Stellar Stories edition 2

©2021 Story Planet || Cover art by Lis Xu | lisshu.com
Book design by mumblethief | www.mumblethief.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from Story Planet.
With thunderous third-planet thanks to
the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the
Auxilium Foundation, and United
Way Greater Toronto for their
support!

This magazine is a celebration of the unstoppable spirit and
imagination of kids. Throughout this year of remote learning,
when they were isolated from friends and community, they
showed up week after week to our online workshops—
sometimes in pajamas, sometimes cradling beloved
pets, sometimes exhausted or distracted but more
often jumping with excitement to embark on
another adventure with Story Planet. They
were, for all of us who had the privilege
of working with them, the brightest
spots amid an otherwise
challenging time.

A B O U T
U S
Story Planet is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to amplifying the
voices of children and young people
in Toronto's underserved
communities. Our creative writing
workshops inspire the imagination,
b u i l d c r i t i c a l l i t e r a c y a n d
communication skills, and nurture
in young people a belief in the
v a l u e o f t h e i r i d e a s a n d l i v e d
experiences, and those of others.
We believe that empowering young
people to share their stories, while
listening to and respecting the
voices of others, will help them
b e t h e p o s i t i v e c a t a l y s t s f o r
compassion and change our world
needs.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Flora and the Little Eeries ...........................................8
By Erin Liao
Proby .......................................................................11
By Juxagy
Climate Change.........................................................25
Song Lyrics by Mitunu Ethayakanthan
The Journey to Restore Humanity .............................26
By Mitunu Ethayakanthan
The Pandemic ...........................................................32
By Ali Limbada
Birthday Disaster .....................................................34
By Angelina Huynh, Lucas Xu, and Selena Zhu
For the Forest ...........................................................37
By Akshita Nittala
Night Shadow............................................................40
By Sena Gee
The Magical Defeat....................................................42
By Hanyi Zhou

Elements of a Hero................................................... 47
By Isaiah Jeremiah Alexander
Diary of a 19th Century Runaway ............................ 50
By Amir Behnejad
The Coconut Man...................................................... 57
By Selena Han
The Unlucky Penny................................................... 61
By Aleeza Qureshi
Jokes to Jokes .......................................................... 69
By Ava Ou
An Interesting Summer Break! ................................ 63
By Ysabella Malijan
Meet Marmalode ...................................................... 67
By Nathan Nguyen
The Unexpected Shivering Adventure....................... 68
By Adelina Nicu
Activities Section ................................................... 91

FLORA AND THE
LITTLE EERIES
By Erin Liao
Flora woke up on an intensely sunny day. She stretched
her arms up to the ceiling and got up out of her cozy
bed. She grabbed her toothbrush, squeezed toothpaste
on it, and started brushing her teeth while she danced to
her favourite music. After brushing her teeth, she dressed
up in a grass green shirt and some dirt brown shorts.
Flora went to the kitchen, took a handful of Grainy Flakes
cereal, and poured it into a bowl. Then she opened the
fridge to get the milk, poured it slowly into the bowl, and
dug her spoon in. She gobbled up her cereal and went to
the backyard to practise for her soccer game next
weekend.
When she went into the backyard something caught
Flora’s attention. It was a tree in her backyard that looked
dreadful—branches sticking out, no leaves, and it looked
like it hadn't been watered in a year! Yesterday, when she
checked the backyard, there weren’t any silly trees there,
despite the fact her aunt hated gardening. Flora observed
the dreadful tree, looking it up, down, and around. Nothing
seemed suspicious about the tree, until she noticed a
peephole big enough for her to fit into.
Flora dug her head into the peephole and saw pitch black.
She decided to grab a flashlight and see if there were any
animals hiding in the tree. She went back inside and
grabbed a flashlight and went back to the tree. She turned
on the flashlight and a dim light came out. She slid her
hand through the peephole and stuck her head inside.
8

There weren’t any animals inside the peephole—very
queer.
Flora had a plan. The next day she would check again. She
didn’t want any animal hiding in the backyard!
Later, at exactly 11:03 p.m., she heard some unbearable
noise coming from the backyard. She jumped out of her
bed, grabbed the flashlight, and went straight to the
backyard right away to see what was making the noise.
When she arrived, she turned on the flashlight and saw
little people staring at her with their tiny eyes. She was so
frightened!
One of the creatures whispered, “Hello?”
“Ah! It can talk!” cried Flora, backing up from the tree and
running back inside.
After about two minutes she went back, shaking
nervously, to check what was in the tree. She looked into
the peephole closely .
“Hello?” one of the creatures asked in a high-pitched voice
like an angel. “Do you need anything?”
“Who are you guys,” Flora shrieked as she shivered in the
breezy wind, “and why did you plant a tree in my
backyard?”
“We are the Little Eeries! We’ve decided to plant a tree in
this backyard because we need a big space to live!
Besides, your backyard is huge,” one of the Little Eeries
explained confidently.
“Would you like to see our new renovated house?” another
asked.
“Well, I mean, sure, I guess,” Flora replied.
“Well then, follow me,” one said, “and by the way, my name
is William.”
The Little Eeries moved so Flora could crawl into the tree.
As she crawled inside, she saw beauty in front of her own
eyes!
They had many different kinds of rooms: bedrooms that
were fully furnished with white blankets and rose colored
9

pillows, a movie theater that could fit all of the Little Eries
and Flora inside. There was a kitchen with white
cupboards, a very deep kitchen sink with a tap that could
extend, marble countertops with grey cabinets and a
double-door fridge, a gigantic living room with grey
couches with rose-coloured pillows. Imagine all of that in
one home! Astonishing, right?
“Wow, my house feels so bland compared to this one! I
think I should be heading home now since it’s 1:09 a.m. I
should be in bed!” Flora said as she took a glance at her
watch.
“We’ll see you later then,” said William as Flora hopped out
of the tree and ran back inside to continue dreaming.
And from then on Flora visited the Little Eeries every
weekend she was available.
10

PROBY
By Juxagy
Meet the characters
Hi! I am
Angel
Queen
I am Dark
Hi, I am
Doctor
I am Proby
11

“Good job Dark (sigh)”.
It was 6:30 in the morning. Proby was awake; he woke up everyone.
“Be quiet Proby!”, said Dark.
“Today is the day you guys have to get a job guys! You have to get
used to getting up early,” said Proby
“Well let’s get our day started”, said Angle Queen
BEEP BEEP
BEEEEEEP
BEEP!
12

Only
Doctor has
a job!
What is
going on
guys?
Ok let’s see what job i can
get.
That is true.
13

Making an awesome game!
What is your
job?
14

Press space to jump!
15

Hint: Dark’s minion is working for him as a cashier
Ka-chin
Dark’s Floating Bed
3000 is made from
latest sleeping tech!
1 2
16

Work harder
I am! Why do I
do all the work?
1 2
Did you like it? Rate it here:
17

Let’s do a
council then.
Ok
1 2
18

At the council...
I do all the
work! D:<
I am innocent
19

At the council
I am the victim.
I didn’t hurt you!
20

At the council
D:
21

So, back to
your job!
):
22

Ka-chin
1 2
23

24
Thanks for helping me
make a mini book!

CLIMATE CHANGE
Song Lyrics by Mitunu Ethayakanthan
Those fires are burning
those glaciers are melting
And this world is slowly changing
Ocean levels are rising
While others are drying
And the forests are slowly dying
This is climate change
A burden that you chose to keep in our hearts
Hoping it will go away
So hold up your signs
And hear all those animals crying
We keep on thinking
On what we can be doing
But we end up doing nothing
This is climate change
A burden that you chose to keep in our hearts
Hoping it will go away
So hold up your signs
And hear all those animals crying
25

THE JOURNEY TO
RESTORE HUMANITY
By Mitunu Ethayakanthan
One day, a huge meteor crashed down on Earth. It was
the biggest meteor in the whole galaxy and, sadly,
that day humanity fell! There was blood all over the
ground, bodies full of wounds, and buildings all destroyed.
But there was one guy who survived! His body flew into
the sky, glowing.
Turns out he was God’s chosen child. He landed back on
the ground and opened his eyes. He saw all the bodies
and destruction. He fell to the ground and started to cry.
But soon, a voice came into his mind and said, “Jake, don’t
cry. You have to get up and restore humanity. You are
God’s chosen child. Now look right beside you. There is a
map that will lead you to the god of humanity. You will
soon get the swords of peace!”
Then suddenly the voice disappeared. Jake was so
confused, but then he remembered to get the map. He
looked right beside him and saw a map that wasn’t there
before! He got up and looked at the map and saw the
paths he’d have to cross to get to the god of humanity. As
he looked at the map, he noticed that the paths he had to
cross were not on Earth.
“Ah!” he screamed angrily; he was so mad that he couldn’t
believe it.
He sat on the floor crying, but then a portal opened and
sucked him and the map to another dimension! He got
26

pulled into a dimension where dark spirits roamed. Jake
was so scared that he ran with the map into a small wolf’s
den. Little did he know that a wolf was in the den!
“Awooh,” howled the wolf.
Jake shrieked and jumped into the air.
The wolf said, “Why are you scared, child? The god of the
humans told me to guide you.”
Jake was surprised and didn’t trust the wolf. He looked at
his map and saw where there was a wolf on it with a moon
crest on its head. This wolf had a crest on it. Now Jake
finally trusted him! Still, his hopes were low.
The wolf told Jake to follow him to the next portal, which
was in the spirit water lake. But Jake sat there shivering.
“Child, I told you to follow me,” said the wolf.
“Yeah, I’m coming right after those spirits leave,” Jake
responded, still shivering.
The wolf chuckled and said, “Are you scared of the dark
27

spirits? Don’t worry, I will protect you.”
Jake went with him and walked as fast as he could to
catch up to the wolf and avoid the dark spirits. Along the
way, Jake and the wolf started talking and quickly became
friends.
Finally, they reached the spirit water of the lake where the
portal was.
The wolf said, “All we have to do is to step in the portal to
the lake. Then we will be able to pass into the next world.”
Out of nowhere, a dark spirit appeared and shot out a
spell.
The wolf said, “Duck! He is the most dangerous spirit in
this world and is my enemy!”
Jake ducked just when another spell was about to hit him.
The wolf spirinted and covered Jake, but sadly the wolf
took a critical hit! The dark spirit left as quickly as he’d
come. The wolf lay on the ground and tried to catch his
breath to say something. Jake sat on the ground to help
him get up.
“Leave me, child. I won’t even last a second. Now take this
mask. It will protect you on your journey,” the wolf said with
his dying breath.
Tears rolled down Jake’s face, but he knew that he had to
get up. He quickly jumped into the lake after he put the
map and mask in a little bag he found and wrapped it
around him. Then he saw the portal; it pulled him in.
When he entered the portal he was back in his bedroom.
Soon he heard a knock on his room.
Jake said, “Who’s there?!”
Then the door opened and Jake’s heart started to beat
rapidly. But there, behind the door, was his mother with
some cookies. Jake was so confused. His mother was
supposed to be dead.
His mother said, “Are you done with your homework Jake?”
He replied in a confused voice, “No.”
28

