Studentsxpress06 2016

AUTHORS IN THE SCHOOLS PRESENTS

Come to the

Printers Row Lit thisFest June!

Get the details on the

StudentsXpress and Authors In The Schools events on the back cover!

WHO'S AFRAID?

What is/are your biggest fear(s)? Why are you afraid of this?

Draw a picture of your biggest fear.

Draw a picture of you conquering your fear.

How do you cope when you are afraid? What makes you feel better?

How do you help someone else when they are scared?

What have you done to overcome your fear(s)?

Describe a time you felt afraid and what you did.

Please turn in your submissions to your teacher or rachel@studentsxpress.com by June 10, 2016

WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH. Through positive community support, children have opportunities to learn from adults and each other. Thank you to StudentsXpress for providing a creative magazine in local schools that encourages children’s writing, reading and expression. To all those who have given their time, support, and hearts to promote a brighter tomorrow through youth literacy — we thank you.

To learn more, go to: chicagotribunecommunitygiving.com facebook.com/ChicagoTribuneCommunityGiving

www.studentsxpress.com Publisher Rachel Switall Magazine Group, NFP President Rachel Switall rachel@studentsxpress.com Rachel Switall Editor, Art Director, Advertising Director, Director of Marketing Bonita Sanchez-Carlson President & Executive Director Near South Planning Board 312-987-1980 Printer Topweb, LLC 5450 N. Northwest Hwy. Chicago, IL 60630 773.975.0400

Dear Readers, his issue is a first for StudentsXpress.

Because we are teaming up with Authors In The Schools (AIS), we decided to collaborate on the prompts for this issue. We asked AIS authors to provide the prompts for us, starting a storyline for the students to continue. On the following pages, you will see prompts from Jim Aylesworth, W. Nikola-Lisa and Debbi Chocolate. It’s fun to see the different directions the students took while completing their stories.

I’m very much looking forward to this June, when “Authors In The Schools presents StudentsXpress” will be at the Printers Row Lit Fest. We hope you will come out on June 12 where all students are welcome to participate in a StudentsXpress SPEAKS “Open Mic” and read their writing aloud. We will also be joined by author Jim Aylesworth. It’s sure to be a good time!

(See details on back cover) Rachel

Near South Planning Board (NSPB) thanks all students for the great submissions in this official launch of the Authors in The Schools’ StudentsXpress publication. We encourage all students to continue to express themselves in words and through art and we will continue to provide outlets for this creativity. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the AIS program, we are pleased to bring the written word “from the page to the stage” at our open mic programming during StudentsXpress SPEAKS! (see back page). Other NSPB activities at the Printers Row Lit Fest (June 11 & 12) include an awards ceremony for winners of a Young Authors competition, narrated trolley tour through the Near South Side, and a kick off to the Lit Fest event at Chop Restaurant, 1017 S. Delano Court, Friday evening, June 10 (ticketed event). On Thursday evening, June 9, NSPB hosts its annual literary gala, the Harold Washington Literary Award, honoring Pulitzer Prize winning author Marilynne Robinson. For more information, visit our website—www.theNSPB.com.

We look forward seeing you at the Lit Fest in search of a great book, listening to author readings, sampling fabulous food, and participating in other fun programming.

Bonnie

Can you find these pictures throughout the magazine?

Cover art/text by students from Robert A. Black Elementary

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Jim Aylesworth

W. Nikola-Lisa

10 The Bear Ate Everything!

Debbi Chocolate

Contact rachel@studentsxpress.com if your school would like to participate in StudentsXpress.

Sponsored by Constant Contact

ASTRONAUT AUTHOR BEAR BIGGER

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Can you find these words?

BUS CHEESE DEBBI CHOCOLATE EAT

EXPLODE FELL GLITTERY GOOD

HEALTHY JIM AYLESWORTH MEADOW MOUSE

PRANK SPACE SUITS W NIKOLA LISA WRITE

While showcasing art and writing from students in Chicago Public Schools, StudentsXpress aims to promote creativity and literacy, encourage alternative expressions, create positive self esteem and open discussions.

AIS Author Jim Aylesworth

nce upon a time, there was a young mouse named Meadow. She was a very sweet young mouse, and tried hard to be good. And most of the time she was. But every once in awhile... ...she was sneaky and stole the cheese. But then she felt guilt in her so she invited every little mouse friend she knew to have dinner with her. She decided to make macaroni and cheese, cheese cake, and grilled cheese. The mice were thankful for the meal Meadow had made. All her little mice friends forgave her for stealing the cheese.

—Ashlee M.

...she got a tattoo. Meadow always got her tattoos removed, but this was the one tattoo that she didn’t.

The tattoo looked like a heart that has an arrow going through it. Meadow went to a party where everyone knew her and they all thought she was a sweetheart.

She was standing on an air vent and BAM! Everyone saw her tattoo. The crowd went silent. Carter came out of the crowd and said “that’s one cool tattoo,” and then she felt awesome. —Vashon M. ...she was bad and she did tricks on people. One time she rang her neighbor’s door bell and ran away.

—Jurmaine E.

...she would do something she wasn’t supposed to do.

Such as stealing cheese and getting caught in a trap, but she had six brothers and sisters and she blamed it on them. But one day she did good the next week and the next she was so proud that she was careless and jumped into a sink and went down the drain. Fortunately, she knew how to swim. —Mason

...she caused trouble. She stole candy from a candy shop. Oh no! Then the cops took her away and she was in jail and when she got better, she was released.

—Lauren S.

...she would do pranks. One day a girl named Taylor was walking home from school. While she was walking she saw a mouse pranking a squirrel. She tried to hide its nuts. While Taylor was walking she had tripped over a nut and fell. Meadow felt sorry and ran over to Taylor to ask her if she was OK. Taylor said yes. Meadow had asked Taylor if she wanted to be her owner. Taylor said yes. So that’s when Taylor took her home. Taylor had a plan to get Meadow to stop pranking people and be a good mouse. —Leah M. Anna M.

....stealing cheese David A.

...she would sneak out to the pond. She has a mouse friend named Sage, who lives out near the pond. Sage doesn’t go to her school, go to her events, anything, so the only time Meadow could see Sage is when Meadow would visit her. Meadow didn’t really mind, because the pond was a beautiful place. Grassy plains, swans, flowers, frogs, and much more. Today, Meadow decided to slow down while she was walking to Sage’s. The scenery was just so great! By the time she had gotten to her friend’s house, it had been 30 minutes! When she came in, the house smelled clean.

She and Sage decided to make a few pastries, play board games, and make cool creations. It soon came to be night time, and so they made a fort, watched a movie, and ate their pastries. Meadow knew sneaking out was wrong, but she did love spending time with her friend. —Fiona F. ...Meadow could not contain her fits of rage. These fits would begin every time she thought of the mass murder of her kind and how her own father lost his life on the battlefield. There was a war outside of the hole in the wall that she called home. These fits would include biting, regurgitating, and self mutilation. This behavior would not only affect Meadow but would affect her family. They would be frightened and wouldn’t know what to do or how to help. Her brother was a pale blue mouse with huge black eyes. Her mother was a beautiful lavender hue with pumpkin colored curls at the top of her head. Meadow had her father’s features, a long snout and huge ears. Meadow’s fur was a light pink and she wore a tattered olive bow with ivory polka dots her father gifted her before he was killed. The cause of his death was described as the Plague of Extermination. Many of their kind had been wiped out by this plague. Every night Meadow held the tattered bow in her little paws as tears ran down her fuzzy pink fur.

One morning Meadow woke in the middle of the night. She checked her clock, a large black watch that belonged to the enemy, the owner of this property. The enemy was a tall slender flesh-colored beast. It was a mean and sneaky creature that would set booby traps and poison to try to destroy her kind. The enemy’s only success with these traps was the death of Meadow’s father. None of the mice understood why this beast wanted to kill them, surely this house was large enough for the mice and the beast to live in harmony. After the beast’s failure with these traps it sprayed a destructive and deadly gas through the house. It killed the whole mouse population, excluding Meadow, her mother, and brother.

It was exactly 3:01am. Meadow’s tired eyes suddenly sprang open. She felt her tiny heart begin to pound at what seemed to be an impossible pace. She felt numb and tired as if she was asleep and another force was controlling her body. As Meadow faced the shard of glass they used as a mirror, it was as if another more cocky and devious character had possessed her thin and scrawny body. She ran through the house in a maniacal episode. She squealed at the top of her lungs as tears ran down her long pink snout. Meadow clawed at the gray colored carpet and defecated all through the beast’s dining room floor. All the thoughts of her father passing and the war between her kind and the large flesh covered beast began to race through Meadow’s tiny mind.

2

...her pranking got out of hand. Every once in a while she pranks teachers, but most of the time they laugh. Like one time, she unscrewed bolts in her teacher’s chair and when she went to sit down, she fell. She laughed at that one. But one time Meadow started a fire and then she got detention. Now she can never prank again. —Molly G.

...she cracked! Meadow just couldn’t help to be bad. She would throw toilet paper on trees or eggs on houses. But one day she met some mice who would change her. Some mice who would teach her to be good! Their names were Jessica, Jaila, Kyla, Taylor, Janiya, Jayda and Peyton. They came up to her and said, “Hi, what are you doing, you’re not supposed to be doing that, you’re going to get arrested. You’re a good kid. Don’t do that!” Meadow thought about it for a second. “Maybe you’re right, let’s clean this up.”

They cleaned up and went home and they lived happily ever after. —Peyton H. ...Meadow does something wrong. A couple days ago Meadow went inside a beautiful house with anything that you can think of. Some things are screen TV, Apple accessories, nice furniture and many more things but there’s so much else to say. But she entered the house and everybody was sleeping, she destroyed everything in the house without anybody noticing because she is a mouse. So she was trying to be good but after what she had done, that will be the last. —Pamela C.

...she was mean and people stopped being her friends and when she knew that she was lonely.

She started back being nice and she loved everyone and they did too. —Jamaiya H. Meadow’s small body could no longer contain the hatred it held, and the need to avenge her father’s death finally erupted out of her.

