Whispers of the Avenue

Whispers of the Avenue

This book was written by the students of 826LA’s Write On! After School writing program in the spring of 2025.

The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of 826LA. We support student publishing and are thrilled you picked up this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Este libro fue escrito por los alumnos del Programa de escritura extraescolar Escribe de 826LA en la primavera de 2025.

Las opiniones expresadas en este libro son las de los autores y no reflejan necesariamente las de 826LA. Apoyamos la publicación de jóvenes autores y estamos felices que hayan recogido este libro.

Todos los derechos reservados. Prohibida la reproducción total o parcial de este libro sin autorización escrita del editor.

Editors:

Alma Carrillo

Arisdeysi Cruz

Cole Montgomery

Julia Malinow

Mike Dunbar

Cover Artwork:

Suzanne Yada

Book Design:

Edith Villa

Park 1714 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90026

Vista 12515 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066

Echo

Mar

Whispers of the Avenue

Everyday Life in My Neighborhood

Illustration by Loris Lora

In celebration of our 20th Anniversary, 826LA dedicates this publication to all of those who have helped make our community what it is, what it was, and what it will become.

Thank you to the students, volunteers, educators, donors, staff, community partners, and time-travelers who have filled the last 20 years with such creativity, joy, and hope.

We look forward to another 20 years in partnership!

Introduction

Sometimes, we go on about our daily life, stuck in a routine without ever knowing the names of the people who cross our paths. Living in a fast-paced city can prevent us from building relationships with our neighbors. Busy with our own lives, we can miss the beauty of connection. The theme of neighborhoods is a quick reminder to stop and smell the roses. Become spatially aware of everything and everyone. A simple hello to the cashier from the corner store, the bus driver, or the robot couple across the street can make anyone’s day.

Living in a big city can also be scary. We’re taught from a young age that you should mind your business and not talk to strangers. TV series, social media, and the news have also scared us into staying in our bubbles. Not to say we shouldn’t be cautious, but being wary all the time limits us. What I came to realize was that life is more exciting when you have other people to share it with. To be happy, you must seek community. Many of the people we can build community with are the people we live near. It’s easier when we see people consistently in places like school, work, or at home. When we no longer have a space where we feel welcome or comfortable, we rely on third spaces to welcome us with open arms. A place where we can interact and build community.

As you get older, you have to seek these places. Discovering our neighborhood becomes our duty. We need people to share joy and purpose. People who are friends, family, and even strangers give us a sense of belonging, help us explore new ideas, and learn about different cultures and points of view.

This is what the students of Write On! have been tasked to do. Discover and dive into a world they are already familiar with: their neighborhoods. Whether it was a poem, their day to day, or a fictional story, they had to use all their senses to describe how they see their home and how it made them feel. From sunny California and its palm trees to monster neighbors.

This task wasn’t always easy. For some students, their neighborhoods were simply places they passed through. Driven from one place to another, they rarely had a reason to look closely. This assignment challenged them to slow down, to notice, to see the world they move through every day. The challenge was for them to truly observe who and what they see. Some students took this theme and thought about the importance of community: the correlation between people and the planet. When we connect with our neighbors, we can truly look at our world and how we can all work together. These stories show how easy it is to connect. A smile, a conversation, or just paying attention can bring a neighborhood to life. Through these students’ eyes, we see not just places but the people who make them feel at home.

STORIES

Tunnels

Arturo Garcia Cruz

“My uncle said that there are tunnels under Mark Twain Middle School,” said Mike.

Mike and his friends, Jayden and Oliver, were having a sleepover at Mike’s house because his parents weren’t home. They were telling scary stories in Mike’s backyard around their makeshift campfire in a makeshift tent because they couldn’t figure out how to make a real one.

“But they are probably fake,” said Mike.

“But what if they are real?” said Oliver.

“Yeah, we should investigate if they are real,” said Jayden. “Okay, but let’s get some real gadgets!”

So they got on to Mike’s parents’ computer in his parents’ bedroom. They went to Amazon to find stuff for their adventure in search of the tunnels under Mark Twain.

So after they got everything and the Nerf guns and darts, they were ready to search for the tunnels. They looked on Google for any signs of the tunnels, but they hit a dead end, so they used their heat vision goggles. They saw a human figure with a lot of heat, and they tried to figure out how to get there. They found and opened up a manhole. They went in it and on their heat vision goggles they saw him or her four yards away, but they hit a dead end section.

Mike said, “Let’s split up and go one way. You go left, Oliver, and you go right, Jayden, and I will go in the middle.”

“Okay,” said Jayden and Oliver.

They went their separate ways. Mike walked through the tunnel slowly with his Nerf gun all loaded, and he chose the correct one. There were no traps in his tunnel or Jayden’s, but Oliver wasn’t so lucky.

“Where’s Oliver?” said Mike.

Jayden shrugged, and they walked together through a long hallway to a room with a lot of cameras, some off, some on, and there in the middle was Bob. He’d been missing for 14 years!

“Bob, you’ve been here?” asked Mike with his Nerf gun raised.

“My parents never loved me, so I ran away,” said Bob.

“But your parents miss you. They are still looking for you,” said Mike.

“You mean it?” asked Bob.

“Yes,” said Mike. “Come home, Bob.”

“Okay,” said Bob, and they went home.

Arturo is 10 years old. He is in the fifth grade and has two sisters, Roxana and Edna. Roxana is in eighth grade and Edna is in twelfth grade. In his free time, he likes to watch YouTube and play video games.

Dandy’s Secret

Arturo

When I woke up on a beautiful morning I saw someone mysterious from my window in front of my house in my neighborhood. As I saw them I rushed down to say hello. As he saw me he said, “Hi how are you? My name is Dandy.”

I saw the petals on his head thinking he was a dandy. I asked him what his hobbies were because I was curious.

”Gardening,” he said.

But then a breeze came, and Dandy held his petals. I started to think that Dandy was bald so I asked him if he was.

”W-what?! O-of course not!” He was stuttering. I was curious but I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable so I let it slide. Then Dandy shifted the conversation.

“OMG, guess what? We actually had to buy a venus fly trap because there were too many mosquitos where we were sleeping. The thing is that the venus fly trap closes quickly so it’s kind of dangerous.”

Dandy wanted to show me his powers. I agreed and followed him. He showed me that he could grow flowers and other plants instantly.

“Wow,” I said. “Did you bring anyone else or just yourself?”

“Yes I did. My dog Pebble and my friend Astro. Astro is sleeping, but I can bring them,” he said happily.

“Sure,” I responded. After around 10 minutes he brought Astro and Pebble.

“Can I go back to bed please?”

“Oh come on Astro! You have been sleeping for 11 hours!” said Dandy. ”Oh, and is this your dog Pebble?” I said.

“Yeah, he’s adorable,” said Dandy.

Astro was annoyed because he wanted to sleep. He got the venus fly trap from his room and planted it in Dandy’s garden. Then Pebble barked at Dandy to alert him to not grow the venus fly trap, but Dandy thought he was barking at someone else.

Dandy grew the venus fly trap and it tried to eat Dandy. I saw it and went fast to cut the venus fly trap with the large scissors I got from Costco three weeks ago. When I cut the venus fly trap, it seemed to swallow something, and revealed that Dandy was actually bald.

Arturo is a writer that has a show called Battle for Your Dreams, which is a show in which 10 objects battle for their own dreams. This show has some drama. Arturo also likes to draw and make comics.

Billy, Jilly, and Tilly’s Adventures

Avery Finley

This is Billy. Billy has two friends, Jilly and Tilly. Jilly is sad and that’s bad. To cheer her up, they walk around their neighborhood. They see bright, tight, and light houses. They also see birds, ducks, and a man with bucks. Afterward they go to Ralphs. Ralphs is a medium-sized store that sells fruit and all kinds of food. Billy, Jilly, and Tilly go inside.

Billy is BROOOOOKE, so Jilly empties her pockets. A penny and a button fall out.

“I’ll ask my dad,” says Billy.

Billy calls his dad and he answers. ”Can we get candy please?!”

“No, you’ll get CALORIES!”

Billy hangs up with a big frown on his face. “Awwwww!” they whine.

“I’ll ask my mom,” Tilly says.

“No, there’s no chance because your mom is really strict,” says Billy.

“Oh yeah,” Tilly says with a frown. “We should go,” she continues slowly.

While walking, they meet a mysterious rich man who lives in their neighborhood. He gives them some money because they are sad. They hop in a joyful motion.

“YAY!!!” they yell. They are so happy that they hop all the way home.

“Oh my god,” screams their mom. “I thought rabbits got into my house!”

“Sorry,” they say. “We are so happy because we got money from a rich man.”

“Wonderful,” comments their mom.

They go outside to buy something but then a man in black, named Jake, pops out.

Jilly screams, “AAAAAH!!!”

Billy leaps and punches him so hard that he totally knocks out his front tooth.

“Chill bro! It’s me, your friend.“

“Sorry!” exclaims Billy.

They finally get to a toy store. Billy and Jilly gaze at the toys from the window in silence. Billy sees a cool green monster truck with flames that he likes.

“Hey,” yells Tilly. “You guys have your eyes stuck on those toys!”

“Sorry,” says Billy and Jilly.

They go inside. “I saw a cool monster truck I want,” says Billy. Right at that moment, Billy screeches “NOOOOO! That kid took that toy!”

“I’ll show him a lesson,” says Tilly.

She runs up to the kid and says, “Sorry, but my cousin wants that toy.”

The big chubby kid who barely has a neck turns around.

“Hey, well it was for sale so I took it! Oh well,” says the kid.

Tilly says, “You’ll regret saying that!” Tilly leaps and punches him so bad she totally knocks his soul out of his body. She runs away before she gets in trouble.

To show off, they call and get a plane ticket that will take them all around the world. It goes to Spain, Italy, Chicago, Washington D.C., Greenland, Mexico, Australia, Alabama, Japan, Korea, China, Canada, Paris, Peru, Guatemala, and Africa.

For some reason, Tilly feels like that rich man was mysterious. The next day, Billy, Jilly, and Tilly are watching the news. It says that someone has robbed the bank. He looks familiar.

“OMG!” screams Tilly. “He’s the guy who gave us the money.”

They look closely at the money. Something red is beeping. IT IS A DETECTOR! Right at that moment someone knocks at the door.

“I’m scared,” says Jilly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” says Billy bravely.

It is the rich man!

“Ruuuun!” says Jilly.

Later on, the police come in. Four thousand and eighty-eight police arrive. Their names are Mickey, Teddy, Mike, Micheal, Jake, Vanessa, Kris, Ethan, Elizabeth, Kalamar, Rawmen, Butter, Fly, Food, Paper, Astro, Sandwich, Cheese, and more.

“Don’t worry kids, you’ll be alright,” says Policeman Number 368. They arrest the mysterious man and take him to jail.

“I will always return!!!” screams the rich man.

Billy, Jilly, and Tilly are scared until the day for him to return. They think nowhere is safe.

. Avery Finley is seven years old. Her favorite colors are turquoise and purple. She has one big sister and used to have two fish, but one died. Her birthday is on April 29. She loooooves running!

Joe’s Jewelry Conflict

Avery

Every day my neighbor Joe has his garage door open to show that his jewelry store is open. One day, I woke up and looked out my window and saw that Joe’s garage door was closed.

“That’s weird” I mumbled. I put on my clothes and my crocs. I walked across the street and knocked on Joe and Maria’s door.

“Hola Ellie!” Maria, Joe’s wife, answered the door.

“Hola Maria,” I answered back. “Where is Joe?” I asked.

“Oh Joe is at the police station,” Maria said.

“JOE GOT ARRESTED???!!!”

“No no no. He got robbed last night. He went to file a police report.”

“Oh that makes sense,” I said. “Wait, how did you guys get robbed?” I asked.

“We don’t know. Our security cameras got disabled. Anyway sweetheart, I have to go.” Maria said.

“Bye Maria!”

“Bye!”

I headed home, but the whole day I could not shake the feeling that someone in our neighborhood robbed Joe and Maria.

The next day I decided that I was going to find out who stole the jewelry. I went around the neighborhood to question my neighbors. The first neighbor was George. George also has a jewelry store and has been envious of Joe for a while.

“Knock, knock.”

“Yes?” George answered the door.

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Um, it’s not a good time,” he said.

“Well it’s going to have to work,” I said sternly. I walked by him with my wagon. In my wagon I had put a bright light to shine in my suspects’ eyes (just like the movies). I also took my notebook and my finger print set (just for fun).

After questioning George for 30 minutes, he seemed innocent. He had good straightforward answers and had evidence and an alibi to back him up. He even showed me his security camera tape.

I went to the next neighbor, then the next, and the next… I was starting to give up… Until I hit the end of the block: Juanita’s house.

“Knock, knock.”

“Oh hi sweetie!” Juanita answered the door.

“Hi Juanita, can I come in?”

“Sure!” Juanita said.

When I questioned Juanita, she could not come up with any answers or an alibi.

“LIGHT BULB,” I whispered to myself.

I came up with a great idea. Juanita was going out of town and wasn’t taking her dog. If I pet-sat at her house, maybe I could find the stolen jewelry.

“This is off topic Juanita but I know you are going on vacation. Would you like me to pet sit?” I asked.

“Oh yes! Thank you!” Juanita answered.

“Perfect! Bye Juanita!”

“Bye!”

I know it is illegal to search peoples’ houses, but technically I was working for her. It finally became the day to pet-sit Juanita’s dog. She left me a key under her mat on her front door. I walked inside and her dog was nowhere to be found. I went around the whole house. I was in her room. I saw this big safe.

“What is that?” I said to myself.

“Bark bark.”

“Aah!”

Thump.

“I guess I found Cupcake,” I said in pain.

I got off the floor and headed to the kitchen to feed Cupcake. After I fed her, I took her on a walk and put her in her kennel and headed back to my house. I tried to figure out any possible password for the safe in Juanita’s house.

“Light bulb!” I finally thought of it. Juanita’s niece’s birth date. Juanita’s niece is Juanita’s prized possession.

I had to go feed Cupcake again. When I finished feeding Cupcake, I went to Juanita’s safe and put her niece’s birthdate in and it worked! Don’t ask me how I knew her birthday.

There was all the stolen jewelry! I put it in my backpack and gave all of the jewelry back to Joe.

Avery’s favorite fast food restaurant is Chick-Fil-A. She also enjoys playing soccer. Avery is in the fifth grade and her favorite subject is art.

Best Part of Today

Brandon Hernandez Santiago

One Sunday morning, when the sun comes out, I wake up to the feeling of excitement. I get up from bed. I get dressed for the day today. The noise of the birds chirping and the windy sky. That’s not the best part of the day. Not just yet.

I leave my room, and the smell of the bacon and eggs that my mom is making fills up the room. The taste of the food explodes in my mouth. I look at my dog. He looks at me, wanting my food, but in reality, he is trying to tell me, “TAKE ME TO THE PARK!”

I ask my sister if she can take me and my dog to the park. She thinks about it, and takes a while to respond. Finally—after ten years (or at least that’s how long it feels for me)—she says, “Sure, why not?”

I go to get tennis balls for my dog to play with at the park. After a while, my sister comes to pick me up. I run outside with my dog. In the car, my dog sticks his head outside the window, barking with joy, trying to eat the windy sky.

Once we get to the park, the fresh air hits us. Our hair starts flying. I throw the ball really far, and my dog starts chasing it. He runs so fast he’s like the Flash—well, not really.

I have a sip of water, and it tastes so refreshing. We are there for a while. We see the nice, vibrant colors of the sunset. Oh yeah, this is the best part of the day.

An hour later, my sister can barely keep her eyes open because of how tired she is. We decide to go home. On our way back, my dog looks sad that we left the park. My sister plays some songs by Kali Uchis and Kendrick to pass the time.

Finally, my sister drops me and my dog off at my house. I eat some cereal before I go to bed. After that, I jump in my bed, get cozy, and tell myself: “Today passed by really fast, and I don’t want to go to school tomorrow. Only because I have history and science class on Mondays. I’m okay with math class, because that’s the only class I actually do well in.”

Brandon is a 12-year-old who loves to cook and eat. He’s a seventh grader and goes to Culver City Middle School. His favorite hobbies are playing on his PS5, drawing, and eating. His favorite artists are Kali Uchis, Tyler, the Creator, KAROL G, Bad Bunny, and Kendrick

That is for Messing with my Order

Camila Ruiz Garcia

One day, in a calm neighborhood, no loud sounds were around. Only the birds were chirping, then out of nowhere there was a scream.

“Ahh!” screamed my sister Yuna. I jumped out of bed and ran across the room. I opened the door and saw my sister was screaming that there was a spider in her room.

“Bruh,” I said.

I walked back to my room. I started playing Sabrina Carpenter, went to my closet, got my clothes, and put them on. Today I was wearing a light blue Sabrina Carpenter shirt with a white skirt. I put on a necklace that was Kendra Scott, and we can not forget about the shoes: Air Force Ones that are white too.

Today was my first day of middle school. I had to introduce myself. Not just me, but the whole class had to share about themselves too. I ate my breakfast. I had pancakes with eggs. Then I walked to school and into the school building. I kept walking until I saw my locker, when out of nowhere my best friend scared me.

“Boo!” shouted Dania.

“AAH!” I screamed. “OMG! You scared the living daylights out of me!!!”

”Are you happy you are in Citizens of the World Mar Vista Middle School? Are you also nervous to talk about yourself?” asked Dania.

“Nope, not at all,” I replied.

The school bell was ringing. “Good luck,” said Dania with a giggle.

“Yeah, thanks a lot,” I said. She started walking to her classroom which was math and I started walking to my classroom which was homeroom. When I got to homeroom, I said to myself, “Oh my god, there are a lot of emo people here, like Lorenzo. He thinks that he is cool but he is not sadly. Too preppy, too athleisure.”

“Don’t act like you are the new one here,” said my best friend Dania.

I saw my Pookie Wookie friend group and I started walking over. Then I saw my sister with her friends. ”Okay class, please take a seat. We are going to start talking about ourselves now. First will be Summer Grace. She will go first, then the other students will go.”

When all the students finished, Ms. Cane said, “Last but not least, Hannah.” Then I had a panic attack.

I had to hold it back, so I inhaled and exhaled. “Okay, I’m ready,” I told myself. I got out of my seat and walked to the front of the room. “Hi, my name is Hannah and I like Sabrina Carpenter, and my two favorite rappers are Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar. I’m 14 years old, and I was born and raised in LA. Also, I have been going to this school since I was in TK. I love it here so much.”

Then the bell rang, “All right class, have a good day and be safe. Bye!” said Ms. Cane.

“I did it! I’m so happy!” I said. I waited for my older sister. She is 19 years old. She had a G-Wagon that was white, and we went to go pick up my brother. Then all of us went to the Culver City Steps.

“Okay! We are here!” said Yuna. We walked past Sephora and saw some sketchy people, but I just ignored them. Then my sister said, “Okay, we are here in Erewhon.”

“I’m gonna go get some snacks,” I said.

“Me and little bro are going to get drinks,” my sister replied. We started walking. Fifteen minutes later, Yuna said, “Okay, did you get the stuff Hannah?”

“Yes I did,” I said.

We walked to self-checkout. Suddenly Yuna said, “Wait! I forgot we have to go to Cobra Kai karate class!”

“It’s okay, we will go to Sephora and then go to karate. Sound okay?”

We left Erewhon and went to Sephora. The store was getting robbed! “Be quiet! Sephora is getting robbed by some sketchy people!” I said.

“No! They are taking my order. Dang it!” said Yuna. “They probably took your order too. Remember you ordered Tatcha X Laneige cream skin toner!”

They were wearing big black hoodies and black masks. “Please! Someone do something, they’re leaving with my order!” Yuna continued.

“Shut up!” I said, “I’ll follow them, okay? I will show them my karate moves.” I ran up to them and gave each one a gen kick, and tackled them to the ground. I heard the police and they put the robbers into the back of their car.

“Thank you so much!” said the mayor of Culver City. “I will give you a free house and money!”

“I guess that was your karate lesson,” said Yuna. “Okay, let’s call it a day!”

Camila is her name. She is in fifth grade. She lives in Los Angeles, CA. Her favorite subjects are math and social studies. She likes to read in her free time. Her favorite singers/rappers are: SZA, Tyler, the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar, and OLIVIA RODIGO. She likes to draw. She goes shopping on the weekends. Her Pookie Wookies are Dania, Frankie, and Sofia. Her favorite teacher is Ms.Oh. That is what Camila likes.

The Race that Changed My Life

Diego Ruiz

Warning: don’t go in an alley during a race, or else. At 11:30 in the morning my brother and I were playing catch with a football. A bit later a man in a car asked me if I wanted to race. I said yes and realized that he was Vin Diesel from Fast and the Furious. “OMG, I’m a big fan! Is the Rock your twin brother?”

“No he is not, you dummy,” Vin Diesel said.

“Can you call your younger brother Caillou?” I asked.

“You can’t be talking because when I blow in your ear you say thanks for the refill.”

We were driving to the race. I didn’t know if it was a street race or a race where you use Formula One cars.

“Baldy, am I going to race in a Formula One race or in a street race?”

“You are going to be in a street race.”

I got in the car and Vin Diesel told me that he had to win the race because he needed to pay two hundred thousand dollars to someone from gambling. The prize money was three hundred thousand dollars, so he said that he would give me one hundred thousand.

This race was in Mexico. This race was very dangerous. This race took five hours to finish. I started in fourth place. Two hours later, I was making a comeback and was now in first place.

There were five minutes until the race was done. I was in first place going 200mph.

Three…

Two…

One…

I was in first!

Ten days later.

“You’re awake. You got in a car crash and you got a concussion.”

“Did I win the race?”

“Calm down. You need to stay in bed for ten more days,” said the doctor.

“Ten days?! I can’t wait 10 days!”

One year later…

Calvin got first place and won fifty thousand dollars.

Diego Ruiz is a nine-year-old who plays basketball. He has a dog that is a chihuahua. His favorite book right now is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. His favorite subject is math.

Attack of the Clones

Hazel Tamir

10:15 PM… Clara’s brother, Mike, who was kind and in sixth grade, had put Clara to sleep 10 minutes ago. Little did she know that in seven hours she would have a really, really, really, really big problem.

Seven hours later… Boom, boom, boom! Clara woke up suddenly. She sprinted outside to the front of her house and saw red flashing lights coming from her big backyard with a lot of grass. She ran back through her house, breathing heavily. She quickly slid open the screen door, panicked to find out what was happening.

All of a sudden she was surrounded by clones. She noticed that they looked the same as her best friend Annabelle. Annabelle was kind, the same age as Clara, and had long hair. Clara froze. A couple of seconds later all the clones faced away from her. She was confused why they did this.

35 seconds later… The clones attacked! They grabbed their swords and started a clone war. Fortunately, they did not know that Clara did karate. She fought back with punches and kicks. They fought for hours with sweat and tears coming down Clara’s face, but soon it was over. Clara won the battle and went to bed.

One hour later… Clara’s older brother Mike came in to wake her up for karate practice. “Good morning! How are you? Did you sleep well?” asked Mike.

“I would not say I slept well. It felt like I did more karate than sleep. I think I need an x-ray for my wrist. That dream felt too real.”

Hazel Tamir is 10 years old and in fourth grade. She has a younger brother as well as a chocolate lab named Maggie. She likes to play basketball and dance in her free time. Her favorite book is Two Tribes by Emily Brown Cohen. She likes to write mystery stories and comics. Hazel has a goal of going to UCLA and joining the women’s basketball team.

TV Swap

Jack Schell

It was a normal day. I had just come out of school. My mom was in the kitchen cooking. I could smell the delicious smell of chicken noodle soup. My dad was fixing the sink in the bathroom. I could hear the water drops dripping from the sink. My sister was on a call with her friend Pacy. My sister’s name is Lola, my mom and dad’s names are Melodie and Jordan, but I just call them mom and dad. My name is Jacob, and I love to watch TV.

I was watching my favorite TV show, Adventure Time. It is about a dog named Jake, and a human whose name I forget. They go on adventures. My parents don’t use the TV, that’s why I get so much free time with it. I looked at the remote. It had a button I had not noticed before. The button had two arrows facing different ways. I was curious, so I pressed the button. Suddenly the TV made a weird noise, then turned off and wouldn’t turn back on. I went to find my dad so he could fix it. Then I looked in the mirror and I was Jake from Adventure Time! I was so surprised.

I think it was because I was watching so much TV that I turned into Jake. By that time I noticed I could go inside of electronic devices like TVs and phones. I could even turn on a Disneyland show and could go to Disneyland! I went to Space Mountain and all of my favorite roller coasters. I went to Thunder Mountain and the Guardians of the Galaxy drop. IT WAS SO FUN!

I remembered Pacy was coming to my house to watch a horror movie called Scream with my sister. I knew I had to get out of the TV before I was stuck in the horror movie, but Pacy was already there. Pacy was about to turn on Scream so I shouted, “Don’t turn on Scream!”

She couldn’t hear me. I was running toward the exit to escape. There were people in Disneyland with carts selling things like cotton candy and balloons. I ran around them, dodging the carts. Then I jumped through the exit, and I escaped! Right after that Pacy changed the channel.

“AAAAAH, JACOB WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!” Pacy said.

“I was stuck in the TV,” I said. “Huh? What are you talking about?” she said.

“Nevermind,” I said.

After that, I NEVER watched TV again. I think that made me turn into myself again, because I wasn’t Jake anymore.

Jack is a cool, awesome, great, amazing, extraordinary person who has a sister named Daisy, a dog named Murphy, and a cat named Coco. Murphy is a golden and brown dog and Coco is a calico. Jack likes to play video games and is in third grade. He is from Los Angeles. His favorite book is Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Jack also plays soccer.

Ding Dong Ditch

Kimberly Martinez

Here is a day in my life of my neighborhood:

I have a school kind of close to me. My mom told me she signed me up and I got in. A week later it was my first day at that school. I was really nervous, I didn’t want to go. I woke up, got ready, brushed my teeth, ate food, and was about to leave. When I stepped out of the house I was thinking, “Will anyone like me?”

The school was five minutes away. I was walking to school with my mom and she was telling me about my new school. While she was telling me, I ran away. But she had told me if I didn’t go to school, she would not get me a toy that lets me do my nails by myself so I don’t have to go to the nail store and pay $80. I thought about whether or not I should run back, and decided that I would.

We were like two minutes away. I saw everyone getting out of their cars and their friends were waiting to hug them. It made me feel sad and like a new kid. When I started to get closer I felt like everyone was looking at me.

When I was there, I had to say bye to my mom but I didn’t want to and I told her, “Can I go home with you because I am getting sick?” I was not feeling sick. I just said that so she could take me home. She knew I was joking and said no. I said bye and hugged her. It was time to go inside the school.

When I went in I saw everyone. That made me think, “Should I talk to someone?” The bell rang and I was looking for my class. Before my mom dropped me off, she told me my teacher was Ms. Mares. I was lucky that they put papers on top of the pole saying teachers’ names. I found the paper with her name in two minutes. She came outside and said hi to everyone and told us to put our backpacks away.

When everyone was putting their backpacks away, I didn’t know where to put my backpack. That was why I had to wait until everyone had their backpacks on the hooks. I was worried about my backpack because everyone had their backpacks down and I still had mine on. There was only one hook left but I didn’t want to put my backpack down, just in case a kid came late. But I had to because my teacher told everyone in my class to line up since we had to go to breakfast.

