2023 Camp Fire

2 0 2 3 Summer Writing Camps

Camp Fire

This is a Log Cabin Book, an imprint of THE CABIN 801 South Capitol Boulevard, Boise, Idaho 83702 (208) 331-8000 TheCabinIdaho.org (c) 2023 The Cabin All rights reserved.

Book design by Adie Bartron

2023 Camp Fire Summer Writing Camps

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Introduction Meg Freitag | Teaching Writer, The Cabin Something I like to impress upon campers on the first day of camp is that it’s okay to write badly. In fact, it’s more than just okay–it’s encouraged. Not everything we write needs to be a homerun, making people sit up in their chairs and say Wow. Sure, that’s a nice feeling, and ideally it happens every once in a while. But is it why we write? I hardly think so. Sometimes we write because we want to organize our thoughts, I tell them, or remember something, or tap the pressure release valve of our emotions. And, not least of all, it can also be fun to write. Have fun with it, I tell them with each new prompt.

Some years ago, I started resenting writing. After a few too many rejections and tough-love workshop experiences, the written word had lost its glimmer for me. I didn’t even want to read books. Why did I want to be a writer in the first place? I asked myself, fed up. Then I asked myself the question again, but earnestly. I remembered being a kid, staying awake into the wee hours scribbling furiously in my pink notebook, my mind on fire. I loved writing because I loved getting to know my own mind in that way. It was a form of play and self-discovery, and one that delighted me to no end.

I decided then to stop trying so hard to write well. I wanted instead to write joyfully. To reconnect with the kid inside me who wrote because it was the most fun she could imagine having. I took a break from the novel I’d been laboring on, and stopped submitting things for publication. I wrote just to write. To see what came out. Eighteen months later, I’d 5

not only fallen in love with writing again, I’d also written more than I had in the five preceding years. A lot of it is bad, sure. But I got a lot of good writing out of it, too–writing I never would have arrived at if I hadn’t built myself a little car out of bad writing to get there in.

I don’t tell my campers to write badly because I want them to care less about the writing they’re doing. Mostly, I want them to try to find joy in the writing process, without attaching too much to an outcome. I want them to be explorers rather than critics, to get out of their heads and into their hearts and bodies. They’re on summer vacation, after all. A time when they’re meant to be exploring, imagining, letting off steam, and experimenting with burgeoning versions of their rising-grade selves. As their stewards, we Teaching Writers do our best to honor this. At the end of the week, the important thing is that we engineered a space for them to feel safe, seen, stimulated, and inspired while they were in our care. Bonus points for great writing.

But secretly I also encourage “bad writing” because I’ve learned that it’s from this freed-up, expansive place that our best writing ultimately takes form. And I’m always dazzled by the writing that comes out of camps. The work is wild, weird, beautiful, brilliant, hilarious, and inventive in ways I can never anticipate–in a word, it’s great. The kind of writing that, without fail, reminds again viscerally each summer why I wanted to be a writer in the first place.

I hope you can feel the joy in the wonderful pieces that follow, and that they might even evoke for you the feeling of being a kid again, loving what you loved back then.

Meg Freitag Teaching Writer, The Cabin 6

THE FALLEN CHAIR Oliver Bullard | Grade 6, Boise Yellow leaves make up a chair, They are floating in the air, Spiky mountain, tall and fair, Wispy clouds, way up there.

Trapped in time, forever stuck, Leaves floating, all untucked, Dissipates, all on the ground, On the mountains, without a sound.

The two mountains, one small, one great, Watch the chair fall away.

The four colors, yellow, black, white, and gray, Slowly fade, into the abyss.

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THE SAD ROOM Aurelie Underwood | Grade 6, Boise The blacks, the grays, the whites.

The table sitting motionless.

Amongst it paper and tea.

In the far left corner, A statue sitting still, A lifeless immobile body.

Two open windows to let The cold breeze in.

Two cabinets in the room With mysteries inside.

Are those charcoals in The background? Why’s the Door open wide?

The room, quite sad and Motion-free, indeed with No one to add life or Give the love, it pleads.

It seems to be a studio of Art with no one to make The art. It’s a sad quiet Room in a sad quiet world.

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SHARKS Ava Schell-Mesler | Grade 5, Boise Chapter Four July 5th, 2010 Dear Future Me, ShSSS. The sunscreen is sprayed on my back. I make a little jump.

“Mom,” I say, complainingly. I make a little jump again.

Then she says, “All done.” I start dashing away, when she says, “Hold on, Spring,” and I rush to a halt. She says, “You have to let your sunscreen dry.” So I wait for my sunscreen to dry. Then mom says, “Alright, it’s dry.”

