show up in 2052.
Since it’s a little chilly in outer space, you bundle up for your visit. When you arrive at the haunted house in your spaceship, you see mutated snakes guarding the entrance.
If you try to go inside the house, turn to page 2.
If you decide to fly back to earth, turn to page 3.
You can’t get through the front door so you travel to the side of the house and climb through the window. Oh no! Snakes are everywhere. You throw some of your delicious space food thinking it’ll please the snakes, not so much. You go through the house looking for something, anything to chase off these snakes. That’s when you open a closet door and find a shiny red button and a dingy box.
If you press the red button, turn to page 4.
If you open the box, turn to page 5.
The mutated snakes are our deal breakers! So we turn our space ship around to head back to earth.
As we are traveling, we run into a cyclops, have to dodge rocks coming down from space, and meet another space ship with people. When we get close enough to earth, we jump from the ship, holding our breaths as we jump to avoid injury.
Back on earth, we Google the haunted house and find out that people who go there NEVER come back. We also find out who built the haunted house and that our friend Bob’s dad is trapped in the basement.
If you go back to space to save Bob’s dad, turn to page 6.
If you release the information to the public to save Bob’s dad, turn to page 7.
You go for the shiny red button and you hear a rumble. An avalanche of snow is rushing down the stairs. You think fast before you’re trapped. Luckily with a push of a button your space boots ooze out a sticky foam to climb the snow. You make it up the stairs and to your left there’s mutated crocodiles.
If you stay and fight the crocodiles, turn to page 8.
If you go back downstairs to fight the snakes, turn to page 9.
You blow the dust off and open this old wooden box. Inside there are tons of weapons to fight off the snakes. There’s bows and arrows, poisonous spray, mice, boxing gloves and crowbars. You’re ready for action against 500 venomous snakes. But be careful if bitten, you turn into a snake yourself.
If you make a trap for the snakes with the mice, turn to page 10.
If you defeat the snakes and go upstairs to find another box, turn to page 11.
When we take the spaceship back to the haunted house to save Bob’s Dad, we climb in through a side window. We use flashlights to look around in the dark and make our way to the basement. There we find Bob’s dad tied up and unconscious and being guarded by ghosts.
We bribe the ghosts to let Bob go, then spray the ghosts with a magic spray so they can’t chase after us. Once we are safely outside, we decide to stay in space for 1 week as a vacation.
If you convince Bob to shut down the haunted house, turn to page 12.
If you give Bob a donation to keep the haunted house open, turn to page 13.
To help save Bob’s Dad, we put up a billboard: “Bob’s Dad is trapped in space! Come and help us! Call 313–799–8910”
We pull together a group of 911 operators and doctors and gather food for the mutated snakes. Together, we build a new space ship using things from the jungle and go back to the haunted house. We break in through a side window and find a flashlight inside. We use the flashlight to search the house. In the basement, we find Bob’s Dad alive and unhurt!
If you are betrayed by Bob and he locks you in the basement, turn to page 14.
If you reunite Bob with his Dad and are free to go home, turn to page 15.
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inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.
Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing.
Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members.
SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT
We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Homework support is available for all subjects, for students ages 7–18.
WORKSHOPS
We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementaryaged writers.
IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS
Our trained volunteers go into local public schools to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.
FIELD TRIPS
Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.
OUR STORES
Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. In addition, our online store is always open; visit the Robot Supply Co. at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!
WRITING IS
We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things
We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking)
We study the writing we want to do so we can try it
We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose
We work with a group of writers who help and support each other www.826michigan.org
A way to figure things out by ourselves
A way to help us connect to our world
A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become
A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world
826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities.
We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization.
We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands.
As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.
The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.
by Gerald Richards, CEO