Young Wordsmiths

LEKHA’S first E-BOOK!!

MARCH 2020

YOUNG WORDSMITHS Young Wordsmiths is the online magazine of Lekha Writing Center.

It is dedicated to publishing writing BY and FOR children.

FOUNDER: JYOTI YELAGALAWADI

Text Copyright by Lekha students as noted in the Lekha Anthologies published by Lekha Publishers LLC. Material in this magazine are drawn from student writings’ from Lekha Anthologies published over the years as well as from current student writings’ from Lekha Writing Center classes and camps.

Images Used are Copyright Free and Royalty Free.

Fonts Used: Cavolini, Adobe Devanagari.

FOUNDER’S NOTE Dear friends of Lekha,

These are unprecedented times.

As we sit on our couches, days seem to fly by. Sometimes it feels like things might never go back to normal. There is no need to dress up these days. It’s pajama day everyday. No parties to go to, no hanging out with friends, no stepping out to go watch a movie or to go to your favorite pizza place. For many of our young wordsmiths, sitting in a classroom, listening to a teacher may seem like a long time ago.

As we sit in our homes and look around us, we see flowers blooming, birds chirping, and nature seems to be content. The skies are clear and the stars are bright, but all we can do is to go out into the backyard and sit under the sky all alone. The peace and quiet feels nice, but is it going to continue to stay like this for a while?? If so, for how long??? We all know that this too shall eventually pass.

The worst of times have brought out the best in people.

We have seen doctors and nurses flying from various parts of the country to help out where help is needed the most. We have seen housewives and even young children pull our their sewing machines to make life saving masks for those who need one and some providing free meals to others in need.

The generosity of the human spirit is obvious in these unprecedented times. This pause in the normal routine has helped us give some thought to how we can care about each other and the world.

We at Lekha, are storytellers at heart. We choose to see the positive side in everything. We are wordsmiths, who spin words, which hopefully bring sanity to our readers. Hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Love, Jyoti Yelagalawadi.

Founder of Lekha Ink, Corp.

YOUNG WORDSMITHS is a quarterly magazine.

ONLINE ISSN: 2691-7912 Vol 3. No 1 Price: $2.99 EDITOR: Radhika Rajesh Raikar

STORIES Definition Poem

By Aadya Rabindranath Age 10.

Stories create a world that you can step into and imagine whatever you want.

If you love to write and love telling stories, then please send your submissions to the following email address: submissions@lekhaink.com

Inside this issue…..

The importance of Doctors

...Page 7

Word Games

….Page 8-9

Illustrated Couplets

…Page 10-11

My Life

...Page 12

Acrostic Poem

...Page 13

Life of Lucky

…Page 14-16

Sundown

….Page 17

The fox and the bird

...Page 18-21

Color Poems

...Page 22-23

Animal Poems

…Page 24-25

Winning

...Page 26-27

A new home for baby Dino

...Page 28-29

The three little dragons

...Page 30-33

Retelling

....Page 34

Elephants and Mice

…..Page 35-39

Pikoo Peacock

….Page 40-41

These are consequential times, crazier even then wartimes.

A vicious virus spreading like a raging wildfire has made the situation around the world dire.

Human character is being seriously tested.

Let’s all try to be the best, not the bested.

When social norms shatter, saving lives should matter.

Essentials workers make us proud, cheered on by a clapping crowd.

Doctors, nurses and teachers are true heroes and healers.

Let us help each other and share and trust nature with our welfare.

Our young wordsmiths have also been affected by these unprecedented times and some have chosen to express themselves in words.

Below is a fictional story written by Kartheeka Chirala which highlights the importance of doctors.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCTORS Written by Kartheeka Chirala, Age 10

Once upon a time, there was an island. On that island, there was a kingdom. The kingdom was very happy and wealthy.

It’s herbs were the finest remedies to the deadliest diseases. All the townspeople would gather herbs themselves. No doctors were needed.

One day, a young woman moved into this kingdom. Her name was Avani. She was a doctor with expertise with medicine.

As Avani was a doctor, she was not welcomed in the kingdom by its people. The people in the kingdom thought that as they had the finest herbs for all diseases, they did not need a doctor. Avani was frowned upon by the people in the kingdom. When she tried to find a job as a doctor, nobody would hire her. If she did get a small odd job, she would be paid very little. As a result, she was very poor.

