Young Wordsmiths 3rd issue , 2021

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.

Images from Shutterstock have been used in this issue.

Fonts Used: Segoe Print, Adobe Devanagari.

Dear friends of Lekha,

Hope you are all having a safe and healthy year.

This issue is the first after the end of the Lekha 2021 summer camps. As usual, we had a great summer with children writing impressive stuff.

There is nothing more satisfying than reading the words of the next generation. We had an exciting summer camp schedule and enjoyed engaging with the children in our in-person and online camps.

Their imaginations ran wild as they tapped into their thoughts and memories and weaved together an adventurous tapestry of exciting mysteries filled with elements of science fiction, funny tall tales, original plays, story poems filled with creativity and ingenious picture books with original and cute illustrations.

This year’s magazines including this issue will bring you the best of what our students have written.

You will also see some that have been submitted by children who are not students of Lekha.

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 4. No 2 Price: $2.99 EDITOR: Radhika Rajesh Raikar

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…..

Autumn The Pasture

...Page 6 ….Page 7

The Clown Fish and the Dolphin

…Page 8-13

Stage Fright

...Page 14-15

The Tale of Tails

...Page 16-19

I’m not a Toy

…Page 20-21

Friendship Story

...Page 22-25

The Big Game

...Page 26

Dinosaurs play soccer

…Page 27

Cinderella stuck on a rainbow

…Page 28-29

Word Games

...Page 30-31

Good Friends

...Page 32

The Banana Tree

...Page 33

Micki Manbear 101

...Page 34-36

Pokeman-Black and White

...Page 37

Little Dragon

...Page 38

Soccer– the game I love to play

...Page 39

AUTUMN FREE VERSE BY NIKHIL VENUGOPAL, AGE 11, 2021

Red, yellow, orange The trees are shedding their fur Trees are now empty

Gray clouds over me Light sprinkles moisture the ground Cold wind blows the leaves

Only crows remain Squirrels hide inside the trees

THE PASTURE FREE VERSE BY GRACE LCHINAGA, AGE 10 IN 2012

Leaves crumble under my boots, Sticks roll down the hill, It's a quiet, peaceful place in the fall.

A dried pond, soon to be frozen, Snow white, grass and twigs, Some patches more verdant than others.

One giant tree, not flamboyant at all, Still stands powerfully at its highest posture, Sadly, it's impossible to climb.

I cannot help but close my eyes and hum, Feeling the wind brush by my face, It is cold, but it is soothing.

“Before they read words, children are reading pictures.”

David Weisner– Author and Artist.

THE CLOWN FISH AND THE DOLPHIN A PICTURE BOOK BY JAMES PENG, AGE 8, 2021

Once upon a time there was a clown fish and a dolphin.

They were not friends. They had different ideas.

“I wanna play swing,” said the dolphin.

“No, I wanna play soccer,” said the clown fish.

“I wanna play basketball!’ said the clown fish.

“Noooooooooo! I wanna play football,” said the dolphin.

“Hey guys, stop fighting,” said the clown fish’s mom.

“Noooooo!” said the clown fish.

“Fine. Ok.” said the dolphin.

“Be friends.” said the clown fish’s mom.

“Ok mom,” said the clownfish and the dolphin agreed.

“Can we play soccer?” asked the clown fish.

“Sure!” said the dolphin.

They became friends and were happy ever after.

STAGE FRIGHT WRITTEN BY AADYA MISALA AGE 8, 2021 CLIPART CHOSEN BY AADYA MISALA A girl named Katie loved to sing. She would sing all day long. She would start singing right from the time she woke up in the morning and brushed her teeth. She would sing till the end of the day when she brushed her teeth again in the night before she went to bed.

Few days later, there was a singing contest at school. Katie wanted to join, but there was a problem. Katie had stage fright. Katie thought if she sang in front of everyone they would not like her song.

Katie‘s younger brothers, James and Chris always teased Katie, though her mom Anna and her dad Tom always encouraged her.

Katie’s BFF Madison said, “It's ok to be scared.”

Madison knew Katie had stage fright. When Madison and Katie were young they had participated in a school play in which Katie was so scared that she ran off stage.

With Madison’s support, Katie decided to participate in the school contest. But, on the day of the contest Katie did not show up.

Madison went to Katie’s house and told Katie, “You need to face your fears.”

Katie decided to do just that. She went to the contest and stood on stage in front of everyone. She looked at the crowd and saw her mom, dad, brothers and her best friend Madison yelling, “Go Katie!”

Katie sang a song and everybody loved her song.

Lekha’s young wordsmiths are always encouraged to take into account the “Story Plot Mountain” as they write about their characters, their settings, events, climax and resolution of any story.