I rush to the water and start swimming. Then I see a gray smooth rubbery fin. I try to swim, but I’m frozen in time.

Just then, my friend named Jackson jumps out of the water, and I fall back into the salty seawater. I scream at Jackson as a black and gray murky shape appears from the water. It has beady black eyes with a huge fin. I black out from the shock.

Just then, someone is shaking me. I open my eyes, and I’m bleeding. The sand around me is red. I lie there, taking in the scene. Then I notice Jackson is missing. So, in a panic, I try to get up and ask where Jackson is, but I collapse, and no sound comes out of me.

Just then, my mom says, “Jackson risked his life to save you, and in the . . . process he, er . . . well . . . died.”

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TORNADO Charlotte Baldwin | Grade 6, Meridian CHAPTER THREE I’m still at the park and now signals are saying that the tornado’s coming north, where I am. So I hopped back in my car and started driving east and then back to Helena. I figured I would be fine that way. I was driving and driving.

I was hugging Pickles. I had his kennel in the car just in case. A lot of people think it’s strange that I have a kennel for a cat, but it works for us. I felt less shaky, so I put pickles in his kennel and kept driving.

Eventually, I saw the tornado but it didn’t look like it was moving. I still kept a very close eye on it and kept driving. Then I saw it all of a sudden very close . . . . I was hit by a tornado.

THE CASE OF SAGE CHRYSANTHEMUM Sophina Eaglstun | Grade 6, Boise Chapter Two: Who was in the Car? One day, Sage was playing her violin in her cramped little alley, when someone walked up to her.

“Hello?” said Sage. “Do I know you?”

“You don’t know me, but I know you. Hi. I’m Hyacinth, and I want to help you. I saw when you got hit by that car. I’ve been following you, trying to get your attention, but you never talked!” said Hyacinth.

“I got hit by a car?” Sage asked.

“I have the license plate of the car. I think they meant to hit you!” She handed Sage a picture of the car. it read: 10

N420-4M-M560-3U Sage gasped. It was blurry, but readable. The car was a deep green, reminding her of the color of the outside of the paint store.

“C’mon!” said Sage. “We’re going to the paint store!”

When they got to the paint store, it was mostly empty, except for the employees. As the two walked into the paint chip section, Sage asked a worker to find the color of the outside wall. She handed Sage a paint chip. Sage looked at it.

It read: UNDERGROUND GARDENS N420-4M Sage realized that the Underground Gardens were a place where all the crimes happened. And N420-4M was the first part of the license plate! She then found a color reading: HYACINTH M560-3U M560-3U was the last part of the license plate! And Hyacinth.

All the evidence lined up.

“Hyacinth, we’re going to the Underground Gardens.”

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TRAPPED ROBOT WISHING Rylee Tranter | Grade 6, Meridian Once upon a time, not too long ago, there was a robot named N520-5D, but everyone called him Joe. And let me tell you, little Joe was very rebellious! He went around pushing children and spray painting buildings. Joe did this most of his robot life without consequences.

One day, Joe was rolling around, stealing whatever lay unwatched. So far he had stolen a water bottle, pieces of wood, someone’s shoe, a slice of pizza, and a park bench!

Little did Joe know, someone was sitting on the bench!

They called the police. A while later, Joe was captured, and went straight to jail. He was a TRAPPED ROBOT WISHING for revenge.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE, AMAZING KIND Joud Khalf | Grade 5, Boise CHAPTER ONE August 8th, 2014 Dear Bloom, Hi! My name is Sage Cotton. I have ADHD & autism. I know.

It’s very unusual to have two mental disabilities. but I don’t think they are a disability. No, I think they’re another ability.

I’m 12 years old. I live in a city called Mossy Cavern. My parents are the most loving parents in the world. They support me no matter what. Let me tell you more about myself and what I like. My favorite drink is Cherry Fizz Soda. I also love to draw 12

and read books. My family spins cotton for a living. Our biz is called The Cotton YL. No idea what the YL means. I love to wear high heels and formal dresses. I love the C.A.T.S. They are a band. These are their names: CATrina, Addison, Tenysonn, and Sienna. I can’t buy tickets because they are too loud & too expensive. Okay, more next time.

Your pen pal, Sage Cotton

THE GREAT ESCAPE Isolde Dau-Miller | Grade 5, Boise Chapter Two: The Night Before Alright, let’s see what happened last night.

“Alright mom, I’m going to bed,” Sas lies.

“Okay, honey. Give me your phone.”