I just put it on the hook because I didn’t want to get in trouble on my first day at school.

We got to breakfast and my teacher said, “Who wants food?” Some kids got some and we just left. When I walked in the class I felt a pain in my stomach because everyone was looking at me. The good thing was that I was not the only new kid. There was also a new boy that had black jeans and a white shirt. His hair looked like a nest. He looked like the other boys, because now I guess everyone wears that?

Everyone had to wait for the teacher, but when we were waiting everyone started to talk with their friends in class and I was the only one not talking. That made me feel left out and sad because the other new kid was talking and making friends.

I heard my name being called and it was a group of girls. They looked so pretty. They said, ”Hi, you look new. Let us tell you who we are.”

”Hi my name is Jaylah.”

”Hi my name is Leah.”

“Hi my name is Jaylin but you can call me Jay.”

I said, “Hi my name is Kimberly but you can call me Kim.”

They all said, “Okay! Do you want to be our friend?”

I said, “Yeah!” in an excited voice because now I had friends. We all started to talk and say a little about ourselves.

The teacher came into our class and said, “Hi class, my name is Ms. Mares. We have two new kids in our school. Let’s say hi to Kimberly and Jayden.” The class said hi. Now we had to learn math and other stuff. At lunch we planned to prank our neighborhood because we all lived in the same area (kids, don’t share your addresses). In my mind I was saying, “I have to fit in so I can have friends.”

After we planned how we were going to prank the neighborhood. We decided that we were going to ding dong ditch the neighborhood. The bell rang and we ran to our teachers (kids, don’t run because I almost fell). I wanted to go home but there was still an hour left. We got to class and did reading. When the bell rang, me and my friends looked at each other because we knew what to do. We ran and went to our moms so we could ask if we could hang out, because we couldn’t tell them what we were really going to do.

Our moms said yes. We all went home and put our backpacks away. We didn’t have homework because it was the first day of school. Before we went home we said we were going to meet by the big tree. Everyone was there. I was the last one. Everyone was scared but we still went. We walked and went to the first house and ran as fast as we could. We all got scared but we still went to the other houses.

“Ding dong ditch.”

There was a black house and it had a garden. We were scared to go ding dong ditch but we still did. We walked slowly because the house looked scary. We ding dong ditched but before we ran a lady with white hair and black glasses, a black shirt and pants, and also a black cat came out. We all looked at each other and ran.

She yelled, “You kids! I am going to call the police on you guys!”

We all said, “She looked like a witch.” We went back and heard the police.

The police said, “Karen is this you? We are not going to your house just because of those kids.” We all left and went home just in case. The next day we told everyone that we thought we saw a witch. It was scary and we hoped no one had that lady in their neighborhood.

Kimberly is 10 years old and loves fifth grade math, reading, and writing. She is learning maps. She plays soccer and volleyball. Kimberly tries her best in school so she can have good grades. Kimberly has a little brother and three fishes. Kimberly wants to be a soccer or a volleyball player but if she had to say something else she would be a teacher. Kimberly’s favorite color is baby blue. She loves her friends and her family.

My Regular Day

Karim Gamalov

I wake up in the morning sleepy and nervous about writing paragraphs. First, I eat my breakfast, thinking it is very yummy, and then I dress up and go to the car to go to school. My school starts at 8 AM so I have to at least wake up at 7:30. When I am ready, I go to school by car and arrive at 7:55.

I work a bit at school then I go to recess. Outside at recess there is a playground with a slide and a pole to slide down. It’s big and green. Also, my class can only go there on Tuesdays since there are a lot of students.

At recess I chase my friend as we are playing tag. My friend is fast but I am faster. My friend and I get faster while playing tag. We keep running until the end of recess. I am exhausted after that.

After recess, I start to do math, my favorite subject. I usually finish it super fast and have lots of fun. The only time I don’t have fun is when I have to write the same fraction lots of times so I can explain the math. I don’t think anyone would like that! I usually have fractions and the common denominator for two or three or four fractions.

After that, I do writing. I first read a book and do a worksheet about it, and then I do my least favorite thing: I write three paragraphs of a story. It usually changes, but yesterday I wrote about where I wanted to go. I said Kazakhstan because my family is there.

The story takes forever to write. It takes about 40-50 minutes. Only the best writers can do it in 20-30 minutes of writing. However, I still write the paragraphs and it takes me about one-third of the writing time to finish it. I give it to my teacher when I am finished. I feel proud that I did the writing.

Next, I go home on the bus. I meet my dad on the bus by Palms Elementary School. Then I go with my dad to Trader Joe’s. It takes 30 minutes to get there and we buy the usual stuff like milk, eggs, cheese, cucumber, and bread. We go home happy.

Karim is nine years old and he is a fourth grader. He has a younger sister. His favourite foods are all his mother and father’s favorite foods. Karim’s favorite games are Age of Empires and others like that. He does not have a pet but loves math.

Pouring

Leila I heard the alarm ringing. I didn’t want to wake up. I had a great dream and didn’t want to end it. My dream was me as the best engineer in the whole entire world. I had built so many everyday items like phones and more.

I got out of bed and went to eat breakfast, and once I was done I went to my mom and dad’s room. I woke up my mom. My dad had gone to work a long time ago. He always wakes up at three in the morning. I always wake up at six in the morning. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, made my bed, and cleaned my room.

“Done!” I said.

My mom drove me to school and parked. I walked to the school gate. I walked to my classroom and hung my backpack on my hook and started to read. I am always the first one to get to the classroom. My friends started coming in, as well as the annoying boys.

My teacher came in, and we did morning meeting. We started reading. We have book clubs and I have to read the book my club is reading. We were reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle. We are only allowed to read two chapters in this book. The chapters were very long, but I finished them. I am a fast reader. Once I was done with the two chapters, when my teacher was not looking, I drew the characters. In my class, I am the second best drawer.

Reading was done! Time for music. I got out my recorder and music book. The thing I like about music is the sound. It is soothing, nice, and makes you want to listen to it forever.

Alarm! Alarm! We needed to go home early. There was a thunderstorm. My mom picked me up and we quickly headed home. I saw my neighborhood all heading home. The traffic was so long. I felt bad for the people who had no homes and no place to go. I took a second to daydream. I thought about all those people that had to find shelter and deal with the cold instead of being me and having so much stuff.

It was now 6:00 PM. Traffic was exhausting. I was tired and it was time to go to sleep. Time to…

… shut my eyes…

ZZZZZ…

Leila loves math and third grade. She loves her teacher and friends. Her favorite food is muqloba. When she is free, she loves to draw. She also loves to play soccer.

Chicken and Chicken Nugget

Liam

Chicken Nugget was silly and Chicken was not silly. Chicken Nugget said that disgusting food was healthy but Chicken did not agree. Chicken was a worker for every job and Chicken Nugget thought he was a doctor, but actually he was not because he did not work at a hospital. Chicken worked at a hospital.

They argued about who was the doctor and who was not until it turned into a big fight and the cops had to step in so that it wouldn’t become half the world against half the world (which would be a very big fight). They were so lucky the cops stepped in fast.

The cops believed Chicken and said Chicken was correct. Chicken Nugget wanted to beat up the cops but he knew he was going to jail if he did that. He didn’t want to go to jail or else his funniness would be over because the people in jail were not funny and the cops were going to be strict. The cops were probably going to beat up Chicken Nugget and he could die. Chicken might be sad or maybe not.

Then Chicken Nugget actually went to jail and was beaten up but luckily he didn’t die, but he almost did. His friend Chicken was actually sad, but when Chicken Nugget didn‘t die, Chicken was happy. He was still a little sad because Chicken Nugget was very injured.

Chicken Nugget couldn’t walk or even move his hand or the rest of his body. Then Chicken got as injured as Chicken Nugget. How did he get injured? He was in a NASCAR race and he crashed into a wall. He went into a hospital immediately. Now Chicken Nugget was sad because Chicken was very injured too.

Eventually they both joined the army after they recovered. Then they were in a war and died fighting against Rome because they were the Carthaginians.

Liam is eight years old and is in third grade. His favorite thing to do is go to Universal Studios. He is from Los Angeles. When he is older, Liam wants to drive an expensive car and he wants to be an entrepreneur.

Mr. Whiskers’ Glow Up

Liv Ryan

Danny puts a flashlight under his chin.

“It was a dark and stormy night—”

“It was 4 AM.”

“And four mischievous-looking people—”

“Three friends were having a sleepover.”

“Then suddenly, one heard a screeching, yowling, rabid—”

“A fearful cat was meowing from a tree.”

“Molly! Stop interrupting my intensely dramatic story!” Danny says as he tries to narrate the story.

“I don’t mind being a little monotone,” Molly says as she flips her long bangs, acting cool.

“Continue please!” Andrew says in a French accent.

“Got it,” Danny says as he continues narrating the story, “And that yowling, screeching noise was a feral cat. Claire wakes up—”

“Wait, what do I have to do with this?” Claire asks in a quiet, tense voice, interrupting Danny while he continues the story.

“Because… I don’t know,” Danny says in an innocent voice. “Because… I CHOSE TO?”

“Okay FINE, continue,” says Claire, completely accepting the fact that she’s too lazy to start another argument.

“As I was saying, Claire woke up and heard the screeching sound. She stood up and tip-toed—trying not to wake anyone up—to the window to see what made that unpleasant sound. It was a cat. A feral cat… who seemed to want help, although everyone was asleep.

Claire had an idea. Claire woke up her friends, like the kind, and daring person she is, even though she knew that it was evil to do that.

‘Oh my gosh what?’ Florence whispered as she was rubbing her eyes.

‘Help me. Wake up everyone, okay?’ Claire whispered, while Florence took off her sheets.

Florence and Claire woke up all their friends. Damian, Kamy, and Jordan all got their shoes on and quietly opened the door even though it creaked and screamed as loud as it could. When Claire pulled out her keys, they jingled and jangled as if they were yelling for help. Once they all tip-toed out of the house, they ran to the tree with the feral cat, even though it started hissing at them.

‘So what did you want us to do with the cat?’ asked Kamy.

‘I said we were going to help it get down and—’

‘But it’s feral. That’s what the neighborhood calls it,’ said Damian in his outside voice, interrupting Claire.

‘Well if you’d let me finish,’ said Claire while smiling, even though she was as mad as a volcano because Damian always interrupted her. ‘I was going to say that after we get it down, we could give it a makeover. After that, the neighborhood wouldn’t be afraid to help it, which is the reason why the cat is feral, because it doesn’t have so much experience with humans,’ Claire continued.

‘Oh, okay! But first off is to get it down. How?’ Jordan asked. They all thought in silence. As everyone was thinking, Florence looked up in surprise.

‘Oh I know!’ Florence said in her excitement, as everyone stared at her. ‘We could ask for a ladder from your parents, Claire, and since they’re probably awake now, we won’t have to sneak it.’

‘OMG that is such a good idea!’ Claire said, as she and her friends quietly ran back into Claire’s house. Claire walked over to her mom’s bed while her friends were peeking from around the wall. ‘Mom… Can I borrow the ladder?’ Claire said in an innocent voice.

‘Oh sure sweetheart. What for?’ her mom asked, taking her sleeping mask off.

‘No reason!’ Claire said innocently and in a high-pitched voice. Claire and Florence got the ladder and tried not to hit anything because of how long and tall it was. CLANK! CHING! SPLAT—”

“Splat?” Molly and Andrew say in unison.

“I don’t know… I couldn’t think of anything,” Danny says with puppy eyes. “Now let me finish! So back to my story:

They tried to carry the ladder but they kept hitting the sides of the doorways. Damian, Kamy, and Jordan looked like they were aircraft marshalls, waving their hands backwards, trying to help Florence and Claire. Finally Florence and Claire dropped the ladder forward because the front doorway was too small. Unexpectedly, the rest of the friends almost hit their heads on the ladder because of how unexpected it was.

As they were getting closer to the tree, half of them pushed their hands over their heads to create momentum so the other half of the ladder could go on top of the tree. Bang! The tippy top of the ladder made a loud noise that scared the feral cat to go higher in the tree. Thank God it was only one branch. They extended the ladder one bump so they could reach the cat.

‘HISSSS,’ the cat said.

‘Shh, shh. It’s okay,’ Kamy said as she climbed up the ladder slowly.

‘What if we get cat food to lure it?’ Damian asked. Everyone but Damian smirked at each other. POOF! Cat food teleported in their hands—”

“Are you actually serious?” Andrew adds.

“OMG MY STORY,” Danny says. “Okay. Let me continue the story—”

“WHATEVER. I’M GOING TO SLEEP!” Andrew says angrily, wanting to storm off but instead smacks his head on his pillow and gives the flashlight to Claire.

“Okay. Then they gave the cat food to Kamy, and Kamy slowly raised her hand with the cat food to the feral cat. The cat’s pupils grew big and it threw its tongue out.

‘Aaaah!’

‘Eeeeek!’

‘Too cute… ‘

Jordan, Damian, Florence, and Claire said.

‘Shhhhh! Kamy said, turning her head around and trying not to scare the cat. The cat started licking the food in the can. ‘Okay. Now we have to get it down,’ Kamy whispered delicately. Since Damian was tall and the branch the feral cat was on was short, he picked it up gently from the back, although it started hissing and trying to scratch him.

‘Kamy! Give it the can of cat food!’ Damian said, holding the feral cat away from himself. Kamy scrambled down from the ladder and went on her tippy toes to hand the cat the can. The feral cat suddenly stopped meowing and licked the food in a flash. The sun started to rise.

‘What did we miss?’ Jordan asked Florence and Kamy as she came out of Claire’s house with waffles, syrup, and milk for everyone.

‘YA MISSED EVERYTHING,’ Claire said in a sassy voice as Damian and Kamy started to stuff their faces with waffles and milk.

‘So now we gotta dew wis—’ Kamy said, talking with her mouth full.

‘Ahem. Now all we’ve got to do is give the cat a makeover, but we don’t know where to do it,‘ she said stroking the cat’s hair.

‘That’s it!’ Florence said, pointing to Kamy. ‘We could go to the barber shop to get its hair cut.’

‘But I like its hair!’ Jordan said.

‘Yeah it’s fluffy,’ Damian added, a worried look on his face.

‘No she means, like, to clean it,’ Kamy said, slapping her forehead.

‘I think we should go to Charlie’s Spa for Cats,’ Damian said.

‘Let’s go,’ everyone agreed. They arrived at Charlie’s Spa For Cats. They all looked up at the spa.

‘This looks like Sephora,’ Florence said.

‘I know right?’ Jordan added, stroking the cat. They all went into the spa to find Charlie.

‘Okay, let’s split up to find her,’ Claire said confidently.

‘THIS IS LITERALLY A MAZE,’ Florence said. Before they each took another step, Charlie showed up.

‘Bro has teleportation powers,’ Damian said.

‘No… I just heard the little bell,’ Charlie said, pointing to the bell atop the front door.

‘Oh. Well can you help us give this soon-to-be-celebrity cat a makeover?’ Claire asked.

‘OMG of course! But you’d have to make an appointment,’ Charlie said in sarcasm. The rest of them have their eyes half closed as if the room was full of customers. ‘Come on. Let’s not make this longer than it has to be,’ Charlie said, knowing no one was laughing.

Charlie gathered Kamy, Claire, and Jordan in the spa with the cat. Once they were in the spa room, Charlie asked them what kind of spa they wanted for the cat.

‘We just want him to be sparkling clean,’ Jordan said.

‘And glossy,’ Kamy added.

‘And gentlemanly!’ Claire said excitedly.

‘Coming right up!’ Charlie said, getting up from his seat and holding the cat delicately. ‘Oh. Almost forgot!’ Charlie said, turning his head.

‘Do you have a name for this cat?’

‘Ummm,’ They all said in unison, side-eyeing each other.

‘What about Sir Floof?’ Clair said.

‘No. Fifie,’ Jordan added.

‘Oh! I know it!’ Kamy added excitedly. ‘Ranch! Or Pepper.’

‘Maybe Mr. Whiskers?’ Damian said through the door.

Jayden, Kamy, and Claire opened the door and all said, ‘YES!’ in unison, then slammed the door in Damian’s face because they were mad at him for eavesdropping.

‘Okay! One Mr. Whiskers spa for you!’ Charlie said in a baby voice, snuggling the cat’s incredibly fluffy fur. Charlie went into the room where all her tools were.

The rest of them went out of the room, opening the door and forgetting Damian was eavesdropping. The door hit him and he fell. Claire and Kamy and Jayden totally ignored him though.

FOUR HOURS LATER…

All of them went back into Charlie’s Spa for Cats, holding Sephora bags and Starbucks in their hands.

‘Ching!’ Charlie said, holding Mr. Whiskers in their face. Mr. Whiskers had a bow and he looked cleaner, glossier, and more handsome than ever. They all gazed in awe.

‘I’m going to give you a $50 tip!’ Kamy said, pulling $50 out of her pocket.

‘That’s how much it was gonna cost, but whatever!’ Charlie said carelessly. ‘Enjoy!’

‘THANK YOU!!!’ They all said together. They all ran to Claire’s house and relaxed.

‘So how should we take care of him?’ Kamy asked.

‘I don’t know… ‘ Damian said, shrugging.

‘Oh! Maybe we should each take turns bringing it to our houses and taking care of him.’ Jordan said.

‘We could share supplies too!’ Kamy said in a desperate voice.

‘Also give updates on him if you’re taking care of him,’ Florence said.

‘Um… Guys?’ Claire asked.

‘What?’ the rest of them said in unison.

‘Where is the cat?’

‘UGH!’ They replied altogether.”

“THE END!” Claire says.

“Really? That’s it?” asks Andrew.

“Yup. Now go to sleep! AND STOP EATING MY SECRET CHEETOS!” Claire yells furiously at Danny.

“I thought they were poisonous caterpillars!” Danny says angrily.

“THEN WHY WOULD YOU EAT THEM?!” Molly and Andrew ask.

“To get rid of them. Duh!” Danny says, “And yes, I hear myself and realize those would have been my final goodbyes.”

Molly, Claire, and Andrew slap their foreheads and go to sleep STUPIDLY EVER AFTER.

This writer’s name is Liv. She is an eleven-year-old and has a little brother named Maxwell. Her favorite foods are Takis, boba, cannolis, sushi, ramen, and macaroons. She plays baseball, soccer, kickball, volleyball, and more. She also has a BFF whom she met at 7-Eleven trying to get a free slushie on July 11th. Her friends in her grade are named Maya, Scarlett, Isabella , Liliana, Olivia, Kaiden, Cameron, Christopher, David, Bartoli, Issac, and way more. If she mentions all of them, it would be next week already. She is only popular because of the fact that she’s funny, fun, has a sense of fashion, is helpful, full of loyalty, empathetic, and way more. She is a writer, fashion goddess on Dress to Impress (on Roblox) and in a band called Rogue (she is the electric guitarist). Fun facts about her: She was born on Halloween and she can always throw something into someone’s mouth - a grape, Cheeto, strawberry, whatever. Another fun fact: She was a teletubby

Godzilla and Kong

Matthew Mendoza Lopez

It was a normal night on the beach, but then Godzilla was destroying the city because he hates Kong. He searched for Kong and Kong was in a big ship. Then Godzilla found Kong and they were fighting! Kong fell into a building, then got up, and hit Godzilla toward the beach. Godzilla hit Kong to the floor then stepped on Kong’s chest, and Kong got angry and roared. Godzilla roared too and got in the water.

Robot Godzilla escaped from his creator and they heard him coming. Now Godzilla and Kong teamed up to fight him, but KONG was knocked out and Godzilla was hurt. Kong jumped on Robot Godzilla and Godzilla blasted Kong’s sword with blue fire breath and KONG sliced Robot Godzilla’s head. Robot Godzilla was dead and Godzilla walked into the water and swam away, then Kong jumped onto a big ship and sailed away.

Matthew is nine years old and is from Mexico. He plays soccer and his favorite Fortnite skin is Peely. He has two sisters and he is in third grade.

The Magic Gem

Micah

Do you know the secret of the Glencoe Avenue mystery? I’ll tell you today. My name is Micah. I live in a normal neighborhood, but one day a herd of chicken-house cats ran past my porch and one dropped a green gem on the ground. I got closer and closer and closer until I picked it up. It said, “This is the most powerful gem in the universe.”

“Wow,” I said.

Suddenly there was a giant spaceship right above me and an alien tractor beam turned on! Suddenly the spaceship started attacking. I threw the gem at it and the spaceship flew away, but the gem hit the ground and shattered.

“Noooo,” I said, but in five minutes it regrew itself. What I didn’t know was that the aliens had a secret connection with a ghost army.

Suddenly I heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the alien spaceship. It was flying away at the speed of sound and it broke the sound barrier.

“Aah,” I said. It was way too loud. It sounded like this: Skrek, sklook, merch.

It was very loud, therefore I went into my house. Suddenly the lights started to flicker. Afterward they turned off. At the end of the hall was a ghost.

“Something strange is happening,” I said. The ghost floated across the hall.

“Attack,” said the ghost.

I ran up the stairs. A piece of the gem was GONE.

“OH NO,” I said.

I ran to catch the ghost. It was gone but it left a note and the note said, “We will take over the Earth. An invasion is going to happen.”

I stared at the letter. Soon I thought I needed to prepare. I put the hard green gem on a stick.

“This will be like a staff,” I said. I also got a bow and arrow and a suit of medieval armor. “Now I will stop the ghosts/aliens from taking over the planet.”

The ghosts were coming so I went outside. “Okay, now I’m ready for the invasion,” I said.

Suddenly I heard a loud sound. BANG! BANG!! BANG!!! They were surprise attacking and my entire backyard was on fire!

“You shall not take over the world,” I said.

ZAP! A strange sound started coming from the gem as it started to strangely glow purple. It had electrical zapping power. The ghosts started to suddenly look afraid.

“This is going to be easy,” I said.

ZAP, ZAP, ZAP, ZIP, ZAP. One million ghosts. BAM! A house got destroyed when a ghost hit it with a fireball. I fought a few more ghosts but then—

“AGH,” I said.

A ghost threw a fireball at me and it was hot purple. BAM! With that five million ghosts went away because of the staff. The gem wasn’t powerful enough so I went inside my house for a few minutes to think. I had an idea.

I said, “If I charge the gem it should be more powerful.”

So I plugged the gem into a charging cord and it started to glow red. I unplugged it and brought it outside. Uh oh! The ghosts already destroyed a whole block!

However, I was brave. “You are not going to take over the world,” I screamed.

Then the gem slipped and landed on the ground but it started moving towards me. It was being carried by ants.

“Thank you ants,” I said.

I grabbed the gem and now all I had left to do was get rid of the ghosts. I threw the gem with all my might! It was about three seconds and then all the ghosts were gone.

“Hooray,” I said.

Then I realized: THE GEM WAS GONE!

“Eh, I’ll find it tomorrow,” I said.

However, I never found it again. Somewhere out there is the most powerful gem in the world, buried.

This was NOT fiction.

Micah is eight years old and his favorite food is banana. And he is in second grade. His lucky number is 11. Micah’s other favorite food is sushi.

Will Survived

Nehemias Bautista

It was a creepy and corrupted night in my neighborhood. People were breaking into houses and shops and buildings…

Two days earlier: “Breaking news: A storm is hitting California. The biggest in years!” Will was afraid and nervous. If the storm hit, where could he go? Then Will remembered where he could go. He could go to Vons across the street from where he lives with his family. He could take his family with him, but that would have to wait until the next morning because it would already be night in a few hours.

The next morning, it was a perfectly sunny day in Will’s neighborhood. He played soccer with his friends. They got tired and took a snack and water break, even though it was pretty early, just 9 AM. After an hour of playing soccer, they got tired again and went home.

When Will got home, he could smell the food that his mom was cooking. His mom said to wash his hands and start eating. Will and his mom stopped what they were doing and looked outside. BOOM!

The lights went out.

Will’s mom got flashlights for the two of them, one for Will and one for her. They went outside and what they saw was totally cruel. People were breaking into shops and houses, burning down houses. Will’s mom shut and locked the doors.

Will’s mom said, “Pack your things. We’re going to the mountains.” Will started to worry, but his mom said, “We’ll be fine.”

They got into the car. As they started the car, some people tried to get in, but Will’s mom had locked it. They started to bang on the car, so she went into reverse and drove off.

One hour into the drive to the mountains, Will’s mom got very nervous, so Will put music on to play in the car. They brought a tent, a lot of water, food, and blankets. When they looked back at the city, it was burning down. They could hear the police and firefighters.

And worse, Will’s dad was still in the city. When Will called his dad, it rang for a few seconds, and then— BOOM!

Will heard a loud sound. He saw that police were throwing explosives. Then silence… Everything stopped.

Will’s dad answered, “Where are you?”

Will said, “We are in the mountains.”

Will’s dad said, “Okay, I’ll be there in a few. Bye.”

One hour later, while Will’s dad was on his way to the mountains, Will was afraid that his dad wouldn’t make it, just like Will and his mom had been afraid when they tried to get out of the city.

Will’s dad was there at last. They were safe in the mountains with food, water, and a bunch of other stuff.

At last they survived.

Nehemias really likes to play soccer.

The Fight

Santiago Ruiz

I was reading in my room when Cat Kid came out of the book. Cat Kid was two inches tall and was as tall as my leg. He had black stripes on his tummy.

I was watching the Dog Man movie and now Dog Man came out of the TV. He was light brown, three inches tall, and he was a cop. Dog Man and Cat Kid ran out of the room. Meanwhile Dog Man and Cat Kid were fighting about the book because Dog Man said, “My book is the best!”

Cat Kid felt disappointed. The book was important because it was the first book they read. Cat Kid wanted to try a different book. Dog Man went back into the book. Cat Kid felt strange. Cat Kid went back into the book but it was Dog Man’s book.

Dog Man was in trouble because Cat Kid was in the book. Dog Man called his book “Minus One Thousand Rizz.” Small fish were shooting fish bombs and Dog Man had trouble arresting the fish because there were fish moms and they were trying to eat Dog Man.

Dog Man was mad at Cat Kid and they started to fight. When they were fighting, Dog Man got hurt. He went to the hospital. Dog Man survived. Dog Man won the fight but he hurt his paw.

Dog Man went back in the book and visited Cat Kid at jail. Now he was griddying. Cat Kid asked, “Why are you griddying?”

Dog Man said, “I’m celebrating.”

“Why?”

“Cause you are in jail!”

Santi is Mexican-American. He is seven years old. He likes to play Fortnite.

Singing for the Meme Gods

Sebastian Ruiz

“Ye who enter hell abandon all hope!” Glen yelled.

“Glen Glen Glen Glen Glen!” Pete said.

“WHAT?” Glen yelled.

“My character is Jewish so they don’t go to hell. They just go to a crappier heaven,” Pete complained.

“Bro, I don’t care. I already wrote a whole side quest,” Glen shot back.

“I’m with Pete. It does not make sense that his character goes to hell,” Don said.

“But just cause Pete’s character is Jewish doesn’t mean he gets to change the whole ding dong story,” Ben shot back. “By the way Glen, your basement is falling apart. I saw three rats crawling around,” Ben complained.