Out of the blue the lights gleamed on. Meadow began to scurry as the owner of the house came rushing down the stairs. In her panic to escape she almost lost her life because she tripped over a wire that connected to the heater. Behind this wire was a snapping death trap. She ran into her crack in the wall. And almost as if a switch flipped, the calm and collected Meadow gingerly crept into her bed and rested.

These fits of rage came more frequently as the days passed. She decided her revenge must be thoughtful and clever. She began to plot every night until she had a perfect plan. At the bottom of the stairs Meadow slathered a large area of carpet with extra strength glue from the black cabinet in the kitchen. Slowly, making sure not to get stuck in glue, Meadow’s little feet crawled up the stairs to the flesh covered monster’s lair. Meadow slid under the closed door of the ocean blue and teal room where the beast slept. She climbed her way onto the bed by bringing herself up with the cerulean blanket. She slowly crept onto the monster’s pale leg. The large monster laid there on the plush bed snoring loudly, drool dribbling down onto his chin. Meadow dug her sharp rectangular teeth into the creature’s large squishy leg. Squealing, the monster rose from his bed and began to anxiously run around with the covers wrapped around his face, thick crimson liquid leaking from his leg.

During this madness the monster rolled down the wooden stairs. It fell right where Meadow wanted it, in her trap. She scurried down the stairs to see the monster struggle the same way her father struggled to free himself from the glue trap the beast set. This sight suddenly made Meadow regret her decision. She could see the same pain in the savage’s eyes that were in her father’s eyes before he passed when he was in the trap. Suddenly as if a switch flipped on, she began to push away these feelings of regret and replace those feelings with the mentality of “an eye for an eye.” Meadow ran to her crack in the wall and laid comfortably in her tiny pile of cloth she called a bed and shut her large black eyes. As Meadow’s mind counted sheep, she slowly fell into a deep euphoric sleep. —Aden R. Summer 2016

...she was hungry. So one day she went out looking for some food. Meadow wandered into a big mansion. She started walking around the city and went in an alley and dug in a garbage can looking for chicken. Then she said, “I can’t find any chicken.” Then Meadow looked around and she was walking and she fell in the sewer.

Then she found her way back to the big mansion and she went in and she saw John Stamos there and her eyes lit up. So, John said, “Hi little mouse” and asked her, “Do you need anything?” Meadow said, “Yes do you have any chicken?” and he said, “Of course,” and they lived happily eating chicken together. —Jakhari J. ...she would pick on people and steal rice cakes. This one time, she snuck into the rice cake shelf and started eating the rice cakes. Mrs. Patterson heard some noises in the kitchen and went running to the kitchen. She found Meadow munching on some hot fries. Meadow was then in trouble with her mother Lola and got grounded for her life until she learned to tell the truth. —Jade G. ...she would come outside and hang around bad people that used to get her in a lot of trouble. Her friends’ names were Red, Blue, and Summer. They would steal from stores and bully people and Meadow would do it to fit in with them. This time they tried to rob the cash station and when the police came they ran and Meadow got caught with the money in her hand. Meadow went to jail for a week. When she got out she learned a lesson that you don’t have to be somebody you’re not just to fit in with others. After that day she never ever did anything bad again to fit in. —Tyrone S. Cruz

...she would go outside of her hole and cause trouble. One day she went out and messed with what she thought was an orange pinecone, but was really a tiger’s tail. But surprisingly, the tiger was not mad. She calmly said, “Little mouse, you did not know, but I am not a pinecone. If you disturb me again, you know what will happen!” And of course the little mouse never did again. —Lightie

...she got in trouble. One day Meadow and her younger sister Magnolia went to the neighbor’s blueberry patch to try one blueberry. But they ended up eating the whole thing. When they went home they were sick and they had blueberry juice all over them! Their parents saw them and they were forced to confess. The next day Magnolia and Meadow had to plant a brand new blueberry patch. —Mya A. Delvin A.

...she would be very bad until one day a magical fairy cast a spell and said “You will always be good,” and that’s what happened. —Oliver

...she would got to recess, she would play hardcore dodgeball. She would hit people with dodgeballs and do it on purpose. Then she would go to the principal’s office and lie on the other animals.

One day Karma hit Meadow really bad. The other animals played hardcore dodgeball on Meadow. Meadow was very angry. She ran home and was crying really hard and was thinking of another plan to get revenge.

The next day she apologized to all of the other animals and said she would never do it again to anyone else.

Until....(to be continued) —Taylor E.

—Maya M.

—Alina T.

...she would come to Jemari’s apartment and steal his cheese. She would always do it at 12:00am so she wouldn’t get caught. But one day when Jemari woke up, he went in to his refrigerator to make bacon and eggs for breakfast, he saw that all of his cheese was gone. “Oh no, all of my cheese is gone. I can’t put any in my eggs.”

Who could have ate the cheese, he lived by himself. He had to do something about it.

Then Jemari set out mouse traps. When he woke up in the morning he saw that it was a mouse in one of the traps, it was Meadow. Meadow had learned her lesson to never come to Jemari’s house for cheese. Jemari went to the store and got more cheese. —Jemari A.

...she picked flowers for Meadow’s friends. Sometimes Mead- ...she would sneak into the pantry and get a sweet chocolate chip cookie and sneak it into her bedroom. Her mom caught her and said, ow’s friends would write Meadow thank you notes and later “What the squeak!” Meadow said her apologies and Mom Mouse accepted them and she packed chocolate chip cookies in her lunch in the day Meadow invited them over for dinner. —Gillian box. She never stole a single cookie again. —Sofia M.

Layla

—Janelle C.

—Layna Arihaan

Kristel M.C.

Brea

Matthew

...at night she snuck into the humans’ house to eat chocolate. She did this for a while before the house cat named El Pablo came. He asked her, “What are you doing in the chocolate jar, little mouse?”

She replied, “Well...um..I...ah?” The cat told her that if she came back for the chocolate one more night, he would eat her. So the next night the mouse returned because she thought the cat was bluffing. She tried to be as quiet as possible as she opened the chocolate jar. Just then, the cat came in and gave her a mean look. He was holding something behind his back.

The mouse was very scared. The cat reached behind his back. The mouse started to cringe.

The cat held out a glass of milk for them to share. That is how the cat and mouse started their evening milk and chocolate nights. —Harrison H.

...she went to Mr. Green’s garden and stole some veggies from him. Although she was supposed to be getting berries from the fields. Her mother never knew that she went to Mr. Green’s garden and was happy about getting the veggies.

One day Mother wanted to go with Meadow to get veggies. Meadow pretended she was sick so she would not have to go to Mr. Green’s garden. Her mom said she’d go another time. Meadow’s brothers and sisters went to go pick berries that day. Meadow’s mother went with them and said they’d be back in an hour and a half. She told Meadow to go outside for a little. So after they left, Meadow went to Mr. Green’s garden, got some veggies, and went back home. When her brothers and sisters came back she showed them the veggies. They were so happy. After a while, Meadow’s mother figured out about Mr. Green’s garden. Meadow got grounded for 3 months. But after that she learned her lesson and lived happily ever after. —Sofia M. ...well she has her moments but she thinks about what she did and tries to do better but one day she was at school and was writing then a classmate (Crista) made fun of her name and Meadow said mean things back and made Crista cry then told the teacher. Meadow got in trouble but explained Crista’s part of the story. Then they talked it over and said sorry and put it in the past and became friends. —Aamira ...she would steal some food from other animals.

This was because she was sort of greedy but only for chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. This was strange because Meadow was a mouse. Mice should love cheese. But soon that was going to change. Fred the coyote was a health master. In stories a coyote is usually bad, but in this story Fred is the hero.

Meadow was stealing food (chocolate) and came by Fred’s house. “Come in for a snack!” said Fred. “OK,” squeaked Meadow. Fred had made a healthy snack look like chocolate. “Chocolate,” squeaked Meadow.

“This is so good.” She squeaked after eating it. When Meadow was done Fred told her it was not chocolate. And from that day on she only ate chocolate sometimes. —Sophie K. ...a bully named Beny and his pal make Meadow very mad at them but she doesn’t want to be mad so she ignored them and she was happy. —Arham A.

—Arielle ... she stole from the rich. It was for a good cause, it was to give to the homeless. —Noah S.

4

...she stole food. Meadow loved food. She really liked fruits and veggies. She had a hiding place where she kept all the food she stole. When the local market was closed, she would sneak in and steal food. The owner of the market started realizing that they were missing a lot of food. He wondered how this could be. Then he checked the market camera’s data and found out that it was a mouse sneaking in. He bought many mouse traps. He realized that he was mostly missing cucumbers and strawberries, so he put those on the trap. The owner of the market left the market with a grin on his face that night. The mouse came in the night and saw the mouse traps. She was far too smart to fall for the trap. She stole more food that night and brought it to her hiding place. The other mice noticed that Meadow was gaining a lot of weight. They wondered how. They noticed that Meadow was never seen at night, so they decide to spy on her. The next night they followed her to her hiding place and found a lot of food. They were caught, so they asked Meadow if she could share with them. Meadow said no. They asked where she got the food. She said the local market. When they walked home they saw WANTED posters of Meadow. They decided to turn Meadow in if she didn’t share.

Meadow finally decided to share. She learned that stealing was a bad thing and to never steal again. She also learned to share. —Simona M.

...she got a little out of hand with her best friend Jaycee. Meadow and Jaycee have been best friends since preschool. And Jaycee was the complete opposite of Meadow. She was always getting into trouble. So every once in a while, Meadow got into trouble right along with her. And Meadow’s mother would be very disappointed.

One day Jaycee came up with a crazy idea. “I think we should go to this party,” Jaycee exclaimed. Meadow contemplated on her decision. “Sure. It’ll be fun,” she said with a hint of regret in her voice. In the back of Meadow’s mind she knows that’s not the right thing to do.

“Okay good. The party is at 12:00 at midnight until sunrise,” Jaycee says. “That’s fine,” Meadow said shyly. The day of the party Meadow has to sneak out of the house to get to Jaycee’s car. She snuck past her mother’s door and out the front door. Meadow made sure that the door didn’t slam behind her. Outside Jaycee was waiting in her car with the music playing softly.