“But I need it for a wake-up ringer,” Sas lies again.

“Alright, honey, but I’m putting on a screen time limit.

You can still use the clock app.”

Okay, good night!” Sas turns her phone on. Her screen saver is a picture of her and her best friend, Egyptian, who has a sandy color of hair similar to the blonde hair that Sas has, both of their ocean blue eyes looking into the screen.

Speaking of Egyptian, she needed to call her, but as Sas expected, when she logged onto her phone, the screen was purple and had a little white timer implying she couldn’t call or do pretty much anything on her phone. Luckily she knew the password. She entered it. It was: 0123. Her mom really needed to change the password. Sas clicked on the 13

green telephone app and clicked on Egyptian Pyramid.

She answered immediately, and said, “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready. I’m already waiting for you.”

“Okay, I’m coming.”

Sas hangs up. How will I get out of my window?, she thinks. Downstairs she hears her mom screaming at her dad, and remembers that her dad was very scared of fires, so in every room of the house upstairs there is a ladder, and Sas’ was under her bed. Sas puts her hand under the bed and pulls it out from under the bed. She opens her window, then makes the ladder the longest it gets, and then lowers it out the window. It’s the perfect length.

She climbs down and starts walking toward the Sky Cafe to meet Egyptian so they can plan the rest of the evening.

Sas turns the corner without a care in the world. Then the ladder fell over, creating a large BANG. Sas finally makes her way to the coffee shop. Egyptian is there holding something up. Then it came to Sas that Egyptian just turned 16. I mean, they are in their sophomore year of high school.

Egyptian says, “Guess what? I got my driver’s license.”

“Oh my goodness, what will we do first?”

“I don’t know, but my dad bought me a Mercedes.”

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WHAT AM I DOING? Arianna Lee | Grade 5, Boise CHAPTER ONE: A HUMAN’S INTRODUCTION Hi my name is Jasmine Sweet. I live in Castle Beige. I have blonde hair with streaks of black. I love the color blue.

My favorite scent or smell is vanilla cherry. I love the touch of flowers. I have a dog named Cyber M-570-4M. I am in second grade. I live with Mom, Dad, and two sisters. My favorite hobbies are hiking, competitive dance, skateboarding, and track. My favorite foods are fruit, pizza, and carrots. I am scared of turtles with hats. I am homeschooled. My favorite friend in track is Angel Legna. Every day I eat at least one sweet. I have a room with quiet ocean waves. It is the best sound ever.

Now let me introduce my mom. Her name is Cherry Fizz. She is the nicest person in the world. She always brings chocolate cookies for me. My mom also loves the scent of vanilla cherry. Her favorite touch is cookies. She hates to see dirty rooms. She can yell at the person who made the mess.

I am going to introduce my sister, Angel Feather. She is really nice. She always shares her stuff with us when we lose something. Angel is 11 years old. She loves cleaning.

Mostly my other sister’s room. She loves the smell of flowers.

She takes a lot of care of them. Her favorite color is beige.

Angel never gets in trouble because she’s smart and clean.

It is time for my other sister, Misty Isle. Misty is the opposite of Angel. She is not smart and not clean. She never shares her stuff with us. Misty hates the smell of flowers, but loves the smell of stinky feet. Ew?! Also her favorite color is black.

Lastly, I’m going to tell you about my dad. My dad’s name is Poppy Seed. My dad doesn’t really do anything but work. He says the only reason we are rich is because he works really hard. All I really know is that his favorite color is very, very dark blue.

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THE LIGHT Stella Reynolds | Grade 6, Boise Chapter Two “BEEP BEEP BEEP!” Coral woke to the sound of her alarm clock. She loved getting up early so she could have more time to get ready for the day.

Coral sat up in her bed and turned off her alarm clock.

Then, she got out of her bed and walked over to her closet.

She changed out of her nightgown and into a short dress covered in seashells.

Once she was completely done getting changed, Coral went into her bathroom and brushed her teeth, took a shower, and put on some lotion. After she dried off from her shower, she ran upstairs for breakfast. She was starving, so her skin wouldn’t dry.

For breakfast, Coral ate pancakes with her mom because her sisters had to leave for swim practice, and her dad was driving them there. They wouldn’t be back until 11:30.

“Ding, Ding!”

The sound of Coral’s phone startled her, and she got up to answer it.

“Hi, Coral! This is May.” “Oh. Hi, May!” “Can you come over here? I found something really weird.”

“Sure, May. I’ll be right over.”

Coral put her phone down and quickly ate the rest of her pancakes.

“Mom, I’m going over to May’s house. She wants to show me something,” Coral shouted before she left.