Then his mother smiled, put some cookies down on the
table, and left. As soon as his mother left, Jake pulled out
his map and started reading and saw that this world was
part of the journey he was on. When he reached out for a
cookie the mask the wolf had given him started glowing!
He picked up the mask and saw something written: “Be
careful! These are not the cookies you think: they are
poisoned. Now go to the place where you had most of the
fun in your life. That is where the next portal is!”
Immediately, the thought of the park came into Jake’s
head. He knew he had the most fun there—so many
legendary memories! He ran downstairs, but his parents
stopped him.
His parents asked, “Where are you going Jake?” and the
question echoed throughout the walls.
Jake shivered and replied, “To the park!”
His parents’ eyes widened and they said, “I guess you
know now. Looks like we don’t have to hide it.”
As they said this, his sister joined them, and they all turned
into a three headed monster.
“We will not let you pass,” said the monster repeatedly.
Jake stepped back and shivered in fear, but then the mask
magically appeared on his head and swords appeared in
his hands. His courage built up and he ran faster than a
cheetah. Jake crept quietly behind the monster, took his
swords and hit them against the monster’s back, and
knocked the monster into unconsciousness. Then the
mask and sword disappeared into the bag. After that, Jake
ran to the portal in the park.
29

At the park Jake jumped into the fountain where the portal
was and got pulled into the last dimension. This dimension
was way different from the last two. It was filled with good
spirits and had nothing evil about it. There were fairies
everywhere in so many different colours. They were in a
magical forest where the fairies lived. The forest was so
beautiful and so bright; it was full of positivity. There was a
huge tree in the middle of it.
Soon, one of the fairies came near Jake and said, “Hello,
human! Would you mind joining me at a tea party?”
Jake replied, “Sure I would love to!”
Then he joined her. They sat on a table and soon another
fairy came along to serve biscuits, teas, sandwiches, and
muffins. After just one look Jake’s stomach rumbled with
hunger. When the fairy reached Jake, she put a sandwich
on his plate, then placed the rest of the food on the
middle of the table.
Once the food was all on the table, a fairy stood up and
said, “Dig in, everybody!”
But no one dug in. Instead, all at once, the fairies
disappeared. The peaceful forest turned black. Jake heard
crazy laughter everywhere.
“Ha ha ha ha,” it kept on going.
Then Jake felt tired that he fainted.
The mask went back into the bag when Jake fell on the
ground. He passed out like that for a few minutes. When
he woke up he wondered where he was. He took the map
from his bag and looked at it. He saw that he was finally in
the god of humanity’s dimension. He saw the god’s castle
and got up and ran to it. When he entered the castle a
shiver went down his spine. The castle doors closed
behind him and left a huge echo. Jake shivered with fear.
Then, behind the throne, he heard a chuckle.
“Ha ha ha ha! You fell right into my trap, huh, Jake,” some
voice said.
Jake replied, “Who are you and how do you know my
name?”
The creature behind the throne came out. Jake froze. The
30

creature was none other than the wolf. Jake was so happy
that the wolf was still alive; he went to hug him.
The wolf stopped him and said, “You still don’t understand,
do you? I am going to kill you.”
Jake was so surprised. “Why? I thought we were friends!”
The wolf replied, “You are the chosen child of God. You
have the power to bring humans back and I hate humans!”
Jake was so mad! He tried to attack him, but the wolf cast
a spell on him that made him freeze. Once Jake was
frozen, the wolf said another spell, which slowly took
Jake’s power away. But then the wolf started to fade away
until there was no more of him. There, Jake saw the god of
humanity. The god of humanity unfroze. Jake fainted again.
When Jake fainted the mask started to move. It covered
Jake’s face and made his eyes glow. Jake got up and
started walking, but he was not awake. The mask made
him move; it brought him back to the god of humanity’s
dimension.
When Jake woke up, he was back in his house. He didn’t
know what happened. Then he saw his bag. He quickly
looked inside. The map was no longer there, but the mask
was. A message was written on the mask: You have
finished your journey.
31

THE PANDEMIC
By Ali Limbada
We live in a scary world today
It’s different than before.
No more hugs and kisses,
Happiness gone
Like never before.
The virus has taken our loved ones away
Families suffering
Like never before.
The fear of the unknown has arrived,
The worry of what will happen tomorrow
To you and me.
Coronavirus on our minds,
Coronavirus everywhere.
Our lives in danger
Like never before.
We practice social distancing every day
To keep the virus at bay,
We even shop in different ways
We’re asked to stay at home
Like never before.
When will this virus ever go away?
But I promise I’ll love and pray
For everyone suffering
Every day.
We should stay 6 feet apart
32

And always wash our hands,
And hope it will go away
Forever.
Soon we will be able to meet our family
And we won’t be asked to wear a mask.
We will forget this ever happened,
And we will live a happily-ever-after life.
33

BIRTHDAY
DISASTER
By Angelina Huynh,
Lucas Xu, and Selena Zhu
Fire and Ice are a two-headed dragon with red and blue
scales and two heads. One head wears glasses, and
the other head is green with purple eyes.
Fire and Ice used to be dogs, but one day when they were
playing with their bones they went into a secret lab where
test tubes of potions spilled onto them and transformed
them. They do not remember being dogs, and no one
knows, but they still have a strange love of bones.
One day Fire and Ice are going to hang out with their
dragon friends. It is Ms. Scarlet Dragon’s birthday and she’s
having a party at the sky ice rink where everyone will play
hockey at the dragons’ houses, and hang out spots are in
the air because they fly!
At the birthday party, Fire and Ice start playing hockey with
the other dragons. Then suddenly it starts raining and…oh
no, the sky-ice rink doesn’t have a roof! Dragons don’t like
wetness, so everyone starts screaming. It’s a loud roar, so
loud that the earth shakes. It’s an earthquake! Luckily the
city on the ground isn’t affected, but the sky ice rink
cracks, and all of the dragons fall inside.
The sky ice rink has a bottom part, so they don’t fall
through, but the ice has melted and now they’re stuck in a
34

hole full of water. The hockey party has turned into a
swimming party, but it isn’t fun because dragons can’t
swim.
Ms. Scarlett was in the washroom when the ice rink
collapsed. When she comes out she says, “What
happened?” She’s shocked and confused.
Fire and Ice are drowning with the rest of the dragons. The
dragons can’t fly out of the swimming hole because they
can’t fly with soaked wings. And Fire and Ice can’t use their
ice power because the other drowning dragons would be
frozen inside the ice. The dragons will be mad if they get
stuck in ice.
Fire and Ice have an idea: they decide to call their friend
the phoenix dragon. They make a little birdy call and hope
that the phoenix will come, but it doesn’t work—it only
calls a little tweety bird.
“What’s up?” asks the bird, then it starts laughing at all of
the dragons.
“Could you please call the phoenix for us so that we can
get out of this pool?” yell Fire and Ice.
The tweety bird says, “Sure, but I need something in
return. I want a snack. I’m hungry.”
Fire and Ice give the bird a spicy cookie, and the bird
gobbles it up. Then she starts crying because it’s so spicy.
“You tricked me!” she cried.
They make the bird call again. This time, a fat, chubby
chicken arrives.
“Could you please call the phoenix for us so that we can
get out of this pool?” yell Fire and Ice.
The chicken says, “Yes, but we have to make a deal first. I
want one full bag of corn kernels.”
Fire and Ice don’t have any corn. “Help us first.”
35

The chicken makes the right bird call, and the phoenix
finally comes. It asks, “What do you need me to do?”
Fire and Ice yell, “Please help us get out of this ice rink!”
The phoenix carries them with her big dragon talons. She
takes them to the beach, where they have a party to
celebrate.
36

FOR THE FOREST
By Akshita Nittala
It was a normal summer day. School had just let out and I
was free! I could spend all day playing sports! Then, out
of clearly nowhere, a large dragon-like thing came and
tried killing me!
“What?! That was scary.”
I knew it wasn’t fake but still wondered why the other kids
didn’t notice it. I wanted to panic, but I didn’t. I took a stick
that was on the floor and ran towards the thing. It was
going to eat me, but I jumped off of a bench and threw
myself onto the dragon. It was terrifying, seeing as I
could’ve easily fallen.
I remembered that I read in a book somewhere that a
dragon’s weak spot was the scruff. I went closer to its
head. I took the stick and stabbed at the dragon’s eyes. It
let out an agonizing roar, and I took the chance to hit the
dragon in the neck. It then faded into golden dust.
“Woah! That was scary!”
I knew what had happened to me was not normal. Just
then—to add dramatics—a bunch of weirdly dressed
people flashed in.
A guy who looked like he wanted to start a war said,
“There! See, my children are awesome! She took on a
37

dragon. With no training! With only a stick. And her stick
didn’t even break!”
This other woman said, “Yeah, she’s okay. I mean, she has
the smarts. But she’s reckless. She could have hurt
herself.”
I was fuming. How could this woman say I was reckless? I
was trying to save the other kids!
“Ah, sorry. We forgot to introduce ourselves,” a chilllooking
guy said. He pointed at everyone who was there
and gave introductions, but I didn’t catch any of their
names.
“Okay,” said a man with sandy hair and gray eyes (I think his
name was Apollo or something, “so there was a prophecy.
We think it's about you, but we don’t know. It goes like this:
A child of love and war
Explores the mountain with the key
Mountains, Volcanoes, and Trees,
A mixed world of wonders where
They will satisfy the needs of the three.
We think that you are a child of Aphrodite and Ares. The
second line, we have no idea whatsoever. ‘Mountains,
Volcanoes, and Trees’ also makes no sense. For the last
line, I think ‘the three’ refers to the big three: Zeus,
Poseidon, and Hades.”
I didn’t know what to think. I was in a prophecy? My
parents could be the god of war and the goddess of love?
Were the greek gods real? Suddenly I felt really dizzy. I
closed my eyes and tried to regain control over my body.
After a while, I looked up and said, “Am I going solo?” I
hoped not.
“No. Apparently that’s too much of a death risk. We have to
send you in a trio,” a woman said, “so pick two people.”
“Um, sure. I want a healer as well as someone who is
smart,” I said.
I was happy with my choice since they would need a plan,
38

as well as someone that could heal someone who was
hurt.
“Okay, we have Hannah as your healer, and Justin as your
strategist,” the lady said.
I nodded, determined to finish this quest and live a normal
life.
To be continued…
39