Aadya Misala outlined important elements in her story with the “Story Plot Mountain”, as follows: CHARACTERS

SETTINGS

SOLUTION

Main Character/ Katie

Katie’s home

Katie faces her fears

Katie’s School

Katie sings a song

Dad/Tom Mom/Anna Brothers/James Brother/Chris Best friend/Madison

PROBLEM Katie’s stage fright

Everyone loves her singing.

THE END!!

ALL ALES

Tall tales are folktales with unbelievable exaggerations and are fun to hear. They are meant to be humorous and are told as if they were true.

ME AND THE TALE OF TAILS WRITTEN BY RHEA MAHESH, AGE 9, 2021 One day, I saw this weird scene. Animals biting each other; it was hilarious.

It all began on June 22, which happened to be a Tuesday. Now I shall tell you this hilarious tale.

THE TALE OF TAILS One day the Zebra was running, she was running like mad.

The lion was chasing her tail.

He was chasing her tail, while I was drinking Ginger Ale and the Zebra’s name was Abigail.

The lion bit her tail and the Zebra let out a shriek!

Then, a python sitting on a mountain slithered off the peak.

The python chased the lion, while I was sipping Ginger Ale and I knew the python would not fail.

He bit the lion’s tail and the lion let out a scream!

He ran and ran and ran to dip his tail into the stream.

A donkey galloped and ran to the python leaping over a light beam.

The python slithered too slow, while the donkey ran faster than a buffalo.

The donkey ran faster and bit the python’s tail and the python let out a scream so shrill.

A fox heard the python scream and charged all the way down the hill.

The fox ran and ran and ran until he was near the donkey.

I sipped lemonade and I played while the fox bit the donkey’s tail.

She screamed and shouted and yelled and brayed and bellowed that she needed an aid.

The giraffe however had no idea.

She ran and jumped over a tree and her name was Tia. She chased the fox’s tail, while I sipped some more Ginger Ale.

Tia ran and ran and ran and ran until she was near the fox’s tail.

Then she bit the fox’s tail and he let out a howl.

He howled and howled and howled and swore he would not prowl.

The hippo heard the fox’s yell, and he bounded all the way from the well.

The hippo bit the giraffe’s tail and she let out a wail.

She chased and chased and chased her tail

until she cried for my Ginger Ale. Then the hippo let out a groan; it was the Zebra by herself alone.

She bit the hippo’s tail and I knew she did not fail.

Then all the animals bit everyone’s tail and made sure they would not flail.

Then, they all fled, but no blood was shed.

Then, they all went back to bed.

I refilled my cup of Ginger Ale and that is the end of the Tale Of Tails

I’M NOT A TOY NARRATIVE POEM BY SWEEKRUTI KULKARNI, AGE 10, IN 2012 Once there was a bunny, who was very funny.

He loved when people gave him a pat, But one day, his owner got a rat.

The bunny was very mad, But, soon he was just sad.

No one paid attention to him.

They all loved the rat named Kim. The bunny had never been named, Yet, Kim had been, the bunny was shamed.

“Alas! Perhaps I was never meant to shine,” the bunny sighed with a whine.

Kim was no help since he was very vain, The bunny thought, ‘He’s such a pain!”

One day, a man appeared at the door, And said, “Oh, Theo, I have to miss you no more!”

Then he explained while laughing with joy, “You see, Theo got lost at the store that sells toys!”

The boy handed over the little rat, and said, “I treated my bunny like a mat!”

The next day, the boy apologized to the bunny, and named it a wonderful name, Honey, Honey and the boy had lots of fun, They always played in the sun, Honey forgave the boy, The boy had stopped treating him like a toy.

Playing with him when he was feeling good, And not all, when he wasn’t in the mood!

NARRATIVE POEM Narrative poem is an archaic art of story telling

and has been used since ancient times as a means of passing down important stories. It is captivating and dramatic way to tell a story using the elements of poetry like rhyme, meter and repetition.

FRIENDSHIP STORY WRITTEN BY AASHNA SHETH, 2021 Once upon a time, there was a pony named Cookie Swirl. She was a little foal. She always wanted to go into the dark and scary forest, the Everfree Forest.

One day, she saw a pony with pretty black hair walk to her.

“Hello, my name is Midnight Shimmer. What’s your name?” the black-haired pony asked.

“My name is Cookie Swirl,” said Cookie Swirl.

Just as she said that, a pegasus pony appeared!

“Hi!” said the pegasus.

“Hello. My name is Midnight, and this is Cookie” said Midnight. “Who are you?”