“Okay, have fun sweetheart!” her mom replied.

Coral ran all the way to May’s, excited to see what May wanted to show her. When she got there, May was already 16

in the front yard waiting for her. She had a very confused expression on her face.

“Is everything alright?” Coral asked her.

“CORAL! Thank God you’re here. Come with me!”

May said as she ran to her backyard.

May’s backyard was a giant meadow full of all sorts of things. Coral had a hard time keeping up with May, but finally, May stopped in the meadow, and she pointed over to the left.

Coral looked over to where May was pointing at, and there in the middle of the meadow was a large purple and blue light that was surrounded by what looked like a purple force field.

“What in the world is that?” Coral asked.

“No idea,” said May. Coral walked up to the mysterious light. She slowly put her hands toward the light, and the second her hand touched the light, she was no longer in the meadow. She was in the middle of a giant field of grass. Seconds later, May fell through the portal and joined Coral.

“Where are we?” Coral asked.

“No idea,” May replied.

But before she could say anything else, the portal disappeared.

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GHOST CAMP Winnie Hurwitt | Grade 4, Boise CHAPTER ONE Sophie was eating breakfast and asked her mom if she could go to camp.

“Mamá, can I go to camp?”

“Honey, the only camp that’s not full is Ghost Camp!”

“Okay, I will go there.”

A couple days later, Sophie was packed. She went out the door holding her cat, Bob, in her arms. Papá drove her to camp. She said goodbye to him and sat down in a seat.

Suddenly, she heard something! Luckily, it was just her teacher, Miss Daisy. She taught them about how to catch ghosts.

The next day, Sophie was going on a field trip to a graveyard. Then they heard a spooky noise: Boooooooooooooo! They got their ghost catchers out and swished them around. She thought she caught something!

Sophie asked Miss Daisy and gave her the catcher. She put it in a bag and said, “Great job!”

A day later they went to an old cave. She shivered and her brown curls shook. Miss Daisy took out her catcher.

Bob meowed. Everybody took out their catchers. Suddenly, ghosts started flying around. Bob kept meowing.

“Stop!” said Sophie. Everyone rushed out. They were safe!

“What was that?” Sophie asked.

“That was the Ghost Cave,” said Miss Daisy.

Bob meowed.

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CHAPTER 1 Ernie Jiron | Grade 4, Boise Our story starts in the forest. Two children, brother and sister, opened the gates to heaven, and they stole Zeus’s thunderbolt. Since the children stole Zeus’s thunderbolt, the gods sent demons to kill the children and the hydra to retrieve the bolt. The children were very frightened. They thought that the bolt would give them powers, but it wasn’t working. The children were captured by one of the demons.

Then suddenly, the bolt shocked the hydra! Then the bolt came to the boy’s hand. The boy had upset the hydra. The boy shocked the hydra again. The hydra fell to the ground and died. Then the demon burnt his butt. The children ran back to the gates and were free.

THE MISSION Joleen Owens | Grade 3, Boise Chapter One Carly was in her workshop making a potion when she got a call. It was from her friend, Boob.

“Get here right now,” he said.

Carly got into her super-mega-ultra-powered car and sped off. In one second, she met Boob in California.

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THE GEM Nethra Radhakrishnan | Grade 4, Boise It was a hot, sunny morning. The land of Mifi was currently in a drought. It was so hot that the moment you came outside, beads of sweat would fall down your face.

I know this because I am outside right now, going to my friend’s house, Snuffy.

Oh sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Mimi. I am going to my friend’s house to study and then find the magical gem. We want to find the gem because it will give us a magical unicorn that will save us from the drought.

But we must find it fast because Snuffy’s twin, Scruffy, wants it to put the sun to sleep.

“Oh, hi Snuffy!” I called when I arrived. “So, I just got the idea to go to the newsstand, but can you please give me an ice chunk before we leave?”

“Yeah, come inside for a minute,” said Snuffy.

After rubbing the ice chunk on my fur, we headed to the newsstand.

“Hey, did you know the queen got a gem a couple of years ago?” asked Snuffy.

“I guess we are going to the castle,” I sighed.

When we arrived at the castle, I said, “Wow the castle is so beautiful. Let’s go to the queen.”

“But how do we get past the guards?” Snuffy asked.

“We’ll tell them we know how to save Mify land.”

Once we were past the guards, we found and asked the queen, “Dear queen, please let us use the gem.”

“Fine but give it back when you’re done,” said the queen.

As we were leaving, the evil twin Scruffy appeared.

“You already got the gem!” he said.