NIGHT SHADOW
By Sena Gee
Once there was a guy who worked as a detective
named Night Shadow. One day he was sent to a
dangerous mission, but he got shot by a laser. He almost
died but a doctor saved him by creating a robot and
putting his brain inside of it. Night Shadow had returned
not as a detective, but as a hero.
78 years later…
Giant beams of light had started to attack the world. When
people touched the beams they were turned into butts.
After the attack, Night Shadow traveled around the world
to search for where the lasers were coming from. Then he
stepped on a butt and the butt farted. After his travels he
flew up in space and traveled faster than light and ended
up in a black hole.
After that he ended up in a butt castle. As he went inside
he saw a note and it said, “If you destroy the boss
everything will turn back to normal.”
Night Shadow saw a butt army, so he charged and
stepped on the butts and heard so many farts. Night
Shadow laughed and fought at the same time. After a lot
of toots he saw the boss, but the boss was a huge
monster. Night Shadow charged and sliced the boss’s tail
with his triangle head. The Boss’s tail burst with blood
which blew Night Shadow through 100 walls.
40

The robot was weakened, but he would still fight. He knew
that humans died if they lost half of their blood, so he
jumped on the monster until all the blood, organs, and
bone came out. After all of that disgusting stuff Night
Shadow sliced the monster’s skin into a million pieces and
saved the world! But then all the butt fused into a big
farting butt monster! But the land was falling, so Night
Shadow jumped on the monster and landed on earth.
Then Night Shadow became famous.
41

THE
MAGICAL DEFEAT
By Hanyi Zhou
It was night time. Mark was sitting at his comfortable desk
in his office reading the mail. Someone had just gone to
pick up his letters from his mailbox for him. He saw one
letter that was sent by one of his spies.
Dear Mark,
Apple the Alien has gone into power again! He has a lot of
weapons and people. We need to be prepared if we want to
defeat him. Do we want to attack him next month? Please
respond as quickly as you can. Send a space messenger over.
Sincerely,
Secret the Spy
Mark was shocked! He had recently defeated Apple the
Alien. He thought about why Apple had returned. He
quickly wrote a letter saying to listen carefully to what he
and his people were saying: Apple the Alien was the king of
Planet Alien.
The next day, the spy wrote back. He said that Apple the
Alien had pretended to be defeated. The spy had also
learned a secret. The secret was that Apple the Alien had a
disease called Madness Disease.
So the next month, Mark led troops to defeat Apple the
Alien. What Mark didn’t know was that Apple the Alien had
set a trap in the borders between Earth and Planet Alien.
The trap was a magical wall that could send people flying if
42

they bumped into it. So Mark and his soldiers bumped into
the wall. The soldiers were sent flying into the air as the
soldiers retreated. Some soldiers landed on the retreating
soldiers, but others were nowhere to be found. This was a
very big blow to Earth. If they didn’t get back enough
soldiers, they might not be able to defeat Apple the Alien
this year.
So Mark and the remaining soldiers went to find the missing
soldiers. Luckily, there were only six missing soldiers. The
six soldiers could have been blasted out of the galaxy! So
they had to be quick. Mark said, “Let’s go find the first
soldier!”
They first visited the nearest planet because, according to
Mark’s Locate iPad, the first soldier was sent there. The
nearest planet was Planet Fire.
The soldier landed on a volcano that was about to erupt!
Mark quickly flew over to the volcano, but he couldn’t fly.
Then he remembered that he couldn’t fly on Planet Fire. So
Mark and the other soldiers quickly ran to the volcano. The
volcano was very far. They had to run faster to save the
soldier! The volcano was about to erupt when suddenly, the
soldier at the foot of the volcano noticed and quickly ran
away. All Mark had to do was jump over the lava and rescue
the soldier.
After Mark had saved the soldier, it was time to find the
other soldiers. Mark’s Locate iPad showed that one soldier
safely landed on Earth. Mark’s iPad also showed that the
third soldier was blasted to the Water Planet.
When they arrived at the Water Planet, there was a giant
wave about to hit the third soldier. Here, they had the ability
to fly, so they quickly flew to the third soldier. When the
ship turned, the person at the open door fell out without
anyone noticing.
After they got the third soldier, they noticed that the person
at the door fell out. When they found the person who fell
out of the ship, it was too late. The giant wave hit the person
like lightning as the spaceship quickly flew away.
Mark suggested that the crew rest before finding the next
three soldiers. Mark also suggested that they continue
finding tomorrow. So everyone went to their cabins in the
spaceship.
The next morning, Mark and the other soldiers set off
43

finding the three soldiers. Mark’s Locate iPad said that one
of the soldiers got blasted to Planet Nature. They were sure
that there were no dangers there, but they were wrong.
Planet Nature had a lot of dangers.
Without hesitation, Mark and the soldiers landed on Planet
Nature and hopped off the ship. They saw the fourth soldier
dangling from a tree branch.
When they got near him, he shouted, “Look out!”
A big, meat-eating plant popped out of a bush. It wanted to
eat Mark and the soldiers, but they quickly got the fourth
soldier off the tree and ran towards the spaceship. Just as
they were about to take off, the plant ran to the spaceship
and jumped. Luckily, the spaceship took off just in time.
Mark looked at his Locate iPad to see where the fifth soldier
had gone. His iPad told him that the fifth soldier had been
blasted to the far off Cheese Planet. Mark and the other
soldiers sped the spaceship to the Cheese Planet. The
Cheese Planet was ten light years away. It wasn’t that far,
but the planet was at the edge of the galaxy.
When they got there, the spaceship crashed onto a cheese
mountain. The spaceship tumbled to the ground, like a ball
rolling down a ramp. The spaceship was very broken, but
still could be fixed. They decided to split up into two
groups. One would fix the spaceship, and the other would
find the fifth soldier.
Mark found the fifth soldier eating and munching on some
cheese.
He said, “Hello Mark! Do you want some cheese?”
“No thanks,” said Mark.
After the fifth soldier was done eating cheese, they went
back to the spaceship. When they went back to the
spaceship, it was already fixed. It was time to go!
Back on the spaceship, Mark went on his Locate iPad and
saw that the last soldier got blasted into a black hole and
went into another galaxy! So they sped to the black hole
and went inside. It was like being inside a tornado! After
what felt like hours, they finally got to the other galaxy. It
was called the Mystery Galaxy.
They found the last soldier wandering in space. They
44

wanted to reach him, but a talking planet got in the way.
He said, “You look so delicious! I will eat you! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
With that, the talking planet started chasing them. After
chasing Mark and the other soldiers, the talking planet
started to get tired. When the talking planet stopped
chasing Mark and the soldiers, he went to find food.
The talking planet was not smart. He thought that a big ball
of steel was food. When he ate it, the talking planet couldn’t
munch on it. After trying many times, he spit it out and said,
“What is this? This is not food!”
After he said that, all his teeth fell out. Mark quickly grabbed
the last soldier and started the spaceship’s engine.
This tragic accident had pushed the defeat of Apple the
Alien all the way to October. On October 30, Mark the
magical superhero, also the king of Earth, decided to defeat
Apple the Alien once and for all.
His spy had also sent him a letter back in September that
Apple the Alien wanted to conquer the universe. Mark
hadn’t heard from the spy since.
When they attacked, they chose a different path from last
time. When they got there, they saw Mark’s spy in jail. They
quickly rescued the spy and they left.
Mark said, “Let’s camp here tonight. We will attack
tomorrow.”
The next morning, Mark led the soldiers to defeat Apple the
Alien. The attack went on all morning, but Mark’s soldiers
couldn’t defeat the alien. They broke into the city, but they
couldn’t stay there for long because the alien’s soldiers
drove them out of the city. So Mark and the soldiers had to
go back to the camp.
Mark spent all afternoon thinking about what he could do
to defeat Apple the Alien. He thought, Maybe I can send
someone to make Apple the Alien mad.
The next day, he sent someone to be an alien to say
something that would make Apple the Alien mad. After the
imposter alien said what Mark told him to, Apple the Alien
was so mad that he fainted.
It wasn’t until the next morning that Apple the Alien woke
45

up. By that time, he was already on a prison planet far away
from Planet Alien and the galaxy. His plan to conquer the
universe had failed!
Then he threw a fit. The guards had to stop him and throw
him in a very small jail, so small that you couldn't move. He
sighed.
Meanwhile, on Earth, everybody was celebrating Apple the
Alien’s defeat. Everyone lived happily ever after. Except
Apple the Alien, of course.
46

ELEMENTS
OF A HERO
By Isaiah Jeremiah Alexander
It all began on a normal day. There was a usual teenager
named Aayon heading to swimming class. He was really
good at swimming and putting out fires. The school was
empty and he forgot his laptop inside, and he needed it to
study. When he passed by the pool, there was a lot of litter
on the pool deck and when he went to clean it, he slipped
and fell into the pool!
He closed his eyes, but then somehow he jumped out of
the pool. He had no idea what happened, but water was
spraying out of his hands! He was shocked, but he took his
laptop home.
When he got home, he noticed his father was late. He was
never late. He texted his mom, but she didn’t know what
was happening either.
Meanwhile at work, Aayon’s dad, Lean, was partying
because there was a new employee! The party was
scheduled from twelve o’clock, but suddenly he left.
Nobody at work knew why…
Lean went behind the office building, into a secret hole in
the ground, and slid down. Inside the hole there was a
secret cave. There were lots of lights and gadgets
everywhere. Lean went to the microwave. He was hungry.
He needed to calm down and he knew a nice lobster
dinner would do the trick.
After his lobster dinner, he went to a special room. Inside
47

the special room was a super villain suit. It was all black
with orange eye coverings, a utility belt, and two long
katanas. He was Dark Blade, the worst supervillain the city
had ever seen!
Meanwhile, Aayon discovered a fire! He knew he had to do
something and rushed over. With his new powers, he
blasted water out of his hands. But the fire got too close
and touched his hands! Aayon got burnt and he was in so
much pain, but he knew he had to put out the fire.
When the fire was out, he went back home and got ready
for bed, but flames erupted from his palms! With his new
water powers, he extinguished the flames.
“Wait…I could be a superhero!” he said to himself. All he
needed now was the suit. Using silk, he crafted his new
suit. One part of the suit was orange, to represent the fire
part of him. The other half was blue, for his water powers.
On each side he included a symbol for each element. As
he was creating his suit, his head caught fire! But he didn’t
burn (this was a new power).
Aayon looked in the mirror and saw it was actually blue
fire. Before he had the chance to come up with his hero
name, he heard sirens blaring outside. Aayon knew this
was his time to shine! He rushed outside just in time to
catch sight of a car chase.
This was when Aayon discovered he could fly too! As he
flew down the street to catch up with the car, he used his
water powers to make the road slippery. The car swerved
off the road, Aayon couldn’t let the car crash, so he flew
close to the car and stopped it! As the driver left, the
people at the scene asked, “Who are you?”
“You can all call me…Firyron.”
When Aayon got home, he climbed in through his window
into his bedroom. But his mom was in the hallway, so he
quickly put out his head fire and threw his super suit into
the closet.
When his mom came in, she smiled. “Did you see what
happened? That guy is a hero!”
Just then, Lean came home. He had brought lobster home
from work for the family to have for dinner.
48