When they arrived it was a lot of mice dancing everywhere.

Some were drinking and some were smoking. As soon as Meadow got out of the car her whole atmosphere changed. Jaycee started walking off to a group of people that were drinking.

Meadow wandered off alone by herself until she grabbed an alcoholic beverage. Then Meadow started dancing around and acting strange. Until her mom showed up. Her mom started yelling at Meadow and Jaycee for doing this type of thing. Meadow got extremely angry and ran away from it all. After a while Meadow decided to go home and apologize to her mom. When Meadow got home she apologized and thought about her actions.

After a long night Meadow decided that she and Jaycee should not be friends anymore. Meadow learned that she should just stick to being regular old Meadow and never get into trouble ever again. —Shonte P. ...she would smell a really yummy something that she could not resist. And she just had to be nosy and find out. When Meadow saw what food it was, she flipped!

It looked so, so good, so she snuck into whatever it was and would eat it! When somebody saw her they would try to kill Meadow but Meadow had good luck and she survived every time until something went wrong in 2006. —Logan P.

Quinn T.

Summer 2016

...she did something dangerous. She wanted to be free and have fun. Her mother wanted her to always be her little mouse. She couldn’t accept the fact that she was growing up and would soon not need her mother anymore.

Her mother told her stories about the giants called humans. She warned her what would happen if they noticed her. One day she explored the area her mother has been telling her about. She kept exploring until she came across some cheese. She was hungry so she decided to get the cheese.

She tried to get the cheese and got stuck in the trap. Tears ran down her face and she felt alone. A sound came behind her and it was her father. He saved her and brought her home.

She apologized to her mother and learned that her mother only does what she does because she loves her. Meadow never did anything dangerous again! —Christina H. ...she would jump on the bed when she was supposed to be asleep. Her Mama would be very mad at her then. When Meadow talked back to her parents, teachers, or anyone older than her, she did not get dinner! She would do this so often, Meadow’s parents were for sure she would starve. They were so fed up when she ate all the warm, yummy cookies her Mama made for the guests. They took poor Meadow to the county doctor to see what is wrong with her. Meadow understood now that her idea of “fun” has gotten her into trouble.

When the doctor called her into his office, she explained everything. Meadow was under a bad spell that made you do bad things like steal money, talk back, not doing your homework, skipping school not because of being sick or things like that, and so on. The doctor knew exactly what the cure was and made it right away: • 1 cup of sugar • 1 cup of spice • 1 cup of everything nice • And 1 pound of cheese, just for flavor and to look yummy Once Meadow took a bite, she was back to her nice young self again. But that didn’t stop her from having “fun”... —Alicia C. ...she adventures into the wild! She sees rocks she sees boulders she sees frogs she also sees monkeys with bananas then she goes back home. —Charlotte W.

...she would sneak out of the house and go to her favorite place in the world…The Library. Every single time that she left she knew if her parents had found out where she went they would be very mad and punish her because she had entered “The Real World.”

Entering the real world was a huge fright in the mouse community. For the reason was they were scared of being killed but Meadow did not care at all. So when she finally got brave enough she told her parents. The parents were so confused on what she had done because she is usually very good that they all checked the place out and had fun reading and lived happily ever after. —Quinn L. Keyala

—Josile D. ...she would cause some mischief by going to the farm and scaring away the gentle and sensitive cat the farmer owned.

Meadow would scare away the cows by bringing a boombox and putting loud music on which made the cows go CRAZY. The farmer had to put a solution to this madness! The farmer brought all the animals outside and he hid them somewhere Meadow the mouse could not find them. So when Meadow was holding the boombox bursting out loud music looking for the animals she couldn’t find them, so what she did was she left. And they never saw her again! —Aya ...she did wrong things, too. One day she went to school and bullied another kid named Jack. Jack was new to the school. So Jack tells on Meadow. Then, the next day Meadow has to stay in for recess. The next day Meadow was in real trouble. Jack’s older brother came and said, “This is the girl?”

Then, Jack said, “yes.” Meadow was thoughtless. She did not know what to do so she ran. Huff, huff, huff! Meadow was running so did Jack’s older brother. Then, Meadow needed to breathe, then she was scared. All of a sudden arms grabbed Meadow. She realized that Jack’s brother caught up to her. Then Jack’s brother said, “Don’t bully my brother again!” That day Meadow learned. —Victorious H.

...when she finds cheese she will go and get it, but carefully because there is always a cat next to the cheese. She would have to use her resources that are around her. When she finally gets the cheese she will sometimes make things fall on the ground and the cat will try to get her and she will have to run back to her house. When she is at her house with the cheese she will go wild and eat the cheese. ­—Amy S.

—Maisy

...she told small lies. One day when she was going to school, she realized that she forgot her homework. So when she got to school Mrs. Longtail asked, “Meadow, may I please check your homework?” Meadow said, “Um, my brother, Donald, was in my room last night and ripped up my homework!” Mrs. Longtail said, “Really! Well, I’ll need your mother’s signature.” “Okay,” Meadow replied. Meadow knew her mother hated it when she didn’t do her homework. Then the lie started to build up. When she got home, she went in her room and with her best handwriting she wrote, “Mrs. Clover.” The next day she went to school, Mrs. Longtail said, “Thank you. On Wednesday we will have parent-teacher conference and your mom can come.” Mrs. Longtail knew what Meadow was doing and she had a plan.

On Wednesday morning Mrs. Longtail asked, “Is your mother coming?” “No my mother is very sick,” Meadow lied to Mrs. Longtail. “Really! Well, I can come over and help your poor mother,” Mrs. Longtail replied. “No you can’t. It’s too contagious,” replied Meadow. “Well I once was a doctor,” “Okay,” said Meadow. Now she didn’t know what to do.

Mrs. Longtail came to Meadow’s house, she rang the doorbell. Meadow’s mother, Mrs. Clover, answered the door, while Meadow hid in her closet. “Well, Mrs. Clover, you look well.”“What do you mean?” replied Mrs. Clover. “I’m not sick.” Mrs. Longtail told Mrs. Clover everything. Mrs. Clover was FURIOUS. “Meadow!!” shouted Mrs. Clover. “Why did you lie 4 times to your teacher?” Meadow came out of her closet with her head down and filled with guilt. “I’m sorry,” said Meadow as she sobbed loudly. Mrs. Longtail accepted her apology and told her to never lie again. From now on Meadow has infinity homework. —Leila H. ...she was mean to everybody at school because she had a bad day at home because she did not know how to write a poem. Also when she has a good day she is as nice like mice.

—Dionus C.-B. Lyric W

.

...Meadow would sneak into the town’s cheese shop and would bite off a little nibble of the block of Swiss cheese. After, she felt so guilty. But a week later, after she was feeling better and more confident, she would go back to the cheese shop and take another nibble.

Each time she did this, her guilt grew stronger and stronger, until one day, after she took a nibble, she fainted. She woke up in a misty, cold, dark land, with little light and a very strong stench.

Meadow looked around, trying to see through the mist. Eventually she found a small clearing with a black, floating creature. It looked like a ghost. “Excuse me. If you would be so kind as to tell me where I am?” Meadow kindly asked. The creature floated quickly and smoothly over to her. “You, my dear, are in your guilt. You have made yourself guilty continuously, and the guilt builds inside you. Eventually, it gains control of you, and brings you to your guilt. This is your guilt,” the creature said. Meadow shivered with fear. “And...um...w-who might you be?” The creature rose up. “I am your guilt. And the only way you are going to escape is by defeating me!” the creature boomed. The shadow-like figure now mutated into a giant monster-like beast with fangs and elf ears and claws 8 inches long. “Oh, dear. I don’t think I can do this,” Meadow thought. “Wait, you can’t fight your guilt, you have to take control of it.” So Meadow walked up to the beast and said, “I understand what I did was bad and wrong but I won’t let that bring me down. I apologize for stealing, and now I truly forgive myself.” The beast let out a terrible scream and melted down until it was just a black puddle. Meadow woke up, and now she promised to pay for the cheese, and she never stole again. —Kaia G.

...Hot Dog would sneak out of her house and rob the bank. “I hope I don’t get caught. I have a routine to rob the bank,” she says.

Sometimes she would steal $100. Sometimes she would stick her claw into $1,000 or $1,000,000. No wonder her family had a great house. They had a hot tub, light blue couch, xbox, even a flat screen tv, and lots more. “Eventually, I’ll get caught,” she said.

So one day Hot Dog got caught when she was watching the final episode of Fuller House. —Arielle K.

...she would get tired of being nice, in the inside she would just want to be free. She let out her anger at home, she needed someone to talk to about her feelings. Then there was a mouse that came to her house. He also had problems like her. They talked and talked after a while the other mouse had to leave. They said goodbye and the other mouse left and ever since that day she was always happy that she could be nice and not have to be tired of being nice, her anger was out! —Candice C.

AIS Author W. Nikola-Lisa

t just fell out of the sky.

That’s right it just fell out of the sky and landed at my feet.

I bent down to pick it up, it moved... ...It actually moved toward me, as if I was a magnet and it was metal. I reached down to touch it and it blasted me right in the face with blue goo.

I felt my face and it was shapeless. If I pulled at it, it stretched. Then I looked down.

I was one of them.... —Cormac A. ...I jumped from being startled. It sprouted legs and drilled into the ground never to be seen again.

—Ewan G.

Sahar N.K.

...Before I picked it up I went to get some gloves.

I did not want to get its slime all over my hands.

I asked myself what is it? I put it in a bag that I found on the ground and took it to my friends.

They all said Eww. I told them I had to find a home for it and that I can’t keep him.

We went around looking for a home for him.

No one wanted him because they thought he was dangerous. One of my friends suggested let’s take it to another country. Maybe someone there would want it. We ended up finding an animal scientist in China who wanted to keep it as a pet. ­—Nicholas H.

...It was a human, I knew it one day they would find us. I finally got to see a human! But our whole world we lived on had to run away because they found us aliens. But I stayed.