“Yeah, why do you want it to be dark forever anyway?”

TO BE CONTINUED… 20

THE CURSE OF THE EVIL LIONEL William Rex | Grade 3, Boise CHAPTER ONE Once in the land of Relnia there was a griffin king named Argius. Argius was big and powerful, but he had one weakness, and it was dark magic (and by dark magic he meant the evil Lionel King.) The evil Lionel King lived on the other side of the Bridge of the Dead.

PART 1: THE HALL OF GHOSTS Asher Westhoff | Grade 4, Boise Chapter One Pickle, Bob, Lucy, and Roger were good friends and they all moved into the same house after Lucy and Roger married. Wait, pause the backstory. Let’s get to the point.

Pickle, Bob, Lucy, and Roger all died in a car crash—caused by the local criminal. And a bank robber stole their bodies.

When Pickle, Bob, Lucy, and Roger died, they became ghosts and their spirits rose up and kept going until they reached the International Ghost Station. After they got in control of their ghost bodies, they went to the Hall of Ghosts.

There were thousands of ghosts in the hall. Roger said that they should see what was at the end of the hall. As they whooshed past ghosts, they saw a black sign saying, “Keep Away Hypnotizing Robot Army.” So, they stopped walking.

Then a big voice came out on the loudspeaker: “Hello ghosts. Welcome to the International Ghost Station.

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If you were wondering what you’re doing here, you are here to be put up against three judges: Don the Pig, Blaberaber Alien, and myself, Guy Fudge. If you pass two judges or more, you can be sent to the afterlife. I’m sorry, but if you don’t pass the judges, you will be zapped and turned into plain air.”

Panic suddenly rose across the room. Everyone was asking the same question: how will I get the judges to let me into the afterlife? Including Pickle, Bob, Lucy, and Roger.

TO BE CONTINUED…

TREASURE Asher Wulf | Grade 3, Boise Once upon a time, there were two dragons and one scavenger. The scavenger had a lot of treasure. The dragons wanted the treasure. But one of the dragons wanted all of the treasure, but the other dragon also wanted all of the treasure. But while they were fighting, the scavenger walked into the middle of the fight. The result was that the scavenger was killed. So, the dragons decided that they would split the treasure.

The End. The moral of the story is that violence is not always the answer.

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BOOK 1: THE JOURNEY Atticus Dunn | Grade 4, Boise One day, three people were exploring a strange land.

They heard something in the bush. They turned to look at the bush. When they looked back, the girl was gone! Also, the noise was gone too. The brothers suspected the noise was a distraction to capture the girl. The brothers went to a nearby village, and a villager told them that the demons came with a girl. The brothers asked where they were going, and the villager said, “They went to the Demon Lair.”

“We are leaving,” the older brother said. So, they traveled for days. Then they came to a cave. The older brother went to explore the cave, and after a little time passed, a Hydra came out with the older brother swinging his sword at the Hydra’s heads and screaming, “Burn the wounds!” So, the younger brother did that, and the older brother stuck his sword in the Hydra’s heart, and it was dead.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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THE KELPIES Nils Dau-Miller | Grade 3, Boise CHAPTER ONE Once upon a time, in the underland, there was a family of royal kelpies. The daughter’s name was Blue. The dad’s name was Seashell. The mom’s name was Coral. They lived in a castle made of water with the entire kelpie colony.

In the upperland, the people lived in the castle with huts all around with knights in the huts. One day, the royal family of kelpies went to the upperland to get food. But the people saw them…

TO BE CONTINUED...

BLUE Abdallah Aldalli | Grade 4, Boise One day, I woke up and I was in a tent. I thought I was dreaming. I asked my mom, “Why are we in a tent?”

She replied, “Because dinosaurs are out there, and if we build a home, they can destroy it.”

I can’t believe that my dream came true.

I helped my mom put down tents, and we took our backpacks to a safe place. Suddenly, we saw an Alpha Raptor with his pack, hunting the cows heading toward us. We hid from them by running away under the bushes.

I thought the Alpha Raptor saw me, but I couldn’t tell. As soon as we tried to escape, the raptor pack zoomed toward us.

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Mom screamed, “Run away, son!”

But something in my heart told me not to run away.

I stood in front of the Alpha Raptor, looked him in the eye, and told him how much I looked forward to seeing him in real life.

He ran quickly, finally stopped, and patted his head on my shoulder.

It is real, I actually tamed the Alpha Raptor! He had a blue stripe on him, so I named him Blue.

Then came a soft voice, “Wake up my sweet little boy.”