Creeeak…

“What the hell?!” Pete exclaimed.

“I think it’s the door or something, Pete. I don’t know,” Glen responded.

Step, step, step.

“OK NOW WHAT’S THAT?!?!” Pete yelled.

“GAH!!” Everyone yelled.

“Come on, let’s get to the portal to take them to Da Evil Eggdog,” Unknown Person One whispered.

“Wait what?! What portal?!” Ben yelled.

“Sleep,” Unknown Person Two said. “So where are we going to put them?”

“I don’t know,” Unknown Person One said.

A portal opened up, and then both of the unknown non-Sigma dudes go in and take the sleeping boys with them. They drop the boys in a big patch of grass and leave.

20 minutes later…

The boys woke up from their painful sleep.

“Where are we?” Don asked.

“I don’t know,” Pete said.

“Hey! Where’s Glen?” Ben asked. “BTW: We are all our D&D characters. Wait, what? THAT MEANS I’M @#$% SLIME WITH A DING DONG HAT!”

“Okay, okay. Chill. We will figure something out, Ben,” Pete tried to say calmly.

“So I guess that I’m a slime, Pete’s a wizard, and Don is a knight,” Ben said.

“So where’s Glen?” Pete asked.

“Up here,” Glen said. The boys figured out that Glen was their god because he was the DM.

“So how do we get out?” Don asked.

“WeLl AcOrRdInG tO mY cAlCuLtIoN we have to go to the Ye Old Sign of Hollywood and at the top there’s a big castle. When we get there, we have to sing ‘Making my way downtown.’ Then the meme gods will open the doors for us and a big eggdog will come out and we have to fight him to get the key to open a portal,” Don explained.

Everyone looked at Don for five seconds like he had just committed a war crime but after that everyone became normal again. After walking two miles they made it to the very, very bottom of the sign.

“That’s a lot of climbing,” Pete said.

“Well that is too bad. LOL,” Glen replied.

After climbing for an hour, they got one-sixth of the way. After two more hours passed they got three-sixths of the way there. And after two billion years they got to the top. After the boys sang the song, a big door opened. The minute the door opened Don stabbed the eggdog’s leg. The eggdog tried to shoot him with DABABY lasers but—

To be continued…

Sebastian loves gaming, drawing, coding, and listening to music and podcasts. He has two little brothers. He will draw his lil characters on whatever paper he can get his hands on. Alright, that’s him.

The Perfect Day

Sofia Alvarado

At the end of the day the sun goes down, and I can’t wait till the next day to start another fun day.

As I wake up I can smell pancakes from the other side of my house

Running to the kitchen I go

To see my mom there

The aroma of pancakes fill up the room

Stacks of pancakes in the middle

While the toppings are scattered around the table

And the leftover debris of batter on the stove

My mom spots me

Tells me to start eating

Drizzling the syrup on my pancakes

Taking the first bite

As vanilla takes over my mouth

Like popcorn popping in the microwave

Adding blueberries, strawberries, and bananas to it

And OMG what a taste

Finishing breakfast

I get ready for the day

I go put my clothes on

I get freshened up like any other person

Brush my hair and my teeth

Saying bye to my mom

And off I go

Stepping outside my house

The fresh aroma of the air hits my face

Flowers blooming while others are falling

The hint of sugar

The smell of bread in the oven

Walking outside the gate there is more to be known

Like stores across the street

Walk to the left I see more apartments

However I see one of my neighbors

“Hola Sofia, comos estas”

“Bien, y usted”

“Si ando muy bien, me saludas a tu mama porfavor”

“Okay, si le digo, adiós”

“Adios”

Seeing my neighbors all the time is fun

Keep talking to them

They might give you some cookies

Or free food

Without realizing it

I came to my favorite part of the day

STARBUCKS!

Going in I see the same people from last time

“Could I get a Caramel Mocha Frappuccino, please”

“Sure thing coming right up”

As I wait I see my best friend coming inside

My best friend is someone one I could trust with my life

My best friend is named Isabella

She helped me in my lowest times in sixth grade

And we still hang out together till this day

Running to each other

Hugging each other so tight

Like we have not seen each other since forever

“Mocha Caramel Frappuccino for Sofia!”

Grabbing my drink

Saying goodbye to my friend

“Bye Isabella”

“Bye Sofia, see you tomorrow”

Walking out the store feeling happy with my Starbucks

Walking out of my happy place

I see more people I see every other day

Taking an hour walk around the neighborhood

Passing by wilting flowers

And coming back

In time for the sunset

Eating dinner at the end of a long day

Studying till the night is known in the sky

Until I fall asleep

I will think about the next day

Saying to myself

What will I do tomorrow?

Sofia is a seventh grader that is 12 years old. She is from California and lives with her parents and sister. Sofia’s favorite hobby is doing dance with her friends. Her inspiration is her favorite group called Stray Kids. This is her inspiration because they make her motivated, help her with her stress, and are the only ones who can make her genuinely laugh (like not even her best friend or family can make her laugh but a true laugh). While Stray Kids are her inspiration, they also inspire her to achieve her future goals like being successful, earning a lot of money, and traveling. So in conclusion, Sofia is someone who may seem rude or mean but she is a trustworthy person.

Super Man and SpongeBob

Thomas Curiel Lopez

I went to the park and got a popsicle. The popsicle was lemon flavored. It tasted bitter and made me feel refreshed. But guess what! My popsicle melted. I was so mad and stomped.

Then a huge storm happened. I rode a flying chicken meat into the sky. Then a superhero named Captain Underpants showed up and used a large sponge to clean up the flood. Afterwards the sponge got EVEN LARGER. The flood came from a storm of clouds that rained so much that there was a flash flood.

On the news, it showed how Captain Underpants cleaned up the flood and the news said how the sponge got so huge. Everyone was so happy but they had to find somewhere to put the huge sponge. Captain Underpants decided to put the sponge, which everyone named SpongeBob SquarePants, into the ocean.

I went to the ocean to check on SpongeBob SquarePants. That’s where I found McDonald’s. SpongeBob SquarePants made a Krabby Patty for Captain Underpants and I. When Captain Underpants finished his Krabby Patty, he said goodbye and flew away.

I decided to stay and get my french fries. That’s when SpongeBob gave me a surprise. It was a popsicle! Now I would get to eat my lemon popsicle.

“Thank you!” I said very excitedly. Finally, I got to eat my lemonflavored popsicle.

Thomas is funny. He likes Geometry Dash and Roblox. He likes to draw and watch funny and scary videos.

The Crazy Story

Whitney Finley

My sister was spying on my neighbors. She screamed my name. “Sofia!” she said. “One of our neighbors has turned into a baby.”

I thought she was going crazy like she always does. Like last week, my sister Penny and I were camping and she fed all of our food to some bears!

Anyway, I went outside to see if it was true. She was right, there were babies everywhere. I asked her what happened, and a random man in a black suit with blue hair wearing a jetpack named Zack said, “I happened.”

I asked him what he did to our neighbors. He answered saying, “Long, long ago I used to take care of my little baby brother. But one day he just started to grow. It was very sad because he wasn’t cute or tiny anymore so I created the baby ray.”

We ran back to the house and we grabbed our baby sister Mia and brought her outside as a distraction. While Zack was busy staring at Mia, we grabbed all of our baby neighbors and brought them inside. A little while later, we heard him scream, “WHERE ARE ALL THE BABIES?”

He busted open the door and I yelled, “Now!” My sister pressed a big red button and a cage fell on top of Zack. Later, the police came and took him to jail.

While we were recovering our baby neighbors, we went outside and saw pieces of our baby sister Mia’s clothes.

My sister yelled, “Nooooo! Zack exploded our baby sister.”

We started crying and then we heard a very deep voice say, “What’s the problem?” I yelled at the man saying our sister Mia was gone. I peered up at the man and saw it wasn’t a man but our sister Mia. She said all of the chemicals of the explosion got into her lungs and changed her voice forever.

Whitney is 11 years old. She likes to play the piano and draw. Her favorite book is Hooky. She also has a funny sister named Avery. Her favorite color is light blue and green. She likes to eat crab at a restaurant called California Pizza Kitchen.

The Panda

Adrian Gomez

A neighborhood is a place with houses, neighbors, and pets. I see toys.

I see Mario and Luigi toys.

I play with my lego Mario and lego Luigi.

I see a closet.

The closet has more toys and play dough.

I like to play hide and seek in my neighborhood.

I play hide and seek with my brother Luis and cousins.

We play in the park too!

There is a blue slide and green ladders.

I take my stuffed animal Panda down the slide with me.

My neighborhood makes me feel happy.

I have a dog named Simon.

We take Simon out for walks.

My closet makes my neighborhood beautiful.

There is also a movie theater in my neighborhood.

I went to watch Sonic 3 with my mom.

We get popcorn and we drink water when watching the movie.

Adrian is five years old and is in TK. He likes to play during recess and his favorite color is blue. He loves chicken nuggets and blue gatorade. He loves to play with his brothers Luis and Alex.

Pain

Alexa (Hayily) O.

It was a cool and starry night. I was peacefully doing my homework. I heard my cat meowing, so I had to go feed him. After I did that, I walked back to my sister’s room to continue doing my homework. I had just picked up my pencil when I heard dogs barking. It was a little annoying, but I just kept writing. Suddenly, there was very loud music shaking the ground.

I was starting to break just like a pencil breaking. It was hard to do my homework. Little by little I sucked it up and kept doing my homework. I was about to pull my hair out!

I was done with my math homework. I did my reading log. I thought that the reign of terror was over, but I jinxed it. I heard my neighbor yelling at the top of their lungs. They were fighting next door. I was ready to punch the next person I saw. Then some people decided that “This is the perfect neighborhood to blow up FIREWORKS!” It was amazing how much I could hear without even looking outside.

When I did look out the window, I saw smoke covering the whole street. It looked like the devil had appeared. I was there telling myself not to yell all the bad words that I knew. I was going to THROW a freaking chair outside. Then I saw police cars. “It’s about time,” I said to myself.

“Police are here we have a complaint,” WAS ALL THEY SAID. Finally, it was quiet. I happily did my homework, and that’s a typical night in my neighborhood.

Hayliy is 11 years old. She is from Mexico and attends Thomas Starr King Middle School. Her favorite activities include making art, gaming, eating, and watching anime. Her favorite food is ramen. She enjoys talking to friends. This year, she’s looking forward to getting good grades.

My Typical Day

Alexander O.

Want to hear about a day in my neighborhood? Here are some characters: Mom, Dad, my cat named Cheetoh, and me, Alexander. My day starts early in the morning – at 6 AM – when my mom wakes me up. When I get dressed and brush my teeth, Mom drives me to school. When I’m at school, my teacher puts on the board what we need to do first. We start math. When we do math, we do some practice. After we finish the practice sheet, we do the exit ticket. Once we finish the math exit ticket, we have recess for 20 minutes. When we finish recess, we start history. In history, we learn about pirates, the story of Treasure Island, and Captain Flint. As soon as we finish history, we have lunch. We first grab our food then we sit down to eat. After lunch, we do my favorite thing, reading. When it’s almost time to go, my teacher reads Wonder.

After school, I go home to Echo Park. I see a palm tree in the middle of the building. When I do my homework, I hear the leaves rustling in the palm tree outside in the living room. I go inside, and I smell my mom cooking food. When my mom finishes cooking the food, I eat tacos dorados, and they are delicious. I go to watch TV, I see Cheetoh and I pet him when he is on my bed. I play with my plushies and Legos. Later, I go to Patras to eat my favorite burger and Jamaica.

After Patras, my mom, dad, and I get ready to go to Universal Studios with my friend. When we are at Universal, we go on the Studio Tour. On the tour, I see a replica of the set of Nope. We are about to end the tour, but the announcer says, “Attention, the driver has a VIP pass, you can go where nobody else can go.” When we get off the Studio Tour, we go to the store and get the Aragog plushie from Harry Potter. I felt happy!

After Universal Studios, I go home and eat tacos de birria. Once my belly is full, I play on my Nintendo Switch. I watched the TV and I watched the Plankton movie. When I finished watching the movie, I brushed my teeth, read a book, and went to sleep… BUT I feel an earthquake and wake up. My mom checked, and it said it was a 3.7 earthquake. I go back to sleep, and tomorrow will be a new adventure.

Alexander is nine years old and is in fourth grade. He likes cats and has a pet cat. Alexander is Mexican-American and goes to 826LA. He likes to do arts and crafts. His favorite thing to do is reading. His favorite place to be is home with his cat.

The Adventures of Super Space Dog

Brandon Valles

One day, there was a group of friends called Super Space Dog, and the three squirrels, Fastest Bee, Happy Norma, and Fast Belly. They were bored and decided to walk around the neighborhood and decided to go to the movie theatre. When they went outside, they could smell flowers, strawberries, and trees. The birds were extra loud today, and they woke them all up in the morning. While they were walking on the sidewalk, they saw lots of people walking by, and there were a lot of cars on the street. They begin to start touching all the houses as they walk around, as well as picking grass up from the park. They were so excited to watch the new movie. As they walked to the movie theatre, they were chatting and laughing. Until, they saw a big shadow of the Pringle Monster.

They continued to walk and were a little scared. Fastest Bee and Happy Norma were very hungry and told everyone they wanted to stop at the donut shop to eat donuts and fortune cookies. Super Space Dog thought it was a good idea to go there because he was also hungry. They kept walking and walking until they found a store with a golden roof with golden donuts and fortune cookies to eat.

The four friends got really excited, but people in the neighborhood were scared of them because they thought they were little animals that were going to bite them. They did, however, find someone who wasn’t scared of them named Bryan, who was a 6 year old boy, who helped them find the movie theater.

Bryan was so nice to them. He even showed them around the neighborhood, and they stopped at the park. Everyone was having so much fun and a lot of time passed. Then they realized it was getting closer to the time when the movie starts. So they hurried to go grab donuts.

When they got to the donut shop, they saw a Pringles Monster. They ran away because he was chasing them, and they ended up in an empty mansion that was golden like the roof of the donut shop. After a few hours of hiding inside, they walked back to the donut shop because they were still hungry. Luckily, the Pringle Monster wasn’t there, and they were able to finally eat donuts and fortune cookies.

At last, they were able to go to the movie theater. As they walked to the movie theater they talked about how scary the Pringle Monster was and where he went. Then, they saw the Pringle Monster working at the movie theater and they were scared, so they decided to sneak in instead of paying. They made it without getting caught and they were so excited to watch the movie.

They got to watch the new Super Space Dog movie, and they were so happy to eat donuts, fortune cookies, popcorn, and soda. What a crazy journey they had.

Brandon is six years old. He is in first grade. He loves reading adventure books. His favorite book is Dog Man. Brandon also likes Diary of the Wimpy Kid.

The Super Fast Roller Coaster

Crystal Cosme

I was in the roller coaster park with my friends Etsy, Dolores, Aylani, and Lena. We all like roller coasters but we didn’t know where to buy tickets.

As soon as we saw the roller coaster we got excited. I said, “Let’s go there! It’s so much fun!” We got into my car and I drove us there. Next we bought tickets and we got in line. It was our turn to get on the roller coaster. It went too fast and everybody screamed out loud, ”YAAAAA!”.

The roller coaster went up and down, up and down. I started to feel dizzy, but I wanted to keep going. It then stopped and started to keep going too fast and even faster. I thought the roller coaster was going to break, but it didn’t. It went on for twenty minutes until it finally stopped. Everyone said, “Finally, it stopped!” and my friends said, “Let’s ride the roller coaster again tomorrow!”

Crystal is seven years old. She likes roller coasters and playing with Barbies. Her favorite food is pizza and McDonald’s. Crystal enjoys reading books in Spanish. When she is not at school, Crystal loves to go swimming at the beach.

I Like Big Balls

Donghao

I am Donghao. I play Fortnite. I also play some Roblox Rivals. I am 11. I am in fifth grade. I am sometimes lazy. I am easily bored. I live with my mom, dad, and little brother.

I am bored in my room. There is no wi-fi and no battery in the remote to turn on the TV. I have no books to read. I try to find something to do. I then find a soccer-sized ball that is red. The big ball is deflated. I try to find the air pump to add air to the ball. I look under the house. I see nothing. It’s pitch black. I look in the closet, and I see some shirts and socks. I was about to give up. I sit on my couch and drink some water, then I remember. I walk to my desk, and I find the pump. I add some air to the ball.

I now play with my ball. I kick my ball, and it hits the wall and then comes back to me. I hit it again, and it comes back. I hit it again and again. I kick the ball, it goes flying.

He is cool. He likes to play video games. He likes to watch YouTube shorts. In the future, he hopes to work in tech.

Outside

Helen Kheang

On a sunny day, my class and I were going on a field trip to the Getty Center. My teacher, Ms. Flower, planned our monthly field trip to see the Getty’s new House art collection. Ms. Flower had explained that we would see a lot of drawings, paintings, pictures, and clay pieces about different types of houses. My friends Ivanna, Mila, Tara, and I were very excited to see all the cool designs.

“Everybody, get into your groups of four and pair up in twos. That will be your bus buddy”, said Mrs. Flower.

I paired up with Ivanna and Mila paired up with Tara. Ivanna has wavy hair and she wears purple shoes. Tara is the smallest friend and she hates when we point it out and Mila loves Cinnamon roll.

On the bus, I sat with Ivanna. We were playing I-Spy. The other kids were playing it, too. I kicked my foot really hard, and it hit a box.

I said, “What did I just hit?” I was shocked.

Before I could tell Ivanna, there was a loud noise.

Ms. Flower stands and says, “It’s okay”.

We saw her talking to the bus driver. They were whispering to each other.

Everyone asked, “What is going on?”

Ms. Flower said, “Ok, students, we need to get off, grab your buddy, and stay on the sidewalk.”

There was smoke coming out of the bus. Ms. Flower looked tired, stressed, and overwhelmed.

The bus broke down and 20 minutes passed by. The driver still could not fix it. We were all getting hungry, so Ms. Flower looked for our lunches.

The bus driver said, “The bus has broken down, and we won’t be able to go to the Getty museum”.

The students started to complain. The bus driver went inside the bus to grab our snacks when he was heading out the door, it was stuck. The bus driver had to grab the snacks and throw them out the window.

He was able to throw our snacks out the window when, all of a sudden, the window closed. The bus driver is stuck inside. We were still missing our lunches. Ms. Flower checked the bottom of the bus to get the lunches.

We heard her say “Oh no!” She turned and said, “We forgot the lunches!”

At least we had a big box of yummy snacks. She waited for the children to get in line and get the snacks.

Each student said “Thank you” after getting their snack. Suddenly, the bus driver remembered that there was a button that could unlock the door and windows of the bus. He was relieved once he unlocked the door because he could now take us to the Getty, but when we got there it was closed.

All the students started chanting, “Let’s Go Home!”

At last, we were able to go home. We ate Ruffles chips because we were hungry. It was late. We finished the whole bag of chips. In the end, we were happy because even though we didn’t make it to the Getty to see the paintings, we made the best out of our day.

Helen is eight years old and in the third grade. She lives in Los Angeles as a proud Cambodian-American. She goes to 826LA every weekday, where she writes and does her homework. She likes to try new hairstyles.

A Coyote’s Life in My Neighborhood

Isabella Herrera

Hi, I’m a coyote, and my life is not that easy. I think we all know that. I wish I could be a pet like a dog or a cat, my life would be very nice. The neighborhood I live in is La Veta Terres (close to Echo Park). A nice and sweet neighborhood. The streets are always calm and chill. Whenever I’m hungry, I go to Rodrigo’s house because he always throws meat and food on the grass. I don’t know why, but he always helps me survive when there’s no food. I try to catch the ducks that always travel in the sky. There aren’t many tall trees in the neighborhood, so it’s more chill to catch them while they’re flying.

I search for food and water every day. One day, I was walking close to a house with a lot of roses and a porch. I got onto the porch to search for food and saw a little fluffy tail down a chair. I realized that it was a cat. I bit the tail and tried to eat the cat, but the cat scratched my face, so I ran away so I wouldn’t die. I was starving. I didn’t have anything to eat. Rodrigo didn’t throw a lot of meat into the trash can today. I kept walking and walking. Suddenly, I saw a human with a knife in his hands. I kept walking but the human tried to catch me. I bit him, and he punched me with a knife. I tried to run but I couldn’t. I found myself inside a truck.

I felt panic. I couldn’t believe I had been kidnapped. I scratched the walls trying to escape but couldn’t, then someone opened the door and the man said, “You’re going to be money for me!” I jumped up on the man and threw him to the floor. He grabbed my feet so I couldn’t skip.

Then, Rodrigo yelled at the man, “Hey! Leave him alone, he is my husky!”

Rodrigo ran up to the man and pushed him inside the trunk.

The man said, “It’s a coyote, not a husky dude! He was outside by himself, so it’s not yours!”

Rodrigo said, “Yeah, but let him go.”

I was watching Rodrigo as my hero. I couldn’t believe that a human saved my life. I followed Rodrigo to his house because I felt safe next to him. When we got home, Rodrigo gave me food and water. Now, Rodrigo is my best friend.

Isabella likes to play volleyball, football, and basketball. She loves her kitty named Chita. Her favorite color is white and favorite food is pizza.

The Food I Love in My Neighborhood

Jacob R.

Watermelon, I love it.

Pepperoni Pizza,

Sometimes they have Domino’s at the school cafeteria, I love it.

Cupcakes, I love it.

Pepsi, I love it.

Apples, I love it.

Chinese Food, I love it.

Jacob is six years old. He has two brothers and loves to play soccer with them. His favorite food is Oreo ice cream. He enjoys playing tag with school friends.

Get Out if You Can

Jamison Kheang

After Bob and Max help Jamison find his time capsule, they say goodbye and leave. They walk home.

Max says, “I left something—my pillow carrot.”

“Hurry and go get it,” Bob replies.

Max runs.

A while later, Bob says, “It has been 33 minutes. I’m going to check on him.”

He runs in the same direction Max went. All of a sudden, he finds himself in a neighborhood he doesn’t recognize. There’s fog everywhere. He hears noises coming from a house. Bob turns to look at the house. It looks broken, abandoned, and old.

Bob says, “This house is haunted.”

Then, he hears a voice that sounds like Max saying, “Help…”

He gets the courage to go in, even though he is scared.

Bob runs into the haunted house, and there’s fog. He goes to the wrong house.

Meanwhile, here’s what happens to Max: he is lost.

Bob runs into a room and hears zombie noises. In the next room, he sees a TV with bold letters on the screen: RUN IN 5 SECONDS… After the timer reaches 0, he hears something running at him. He gets into a room and locks the door for a second. Then, he sees a ghost and runs as fast as he can.

Meanwhile, Max goes door to door trying to find Bob but sees a toy carrot sword and puts it in his backpack.

“This sword is so perfect for my collection,” Max says.

The TV turns on but stays on a black screen. A voice says, “Let’s see what Bob is doing.” Then, the TV shows static, and an ad pops up in bold letters: COME LOOK AT

A FUNNY CARROT SWORD - OK,

BYE.

Bob fights off spiders that are trying to eat him. Max sees someone and goes toward them. But it is a zombie!

Then, the voice from the TV says, “Run in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—Run!”

Max runs and hears a lot of zombies chasing after him.

Bob sees that all the spiders are gone. As he turns, he pauses. There’s a big spider. Suddenly, a button appears. Bob presses it, but the big spider starts running at him. Bob runs so fast into a different room and locks the door. As he is about to continue running, he sees Max.

Bob screams at Max, “I know where the exit is!”

Max starts running toward Bob. They have to pick a door to escape. There is a big spider behind one door and a lot of zombies behind another. Eventually, they find a vent. They crawl, making a few turns. When they get out, they are in an empty room with only a TV.

A message appears on the TV: I SEE YOU GOT TO THE END… YOU WIN! NOW LEAVE!!

Max uses his carrot sword to break the TV, and they leave, terrified and promising never to return. While walking away, they see Jamison asleep in a puff cloud.

Jamison is 11 years old and in fifth grade living in LA. Jamison loves his baby brothers and he is learning how to draw and still play Roblox. He still loves french fries and pizza.

Weeping of the Insane

Jackie O.

“Come on, nothing is going to happen,” Zoey said. not even knowing if it was safe.

“Well then, you go. I am not trying to get arrested!” Avery said, while her face was almost turning red.

Zoey got up and opened the gate to leave the house, knowing Avery is going to follow her anyway.

“Wait, fine, I will go, but if we get a fine then you are paying!!” Avery said with a hint of worry still in her voice.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever” Zoey yelled, not caring.

As they get in the car, the door slams. Avery gets scared of getting her out of her daydream or nightmare.

“Just relax, nothing is going to happen,” Zoey said, putting her car seat back.

“Wait, you haven’t even told me where we are going, how am I supposed to relax?!” Avery almost yelled.

“Calm down, We are going to an abandoned house.”

Avery’s jaw drops, almost hitting the ground out of shock. Zoey ignores her, focusing on driving instead.

“Blah, blah, blah, whatever,” She later responds without even looking at her.

A few hours later, they arrived.

It was gloomier with dead flowers and screaming crows. The place had a feeling of almost death.

“This place feels like a horror movie. Why did you drag me here?” Avery said.

The worry in her voice grew clearer.

“Umm, I didn’t drag you here, you chose to come. So it’s not my fault you’re scared!” Zoey scoffed, fixing her hair, putting it behind her ear.

“Yeah but-” Avery stays silent, not knowing what to say.

Zoey starts to walk without her, leaving her behind, and Avery follows her.

“Wait, I don’t want to die alone!!”Avery cries out as she catches up to Zoey.

She sees the full house. The paint peeling off and the stench was unreal but barely noticeable because of the wind blowing harshly.

“We are so dead.” Avery is almost normal about already accepting her fate.

“You just have to follow my lead,” Zoey says, acting like nothing was wrong.

As they start to climb up the stairs, one of the steps almost breaks because of how old it was.

“AHHH,” Avery screams.

“Calm down, nothing is going to happen”, says Zoey.

At this point, Avery didn’t even care what Zoey said. Just wanting to get it over with already.

“Why did you want to come here anyway?” Avery asks, still wondering why she agreed to come.

As they get inside the house, the floor breaks and the wind follows in through the broken window.

“Oh, I just lost a bet”, Zoey responds after a few seconds, not wanting to talk and just explore.

The light that comes from the window shining on her face. Avery’s face stops showing emotion, almost mad.

“Of course it is”, Avery sighs at the same time they hear a squish. They look down, it’s a spider. Their faces drain of color, they have stepped on a nest of spiders. Zoey’s shoes step on webs and mini dead spiders.

“OMG,” they say, their voice barely whispers.

Zoey looks at it, leaving Avery behind. Though she is scared, she just stays still, frozen.

“AHHHH!” A terrifying scream comes out, not knowing what to do other than scream.

The spiders start to crawl around, but she snaps out of it and runs towards the direction that Zoey ran, and finds an eerie door with cobwebs above it. She opens the door, barging in, finding Zoey looking at hidden folders.

“I almost got bit by spiders and you’re here reading books?” She is still out of breath.

“It’s not a book, it’s a folder and forget about that. Look, this house belongs to this illegal corporation and-” Zoey gets cut off by Avery

“I can’t hear you!” Avery whines, not wanting to get scared even more.