The pegasus pony said, “I’m Autumn Breeze. But, you can call me Autumn.”

“Hi Autumn!” said Cookie.

They all walked around Ponyville. Suddenly, they saw another pegasus falling down from the sky. “LOOK OUT! COMING THROUGH!” said the pegasus.

“Oh no!” said Midnight. She activated a spell, and the pony landed safely.

“Thank you so much! I thought I would crash! By the way, my name is Dash,” said the pegasus.

“Hey, Dash! I’m Cookie and this is Autumn and Midnight,” said Cookie.

So they kept on walking, until they saw . . . the Everfree Forest!

“Um, are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Autumn nervously.

“Sure, I’m sure!” Cookie responded.

“Besides, we’re all together. That’s what matters,” Midnight added.

“Yeah! Being friends is 200% cool!” Dash said and gazed at her pet hawk flying beside her.

“Okay . . . if you say so,” stammered Autumn.

They walked and walked and walked for a long time.

“Could . . . we . . . take . . . a . . . break?” panted Cookie Swirl.

“After a little bit? I’m not tired at all!” exclaimed Dash.

“Said the pony with wings,” mumbled Cookie.

“Help! My wings are stuck!” Autumn screamed.

“Oh no! My magic is gone!” exclaimed Midnight.

“AAH! I CAN’T FLY ANYMORE!” shouted Dash.

“Huh? Why isn’t anything happening to me?” wondered Cookie Swirl.

“You’re an earth pony! You don’t have any magical abilities to lose!” said Midnight.

Autumn was so scared she covered her eyes.

“Well, then get us out of here!” exclaimed Dash.

“Never fear, Iris and Ruby are here!” said a pony with a lasso.

A unicorn with red hair followed her.

“Who are y-you?” shivered Autumn.

The pony with the lasso said, “I’m Iris, and this here is Ruby.”

“Mmhmm. There is a magic in us all. We have to find the elements which are called Laughter, Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Booksy.” explained Ruby. “They are little glowing jewels.”

So they looked, and looked, and looked! But they saw no elements. So they looked some more. But, still they could not find any elements.

“Oh no! If we don’t find the elements today, our magic will be gone forever! And it’s already evening!” panicked Iris.

“It’s okay. We don’t need some silly elements for magic to be there!” said Cookie Swirl.

Everyone stared at Cookie Swirl like she was crazy.

“What?” asked Cookie.

“The elements have magic!” remembered Midnight. “How can we have magic without them?”

“Because . . . friendship is magic!” said Cookie.

Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

“Well done, Cookie Swirl. You have discovered the most important magic of all and that is the magic of friendship.” said a voice.

“Huh?” gasped Cookie.

A pony with long wavy hair walked out of the shadows towards her.

“Princess Heart! Oh! What an honor for you to come! But, what are you doing here, in the Everfree Forest?” asked Cookie.

“You have found the magic of friendship inside you and your friends.”

“I did it? I did it!” exclaimed Cookie. She looked back at her friends. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” she added as she hugged her friends.

THE END!

THE BIG GAME WRITTEN BY AMAN, 2013 We were down by a point and there were seconds left. The ball rocketed from my hands and I didn’t know if I would make it. I felt so anxious. This all started thirty minutes ago, when the lunch bell rang.

Little did I know that I would make friends, build confidence, and I’ll save who wins till the end!

Today was the big basketball game. Well, actually it wasn’t big, it was outside the cafeteria. When a crowd gathered, we started. It was an exciting game, you could really feel the intensity in the air.

I looked down at my watch as cold sweat slid down my face.

There was a minute left and we were down by one point. I charged towards the hoop as nervousness filled my thoughts. The ball flew like a bullet towards the hoop. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I heard the swish and gave a sigh of relief.

I knew I would remember this moment through my life. I became good friends with my teammates that day. Playing basketball with my friends still brings back memories. When I won that game I changed. I would always believe in myself.

I still love basketball today. The court has sentimental value to me. One day I hope to play in the NBA.

DINOSAURS PLAY SOCCER

WRITTEN BY AYAN BHATIA, 2012 Once upon a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth, they got bored. So the king dinosaur said, “Let’s play a big game of soccer!” And it became game between meat-eaters vs. planteaters. The omnivores were the judges.

First T-Rex got the ball and dribbled to the goal, but Ankylosaurus stole it from him and passed it to Triceratops.

Triceratops went for the goal and made a goal! The score was zero to one. Then Allosaurus went for the goal. He passed it to Velociraptor, who shot it in! The game was tied.

Diplodocus got the ball, but Pteranodon stole it from him. Then, Brachiosaurus stole it back and started going to the goal and shot! But, Deinonychus got the ball and passed it to Terrasaurus, who shot it in and scored a goal. The game ended in a tie. Everyone was happy.