Humans are not that bad as I thought. —Sally G. ...It had big eyeballs and a big head. It looked like an alien! It started moving even more and it was fat. It looked like it was pregnant with four more creatures. Then when it stood up it left like if he was Flash. No one saw what I saw through my own eyes. I tried to tell people about what I saw but no one believed me. Everyone thought I was crazy.

Even my mom took me to where the crazy people are, but when I entered there, someone was smoking outside the building and he overheard us talking about why I’m here. He said, “I seen it before too because I am the creator of It.” —Julian P.

—Ava C. ...When I picked it up I found a hamster wearing a parachute. It was so weird. I looked up but there was no plane or vehicle, so I took it. Five years later I found the owner. He was a pilot of helicopters so that is why the hamster fell from the sky. —Ivy R. ...I thought it was a squirrel. It got up and ran away. I couldn’t see its face, I could only see its back. Then two more fell, than another, then another, then another, until it made this big furry creature! It was as big and furry as a bear! I quickly ran to the nearby convenience store. Everybody looked at me strange. I got down to the nearest shelf, and there it was.

The monster barged through the door, everybody started to scream. I was so scared that I ran THROUGH the monster! I literally ran through it. He just vanished right after. I was so curious that I picked up the monster’s leftover fur and put it in a bag and went home to tell my parents about the crazy encounter I went through today. —Natalie Y. ...I was frightened to touch it again, so I kicked it. Then, it made a noise and stood up.

I got a glance of something tan with fuzzy stuff coming out of its head, and that was enough for me to scream and run down the street back to my house, but when I turned around it was right behind me. I ran to my room to realize it was right there, it said to me something about a big world looking for extraterrestrial life. I ignored him and went to my mom. My mom said she thought I was crazy, so I brought her to my room to show her nothing was there. —Emmy B. “...Creepy, right? It looked like a huge thing of hair, or a ball of fuzz. I had just assumed it was a prank. Then I bent down to pick it up and put it into the trash, and it moved.

Though I was scared, I still pushed it into a trash bag with my foot. I carried it here, to our house,” is what I had told my mom. I let the bag go and “it” was free.

“Oh my gosh!” Mom shrieked. “Why would you let that ‘creature’ out?” Mom tried to grab it, who somehow had gotten to the table. She swiped at it. It ran across the table, I knew what it was, a fox! It sprang on top of the fridge, then leaped to my head. It dashed out the door. For many years people have wondered how that fox fell from the sky… until today. The biggest discovery in animal history: the flying fox. But, that is a whole different story. —Georgia P.

6

...It was a squirrel! It broke his arm. I took ...and it was a book. I went to go pick it up and when I opened it home. I put a cast on his arm and Band- it said it was my destiny! I wanted to open it, but it might have aids. But once the mama squirrel came I been written by the gods. I did not open it and I said, “they are let the squirrel go. It was okay. —Lucas A. not going to write it, I am”. —Emre E. ...I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stepped back until I couldn’t see it. I ...It was circular and was orange. I ran home and got a box. I ran back but it was not there. I ran farther knew what it was, a basketball! Well and I saw it on the sidewalk. I scooped it up with the lid and put since I LOVE basketball, I picked the it in the box. I ran back home and showed my parents. After I got ball up and started dribbling. I dribhome I got a needle and poked holes in the box so it could breathe bled and dribbled, till I felt this familjust in case it needed to. The next day I looked in the box, it was iar but peculiar feeling, and my eyes not there! I ran everywhere and when I got to the spot I was the were in shock! I saw pictures of some day before it fell again from the sky. I picked it up and ran home to of the greatest NBA basketball playput it in the box. The next couple days the same thing happened. ers of all time: Michael Jordan, Wilt I started getting suspicious. I did some research and tried to fig- Chamberlain, Bill Russell and many ure out what the little creature was. I found out it was an angel more! Right then and now I knew bug who got sucked back up in the sky every night and every time this was inspiring and it was meant someone comes near the one spot an angel bug drops. “I guess for me. I knew. Ever since that day, I I’ve solved the mystery. Now onto the thing that keeps showing up have been working my tail off trying in the desk I sit in at school.” —Addison W. to get better and better. —Zach I. ...Yes it moved you heard right. When we opened it it was so cute. Jack and Earl surrounded me. I looked and said can we keep it. Then it flew out of the box. We fell and stared. Man’s best friend was just flying. The dog said where am I in a human voice. We said on Earth. Two years later something landed in our yard. The dog started to weep. Two alien humans came out and said that is our pet give it back. We put down the dog and it said you abused me and I will never go back. The boys realize there’s a timer on the collar and it said 20 seconds till termination and the dog passed out. The owners looked distraught realizing the dog’s timer ran out and died. The aliens revived the dog and vowed never to return. —Brent ...It started to move left and right. Then it started to walk away. I was going to scream but I was too curious, so I followed it. The closer I got the faster it ran. I was soon out of breath. Then it turned around, it had a cute little face, chubby nose, and floppy ears. I was confused at first about what it was, but then I got a peek at its collar. It read spacehamster. Just then it started to grow, really fast. It was two feet, then thirty feet, then it was hundreds of feet. I was really scared. I dashed inside. I ran past a few people. When I went in a store to hide, I heard a scream. As I looked I saw a man, except he had no legs. The space hamster ripped them off.

I looked around to see if there was a weapon to fight with. I found a bow and arrow in one of the drawers.

I grabbed the bow, I took my aim. I shot it, it hit the beast right in the eye. As it bled to death, I felt a pinch, then another, then I woke up. I was relieved that it was all just a dream! —Will M. ...and started doing this crazy disco dance from the 1600’s. It, I mean he, started yelling at me saying stuff like, “I shall destroy thy evil potato chip monster, and make sure he stops hogging potato chips.”

I kicked him. He threw up a bunch of potato chips. Guess he was the potato chip monster. —Daniel G. ...I didn’t know what it was but I was absolutely afraid of whatever it was. Then suddenly it moved again. I tried picking it up but it kept moving every time I reached. I then had a hypothesis that it was hungry so I put some of my lunch on the ground and it ate it. Later it grew into a big blue monster. It started eating people, getting bigger and bigger and bigger and blew up. Blue slime got everywhere on everything and when he walked home a lot more of whatever they were was everywhere and they ate everything in the fridge. —Jashawn F. Summer 2016

...and barked, it was fierce, it was in a box, and it seems like I found a cute adorable puppy dog but he is shredding that box to bits. I named that dog Razor because how he shredded the box. I took him home. My mom and dad had a long talk and we decided we should keep him. He was a good dog and obeyed, but I have to take care of him. —Shiloh A.

...What should I do? Do I dare to touch it? My heart was pounding as fast as a cheetah! Sweat was dripping down my face and trickled onto my blue t-shirt. Maybe I should tell the others, but I’d be called crazy so I gently picked it up. It screamed in fear. Its left wing was crooked and couldn’t get up. I touched it and it cried in pain. I took it home and took care of it. So, now you know how and why he’s sitting in his little bird cage in my room. —Chloe K.

...slowly and steadily. I was curious to find out what it was! It had the tiniest cape on in the world. It had the initials SS printed on the cape. I had to find out what that meant. I wanted to share this with my friends, but I had a feeling that they wouldn’t believe me. So I set a plan to figure out what it was. I was determined. But I did not want to touch the gross disgusting thing that kept crawling everywhere with slime. It left a big trail of smelling odor from the slime. The thing also had a tiny mask on like Superman or Spider-man. So I decided to pick up a stick and flick the mask and cape off of the creature. It turns out after all the mysterious creature was a snail named Super Snail or SS. I was thinking about telling someone of this mysterious adventure, but I decided to tell my best friend only and no one else. —Claire L. Casey K.

Rianne A.

Josh B.

...I was so scared that the object moved. Then it started to hatch. It was a flying space panda! The flying space panda climbed on to me and tried to attack me, but I petted it and the panda became peaceful. Then it started flying off and then I said “Wait!” I started following it. When the panda stopped, we were in Space Gummybear Land.

Then the panda started talking. It said “Hi, welcome to my home, do you want to live with me?” And I said ”Yes, I will live with you!” Then me and the panda went on many adventures and lived together. —L.J.

...and started to vibrate. Then it started to fly! It was a very thin disc, getting thicker to the center. It was 2 feet long or more. It was just hovering there doing nothing. Then a little tube came out and on the side it said in big bold letters: V.F.D. That’s the last thing I saw before the world went dark and a small evil laugh surrounded me. —Andrei Y. ...I was scared. I didn’t want to move. Its hand moved. I think it’s something from space or some type of thing. I was so scared I wouldn’t move at all. Then it moved again. I finally ran. I came back a minute later and it was standing and it was flying. I was hiding behind a rock. It found me. The alien-like thing was trying to talk to me. It was trying to say like help. He said his ship was destroyed, he needs help to fix it, he needs parts like weird stuff.

The alien had blue eyes made of metal, metal color was red, he had wings. I helped him and he returned home. —Aaron W. ...Guess what it was. It’s a small spaceship. The alien, named Thomas, fell from the sky from a war of his planet and another planet. He said their planets are fighting over nothing. He said “I need help to fix my ship.” Then I fixed his ship then he said he will give me a big ship of my own. This summer I will have a blast. —Gemarion B.

...It was a falcon. It was shot down by a hunter, but it was still alive. I took care of it for awhile but it was too weak to eat so it didn’t. I kept it in a cage and named it Falco. It got stronger and stronger and started eating. It survived off of water but now off food. I trained it to fly by letting Falco try to fly away. The first couple of times Falco fell down but the ninth it flew perfectly. It didn’t come back. So I decided to let him go. The next week he came back to visit me with a couple of bird friends and I fed them and left. They left again. I feel good for helping hurt animals. —Tyson T.

...”Hi my name is Bob,” the creature said. “I am from Planet Bloof.” “OOOOOOKKKKKKKK,” I said nervously and walked home. The creature followed....

I learned the creature really likes Pringles. And my dog is going crazy with the creature in the house. OK, so this is bad. I’m in a house with a psycho dog and a Pringle-loving creature.

The earth suddenly starts shaking. I see a UFO outside, probably coming for the creature. I run with him outside and hold him up. A blue beam of light shines down teleporting up the creature. “Well he is gone,” I say. I end up not knowing if it is a good thing or a bad thing. —Ellison B.