One day, a resident of the kingdom got very sick. Her name was Drishti. Everyone tried to cure her but nothing worked. Drishti died of her illness.

Soon, this illness started spreading in the kingdom. To stop the spread of the infection, everyone had to stay inside. Due to this, no one could attend their jobs. The economy crashed and the kingdom became very poor.

The king became very worried. Then, he had a solution. He called the young woman, Avani, to his palace.

“Avani, can you find a cure for this disease? If you do, I will give you whatever you wish.”

“I will definitely try”, Avani replied.

She knew this disease for it was common in her native land. She searched for the right herbs in the nearby forest.

Avani worked day and night to make the medicine for everyone in the kingdom. She requested the king to evenly distribute it to the residents of the kingdom.

Soon, the illness was gone and the economy recovered.

The people in the kingdom were happy. They now understood the importance, sacrifices, and hard work of doctors.

The End

ESSENTIAL SERVICE WORKERS During these tough times , we have come across so many people who make sure that we are healthy, happy, and safe. Here’s a word scramble dedicated to all the essential workers, some of whom have been named here.

As the name suggests, people who work in essential services are very important to all of us. Let us see where these people work?

Unscramble the following words to find out where our doctors, garbagemen, and other such important people work. Use the letters in the circles to appreciate them.

Writing, rhyming, drawing, coloring, imagining, Lekha young wordsmiths are good at everything.

There was a bee near the tree.

Illustrated couplets written by Mia Burke, Age 11

This chair has a tear.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

MY LIFE

By Omeesha Patel My name is Kilo. I’m a black belt in Tae Kwan Do. It took me a long time to get my black belt. You see, I was always teased because I was the only girl in my class.

I was always bullied. One of the major bullies was Le. He was so mean.

All the boys teased me. They called me, “Kilo the crazy boy.”

I felt that I couldn’t reach the black belt if I was teased and if the boys kept refusing to fight. They would just walk away.

I took my belt test at my class on 9th Street. My teacher’s name is Jabey. I did five kicks and got a blue belt. The next day, I learned the splits and got my purple belt.

Then, I got an invitation to skip belts and go to black belt if I win a tournament! I battled all the boys of my class and won all the rounds.

I was left with Le. We started. He kicked my leg and fractured it, but I had to prove the boys that I’m brave. I kicked him out of bounds and woah!

Now I’m a black belt!!! People called me “ the strong elephant.”

I wrote a poem about my Tae Kwan Do experience.

Here it is…..

Acrostic poem about Tae Kwan Do

By Omeesha Patel.

The time I was teased A boy, everyone called me.

Elephants they are.

Kilo, be brave, I told myself.

Why do the boys say that I’m not brave?

A

black belt I want.

No luck so far.

Do the tournament and win.

Oh, I actually won!

“elephant strong” they call me!

Storytelling always involves the presentation of a narrative. The narrative which is presented from a personal point of view can be serious, inspiring, funny or even scary. In a personal narrative, you have to make your audience feel what you feel.

Personal stories, specially those which focus on a specific character can also be told as a series of stories.

A young Lekha wordsmith wrote a series of truly heartwarming stories about her grandma’s dog Lucky in her book, “The Life of Lucky”.

Lucky is a Japanese dog. He was just a puppy when he was shipped away from his house. Lucky has grown up with my Grandma Ruby and Uncle William. He was given to them as a present by my grandmother’s brother.

Lucky is very gentle and doesn’t ever bite. Lucky is an elderly dog now, but I have many memories of him. “ The Life of Lucky” includes a few heartwarming true stories about Lucky.

M.A.L.

Below is a story written and illustrated by M.A.L from the book, “The Life of Lucky”

Lucky is terrified of fireworks because of the big BOOM!!!!!!! sound it makes. To him, the sound of fireworks is as frightening as a gunshot is to us. I just feel really sorry for him. Actually, I don’t really blame him at all, not a bit. If you didn’t know that it was only a big celebration, just some entertainment, or simply enjoyable fun, wouldn’t you be just as frightened as him?? No? Really? You’re sure ? Really, think about it. You’re walking up to your sleeping quarters. Suddenly….BOOM!!!!!