A red and blue light flashes. It’s the cops… As soon as they see the flashing lights, they book it, finding a back door and running into the forest.

The leaves are crushed with each step. They keep running. They are out of breath, so they hide behind a big bush, still hearing the crunch of leaves.

They could still hear the cop’s voice saying ‘stop right there’ echoing in their heads.

The crunch of the leaves gets faster, and so does their heartbeat. The crunch of the leaves stops, and with a blink of the eye, they are caught.

“You are arrested for trespassing on illegal premises,” the cop says out loud, cuffing them and bringing them into the cop car.

“I told you! What did I say? now our record is ruined,” Avery weeps.

“Yeah, yeah, I will make my aunt bail us out, it’s fine,” Zoey says, trying to calm down.

In the car, the air feels dead and very angry, too. Raindrops start to fall on the window but slowly more and more start to fall. It fits the mood. A deer runs up in front of the car, trying to run from something. SKKKRTTT, the car turns to the side and screams and hits the tree. The sudden impact makes them jump and pass out.

“What happened??” Avery says half awake, “Wake up, Zoey.” She pushes Zoey slightly.

“What’s going on?” Zoey finally wakes up.

“I think we crashed,” Avery says.

They took a look at the cop, seeing he was completely passed out. Zoey takes his keys and uncuffs both of them.

“What are you doing? We are going to get charged more,” Avery’s paranoia hitting her voice.

“Not if they can’t catch us.” Zoey grabs Avery’s hand and opens the car door, booking it.

Their shoes are colliding with the concrete. At this point, they don’t even care if the cop wakes up, they just keep running with rain drops falling on them. They suddenly see a laser figure and an alleyway which was odd because they were in the forest.

Though they see this, they don’t stop running. As they keep on running closer, so does the figure. They can finally see it, it’s a man with a big scar running along his neck. He grabs them, injecting them with anesthesia.

“Pretty and foolish, guess I got lucky tonight,” He said to himself, his hair dripping with water.

Dear Diary, it’s been five days since the man kidnapped us. He is oddly nice. The only reason I am able to write in this is because I found it. But if he finds out, I am going to be in trouble.

Day two, he gave us soup, but I didn’t eat it. Zoey did, and she feels sick. I think he put some sort of drug in it, but how would I know what he does? For all I know, he could have put in a dead animal. But of course Zoey ate it, although I told her not to, but she never listens. He keeps asking us questions like what is my shoe size and stuff like that. He is probably going to buy us new clothes. That all happened today. The rest is just boring, lying down and trying to wake up Zoey.

Day three, Zoey is still NOT awake, but I found a way we can escape… The thing is that the man only lets one of us go to the bathroom at a time, so I am going to tell Zoey when she wakes up.

Day four, Zoey didn’t wake up. It’s that dang soup he gave us, and I heard him talk about the new meat. Obviously, he is talking about us and seriously “new meat?” We are not pigs, but the real problem is him finding this notebook. Well, not really. The worst thing is that he sells us to a weirdo.

Day four is the same thing as day three, but the window we can escape from is finally open. So, I’m probably going to escape without her and come back to save her. I am just worried she won’t be here when I come back.

Day five, I am going to escape, wish me luck.

Avery barely fit through the window, almost cutting through her skin. The wind blows her unwashed hair. It’s been days since she has seen the outdoors.

“Oh I didn’t think I’d go this far.” She looks down at the ground. If she jumps, she’ll break a leg. She hears the door knob shake, he is trying to get in. She sees a tree that is within her reach, she grunts as her body hits the tree, holding on. She then lets go, her feet hitting the leaves, crushing. Avery starts to run. It’s like an ongoing path, every tree she passes is like a notice to keep on running. Her heart is pulsing because she can’t even imagine what will happen if he catches her. It feels like it’s been hours now. She can barely move her body, feeling limp. It’s nighttime. She falls to the ground, crawling and tears down her cheek. At this point, she doesn’t even know if he is running after her, she just wants to be free. Every second that passes is her sanity passing. She is losing every emotion. She knows her life could be saved with a simple No from the very beginning. Her body is crawling at this point. She is dragging herself on the floor. Her hands are bloody, the veins in her eyes bursting out. She doesn’t want to rest. She wants to escape.

“Tired already?” The voice behind her is like a stab in the back, twisting out left and right.

She tries to scream, but nothing comes out. Her voice is as still as a horse. The last bit of sanity was vanishing, her voice coming only to start laughing. She doesn’t even find it funny, it’s the only thing she could do. She feels the darkness hugging her tightly. The adrenaline rose, but she just stopped feeling her body. Getting dragged was almost healthy because she knew she would keep going until she dropped dead.

Jackie is 10 years old and in fifth grade. Her favorite color is wine red. She loves playing volleyball and hanging out with her friends. Roxy and Parco are her two dogs, whom she loves.

Hide and Seek

Jayden F.

It was 3:05.

I got home and I was playing hide and seek with my brother. My brother is nosy and annoying sometimes. My mom was counting, and everybody else was hiding. I was hiding on my brother’s bed. (I was hiding behind pillows.) We told my mom to count to 25.

My mom told us the number 1 rule was to stay inside at all times. My grandma was hiding in my mom and dad’s bed, my grandpa was in my bed, my dad was in the kitchen, and my brother was hiding outside.

My mom finished counting and she started to look for us. She found everybody except my brother. We were looking for my brother. My mom was getting worried about my brother.

My mom said, ”Where is Tony?”

Then my brother came inside and said ”I’m hungry!”.

Then everybody said “Tony!”.

Then Tony said “What?”.

Then my dad said, “I’ll admit I’m hungry, too.”

Then they ordered pizza.

Jaydens favorite color is blue. He likes to play soccer and kick-ball. He is nine years old. He loves s’mores.

In My Neighborhood

Jesus Aquiar

In my neighborhood, I like the smell of cheese pizza.

In my neighborhood, I like to see the red and blue houses.

In the neighborhood, sometimes I like to hear the sound of dogs.

In the neighborhood, I like the smell of food like noodles.

In the neighborhood, I like to touch the sidewalk, it feels hot when the sun is out.

In the neighborhood, I like to go to Elysian Park, play soccer in the park, and go hiking.

In the neighborhood, I like to play video games at home.

In the neighborhood, I like to touch my blue controller.

In the neighborhood, I see the color green of Elysian Park.

In the neighborhood, I sometimes go to Echo Park to play soccer and basketball.

Jesus likes to play soccer and video games. He is from Los Angeles. He likes to eat hot dogs with ketchup and mayo.

Normal Neighborhood

Jonathan R.

I woke up on a Monday morning and heard dogs barking so loudly on the first floor. I get up from my bunk bed and see my mom on her phone. I get ready for school and wake up my brothers so they can get ready as well. When I leave my house, I always see grass and people walking their dogs. I see trees, other buildings, and the bus at the bus stop.

I missed the bus to school, so I had to walk there. At least it isn’t that far. While I walked there, I saw cars, more buildings, and traffic lights. There is another school, one block away from my school, so I walk past it. I walk into my school and see all the adults and students. I go line up and talk to my friend Robert, who is one of my best friends. He did the math homework, so I asked him if I could copy it.

After school, I go pick up my brothers and get on the bus. After I get off the bus, I walk six minutes to my apartment. While I walk there I see the cars, more dogs, the sky, flowers, and more people. I get there and open the door to the apartment. I get on the elevator and as the door closes I get stuck in the elevator. So I had to call the Fire Department so they could help me and my brothers.

We waited and waited until we got saved. When me and my brothers got out, we thanked them for saving us from the elevators. Then we went and used my keys to open the door. I say hi to my mom and go straight to my room. As I use my phone my mom tells me to go to the market to get milk. So I go outside and don’t take the elevator, instead I take the stairs down. I see Smart & Final when I walk to the market.

As I walked, I saw more people. I got the milk and went back as fast as possible because it was getting dark. I give the milk to my mom and then scroll on my phone. When the time hits 10 PM, I put down my phone to charge and go to sleep.

Jonathan is a teen who likes to play Roblox. His favorite subject is Science. He goes to Camino Nuevo Charter Academy.

My Brother and Tia’s Birthday

Kali Green

My brother’s birthday is taking place at my apartment. My family is coming over. The people coming over are my Tia Gina, cousin Jojo, cousin Nani, cousin Ami, cousin Maison, Jojo’s girlfriend, and my brother’s girlfriend. In my mom’s apartment, there is my dog Skittle, my brother Garland, my Mama, my Grandma, and me.

My mom had bought decorations that should have said “HAPPY BIRTHDAY.” But the store person gave her the wrong letters, so it said, “HADPY BIRTHDAY.” Still, we hung them up, and now the party was ready to go. My brother’s girlfriend Casie arrived.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi Kali,” Casie replied, and then we hugged.

My mom came up to us and told my brother, “Garland, you forgot to get stuff from the market.”

Casie and Garland drove to the mall for some Korean BBQ. When we got home, my brother went to the bathroom. I wondered what he would do if I hid under the tables to spy on him. So, I crawled underneath the adults’ table. When he came out, he saw something moving. I grabbed my dog Skittle from the back table to cover me. My brother reached under the table and took Skittle to the couch.

HA! He didn’t see me, I thought.

I giggled in my head, thinking, “Haha, you didn’t see me!”

He heard me and said, “Kali is that you?”

I tried not to laugh, but it was hard. At that moment, my cousin Jojo and his girlfriend Sam arrived. After that, every five minutes the rest of our family members started arriving.

Casie and I made bracelets with beads. We ate BBQ and potato salad. After eating, I asked my cousin Maison to play restaurant with me. We played for 10 minutes. Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Tia and Garland. We had two different cakes but I only ate one. My cousins Maison and Amy and I played Mario Kart.

Then my mom thought the trash was a table. She realised she had misplaced some earrings. The earrings were worth a lot of money, but at least they were hooked together by their loops.

Then my mom found them in the cake. After finding the earrings, everyone started to leave to go home. They were leaving one by one, and my mom and I were escorting them one by one. Maison and I then raced to the parking lot. I won all the races and everyone said bye-bye to each other. I said, “Bye”, as everyone started leaving. After everybody had left, I was sad because my mom had to clean up.

Kali is seven years old. She is funny and her favorite colors are blue, purple and green.

Monkey Attack at the ZOO

Kelvin C.

My mom told Nana and I that we could go to the zoo. Since my Nana is too old to drive, my mom came with us, too. I got in the car with my mom and Nana. Looking out the windows, I saw many things. There were many houses in my neighborhood. Some were brown, others were pink, and some of them had black roofs. We passed by many cars, too. I also saw some really cool trees that reminded me of capybaras because they are also brown. I told my mom I wanted to see the capybaras. Unfortunately, they don’t have them at the zoo. We decided to see my second favorite animal. Ducks! The ducks quacked and ate the bread I bought them.

Suddenly, I remembered I had brought a banana for lunch. I was looking at boring stuff. I was hungry, so I decided to look for a chair to sit down and eat. Finally, I found an empty chair. Little did I know, the monkeys were staring at me. I unzipped my backpack and took out the banana. I started to peel the banana, and I heard a strange noise.

“OOOOO!” The monkeys were yelling at me excitedly.

Slowly but surely the monkeys began to surround me. One of the monkeys climbed up the fence and jumped on me. Another landed on my arm. At first, it did not hurt, but then it decided to bite me.

“What the heck!” I yelled.

I swung my arm super hard, throwing the monkey back into its cage.

A kid exclaimed, “It’s a home run.”

As soon as it hit the ground, it started running towards me, looking at the banana. I ate the banana as fast as I could and then threw the banana peel at the monkey. The monkey got angry at me and started fighting me. I fought the monkey until I won. After I won, Mom and Nana said that we were going home.

I exclaimed, “FINALLY! I hate monkey attacks.”

On the way back home, we stopped for a quick Jack in the Box in my neighborhood. I was so hungry that I finished a burger, french fries, and an Oreo milkshake. At last, we arrived at our house.

I opened the car door and ran back into the house screaming, “VICTORY!!!”

Kelvin is seven years old. He is from the USA and attends Castler Elementary School. His favorite subject in school is math. Above everything else is his passion for eating eggs with bread and playing every day.

Kevin’s Life in Echo Park Lake

Kevin I.

Kevin is a 9-year-old boy and lives in an apartment in Los Angeles along with his parents, older sister Paola, and older brother Alex. Sometimes his other brother Kiko comes to visit from Santa Monica. In addition, Charley the dog and Gigi the cat live there.

The neighborhood they live in is called Echo Park, and in the park there is a lake. Their apartment is on the third floor, and Kevin has a view of the basketball court outside the building. Echo Park and the lake are a few miles away from his home and his best friend, Zdenko, lives in the building next door. Although there’s no grass in the front yard of Kevin’s building, there are trees along the parkway.

Kevin’s family has two cars–Mom’s Honda and Dad’s Nissan–and they are both parked in the building’s garage. Every once in a while, Dad piles everyone—including the pets—into the car to go to have a picnic in the park. On this particular day, the entire family - Mom and Dad, both Alex and Kiko, Paola, Charley the dog, Gigi the cat, and Kevin drove to Echo Park to have a picnic, sitting next to the lake.

As they were unloading the car, Mom scrunched up her face and groaned, “Oh my gosh, we forgot the towels!”

They needed the towels to sit on the dirty grass. Mom and Dad decided to take the whole family and pets into the cafe, bringing the picnic basket with them. There was a single man sitting at a table, drinking hot cocoa, and he had a cat carrier on the chair next to him. They pushed two tables together - all of them sitting, Charley lying on the floor and Gigi in the cat carrier on Kiko’s lap. While they were eating, Kiko decided to feed the cat and pulled down the zipper of the carrier. When the case was opened, Gigi stuck her head out of the carrier. Before Kiko could give the wet food to Gigi, she saw the other cat, jumped out of the car, and ran out of the cafe.

“Gigi! Don’t run away!” screamed Kevin. Everybody panicked.

Dad, Alex, and Kevin immediately jumped up and joined Kiko, running out of the cafe and chasing after the cat. Dad and Alex paired off; Kevin and Kiko paired off, and the four ran around the lake, looking on the ground and up in the trees for the runaway cat. All of a sudden, Dad spotted Gigi sitting quietly and calmly next to a duck! He called out to the rest of us, and Kiko slowly reached Gigi and grabbed her.

“Gigi, you naughty cat. We’re never going to bring you to a picnic again,” Kevin said.

All four of them walked back to the cafe and continued with the Iraheta picnic, Gigi safe and secure in the cat carrier.

Kevin is a 9-year-old boy with a dog and a cat who are his pets. He has an iPad and loves to play Roblox on it. He’s a good player, too. His teacher calls him Kev-Bro and he likes the nickname. In school, Kevin is good at math and science and one of his favorite places to go with his family is to the beach.

My Home

Luis Casas

I see my neighbors

I see my house

My house is white

Sometimes, I hear scary laughing noises, and it frightens me

I also hear dog barks during the day

I love to run really fast in my neighborhood, mainly in circles

I sometimes imagine that I have a portal machine to travel to different places in my neighborhood, back in time when the dinosaurs were alive!

I like to write in my neighborhood

I smell my mom’s delicious food

I love eating chicken nuggets from Jack in the Box

I got vanilla ice cream with sprinkles with my dad

I like to play with my toys with my dad

I like to color outer space and draw spaceships

I read stories that start with “Once upon a time”

I like to ride my bicycle at the park

I love my neighborhood.

Luis was born in Los Angeles in 2019. He learned to talk at one year old, and his first word was “mom.” At three years old, he briefly lost his voice! His favorite food is rice and beans with cheese, which he tries to eat every day. He is not a big fan of the color brown. Luis plans to be a scuba diver when he grows up.

My Neighborhood

Lukas Ramos

I can see the park in my neighborhood.

I can see the soccer field in the park.

I can see the basketball court.

I can also see my mom’s friend, who sells tacos and coffee at the park.

My favorite part of the park is the soccer teams I can be in. The park in my neighborhood is fun. The park in my neighborhood is beautiful.

Lukas is nine years old. He likes to play soccer and likes to eat fruits. His favorite subject at school is PE. Lukas enjoys playing with his friends from school and his little brother.

Cleaning

Luna Jimenez

I went to the park with my bestie, Luna Gomez, Mami, Papi, and my turtle Houdini. We looked at the pine trees. The pine trees were pretty and very big with ducks on the branches. Suddenly, a monster popped up from nowhere and threw a tin can of trash on the ground. His skin was like a rainbow with dark colors. Then he disappeared. His body was invisible, but I could see his footsteps.

All of a sudden, it started running fast!!! I followed him, but got tired really quickly. I said to myself, “How will I catch the monster?” Then I found a rope on the ground and I had an idea! I used the rope as a lasso.

Finally, I caught the monster! Luna Gomez was impressed. Mami and Papi were impressed, too. I took the monster to the littering police, who put the monster behind bars.

Luna is 7 and she goes to Logan Middle School. She loves corgis and she has two pets, aqua dragons and a turtle named Houdini. She likes to color and her favorite food is cheese and pepperoni pizza.

A Day in Mazir’s Life

Mazir Demery

I wake up at 5 AM.

I get dressed for school.

I watch Ben Azelart on YouTube.

I eat Cap’n Crunch cereal.

If it doesn’t fill me up, I eat lasagna.

I walk to school past the park.

Sometimes I fall and I just be laughing.

I get to school, see my friends and learn lots of things.

I go home with my uncle, in a car. He plays no music, just drives fast.

We go to his house.

I play with my cousins and play video games.

Then do homework. After, I eat food.

Then at night I get to sleep.

Mazir is a fast boy like the Flash and he is better than everyone. He is nine years old. His favorite food is McDonald’s.

Pets

Meyling Chea

Once upon a time, Meyling and her family were driving in their car. They were driving on the street in the neighborhood. Meyling’s family is her mom, dad, sister and grandmother. The streets are straight with a lot of houses. There are all different kinds of trees and cute flowers. Meyling’s mom turned to talk to Meyling and saw a thing on the street.

“Mom, stop the car! What is that?” says Meyling.

Meyling was shocked to see the cat almost died. The cat is orange. There was a bunny crossing the street, too, and a dog!

My mom and I decided to keep the cat. We start to fall in love with the cat. Spending lots of time with it. We start to notice that the cat is not a regular cat…. The cat is always missing at night. So one night, my mom and I followed the cat. When we followed the cat, we saw it go into the other neighborhood. When the cat starts to go, we start to go. When we get close, we start to see a large dark figure. We get close, and we are all scared at what we see.

The bunny also died. She almost hit the bunny. Soft, fluffy bunny, and white colored.

The cat is orange and small, like a kitten.

The dog is white with pink ears.

The bunny dies, and we bury him.

The bunny goes to heaven.

The bunny comes back as an angel. He has wings. We took the cat and dog. They were sad and crying.

Meyling is seven years old. She has one sister. She likes to play Barbies with her sister. She likes all animals except for mean pets.

I Lost My Cat

Meyly Chea

One day, I woke up and couldn’t find my cat, Roofie. Roofie was orange, white, and fluffy. I told my mom I had lost my cat. My mom was scared, and she freaked out.

Later, the mailman came to my door.

I asked him, “ Have you seen my cat Roofie?”

The mailman asked me to describe my missing cat. I told him she is orange, white, and fluffy. The mailman tells me hasn’t seen Roofie. I start to get scared that Roofie might actually be gone. I start making posters with Roofie’s face on it and begin taping it on trees in the neighborhood but I have other plans. So I have to go.

Before school I go to the park that is behind my house and next to my school. I play tag with my friends Camilla and Eilleen. I go to the park sometimes. I like the days I play in the park before school. My mom tells me it’s time to go to school.

My friends come to school too. We have to learn Spanish, English, and Math at school. We have snack time, I eat Frosted Flakes cereal and warm waffles with syrup for my snack. Then it’s time to go play again. We go back inside the classroom. Before you know it, we have to clean up to go home.

My mom picks me up from school.

I got inside the car, and she said, “Close your eyes.”

When I open my eyes, my cat Roofie is there. I told her, “Thank you so much, I love you”. We happily went home. I have homework, so I go to 826LA. I can’t take Roofie with me, so she stays with my mom.

Meyly is eight years old and in the second grade. She likes volleyball. She likes: Art, making things and drawing. Her favorite color is hot pink.

Armed and Dangerous

Noe Aguiar

Alfredo is waiting at the park for William. William got jumped! They meet up and are mad, so they decide to go to their homie Cesar’s house. They get water guns and decide they’re gonna ambush the guys who jumped William, but then Cesar remembered that Pedro, the one who jumped William, had posted on his Instagram that he’d made dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant, Le Petit Paris. The two gathered up all their Nerf smoke grenades, Nerf flash grenades, and some nitroglycerin. Then, they get into their truck and dirt bikes and drive to the restaurant.

They get their stuff in order. Three Masked kids enter the restaurant. Two of the five kids in the truck throw the Nerf flash grenades. The masked kids tell Pedro and his friend to get on the floor. They let the darts fly. Then they left. The owner recorded the encounter. Cesar (the smart one) taped the license plate with black tape so they couldn’t be followed. Then Alfredo (the Italian one) said that the dirt bikes have visible license plates. The orange and blue bikes got to the house after the truck, leading the cops to the hideout. The boys quickly hid half a million dollars in one of the duffle bags, 250 thousand dollars in the bike, and then 250 on the passenger’s body.

They leave the hideout and go to the place where they will bury the money, but the cops follow them. The cops turn on the sirens. The kids escape on their bikes, and one crashes into a wall. The blue bike jumps off a bridge and escapes onto the back of the truck. They drive to Echo Park and end up driving into the lake. Carlos (the “very smart” one) accidentally lit a match and put it next to the duffle bag with the nitroglycerin and the half a million dollars, and then everything blew up.

The cops came and arrested Alfredo, and he was sentenced to life. But he never snitched on his friends.

Noe is 11 years old. He is a sixth grader. He is a professional clown. In his free time he likes to eat Smarties.

Out for a Walk

Paige V.

You walk in a small neighborhood by yourself. Your eyes wander off, looking around the block. A sense of fear grabs your senses…but of what?

You keep walking and pass by a small coffee shop around the corner. You wonder if you should get something after all the walking. You decide to get a snack and enter the coffee shop, looking at the menu printed on the wall. You step up to the counter to order while looking out the window. You see people passing by, but something seems wrong. You’re nervous, but you brush it off like it’s nothing.

Out the shop window, you see all the people–dogs being walked, runners jogging, people talking on their phones. A car passes by quickly, and you see some leaves drop to the ground from a breeze, making a whooshing sound. You take all this in within minutes.

You take one last sip of your coffee and toss the cup into the trash can. Leaving the coffee shop, you put your jacket on because the cold breeze hits your body and you continue, crossing the street. The nervous feeling comes back, and this time, you feel more anxious than before. While you are thinking about this, you accidentally drop your phone on the ground and turn around to pick it up. Suddenly, you notice something off in the distance, a hulking figure dressed all in black is standing about a house-length away from you. Just standing. He doesn’t move. You ignore it, continuing to a small market to pick up some groceries for home.

You go inside the packed shop, grab a cart, and start to walk along an aisle, all of a sudden noticing the figure in black in the store. You worry for a moment that he might be following you, so you walk to another aisle, but he goes into this aisle as well, staying at the opposite end from you.

Could this person be the reason you’ve been feeling nervous and anxious? You finish your shopping and walk home quickly.

You don’t see him again...

When you go into your house, your mom greets you with a warm hug, and she takes the groceries from you. You stand there. Happy to be home.

Inside, you think about whether or not to tell your mom what happened on your way home. You finally decide she would be worried and probably never let you go out alone, ever, so you choose not to say a word.

After all, what happened out there?

Paige is a 11 year old girl in sixth grade, living in LA. She likes to play games and sleep. She attends King Middle School and likes to talk to her friends.

On Our Way To The Park

Saul Martinez

I wake up in the morning excited to play soccer with my cousins Jesus and Noe. Jesus also likes to play video games and is fast on the soccer field. Noe is tall and is a good goalie. I go outside. It is cold, and I am lonely. The sun is coming out, and I see cars parked outside my house. I start walking to the park. I see trees, cars, and roads. When I get to the park, my cousins aren’t there. I’m waiting by kicking the ball around. I’m by myself. I walk back home and go to their house to see if they are there. I knock, and their mom opens the door and says, “They already left.”

As soon as I heard they had already left, I started sprinting back to the park. I saw them in the distance.

I said, “Yo I was looking for you at the park to play soccer!”

They said they were just there and didn’t see me. I caught up to them, and we dabbed up.

We started walking back to the park. Then we forget the soccer ball. We all ran back to my house to get it. We started walking back to the park, which turned into running. On our way there, we saw our other cousin, Alejandro. We ran up to him. We all asked him if he wanted to go to the park with us.

He said, “Yes!”

We go. Then we decided to ding-dong ditch one house on the way there. We ding-dong ditched, and while running away, we all tripped on each other. We heard a mad person yelling at us. We got scared, we looked back. It was just our neighborhood friend trying to scare us because we ding-dong ditched his house.

When me and my cousins got up, our ankles were hurting because we fell on each other. We still wanted to go to the park so we started limping to the park.

My cousin said “I am hungry.”

We all said “me too” at the same time.

We went to get a snack from the store. As we walked outside, we found a football. I told my cousin to go across the street. I threw the football across the street. He caught the ball, then threw it back.

But then a huge truck came speeding by, and then the ball hit it.

We all got so scared so we started running to the park. When we arrived at the park, we saw that the park was closed because it is a holiday so we all yell “bruh!”

I said, “We did all of this just for the park to be closed.”

We all just started walking back to my house mad. We got to my house then we saw the truck that we hit at my house. Turns out it was just our tios spying on us.

Saul is 11 and is in fifth grade. He likes to play soccer and play video games. When he grows up he wants to play for Real Madrid. He grew up in Echo Park and he is from Mexico.

A Mouse in My Mom’s House

Sebastian Hernandez

In my mom’s house, there was a mouse. I ride my bike to the park. The dogs in the park… bark! I go back home, and the room is dark.

In my mom’s house, there was a mouse. My mom got rid of it and put a jar lid on it.

I went to bed and heard a sound, A tiny squeak from underground!

Sebastian H.’s favorite game is hide and seek. He loves monkeys, goldfish, and his mom.

Dog Adventures in My Neighborhood

Sebastian Jacob Velasquez

The family dog is playing with the ball, and then an accident happens. She kicks it in the streets with her nose. Angel is shocked! He runs. The ball slows down. Once he gets the ball, he realizes he is on the other side of the busy street.

He has to wait until the cars stop. He powers-shots the ball into the air so he doesn’t have to carry it. BOOM! It goes into a tree, and it gets stuck. Luckily, it’s a short tree. He has to try to get it back.

He says to his dad, “I got this, don’t worry.”

He climbs the tree, and suddenly he sees a non-looking friendly raccoon…

Luckily, he is very brave and smart. He came up with an idea: A DOG TREAT! Angel decides to place the dog treat underneath the tree. The raccoon doesn’t accept it at first. Five minutes later, he accepts it so he climbs the tree and he gets the ball. Angel gave his dad a high five and started playing with his dad.

Jacob is in fifth grade. His favorite subject is PE. He likes to play Roblox on his tablet. He plays soccer and the bass.