...because it was a turtle. —Chris E. ...There were two hot candies. They were mad. I don’t know why, but they started burning me. They burned my head, my face, and my body. Then, I turned into black dust. Just then the hot candies said “ha hee haw!”

—King K. ...The giant space egg cracked open with gooey green liquid. It was oozing out of the egg. Then E.T. crawled out and ran to a bush. Bobby found him. Then E.T. and Bobby had fun. E.T. got into the basket on Bobby’s bike. Bobby drove E.T. up and down the hill. —Isaiah O.

...Then I heard a voice. “Squishy,” it said in a baby voice. “Was that you?” I asked. “Yeah,” it said in a baby voice again. I touched it again and it jiggled. Then I picked it up.

“Hi,” I said. “Want to be friends?” “Sure,” it said. “What’s your name?” it asked. “Um...” I said. “Beatriss.” “Nice,” it said. “I’m Squishy. Let’s be friends.” “OK,” I said. The next day Squishy and Beatriss went to school together. “Can I get out of your backpack?” Squishy asked at school. “No,” Beatriss said. After school a girl named Gabbi saw the marshmallow. She took it and ran away. Luckily Beatriss saw Gabbi and ran. Soon Gabbi came to the bakery. “I see you have my marshmallow,” said Beatriss. “I do,” said Gabbi. “I’m gonna make it a smore.” Then Gabbi walked inside the bakery. Beatriss followed. Then Gabbi saw the marshmallow’s eyes and all she could do was scream, drop the marshmallow and run. Ever since then Squishy and Beatriss were friends and Gabbi was never seen again. —Ruby F. ...I wasn’t terrified but I wasn’t happy to see it. It looked very weird but it was awesome. It was small and blue. It was as blue as the ocean.

It moved again. I took it home with me to stare at it and see what it would do. I was on break so I really didn’t have anything to do. At least nothing important. But now I did. I was very interested in what the blue small rock-shaped thing could be. I even looked it up on Google. Nothing came up. A couple of weeks passed on by and the rock-looking thing started to grow a little bigger. Then at night that’s when it happened. I heard this cracking sound, like the sound of you cracking your knuckles. Then I saw it. My God it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It was almost so bright I couldn’t see it. It was so magical. There it was staring back at me, my soulmate, my unicorn. It was shining black and its horn was gold. It also threw up rainbow. It was the best thing I could ask for. —Briana Z. ...A box that had a dog and a note. The note had an address on it that said come at 9:00 pm with the dog and dress nice. It was a party, a surprise magic party. Then when I arrived the dog ran up the stage and did a lot of magic tricks and lots of flips. At the end of the party the dog was looking at me. I went to go get my dog things and when I came back the dog disappeared. —Samantha C. ...It was an alien! It was a slimy green blob with eyes. Then I saw a UFO with a bunch of more aliens. I ran forever when suddenly it sucked me up. Then I woke up in my bed. It was just a dream! —Adam H. ...It was really cute. Colorful with big huge eyes. It kinda looked like a furry worm. It looked so sweet it was tiny too. But something about it was a little off. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Well...at the time. But I’ve always known this would happen.

I took it home and put it in a cage with my hamster. I went to bed and when I awoke my favorite little hamster was gone and the adorable fuzzy worm was bigger. I was horrified. But then the creature was so cute that I didn’t want to harm it. So I took it in a box and buried it and left. But when I went home it was right where I left it in the cage. —Kayla K. Summer 2016

...I was so shocked. It was an orange round ball. Nobody knew the name of this object so I called it a basketball. I did everything with basketball—slept, showered, ate, even went to school with it. One night I was tossing the ball in the air and bouncing it on the floor, putting it behind my back and between my legs and to left hand to right hand.

I was doing laundry one day and I was throwing my basketball into the basket and it was fun, so I did it every day and I called it a basketball game. Then me and my friends played five on fives but we got too tall so we cut the rim off the basket and put it on the top of the garage and played outside. And then we had to jump so we made up the hard lay up (dunk). And that’s how the game of basketball was invented. —Joshua C. ...I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was a baby bird learning how to fly. I said, “It’s so cute!” And it said, “Thank you.” I took it inside my house. “Hey mom, I found a baby bird.

Can I keep it?” I said. “Ok!” my mom said. Thank you, mom.

—London T.

7

AIS Author W. Nikola-Lisa

Bryson

he bus looked the same, but when I got on and turned to walk down the aisle, I noticed that all the people were wearing glittery space suits . . . ...I am Lena and wearing my regular clothes. I do not know what today is.

My mom Sharnta said, “Have a nice day” then went to work. When I sat down I asked Molow what is today.

It is the day the space lady comes and tells us about her job. Today is all about her. Everyone was excited. I knew I could not go back home, it was over. I just have to last from 12:00 am to 3:00. 4 hours of school. When we got to school the lady was there. I ask my best friend Lisa to let me see her hat/helmet. She said OK. BreBre was the lady’s name. She was teaching us a lot. I had fun. The day was OK. My bus driver Tavin was happy for some reason. —Mekiah B. ...Then I looked around and everything was glittery and I wanted to be different so I put on a blue one. And I was happy because I thought I was going to be laughed at and I even got to drive the bus and we went to the moon and Pluto. And I told Kyla that you don’t have to be like other people. You can just be yourself and that you have your own style. And you have friends to say this to you not other people’s opinion. Care about your own. —Jayda N.

...Then the people asked why aren’t you wearing a glittery space suit then he said you look ridiculous. Then they said we are going to outer space. The boy said why can’t you wear the regular space suit. Then they said this one is cool and they had extra. The boy said it looks cool. I’ll wear it. —Pablo

Abby

Alejandra R. —Vivian H.

...like they were going to a carnival festival like they were kids. But they were going to work for somebody. They had jobs like you have to hit all the bottles. —Marilin L. ...and big black boots. They were speaking in weird languages. They were going ...So, I thought I was on the wrong bus. I had no idea why they were to a talent show to win 10 million dollars. I was in casual wear so I couldn’t be in wearing glittery suits. I was really confused. —Arielle J. the talent show. —Jermiya ...It was April 1, so was it just a trick for April Fool’s Day? However, when I looked out the window, the ground was moving downwards! I asked the greenish bus driver “Where are we going?!“ The greenish driver was sleeping with one button pushed in, the autopilot button. There was also a map, showing Earth and the sun, with a X on it. I figured… we were going to the sun. I tried and tried but could not open the bus door and then sat down. About an hour later, there was a whoomp sound. The greenish driver gave us all oxygen masks and SUPER heat proof boots and opened the doors. After a treacherous journey, a building came into sight. The building had Lava Elementary School engraved into it. We all went inside. The school looked normal from the inside. We got a directory and our room numbers with that. My room number was 490. As soon as I got there there was a lava monster writing on a smartboard. I went in and the monster said, “Good morning!“ I said, “Hi!” back to the lava monster. As I walked by the monster’s desk, I saw a book called ABDUCTION! and shuddered.

I found my name tag that said Vansh on a desk and sat down there. The monster told us we were going to gym. We lined up and headed to the gym room.

The teacher there was normal and had a goatee. He told us to take off our heads and twirl them on our finger. I was stunned. All the people took off their heads and twirled them. After about 5 seconds, the coach yelled “ DID YOU HEAR ME?! “ at me. I ran out crying. I put on my boots and ran out of the school, my tears evaporating. As I ran out, I found a bus, a spaceship, and the Millennium Falcon. I chose the spaceship and flew out. Luckily, there was a map to Earth on the sill. I flew back to Earth and went home. As I called to my parents I found out they were also aliens and screamed piercingly. I looked outside a window at the stars and saw about a million more spaceships, coming... for... me! —Vansh S. ...Then I noticed that I was with the pretty, pretty, daredevil Jumpers. We ...They were green with big heads, big black eyes. I think one of them said hey in a different language. I ran off that ...They flowed with glitter flowing off finally reached our destination. Where bus and told Mommy.

She said “Girl ain’t no real aliens you must be crazy, go clean your room Sweetie. ” I went to their suits. Then they ate glittery pies we I asked? Mount Everest, what?? Bemy room.

There was another dressed in my clothes.

I screamed loud.

My mom came in my room and said “what’s with blueberries. Then they changed fore I know it I was in one of those space wrong.” I said “it’s right there.” She said “It’s not right there. Baby we need to get you checked out.” —Kayonna W. into blue glittery suits. —Aniyah L. suits. I jumped and something pulled me up and down, back and forth. Then I ...”So this is how it is at the A.A....,” I thought. I finally found a seat next to ...Before I could do anything the bus The Astronaut Academy shot into space. Last when I came back took off and I could not stop the bus. a girl with black, curly hair. “Are you just starting?” she asked. I nodded. down like a fireball a parachute dangled “Me too. My name is Marietta, what’s yours?” asked the girl. “Sarah,” I We were soon stuck in space for a me in the air like a puppet. —Robert H. said. We talked until we got to the school, and the school was amazing. long time. Week after week after week after week we tried to come It was a giant, gigantic, unbelievably huge rocket ship. We went in. It could’ve fit the whole of my house. We went in through a door that said back, but gravity held us back. I “Entrance Hall.” There were tons of little tables. There was a kind faced could not believe that these strangwoman who had dark, curly hair just like Marietta, and a man whose ers took me and did not warn me. eyes shone as bright as stars. “Welcome and please take a seat,” said the Now I will probably die. —Zach S. woman kindly. We sat. “After this, we will go to the changing room. For those of you who haven’t changed into ...on the bus to school to go to your space suits. For we need to make a few reminders, or, as I might say, tell you the rules,” said the man, his eyes outer space to see what it is like.