THE JEWEL HUNTERS Faye Brassell | Grade 5, Boise Chapter Two Magic and her family rode on a bus into Zion like they did to most National Parks. They had actually been to a lot of National Parks because after the fire, they found their dad lifeless in one of the hallways close to the source of the fire.

After that fire, her mom received a note offering her a new job that Magic and Rapid still didn’t know about. The job was being a jewel hunter in the National Parks.

The bus arrived at the Visitor Center, where her mom asked for directions to the Emerald Pools. At stop 5 at a place called The Lodge, Rapid saw a squirrel and ran out of the bus but couldn’t catch the athletic squirrel.

“At least this is our stop,” said Amelia. While walking across the bridge leading to the pools, Rapid told them it wasn’t fair that the squirrel got away. They laughed so much it seemed anything a mile away could hear them.

“Should we go to the Lower, Middle, or Higher 25

Emerald Pools?” asked their mom.

“I think we should go to the Middle Emerald Pools,” Magic decided. “It doesn’t look like a very long hike.” It wasn’t as short a walk as she thought it would be, but it was worth it.

At the end of the hike, a glittering green pool met them.

“Wow!” said Rapid. Magic walked around and around the pool, taking it all in. Suddenly, she tripped over something. It was a glittering emerald with a sliver of black in it. Magic gently pressed the top of it, and sparkles and swirls engulfed her.

RIJU KINGDOM Charlie Fisk | Grade 4, Boise CHAPTER ONE Hi, my name is Mayan Hyacinth, and I live in Riju Kingdom.

Nobody knows about this universe, and you can never die, because it’s the opposite of the dark side where everyone is ghosts. You can come back to life. I live in Glowing Fish Domain. My eyes are blue, and my hair is a fishtail. I do not like eating mushrooms. I love to fight. I like making weapons.

I fear fish wearing glasses. I have water powers. My weakness is fire. My biggest secret is that my best friend Lace is on the dark side. I hope and dream to make my friend good. I have a pet smelly fish and a poewow, a glowing light blue creature that turns red and hot when it gets mad.

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THE FIRE Blaise Yang | Grade 3, Boise Chapter Three & Four When I am ready to go, I jump in the hole. Then I see my teacher right behind me. Then my feet hit the ground.

Right then, my teacher’s feet hit the ground. She asks me what I was doing. I tell her I am saving Apple Blossom.

I was ready to fight the fire lor, but something surprised me. I had to do a spelling test. When I finally finished, I got everything correct. The fire lor was defeated. The threshold to Undersea World was open. I walked in, then I saw the old woman I saw at fairy school. I asked her what her name was.

Her name was Solar Storm. Then I noticed a familiar voice.

SHRINK RAY Kabir Indukuri | Grade 3, Boise I was walking in the garden when I stepped in a puddle, and the puddle made me shrink, and as I was shrinking, I heard a mad scientist laughing. After that, I thought I heard a thundering noise. I followed the sound until I saw a giant cylinder-like rock shape, and the water was thrashing inside.

It was the fountain. Then I started walking, and it felt like forever to climb up one of the roses. The roses smelled weird and felt like a comfy cushion. When I climbed down the rose, I started drowning in the puddle that I had stepped in before.

Then I started growing back to normal size!

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THE ROSE Emily Mathes | Grade 3, Eagle CHAPTER ONE One day, on a planet we call Homeworld, lived a girl, well … a fairy named Passion. She lived in the clouds with the sky fairies, but she is not a sky fairy. She is the last rose fairy left.

You see, there, well … let’s go back 6,028 years, back to the war. Yes, there was a war between fairies and black wizards. The black wizards destroyed the rose fairies.

When fairies are born, they pop out of clouds and go to their home section, but Passion came out late.

There are four kinds of fairies: fire, water, earth, and sky.

The fairies sometimes use English. They mostly speak Fairyll. It’s complicated.

Passion uses English and Fairyll. She goes to school like all the other fairies, and some like her and some hate her cause she’s the “product of the war.” Some, well…most like her cause she is a rose fairy.

STRANGE LANDS Noor Khalf | Grade 3, Boise Chapter Three & Four I got ready to go to Black Valley. I was about to forget my magical friend, Coctreir. He eats anybody at midnight.

Now, I was ready. I went outside to hop in my car. I finally arrived at Black Valley, and then I almost ran away, but I remembered that this was for my parents, so I decided not to 28

run away.

It struck midnight, and I was ready. I got out my gun so I was safe. My traps were ready. The guy who kidnapped me was here.

He said, “You have to complete all my obstacles, then you get your parents back. But if you fall in one of my obstacles, I will keep your parents!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!” I was ready for my obstacles.