A strange and colorful light fills the sky as you hear a frightening loud noise.

BOOM!!!! Wouldn’t you jump away in terror? Or run to your bed? Or whimper in fright? Or bark fearfully? Or run in circles, howling like mad? Or maybe go and paw at the door, begging to be let into the house? Or just tremble a bit? Wouldn’t you at least get nervous? I would get terribly insanely frightened.

Anyway, back to my main point, Lucky absolutely hates the fourth of July.

To him, it’s the worst/dumbest/scariest/most terrible/most horrible/most frightening/most-not-understandable holiday in the history of the universe!

To Lucky, the fourth of July is more frightening than HALLOWEEN itself !!!!!

For Lucky, fireworks are scarier than frightening-looking goblins, wailing ghosts, wart-covered witches, evil wizards, blood-sucking vampires, creepy looking spiders, bloodthirsty villains, gigantic monsters, million-year-old mummies, bony skeletons, blood-red demons, fork-tailed devils, ugly trolls, slug-eating ogres, towering giants, and fire-breathing dragons.

Oh, poor scared, frightened, whimpering Lucky! He must get so afraid on the fourth of July!

I no longer enjoy watching fireworks, and I never, ever will again. Now, I hate fireworks! HATE! Oh, who knew the birthday of America could be so frightening from a dog’s point of view ? Really, I’m serious. WHO KNEW?

SUNDOWN

By Daniela Londero It is almost sundown and everyone is near.

I hope no fog is out now So it can be clear.

The sun is always beautiful.

When everyone comes, I want the sun to be near so everyone plays their drums.

Sundown at the beach Spilling golden light.

The sun feels very bright.

It’s hard to stare at the light.

We are having a good time.

I will always love to rhyme.

Fables are one of the most enduring forms of literature.

A fable is a fictional story in prose or verse that typically has animals, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature that are given human qualities, like the ability to speak like a human.

Most fables tend to convey a moral lesson expressed at the end of the story as a pithy maxim.

Below is an example of a fable written and illustrated by Ziovanni Jenkins.

“Oh bird, oh bird,” said the fox. “Will you please bring me some food. I’m starving.”

The bird was kind hearted.

He went to find some food for the fox.

Everyday he continued to feed the fox.

Then, one day the fox married.

Later, he had kids.

Now the bird had to get more food for the entire family.

The bird became tired.

He did not want to take care of the fox.

He realized he was being manipulated.

So, he stopped giving food to the fox.

Morals It’s okay to say “NO”.

Don’t take advantage of others.

Don’t manipulate people.

Ziovanni Jenkins wrote many wonderful stories in his Lekha Summer Story Writing camp in Tracy in 2019.

RED

By Tanvi Kollu, Age 10 Red looks like the American flag and thing 1 and 2.

Red smells like an apple orchard and the autumn breeze.

Red tastes like a fresh baked cherry pie and jellybeans.

Red sounds like a child screaming and a bright burning flame.

Red feels like the pain of bleeding and the anger of betrayal.

LAVENDER

By Nikita Prabhu, Age 10.

Beautiful, bright colors in the light sky, makes me calm and sleepy.

Small purple petals of lavender make a whole bundle of flowers.

You must wonder about where they came from, just so peaceful in the background.

On the calm wooden table, and the very still trees and branches, Just look how light, these beautiful colors are!

The white light pot, holds the beautiful flowers in place, with it’s beautiful handle to hold when you smell.

Just wonder how the aroma would spread!

Imagine the flowers in the breeze, how pretty would it look!

The scent of the flowers, Cannot ever we imagine, how beautiful the scent will be.

THE HORSE

By Sean Budiman A horse is running across the field.

A green hill and a sunny day.

Its skin is as hard as a shield.

The horse likes to eat hay.

Rabbit

By Katherine Chen White and cute It likes to eat carrots.

It can hop.

BLACK MAMBA

By Anshul Reddy Mamba.

Dangerous and deadly.

Aggressive and hurtful.

Kills people really quickly.

Snake.