Kunthapat twinkling. “Oh, and my name is Mr. Miller, and this is Mrs. Miller.” “The rules are,” Mrs. Miller said, “Have fun, and no —Zeke insulting other people.”“Now to the changing rooms,” said Mr. Miller. After we changed, it was time to go to space ...My mind went blank. Then I came back. I asked them why they were wearing lessons. They were very informative. Then it was lunch time, and I looked out of the window. I was in shock. We one and they said it was dress up day at school. But then I said but then why were in space. Just then I saw something greyish white come into view. “The moon,” I thought, excitedly. “We’re are you all wearing glittery space suits and then they said that every class had a going to the moon on our first day!” Just then, Mrs. Miller said, “Students, we have arrived at the moon. Please different costume to wear and then their mind went blank. I felt better until the go to the front door and it will open for you. We’re gonna have fun!” And we did. Then we went back to Earth. I driver honked the horn because then they yelled at me. I got so scared I hopped changed out of my space suit and stuffed it in my backpack. Then I ran home. That night....”So honey, how was off the bus and I ran home, ran a thermometer under hot water and lied to my your first day in the A.A.?” asked Mom. “Amazing,” I said. “And I can’t wait for tomorrow....” —Nicole mom about having a fever and I was saved. “Wink wink.” —Carly A.

8

Summer 2016

...I thought, did I miss something? Did we have to wear space suits? I was giggling because I thought it was a joke. I asked my friend why was she wearing a space suit. “You do not know?” she said surprisingly. “The oxygen is going to go off for one day.” “When is it going to go off?” I said. “In one hour.” I ran to the office and asked for a space suit. They gave it to me looking at me like, “Didn’t she know?”

The oxygen went off. I put it on. It felt weird. I could feel the heat and sweat like an oven. I slept with the suit. I told my family about it so they put one on. It was a long day. It was the morning. The sun came out. I took the space suit off and cried. Why? Because if I did not go to school or did not know about how the oxygen was going to go off I would have died and maybe my family too. —Carmina A. ...and neon colored space helmets. I was not on a school bus anymore, I was on a space bus now!

When I sat down I had to get fitted for a space suit. I was looking out the window and all of a sudden the grass turned to sand/rocks/gravel and the students became aliens! I was so amazed and shocked at the same time. I looked back out the window, I saw my school, but the school looked different. The sign was different. It said ‘School For Aliens and Astronauts.’

“What!?” I said terrified. “I’m not an astronaut!! That means I’m an alien!?”

“No, you’re an astronaut,” said a girl on the bus. “Hi, I’m Megan. What’s your name?” sticking her hand out to shake.

“I’m Evi. How long have you gone to this school?”

I’ve gone here for 100 years!”

“What in the world!?” I thought. I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. I woke up. “Oh, it was just another one of my dreams.” —Evi V. ...They took off their helmets. “Gloodop Gedorp Glap,” one of them said. Then the bus started flying. By now you could guess something was very wrong. About 2 days later we landed on Saturn’s ring. I was exhausted. I never ate through the trip. I could not sleep either because it was too weird. “These guys aren’t much of the talkers,” I said. I met a cool robot named G.O.b. I was going to find a ship. Suddenly a giant monster made of a sticky substance attacked us. It grabbed me and started to suffocate me. Then G.O.b. burned it and it turned to stone. We traveled back to Earth together where we introduced his technology to the world.... —Charles J. ...Confused, I sat down. “Lisa Morgan-aboard-flight to Mars in 10, 9, 8, 7—” “Wait what?!” I thought. The speaker’s voice had startled me. “I’m going to Mars?!” I asked one of the passengers. She looked at me and answered, “Yes. I suggest you get your space suit. This bus goes fast—very fast. We will arrive by Monday.” Questions spun in my head, but I knew she was right. I grabbed a space suit and threw it on. I then came back so the kind lady could explain all this craziness. I cleared my throat and politely asked, “Pardon me, but I do not quite understand where I am, or why I’m here!” The lady answered me, “Terribly sorry. I’m Madeline, you are on a space bus, with the rest of Space Flight Co.” I gasped. “Space Flight Co.?!” I said, disbelief filling me. “Yup,” said Madeline. “Look! I think I see Mars!” I spun around and looked out the glass window. The dusty, red surface of Mars came to view as the speaker spoke some words: “The boss is coming!” Madeline whirled around. “Boss?!” Just as she finished her sentence a muscular man entered the room. “Greetings to all!” he boomed. His strong gaze flew to me and he said, “Ah—our newest astronaut.” I beamed. I’d always wanted to be an astronaut.

Now I was. “Boss” pulled out a muscular hand and shook mine. “Welcome to Space Flight Co.” I grinned. I didn’t know how this had happened, but I knew my dreams had come true, as I leaped from the spaceship, ready for my new life (as an astronaut) to begin. —Lucille F.P.

Bernice ...Then it turned into a space ship! We fly to Saturn, the moon, the dwarf planets and last the sun. Uh-no the ship melted. Luckily the ship is a ship inside a ship so we surSerenitee B. vived. —Bella P. Summer 2016

...I saw a sign on the wall it said “SPACE BUS.” The driver gave me a space suit and I sat down and suddenly we lifted off!

“Next stop Apollo 11!” It took a while but before I knew it we were on the MOON. It was the best adventure of my life! —Niko

...So me and my friend Ashanti looked at all the people. Brinna, Karma, Amina, and Aspen all had space suits on. When we got to school everybody there had on glittery space suits—even the teachers had them on. So we split in groups. Me and Ashanti went upstairs, Karma and Aspen went in the library room, and Amina and Brinna went in the computers room....

Before anybody could move a huge space portal split through the wall. Everybody paused for a moment. Then everyone in space suits jumped in a huge time portal. It took them all the way to the future. Me and Ashanti jumped in before the time portal took off but when we took off some really weird things started to happen.

As soon as we stopped my face was lighter than usual. When me and Ashanti stepped off everybody went from human to three years older than they were. Me and Ashanti were already 10 so we moved on to 13. Then I saw my mom. She was looking like she was 34 then she walked over to me and started to shake me. It all turned out it was a dream and my mom was shaking me because I wasn’t getting out of bed for school. I said, “Oh NO!” —Camora B. ...The passengers looked at me. They smiled and the bus driver stood. “You didn’t think I was going to host a boring field trip did you?” He handed me a space suit and I threw it on. The sparkles sent beams of light all over the bus when they caught the glare of the sun. The bus looked like a disco party had attacked it. “If we’re going to the history museum, we’re traveling in style!” he said happily. I looked at his name tag pasted over his suit. “Thank you Magnus,” I said. He grinned and went back to the steering wheel. We drove for a while until we reached the museum. As the class hopped out, people stared at us and whispered. But they didn’t bother me. Magnus bent down and whispered to me “Do what you want, sweetheart, but make sure you wear glitter when you do.”

He threw some more glitter on me and waved goodbye as we headed inside.

And then I woke to the alarm blaring in my ear. —Meredith P. ...and begin to make toys for aliens. I thought that they were people but they were aliens all along and they were making toys for baby aliens. Well that’s nice. —Quinn ...I asked the bus driver, Miss Sparkle Bottom, what was going on, but all she did was hand me a glittery space suit too and she said, “Let’s party!” I put on my space suit. I knew Miss Sparkle Bottom was a crazy woman who loved to party but this was beyond ridiculous! What was going on?

Were we going to space? I was pretty sure that this was a party considering Miss Sparkle Bottom had just yelled “Let’s party!” I sat down and buckled my seat belt. I was so confused. All of a sudden, Miss Sparkle Bottom hit a button and the bus started talking. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Blast off!”

The bus flew high into the air. Now I understood why everyone had space suits on, but why were they glittery. Soon we were in outer space. “Next stop, the moon!” Miss Sparkle Bottom shouted.

Everyone on the bus screamed as we sped away to the moon. Once we got there, Miss Sparkle Bottom landed the bus and we all got out. Miss Sparkle Bottom brought a radio out of the bus and put on some disco music. (That is so Miss Sparkle Bottom.) “Time for a disco party on the moon!”

Miss Sparkle Bottom told everyone. Everybody danced around. It was really weird. I was not enjoying myself. Maybe an hour later we finally got back on the bus to go back to Earth. Once we got to Earth, Miss Sparkle Bottom drove to my house (and I thankfully got off of that bus alive). My parents asked me what took so long so I had to lie. I told them that I had to go to the school nurse because I thought I broke an arm but the school nurse told me that I didn’t after examining me for two hours.

That would’ve been way better than going to the moon to have a disco party in my opinion. The next day when I got on the bus there was a new bus driver. He told me the bus company found out we went to the moon and Miss Sparkle Bottom was fired and went to jail. Yay! I never saw her again ever. —Sydney K. ...Then I asked the bus driver why are all the people wearing space suits. Then the driver said, “This is the day we celebrate the day that the group of people walked on the moon. Then those people come to Earth again and today is that day and that’s why people are wearing space suits.” Then I said, “Do we ALL have to wear suits?” The driver said, “No, but you can if you want to.” I thought that day might be the best day of that week. —Nicole M. ...then I walk to my seat and I sat down then we stared to fly I felt like I was on the Magic School Bus then we started to get higher and higher then we were in space then we landed on the moon then I got off and then I met the Flash and then the moon started to break and then we could not breathe anymore and we all died. —Caiden M.

9

nce upon a time, there was a bear that ate everything.

He kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger!

Until finally…

Mon’trez P.

AIS Author Debbi Chocolate

...the American Army came to kill the bear. The ...Tiny decided to lose weight! Tiny wanted to lose weight because he saw a pretty girl he liked. Her name was Miny. Miny was a skinny bear. Tiny bear ran away before the American troops could worked out every day trying to get in shape. He ran around his cave 3 times every day and 5 pushups every day. One day Miny walked past Tiny’s come. The bear went to a far away island called cave while he was working out and saw how strong he was and she started to like him too.