My Dog and Knox

Sophia Maldonado

When I go home, I see something fun.

Knox and I are neighbors. Knox got to my house on Sunday morning.

Knox and I saw a picnic at the neighbour’s. We wanted to go, but our mom said no.

Knox and I were sad. We started to do our homework so my mom could say yes to the picnic.

Later on, I asked if we could go to the picnic on the porch and my mom said “Yes, you can go.” Then I ran across the room and hugged my mom.

I went outside, and my dog came to play with me and Knox.

Then I said, “Let’s play!”

We all played together.

Sophia is six years old. She likes ice cream. She likes all fruits. Sophia’s favorite color is blue. She has 10 friends. She likes to be kind.

The Local Munch

Yeva Kamenetska

In a galaxy far far away, on a planet that is a copy of Earth where animals rule the world––to be more specific, there were no humans––there was a penguin and a mouse. Their address was––well, I’m not telling you someone’s address but it was in Marina Del Rey in the crossing of Glencoe and Maxella.

“Wake up!! Aren’t birds supposed to wake up early?!” shouted the mouse.

“Aren’t mice supposed to be quiet!” replied the penguin.

“Touché. Would you like to go to a restaurant for lunch?” asked the mouse.

“What! It’s lunch already?” said the penguin.

“Yes, and if I didn’t disturb your beauty sleep, then who knows when you would wake up!” said the mouse.

“Stick to the topic, I want to go to Panda Express, Starbucks, Sharky’s, get food from Pavilions or Ralphs, Namoo, Capri––I mean they are our locals!” said the penguin.

“If you want to go to all of those places, then you eat way too much!” said the mouse.

“Well, fine then I guess I eat too much!” said the penguin.

“Fine, let’s go,” insisted the mouse.

“Yeah, but there’s one problem,” said the penguin.

“Okay what’s the problem?!” shouted the mouse.

“Well, the problem is that I’m way too hungry to even move a muscle!” said the penguin.

“Okay fine I’ll order take out,” said the mouse.

“Great idea! Order me anything that’s pizza-related.”

“WOW! Not even a please or thank you!” said the mouse.

One hour passed, and then suddenly ding dong!

“Hello, sorry for the long wait! I just arrived from Italy to get you this pizza!” said the delivery bunny.

“Okay, since it’s from Italy I will forgive you and give you a huge tip,” said the mouse.

“Gee, thank you! I hope it’s enough to get me back to Italy!” said the delivery bunny.

“Yeah right you can get anything with the amount of money I will give you!” exclaimed the mouse.

“WOW! Really?” said the delivery bunny.

“Yeah twenty smakaroons!” said the mouse.

“Well I guess I’m living in California now! Good bye,” said the delivery bunny.

“Bye! Have a good day!” replied the mouse.

Five seconds passed when…

“Okay, my energy is restored. We can now go to all of the places that I want to go to,” said the penguin.

“Yeah, but then we will be too fat and have to run a marathon!” said the mouse.

“I don’t care, I’m still hungry. Let’s go!” shouted the penguin.

Fifteen hours later, the mouse said, “Oh my god I can barely walk, I’m so fat and heavy!”

“Geez! We’re like giants, we’re so big!!!” exclaimed the penguin.

After a decade of walking since they’d gotten big, the penguin and the mouse were standing on their front porch, looking at each other.

“Mouse.”

“Yeah,” said the mouse.

“We’re too fat to fit in the door,” said the penguin.

“I guess we have to run a marathon,” said the mouse.

On the TV, breaking news read, “A penguin and mouse ran 87 times around the park for a marathon created by the penguin’s father, Bob the Penguin, of course, the trillionaire everyone knows about.”

Once at home, the penguin had a thought, “Hey, I’m hungry! Let’s order ramen, I mean we are as thin as a stick.”

“Agreed,” said the mouse.

One hour passed, and then suddenly ding dong!

“Hello, sorry I’m late! I just landed from Japan to get you this ramen,” said the delivery squirrel.

“Okay since it’s from Japan, I will forgive you and give you a huge tip,” said the mouse.

“Gee, thank you! I hope it’s enough to get me back to Japan!” said the delivery squirrel.

“Yeah right, you can get anything with the amount of money I will give you!” exclaimed the mouse.

“WOW really?” said the delivery squirrel.

“Yeah twenty smakaroons!” said the mouse.

“Well, I guess I am living in California now. At least I have my friend from Italy living here too. Bye!” said the delivery squirrel.

“Bye! Have a good day!” said the mouse. THE END!!

Yeva is an eleven-year-old girl who loves pandas, sunsets, FOOD, and her family members. And don’t forget that she’s Ukrainian!

The Movie Theater Stealer

Samantha Mejía-Sedeño

Melanie, Kennedy, Sophia, Mom, Dad and I were in the movie theater and we got popcorn, some candy, and chocolate. The movie theater looked like a store in England, and it was called The Arcade and The Movie Theater.

My friends, my family, and I walked in and met another family. The movie theater was next to where they lived so they only had to walk. Suddenly, a kidnapper snuck inside the movie theater without the security noticing, and they locked the door. Then, they kidnapped the family. The family was scared. There were four children screaming, “I’m scaaaaared! Mooooooooom! Heeeeeeeeelp!”

My mom suddenly remembered she had her phone, and she called the police. That is how the family got out safely—because the police kicked down the door and caught the kidnapper. Then the whole family was rescued, and they were so happy.

Melanie, Kennedy, Sophia, Mom, Dad and I still got to see our movie, Barbie, because they had paused it. It was kind of a scary day, but it was very good.

Samantha is in second grade. She is from America. She is the oldest in her family. Her little brother is five years old. Samantha loves her two dogs. She walks them, loves to play with them at the beach, loves to take them on car rides to the beach, loves feeding them, and loves when they listen to her. Her brother loves to do all of that too!

Low Taper

Ronny Alexander Rodriguez

I see cars.

I see dogs walking with their owners. They are scary because they go next to me, and they open their mouths.

There’s a laundromat next to my house. My uncle takes me there. The car starts making noises. I hear chisme.

I leave, to my house. Then I go to 7/11. Blue Takis. Arctic Gatorade. l go to 826LA.

And then commmunity time. Snack time.

Write On!

Decompression time. l go home.

I see people. l think there is a ghost. And Ronaldo is the GOAT.

Because the lights turn off by themselves in the bathroom. I eat food by myself and together as a family.

Ronny is Mexican and Salvadorian. He is gonna get a low taper fade and thinks Ronaldo is the GOAT. His family is the best and Carlos, his brother, likes Lebron James.

A Boring Day

Omar Sanchez

I always wake up to get ready to go to school. School is boring a lot of the time. I only like a few classes. After I get out of school, I have to go to more places. The only day I finish school and go straight home is on Fridays.

My neighborhood is not that fun. It only has homes, streets, fast food, and gas stations. Nothing good happens in the streets. It’s only bad things that happen in the streets, roads that no one likes.

A lot of times I have homework to do before going back to school the next day. My parents want me to do more homework when I have no school some days. When the school makes us do a test, it makes me mad because the test takes a long time to finish, making me stressed, annoyed, and tired.

It feels like I’m in a cycle of school days that are the same. I wish those same days could just change but they can’t. I almost don’t feel joyful for days. I can’t change the days and just live in a place that only has a gas station, fast food, and a bunch of apartments and roads.

The homework makes me more stressed. I’m so busy during school days that I don’t even have school. I have been trying to find that joy but I still can’t. It is hopeless for me to find my joy that I have always wanted. My anger is out of control. I always feel this but I can’t because of my hopelessness. Even if I’m smart, it is hard to find the joy I always wanted. It’s just how it is for me. Life is just itself.

Some like life, others wish to have a better life. I now have to live like this even though I don’t... I can’t change what I want. Life can change that. You can never change for things you want to happen.

Omar is smart and likes PE.

Stressful Day!

Natalia Rios

I ring my best friend.

“Hey! You will not believe what a day I’ve had…

I waved goodbye to my mother as I walked out my door with my dog, Bella. I started walking toward my ballet studio with my dog in one hand and my ballet bag in the other. I took in the quiet scenery and listened to the sound of the wind against the trees. I sat on a bench and scrolled through my music playlist until I noticed the time—3:17 PM! My ballet practice was at 3:30 PM. I would have to run if I want to make it on time. I frantically put my headphones on, turn my music on, and then run, and run, and run, and run.

Out of breath, I arrived at the studio.

‘Hi June, am I late?’ I asked.

‘Nope! You can leave Bella right there,’ June said.

I nodded and walked into the ballet studio. I put my pointe shoes on and fixed my leg warmers. I was just practicing and finishing up my work, until I heard June yell, ‘Bella!!’

My heart stopped. I’m not thinking straight and run out the door after my dog.

‘Bella, stop!’ I yell as I run.

I notice we’re approaching a busy and bustling street, but I refuse to stop. Either I lose my dog, or I catch her. I looked around and realized I had no choice but to chase after her. I ran into the street, dodging cars, until I finally leaped and grabbed onto my dog—clinging to her before I swiftly got up and ran to the sidewalk. I sat down, trying to catch my breath before walking back to the studio.

When I arrived back at the studio, I slightly frowned at June since she didn’t even try to chase after my dog.

‘June, can I bring her inside the studio? I don’t wanna risk her running out again.’

‘Sure, I’m so sorry that she escaped,’ June replied.

She didn’t seem sincere, so I shrugged and brought Bella in. It’s around 4:15 PM then, and my mom was going to pick me up around 4:30 PM, which means I had around fifteen minutes left for practice. For the remaining time I had left, I decided to work on leaps and jumps en pointe. At 4:27 PM I started packing up my stuff and headed out to the main room with my dog.

Sometimes my mom is late, and I don’t mind it. But at this point, she’d never been this late. I watched classes come and go until it was 6:30 PM. I texted my mom that I was going to go to the cafe down the street and walk home, so I headed out.

‘Hi there, welcome in. How can I help you?’ the lady at the front desk asked.

‘Just an iced tea, thanks.’ The lady nodded and went to work.

Meanwhile, I found a place to sit and work on some homework that’s due tomorrow. It wasn’t long before my drink arrived, and I packed up. I started to walk home, taking in the scenery and imagining myself plopping onto my bed.

I arrived home and walked into a chill BBQ. Of course my mom forgot to pick me up! My parents invited friends and family to have a party. My afternoon nap was being ruined by loud music and chatter. I put my dog, Bella, down and let her into the house, then immediately went back out of my house and grabbed my bike. I circled around my block but got bored quickly, so I swiftly rode my bike to the park before anyone realized I left or even went there.

I arrived at the park and I noticed there was a swarm of hawks, but ignored it. I parked my bike and grabbed my basketball I brought with me just in case I get bored. I’m so glad I did. I was practising shooting until the swarm of hawks started to chase me! I was so shocked that I dropped the ball. The hawks pecked and attacked the ball. I ran to my bike and rode away. Luckily, I escaped—but at the cost of a ball.

I rode into my driveway and entered my house. I was relieved to find it was quiet. I walked into my room and plopped onto my bed. I sighed. Relaxation at last. I slowly fell asleep until my mom yelled at me, screaming, ‘DO THE DISHES!!!’

You’re kidding me, I thought.

I got up, acting like a slob, and washed the dishes. I gave up halfway and finally rested on my bed.

Gee, what a stressful day I’ve had.”

“This was all today?” my best friend asks. “Yup.”

“Dang, you weren’t kidding when you said you needed to vent, haha.” “Thanks for listening though. Bye!”

“Bye.”

Natalia loves to draw, and specializes in the art. She does ballet, sings, and plays piano. Natalia is one of the top students in her class, specifically in math.

Me and My Baddies

Monserrat Sedeno

Me and my baddies Natalia, Kimberly, and Emma were all walking around the neighborhood. Then, Emma had the idea of going to Kimberly’s house. Kimberly, Natalia, and I agreed.

As we were walking, Natalia giggled. I asked her why she was giggling. She told me it was nothing. “Please??” I said.

She said, “NO!” She wasn’t going to tell me because I didn’t tell her I had a stash of Hot Cheetos.

I asked Kimberly if she could tell me. She said no, she wasn’t going to tell me Natalia’s secret.

Afterwards, Kimberly said, “Let’s drop off our backpacks at my house.”

Then Natalia said, “Let’s have a sleepover at Emma’s house.”

I told them I was going to go outside and take a walk around the neighborhood.

As I was walking, there was something under me that felt weird. Then, I noticed it was a little door. As I opened it, there was a little piece of newspaper inside. I started reading it.

A few moments later, Natalia called Kimberly and Emma. She said, “Let’s look at the thing.”

I asked, “What is the thing?”

Natalia said it was nothing. But then Kimberly and Emma decided to tell me—and what they told me was shocking.

They were hiding a Sol de Janeiro perfume bottle. That was the secret.

Then I remembered the little piece of newspaper! As I read it, it said there was gold right where I was standing.

I told everybody, “There’s gold!”

Then Kimberly said, “We don’t need gold. We already have our friendship.”

Then Natalia said, “Do you want to go walk around the neighborhood?”

After that, all of us went to walk around the neighborhood.

Monse is so impatient. She’s in the fourth grade and loves to do crafts. She loves to play Bugatti with her friends at school. She is really messy when she eats. She’s a cat person, and she wants to be a famous baseball player. Her favorite holiday is Christmas.

Bills Suck

Milli’on Franzoni

In the summer of 2013, two brothers by the names of Xiao and Xi Xi were at home, watching TV.

“Hey, Xi Xi, can you check the mailbox?” Xiao asked.

“Okay,” Xi Xi groaned.

He got up and walked to the mailbox, opening it with the key he had in his hand. He took all the mail that was in there and walked back to the house, sitting on a chair in the living room.

“Party invite, complaint, eviction notice, party invite, advertisement, bills, scams, hospital bills, bills, taxes, taxes… wait a minute, eviction notice?!” Xi Xi yelled the last part.

“What do you mean, eviction notice?!” Xiao yelled back.

“What do we do?” Xi Xi asked.

“We get a job, dummy,” Xiao said.

“What kind of job?” Xi Xi asked.

“I don’t know, maybe a restaurant?” Xiao replied.

“Okay then, let’s get a job interview!” Xi Xi said with excitement.

The next day, they went to a job interview and were immediately rejected. They tried selling to people—they weren’t even looked at. They tried one last thing, which could change their lives forever: stealing.

They went to the park—a very busy park, filled with people. They walked through the crowd and found a little girl, about four. She had a penny in her hand. Xi Xi walked up to the little girl and grabbed the penny, and the girl did not react—just stared.

A nearby cop saw Xi Xi and ran toward him.

“Hey, give that back! Put your hands where I can see them!” the officer said.

“It’s my brother’s fault! He forced me to!” Xi Xi said.

“You’re both getting arrested.”

Xi Xi put his hands in the air. The cop grabbed his wrist and put them in cuffs. Then the cop pushed Xi Xi into the car, closed the door, went into the driver’s seat, and drove off—forgetting Xiao. But the cop came back and arrested him too.

They got jailed for two days. They were almost going to get jailed for life without parole, but stealing a penny from a four-year-old who doesn’t even know how the economy works wasn’t so bad.

“Well, that didn’t work…” Xi Xi sighed. He continued, “We are going to lose the house!”

“Well, obviously we are,” Xiao said.

That week, they lost the place they called home.

Milli’on Franzoni is a twelve-year-old girl from Los Angeles, California. She loves to draw and write, and is proud to be African American. She has a cat named Clementine who likes to play, eat, scratch, and bite. She is in the sixth grade and wants to become an author when she grows up.

The Sand Monster Story

Melanie Sedeno

Sofia told her mom to pick up her friends. They went to the park, they went to the playhouse, then they went home and saw the Sand Monster sleeping on the TV.

Sofia told her friends to be quiet because Lydia started laughing at the Sand Monster sleeping on the TV.

“Hahaha,” said Lydia.

Samantha said, “Hihihihi,” because Lydia kept laughing and getting in trouble.

The Sand Monster woke up and told Lydia and Samantha that he would drag them into the sand.

Sofia pushed the Sand Monster onto the floor.

Sofia and her friends were relieved, and then their moms called them to leave.

Melanie is seven years old. She goes to soccer with her friend. She is from Mexico and the U.S. She loves soccer and likes playing with her two cats, Lucas and Mila.

I Lost My Voice

Kimberly Jacinto

On a sunny day during summer in the park, there were four girls named Kimberly, Monse, Sofia, and Sky. They were in the park with Monse’s little brother named Fernando. He wanted to go on the slide, swing, a playground, and do many obstacles. Next, Monse took out her slime to play with. She was happy to find a new book to read and was talking about plans for tomorrow. Monse and Kimberly were also practicing volleyball because in April they would have their first volleyball tournament. Sky and Sofia practiced memorizing their favorite animals for a school project. Meanwhile…

“Hi. My name is Sky. My favorite animal is umm, umm, umm. Umm, uhh!” said Sky. She didn’t know what to say.

“No, let me teach you how it’s done. Hi. My name is Sofia. My favorite animal is mewing. I mean ducks. He he… you didn’t hear nothing,” Sofia said.

Later, Monse and Kimberly were walking over to the park when they finished volleyball practice for the tournament. After the practice was over, Monse and Kimberly were taking a break. Sofia and Sky decided to continue tomorrow.

The next day, Monse woke up. “Ruuh…” Monse yawned. When she woke up, Kimberly woke up too.

“Ruuh…” The silence of yawning.

“Hmm?” Silence again.

“He he he, wait,” Kimberly said. “Uhh AHHHHH!” Kimberly screamed. No voice.

Vrrrm, vrrrm, vrrrm. The phone was ringing near Monse. Kimberly answered the phone.

Monse said yesterday that she will continue again, but Kimberly lost her voice because something had happened at midnight!

“Hi,” tried Kimberly, but there was no sound.

“Huh, I can’t hear your voice, bestie,” Monse said.

“Umm,” Kimberly said, but again silence. No voice.

“Umm, bestie, I can’t he–” Monse said as the call disconnected.

Then Kimberly went to Monse’s house and said that she lost her voice.

“Huh? I can’t hear you,” Mose said.

Kimberly used hand signals to make Monse understand that she lost her voice. “I lost my voice,” Kimberly said using sign language.

“Oh, you lost your voice Kimberly,” Monse said, correctly understanding Kimberly.

Kimberly and Monse were having a conversation about Kimberly’s lost voice, when Monse promised they would find Kimberly’s voice and that she had a plan. Next, Monse and Kimberly went to the doctor’s office. The doctor came to talk to Monse and told her that they were taking Kimberly to get an x-ray.

“Oh, OK,” Monse said.

“Your best friend will be fine, so don’t worry too much, ok?” the doctor said to Monse.

“OK, I won’t,” Monse said.

Five minutes later, the doctor said, “Your best friend doesn’t have anything wrong.”

“What!” Monse said, so surprised.

Monse and Kimberly went to another place called Magic that would tell them where and when and what had happened, if it was true…

“Hi, umm. I’m here and we want to find out why my bestie lost her voice,” said Monse to the magician.

“OK, what do you want to ask the colorful magic circle,” asked the magician.

“Who took my bestie’s voice?” Monse said.

“Ummh, ummh, ummh, oh… is Sofia your friend?” asked the magician.

Monse was so mad after the magician said that Sofia had taken Kimberly’s voice.

“Run!” Monse said to Kimberly.

Sofia was peacefully talking to herself trying to memorize what her favorite animals were and why when Monse screamed, “SOFIA!”

Hitting, punching Sofia, Monse screamed angrily “tell me why you made my bestie lose her voice?”

“OK, OK, fine. I made your bestie lose her voice because you guys left me without me for three days,” said Sofia truthfully.

“Plit, plit, plit, aha,” said Kimberly with no voice. She grabbed the potion the magician had given them.

“NOOO!” Sofia was not happy at all.

Gulp, gulp, gulp. Kimberly was drinking the potion to get her voice back.

“OMG, my voice is back and I hate you Sofia!” said Kimberly happily while so mad at Sofia.

“Ugh, I’ll be back next time,” said Sofia angrily and she disappeared.

“Well, that’s over,” said Kimberly.

“At least your voice is back,” said Monse.

“Yeah, let’s go practice,” said Kimberly, wanting to go.

“OK,” Monse said.

Now, Kimberly and Monse continued to do volleyball practice. The End.

Kimberly is ten years old and she is in fourth grade. She lives in Los Angeles, California with all of her family. Kimberly is MexicanAmerican. Kimberly has an older brother named Kevin. Kevin is thirty-two years old. Kimberly is so mewing and sigma. Kimberly is a fan of Ronaldo, NOT MESSI!

Playing Soccer

Kennedy Curiel Ramirez

Melissa, my best friend, and I were playing soccer in Venice. The other team almost scored a goal, but I blocked for the win.

Then, I saw Melissa on the ground because someone pushed her. They were mad because the goal was blocked.

Melissa and I made a goal, and we were happy! We won!

Later we had a party. Melissa and I went back home, we were tired. The last thing Melissa and I did was play another match and it was so fun. Also, we got food at Norms after and it was so good––I got pasta.

Kennedy Curiel Ramirez is eight years old and she is from Mexico and California. She likes playing football and she likes to eat snacks.

All about My Neighborhood

Hadley Glennon

My neighborhood is nice, and some stores sell rice. Some are tall, some are small, and some are in between. But all around, my neighborhood is quite nice. Just sit and wait—you’ll have to see. There are people that are kind and always help. Everyone loves to volunteer, just like at 826LA.

My school is quite large. There are many students there. All the teachers help the kids every day. They help them improve in all sorts of things—from math and writing to science and history. The teachers are always there to help the students. My school can feel like a home sometimes. It makes me feel that way because they always help me learn. My friends help me learn, and my teacher helps me learn.

Back at home, I learn from my mom, my dad, my neighbors, and my siblings. I feel safe around my neighborhood, and that’s what makes it unique and fun.

I hope from what I wrote, you can see that.

Hadley is ten years old. She loves soccer and reading. Hadley can usually be found playing soccer, painting, or with her face in a book.

Chaos in Culver City

Diego Nicolas

I came out to play and I found a blade on the ground and some random soldiers. It started to rain and Andrea, not focused, threw a nuclear bomb by accident! My blade caught flames for some reason. I accidentally sliced a tree and it fell on me. I ran far away from the damage. Far away from my wrecked neighborhood.

I looked up and a Burger King burger, fries and Gatorade landed on me. The burger told me, “I’m American,” and I said, “From where, Ohio?”

The burger said, “No.”

“Are you a Washington burger,” I asked.

“Bro you suck!!” said Taco Bell.

“Yes.”

“OK,” I said. “So how did you come here so fast?”

“I’m a flying burger, seriously?”

“No wonder you have a crown,” I said.

“That’s why it’s called Burger King, dumbBUN,” said the burger.

“Sorry. Do you know what 90x90 is?”

“It’s 8100, so obvious…”

Then Carlos came out of nowhere. “Sigma whatcha doing? Why is there a burger there?” Carlos also said. “And with a crown?”.

“I’m a burger king! Why do I have to keep yapping the same thing? It’s just twice times chill bro.”

“Ya,” said Carlos.

“Bro, it’s like you came from Columbus…” Taco Bell said suddenly appearing.

“Hi guys, I’m Mexican,” said Taco Bell.

“Al Menos hablo español” said Pollo Loco, also suddenly appearing.

“1+1= 11” said Taco Bell. “¿Cómo no sabes lo que es uno más uno?”

Then Justin came out of nowhere and tripped.

“Patas chuecas,” said Pollo Loco.

“Bro you suck!!” said Taco Bell.

“Bro too skinny to have a big back,” said the burger.

“Damn chill bro chill,” said a toilet on the ground.

“Is that a talking toilet?” we all said.

“ATTACK!” said the evil talking toilet.

“Not this again,” we said.

“Hi! I’m a good guy, okay?” mumbled a good talking toilet.

Crack! Good movie, I thought. But it was a battle not a movie. Boom! Smack! It was chaos.

After some hours of battle we won and kept the talking toilet and the talking food. The world was not on fire, it was normal.

THE END… Sorry but the story is not finished, ha ha.

In St. Louis the talking toilets had climbed the territory, same as New Mexico. Forty-five other states, Africa, Europe, the North Pole, and Antarctica had been attacked by the talking toilets. They even had a war in Asia. This is why Rome was full of talking toilets and pizza! Let’s go to Italia!

War…

“Wait, there’s more bad guys upgrading talking toilets?” I thought.

“And where’s papa Francisco?!?!?” I said to Carlos and Andrea.

“He’s in America,” said Carlos. Now it was time to… fight!

Days to months to one year of war in Italia until it was free. Chile was in a fight, Mexico was at war, and there was one more fight left… Mexico was the only country not attacked by the talking toilets in the world. Boom! An atomic bomb fell. Boom!

“Bro, what happened?” said Justin, another friend of mine.

“You jumped and it did that,” I said.

“NO,” said Justin.

Then, I threw a nuclear atomic bomb and… booooooooooooooooooo

“We won the war,” I said joyfully. “And we were almost crushed!” said Justin. That never happened again… or I hope so.

Diego is eight years old. He likes to play soccer and Roblox. He has a sister named Andrea that is in T/TH same as Diego. He likes Real Madrid and likes the Champions League better than the Europa League. He likes to go to 826LA and he’s part Mexican/Californian. He likes to play MM2. Plus, he has an infinite aura and he goes to La Ballona Elementary School. Plus, he hates kale.

The City of New York

Daniel Rios

Once upon a time, there were three kids named Lukas, Elias, and Daniel. They played a Roblox game that took place in New York. Suddenly, somehow, they got teleported to a city called…New York City…

“What is this place?” said Elias.

“Is this…a new place?!?” yelled Lukas.

“I don’t know,” Daniel replied.

The kids didn’t know where they were.

“Hey! Where are we?” Asked Lukas.

“纽约市”, said a man who spoke Chinese.

“Ooooooookay,” said Daniel.

“What kind of language was that?” Elias asked.

“I don’t know,” they both replied.

The kids didn’t know what people were saying because everything was in a different language—except one person. He spoke English.

“Where are we, sir?” asked Daniel.

“You guys are in New York City,” replied the man.

The kids were shocked.

“But how do we get out of here?????” asked Lukas.

“Well, you guys will be staying here for seven days. I’ll show you where you will live!” replied the man.

“But…what’s your name?” asked Elias.

“I’m Bert,” said Bert.

A few minutes later, Bert found an apartment for the kids to live in.

“WOW!” said the Kids.

“Enjoy! I’mma go get some pizza!” said Bert.

“Pizza???” said the kids.

“Indeed,” Bert replied.

Bert, Daniel, Lukas, and Elias ate pizza at 7:30 PM. Then, at 9:00 PM it was bedtime.

“Goodnight, kids!” Bert said.

“Good night, Bert!” replied the three kids. It was now day two.

“Good Morning, Bert!” said Lukas, Daniel, and Elias.

“Morning, kids!” replied Bert.

Today, Bert and the kids went to Wingstop and got the one hundred combo.

“$300!? AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!” screamed Lukas.

”I have $1,000,” replied Bert.

Lukas just went silent. After eating, Bert and the kids went to see Dog Man, the new movie. After that, it was 7:55 PM. At 9:00 PM it was bedtime.

It was now day three.