WINNING

By Sahiba Aggarwal Would we win or not?????

My dance team was going to be competing onstage in an hour and I was still at home. I triple–checked to make sure that I had everything.

Then my mom said, “Come on Sahiba, we have a long drive to where the competition is being held.”

There were over one hundred teams all competing, but I was sure we would win this time.

Once we got there, there was nervousness everywhere: in the faces of the dancers, in the voices of the parents and teachers, and everyone’s palms. I quickly found my team. I could sense their nervousness too.

We got ready quickly. When we were finally ready, we had some extra time, so I looked around the place. My face was shining with makeup.

The stage was as big as my teacher told us it was going to be. She wasn’t lying. It was as huge as a football field.

Finally, it was time to go onstage. I was nervous at first, but after the first eight-beats, I was worry free. I just knew we were going to do a wonderful performance. We were great and we were all smiling by the end. When the performance was over, I was sure that we had done an awesome job and that we did out best.

When the awards were being announced, my team was as stiff as a frozen stick. Our ears were yearning to hear our teams’ name, “ The Dancers.”

They announced the “Most Improved Team” and the “Best Dressed Team” awards so slowly. It felt like it took a whole century. At last, it was time to announce the awards for “The Best Dance”.

All one hundred teams were as nervous as hyper bees. The third place trophy announcement came and went. Ahh, we still have a chance to win first, I thought. Then they announced second place.

It was seconds away from the announcement of first place. We all fidgeted in our seats.

“And the first-place winner is….team number thirteen!” announced the lady with the microphone.

Yes!!!! That was us!

My team went up to the stage. The trophies were all tall and white with a statue of a person on top. We took our trophies and hugged each other.

Click, click, click!!

The cameras snapped. A billion pictures were taken. Our teacher’s face was shining with pride.

When we got back to the dance class one month later, our teacher said, “Next year, we have another competition and this time, don’t worry about winning. Just have fun!”

Will we win the next competition too????

I can’t wait to find out.

A NEW HOME FOR THE BABY DINO

By Ashley MacDonald Once upon a time, there was a mommy dinosaur and a baby dinosaur.

They lived in a barrel next to a school. The baby dinosaur was trained to open the door when the doorbell rang.

One day, the mommy dinosaur decided to go berry-picking.

She had called the grandma dinosaur to come over and babysit.

But the grandma dinosaur left the message saying, “I can’t babysit, because I’m sick.”

But, the mommy dinosaur didn’t check her messages and she left.

She told the baby to open the door when the doorbell rang. But, the grandma dinosaur never came.

So the baby dinosaur cried. She went out of her barrel and went into the school through the window. Everyone screamed. “ There is a dinosaur in here! Everybody out!!� cried the teacher.

The teacher did not notice that the dinosaur was a baby.

The dinosaur cried and then everyone petted her until her mommy came.

Then her mommy made her a new golden barrel for them to live in.

THE THREE LITTLE DRAGONS

By Sean Chen There were three little dragons. The first dragon always had bad luck. The second dragon always had bad luck too. But, the third dragon always had good luck.

ONE DAY… One day, the dragons found a rock tree. The first dragon ran fast toward the tree. He ran so fast that he bonked into the tree.

There was a dinosaur resting in the tree. He felt the crash and threw a rock on top of the first dragon’s head, and threw a banana peel in front of the first dragon’s leg.

The second dragon came running to the tree. The dinosaur saw the second dragon and threw a rock at his leg. The second dragon tripped over the rock, slipped on the banana peel and slid into the first dragon.

The third dragon walked up to the tree, but the dinosaur was asleep. He helped them up and they complained.

They said, “ You always have good luck!”

DAY TWO….

On the second day, they went rock climbing.

The first dragon fell into a pit. The second dragon let go of the rope. But, the third dragon made it to the top. He came down and helped the other dragons.

THIRD DAY… On the third day, they went to the carnival. The first dragon fell off the roller coaster when it was 9,999 blue whales tall. The second dragon went into the military cannon and went into space. He went back to Earth. But, the third dragon was happily riding the Ferris wheel.

FOURTH DAY… On the fourth day, they went skiing. The first dragon was skiing so fast that he went up high in the sky and landed on top of the electric wire. The second dragon went up a ski lift and fell off. But, the third dragon went happily down the mountain.