The guy who kidnapped me said, “The first obstacle course is the Kicking Knock. It is where you can’t get kicked or knocked off.” I got past the first obstacle course!

“Good job, but you won’t defeat my next obstacle. It is called the Beam Knockdown. It is where you’re on a beam, and you can’t get knocked down.” I almost passed the next obstacle course, but then the punching hand knocked me down. I thought that I was not going to see my parents again, but then I stood up and my magical friend Coctreir came and helped me defeat the guy who kidnapped me by getting a gadget that sticks to him and spins him around and flew him away.

I defeated him. Then I finally saw my parents. I got the key to open the cage to my parents, and I was so happy that I almost cried.

Then my mom said, “How ‘bout we go home.”

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CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER TWO Aubrey Yang | Grade 5, Boise “Winter, wake up!” I hear Pepper and Ginger yelling my name. “The queen is going to pick a random servant to put in prison,” I hear them yell. “We have to meet her at the throne room in 2 minutes!” Oh no.

I run downstairs, outside, and into the throne room just to hear Queen Laurel say, “Ginger Glaze Pointel, I choose you, randomly, to go to prison.” Oh no. “The rest of you will never be released from servanthood.” This was terrible. How were we going to get Ginger out of prison?

I remembered Mr. Tornado, the knight who said that all the prisoners’ cells are opened by the same key hidden in the Everglades Kingdom! He gave me a slip of parchment explaining where to look. The only thing was…it was ripped, and the other half was probably gone. How would we find Ginger now? I wanted to just give up. This was going to be impossible!

Just then, Pepper came into the throne room.

“Winter, you’ll never believe what happened!” Oh no.

“Pepper, you know I can’t handle even more bad news.”

“Winter, it’s good! I was cleaning my mop outside, and I met a krie.”

“A WHAT ?! You met a krie?”

“Yes, it can help us rescue Ginger!” Pepper exclaimed.

“The only thing is… we won’t be able to understand it, because we have no krie magic in us.” I wonder what krie magic is.

“C’mon! I’ll show you the krie!”

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A NEW HOME Ruhaan Indukuri | Grade 5, Boise Chapter Three Dwarf 9 flew the spaceship he stole towards the Dino Planet. As soon as he landed, a knight rode up to him. Dwarf 9 didn’t know how there was a knight.

The knight said, “Leave, quick! There are dinosaurs!”

The knight got on the spaceship, and told Dwarf 9 how he would help Dwarf 9 if Dwarf 9 left the planet. Dwarf 9 agreed, and they left the planet.

Dwarf 9 had just landed on Wild West Planet when he saw a man running up to him near the train station.

Apparently, the train was being robbed!

Dwarf 9 and the knight went to help. The train was coming so fast. The robbers jumped out while the train was speeding over the tracks. Dwarf 9 took out his laser blaster and shot the track so it broke and bent skyward. Then the knight used his sword to slow the train by hitting the wheels.

All were saved! Dwarf 9 didn’t want to live here, so they left.

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THE MISSION Clementine Genetski Chumbley | Grade 4, Boise Chapter Three The next day, Ocean packs his bag and sets off. He rides his bike down the street and towards the library. As he crosses the street, a truck seems to have not seen him and the light! The truck comes racing toward Ocean at the speed of lightning, and for a second he thinks he’s going to die, when all of the sudden, a man sees him, and shoves Ocean out of the way.

“Thanks,” says Ocean, “You saved my life. Oh, I’m Ocean, by the way.”

“Sure, anytime. I’m Steve.” Steve holds out his hand, and Ocean shakes it.

“So,” Steve says, “Where are you headed?”

“Well, I seem to be on a mission.” Ocean spends the next 5 minutes telling Steve about his mission, and Steve decides to come with him.

First, Ocean and Steve go to Weeders Ruins, an old house where he used to live. They hesitate at first, then walk through the gate.

Immediately, a stone knight rises out of the ground.

Ocean jumps then pulls his sword out of its case, but the knight does not fight. Instead, he starts to speak.

“Ocean,” he says, “you have come to enter Weeders Ruins, the place where you were born.”

“To enter, you must pass the test,” says the knight.

“Question one, what hour were you born?”

After a few minutes, Ocean answers all the questions and enters the ruins with Steve.

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THE MAGIC OF GOOD & BAD Maia Diggs | Grade 4, Boise Chapter Three We met at the river. “What did the riddle say again?” asked Magenta.

“Run straight into it,” I said. So, we did. We walked over to the portal. We ran straight into the wall. We went through. Switch! Black air-filled mist.