The next day, Aayon woke up late. He was going to miss
school! He knew he didn’t have much time, so in a panic,
he threw on his super suit and flew to school. Once at
school, Aayon stuffed his suit into his backpack. He still got
detention though.
After school, Lean didn’t come home. Both Aayon and his
mother were confused. But Lean had big plans. At his
work, he had put on his Dark Blade suit and was getting
ready to cause an explosion…
49

DIARY OF A 19TH
CENTURY RUNAWAY
By Amir Behnejad
anuary 12 1879
J This is my first entry in my journal, so I want to make it
short but I have decided to run away from my home in
Birmingham. I have considered my options in the navy for
my age and have talked to the retired sailors in town and I
have decided to become a cabin boy.
January 13 1879
I have packed my bags and gathered my belongings. I live
far away from any docks that are hiring cabin boys and I
can't afford to go by train unless I train hop and I think it’s
too dangerous and risky. So I have to hitchhike on buggies,
walk, and ask if I can ride on trains for free. That's it for
today but I have to make sure my parents don’t find out
about it.
January 14 1879
I ran away from our small farm but my brother found out
and threatened to tell mother and father if I didn't let him
come with me. I had to let him come but I let him pack his
bags as well. We have started our journey and have
nothing much to say now. Update: we have found a train
run by a nice old man who is hiding us in the coal cart. He
says he will drop us off at every hiring dock until we get
hired together.
January 15 1879
We have been hired at a dock and the train engineer has
given us a camera that he made along with some
photographs and developing equipment. We had never
50

seen a camera and he taught us how to take a picture with
it and develop the film. Right now we are talking to the
other sailors and getting to know each other before the
ship goes for its first voyage.
January 20 1879
The past five days have been unremarkable, we wake up,
have mashed potatoes and sausages for breakfast with
some rum, sweep the deck, deliver messages throughout
the day, help the crewmates, have mashed fish and chips
for lunch with some lemon juice and rum, do more tasks,
help out the crewmates, deliver messages, have fish pie
for supper with some fresh lemon juice and some rum,
sing shanties, and then go to sleep in a hammock.
January 25 1879
We have gotten into a harsh battle with a fleet of whaling
ships who have mistaken us for pirates. This is my first time
in battle and I don't want to mess anything up or die, so I
must toil away and load the cannons and flintlock pistols
with black powder and wadding so that they will work
properly. If only the powder and cartridges came in small
cartridges that could be put in the gun and shot. Maybe
even simultaneously! But for now I have to stick with what
I have. Update: just two minutes after battle, the whalers
have noticed that we are part of the navy and have
apologized with free repairs, whale products, and food so
now we’re even.
January 30 1879
Today was unremarkable, but the captain introduced us to
something called “the liar,” where the first person to tell a
lie has to swab the head of the ship 1 , and are punished.
February 4 1879
Today is my 13th birthday and we are making our own food
from recipes from home rather than the cook making food
for us. Along with making candles out of whale fat,
decorations out of whatever we have lying around, we
took photos with my camera and we developed it on
canvas from the torn up sails. We had rum, and most
important of all the cook made us cake with his secret
stash of ingredients that he keeps in the medicine box.
It was a great party and it was really fun, but now we’re
being attacked by real pirates, and the crew is protecting
1 The head of the ship is a place at the bow where there was a
hole in the floor to squat over and do your business
51

me at all costs, because it's my birthday. Update: our ship
was badly destroyed and now we have to fix it with
whatever we have, including: whale bones, scraps of wood,
the extra wood the whalers gave us, and even a few pieces
of furniture and doors.
Now we are sailing to a dock for repairs, but while we’re
going we have to be highly alert without being seen, so we
set up all sorts of mechanisms to hide ourselves while
seeing everything, and we have all of our weapons readyto-go
just in case, to make it seem like a ghost ship so that
pirates think we’re haunted, and won’t want to attack us.
Update: we have reached the docks and our ship is being
repaired, but the captain has asked the dockworkers to let
us keep the broken things that they remove so that we
always have wood. In exchange we gave them some gold,
rum, whale bones, and sperm oil.
February 9 1879
The first mate has been shot by a traitor whom we have
taken back to Britain, and the first mate was given a proper
Jewish burial. We have been given a week off to attend our
first mate’s funeral in Israel, as it said in his will.
February 12 1879
We have reached Israel with the body by train, courtesy of
the Empire and we have started planning the funeral.
February 13 1879
We have planned the funeral and we are at the funeral.
Update: the funeral is over and we have received a
message that the traitor has been executed. We are now
headed back to Britain.
February 15 1879
We have returned to Britain and are restocking, but now we
need a new first mate, and we are voting over it. Update: I
voted for my brother, but it turns out everyone voted for me
because I won. Everyone put their votes in my box except
for me – I voted for my brother because I can't vote for
myself.
Interlude: Years pass normally and our narrator becomes
the new captain at the age of 20, when the old captain
resigns after a battle.
December 25 1899
I have rediscovered my old journal on Christmas day and
we are celebrating Christmas with whatever we have on
ship. Every British ship in the sea is celebrating Christmas
52

and inviting other ships on board for Christmas day. Even
the pirates invited us to celebrate with them after they shot
at us and we reminded them what day it was! Everyone in
the ocean who celebrates Christmas is holding celebrations
with other ships. The pirates, the Spanish, you name it,
everyone is celebrating their December holidays and
inviting other ships to join them.
We gave each other gifts made of all sorts of things and the
cook is making us classic Christmas foods. Every ship we
meet is celebrating. There are banquets, gift-givings, you
name it. Update: We are counting down to the new year.
January 1 1900
It is New Year’s Day and we’re celebrating it on a ship! We’re
doing whatever we can to celebrate New Year’s Day on a
ship. All of the ships that celebrate the new year are
celebrating New Year’s Day!
January 3 1900
We have been attacked by pirates and they are tying
crewmates to the masts. Update: They have looted the ship
with the exception of personal belongings that they have
let us keep, tied my crewmates to the masts, destroyed the
ship, and are burning the ship with the crew still aboard.
Second update: We have been stranded on a deserted
island with a barrel of rum, some fresh lemons, and food.
We have found a cave to live in.
January 4 1900
Today, I found my first mate, DEAD, and when I checked on
my powder monkey, he looked extremely traumatized, and
said that the pirate who stranded us killed the first mate
and didn’t realize that the powder monkey was watching
the whole thing. So the pirate told the boy to never tell
anyone again. Tonight I will stay awake, while pretending to
sleep, in order to see what happens and act accordingly.
Update: The pirate has returned, this time with his friends,
and has tied the powder monkey up in a cage with wild
lions.
January 5 1900
I have buried the bodies and have come to the conclusion
that this island isn't deserted after all! There wasn't enough
wind to have a ship, there were no horse noises, and it's too
rocky for a bicycle, so they must’ve walked here from
civilization. I need to see this civilization. But I need a way to
get there with my provisions. I can roll the barrels, but I can't
roll wooden crates.
53

Update: I have been thinking for hours now, and right when
I ran out of ideas a few mules came along, and there was
someone or something saying “Voowelveh chicos!” as if
they were chasing the mules. I went outside and saw a man
with a handlebar mustache and a perfecto cigar, wearing
some sort of colourful cloth over his shoulders and a wide
brimmed straw hat with red and green tassels. I walked up
to him and said I needed a mule or two. He didn't
understand so I said it again slower and with hand motions
and he seemed to understand better.
He asked for what I understood as some form of payment,
so I gave him the lump of gold I found in the cave and a few
shots of the rum I had. He let me use the mules for moving
my things. While we were going to the cave I asked him
where we were. He said we were in some place called
“mehico”, which sounded an awful lot like Mexico. I found
one of my crewmates at the cave and he told me that when
Blackbeard looted the ship he dressed him up as one of his
men and took him with him to Mexico. He took me to his
house and taught me some Mexican words and phrases
that I might need, but just then the pirate and his new
Mexican friends shot my crewmate dead and I got a chunk
of lead in my ribcage. I played dead until the pirates left.
I went to the doctor and asked him to help with the lead
gunshot, and reported the pirates to the locals. The
authorities said they couldn't do much about it since there
wasn't much evidence. I showed him the body, and my
injury as proof. He asked why it wasn't possible that I just
shot him and myself. I saw that there was a parrot in the
room that would have seen it all unfold. We asked the
parrot and showed him sketches of the pirate and his
accomplices. Then we showed him the body and asked him
about what he saw. We laid out some sketches, a gun, and
the body, and told him to show us what happened. He
showed the pictures pointing the gun at the body, in order.
The police realized what this meant and asked for
descriptions of what the men were wearing and any
defining features. I gave him the descriptions and he called
for a police chase. Update: the men and the pirate have
been found and are being locked up in prison. Where I
come from, the normal sentence for murder and attempted
murder is execution, but the judge said solitary confiment
for 5 years, and then death.
I convinced the judge that where I came from, the sentence
for murder and attempted murder are execution. He said
that the legal system of my country must be a lot better,
54

and re-sentenced the pirates to execution. I had to watch
them be hanged, but when we saw the hanging I noticed
that the real pirate wasn't there, but just an innocent
Mexican dressed as him. The innocent Mexican was
released, and the pirate was found hiding in a local spice
shop. The real pirate was executed and everyone in town
watched with grief and happiness as the man who
terrorized the entire town was now gone. The police gave
me a reward for catching the criminal, or at least helping.
January 6 1900
I have started to immerse myself in the local culture, and
here in Mexico lots of people like foods that are very spicy.
The people are friendly and lovable, the food is amazing,
and everything is vibrant and colourful. I have learned that
they celebrate something called the Day of the Dead,
which is a day to celebrate your ancestors. The people of
my small town in Mexico believe that on the Day of the
Dead, your ancestors come back from the dead as a ghost.
What a good day to be alive in Mexico. I wonder what’s
going on at the farm I left all those years ago.
March 5 1954
I have rediscovered my notebook yet again, this time on
Cinco de Mayo, which is a Mexican independence day of
sorts, but it celebrates the day when Mexican army’s victory
over the French empire at the Battle of Pueblo. Update: I've
been watching the parades happening. I’ve decided to
move to America when this is over.
March 6 1954
I’ve packed my bags, returned everything I’ve borrowed,
said goodbye to the people of the town and made sure to
thank them for everything they’ve taught me. I’m going to
America to see how I like it, and if I do like it then I’m going
to stay for a few years. If not then I'm returning home.
Update: I’ve boarded the train and it’s going to California.
January 7 1954
I've reached America and it's unremarkable. They’ve got
normal cars, normal cigarettes, normal cigars, you get the
point, but the one thing I haven't seen much in Mexico is
pop fountains at pharmacies and drug stores.
January 8 1954
Don't get me wrong, America is great, but it’s just not my
cup of tea. I’ve decided to go back to my small town in
Mexico.
March 12 2020
55