The first and second dragon complained. They said to the third dragon, “You always have good luck!! Why can’t we have good lucK ?? You are a lucky-ducky!”

FIFTH DAY….

On the fifth day, the dragons went hiking in the forest. The first dragon was chased by a mountain lion down the hill. The second dragon was kicked up into the air by a deer.

But, the third dragon was peacefully hiking. He did not know where the other dragons were. Finally he found them.

SIXTH DAY….

On the sixth day, they went up a bump and crashed. The second dragon crashed into the wall. But, the third dragon was eating French fries.

SEVENTH DAY….

On the seventh day the dragons went to play soccer. The first dragon tripped over the soccer ball. The second dragon was knocked down by a soccer ball. But, the third dragon scored a goal.

EIGHT DAY… On the eighth day the dragons went sailing. The first dragon fell off the boat. The second dragon slipped on a railing. But, the third dragon was eating lunch.

NINTH DAY….

On the ninth day, they went to a military museum. The first dragon pressed a button for fire and a rock came out and hit him.

The second dragon fell into booby-traps. The third dragon was watching the air show.

TENTH DAY….

On the tenth day, they went anchoring. The first and second dragon made zero points.

ELEVENTH DAY….

On the eleventh day, they went golfing. The first dragon hit the hall a millimeter away from the start. The second dragon hit the ball 1000 feet from the finish. The third dragon got a hole in one.

TWELFTH DAY… On the twelfth day, the dragons went to play baseball. The first dragon got out. The second dragon got out too. But, the third dragon got a home run.

THIRTEENTH DAY…..

By the thirteenth day, they went to fix a house and the first and second dragon surely fell into more bad luck.

The first and second dragon complained. They said, “We NEVER get anything good! We want some thing good! We want some good luck!”

They said to the third dragon, “We want to have the best luck!!”

After reading a story, kids should be encouraged to retell the events that occurred in the story.

Story retelling helps kids to analyze stories and understand sequence, plot, and characterization. It allows them to learn to organize and describe events, which helps with reading comprehension.

Some storytellers choose to retell a familiar story by adding more details or layering the story differently in terms of unfolding events, without changing the true essence of the story.

Characteristics of good retelling are: using character names, adding details to the setting, plotting the storyline with a good beginning, middle and end, elaborating the problem the characters are having and describing how the problem was solved. Retelling is also enhanced with illustrations.

Panchatantra stories are the oldest surviving fables from India. Elephants and Mice is one of the fables from the Panchatantra. The original story was as follows:

A village was ruined by an earthquake. The vacant homes became homes for a large number of mice.

A herd of elephants traveled through the village to reach a lake nearby.

But they ended trampling a lot of mice on their way.

The king of the mice met the kings of elephants. He requested him to use another route to save his mice from getting trampled. The elephant king agreed. The mice king agreed to be there for the elephant king in his time of need.

When the elephant king was trapped by hunters, the mice king was able to keep his promise and save the elephants. The result was the forging of a long term friendship between the elephants and the mice.

I have retold the story differently in the next few pages.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

ELEPHANTS AND MICE- Origin of an enduring friendship Story : Radhika Rajesh Raikar Artwork : Pankaj Sadanand Pawaskar

In the beautiful village of Bhoomi, humans and animals lived peacefully.

But, peace was shattered when Bhoomi was struck by an earthquake. As the earth trembled, people and animals ran helter-skelter to save themselves and help each other. The earth finally stopped shaking, but the streets and homes lay in ruins.

People could no longer live in their broken homes. So, they abandoned the village.

But, some animals chose to stay.

Mushaka was the sage king of all the mice. In a thoughtful speech he said, “Bhoomi is our home. We cannot abandon it. We will stay and rebuild and continue to dwell and prosper here�.

All the mice got to work and cleaned up the ruins of the big human homes. They fixed up their small mouse homes and continued living peacefully in the village of Bhoomi.

Help Bachaw AAI GA

On the borders of Bhoomi, was a beautiful lake called JalaTala.

Many animals came there to drink water, bathe and enjoy water sports.