CINDERELLA STUCK ON THE RAINBOW WRITTEN BY SIYA, 2013 Once upon a time there was a princess named Cinderella and she lived close to a very big rainbow next to a tall tree. The rainbow was bigger than the tall tree.

One summer afternoon, Cinderella decided to slide down the rainbow.

Cinderella climbed the rainbow with a very big ladder that she had at home in the attic. As she climbed the ladder she was very sweaty.

Cinderella was climbing very slowly, so she didn’t slip from her sweaty hands. She was very excited. Then she finally reached the top.

She said to herself, “ I’ll jump”.

So, she jumped. The rainbow was very soft, but then she got stuck on the rainbow.

So then she called, “Help, Help, Help! Please save me.”

Everyone tried to help but they couldn’t. Cinderella heard people saying, “O my gosh, is she stuck?”

“I’m stuck,” she said.

Supergirl heard Cinderella’s voice so she leaped into her car and sped out to help. When she got to the city, she jumped out of the car and ran to the ladder and quickly climbed it.

She reached out to Cinderella and pulled her out. Cinderella was very happy. She hugged Supergirl and thanked her and she promised she wouldn’t do it again.

THE END

At the core of great storytelling lies a compelling cast of character types.

Archetypal characters like princesses and superheroines, and other fictional and fantastical characters often populate human storytelling.

Young Wordsmiths are often inspired by these characters in different story themes and might choose to intermingle their favorite characters as they create their own story.

Anthropomorphism refers to the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. Young writers often use animals characters in their stories who behave like humans.

GOOD FRIENDS

WRITTEN BY VIYAN, 2013 Once there lived a caveman named Super.

He was hunting and saw a baby elephant named Star. As years passed Super and Star became friends. Super hunted and Star ate lush, green grass.

One day, Super saw a lion about to attack Star. Super told Star about the lion and they both tried to scare the lion away. But, the lion hit Super and pushed him into the pond nearby. Star immediately gave his trunk to Super and pulled him out of the pond. But, as he was helping Super, Star stepped back into a trap. Super broke the trap with his club. Then, both of them fought together and scared the lion and became best friends forever.

THE BANANA TREE WRITTEN BY RISHAB, 2013 Once upon a time, there was one monkey who lived in a tree full of bananas. His name was, “Ooh-ahh” (translation in English: Bob).

Ooh-ahh’s archenemy, “Ooh-ahh-ooh” (translation in English: Jack) was jealous that Ooh-ahh had so many bananas (at that time to monkeys, bananas were like food and money). So Ooh-ahh-ooh devised a plot to take that tree.

Ooh-ahh didn’t even have a clue about what was coming, but he had protection for his tree. Ooh-ahh-ooh’s plan was to surprise and attack Ooh-ahh, and just kick him off the tree and plant his flag with his symbol. But Ooh-ahh-ooh’s plan wouldn’t work even if Ooh-ahh’s tree didn’t have protection because Ooh-ahh was a trained black belt in all the martial arts. By dawn, Ooh-ahh-ooh would initiate his plan.

It was now dawn, and Ooh-ahh-ooh went to climb Ooh-ahh’s tree, and to Ooh-ahh-ooh’s advantage, Ooh-ahh was asleep. By the time Ooh-ahh-ooh reached the top, Ooh-ahh was awake and threw all his banana peels at him so Ooh-ahh-ooh could fall off the tree. But, Ooh-ahh-ooh held his ground and came like a bull to Ooh-ahh, but Ooh-ahh was a black belt martial artist and so he kicked Ooh-ahh off the tree. Ooh-ahh learned his lesson not to steal or plan to take someone’s possessions anymore. In fact, Ooh-ahh-ooh was a good monkey and became a friend to Ooh-ahh. The two monkeys became good friends and lived happily ever after.

The End!

THE BEST PLACE TO HAVE FUN ON

MICKI MANBEAR 101 WRITTEN BY JANE NI, 2012 Micki ManBear 101, aka MMB101, woke up and sighed happily.

“Another day in a busy life,” MMB101 said. “I love working at the Mars Disneyland.”

MMB101 lived on Mars. MMB101 was part Mickey Mouse, part teddy bear, and part human. He lived in a house, like a human, with a fluffy bed for his inner teddy bear, with Mickey ears on top of his house.

He was always the main attraction at Mars Disneyland. Alien children begged to have a picture taken with him daily.

When Micki ManBear101 got to Disneyland, he went to see the manager about what show he would be performing. He noticed a sense of certain excitement in the air. He figured he must be performing one of his best shows today.