I’ve rediscovered my old journal. Many things have changed
since then. I’ve grown old. I can't do as much as I used to.
Everything is updated and there is a global pandemic going
on. I forgot to mention, on the first day of 1960, I decided to
join my crewmates. I sailed out to sea in a small leaky boat.
When I got to the middle of nowhere, I decided to jump off
of the boat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard the voices of
my old crewmates. Then they told me that it was their last
wish that the rest of us would live as long as possible. They
guided me home to England and took me around
Birmingham. Taking me down the very path I went to get to
our ship. I lived there for a few months before going back to
Mexico by sneaking aboard a freighter. I then reached
Mexico.
March 15 2020
Hello, this is the great-great-great-grandson of the owner
of this journal. It was his last wish for me to write in this
journal. He died of coronary thrombosis (heart attack)
shortly after coming back to Mexico and telling us about
what he was about to do. I have not much more to say. I’ll
be sure to read the rest of this book, as it was part of his last
wish for me to read it, and inherit everything he owned. This
is quite a long book, so I'd like to bring this to an end.
Goodbye!
56

THE
COCONUT MAN
By Selena Han
There was a fun, yummy, amazing beach. The beach
was full of coconut trees. One sunny day, one of the
biggest coconuts fell on the sand. Smash! The coconut
turned into a coconut man.
The coconut man had no hair but had two beautiful
brown eyes, a short nose, and big lips with a brown
mustache. He could eat, drink, walk, run, and think.
Every day, the coconut man got up in the morning and
would eat some fish for breakfast. Then he would take
a bath in the ocean, then he would swim, surf, and do
some other fun things. He would eat coconuts for
lunch. In the afternoon, he slept for one hour.
When he woke up, he drew on the sand with a stick. At
night, he went to sleep by himself. The coconut man
had a lot of fun.
But there was one thing that he didn’t like: that he was
only by himself. He was so lonely he cried, so he
started to think, Where did I come from? He thought
and thought for ten minutes, and he realized that he
was a coconut and then he fell on to the sand and
turned into a coconut man.
57

58
He had a plan. The plan was to shake all the trees on
the beach. All the coconuts fell onto the sand and they
all turned into coconut man’s friends. They became
coconut kids, coconut women, and other coconut
men. After that, the coconut man had a lot of friends.
Now he was not lonely anymore. He was super duper
happy after.

JOKES TO JOKES
By Ava Ou
One day, there was a nine-year-old girl named Ava who
loved telling jokes. Wherever she went, she had more
and more jokes to tell.
One day, she told a joke to this mysterious boy named
Lance. He did not like her joke at all (what?!). Ava got mad
and went home.
The next day, she went to school and realized that Lance
was also there. She felt like she was being stalked.
Wherever she went, she saw Lance. He was definitely
stalking her. Finally, she had enough of it.
She was thinking about a plan to stop Lance. She went
home and spent 24 hours coming up with a plan.
The next day, she thought of a perfect plan. After she ate
her breakfast, she packed her stuff and went to school.
She went up to Lance and said, “Guess what!”
Lance said, “What?”
“I farted,” Ava said.
59

Lance v ran away, crying like a baby. And all the problems
were solved.
*Ava and Lance never saw each other again.
60

THE
UNLUCKY PENNY
By Aleeza Qureshi
Once upon a time, Jose walked down the street when,
all of a sudden, he slipped over a banana! And it
looked like it hurt, but luckily there was a penny under the
banana peel, so Jose kept it for “good luck.” Or so he
thought…
When he got home, he ordered food for dinner and it was
super filthy and gross! It had maggots, worms, and a halfeaten
burger! So he decided to make his own food, pasta.
And it wasn’t too bad, so he ate it.
He finally went to sleep (with the penny still in his pocket).
He fell off the bed three times that night! Oh, poor Jose.
It was pretty hot the next day. Jose thought that maybe he
could go get some ice cream. He went outside to the ice
cream truck to buy vanilla ice cream. And then a bird
pooped on him! Jose thought it was ice cream, and well…it
wasn’t what he thought it was!
Afterwards, he wanted to wash his penny to maybe give it
more luck. So he washed it and washed it as much as he
could. He wanted it to be air dried so it got a very nice
shine, so he went along with his day.
Everything was going pretty normal, and that’s when it hit
him: It was the penny that was giving him bad luck! So he
marched home and tossed it away. Somehow, it bounced
perfectly back at him and into his mouth, and he
accidentally swallowed it!
61

So he went to the doctor. He told the doctor everything,
but the doctor didn't believe a thing he said. The doctor
still helped him get it out though. Luckily (pun intended!),
he got it out, but some of the metal was still inside him.
So he searched for another lucky penny, and he found
one! So he had no choice and licked it a couple of times to
be equally lucky and equally unlucky.
Now I wonder how he will feel after eating those pennies?
62

AN INTERESTING
SUMMER BREAK!
By Ysabella Malijan
It was summer break so Lucy’s family decided to take a
vacation in Queensland, Australia. Lucy and her family—
her parents and her sister and brother, Luna and Luke—
went outside to go for a boat ride by themselves around
the Great Barrier Reef. While they were on a boat they
stumbled across a sea turtle that is stuck in plastic! Since
there was nobody with them they caught the turtle and
healed it. They soon found more injured animals! Once
they were done healing the injured animals they went
back to the hotel they were staying in for the summer.
Then Lucy had an idea!
“Let’s go for a walk tomorrow and then if we spot any
wounded animals we can heal them!” said Lucy.
“Let’s do it!” said Lucy’s mom.
“Yay!” said Lucy, Luna, and Luke.
The next day, Lucy, Luna, and Luke woke up very early.
When they woke up they quietly went into the bathroom
and brushed their teeth. Once they were done preparing,
they woke up their mom and dad. They were so sleepy!
They ordered their breakfast, and waited until their mom
and dad were all dressed up.
Since they might get lost, Luke secretly took a piece of
bread before leaving to look for wounded animals. Once
they were done they went outside and went into a forest
63

to look for wounded animals. While they were walking,
Luke broke the bread into small pieces and made a trail.
They found many animals that were wounded. They
healed so many animals that they didn’t realise that it was
getting dark!
Then, Lucy’s dad said, “We should head back to the hotel,
it’s getting dark.”
“Okay! Let’s head back,” said Lucy and her mom.
“How do we get back!?” said Luna and Lucy.
“I—I don’t know,” said Lucy’s mom and dad.
Then Luke said, “I know how to get back! I made a trail of
broken pieces of bread!”
“Phew!” said Lucy.
“All we have to do is look for a piece of bread,” said Luke.
They searched and searched, but they didn’t find a piece
of bread!
“Oh no! The birds probably ate the bread! Okay, we're lost,”
said Luke.
“Oh no!” said Luna.
“Everybody stay calm. We’ll find a way to get out of here.
Don’t panic,” said Lucy.
Then a dingo saw them!
“Ah, that’s a dingo, one of Australia’s main predators!” said
Lucy.
“Everybody try climbing a tree. I don’t think the dingo can
get us from there,” said Lucy’s mom.
They all climbed up a tree.
Suddenly, the dingo stood still and said, “Hello, my name
is Buddy.”
“Ah! You can talk?” said the whole family.
“I need your help. I can’t find my mom. I know that you’re
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lost. I can help. But can you help me first?” said Buddy.
“Okay...but how did you know that we were lost?” said
Lucy’s dad.
“Whenever I see people, they are always lost. So I figured
that you might be lost,” said Buddy.
“Well that explains it,” said Lucy.
“Let’s go and find your mom, Buddy,” said the whole family.
“Yay!” said Buddy.
“Where was the last time you saw your mom?” asked Luna.
“Aha! The river! I saw my mom at the river!” said Buddy.
“Okay, where is the river?” Lucy’s mom asked.
“It’s not far from here. Follow me,” said Buddy.
“Okay, we’ll be right behind you,” said Luke.
Once they got to the river they saw footprints! While they
were walking, Lucy introduced her family to Buddy. They
followed the footprints and then they saw Buddy’s mother!
“Mom! I missed you. I’m sorry for running away,” said
Buddy.
“Aw, that’s okay. Just don’t run away again, okay?” said
Buddy’s mom.
“Mom! Meet Lucy, Luna, Luke, and their mom and dad.
They helped me find you!” said Buddy.
“Thank you Lucy, Luke, Luna, and your mom and dad, too,”
said Buddy’s mom.
“No problem!” said Lucy.
“Oh yeah! Mom, I will be back. I need to show them how to
get out of the forest,” said Buddy.
“Okay, I will see you soon,” said Buddy’s mom.
“See you,” said Buddy.
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“Bye, Mrs. Dingo.” said Lucy, Luna, and Luke.
Once they got out of the forest they said their goodbyes.
The next day, Luna said, “I sure do miss Buddy.”
“Everyone misses Buddy,” said Luke, Lucy, and their mom
and dad.
“Let’s go look for more injured animals!” Luna said.
“Yay! Let's go!” everyone said.
66