One day Tiny asked Miny on a date. She told him yes because she really likes him. After the date Miny kissed Tiny. Tiny walked her home. When Apotos. When the Americans heard they imhe got home after the 15th date he bought a ring and on the 16th he asked her to marry him. She said yes. On the day of the wedding Miny had mediately went to Apotos. There they dropped bombs on the bear but only did little damage. on a beautiful white dress, and Tiny had on a black suit. They said their vows. They lived happily ever after. —Kaitlin K. The Americans joined the British to find the bear. ...Barry the bear decided to work out with John Cena the rhino. ...one day the bear ate all of a hunter’s food. The bear left to hunt a whale, but the This started World War III. Eventually the They were the best of friends. Barry goes to Subway to get a hunter came back to his house and discovered all his food was gone. He went Americans and British gave up. 500 years passed. healthy sandwich on the way to the gym. He has trouble work- outside and noticed bear prints in the snow. The hunter said, “Now I hunt the Scientists discovered the fossils of a giant figure. ing out because he does not like to sweat. When Barry tried to bear!” The hunter followed the bear prints to the ocean. He sees the bear out of They believe it was the giant bear from the past. quit, John told him to keep going so that he could be stronger. the corner of his eye and notices that it’s the perfect hunt. He tried to get the bear —Alphonso M. at the same time the bear tries to get the whale. All of a sudden, the whale leaps Barry now loves going to the gym every day. —Eloy R. Campbell L. ...the bear was so big he looked like a giant bouncy ball. The bear rolled through the out of the water and eats up both the bear and the hunter. The whale licked his forest knocking down trees and when he came to the hill he started to roll into the lips and said, “Now the predators become the prey!” —Jose A. town. So the people of the town saw the bear coming and they knew they had to ...he exploded into one trillion pieces and then there was enough bear meat to think fast. So the people of the town quickly made a trampoline and the bear flew to make tacos for everyone. The next day everyone had food poisoning. After a while the moon. Since then the bear has been floating in space. —Anna R. eveyone got rid of it but one little creature. The little creature went to the doctor.

The doctor said that the creature was a bear and it was cannibalism. —Eli B. ...the bear exploded. Food was flying everywhere, the forest was fed. All the animals were no longer starving from the bear eating everything. They were fed! —Billy V.

—Grace B. ...he fell asleep with half of a sandwich in his mouth. When he woke up two days later he was so hungry. —Isaiah L. ...he was bigger than the earth and ate it. Then he got as big as the sun so then he ate the entire solar system.

Then the whole sun then the galaxy. Then he was the only thing left then he ate himself. Then there was no bear happily ever after. —Matthew C. ...a bird came and said, “Stop! If you eat another ...POP everything he ate was everywhere in the sky: blueber- thing you’ll EXPLODE!!” But the bear didn’t beries, books, hand sanitizers, bricks, a bike, and a car, and this lieve the little bird so the bear went on a search is how the world was created. —Russell P. and Jonah L. for more food.” —Isaiah T. ...he broke his cave and he had no- ...he got so fat that he fell asleep all year and in spring where to live. Every time he got up he he ate 500 berries and exploded and humans had to fell because he was so big. Then his tape him back together. —Adrian A. friend built a cave and he got skinnier ...he blew up! And blasted to the moooooon! so he could get up. —Desmond O. —Conrad B. Amya B. ...she met a new friend. The two quickly be...he couldn’t help himself, and scratched his back on a tree. Now, I know this sounds ridic- came best friends. One day Cutie made up a ulous, but he got so itchy from having sugar game to help her hungry friend Cupcake eat Lucy A. high all the time. Seriously! He is eating honey less. In her game every time Cupcake wanted all the time because in his opinion, it is like hav- to eat she had to spin 100 times. After a time Cupcake got really good at spinning that she . ing a large chocolate pie, or if you do not like turned into a ballerina and they lived happily chocolate pie, then ice cream! Anyways, one ever after. —Nakari C. day he decided to lay in bed. In bed, he drank ...when he ate a tree, he fell down and couldn’t get up. All the water, and water, and more, and more! Then animals laughed at him because he looked like a big ball. He somehow, he wasn’t so very big. —Isabel S. couldn’t eat anything. You would expect everything to digest, but there was too much stuff in there! He was able to get waBrianna R. ter from the rain and already had tons of food, but he couldn’t move! Finally, he found a few berries to eat. When he threw in the last berry, it started to rain. When the first raindrop fell in his mouth, everything he ate came out of his mouth covered with bear spit! Trees, deer, rabbits, berries, even other bears. From that day on, he only ate berries, too afraid of last time. —Noah O.

10

Phoebe

...he had Mexican burritos and he got gas and just sat at home. His mamma bear was taking care of him.

The next day he had medication and went to the restroom and he stayed hydrated and felt better and lived happily ever after! —Jaxon A.

...he blew up. The people of the city started freaking out. They called an animal control organization and told them a bear blew up/exploded after eating everything. The animal control specialists came and took the bear away.

—Anette D. ...he burst open and was flying like a balloon. He turned into a skinny bear and he knew to eat healthy and he ate vegetables. He is big and strong now.

—Chris E.

...they called him Big Bear. He told his wife, “It’s time to find some food.” But she saw something suspicious. It was a hunter and he was looking for bears. They moved out and went somewhere safer, to Big Bear’s mother’s house. They visited for three weeks then found a new house.

Five years later, Big Bear’s wife had a baby. She was five years old and a son that’s four years old. That’s when the hunter came back. Big Bear said, “He saw us and he’s alerted. It’s time to put this to an end.” Big Bear bit him and the hunter never came back again. He signaled to his wife to scare him off, too, and the police arrested the suspect and they lived happily ever after. —Antony S. ...he exploded. It was so loud it shook the earth. All the villagers from the village nearby came rushing out to see what had happened. But all they found was a wiped out bear and a big basket of every kind of food you can imagine. Then one villager heard a faint sound and said there he is so all the villagers got him out and from that day on the bear only ate 3 meals a day. —Sylvie C.

Zachariah B. Summer 2016

…the bear decided to go on a diet. He ate only vegetables and nutritional foods. He also went to the R.F.B. gym (reserved for bears gym). He worked out until he was so strong, when he flicked at a bug, it was hit so hard, it hit a mailbox and dented it. He had finally lost all of his fat by the end of the month. One day, when he was walking by the woods, he passed a part of it that he had never seen. It was dark and shady, with plenty of cover for someone to hide. The bear thought he was cool enough to go in, so he entered the woods. He was walking around there for a while when he saw something shiny. When he looked closer, he saw they were Adidas Yeezys. He reached up to grab it from the tree it was in. When he pulled down on it, a man with a rifle fell from the tree. The man said “dang it!” The bear said “nice shoes,” and took them and ran. Moral: If you are strong, you can survive (and you will get some sweet new slacks!) —Nolan T.

...he got big enough to float into the sky. To try and stop himself from floating into the sun he grabbed on the top of the Sears Tower but lost grip and kept going up. Eventually he reached the sun and exploded. —Aaliyah B.

...she got too fat to fit in her house. She went rolling down a hill and came up into the woods.

Chocolate the bear hit her head on a tree. Until a fox named Cookie came up to her and asked if she needed help. Chocolate said yes and Cookie asked her if she wanted to be best friends. After all of that, Chocolate feels better because of Cookie’s kindness. —Alondra L. ...Joseph and Susan decided to catch Joker the bear by luring him into a cage. They caught Joker by placing food in the cage. Joker slammed the door shut. Joseph and Susan called the zookeepers who came and got Joker the bear and took him to his new home. Joker the bear was put on a special diet and couldn’t eat all day. —Lazaro R. Evie ...he was a giant but that was a bad thing because he couldn’t get some food because his hand was too big but luckily it was a friendly bear.

Since it couldn’t get food, construction workers built a cage with holes in it so people can feed meat to the bear. The bear was happy because people fed the bear. The bear started to shrink until he was the same ...he is so fat! little bear as he was before. —Nikola ...he blows up into tiny bears, and kept on eating until the tiny bears’ tummies can’t handle it more, and they live a happy life. —Edwen P. ...He goes UP, Up, and off he goes, Into the sky Just like he could fly And ran into a pie Which made him ask why, That pie was in the sky Then he realized that pie was strawberry, And then he looked scary, For he wanted to eat that pie It looked like he would marry, That pie in the sky And then he dropped And made a kerplop!

—Lily S. ...he picked up something he had never seen before. “Whoa.” Bear stared at the moving brown object. “I’m a squirrel,” a squeaky voice shouted. Bear had only been outside once in his life. The rest of the time he was eating nuts and berries in his cave. He had never seen another creature. “Do you want to be friends?” the squirrel began. “Uh. Maybe. Wait. Yes.” “You are really big,“ Squirrel added. “I know. I just can’t stop eating.” Bear sat down. “No! Don’t sit down. Stand! Try to catch me!” Bear ran after Squirrel. Squirrel ran all around the forest back to Bear’s cave. Bear found himself a lot smaller than before. He liked it. Before he couldn’t run fast. Now he could. He couldn’t stop eating. Now he did other things. Bear was proud of himself. —Iris R. Summer 2016

...he couldn’t walk. —Walid ...it exploded. But then he got back to normal. But then he kept eating and eating. Then he turned fat. He walked past people and they all laughed at him. Then he started to cry. But then his friend came over but did not laugh but then he helped him get fit and trim.

—Angel R. ...He went into people’s houses to look for fish. Most of them didn’t have security so the bear was able to get into the house. He found so much fish that he kept eating them and got bigger and bigger! Until finally, he noticed his stomach hurt. He decided that he shouldn’t eat that much fish. The lesson is don’t eat so much food. —Kaylan S. ...he got so big that he got to the size of an elephant.

But one day he got captured by a hunter who had three noses and five eyes. The bear had no chance of escaping but then he looked how big his hands were and busted out and lived happily ever after. —Eddie N. ...the bear was very strong so he went to the city and the city is destroyed by the bear then the police shot the bear on the neck then the bear was asleep. The shot had a sleeping potion in the shot so the police took the bear to Africa then the city lived happy after ever. —Alexis

—Melany R.

27035 5x3 FUND education 4.indd 1

4/6/16 10:43 AM

Tommy

Aryaan

Emilia

...he was so big that he could reach the clouds. He saw the tiny people from down below. He loved eating pie. It was his favorite food. One day he decided to stop eating all the pies.

—Emily H. ...he was so big that he floated off into space. He traveled to many different planets and as he traveled he got smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Finally he was the same size before he ate everything and he floated back down to Earth hungry. —Alexander S. ...he ate one tiny insect and he exploded! All the things that he ate before came out of him and came alive again! —Andrew M. ...he could not eat a single thing! He felt really bad because he ate too much. He wanted to eat more but he couldn’t eat. So then he asked the people if they can help him with his problem. But nobody even dared to go close to the bear because they were too scared.