The kids and Bert went to the library. They got the LAFC calendar for 2025. It cost $45.27, but Bert had $700 left, so he paid it.

“Uh…Bert?” said Elias.

“Yes?” said Bert.

“Why do you have $665.83 left?” asked Elias. Bert didn’t say anything. They just went back home (not their real home, of course).

At 10:00 PM, it was bedtime. It was now day four.

Bert and the kids went to play.

“What should we play?” asked Lukas.

“TAG!” replied Bert.

Lukas was the tagger and ran around the apartment. They played for six hours.

“I’m tired!” said Elias.

“What time is it?” asked Daniel.

At 9:00 PM, it was bedtime.

It was now day five.

“When are we gonna go back home!?” groaned Elias.

“Just two more days,” replied Daniel.

“What kind of place is this??” asked Lukas.

The children didn’t know. At least Bert did.

“Can we stay home?” asked Daniel.

“Sure, why not?” said Bert.

“Thank you,” said Elias. “Do you have iPads too?”

“No, we don’t have iPads In New York City,” said Bert.

“What about phones?” Elias asked.

“No,” Bert said.

The three kids sighed.

It was now day six.

“Tomorrow we are leaving!” said Daniel, celebrating.

“YAAAY!” said Lukas and Elias.

“But I will miss you guys,” cried Bert.

“It’s okay, Bert,” said Daniel, patting Bert. “We will see you next month.”

“Okay,” replied Bert.

At 12:00 AM on day seven, the kids got teleported back to the USA.

“Aaaah…finally quiet,” said Daniel.

So Lukas, Elias, and Daniel lived happily ever after.

Daniel is nine years old and loves LAFC. His friends are Liam, Jassiel, Osvaldo, and Rodrigo. His favorite color is yellow. His dogs are Bella and Jacks. He also likes Squid Game, Baby Mario, and Mickey. Daniel is also a YouTuber.

Omar, Fortnite, and Travis

Carlos Curiel

It was Friday and 6th period. “Damn, bro. I’m trying to go home right now,” I said.

“Same, bro. I’m trying to go home too. You trying to hop on Fortnite after school?” Omar said.

“Yeah, bro. I’ll just do my homework. Then, I’ll hop on it like Lady Gaga getting a low taper fade. The meme is fading,” I replied.

“Alright class, we will pick up on this on Monday,” Ms.Putnam said. Then the bell rang right after.

“Alright, bro. I’ll call you when I’m done with my homework,” I said. When we were at the front entrance, Omar said, “Alright bro bye! Imma practice because imma try to beat you this time.”

“OK bro but just telling you imma still win.”

When I was walking home I saw that they are making a new coffee shop at the corner of a market. I arrived at home and said, “Mom I’m home! Imma do my homework then play Fortnite with Omar.”

“OK I’m just gonna do the dishes and I will start on dinner,” she said. “What do you want for dinner?”

“I think I want a hamburger this time,” I said.

“OK, then hamburger it is for dinner!”

Thirty minutes later I finished my homework and started the Playstation. “Damn bro, why is it so loud? My ears are cooked again for the, I don’t know, however many times I started this thing!”

“OK now, to start Fortnite…” I got on and called Omar. “Alright bro I’m done with my homework, get on right now bro,” I told him.

“I am practicing my shooting right now,” said Omar.

“Alright bro, let’s play duos because I haven’t practiced yet.”

Then, Omar and I played for four hours straight. Afterwards, I got off to go take a shower and went to sleep.

The next day started off boring with no fun. It was 1st period then in a minute I was in 6th period!

“Oh my god bro I’m so bored right now. You tryna play Fortnite and go to the Travis Scott event too?” I asked Omar.

“Sure bro lets play and go to the event.”

“Alright bro, let’s play later then. But I’m kinda hungry right now. Do you want to get some McDonald’s?” I asked Omar.

“Sure!” he said.

After school, me and Omar went to McDonald’s. “Welcome to McDonalds, what can I get for you guys?” said the cashier.

“Uhhh can I get a Quarter Pounder and a McFlurry?”

“Sorry the ice cream machine isn’t working right now. Can I get you something else?”

“Oh alright then. I will get a large Sprite.”

“Alright what can I get for you?” he asked Omar

“I’ll get a six piece Chicken Nugget Happy Meal.”

“OK, that will be $17.32.”

“Damn, the prices have skyrocketed,” I exclaimed.

So, I paid. Omar and I left and went home. We got on Fortnite and we played. We were in the top five players when Omar saw a funny player, it was the Rizzler. Omar tripled edited him and got him for 153 points. He then fully boxed him and knocked him. Finally, Big Justice, another player, joined but Omar and I one-upped him. Omar and I won the game.

We later went to Travis Scott’s event and Travis sang. Then, Omar and I went to get food and quickly went back to our seats to see Travis. Suddenly, we saw Big Justice and the Rizzler, and Travis got knocked by both of them

“Damn bro, Travis is getting cooked by both of them!”

“I can cook both of them, they not tough,” Omar said to me.

“You not tough! Get out,” I shouted.

“GET OUT!” Omar said to both of them.

Then Omar went up on stage and cooked Big Justice with a hamburger. He got the Rizzler. Finally, Omar got Travis a reboot card and got him back on stage. Travis sang again, and that’s when Omar shouted:

“LEBRONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN”.

Carlos is in sixth grade. He likes Lebron because he is the glorious KING. Lebrooooon Jamesss!

The Los Angeles Neighborhood

Benjamin Lopez

We see trains like the E line and B line or D line.

The E line goes to Santa Monica. The D line goes to Wilshire/Western Station, and the B Line goes to North Hollywood Station and LAX located in World Way, which is a little bit close from home.

Traci Park is working at City Hall. She’s working at the West LA Building closer to home, and UCLA is nearby. It is fun to visit UCLA and Fire Station 62. Mar Vista is on Venice Blvd.

Me and my mom can visit Fire Station 62 any time. The firefighters are here to help out because it is closer to our house. We visit it when we want to see them there.

The Los Angeles Central Library is located on W. 5th St., and The Mar Vista Branch Library is Located at 12006 Venice Blvd., near my house too. We can visit them to get books and DVDs like Animal Mechanicals, The Berenstain Bears or Word World, all DVDs.

Benjamin Antonio Lopez is 15 years old and is in ninth grade at Venice High School. His favorite classes are PE. with Coach Ryan Lewis, where he plays basketball, and English 9B with Ms. Gonzales and Ms. Z. He has many friends at Venice High School. He believes that Venice High School is a great place.

Basement

Andrea Nicolas

Lizzie and her friends, Vanessa and Sofia, were walking home after school talking about neighborhood rumors. They walked past dark woods with dead trees and a strange fog seen in the forest. Lizzie noticed the fog and the forest. Just looking at the eerie sight made her shiver. “Something feels off,” thought Lizzie. “Could we get away from these woods?” she asked her friends.

“Okay. But why?” asked Sofia.

“I don’t know, it just feels weird being here. It feels like I’m being watched,” whispered Lizzie.

After being told that, Sofia and Vanessa exchanged glances. “R-r-rreally?” stuttered Vanessa “Let’s get out of here then.”

Sofia looked at them unamused. “Stop worrying so much,” she giggled. Just then they heard a strange growl. All three girls looked in the direction of the woods.

“Ermmm,” said Lizzie, “I think that’s our sign to leave right now.”

“Nahhh, I’m kinda bored. Let’s go see what that was,” declared Sofia. She ran off into the woods towards the sound.

Lizzie looked at Sofia running into the woods and then looked at Vanessa who was awkwardly standing there. “Wanna follow or go home?” asked Lizzie.

Vanessa looked at her, then she glanced at the road towards their neighborhood and then looked at the forest. “Um… I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I went with you guys… ”

“Great!” responded Lizzie “Let’s go then.”

They both ran after Sofia, unaware of what was hiding in the dark, foggy woods. It felt like a whole hour until they ended up in front of an abandoned neighborhood. It had tall dead grass in front of all the houses. The paint of the houses was coming off the walls. Windows of the houses were broken. The old structures loomed over them like monsters as they walked on the street. Flowing dead grass seemed to whisper to them everything that happened in that location.

There were also rusty old cars, some with a dry blackish liquid on them.

Lizzie and Vanessa were curious and went towards the car to investigate. As they got closer, a strong smell covered the car, a very strong smell like if something was decaying that they couldn’t see.

“I think I’ll barf,” groaned Vanessa.

Lizzie turned towards her. Vanessa was as pale as a ghost. “Uh oh!” exclaimed Lizzie as she moved away from her nauseous friend.

Yellow liquid came from out of Vanessa’s mouth. “Euggggg,” she vomited. “I think I’m done.”

“GOOD,” snapped Lizzie, relieved. “Let’s go look for Sofia.” They walked off and tried to find her, and it wasn’t long until they heard a high pitched scream. The two girls stopped cold and looked at each other “SOFIA!” They ran towards the scream to help their friend. They ended up at the biggest and oldest house on the street. Mold was growing on the outer walls of the house.

“So spooky and old,” commented Vanessa.

“Yep. Great place for Sofia to explore,” replied Lizzie.

The two girls walked up to the front door. The porch steps creaked as they stepped on them. They opened the door. Inside the dust flowed around, showing how old the house was. Lizzie went inside first. She kept the door open so the dim moon light could light up the old house. Lizzie looked behind her, Vanessa had started to fidget because of how scared she was.

“We should watch our backs just in case.”

Vanessa weakly smiled, “Alright.”

They kept on going until they noticed dusty footprints on the floor leading to the basement.

“Oh no, I’m not going in there. I’M NOT!”

“Unless you’re staying out here alone,” Lizzie said coldly.

Vanessa gave an expression of defeat. “FINE I’LL STAY HERE YOU CRUSTY MUSTY—“

Lizzie rolled her eyes and decided to ignore her and keep on going.

“WAIT!” shrieked Vanessa as she violently and quickly followed Lizzie.

Lizzie kept on going until she stopped cold. “Blood,” she thought as she saw the scarlet stained wall. She looked at Vanessa who was as pale as a ghost. Suddenly, they both heard a low groan.

A decaying-looking monster faced them. It had blood red eyes and a twisted face. It rasped, seeming to struggle to breathe. It rasped again. “Flesh,” it seemed to say. Lizzie and Vanessa looked at each other. They both knew what to do.

“Run!” They both ran up the basement stairs. The scuttle of the monster was right behind them.

“We’re so dead, we’re so—”

“YES!”

The two girls ran towards the bright door. They made it out. Lizzie closed and locked the door with a loud bang. They heard vicious scrapings a second later.

Then they heard Sofia call their names. “LIZZIE! VANESSA!”

“SOFIA!” they both yelled in joy. “Where were you?”

“Behind this house,” she replied.

“Oh!” Lizzie said, surprised.

Vanessa went beside Lizzie, still shaking, “Should we tell her?”

“No,” answered Lizzie coolly. “Brrr, I’m cold. Let’s go home,” she said before Vanessa asked why. “No one should know. They will not believe us,” Lizzie sighed as she looked at the setting sun.

“I know what I saw.” They all headed home quietly—peaceful, but strangely quiet.

Andrea is a proud twelve-year-old Mexican American who lives in LA. She enjoys reading, drawing, and playing games during her free time. Andrea is kind, funny, and smart. She LOVES animals and nature.

Thantheiris

Aurora Mateo

On an eerie day, there was a neighborhood that looked like it had never been touched by a human finger. A surrounding border was keeping everyone alive from the chaos outside.

Me, my best friend, Jazzleen, and the others stayed in bunkers underground to be safe from the danger outside. In the bunkers, pollution was at high levels, so to breath air we wore gas masks. When we went outside in the morning, as we came out of our bunkers, we would all wave to each other from a distance.

We waited for a bus that took us to school. Inside the bus there were air purifiers and inside we could take off our masks and talk to other students. At school, we learned other subjects. We learned a lot of physics, science, and math. Reading was also a great subject, but history was really never relevant. Still, it was so boring.

We might have been the only humans that were being protected by the government. Nothing fun or interesting happened around the neighborhood. We could only have VERY limited food items and we could only pick one item to eat for a WHOLE WEEK. We had meatloaf, green beans with liver, and spinach and sardines. The operons were okay, but for a WHOLE WEEK?! We could also get water, cranberry juice, and plum juice. Again, good but not so good. Still, I was really glad I had food.

When I ate sardines, I knew they were coming back up, so I sat by the restroom. Jazzleen remembered the good old days when we had real food like Lunchables and Hot Cheetos and bean dip. This was all before the attack.

We’ve seen the people that drop off the food before. It’s a big truck that was armed to get past the border. There were men that wore black masks and clothing. They wouldn’t speak or respond. The government never came to help. They only built the border since we were the only humans that weren’t part of the government.

If you were already wondering what was beyond the wall, they were tall slender creatures called the Thantheiris. They were super fast and skinny. They had no eyes but could hear miles away. They liked to wander around the abandoned buildings and bang on the border every day. They ate the cockroaches that crawl on the walls, but that

was the only thing they ate. They would bang on the walls to get to the humans since that was what they were supposed to eat in the first place. The Thantheiris had become weaker and skinnier than usual.

After some years of the Thantheiris banging on the wall, it started to break, and cracks started to show. Weeks later, it had become an opening for the slender creatures to come inside the neighborhood. The elders stayed outside with their masks and watched the wall, because they knew that the wall would break some day. One day, the elders were not seen again. Soon after, alarms started to sound and people were getting in their bunkers and FREAKING OUT. Everybody was screaming and running around. They took a tunnel that connected every bunker into one big hall filled with food and weapons and beds. I mean I don’t blame them. This had never happened before.

I told Jazzleen, “ What are we going to do? We can’t just stay down here, can we?” I was pretty worried, but Jazzleen was going crazy.

“WE HAVE NO SNACKS!” Jazzleen screamed in my face.

“Of course we do. We have Ritz crackers,” I said, trying to calm her down.

“RITZ CRACKERS ARE NOT SNACKS! We are not going to survive down here with just CRACKERS!” Jazzleen started to hyperventilate.

“Listen, we are going to get out of here,” I said, trying to be nonchalant. I walk up to the front of the room, attracting some attention. “We can’t stay under this bunker forever. We need to fight back against the Thantheiris, and take our land back!” I said proudly. People around me started to agree. “I need the oldest people and some that can use a weapon.”

A huge group stepped up and I chose two group leaders. The wisest had 40 people and the oldest group had 45. I was in the oldest group. I was about to pass out when I heard that me and Jazzleen would be separated. But I still had one person, BLOOP. Bloop was another one of my best buddies, I made him when I mixed the wrong chemicals in chem class. He was silly and could stretch up to eight feet.

We all grabbed a gas mask and geared up. We kept the mothers and children in the bunkers. I said goodbye to Jazzleen, praying I would see her again. We had checked the cameras outside of the 12 bunkers. The oldest had seen that the Thantheiris were outside bunkers 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11. The wisest group was heading out to bunker 3, and we headed out bunker 12.

We heard on the walkie-talkie that they took down four Thantheris. We had taken down six. I dropped Bloop by the opening so he could stretch over the opening and keep them from coming in. There were 14 calculated Thantheiris in the neighborhood, so we needed to take down four more.

“We took down three!” we heard on the walkie. Only one more to take down. We saw it by the school, and both groups met up and took it down. I was so happy and relieved that I could cry. I ran over to Jazzleen and hugged her.

A month later, we had rebuilt the wall and never saw the Thantheiris again.

Aurora is 11 and loves to write and do crafts. She likes soccer and during her free time she scrolls on Pinterest and looks at Snoopy pictures. Aurora is very creative and likes TV.

Lincoln Boulevard

Emma Diaz

It was the year 1983. Zack, Emma, Justin, Nathan, Ernesto, and Sabrina were wandering on Rose Avenue. The group heard that there was a gang on Lincoln Boulevard. They heard that horrible things happen to people when they went to Lincoln Boulevard after dark, so they all decided never to go.

The next day, they all met up at the Foxtail Mall. They went shopping and bought some food. When they sat down to eat their food, they were all thinking about Lincoln Boulevard.

Then Nathan said, “I feel like we should research the history of Lincoln Boulevard. I want to know its past.”

Everyone agreed and went to Emma’s house to do research. Once they arrived at Emma’s house, they found out that the gang was called 28. Then Justin said, “Look what I just found out!”

“What?” everyone asked.

“I found out that if you go to Lincoln Boulevard after dark, something absolutely horrible, and I mean absolutely horrible, will happen to you,” Justin said worriedly.

Once everyone heard that, they were all left speechless, except one person. That person was Zack. He said, “Justin, you must be joking.”

“No, I’m not,” Justin said angrily.

“Are too,” said Zack.

“No, I’m not!” said Justin.

“Are too!”

“Am no––”

“Justin, stop!” said Sabrina, cutting off Zack and Justin’s argument.

“There’s no need to fight. We will all look it up, ok?”

“OK,” everybody said.

Emma searched it up. They saw that Justin was actually telling the truth.

“I told you!” Justin said.

They decided never to go. But then Nathan said, “I want to go there and film something for my YouTube channel.”

Half of the group wanted to go but the other half wanted to stay. To end this argument they flipped a coin. The side of the penny that was tails was for the people who wanted to go. The side of the penny that was heads was the side of the people who did not want to go. Ernesto flipped the coin.

“It’s tails,” he yelled out.

The room went dead silent. At this point they all knew that they all would have to go to Lincoln Boulevard. Then Nathan said, “Ok, let’s go right now!”

“Nah-ah-ah. Not so fast,” Sabrina said. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

“OK,” everyone said.

They all spent one more hour researching at Emma’s house before they went to their houses to go to sleep.

As they lay on their beds trying to go to sleep, the same thoughts swarmed in their heads. We will all go to Lincoln Boulevard tomorrow…

They all knew that eventually they would have had to go. As soon as they went to sleep, it was already morning. They all packed some water and headed to Emma’s house. Once they all met up, they started walking toward the horrible street named Lincoln Boulevard. Once they got to the corner, the person that really wanted to go (Nathan) walked onto Lincoln Boulevard first. When Nathan took one step, everyone took one step. After they were about three steps in, they heard a human-like sound. Once they heard the sound, they ran for their lives screaming. But Nathan stayed. Once everyone came out—or so they thought—Justin said, “What? Where is Nathan?!”

Suddenly, everyone realized that Nathan was not with them. They ran back to Lincoln Boulevard to find Nathan on the floor bleeding and unconscious.

“Nathan!” Emma screamed.

“Call 911,” said Sabrina.

When Zack called 911, the ambulance finally came. They got into the ambulance with Nathan and drove to the hospital. Once they got to the hospital, the doctors and nurses quickly set up a room for Nathan.

All of his friends were following him, until the doctor said, “We can take it from here. You can all go home. You’ve helped enough.”

So they all left. Then Emma said, “Does anyone want to spend the night at my house?” Everyone decided to sleep at Emma’s house. The next day, Emma’s mom drove everyone to the hospital. Once they all got into Nathan’s room, they all saw he was awake. They all rushed to see him.

Sabrina said, “What happened to you Nathan?”

“When we were on Lincoln Boulevard we heard strange sounds. I heard you scream then you all ran, but I stayed. I felt that I needed to. I felt that something was calling me. Calling my name over and over again. Afterwards, I stopped hearing running noises. I saw a figure almost like a human. Then the room went black. And I woke up here,” mumbled Nathan.

Then the doctor came and said, “He had a concussion and a hole barely nudged into his chest. Here is a picture.” He handed them a picture from when they first found Nathan.

“But the police still don’t know what happened to him,” the doctor said to everyone.

After they were all done seeing Nathan, they all went home. The next day, they all went to a Costco to buy Nathan some food. Then everyone walked to the hospital to give him the food they all bought. Once they all got to the floor that Nathan was on, they all walked into the room, but instead of finding Nathan, they found nothing but air. Everyone froze. They were all thinking, “Where is he? Why is he not in his bed?”

Justin, who was right by the door waiting to come in, was also confused. Out of the blue someone whispered in Justin’s ear, “He is at Lincoln Boulevard.” After Justin heard that, he was shocked and he told everybody what just happened to him. They all decided to go to Lincoln Boulevard one last time.

They walked to Lincoln Blvd and found Nathan unconscious and bleeding. They called 911 and the ambulance came. They hopped into the ambulance. Ernesto said to the firefighters, “Remember us? We saw you yesterday.”

“No, no one saw you at all.”

Once the firefighter gave them that answer, they were all scared. They were all in shock. Surely they hopped into that ambulance right?

Well, the same thing that happened yesterday, happened today. Once they got into his room, Nathan woke up and yelled, “NOOOOO!”

“What happened?” Emma asked.

“It was dark at the hospital. I wanted to find you guys because I saw a doctor, but the doctor looked kind of funny. I listened to that doctor. I left the hospital to tell you guys the good news. I was crossing the street from Lincoln Boulevard, then the room went bla—”

Right after he said that he fainted. The heart monitor flatlined. The doctor told us to get out of the room right away and to go home.

For the next month, Nathan was in the hospital, and there were people going missing. One after another, when walking by Lincoln Boulevard. Nobody ever knew why people would go missing, and they never found Gang 28. The only thing they knew for sure was that if you were near Lincoln Boulevard, you were sure to wake up in the hospital just like Nathan did.

A couple weeks later, the friends went to the hospital to check on Nathan, only to then find him not breathing. The group thought he was dead and they were right. It turns out that all the other people that went missing on Lincoln Boulevard were brought to the hospital to be treated for what happened at Lincoln Boulevard. The total count of people found near Lincoln Boulevard was 200.They found out that everyone that was near Lincoln Boulevard that were brought to the hospital were found in the middle of the night dead. Everyone was confused. The investigators were confused. Policemen were confused. Even scientists were confused. The mystery remains unclear to this day…

Emma’s favorite food is sushi and her favorite drink is boba, the brown sugar one. She has sold 1,500 Girl Scout cookies in five weeks. She loves to read books and her favorite sports are softball and basketball.

Lost Neighbor

Isaias Mendoza

This is Terry. Terry has a brother named Jerry. These two are neighbors on Barry Lane. Barry Lane has a reputation for crime scenes like missing people. There were also two other brothers living on Barry Lane, but unfortunately, they were found missing. Terry as well as Jerry are a little scared and wonder if their fate will be identical to the two other brothers. They can’t tell but are confident it won’t happen.

Soon after, Terry and Jerry move into new houses they can call home. After moving and getting all situated, Terry, along with Jerry, spend two weeks living their normal lives without thinking about the missing brothers. Before it hits the second week, things start happening to Jerry. Books are disappearing, his phone starts moving when Jerry puts it down. It moves to a different area when he turns his back. He doesn’t let this bother him that much. Jerry doesn’t bother telling Terry because he must be imagining it.

Sooner or later, Jerry goes missing. Terry finds out on a Saturday evening where Jerry goes to yoga class at 2:30 and ends at 3:30.

Terry knocks on Jerry’s door and starts screaming his name. After five or six yells, Terry decides to barge in, having an emergency key and just being older in general. Terry gets inside the house, he begins looking for Jerry.

Five minutes go by.

Ten minutes go by

One hour goes by.

Terry is now on the phone with the police, but the police can not help so they assign a detective to Terry, detective Tom. Tom proceeds to ask multiple questions like how tall is he, how old is he, what are some of his facial features.

They begin a search and find clues showing that maybe he is at a friend’s house or his mom’s house. They first go to his friend’s house, no dice. Then they head towards his beloved mother’s house. On their way there, Terry begins to tear up, not knowing if he’ll be able to talk, see, or even acknowledge his existence. They head towards Terry and Jerry’s mom’s door.

They knock on the door, and the first person they see is Jerry in a hazmat suit. They are shocked and ask Jerry why he’s been there. Jerry replies that their mother is sick and called Jerry, and Jerry forgot to tell Terry in such panic and hurry.

They spend time with their mom, and sooner or later, they both head home. Terry asks Jerry if he can sleep at his house tonight. Not caring, Jerry agrees, and they both go to sleep, knowing they are safe and sound.

Isaias is 12 years old and in the seventh grade. He lives in Los Angeles and is proud to be Mexican-American. Isaias goes to a special place called 826LA, where he loves to write and share stories. His favorite subject in school is math, and he loves to play basketball.

The Rizz Games

Julio Cesar Garcias Juan

One day on Rizz Boulevard, John was woken up by news of a tsunami. In the news it said that in three days the tsunami would hit, but it was a false alarm. John sighed and said to himself, “I just came to this new neighborhood and there is a tsunami?!?!”

He quickly called his friend Julio. John said to Julio, “Did you see the news?”

Julio ran to the TV and Julio said to John, “No way!”

John said, “Yes way! I will get Sigma and I will meet you at Del Taco.” Julio jumped into his Mini Cooper and rushed to meet them. All three of them were talking of a plan to be safe. One of the people that worked at Del Taco gave Sigma a flyer to stay safe. John’s heart sank and in his mind he said, “Not again. The Rizz games are coming back.” Before he could say no Sigma signed the flyer.

Later Sigma told John that a white van would pick them up the next day. A van got them and along the way pink smoke came out of the speakers. John knew that this would happen. He got two towels and covered his nose and Sigma’s nose as well.

After what felt like one hundred years, they sat down with jogging suits. There were people in pink suits and weird masks with pew pews. They said, “This is the only time to choose if you want to leave or play the games.” Most of the people decided to stay. Then the people in the weird masks said, “On to the first game called green light, red light.”

John and Sigma only had minutes to cross the lines that were one thousand feet away from them. The doll said, “Green light.” Everyone rushed to the line.

John said, “I played these games before.”

Some people said, “What did he say?”

“I said, ‘I have played these games before.’”

The doll said, “Red light.” No one moved. The doll said, “Green light.” Everyone rushed and some people fell. The doll said, “Red light.” The people who fell lost.

The next game was darts. They needed to drink something but John and Julio didn’t drink it. They needed to be paired in twos. There were pictures of body parts on the dart board that you had to hit to defeat your opponent. Julio and John had good aim because they were cranking 90s in Fortnite and aimed at the heart and defeated their opponents. But Sigma lost and everyone else lost later in the last game.

It was a duel with katanas. “Three, two, one, go!” said the speaker. John rushed to Julio but Julio parried John’s hit. Julio tried to attack John, but John grabbed the side of the katana that was not sharp and yanked it out of his hand. John said, “You fool, I made up these games and am the one behind everything. I’m the one who planned it all and I have the most rizz.” He walked away, saying, “Guards, get rid of him. Let’s prepare another match for next year.”

Julio is a sigma. Julio likes to make puppet dragons. Julio’s dream is to become a chef. Julio is inspired by his dad.

Oh, How I Love My Neighborhood!

Aaron Alvarez

Oh, how I love my neighborhood!

I see birds.

I see my friend pass by my house. People help out the homeless. My hobby is making crafts.

And someday I will make the neighborhood/world a better place! Aaron is in sixth grade and is 12 years old.

Garland

Adelaida D.

I live in Garland. My neighborhood is pretty quiet, and I live close to my school. My school is a Catholic school. Some of my neighbors go to the same school that I go to. Sometimes, I ask if they want to play. They say yes! Sometimes I also go out with them. In the back of the apartment, I have a playground.

One day, I got a new neighbor named Mia! She also goes to the same school as me and is in the same grade as me. She didn’t know that I go to the same school, and I was also amazed that she lives in the same apartment and level as me.