“Oh, umm...” The manager mumbled, “I’m not sure you can do your show today.”

“Why not? Is something wrong?” MMB101 responded.

“Well…” the manager started. “You see, we have a visiting alien from Pluto coming. The great BanBanBoom! You see, he was planning on doing his show in place of yours. All the children are ecstatic, so I thought you could be the backstage manager. You know, step away from the spotlight.”

MMB101 was shocked! Step away! The kids loved him! But as he walked through Disneyland, it seemed quite the opposite. All the aliens were talking about BanBanBoom and how great he was going to be.

Nobody paid any attention to Micki ManBear101, the former star. He walked backstage, took care of some things, and sat down. Everything was taken care of. So what should he do now?

Feeling quite dejected, he took a seat in the crowded auditorium. He looked around. WOW! He had never seen Disneyland so crowed for one of his shows! A little, ok, a large pang of jealousy shot through MMB101. Soon, a high tech blue rocket ship swept through, and a great roar from the crowd confirmed it was the great BanBanBoom! was here. He stepped out of the rocket ship. He performed a great show, and even MickiManBear101 started cheering and clapping. At the end of the day, MMB101 went to talk to the manager.

“So, tomorrow, I get my original show back right?” asked MMB101.

“Oh… um… not exactly,” the manager mumbled, “You see, as everyone liked BanBanBoom! so much, we invited him to stay.”

“Oh..” MMB101 replied.

He was dejected as he headed home. He threw a can of soup on the stove and prepared supper for himself. He headed upstairs and threw himself onto his fluffy bed. What's the use of anything? He thought to himself. I will just be the behind-the-scenes manager.

MMB101 thought about it and resolved to be the best manager that

Mars Disneyland had ever seen. He drank his soup and went to bed.

The next day, he woke up with renewed energy. He got to Disneyland early to discuss the show with BanBanBoom!

“Oh, so I was thinking, when you enter, three lights will come on to highlight your facial features.” MMB101 suggested.

“Yes, that would be wonderful. It’s so nice to have a behind-thescenes person who cares,” BanBanboom said.

“Well, I got to go.” MMB101 was flattered.

But, first he had a job to do. He paced the backstage, clutching his clipboard and barking commands through his walkie talkie..

“Jose! Get that pink spotlight!”

The show was amazing, and everybody congratulated MMB101 for his amazing work!

POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE WRITTEN BY KAI NAKAMURA, 2012 Once there was a village with a lot of people who wanted to be Pokemon trainers. One day a guy named Kai woke up early on his birthday. His friends Bianca and Cheren and his mom were there. He was turning fifteen! There was a box on his desk. It was his birthday present!

His friends knew that he had always wanted to be a Pokemon trainer. So, they got him three Pokemon for his birthday. He could only choose one. He got the grass-type one, Snivy. Then, his friends each chose one and they started to battle.

Kai and Bianca battled first. Kai won! Next it was Kai and Cheren’s turn. Snivy used his tackle. Snivy tackled again. Tepig lost.

The win went to Kai! Then, they went on an adventure!

Kai won at the first gym! When Snivy reached level seventeen it evolved. Fifty minutes later he beat the fifth gym. At level forty, Snivy evolved again. Thirty minutes later, he beat everybody and was the champion.

Young Wordsmiths are often inspired by their favorite books, movies, cartoons and video games to write a piece of fan fiction. Fan fiction is fictional writing based on an existing work of writing, where the characters and settings from original creators are used.

The story above is inspired by Pokemon, a series of Japanese video games featuring cartoon monsters who have special powers and share the world with humans.

LITTLE DRAGON

WRITTEN BY AARNA IN 2019

Tiny dragon flying by Blasting fire mighty and high.

Brave little dragon, Loyal and sweet,

Little dragon, we shall meet.

Tiny dragon in search of adventure Found her home was better.

Looking for her sweet cave Her parents told her she was brave.

Sweet little dragon go to sleep.

Again we shall meet.

SOCCER– THE GAME I LOVE TO PLAY WRITTEN BY KAVYA MUNNANGI, AGE 11 IN 2007 Soccer soccer soccer is fun In soccer you have to run Soccer is the game I love to play I play soccer almost everyday This way, and that you try to get the ball Sometimes it is hard and you might fall When it’s raining it gets really really wet!

And when you fall down, you will regret You dribble and kick and score a goal Sometimes the referee might call a foul In the beginning it is quite confusing But when you understand it, it is like cake with icing Goalie, attacker, midfield and defense You may get scared but don’t become tense Truly soccer is a very great game If you make a goal it will get you lots of fame.