MEET
MARMALODE
By Nathan Nguyen
Marmalode is a cat with a big sphere for a head, two
cute big eyes, a pair of cat ears, and a cat tail!
They have no teeth!
They have no gender whatsoever!
They will always be by your side!
They like to roll around and play fetch!
They like spaghetti! They like other cats!
They can't eat any type of stuff except vegetables—ew!
They like to help us be happy!
Vegetables frustrate them, of course!
Their owners are super important to them!
Their biggest secret is that they eat markers!
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THE
UNEXPECTED SHIVERING
ADVENTURE
By Adelina Nicu
hapter One: Lost In The Snow
C
One snowy afternoon, Alexis and Charlotte were going
tobogganing in their neighborhood park. They were about
to slide down a steep hill.
“Ready? Three, two, one!” said Alexis, pushing the sleigh
exhaustively with her hands.
They slid down the hill, gradually getting faster and faster.
When Alexis and Charlotte were halfway down the hill,
they noticed a bump in their way.
“Watch out!” shouted Charlotte.
The girls flew in the air and turned, facing a different
direction.
“Ahh!” cried Alexis and Charlotte as they controlled the
sleigh left and right.
The girls unexpectedly tumbled off the sleigh and planted
their faces in the freezing white snow.
“Where are we?” asked Alexis, getting up from the ground.
“I-I’m not sure,” said Charlotte with a quiver. “It seems like
we are in a forest.”
Alexis and Charlotte kept walking through the cold,
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lowing blizzard. The day had already turned to dusk.
“It’s getting dark, Charlotte. What are we going to do?”
asked Alexis.
“Wait a second… what is that dazzling light over there?”
said Charlotte, pointing to a small figure.
They ran closer to the light. “A little wooden house!” said
Alexis in relief.
“Let’s go!”
“I don’t think we should go in. If the light is switched on,
someone will probably be in there,” said Charlotte.
Alexis ignored her and entered the house. Charlotte slowly
followed behind as if she was scared.
Chapter Two: Inside the Comfy Old House
“This place looks too cozy,” said Alexis, exploring the
house.
“Who dares come in here?!” yelled a wise voice from
nowhere.
“I told you we shouldn’t have entered!” whispered
Charlotte.
There, by the window, sat a snowy owl. “Answer me,”
demanded the owl.
“You can talk?!” exclaimed Alexis.
“Of course I can,” said the owl. “Can’t every living being
talk?”
“Um…sorry to disturb you, but my friend here had the idea
to intrude into this place. We got lost in the forest and
don’t know our way back home. It’s becoming dark
outside. Anyways, we’ll leave,” said Charlotte, coming out
from behind Alexis.
The girls were about to retreat when the owl shouted,
“Wait! Don’t! You can stay here for now.”
Alexis and Charlotte turned around.
That night, the three of them sat in silence.
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“Uh…would you girls like hot chocolate?” asked the owl
awkwardly, breaking the silence.
Alexis and Charlotte nodded. The owl quickly flew into the
kitchen and brought back cups of hot chocolate. They sat
by the fireplace, drinking.
“Yum! This hot cocoa is delicious!” said Charlotte, making
herself more comfortable.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Owlett, the guardian of this forest,”
“I’m Alexis, and this is my friend Charlotte,”
“Nice to meet you,” said Owlett politely. She looked at the
clock on the wall across from them. “You two should
better go to bed, it’s getting really late.”
Owlett led the girls to the upper level. There was nothing
there except a dog bed and hay.
“Is this where we're going to sleep?” asked Charlotte,
crouching from the small space around her.
Owlett's wing suddenly shot a blue electric light. The next
thing they knew, the girls saw a luxury in front of their eyes.
The dog bed and bits of hay had disappeared. There were
two beautiful, soft beds.
“Wow!” exclaimed Alexis and Charlotte as they tucked
beneath the blankets.
“How did you do that?” asked Alexis.
Owlett left the room without saying a word.
Chapter Three: The Future
The next morning, both girls woke up early in the morning
from the lovely sound of chirping birds. They hurried down
the stairs and found Owlett cooking up some breakfast.
“You humans wake up so late,” said Owlett, without turning
to look at them.
“It’s seven a.m. though!” cried Charlotte.
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“Sit,” said Owlett, serving the cooked food on the plates. As
Alexis and Charlotte ate their breakfast, Owlett stared out
the window.
“Aren’t you going to join us?” asked Alexis.
“No, not hungry.”
“Why are you staring out the window? There’s nothing
happening outside,” said Charlotte, confused.
“I sense that something bad is going to happen,” said
Owlett.
She flew to a large bookshelf and grabbed a shoe box that
was located on the top. Owlett dropped it on the table in
front of the girls, so they could see the truth. Inside was a
purple sphere that looked similar to a crystal ball.
“Are you a fortune teller?” asked Alexis, amazed.
Owlett looked at the crystal ball strangely, moving her
head left to right in a repeated pattern.
“Oh no!” exclaimed Owlett, stopping her movement.
“What happened?” asked Charlotte.
“The Three Headed Wolves are planning to steal the
Center Diamond!” cried Owlett.
“Three Headed Wolves? Center Diamond?” Alexis said.
“What’s that all about?”
“A hundred years ago,” started Owlett, “this forest had
everything we needed: food, water, homes, space. Later
came The Three Headed Wolf monster who took all our
resources and destroyed everything. The diamond that I
was talking about earlier keeps everything working. This
time, their leader asked a wolf to steal the stone and throw
it into the lake!” said Owlett.
“Why don’t you fight back?” asked Charlotte.
“We forest animals come in peace, never to attack,” said
Owlett.
Alexis and Charlotte looked through the window,
expecting to tell the future, too. Just then, a figure with
three heads passed by.
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“Owlett! THERE’S A— ”
Before Charlotte could finish her alarming sentence, a
monster burst into the house, growling at them. The Three
Headed Wolf slowly crept closer to Alexis, Charlotte, and
Owlett.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” Owlett shouted.
Once again, her wing shot a blue electric light towards the
monster. The Three Headed Wolf fell backwards into the
snow, whimpering, then finally ran back home.
Chapter Four: Backpacking
“We better prepare some things for our journey,” said
Owlett.
“Journey?” asked Alexis.
“Yes, our journey to save the Center Diamond,” replied
Owlett.
Alexis and Charlotte didn’t have anything to pack. They
stood there, a bit confused. Owlett was busy packing and
didn’t observe the girls staring.
“What do we do?” asked Charlotte.
“Oh! I forgot,” said Owlett, “maybe you can load some
snacks or a first aid kit?”
Alexis and Charlotte went looking for important things
they needed on their adventure. When Charlotte was
looking in the cabinet for food, she noticed a picture of an
owl, a deer, a humongous bear, and a fox. Charlotte
glanced at the picture closer.
“Owlett, why do you have this picture in the cabinet?”
asked Charlotte.
“Let me see,” said Owlett. She flew into the kitchen. “Oh!
Those are friends of mine. That’s me, the deer is Lizzy, the
bear’s name is Kai, and the fox’s name is Sly,” said Owlett,
pointing as she explained. “We’re going to be meeting
them.”
Chapter Five: Exploring the Unknown
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Once they finished breakfast, Owlett, Charlotte, and Alexis
headed out the door, off to their journey. All three of them
walked for an extensive time until they reached a meadow.
“Lizzy! Are you there?” shouted Owlett. Suddenly, there
was a loud rustling noise coming from the bush
surrounding the open area. Frightened, Alexis and
Charlotte started hiding behind Owlett as much as they
could.
“Hi Owlett!” said Lizzy the deer energetically. “What are
you doing here?”
“Bad news. Three Headed Wolves. Center Diamond. Can
you help? They’re on their way,” said Owlett quickly.
“Not again,” said Lizzy. “Of course I’ll help! First, who’s
behind you?”
“Here are Alexis and Charlotte. They will be coming along,”
replied Owlett.
While they were walking, Lizzy asked some questions.
“How did you end up in the middle of the forest? How do
you know me?”
“Well, me and Charlotte were going tobogganing— ”
“What is tobogganing? Never heard that word,” said Lizzy.
Owlett nodded, thinking that this was all a big mistake.
“Tobogganing is an activity or pastime of sliding downhill
over snow on a sleigh,” said Charlotte, acting proud of
herself.
“Wow, your vocabulary is good. Did you swallow a
dictionary or something?” said Lizzy.
“You know what a dictionary is and don’t know what
tobogganing means?” asked Alexis.
Later, they reached a stone cave.
“I think that your bear friend you are looking for is
hibernating,” said Charlotte.
Owlett went closer to the entrance.
“Owlett, I don’t think you should go in,” said Charlotte.
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Owlett ignored Charlotte and proceeded inside.
“Why does no one listen to me?”
“Because you talk too much,” replied Alexis.
After their conversation, Alexis, Charlotte and Lizzy heard a
growling sound coming from the cave.
“Who’s there!?” asked a low-pitched voice.
“It’s me, Owlett!”
“Owlett? What are you doing here?” asked Kai as he came
out of his cave to glimpse Owlett better in the light.
He was a brown, large, bear.
“The Three Headed Wolves are back and are eager to
steal the center diamond,” said Owlett.
“Then I’m coming too!” said Kai.
Their last stop was at an old, huge log. Inside was a
sleeping fox.
“Hi Sly,” said Owlett, peeking through the log.
“What do you want from me?” said the fox, awakening.
“Um, the Three Headed Wolves are back and they're
going to steal—”
“Sure, I’ll help your little crew,” said Sly.
Chapter Six: A Break for the Dark and Light
The night came with a shining full moon that glowed
across the sky.
“I think we should rest here for the night,” said Lizzy, gazing
at a tree nearby.
When they started to lie down, a howling noise was heard.
Alexis and Charlotte gasped.
“Don’t worry, they're far from here,” said Sly, yawning.
Everyone cuddled up tightly, especially Kai.
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“Too-tight-can’t-breathe,” said Charlotte, almost out of air.
“Oh! Sorry,” said Kai, loosening his cuddle.
While the group was asleep, Alexis awakened at midnight.
There were yellow eyes everywhere.
“Tomorrow, they're going to go and rescue the Center
Diamond,” said a familiar voice.
Alexis slowly turned her head around to Sly’s sleeping
spot. He wasn’t there.
“So be ready.”
The following afternoon, the group ate snacks and left for
the rest of the journey.
“Where are we going next?” asked Charlotte.
“We’re going to a willow tree,” said Lizzy.
Chapter Seven: The Tiny Doorway in the Tall Willow Tree
Alexis, Charlotte, Owlett, Sly, Kai, and Lizzy left their
overnight place. On their walk, Alexis and Charlotte asked
one question of the three new friends.
“Do you have any superpowers like Owlett?” asked Alexis.
“Duh! I have the power to control the weather,” said Kai.
“I have forest powers,” said Lizzy.
Sly didn’t reply.
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“Cool! Can you use them right now so we can see?” asked
Charlotte excitedly.
“Don’t listen to them, they don’t even have superpowers!
They're just jealous of me,” said Owlett.
The group quickly reached the willow tree that Lizzy was
talking about earlier. On the lower trunk of the tree was a
tiny passageway.
“How are we supposed to enter through that door?” asked
Charlotte, pointing.
Owlett touched the tree with her wing. The tree bent down
one of its branches and gave a bag full of something.
“What’s this?” asked Alexis, grabbing the tiny bag from the
branch and peeking inside.
“Shrinking potion,” said Owlett.
“I don’t remember the bottles being that tiny! How are
each of us going to share?” asked Kai, as Alexis pulled out
the object.
“We all get one drop of the potion,” said Owlett, pouring
one drop into her mouth and passing the bottle on to
Alexis.
Owlett instantly shrank to the size of a human palm.
“Wow! You're miniature,” said Charlotte.
“I know! It’s cool!” said Owlett's quiet voice.
“My turn,” said Alexis.
She drank the shrinking mixture and became petite,
identical in measurement to Owlett. Everyone else drank
the rest of the potion that was left and shrunk to the same
size as Alexis and Owlett. All together, they entered the
tiny door.
Chapter Eight: The Unmemorable Secret Code
“Follow me,” said Sly, leading the group toward a wooden
elevator straight ahead.
“Now, which floor was it again?”
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“I think the last floor,” said Lizzy.
“Or floor number 19,” said Kai.
“I’ll just insert floor 100,” said Sly. As he pressed the
buttons, the elevator went flying up.
“This looks unstable,” said Charlotte, who noticed the
elevator doing irregular things.
“This is a hollow lift,” said Lizzy. “What could go wrong?”
The elevator stopped and opened the door to an empty
room.
“It should be here somewhere,” said the fox.
Owlett couldn’t wait any longer, so she immediately took
off a camouflaged curtain right in front of them. The group
could now see a safe.
“The passcode is…1234?” asked Sly. He pressed the
numbers on a keypad.
It read: ACCESS DENIED.
They tried for hours to remember the code.
“I give up!” said Sly.
“Same,” said Lizzy and Kai.
“Come on! We can do this!” said Owlett positively. Lizzy,
Sly, and Kai quickly advanced back home.
Chapter Nine: A Mouse Who Showed the Greatest Secret
“I thought they would actually help us,” said Owlett, exiting
the tree and becoming her original size once again.
“They’re a bunch of lazy animals that give up.”
“It’s fine Owlett, we can do this ourselves! The three of us,”
said Charlotte. “they’re just a waste of our time.”
They eventually returned to Owlett’s place.
“The forest will be nothing without the Center Diamond,”
said Owlett, throwing her backpack on the floor, “and it’s
all my fault.”
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“Don’t say that,” said Alexis.
“I’M THE GUARDIAN OF THE FOREST WHO CAN’T EVEN
OPEN AN IMPORTANT SAFE!” Owlett cried.
For the rest of the day, the upset owl stared out the
window. Abruptly, a mouse came out of a little hole near
the door. The mouse squeaked as if it was talking to
Owlett.
“Um, Owlett, there’s a mouse in your house,” said
Charlotte.
Owlett turned around. She squinted. “Edward? Is that you?
What is it?”
The mouse objectively kept on squeaking.
“Slow down! You're talking too fast,” said Owlett.
“You understand what the mouse is saying?” asked Alexis.
“Shhh!” Owlett whispered, “I think he’s saying: follow me, I
need to show you something.”
The mouse nodded. The three of them followed the
mouse out the door.
“How do you know this rodent?” asked Alexis.
“You know how owls like to catch mice, right? One day, I
was chasing him, until he got hurt somehow. I felt bad for
Edward, so I helped heal the mouse with my powers.
Edward was delighted and the next thing you know, he ran
away,” said Owlett. “Now I think he wants to help me!”
They swiftly stopped by a familiar tree.
“Why did you lead me here? To waste more of my precious
time?” asked Owlett.
The mouse squeaked no. Edward kept hopping in the
snow. Owlett, Alexis, and Charlotte were led to a huge log.
“Isn’t this Sly’s home?” said Charlotte. The mouse nodded
and went inside.
Owlett and the girls peeked in the log and saw a beautiful,
shining diamond and other jewelleries.
“The Center Diamond and my bracelet! That’s where it
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went! Sly took all me and Lizzy's precious things. He’s a
stealer!” said Owlett, surprised. She stuffed what she
owned in her bag.
“Sly’s been the sneaky one! He knew that you’d ask about
the bad news. He didn’t want to give away the pass code
for opening the safe. Plus, last night, I woke up and heard
him having a discussion with the wolves, revealing our
plan and ideas,” said Alexis.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” asked Owlett.
“Because I would get caught saying that in front of Sly,”
replied Alexis.
Suddenly, there was a scratching noise.
“What was that?” asked Charlotte. Owlett stuck her head
out of the log to see what was going on. Instead, a figure
grabbed the diamond out of the owl’s bag.
“Hey! I got it!” said a Three Headed Wolf, proud of himself.
“Thank you very much, Owloot,”
“It’s Owlett!”
“Anyways, I’ll tell Sly all that you said. I wonder how he will
react!” said the wolf.
Chapter Ten: Covered Lake
The Three Headed Wolf exhaustedly ran towards the lake
with Charlotte, Alexis, and Owlett chasing behind. “Would
you like to see what victory I’ve accomplished?” said the
Three Headed Wolf with a laugh.
“What are we going to do?” whispered Charlotte.
“You’ll see,” said Owlett, “he’s really unintelligent.”
The Three Headed Wolf immediately threw the precious
stone. Nothing happened to the diamond except it sliding
to the center of the lake.
“Is this what’s supposed to happen?” asked the wolf.
“It’s ice, don’t you know already?” said Owlett.
The Three Headed Wolf growled and barked at Owlett.
The two raced to the diamond, when Charlotte yelled,
“Stop! Stop at once!”
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The wolf and Owlett turned.
“Um…” said Charlotte, thinking of what to say. A ha! She
started making a beaver call noise.
Alexis joined her. Instantaneously, a beaver came out of
the ice and took the diamond.
“Wait beaver! I have a question,” said Alexis. “Aren’t you
cold?”
“No,” said the beaver, swimming back to his den
underwater.
The wolf ran as fast as he could towards the chasm to
catch the beaver before it was too late. When the monster
ran to the hole, he didn’t stop in time; he slid into the ice
cold water.
“Ah! The water is chilly!” screamed the Three Headed Wolf,
trying to swim on the surface of the lake.
Owlett, Alexis, and Charlotte started laughing non-stop.
Afterwards, they went to the beaver’s den and asked for
the diamond.
“What are you going to do with it?” asked the beaver.
“Keep it to yourself?”
“We’re going to return it to its rightful place,” said Owlett.
She thought for a moment. “Maybe
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Chapter Eleven: The Party
Owlett hosted a festivity at her house and invited
everyone she knew. They were celebrating the rescue of
the Center Diamond. Owlett brought some ornaments for
decoration. “How did you know how to speak beaver?”
asked Owlett, hanging up a colorful party banner.
“Alexis and I used to go to summer camp. We learned
different animal communication calls,” said Charlotte as
she poured some chips in a wooden bowl.
Around dinner time, the party began. Forest animals
attended and joined in on the fun. Kai and Lizzy also
arrived.
“You did it!” said Lizzy. Owlett ignored her and pretended
to face a different direction.
“Owlett, what’s wrong?” asked Kai.
“Huh?” Owlett turned, “Oh, well, you gave up on us! But we
didn’t need you—we did just fine!”
All the party animals focused on the loud discussion.
“Look, we’re sorry, just please don’t create a dramatic
scene!” said Kai. “Let’s just be friends again!”
“You think it’s that easy?” said Owlett angrily. “What kind of
friend leaves me on a difficult mission?”
“The truth is, you're pretty bossy,” said Lizzy.
“You're pretty annoying,” said Owlett. The forest animals
booed. Some even left.
“Look what you did! You ruined my party!” cried Owlett.
“Just please get out of here, I can talk with you two later.”
“Fine!” said Lizzy. “Come on Kai, we have other places to
be and other things to do.”
“When has Lizzy become a total bust?” asked Alexis, as
the two angry animals left the gathering.
Then, a furious fox busted in.
“You called me a stealer?” yelled Sly.
“I never invited you,” said Owlett. “Why did you betray us
81