When she saw me at school, she said, “Hey, don’t you live in Garland?”

I replied, “Yes.”

She said, “ Oh nice, I’ve seen you before.”

I said, “Yup, that’s me.”

Mia and I play volleyball almost every day. One time, we were playing volleyball, and then my other friends saw us playing and wanted to join us!

I said, “Yes” but Mia said, “No!”

I asked, “Why?”

She said, “Because I don’t know them and they probably suck at volleyball.”

When she said that, I was so confused because she has never acted like that.

So I went to talk to my other friends and tell them that it’s okay and don’t listen to her.

The next day, I went to school, and Mia was acting like she was all that and being with the boys.

I asked her, “Do you want to play volleyball?”

Mia replied, “Heck no I want to play basketball. Volleyball is so boring.”

“Oh, OK,” I replied.

After my mom picked me up from school, she asked me, “Do you like your neighborhood?”

I replied, “Yes.”

“Why?” my mom asked.

I said, “Because it’s quiet and mostly everyone knows me.”

On a random day, someone was playing music, and it was getting annoying, so I told them to stop playing the music because it was distracting to me, and it turned out to be Mia playing the music.

Then I went to school, and there were volleyball club tryouts. I wanted to join, but I had to ask my mom. So I asked my mom, and she said yes. I was so happy that I wanted to tell Mia that my dream was coming true.

When I told her, she said, “Oh, guess what? I don’t care. You suck at volleyball anyway and they should replace you with me instead.”

I left crying to the restroom.

After school, my mom picked me up, and I told her all that happened in school. My mom said that she is going to talk to her parents. But she forgot, so I went to talk to her parents. I told them what was going on between me and Mia. She started talking to me again after that.

Sometime later, we were friends again. I told her who I liked and his name is Aaron. The next day at school, I found out she had a boyfriend named Aaron. I got so mad that I left home crying.

My mom asked me, “Why are you crying?”

I said, “Because Mia is dating someone who I like.”

My mom said, “Don’t worry about them. Just focus on your studies.”

I decided to tell Mia’s mom. She got really mad at her and grounded her for three weeks. She told her to break up with Aaron. Dating for her age was a no because she is still young.

Mia tried talking to me after that, but I just ignored her. Maybe I will forgive her, but she has to think about her words and actions. It was a good idea that I told her mom because I couldn’t hold back my feelings, but I didn’t mean for her to get grounded for three weeks and for her to be sad.

After some time, I was finally happy to be my normal self. I hope other stuff will work out well for me in the future.

Adelaida is 10 years old, and she is in fifth grade. She has been playing volleyball for five years. She likes sports a lot. She is a talented volleyball player. She plays for Inner City Los Angeles. People say that she is so good and that she is in the first ranks!

One Thousand Bucks

Alejandro Vrgas

One day, my cousins Saul, Jesus, Noe, Diego, and I were at Elysian Park. There’s a soccer field and a tennis court, plus a playground. It smelled like fresh air. We were playing soccer and the ball popped then we were looking for a soccer ball.

After 45 minutes we found a soccer ball. More kids joined the game then they bet us 1000 bucks. If we win or if they won, we owe them 1000 bucks.

Then the game started and we were losing. It was (4-0). We were losing, but then Jesus scored, and it was (4-1). Noe and Saul scored now it was (4-3). Thankfully, Diego scored now it is tied (4-4). The game was intense. They almost scored, but the goalie blocked it. Finally, I scored, and the score was (4-5). We won! $1000 we couldn’t believe it!

We left and got pizza to celebrate.

Alejandro is 10 years old. He grew up in LA. He loves eating pizza and playing Roblox. He sometimes goes swimming. Lastly, he has one younger brother.

My Echo Park!

Alexia M.

In my neighborhood of Echo Park, I see weirdos.

I see dogs.

I see the leaves moving in the air. I see people partying.

When I go to play baseball. I walk by the lake. The lake’s water is blue, dark blue. This is my neighborhood, my Echo Park.

Alexia Mata is nine years old. Her favorite colors are red and blue. She loves to play sports.

A Day with My Tired Dogs

Angie J.

Once upon a time, at 7:30 AM in my orange apartment in Echo Park. I always walk my dogs at 7 AM, but this time, I overslept. When I got up, no one was home. I was home alone, except for the dogs. The dogs were laying down. I had no idea they were tired because my brothers had already walked them.

I woke up excited to see the ducks at the park. I thought my dogs would be excited, too. I got dressed quickly. I put on leggings, a sweatshirt, and soft white socks printed with my name, Angie.

I opened the door to my bedroom.

“Morning!” I said to the dogs.

They looked at me. I put their leashes on.

“Let’s go!”

The sun was bright. There were cars driving. I heard birds flying around. I felt good. The dogs felt good, too, or so I thought. I started walking to the park. I noticed the dogs looked tired. But we made it to the park! It took ten minutes to get there. When I got to the park, I gave the dogs a treat. They loved it. It was their favorite treat, boneshaped cookies.

We went to walk around where the ducks are. The ducks are in the pond. They were white and friendly. The dogs were scared of the ducks. I noticed the dogs looked even more tired.

I started questioning myself. “Why aren’t the dogs walking?”

I worried I was doing something wrong. I had never seen the dogs like this before. They were usually so excited to walk. I gave them some of my water in a silver bowl. I thought the water would make them walk. But it didn’t work. I decided to call my brothers. First, I called my younger brother. He didn’t answer. Then I called my older brother. He answered. “Did you walk the dogs?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

I was shocked. I didn’t know he walked the dogs. The mystery was solved. But I still had to get home. My brother didn’t know how to drive. So he couldn’t pick me up from the park. I tried pulling the dogs

along with me. They still wouldn’t walk. I tried calling my parents to come pick me up. But they didn’t answer. I tried to lure them into walking by showing them a toy. It was a squishy burger toy. It had a squeaker. At first, they seemed interested, but they still wouldn’t walk. They were so tired!

My older brother often runs with the dogs around the block a couple of times. They were tired from the run. I heard a familiar sound: the beep of a car. I knew it was my parents’ car. I heard that beep before. They’re here, I thought. I tried looking towards the sound, but I didn’t see them at first. I saw them, in the car, turning. I tried to get their attention by yelling their names. They heard me because the car windows were rolled down. They picked me up. We went home and had a good time. That day, I learned I should always check with my brothers before I walk the dogs.

Angie is 11 years old and in fifth grade. She lives in Los Angeles and is in a family of five. Angie loves to go to the mall and shop and shop. Her favorite subject at school is math. She loves playing with her friends at school. When she’s not at school, Angie plays with her dogs. They have lots of fun playing together.

New Teacher

Ariana R.

Jackie started crying.

I said, “Why are you crying?”

Jackie said, “I’m crying because I don’t want to go to class.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

We walked to class.

I asked, “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” said Jackie.

We walked into class, and our evil teacher was not there. Jackie and I were so happy! There was a new sub. She looked so nice, and she was the best sub in the world! The next class, I was happy, but when I went to class, the evil teacher was back. My happy feelings turned into sad feelings.

Okay, now I’m going to tell you about my evil teacher. Her name is Ms. Tonzalez. She has brown eyes and is old. She looks like an eightyyear-old, but she is only 60 years old. She is really short, like fournine.

She once screamed in my face, “Do you have a life?!”

Last but not least, she is so evil that she is only nice when Ms. Tarcia walks into our classroom because she doesn’t want to get in trouble. She is the worst teacher in the universe.

One day, my friend and I were talking while Ms. Tonzalez was talking to another kid, and then she walked up to me and gave me two fat packets of homework out of nowhere. Only to me.

Jackie and I had to get Ms. Tonzales fired. But it was impossible until my smart brain had an idea to get Ms. Tonzales to scream really loud by talking back to her. Ms. Tonzales screamed back so loud that Ms.Tarcia walked into our room and said, “Ms. Tonzales! Why are you screaming? You can’t scream at kids. You are fired!”

Ms. Tonzales did get fired. I was so happy and we got a cool teacher and she was nice.

Ariana is a girl who has 2 dogs. She is 10 years old. She loves the color black :)

If Peace Was a Neighborhood

Arianna (Gigi) Salgado

Seeing how calmly you treat your area.

With leaves chilling in the breeze and birds sleeping in their nests.

Neighbors don’t mess around outside. Or shoot crazy music in your area. Peace and quiet lives in the clouds.

Having the calmest place, being you.

Amazing quiet neighborhood.

Gigi is a silly fifth grader who loves to draw. She has 1 brother and a loving mother who is the best cook. She also likes to practice playing volleyball with her friends and has a favoritism of the color lavender. Her favorite drink is boba and loves to eat avocado toast. She loves everything but insects disgust her!

My Neighborhood Life

Camilla Mejia

When I wake up the first thing I see is my bed. I then go down, put on my clothes and shoes. I get in my car and I see a bunch of trees, houses and cats. I see people going to the gas station.

In my neighborhood, I see stores like Target, and Walmart. I see restaurants like NHC, McDonald’s, Jack in the box, and Wingstop. I always see my neighbors go on walks with their families. Sometimes walking their dogs and walking to school. I see oak trees and flowers in my neighborhood.

My dad or sometimes my mom takes me and my siblings to school. I go to CNCA. When we get there the first people I see when I get there are the staff.

My school is big! It has red, yellow, and blue walls. My favorite food for lunch is orange chicken! After school, I go to Woodcraft Rangers. I do arts and crafts. We paint, we color, we draw and we go outside for fitness and snacks.

My dad picks me up after Woodcraft Rangers. Outside, there’s an elote man, selling corn, raspados, and chips. Sometimes, my parents buy me a treat. Then they take us to the park. To Hollywood Rec. Hollywood Rec has a playground. I do sports. I do softball skills and basketball. I’m good at these sports. One time, I had softball practice, and the ball hit my head. It hurt a lot. My older sister plays volleyball. We have to wait, but we play. We play tag.

Then we left as a family. We got in the car and went straight home. I live in a blue, white, and black apartment. On the side, there’s a playground. There are trees. My apartment has four floors. I live at the very top. When I look out the window, I see a tree. I see cars, and roads. I see houses and people. That’s my neighborhood.

Camilla is a 10 year old girl and in the fourth grade. She lives in Los Angeles. She is Mexican-American. Camilla goes to a special place called 826LA, where she loves to write and make stories. She loves pizza. She is also a very good baseball player.

Cats Are Delicious!

Cesar Solis

Me and my friends Jacob, Jack, and Kaylee, were wandering through the hot desert. We accidentally stepped on a sinkhole and fell into the sand cave covered by waterfalls of sand. We find a temple, we jump over the trap holes filled with lava and spikes to reach the entrance. The temple was filled with gold and gems. But also with skeletons. We saw a red button.

“Oh, let’s press that button”, says Jacob.

“That’s a good idea,” says Jack.

“What if it drops a giant boulder? Or spikes? Or maybe even a meteorite?” Kaylee said worried.

“I don’t think pressing that button is a good idea,” I say.

So instead we chose to play a game to see who can guess the closest amount of coins. We start guessing. While Me and Kaylee were distracted, Jack jumped and pressed the button.

Two Days Later. We finally went home. We live in the state of California, in a city near the Mojave Desert. Our neighborhood is full of palm trees. The city is next to an ocean and a jungle. It takes only five minutes to walk across the whole city. There is a park that has a shrunken-down city. There is a famous historical skyscraper called the “J Museum.” You can pay to visit a research facility filled with old technology. Near my house, there is a pit that takes ten minutes to reach the bottom of.

My neighbors are researchers: Julia the scientist, Cyrus the archaeologist, Holiday the physicist, and Briley the inventor. We turn on the TV to hear the news. Julia had discovered with NASA, through their James Webb Space Telescope, that an asteroid was heading to Earth. Cyrus investigated the temple and found the button was pressed. The government tried to destroy the asteroid with nukes, bombs, and all of their explosives. But the asteroid just got bigger! Holiday explained that any form of energy the asteroid touches is absorbed.

“However,” Holiday says, “It can’t absorb water because the asteroid can’t destroy it.”

Brinley comes up with a machine that can cover the earth in a barrier of water. Julia comes back on screen to report that the asteroid has just absorbed the Sun. Brinley says it will take 6 hours to build the machine, but that’s not enough time to gather the materials. Jack, Jacob, and Kaylee start to cry as they think they are doomed. But I have an idea.

“We can take apart the city and use the parts to build the machine,” I say.

We all agreed and tore down the buildings to build the barrier of water just in time.

The final nuke is fired in a last effort to destroy the asteroid. It seems not to work, but then the asteroid explodes, leaving a new sun in the same place. The water barrier protects us from the heat of the explosion. We build back our town using the barrier pieces. We’re all safe, and while we may not have our town, we still have our home.

Cesar Solis is 10 years old. He lives in Los Angeles and is in the fourth grade. His favorite school subjects are math, science, and chemistry. He is a Chinese American, his mother’s parents were born in China, and his father was born in the US from a Spanish father and an American mother. Cesar likes playing handball and dodgeball in PE. Cesar plays the violin, the piano, the guitar, drums, recorder, and the ukulele. He plays tennis, basketball and has a swimming class. He also takes Chinese lessons and more.

Jacob

Diego Iduarte

Jacob was a teenager. He was 18. When he snapped his finger, he turned invisible because he was born with that. Jacob took the number 19 bus. He went all the way to the back. He found a seat away from everyone. When someone got off, he took the window seat. He saw cars and people walking. The bus went past Union Station.

Jacob pulled the cord, and he got off the bus. His stop was Lincoln Drive. He walked straight three miles going west, where the Robot Turtle Park was at. When he got to the park, it had lights and grass. It also had like 20 robot turtles. Then he saw three robot turtles in the pond. He sat on the bench so he could relax. Then, all of a sudden, a turtle was biting his shoe.

Jacob asked, “Are you lost, little guy?”

The robot said, “Yes, I’m lost. Can you take me back to my park?”

There was a big, long line, so he snapped his finger to be invisible. Then, he returned the turtle to his mom. The mom was a big turtle. The robot turtle said, “Thank you.”

Jacob said, “No problem.”

Jacob wanted to go to a different park. He lived in Echo Park, but he wanted to go downtown, so he took the metro bus to go to the other park. Then he got some ice cream with two scoops. Then he finished his ice cream and got Hot Cheetos.

Diego lives in Hollywood. Diego likes to play Call of Duty. Diego likes to eat fried chicken and french fries. He also likes cookies and cream ice cream.

Elly’s Neighborhood Poem

Elly Gonzalez

My neighborhood is where my peach house sits.

My two cousins live in my neighborhood.

My house is big on the inside, but if you look at it from the outside, it is tiny.

My neighborhood smells like $1,000 perfume!

My neighborhood is filled with the sound of music coming from my house.

My house has the good smells of chicken alfredo.

My mom and dad cook dinner while I play with my toys.

I love my house!

Elly is 5 and she is in kindergarten. She loves her sisters and her teacher and her mom. Elly loves Starbucks and she drinks it everyday. She also loves to decorate.

Poisonous Dirt

Emery Gonzalez

My school has a jungle gym and monkey bars. It also has a slide and the playground is crowded during recess. There is an igloo that is perfect for hide and seek. I scraped my knees on the playground once but luckily a nurse gave me an ice pack.

Lula, Jace, and Nathan were playing on the playground. Lula tripped over a rock and got dirt all over her face. A different, helpful boy saw Lula and helped her get up and walk to the bathroom while Jace and Nathan laughed.

Lula and the boy ignored them. When they got to the bathroom, Lula washed her face with soap and water. Then, Lula passed out! She didn’t wake up…

The nice boy had to leave and go home, but the next day, a random girl named Emma came in and found Lula on the floor. Emma went to tell the teacher, Ms. A, about Lula passing out on the ground.

The teacher called the police to come to the school and they couldn’t figure out what happened. So, the teacher thought the dirt might be poisonous. Deadly dirt on the playground!

Now, at this point, a lot of kids were missing. Since Ms. A got no help from the police, she went to talk to the principal. The principal worked with the police and realized that the dirt was actually poisonous!

No more kids were allowed on the playground, but the school built a brand new playground that was safe and clean for the future children!

Emery likes puppies and dogs. She’s in second grade. Emery has 4 sisters and one brother. What Emery likes to do in her free time is reading and play outs and ins. She has two cats and she likes to play with them.

The Ice Cream Mystery

Emily Gonzalez

On a hot, sunny day, Cloud Puppy and Lucy were thinking, Mmm, what ice cream flavor should we get? Both said strawberry ice cream.

Next, the man said, “Sorry, I only have one scoop of ice cream.”

They fought over it, and they kept on fighting over it, but when they looked at it, it disappeared.

So Lucy said, “You know what? I am sorry.”

Cloud Puppy said, “Sorry.”

They went to Cloud Puppy’s house for a sleepover. They ordered pizza and made popcorn. They fought over movies like Titanic and horror movies. They realized that they were fighting again. They said sorry to each other. They put on a horror movie and fell asleep. Somehow, they both had the same dream about a serial killer. The dream was about a graveyard and ghosts coming out. They both woke up screaming and told each other about their dream.

Lucy had this crazy idea to play truth or dare.

Cloud Puppy said, “Ok.”

Lucy dared her to scream out loud. She said ok and then laughed out loud. Because it was 10 PM, and that’s when it got creepy. Cloud Puppy’s scream woke everyone up. The whole neighborhood turned on their lights. They came to Lucy’s house in a straight line and asked, “Are you ok?”

Lucy screamed, “It was a dare!” The whole neighborhood left, shocked. Cloud Puppy and Lucy laughed so hard they had tears in their eyes. Sea Bunny was in the back. No one noticed that Sea Lucy left a letter behind. They picked it up and read it. It said, “I’m coming for you.”

Then, they heard a deep voice. It gave them the creeps. They were together the whole time, so they had no idea who the voice could be.

A few days later, Sea Bunny sent them an invitation to a party, pretending to be their friend Valentina. But it was a trick — she was planning to kidnap them.

Sea Bunny was mad at them. They were friends back in high school. But someone started a rumor that Lucy had lice. It wasn’t true — it was actually someone else. Cloud Puppy and Lucy thought it was Sea Bunny who had started the rumor. Sea Bunny got really mad because no one believed it wasn’t her, even after she kept saying sorry. That’s when she started planning to kidnap them.

At first, she even stole their ice cream to try and make them fight, but that plan didn’t work.

When Friday came, Cloud Puppy and Lucy were super excited about the party. They talked about it all day until they finally fell asleep.

On Saturday, they got ready. They put on makeup and wore big hoops. When they got to the house, Sea Bunny opened a trap door and said, “Well, well, well… look who it is. The traitors.”

They gasped. Then they both said, “Sea Bunny! Can you please set us free?”

Sea Bunny said, “Why are you surprised to see me after all these years? I wasn’t the one who made up that rumor. It was someone else. That’s why I planned to kidnap you.”

They said, “We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you.”

Sea Bunny said, “I forgive you. I can’t believe we let something like that break our friendship.”

Cloud Puppy and Lucy smiled. They invited Sea Bunny to a sleepover and ordered pizza.

Emily is a 9 year old girl who is Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadorean, and Hondurian. She is from Los Angeles. She likes to draw and do arts and crafts. She has 2 cats, and 2 turtles.

Alien Invasion

Gabriel Cruz

AJ is riding his new bike in his neighborhood. AJ is nine years old. He likes old people, and he loves cookies. He lives in a beautiful house with secret weapons. AJ is an FBI agent who takes care of old people so they do not get abducted.

The houses in the neighborhood are all blue. They have no windows. There are no plants inside them either. Pets are not even allowed. No one ever leaves their houses. They Uber-eats all the food they live off. Still, there’s a lonely park, devoid of plants and trees, with only a single beige slide, so short you touch the ground once you get on it. The only store on the street is closed. The only form of entertainment they have is making clothes out of wool from sheep. At the edge of the town, where no one can see it, is a statue of Zoro from One Piece.

AJ falls off his new bike. His neighbor helps him and offers him some food. He ate it because he was hungry. He was so full, he fell asleep. When he wakes up, something feels wrong. He runs to the house. There, in front of him, is an alien. He tries his best to fight the alien. He loses the fight. Then his fake grandma gets abducted. He calls his crew. He is so sad because now he can’t get paid! His job was to take care of his fake grandma. Now he has to get her back.

His crew runs fast to help him get his fake grandma. They get suited up in order to get paid from his fake grandma. They have to bring her back alive. They go into space to get his fake grandma.

He somehow gets to the aliens’ hide out. The aliens’ hideout is dangerous because there are lasers. He uses rocks to hide him. The aliens are distracted. He gets the grandma. They escape.

Once the aliens notice, they press the emergency button. The whole hideout locks down. Luckily, he gets out in time. He gets back to earth. Grandma offers cookies. He takes a cookie. Then he sleeps.

The next day, Grandma cooks breakfast. He decides to take a break from his job and goes to school. That day, they go on a field trip. After school, his grandma picks him up, and they head back to the house. He gets paid for saving the fake grandma. Even though he’s on a break from work, every toy he owns is secretly a weapon, ready to defend him and his fake grandma from aliens.

Little did he know, something was waiting for him when he came back home…

Gabriel is nine years old. Gabriel likes food and video games. Gabriel has a Nintendo. Gabriel’s favorite games are Undertale, Dragon Ball Xenoverse, and My Little Universe. Gabriel also likes movies.

The Fire

Heather Camey

One Saturday evening, after my family and I finished dinner, we were sitting in the living room watching a movie on TV. I was sitting on the floor and the windows were open. Mommy, daddy, and my baby brother, Gael, were in the bathroom, changing Gael’s diaper and washing him. I called to them to hurry up and come watch the end of the movie with me. The three of them came back into the room and sat back down.

All of a sudden, Gael screamed and pointed to the window. I realized instantly that there was a fire outside and got scared. Gael looked at my face and he started crying.

Daddy saw the fire and told us, “We have to leave. Let’s go pack some things.”

I went to my bedroom and grabbed my pajamas and sweater, my dress for tomorrow, my toothbrush, and six of my favorite toys. Mommy and daddy packed up Gael, his clothes and six of his special stuffed animals, and their own stuff, and we all ran to the car. I knew we were going to Grandma’s house.

We drove to Grandma’s house in the dark night. There were so many trees it looked like a forest of darkness. After a few minutes, we pulled into Grandma’s driveway.

I got out of the car, grabbed my bag, and walked to the front door. I cleared my throat, and in an adult voice, I yelled, “Package delivery!” “Coming,” replied my grandma.

I could hear her footsteps as she walked toward the door. She unlocked her door and opened up.

“Surprise!” I yelled.

My grandma’s face lit up and she gave me the biggest smile and then hugged me for the longest time, until my Dad told me to take my baby brother Gael and go to my room.

My room is located at the end of the hall and has pink, purple, red, and blue walls. My bed is covered in lots of squishy, plushy animals that overflow onto the floor. In the middle of the wall, there is a window that opens to the backyard.

I placed Gael on the ground with his toys and played with him and my squishies, but after a few minutes, Gael had to use the bathroom. The bathroom was located at the other end of the hall, near the living room where my dad, mom, and grandma were sitting and talking. When Gael came back from the bathroom, he was out of breath from running. He took his water bottle out of his backpack and took a lot of huge sips. Once had caught his breath, he told me that when he was in the bathroom, he could hear my Dad telling my Grandma that our neighborhood was burning down. He said that when he peeked out the door into the living room, he saw that my Grandma was crying.

We continued back downstairs to eat some food that grandma had prepared for us, and we all watched TV. Mom and Dad let us stay with them. When Mom and Dad and Grandma went to sleep, I stayed downstairs, watching over my baby brother. We both fell asleep on the sofa.

While grandma prepared breakfast for us, Daddy called a friend and learned that our building was safe, and we could go back home.

We finished breakfast, hugged grandma goodbye, and returned home.

We were all so happy and relieved, and we played games together for the rest of the day.

Heather is eight years old and is in the second grade. She goes to 826LA and she has a baby brother. She does her homework and her favorite color is pink. Her favorite food is burgers.

My World’s Biggest Problem

Ignacio (Iggy) G.

Hi there. I’m George, and I don’t talk much. Instead, I use my diary. It helps me a lot. This is a story that happened two days ago.

There are some things you should know about me. I am not very tall, I’m shy, and I get scared a lot.

Dear diary, it was a normal day today. I woke up at 5:45 AM. I got changed and went downstairs to eat my cereal.

“Hi, Mom,” I said as my mom entered the dinner table.

“Hi, honey,” she replied.

She poured her favorite cereal into a bowl. Dad was at work at that time.

“Are you ready for school?” she asked.

“No,” I replied.

In my head, school = Steve. Steve is the biggest bully. He is really rude—I mean really, really rude. AND MEAN!

I ate breakfast and went outside at 7 AM. I got on the school bus and sat alone, as usual. I don’t have friends. I don’t talk to people. Nobody likes to talk to me.

The bus arrives at 7:45 AM, and school starts at 7:50 AM I wait in the crowd of kids who get off the school bus. When the morning bell rings, the school doors open. I hide in the group so Steve doesn’t see me.

The first class starts—it’s math, my second favorite class because everyone is chill. No bullying or mean people, and the teacher is nice.

I sat in the back row of the small class—just four rows of desks. Even though it’s a math class, there is an alphabet mounted on top of the whiteboard and posters all around the room of English topics.

At one end of the classroom, there’s a window where all the kids that don’t like to learn just look out instead of paying attention. But I’m not—I pay attention.

Remember, I said that math was my second favorite subject. My favorite subject is science, then math, followed by English, then history, PE, and finally art.

It is last because it is my life’s biggest problem. Steve. The baddest bully.

Ring, ring, ring.

The best rings—math is finished. I go to English class. I stay in English. We read, but then the teacher calls on me.

He asks me, “What did King Bob do as the leader of the Middle Ages?”

“Uh… set war on the Americas,” I say.

“Wrong,” he says.

Everyone points at me and starts laughing.

At the end of class, I almost started crying, but I sadly go to science class.

When I turn the corner, I’m ambushed by Steve. He pinned me to the blue lockers.

“You are gonna do my homework that I don’t want to do,” he says. I gulp.

“So what? Is it gonna be a knuckle sandwich or do it, loser?”

“I’ll do it,” I say.

As I walk away nervously, “How could this day get worse?” I say this while walking into class.

The science teacher says, “Group project.”

I sigh and think to myself, “Well, it just got worse.”

“Hey! I call George,” says Bob, who is one of the students.

The class erupts in rage.

“No, I call him!”

“I want him!”

“No, he’s mine!”

The class was filled with everyone shouting. Then Mr. G, the teacher, says, “Who would you like to go with?”

“Uh, Jerry.”

Jerry walks over. Jerry doesn’t have any friends.

The class sighs, “Ugh.”

Me and Jerry work and laugh together. Then, at the end of class, he says this:

“Do you want to be my best friend?”

Never ever in my life have I been asked this question, and I say, “Yes!!”

We end up in all the same classes. Ring ring.

We leave class talking. We sit on a bench for recess, and then we go to lunch and sit together. We talk.

Then ring ring—we head to PE.

Me and Jerry both hate it. Not because it’s hard. It’s the PE teacher. He always yells.

“Now drop down, give me 26!”

We huff and puff. Oh, he yells and yells.