A herd of majestic elephants lead by King Ameya and his chief minister Gaja had always frequented JalaTala. But, the earthquake had destroyed their regular route leading up to the lake.

King Mushaka with his mice had fixed up the streets of Bhoomi.

Minister Gaja realized that they could take a short cut through Bhoomi to JalaTala. King Ameya was excited by this good news. The next day, King Ameya led his majestic herd of elephants through Bhoomi to get to JalaTala.

King Ameya with his herd jostled through the streets of Bhoomi and did not realize that they were trampling many mice along the way.

King Mushaka witnessing his mice getting crushed rushed towards King Ameya and said, “Oh, mighty King. Please, do watch your steps. My friends are being stomped by you and your herdsmen.”

Startled, King Ameya stopped in his tracks. He looked down and realized how many tiny mice had been hurt.

Being a kind soul, he said, “I’m so sorry King Mushaka. We did not realize we had accidently hurt so many mice.”

With folded hands, King Mushaka pleaded, “Could you please choose another route to get to the JalaTala. If you choose to do so, you will be doing all the mice a big favor and I will remember to return the favor in the time of need”.

King Ameya graciously replied, “We will change our route to get to the lake. There will be no danger to your mice from us anymore.”

The sage King Mushaka bowed with humility to thank King Ameya.

King Ameya chuckled and said smugly, “But, as to your generous offer of help in the time of need, I do not think mighty elephants like us would ever need any help from mini mice like you.”

But, King Mushaka stood up on his hind paws as tall as he could and stretched out his right front paw in a gesture of a genteel agreement, “But, I will be there for you whenever you need me.”

The courteous King Ameya, stretched out his titanic trunk and gently touched King Mushaka’s outstretched paw.

King Ameya kept his word to King Mushaka and his herd never passed through the village of Bhoomi again.

Some years passed by. Things had started to change in the outside world. Some greedy human hunters, who profited from selling the tusks of elephants started setting traps in the jungles.

One day, King Ameya and some of his herdsmen fell into these traps. No matter how hard they tried, they could not set themselves free from the strong nets.

King Ameya wondered who would be able to help him now. It was in this moment of desperation that Ameya remembered Mushaka’s words.

King Ameya trumpeted loudly and called out to his Minister Gaja, who luckily had not been caught in the traps.

“Gaja, go to King Mushaka at once and remind him of his promise to help.”

When Gaja informed Mushaka of the situation, Mushaka gathered all the mice and declared to them, “Now is the time for us to help the elephants and return their favor.�

All the mice gathered behind Mushaka and scurried through the forest behind Gaja to the spot where King Ameya and others had been trapped.

They got to work immediately gnawing away at the thick nets with their sharp teeth, till all the elephants were set free.

Thus, petite puny mice saved the entrapped majestic mighty elephants from the harsh heartless elephant hunters.

King Ameya thanked King Mushaka and his mice profusely and said, “I will always remember never to underestimate anyone based on their appearance. Even the smallest among us can help the mighty.�

King Ameya and King Mushaka remained friends till the end of days.

If there is a story that you have always loved to read and would like to retell, please do send your submissions to: submissions @lekhaink.com

Let’s go digital!!!

That has been my wish for the past couple of years. Converting a book to an Ebook is not difficult at all. But, creating a book that is primed for the digital platform is a challenge.

I wished to create a mobile app that would make the process of writing simple yet engaging and make publishing a breeze!

My desire was fulfilled when Lekha Ink, came up with the write4joy app.

This app which is currently available on iPads won the best education app award. You can now write your story using the app and publish it as an ebook and an ibook!

Lekha Ink is very proud to present it’s first ebook which was published using the write4joy app- Pikoo Peacock!!!!

Pikoo Peacock is available on Amazon-Kindle.

Above is a page from the companion coloring book for Pikoo Peacock.

The artwork has been done by Pankaj Sadanand Pawaskar.

BUILDING CREATIVE YOUNG MINDS Young Wordsmiths is the online magazine of the Lekha Writing Center.

Lekha is committed to developing a generation of children who think beyond the book!

write4joy Learn the art of writing creatively.

Writing stories, poems, plays, and essays will become a joy.

Use the write4joy app and become the writer you wish to be.