So then he was all sad and very full. So then he went to the forest to find a witch to make him better. So then he found a cottage. So the bear said, “I think witch lives in the cottage.” So he went close to the cottage and he opened the door. He found the witch. He said to witch, “Witch, can you please help me with my problem?” The witch said, “Yes you may come in.” The bear said, “Thank you.” So the witch was going to give him the potion. She said, “This is going to cure you but it is going to make your tail small.” The bear said, “OK if I have to cure this problem I have.” The bear loved his beautiful tail.

So he did drink the potion. Then the potion made him feel better.

That’s why bears right now have a small tail. —Emilio H. ...he got so big all of the animals would listen to him or get squished.

The bear liked food very much. He had a fair amount of servants and slaves that would bring him so much food, ten of them had to carry each plate. The bear also hated exercise. He thought it was a waste of time. Then a magical fox came from the sky. He said he would give the bear one magical fish. The bear said, “Sure, why not,” and the fox gave him the fish. What the bear did not know is that the fish would give him the urge to exercise. So after bear finished eating the fish he wanted to run 57 miles. The problem was that he was so fat he could not run. He begged the fox to give him a fish that would make him normal sized. The fox finally agreed and from that point on the bear loved to exercise. —Dylan S. Liliana A.

...he was sooo big, and sooo tall, and sooo wide he was as big as Earth, and he floated up into outer space. Sometimes, but only sometimes, if you look in the sky very closely at night you might be able to see the bear eating up all the stars, and pushing them around to make shapes in the sky like the big dipper! —Laina ...he got so big he blocked the sun leaving the earth in darkness. He slowly started to roll, and he began to pick up a rapid speed at 100 miles per hour! He was going at such a rapid pace he slowly ate the rest of South America. He grew bigger and began to float up and up until he was in space! He looked around to find himself surrounded by some weird aliens. —Mika M.

...bear couldn’t walk anymore! He started to shout for help, but the animals just looked at him then walked away.

Bear’s feelings were really hurt. He started to cry, “Why doesn’t anyone care about me!?”

Some of the animals heard this. Most of them rolled their eyes, or just ignored him. But one animal, a fox, spoke up. “Bear the reason we aren’t helping you is because you ate all of our food!” Bear said, “I’m sor-” but was cut of by the fox. “Now most of us are very hungry!”

Bear felt really bad, so he decided to make a deal with fox. “If you help me up, and help me get in shape,” explained Bear, “I’ll help you learn how to catch fish really easily, and even catch some for you now and then.” “Hmmm…” the fox said, “Okay, but you have to teach all the other animals how to get fish.” “Deal!” agreed Bear “Now please help me up!”

The fox helped bear, and bear helped all the animals catch fish. Fox and bear became best friends and lived happily ever after. —Katie T. ...He ate everything he saw even the humans! But there was one human left. That human had to take that bear down! So he did, and he also exploded GUMMY BEARS. All the humans were back. —Mikya H. ...he was so large that he became exhausted. Usually when you have eaten very much you want to go to bed and fall asleep, but this bear wanted to do something else first. He wanted to think. Specifically, he wanted to think about how he had started eating in the first place. By this time it was early late November, but he had began to eat around September. He plopped himself down on a pile of soft pine needles and dead leaves and started to ponder. After what seemed like hours he remembered.

It had been a very pleasant day in September, the brisk wind ruffling through his soft fur. He saw a possum scurrying through the brush, suddenly the possum stopped and stared up at the huge, soft, light brown bear. At this point the bear noticed that the possum was carrying a large, fresh, beautifully colored salmon. The bear’s eyes began to gaze longingly, his jaws started to tremble, and a thin line of drool seeped through his lips. The possum looked up at bear and sighed somewhat reluctantly. The possum begrudgingly nodded at bear and started walking through the wood toward a stream.

“Give a bear a fish, and feed him for a day, but teach him how to catch one and he’ll never bother you again,” the possum whispered just loud enough for bear to hear. Bear thought about the possum’s murmur. “I’ll show him,” thought bear, “I’ll learn to catch so well, that possum won’t even have to worry about me bothering him. In fact, I’ll catch so well and so much, he won’t even have to worry about me being hungry!” The possum reached the stream and bear trotted on behind him. The river’s strong current made the waves crash against the rocks and splash onto the already annoyed possum. The bear felt sad for causing the animal to get wet. “Don’t worry,” thought bear to himself.“He’ll cheer up as soon as he watches me make a catch!”

Bear walked up right next to the possum and plopped down on the drying grass. The possum shook his head disapprovingly and leaned over the side of the river, naturally bear followed. The possum looked up and down the river for a few moments until he spotted a fish. The possum crawled toward it and bear followed, the possum didn’t seem too happy about that so bear sat down again. The possum tip-toed onto a boulder and peered over on the fish. Then, he leaped onto the fish, picked it up, and brought it out of the stream swiftly. Bear was intrigued and tried to copy what the possum had done. Except it was much more sloppy. Bear looked from side to side until he saw a fish. He got so excited that he jumped up and down and splashed into the water after it. This did not turn out the way that bear had hoped. Not only did he scare away that fish but all the others in the stream as well. It took a little over an hour until bear started to get the hang of things. By this time bear felt so bad for troubling the kind possum that he caught the possum its own dinner and made a personal promise to eat all the fish he could until he got bored of it. Of course this has yet to happen for bear has continued to eat and eat and eat until he became so large that by late November bear couldn’t even catch any more fish. Now he was so tired that he fell fast asleep and didn’t wake up until spring. [This was the first hibernation.] —Nuala M.

...it was winter time. There was no food by the bear’s den. The bear was big, fat, and lazy to move around for food or shelter. The bear started to worry. He saw a chipmunk walk fine. The bear said, “Can you help me Chipmunk?” The chipmunk said, “No.” The bear asked, “Why not?” The chipmunk yelled to the bear, ”You tried to attack me and tried to eat me!” The chipmunk left. The bear started to get furious. Finally another bear came and saw the angry bear. The bear asked, “What’s wrong?” The bear answered, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” The bear rolled that fat bear into the caves. The bear said, “Are you happy now?” The bear nodded, “Yes.” Then there was a flood in the forest. The other bear ran to higher ground while that poor bear was just stuck there. The water finally reached him. He thought it was the end, but 20 eagles started to lift the bear into the air. He was close to freezing. Just then the water came back to its size. The bear sighed in relief. The eagles put the bear down. He woke up and realized it was all a dream or was it....

12

...he exploded! Fireworks came from the bear because he was eating everything on the 4th of July. The bear exploded and the family watched the fireworks. The family ate cake and the world ended. They went to outer space and also exploded in their suits. —Magaly G.

Summer 2016

...Up into the sky, Oh my gosh, he looks like super why!

His belly is so big, and his ears are so small, Oh look, he is starting to fall!

Going down so fast, At a drop that is beyond vast!

He fell to the ground, With a soft pound.

He said he was fine, And then he continued to dine.

—Gracie W. Enesa G.

...he could not even fit in his cabin. So, he decided to eat healthy and lose some junk in his house. After that he decided to eat again! So he got even bigger than last time.

Then he said, “You know what I have to accept who I am!” So, he made his house even bigger than the last house. Then he lived happily being himself. —Samantha D.

...he ate so much that he had exploded and all of the things that he had eaten came out along with his insides. Then someone came along and finds him empty. So he calls for help to put him back together again. —DeAndre H. ...he got so big he almost couldn’t fit in his clothes.

But he went on a diet and only ate celery. So he got skinny. —Jada S. ...since he was so big there was an earthquake so everyone moved to Jupiter. They moved back to Earth because they forgot there was an earthquake. They fell in a hole. Luckily a superhero saved them. They brought all the air on Earth to Mars and lived there. —Jesse ...he looked in a pond he saw his reflection and he looked really big. He decided to try to lose his weight. It was really hard whenever he saw a bird he started to drool and lick his lips. He said, “Maybe I should start exercising.” In a week he was slightly less fat. After ten weeks he was the skinniest bear in town. —Mia D.

...his doctor told him that he needs to cut the habit of eating everything he wanted! The bear said “Psssht, you can’t tell me what to do!” So he came home eating a jelly donut and his mother sees him. “You have to cut the habit,” she said.

The bear said, “You can’t tell me what to do!” and walked into the nearest store and bought 3 bags of chips! The clerk told him to stop, and in the middle of the bear saying ‘You can’t tell me what to do,’ the bear began to become bigger, the bear began to cry and the clerk moved away and out of nowhere you hear a big *POP* and the clerk moves forward to see all of the sugar inside of him, and he sees a little baby bear and the bear says, “I’ll stop, may I have an apple sir!” And the bear cut the habit of eating and moved on to being healthy! —Amir F.

...BOOM! The bear had gotten so big he had bursted. Only he was a bear that lived on planet Possible. If a bear lives on planet Possible, anything is possible, so anything can happen to the bear. Instead of dying, the bear’s body crumbled into dust. From the dust rose a new bear. And this bear, like the one before it, started grabbing everything in reach and eating. —Anna H.

...he stopped. Then he was in this city called Diet. His name was Rayman and he went to this gym called Skinny. He exercised every day for an hour. After a year he lost 5,000 pounds. The next day he met this girl bear named Nancy. They got married and had cubs. After that they went to the gym every single day. They lived happily ever after. —Ivanna O.

JULY 8 – AUGUST 28 •

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Sophia

Upcoming Events presented by

Near South Planning Board

Join us at the Printers Row Lit Fest StudentsXpress moves from the page to the “stage” as students read their submissions aloud.

Sunday, June 12, 2pm Burnham Pointe, 730 S. Clark St.

Open Mic! Students, come prepared to read your “You’re the Author” submissions aloud in front of an audience.

Special Speaker:

Author Jim Aylesworth Presented by

Near South Planning Board

Everyone is welcome!

Enter raffle to win tickets to Broadway In Chicago’s Schoolhouse Rock!