We’re worn out, but then he says, “Dodgeball!”

Me and Jerry are on the same team. We run around trying not to get hit.

Then Jerry gets destroyed by Jack, one of Steve’s friends. He lays there on the floor while the PE teacher yells at him.

I’m mad. When Jack gets a ball, I hit him.

After P.E., I’m thanked by Jerry. I say, “No problem. It’s what friends do.”

Then I’m ambushed by Steve.

“Why did you hit him?” he walks up to me.

Jerry steps in. “Hey! Stop it!” Then tells me to run.

I don’t. And for the first time, I say, “Yeah, stop it.”

Steve throws a fit, but the teacher comes and stops him.

I think in my mind, “Welp, I’m cooked.”

In art, I dress in the bathroom and then go to class. Jerry and I sat together the whole time. Steve throws paper at us.

Ring ring.

School is over. I call my mom to pick me up and see if Jerry can stayfor lunch. Mom says, “Yes.”

We went home, and Dad made brunch. It’s my favorite—chicken alfredo.

My mom asks us, “How was your day?”

Me and Jerry tell how we stood up for ourselves after PE.

Mom and Dad sigh.

“Look, if someone is bullying you, tell someone and tell them to stop,” Mom says.

“No, you punch them,” Dad says. He always says that.

We have a good talk about bullying. Then Jerry leaves and I go too.

I woke up in the morning, but something feels different.

I get ready and meet up with Jerry. I go to math.

Then Steve comes.

“Where’s my homework?”

“I don’t know where it is,” I say—for the first time.

“Now or later,” he says, for the knuckle sandwich.

“No! Stop it!”

“Why should I?” he says.

“Because he says so!”

Jerry steps in. He throws a fist, and it lands on Jerry.

I stop him from attacking me. I run and tell someone.

Jerry is at the Nurse’s Office.

I pick him up after school, and then I punch Steve after school.

He attacks me, and I punch, and he punches.

The fight is on.

In the end—I won.

And today?

He hasn’t even touched me!

This kid is very unique in a special way. He is funny, smart (and dumb sometimes). He is totally the author of this story (No, he is!).

Sometimes he is funny, or he is hangry, and when he’s hangry, you’re cooked.

No One but Me

Isaac M.

In my neighborhood, Echo Park, nobody lives here but me.

In my neighborhood, I see cops chasing bank robbers.

In my neighborhood, I smell Little Caesars pizza.

In my neighborhood, I hear little kids screaming, “I’m bored!!”

In my neighborhood, I can taste green eggs and ham.

In my neighborhood, I can touch the sky on the park swings.

I love my neighborhood.

Isaac grew up in Echo Park. He has a cat. Isaac’s favorite food is Domino’s pizza.

My School Life

Jade Rubalcava

One Monday morning, I woke up at 5:50. First, I fed my fishies. My guppies are named Grape and Orange. My guppy, Grape, is gray, and my guppy, Orange, is also gray, but has an orange tail. I put my uniform on as I get ready for school. My mom drives me to school, it’s only 15 minutes away. I live in City Terrace. City Terrace is in East LA. My street is filled with houses. It has two mini marts. There are many trees, but people mostly drive their cars.

When I get to class, I have to work on the list for the week. When I’m done, I go to the calming corner. I like going to the calming corner because it has a bean bag and pillows. Then, I go to recess. Recess is fifteen minutes long. When I come back, after five minutes, I go to art. Today at art, we painted a flag. When I’m done with art, we go to lunch. It’s fifty minutes long, but, to me, it feels like it is only two minutes long. What I ate for lunch was a ham sandwich, and that’s it because I’m not that hungry.

When lunch is over, we get a five minute break. After our break, we do math, but I hate math. Anyways, we do math for 40 minutes. After we are done, I do science, and I love science. Science is my favorite subject, and for science, we made “sweet tea.” We go home, but I don’t because I have after school. I have it for three hours. First, I play some basketball, and then I go home. When I go home, I go check on my guppies, and Orange is dead.

Jade is 10 years old and is in fifth grade. Jade likes to play football. Her coach said that she throws better than some of his middle school boys. Jade’s favourite subject is science and art. Jade loves school and her mom.

Pomona Claremont Neighborhood

Jorge A. Delgado

Pomona, Claremont, and Los Angeles.

Those are my neighborhoods.

A bunch of houses, apartments with no backyards, and a big city view makes up my neighborhood. People everywhere are my favorite.

My neighborhood is in Pomona, Claremont, because that’s where my house is.

I play soccer, basketball, and tag in the backyard. The trees in my backyard have fruit. They have oranges, lemons, limes, pineapples, and watermelons.

I have two dogs, Medusa and Adina.

I enjoy taking my dogs for walks around my neighborhood. Some dogs in my neighborhood are friendly, but most bark at us. My dad lets me play at my friend’s house.

I like playing with my friends in their backyard. My neighborhood is very fun.

His name is Jorge and he is nine years old. He is in fourth grade. He plays with his friends at the park in Pomona. He is a good kid. He has a cool backpack.

The Move

Leo Martinez

“Do we really have to move from Washington to Los Angeles?” Darren said, whining.

“Yes, for the last time, Darren, your dad and I have to work places,” April said.

Darren had a black shirt, white hat, and blue jeans. April had a lavender shirt, a white sweater, and blue jeans.

22 hours later on the plane...

“We are here in Los Angeles and our house,” Dad said proudly.

“Why is the sun so hot here? Isn’t it supposed to be rainy?” Darren said.

Two years later…

“DARREN!” April yelled.

“What?” Darren said.

“Your father and I are going out to celebrate our anniversary,” April said.

“Protect the house, Darren, okay?”

“Okay,” Darren said.

One hour goes by...

Darren was chilling on his couch watching TV when he heard glass shatter. All Darren could see was a mystery figure in the shadows pointing something at him. Darren started shaking his body and didn’t know what to do.

“Hello? Who’s there?” No answer.

“SPEAK!”

“Listen, kid, I’m robbing you, and you are going to tell me where the money is NOW!!!!!”

Darren had no words and thought nothing.

“Come on, kid, SPEAK!!”

Suddenly, Darren had an idea.

“It’s down the hall to the left.”

The robber saw nothing and said, “WHERE IS IT?”

Suddenly, the robber turned around, and Darren’s fists hit the top of the robber’s head. He was unconscious on the floor. Darren called the police and said that there was a robber in his house.

The police were on the way.

“Thank you police.”

A few minutes went by. Darren’s parents arrived at the action.

“Where is my Darren?”

“He is inside, ma’am. Luckily, your son is okay,” the police said.

“Oh, my baby! What happened in there?”

“Mom, there was a robber in the house, and I got scared, but I got him arrested.”

Darren said, looking at the ground.

“Good job, Darren.”

“Hello, I’m Police Max, and that was a great job catching a robber, and we want to welcome you to the police academy.”

My mom and I were both excited, and we agreed.

“Welcome to the police academy.”

Darren is a police officer, and he loves every single thing about being a police officer.

Leo likes to read, he likes to write, and discover new things.

I Dropped the Dishes

Luis Solis

I live in Los Angeles.

My house is red, blue, yellow, and green.

On my way to the daycare, I see birds flying in the sky. Right outside the daycare, there are red apple trees. Sometimes, I pick some of the apples, and they’re juicy.

During lunch time, I see the birds flying and chirping in the sky again. The walk back home is four blocks.

My favorite thing to do is play with firecrackers and ride my blue scooter around my neighborhood.

I tripped on the door rock and dropped ten dishes. The door rock is what keeps the door open.

Oh no, I dropped ten dishes. I think my mom will punish me.

Like putting me in time out or taking away my Nintendo Switch. And then, my mom didn’t take away my Nintendo Switch or put me in time out.

I said sorry.

She said, “Don’t do it again or next time I’ll punish you.”

And then, I dropped the dishes the next day… This time, I dropped five dishes!

And then my mom put me in time out.

For sure, my mom will take my Nintendo Switch this time.

But thankfully, she didn’t take it away.

And then, the next day, I dropped four dishes again. my mom yelled at me

Saying, “Don’t drop the dishes!”

And then, my mom threw my toys out the window forty feet down. And my toys were obliterated.

And then my Nintendo Switch got taken away for one week.

And then my brother yelled at me. Not only did she take away mine, but she took my brother’s as well. She changed the password. If you try different numbers, it eventually locks.

And then she took away my phone for twenty weeks.

Luis is seven years old. Louis likes it when birds chirp. Louis’s favorite color is light blue. He loves oranges and his mom. He likes tennis and his skateboard.

Cats

Maddie Irwin

I woke up at seven, like usual. I slowly came down from my top bunk of my bunk bed and started getting dressed right away. Then I went to look out the window to see if anything was happening. It was Wednesday, so the garbage cans were out. I saw the hummingbirds flying around, like always. We figured out that they are actually rare hummingbirds.

The squirrels that always stare at us through our living room window were trying to get nuts from the nut box that we fill up for them. As we got into the car to go to school, I looked over to the new neighbor’s house. It looked like she just had a party because there were some balloons in her mailbox.

As we drove down the street, I saw the neighbor’s black cats and our broken garage. We made the turn onto the next street and drove past all the pretty houses. I saw the lady who always has chickens and chicken eggs to sell. But she hasn’t been selling them lately.

As we came up to the big hill, my dad and I prepared for the sun. We pulled down the shade and hid our eyes. As always, the sun beamed down on us, making it hard for my dad to even drive.

When we came down the unbearably bright hill, we slowly recovered. We came to a crossroads where we had to turn. There is usually a lot of gridlock at this road, but it didn’t seem to be happening today. Today was going smoothly. Once we went down the hill, we were out of our neighborhood.

Maddie is 11 years old and in the sixth grade. She lives in Los Angeles and loves to visit her Grandma in Santa Barbara. Where she likes to go is to the beach. She likes to do math at school, but most of all she loves cats. Her family is all allergic to cats including her so they can’t have cats. They have a lot of fun fostering kittens. Seeing them grow up.

I Like Talking to Neighbors

Michael Delgado

I like talking to neighbors.

I say hi to other neighbors.

I walk with my dad’s dogs.

My dogs’ names are Athena and Medusa.

I use the playground in Echo Park

I go to my cousin Memo’s house.

I liked to hang out with my neighbor, Kimberly, before she passed away.

I liked talking to Kimberly.

My neighbor is lovely, even though she’s not here anymore.

Michael grew up in the LA area. He is eight years old. Michael enjoys eating McDonald’s. He has one older sister and older brother. In his free time, he enjoys Roblox.

My Home

Moises Recinos

I live in Echo Park. There are a lot of houses.

I see people. I see trees.

I see ducks. I see water.

I see downtown.

I like to play on the slide. I play basketball.

I eat pizza. And drink soda.

I go to the park with my mom.

I like to walk with my mom everywhere.

Moises likes playing video games, especially Fortnite. He likes watching YouTube videos.

Through Olivia’s Eyes

Olivia Mejia

Echo Park is my neighborhood.

My green, blue, and grey colored apartment is close to my school.

I have a playground in the front yard. I like climbing the spider web and going to Target.

I play softball, basketball, and flag football in the park.

I have a baby sister. My favorite thing to do is play with my friends.

I like to see my friend’s puppy.

I live in an apartment. I speak Spanish. I love my neighborhood. I like writing.

I like going to Las Vegas with my family. My favorite color is pink. I like school.

Olivia is 80 years old. Just kidding. She is only eight years old. Her favorite food is chicken nuggets. Her favorite color is blue.

The Ghost

Robert Lugo

Jane was lonely, so she went to Echo Park to make some friends. She saw a boy behind a rock. She came up to him, and he pulled her down and said, “Hi, what are you doing?”

Jane said, “Hi, can I play?”

The boy said, “Sure, my name is Jake.” Then another boy came and said, “Hi, I am Jack,” and a girl came and said she was Bella. Then they started playing hide-and-seek. Bella played with them, and they became good friends.

Jake hid behind a rock but fell asleep. When he woke up, it was 3 AM. He saw a person running toward him. Jake passed out. When he woke up, he saw Jane looking at him to see if he was OK.

“Why did you pass out, Jake?”

Jake realized that it was Jane.

Secret ending

Jane held his hand, then blew away like leaves. Jake and Bella cried, “Why did she go?” Later, the news said a girl named Jane passed away 40 years ago.

Secret ending part 2

Jane saw Jack. Jake and Bella looked sad at her grave. Jane said, “Thanks for being my friends.” Jane gave all of them good luck.

The End.

Jake tried to hide behind a rock. He waited for a long time. Jane was the seeker. She found Bella and Jack, but not Jake. Jane said, “Jack, we give up, come out now.” Jake got out and then saw it was Jack.

Jack freaked out because he hated nighttime. He called out, “Jane! Jack! Bella! Where are you guys?”

Jake saw it was 3 AM, but then he saw a person there. It was dark, and he passed out, but then it was Jane.

Jane just came over to ask if he was OK. Jack was happy he was safe. Jane held his hand, and then... was she safe or not?

Very very secret ending

Jane held his hand and then disappeared. Now Jake knew she was a ghost and had died 15 years ago. Her mom told him. Later, Jane was found by Bella, Jack, and Jane at the park.

Very Very Very Very Very secret END

Jack and Bella put her body in a grave, but then they saw a ghost of her. They cried,

“No, DON’T GO.” Jane said, “Thank you for being great friends.” Then she vanished, and all that was left were ashes. They put a picture of her on her grave.

Robert is a third grader and his favorite game is Roblox. He has a 21 year old sister and has a cat named Gigi.

My Home

Rosalinda T.

My house is white, orange, and brown. In the morning, the birds chirp and chirp.

When I walk outside, I can smell the pretty, pink flowers.

Sometimes, I see the local cats sleeping around the neighborhood. There’s a park at the end of the street. My friends, Maxine and Ella, like to play at the park. Our favorite game to play is tag.

When we are done playing, we go to the market. My favorite candy is Snickers.

At home, I like to play Roblox, Minecraft and watch TV. I like living in my neighborhood.

Rosalinda loves books. She likes spicy chips and drinking chocolate milk. She is eight years old and she likes toys.

Just Another Day

Santiago Cruz

At least once in your life you move to a new place, whether you got a new house or your old house is broken or for some other reason. Sometimes you have weird neighbors! Let me explain. I moved a lot and never stayed in one place, but this neighborhood is the weirdest one.

See, once I moved in, my mom told me, “Here are some cookies; go and talk to your neighbors and learn about them.”

I went outside and walked to my neighbor’s house, and knocked on the door. I looked inside the house and saw a UFO guest. They must really love Halloween, even though it was like five months ago! The lady opened the door, and she had a third eye! I stood there, looking at the lady who was our neighbor. When she spoke she had the sweetest voice ever and when I looked at her more carefully, I saw that she was an old lady holding a tray of chocolate chip cookies with a purple thing inside of it and then she asked me, “Would you like to try each other’s cookies?”

So we did and hers were delicious!

After that, we said goodbye, and I went to the other neighbors’ places and learned that one couple had robot hearts! Another one is a cranky grandma, and the grandson who lived with her wore a tinfoil hat! When he saw me, he dragged me inside the house and took me to his room. While we were there, he told me that all the other neighbors weren’t human and that we were the only ones; he said that some were aliens and others were agents and robots, but I didn’t believe him. They were pretty weird but not that bad.

After that, I left and met the other neighbors. These neighbors wore suits all the time and looked strict but when I gave them cookies, they became the biggest softies and even showed me their collection of bunny onesies. Their collection was the biggest I had ever seen.

After we talked and spent time together, I had no more cookies, so I left to go home and told my mom everything about all the weird neighbors.

She said, “That’s nice.”

I went to my room to go to sleep, and when I woke up, my mom told me their names.

The sweet lady was Ms. A, and she had a husband, Mr. A. The neighbors with the robot hearts were Mr. and Ms. R. The other neighbors were Mr. F and Ms. F, but she couldn’t find out the cranky granny’s name or her grandson’s name.

My mom told me to get ready for my new school, but when I went to the school, I saw Mr. and Ms. F standing outside, asking students some questions.

When they reached me they asked me “Have you seen any suspicious activity recently?”

But I said, “Nothing surprises me anymore.”

Then they said, “Okay you’re good to go,”

So I entered the building. After school, I went straight home and saw two SWAT officers on the street in front of our new house.

I looked at my mom and said “What happened now, and who did it?”

Then we saw Mr. F and Ms. F. Oh my gosh, they were FBI agents.

They said, “We’re sorry we told them everything,”

Then they explained that they knew everyone’s identity and they accidentally told everyone each other’s identities and then they explained their secrets Mr. A and Ms. A, really were aliens. Mr. R and Ms. R really were robots, and the cranky granny was actually a fortune teller who was speaking an ancient language, so then they told us that we had only one hour to get ready. So we got ready and when they came we were prepared. They checked but they couldn’t find anything weird in OUR house so they left. I think I like it here now.

Santiago loves to play his Nintendo Switch. He loves to ride his bicycle. Fun fact: he is very good at video games!

A Fight and a Win

Santiago Ortiz

Joshua and Kevin were third grade boys who played basketball for a team called The Humbles. They thought it would be fun to play against each other on different teams for the championship game against The Lions. Kevin asked if he could join The Lions. Both coaches said no.

Joshua and Kevin didn’t like this. They got mad at the coaches and got into a fight with the coaches. They decided not to play in the championship game and went home.

After they got to their houses, they turned on the TV (where the game was being shown) and saw The Humbles playing poorly. They decided together they would surprise their teammates and come back to help.

As members of the same team, they made a lot of three pointers and helped their team win the game 56 to 17!

After this, the coaches said that’s unfair. Then, they split the teams and the kids got what they wanted and the coaches were wrong.

Santiago likes to play video games like Little Universe. He has a dog named Max. His favorite flavor is vanilla

Maze

Valeria Sontay

Once upon a time, Jade, Angie, and I were walking through the neighborhood. Jade went running. Angie and I were confused because Jade was running until Jade disappeared from there. Our neighborhood was called Memory. It was a confusing place because we lived in a maze. The maze has black walls. The maze shape is circular. At the end of the maze was a dead end.

I’m Valerie. I’m 10 years old. Angie is my cousin. She’s nice. She takes care of me. She is 11 years old. Jade is Angie’s friend. She is my friend too. She is wild. Jade is wild because she doesn’t follow the rules. She is always hungry. Sometimes, she steals my food.

When Angie and I were looking for Jade, we were looking in the basement. I got lost. Angie starts looking. When she thought she was safe, she got lost. She couldn’t find me and Jade. She goes back until a 6 ft tall skinwalker appears out of nowhere. It started chasing me until I got tired. I stopped until the monster killed me. Angie was killed by the monster. Then it got Jade, and she died. No one knew that we died, they didn’t know where we went. Then, we came back to life. We were back at the start. Back in the maze like before. We were stuck in a loop.

Valerie is 10 years old. She has a dog named cookie. She wants to be a fashion designer. Valerie loves drawing. She hates Math. Her favorite food is Hot dogs.

Acknowledgments

826LA would like to thank to following for their support in making this chapbook possible:

Abigail Tesfamicael

Adrian Martinez Bernardino

Aiden Mosley

Alexandra August

Alexis Yang

America Pineda

Anna Harris

Angelina Perry

Anthony Ryan

Aquill Francisco

Arielle Cunanan

Ashley Fakolujo

Berenice Limeta

Bethel Tesfamicael

Binyamin Moryosef

Bryan Solis

Caily Newsome

Carla Elalam

Caroline Baxter

Christina Torres

Claire Flournoy

Clarissa Ly

Davynn (Bella) Benavides

Douglas Wood

Eric Nelson

Elijah Becerra

Elizabeth Osorio Garica

Elvis B. Vega

Emmanuel Enriquez

Ethan Simonds

Farah Abumeri

Frederick Prelle

Gary Walkow

Genesis Aparicio

Gerardo Flores-Seo

Greg Barnett

Gwendolyn Burke

Hanna Bolanos

Heather Prelle

Helia Khandanroo Javan

Isaiah Oneal

Jack Gilbert

Jadyn Sutton

Janis Cohen-Milch

Jennifer Kim

Jasmyne Flournoy

Jessenia Vargas Esparza

Jessica Chao

Jimmy Gu

John Leslie

Juan Reyes

Kaijing Zhou

Kenia Guzman

Kimberly Quezada

L’Oreal Dennis

Laisha Navarro Flores

Leah Hien

Leydi Hernandez

Lucias Cisneros

Madeleine Graham

Madison Wallace

Mairin Zarate

Mariana De Oliveira Souza

Marisa Hardwicke

Marissa Gawel

Mira Velimirovic

Mireya Polito

Missy Soto

Acknowledgments

826LA would like to thank to following for their support in making this chapbook possible:

Molly Talbot

Mwanday Yamegni

Netanya Sefer

Nsikan-Abasi Akpan

Omar Andrade

Ophelia White

Paloma Cortes

Rae Port

Rejoice Umo

Samantha Gardner

Shannon Alejandro

Shinjan Ghosh

Sofia Lovesy

Sosina Girma

Stephanie Cruz

Stephanie Luna

Talya Ramirez

Veronica Mateo

Xiaomeng Song

Xitlali Navarro

Xitlali Pulido

Yasmin Kim

Yen-Ai (Judy) Tai

Zara Seldon

About 826LA

Vision: 826LA envisions a Los Angeles where every child has access to quality writing education and is empowered to express themselves creatively through writing. We envision a Los Angeles where every teacher is supported in their writing-based educational objectives.

Mission: 826LA is dedicated to unlocking and cultivating the creative power of writin826LA is dedicated to unlocking and cultivating the creative power of writing for students ages 6 to 18, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

How we advance our mission: A nonprofit organization, our services are structured around our understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

With this in mind, we provide after-school tutoring in all subjects, evening and weekend workshops, in-school programs, field trips, college access, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications.

All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s ability to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their own voice.

Core Values:

826LA values joy in the service of achieving educational goals. Our community norms value diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. We therefore prioritize partnerships with Title 1 Schools, engagement with historically marginalized populations, and training and deploying communitybased volunteers in support of our mission. As a teaching approach, we value creativity, authenticity, empathy, and lively, rigorous, and studentcentered writing education. As an educational enrichment organization, we value supporting teachers, principals, and other school staff in the pursuit of excellence.

Programs

As an educational enrichment organization, we value supporting teachers, principals, and other school staff in the pursuit of excellence.

After-School Writing Programs

Mondays through Thursdays, students attend 826LA for after-school writing programs. Students participate in community building activities, work on homework or reading with trained tutors, and of course, write! Students submit their writing for inclusion in chapbooks, which 826LA publishes twice a year. To celebrate students’ hard work, 826LA unveils these chapbooks at book release parties, where students read their work to thunderous applause from their volunteers, families, and peers.

Field Trips

During the week, 826LA invites teachers and their students to our writing labs to participate in a morning of collaboration, creativity, and writing. Whether Storytelling & Bookmaking, Well-Wishing & Poetry, Choose Your Own Adventure, or Memoir, field trips at 826LA support teacher curriculum and student learning by offering a safe space for students to be their most imaginative and to work on their writing skills. In a few short hours, students brainstorm, write, edit their work, and leave with something tangible—a bound book—as well as a renewed confidence in their ability to tell their stories.

In-Schools Programs & Writers’ Rooms

Because not all students can come to us, 826LA brings specially trained volunteer tutors into classrooms throughout Los Angeles. There, volunteers provide one-on-one or small group assistance with writing projects. 826LA works with teachers to craft all projects, which are designed to engage students while targeting curricular needs. In addition to visiting twenty schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District each year, 826LA has additional sites within Manual Arts High School, Roosevelt High School, and Venice High School called The 826LA Writers’ Rooms.

Workshops

826LA’s workshops bring students together with artists, writers, and professionals for creative collaboration. Whether the subject is journalism or preparing for the zombie apocalypse, our workshops foster student creativity while strengthening writing skills. This program includes two long running partnerships with Paramount Pictures and the Hammer Museum.

Staff

Jaime Balboa

Executive Director

Diego Quevedo

Chief of Staff

Shani Foster

Director of Education

Christie Thomas

Director of Development

Pedro Estrada

Programs & Operations Manager, Echo Park

Mike Dunbar Programs & Operations Manager, Mar Vista

Mateo Acosta

Associate Director of Community Engagement

Carinne Mangold

Store and General Operations Manager

Time Travel Marts in Echo Park & Mar Vista

Alma Carrillo

Senior Manager of Strategic Partnerships and Communications

Trevor Crown

Senior Manager of Volunteer Innovation and Assessment

Ariadne Makridakis Arroyo

Senior Volunteer Coordinator

Katie Feige

Institutional Giving Manager

Maddie Silva Manager of Special Initiatives

Arisdeysi Cruz

Tutoring Program Coordinator

Marco Beltran Writers’ Room Program Coordinator

Manual Arts High School

Wendy Beltran

Senior Writers’ Room Program Coordinator, Roosevelt High School

Cole Montgomery

Senior Development Coordinator

Ariana Ponce Olivares

Senior Civic Engagement Coordinator

Wilson Swain

Creative Engagement Specialist

Julia Malinow

In-Schools and Tutoring Program Coordinator

Caz Shen

Store Associate

Board

Karen Van Kirk

Board President

Customer Experience & Operations

Sarah Rosenwald Varet

Board Vice President

Governance Committee Chair Attorney

David Ullendorff Board Treasurer

Finance Committee Chair Co-Founder, Mathnasium

Cisca Brouwer

Development Committee Chair Attorney/Writer

Ben Au

Litigation Partner, Orrick

Jeff Boos Brokerage Operations & Services, Side

Scott Boxenbaum Comedian & Real Estate

Iman Farrior

Business Affairs Executive, Creative Artists Agency

Joe Ferencz CEO/Founder, GameFam

Scott A. Ginsburg Real Estate, Boulevard Partners

Susan Ko Clinical Psychology & Executive Leadership

Hon. Holly A. Thomas Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit

Dave Eggers Emeritus and 826 Founder

Advisory Board

J.J. Abrams

Judd Apatow

Miguel Arteta

Mac Barnett

Steve Barr

Joshuah Bearman

Father Gregory

Boyle, S.J.

Amy Brooks

Stefan Bucher

Kathleen Caliento

Monique Demery

Mark Flanagan

Ben Goldhirsh

Rebecca Goldman

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein

DeAnna Gravillis

Terri Hernandez Rosales

Christine Jaroush

Spike Jonze

Miranda July

Catherine Keener

Keith Knight

Al Madrigal

R. Scott Mitchell

Lani Monos

B.J. Novak

Miwa Okumura

Amber Paasch

Jane Patterson

Keri Putnam

Sylvie Rabineau

Sonja Rasula

Will Reiser

Luis Rodriguez

Tara Roth

Brad Simpson

J. Ryan Stradal

Natalie Tran

Sarah Vowell

Sally Willcox

Julie Wiskirchen

Shop the Time Travel Mart!

Visit our Time Travel Mart storefronts in Echo Park and Mar Vista where you can shop for all your time traveling gears and gadgets. From Mammoth Chunks to Robot Milk to original student-authored books, we pride ourselves on being the only Los Angeles purveyor of quality goods from the past, present, and future. The proceeds from the store help to keep all programs free for our students. You can also visit the stores online at timetravelmart.com.

Echo Park 1714 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Mar Vista 12515 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066