and side with the monsters?”
“A wolf said if I’d help him, I'd get a reward! Maybe even
gold,” said Sly.
“Why would you fall for their trick?” asked Owlett. “You
would rather get a reward than help friends of yours?”
“What trick? They promised me though,” said Sly.
“They’re liars! Never trust wolves,” said Owlett.
“Yeah right! Like you know! I’m getting out of here,” Sly
said, heading out the door and walking through the blank
snow.
Chapter Twelve: Decisions
The party soon ended at a late time.
“I’m going to head outside and talk with Lizzy and Kai. You
two can clean up,” said Owlett.
While Alexis and Charlotte were gathering the banners
and party decorations, Owlett talked with her friends by
the house. From time to time, the girls would look out the
window, watching the argument. Lizzy couldn’t even look
at Owlett.
“I’m sorry, but it’s just unfair,” said Owlett.
“Apology accepted. I’m sorry too, but it seems like Lizzy’s
not agreeing,” said Kai. In between their conversation
came another voice.
“What reward?” said a Three Headed Wolf in the distance.
“There is no reward!”
“Didn’t you say that if I helped you, I would receive gold?”
asked a scared voice.
“Excuse me? We didn’t even steal the diamond and you
still think I’m going to reward you?” yelled the wolf,
growling at Sly.
“No, no, you don’t understand.” He slowly appeared closer
to the fearful fox.
“Ah!” Sly cried as the Three Headed Wolf raced toward
him.
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Sly approached Owlett and shouted, “Help me!”
Owlett wasn’t sure of what to do: either help Sly or ignore
him. She was disturbed by the banging on the nearby
window. Alexis and Charlotte were starting to combine
imperfect letters on the foggy window with their finger
tips. All Owlett could read was one word from the two. It
looked as if it were spelled: HELP.
Owlett thought for a moment. She remembered one of the
best moments with Sly. “I want to show you something!”
said a young voice in Owlett ’s head. She imagined both
herself and Sly exploring the forest on a hot summer day.
Sly was leading Owlett to a beautiful stream. In the middle
of the flowing water were spaced out rocks, forming a
bridge.
“Come on!” said Sly.
“Let’s race! No flying.” They jumped from one rock to
another until Sly and Owlett slipped off.
The two laughed and splashed water at each other
energetically. After the fun, Sly and Owlett continued their
way across the stream and ended up in an ancient city.
“Wow!” exclaimed Owlett.
“Follow me,” said Sly, as they passed through the ruined
structures.
There was a secret tower that was standing tall and free. In
the center of the room was a bright display case. Sly
opened the case and grabbed a glowing amulet.
“Keep this for times when you're not sure what decisions
to make,” said Sly.
Owlett woke up from the daydream and looked around
her neck. There lay the exact, selfsame jewelry. Owlett
held it tight in her wing.
She heard a quiet, wise voice saying, “I know what’s right
for you: save your friend.”
Owlett flew as fast as she could. She ended up losing
track of where Sly had been.
“Owlett!” whispered a familiar voice. “Shhh!”
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“Sly?” said Owlett looking all around her.
“I’m here! Behind this thick tree,” said Sly softly. Owlett
turned to see the fox hiding.
“Come on, Sly!” said Owlett, pulling him to safety.
Surprisingly, a Three Headed Wolf alarmed both Sly and
Owlett in their way.
“Run, Sly, run!” Owlett shouted.
Owlett shot out her arm straight towards the Three
Headed Wolf, but didn’t have enough time to do her
magic; the wolf was fearless, not like any other one. Owlett
could tell by the scar on the wolf’s eye. It seemed as if the
Three Headed Wolf was the leader of the clan. The wolf
raced toward Owlett and bit her wing.
“Ow!” said Owlett, squealing in pain. She fell to the ground.
The wolf started laughing.
“What happened, Owloot? Your wing got a tiny cut,” said
the Three Headed Wolf sarcastically, walking away.
Alexis and Charlotte started to worry about Owlett.
“Owlett!? Are you there?” shouted the girls, listening for
Owlett’s reply in the dark night. Alexis and Charlotte
searched deeper into the pitch black forest.
“Alexis? Charlotte,” whispered a weak voice.
“Owlett!” said Charlotte. “What happened?”
Owlett couldn’t even answer.
Alexis carried Owlett in her arms delicately while they
walked back to the comfy habitation. When Alexis set foot
on the property, she carefully laid the hurt owl on the
couch.
“That’s one wound,” said Charlotte. “I know exactly what to
do,”
Charlotte went into the kitchen and started pouring
ingredients in a pot. It smelled of a stinky soup. “Oh no,
Charlotte, not this soup,” said Alexis.
“Why don’t you like this soup?” Charlotte asked.
“I used to get sick from going outdoors too much without
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a coat on. This soup helped me, but had a disgusting taste
and smell,” said Alexis.
The soup was ready in a short amount of time.
“Here you go,” said Charlotte, handing the soup to Owlett.
“Eww! This tastes like ketchup with ginger,” said Owlett,
slurping the soup.
“You need to drink the full bowl in order to recover,” said
Alexis.
The girls climbed up the stairs, into their sleeping beds.
“I wonder what happened out there today,” said Alexis.
“You can think about that tomorrow,” said Charlotte,
yawning.
Chapter Thirteen: Recovered and Better Than Ever
The sun rose as Charlotte and Alexis woke up from the
scent of omelette.
“Yum! Smells good!” Alexis said The girls clearly received
the message of good news.
“My wing has recovered,” said the happy owl, cooking up a
feast.
“Wow, that soup operated fast!”
Alexis and Charlotte began to eat up everything on the
table.
“Aren’t you happy for me?” asked Owlett.
“Yeah,” mumbled Alexis and Charlotte while they ate
breakfast.
“I’m going to go on a short hike,” said Owlett, breathing the
fresh, outdoor breeze.
“Wait for us,” said the girls, trying to get the rest of the food
into their mouths.
Alexis and Charlotte followed Owlett and finally caught up
to her.
85

“Is there anything you’re going to do on this hike?” asked
Alexis.
“Yes! First, I have a job for you two. Pick up as many pine
cones as you can and hand them to me,” said Owlett.
One by one, the girls picked up pinecones. They began a
tall stash in Owlett’s wings. Alexis and Charlotte soon had
to direct Owlett wherever she was willing to go.
In the middle of their hike came a bear and a deer.
“Lizzy! Kai!” said Alexis, running over to them. “What are
you doing here?”
“We were on our way to Owlett’s place. I guess we can talk
to her here,” replied Kai, staring at Lizzy as if she needed to
say something.
“Um…” Lizzy said, “sorry, Owlett, for ruining your party and
yelling at you and calling you bossy and not forgiving you
and—”
“It’s okay, Lizzy,” said Owlett, not understanding any of
Lizzy’s fast words. She couldn’t see where Lizzy was.
Owlett peeked through the pile of pinecones. “Right now,
we need to do something really important.”
“Alright, see you later!” said Kai.
Owlett, Charlotte, and Alexis continued their stroll. Owlett
made a sign to end the hike at a nearby log.
“Sly? Are you there?” asked Owlett.
“Owlett! Thank you for saving me the other day!” said Sly,
hugging Owlett.
“Here, I don’t need this anymore. It gave me bad luck
yesterday, saving you and risking hurting my wing,” said
Owlett, grabbing the amulet off her neck.
“Owlett, didn’t the amulet give you powers?” asked Sly.
Owlett didn’t answer. All she did was throw pinecones at
the fox. “Let’s go now, Alexis and Charlotte,” said Owlett
once she finished her job.
“What just happened?” asked Alexis as they walked back
to the resting place.
86

“Long story short: one day, Sly gave me a special necklace
that can tell you what decisions to make in uncertain
times. Yesterday, not just you girls told me to help Sly, but
also the amulet. I tried saving Sly, and instead got bitten
by the Three Headed Wolf leader.”
“Don’t you feel bad for Sly though?” asked Charlotte.
“Nah! He’s resistant. I’m better off without him,”
Alexis thought about another question. “Where are we
going to place the Center Diamond?”
“Maybe back to the willow tree?” said Charlotte.
“I believe I have a better idea,” said Owlett.
Chapter Fourteen: Slithering into the Unforeseen
“This is where Sly presented the amulet?” asked Alexis,
hopping on rocks across a stream.
“Yup,” said Owlett with a sigh.
“Are you upset?” asked Charlotte.
“I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I have a feeling that it’s
because I’m no longer friends with Sly,” replied Owlett,
searching for the tower.
“Ah! There it is!”
The three of them happily approached the tall structure.
Charlotte quickly distinguished a slithering figure in the
corner of the room. It hissed at her while Owlett and Alexis
were minding their own business.
“S-SN-SNAKE!” shouted Charlotte.
The cobra came out from its hiding place and said, “You
may not step any further, or else I will gather my Brothers
and Sisters!”
“What can a cobra do? No harm!” said Owlett, waddling
toward the display case. “Since when did you rule over this
tower?”
On the spur of the moment, other snakes joined the cobra.
Some of them slithered across the wall.
87

“Owlett? Maybe you–you should step back and listen to
the cobra’s orders,” said Alexis.
“Alexis, Alexis, Alexis. You worry too much!” said Owlett.
The snakes started to encompass Owlett. The girls backed
out of the tower slowly.
“Ouch!” cried Owlett as the cobra bit her. “Stay back!”
Owl tried to do her magic. Nothing happened without the
amulet. “What!? Where did—ouch! Where did all my
powers go?”
Owlett finally came out of the guarded ancient building,
bruised and hurt. “I never knew snakes could be tough.”
“Oh…Sly was right. The amulet had all the powers,” said
Alexis.
“No powers or powers, I don’t really care,” said Owlett.
“By the way, me and Alexis thought of a great idea!” said
Charlotte. “What if we built a stable setup for the
diamond? We can use the dead trees as materials.”
“Where would we create it?” asked Owlett.
“Simple! Over there,” said Alexis, pointing to a plain spot.
“Sounds like a plan. Can you please help me lift this tree,
Charlotte?” asked Owlett.
The two forcibly moved a couple of the trees to form a
teepee.
“Looking amazing so far,” said Alexis. “I’ll build the stand.”
“Finished!” said Owlett, adding the last touches in no time.
She placed the diamond on the center stand. “We’ve
accomplished something today that we should be proud
of.”
For the rest of the day, they had a picnic.
“You need to give me the recipe for this strawberry
shortcake,” said Charlotte, chewing her food.
“I made too much. I guess you can keep this whole batch.
You’ll have to head home soon,” said Owlett.
88

“Here is a compass. It can direct you home. I can show you
how it works—”
“We can manage,” said Charlotte.
Chapter Fifteen: Back to Reality
“Goodbye, Alexis and Charlotte! You never know: we might
see each other again in the future,” said Owlett with a
smile.
“Thank you for helping me out!”
The girls walked where the compass assisted them to.
Alexis looked around the forest and used her senses for
the last time; she could smell the pine, hear the singing of
birds. Charlotte was excited to get back home.
“I was waiting forever to tell Teddy about this!” Charlotte
said.
“Who’s Teddy?” asked Alexis.
“Are you kidding me? You don’t remember my dog?” said
Charlotte.
“Oh! I forgot! You talk to a dog?” asked Alexis.
“Well…you don’t know too much about me. On the other
hand, lucky you have siblings,” replied Charlotte, as they
arrived at their destination.
“I hope we have another fun adventure with Owlett,” said
Alexis.
“Sure you will,” whispered a voice.
“Did you hear that?” asked Charlotte.
“Yes. Sounded a lot like Owlett…” replied Alexis.
The hidden owl giggled in the bushes.
89

90

91

Y
O
U
R
TURN!
92

Yo u d o n ’ t
n e e d t o j o u r n e y
far to find inspiration.
Yo u r eve r yd ay l i fe i s
f u l l o f e ve n t s wo r t h
writing about. Use the
f o l l ow i n g p a g e s t o
help you get started!
Remember to share
y o u r w r i t i n g a n d
a r t w i t h u s a t
storyplanet.ca/artsubmissions.
We’ll
d i s p l a y i t i n o u r
v i r t u a l A l i e n A r t
Gallery, where you
can also see what
o t h e r k i d s a r e
creating!
93

CREATE A
M EMORY MAP
Use the prompts belowto brainstorm
some memorable events in your life.
Write or draw (or both) in the spaces
provided.
94

EXPLORE A
M EMORY
Look at your Memory Map. Choose one memory that you’d
like to think about more. Then use the following prompts
to help you add more detail to your memory.
Write down three sensory details
you remember about the place
where the event occurred.
1
2
3
CONTIN U ED
95

Write down any important conversations that might
have taken place during the event. (Of course, if you
cannot remember exactly what was said—that’s okay!)
Didanythinginyourlifechange
as a result of the event? If so,
what?
Write down any more
details or notes about
the event here!
96

TURN YOUR
M EMORY
INTO
A
STORY
It’s time to write! Not sure where to begin?
Start your story with the words “I remember
the time when…” and see where it leads you!
CONTIN U ED
97

98

TH E EN D!
99

SPECIAL
THANKS
...to the amazing teachers,
Story Planet writers and
artists, volunteers, and the
children themselves who
make our universe a much
brighter one!

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