“Ke-ke,” coughed Sapphire. We looked around. We were in Forbidden Land. I read that to restore good to all worlds we need to destroy the king. We can only destroy the king with good magic.

Suddenly, out of the mist, a kolf appeared. “Hi,” she said.

Sapphire was very smart. “That’s a kolf. She will help us on our journey.”

“Okay, let’s go,” said the kolf.

“Wait,” I said. “What’s your name?”

“Clea,” she said.

“I’m Amethyst. This is Sapphire and Magenta,” I said.

“Nice to meet you. We should go through. Dark is coming.” So we ran to the black hole. “Jump in!” said Clea.

So we did. Whoosh!

We were in the forbidden part of Rock World. “We need to get out of the forbidden lake,” said Clea. Dark spirits surrounded us. Clea howled. That scared away the dark spirits. We ran through.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go to Love City!” said Clea.

The girls looked at each other. They knew they could use their stones. But they agreed. They wanted to check out the town.

We went to Love City. We got salad at Timeless Ruby.

We went to the Magic Geode. We jumped into it. We were transported to the Secret Forest.

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ASH AND BONE Juman Aldali | Grade 6, Boise Care for it as if it were your own or watch it melt to ash and bone. Words that echoed in my mind as I edged my way through the forest. The trees were spread sparse and lay bare. Their dark, silvery trunks clinging to the ground through exposed roots; roots that wove their way across the grim, gray dirt. I had to be careful not to trip while I walked as the entire forest floor was laid with them.

The air was still. Not a sound floated through. It saved the crunch of my boots on the dry dead ground. And that’s what this place was, or at least seemed: dead. There was no color, no life. The forest seemed empty, devoid of anything you might expect to see in a woodland. No animals, no water, no sunlight breaking its way through the canopy.

The lack of leaves would have left the whole forest to bathe in the warm glow of the sun, where it’s not hidden beneath the perpetual clouds.

I came to a steeply crested dirt mound. On either side were trees, jagged roots, and felled decaying logs. It seemed to be my only way forward. On my attempts to scramble up, I lost my footing and fell forward. I wasn’t quite sure how, my foot felt planted one second and then as if the ground was gone the next, but it didn’t matter. I had made it over the rise, but landed on my stomach in the dirt. Peeling upright as quickly as I could, I frantically checked my pocket.

To my relief, there was no harm done. My prize was safe.

Dusting myself off, I continued onwards, heading deeper into the forest.

“Nasty, isn’t it…”

I flew around, a haunting voice catching me by surprise. My heart and my mouth, my breath caught in my lungs, I found myself peering down at a haggard old woman, head spun with dry and curling light hairs. She sat against 34

the base of a tree, wore a tattered old white dress down to her feet, no shoes and a crooked smile.

“To be caught off guard by a scary old woman in the middle of the forest.” she continued, her smile broadening. I nodded frantically in agreement.

“What brings you out here,” she pressed, “alone?”

Her expression was warm, but her eyes were cold.

They were like the forest around me, lifeless and empty.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing,” she replied skeptically, “I doubt that very much.”

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THE FOREST Jameson Costello | Grade 5, Boise That night, I wait until my family is asleep. Then I sneak out of the tent.

“Over here,” Alex says.

I follow his voice to the edge of the forest. “Come on, Henley’s already in there.”

I run over to the forest. “OK, let’s go then,” I say.

Then we walk into the forest.

“Henley,” we both cry. “Where are you?”

“Over here, come on,” he says.

“Where is here?” I ask.

“Here,” he says, popping his head out from behind a giant oak tree. “Come on!”

It got darker the farther we ran as only a few shafts of light broke through the thick canopy of leaves.

A few minutes later, we come to a clearing scattered with bones. Some of the bones even look like they were human.

Then my foot hits something hard, and I fall flat on my face.

“Ow, that hurt,” I say.

“Why do you think there are so many bones?”

Henley says.

“Yeah, it’s kind of creepy,” Alex says.

“Wait, do you hear that?” I say.

“Hear what?” Henley says. “All I hear is thunder.”

“I don’t think that’s thunder. There’s not one cloud in the sky.”

“Hide!” Alex yells.

I scramble to my feet and get ready to run when I notice a small black rock on the ground. I pick it up and stuff it in my pocket without thinking. Then I run behind a tree to see what the noise is without being seen if it’s a wild animal.

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When I look out from behind the tree, I almost faint. In the middle of the clearing is a 9-foot-tall man, except he isn’t human. His face is too hairy, and I can see hair protruding from the cuffs of his pants. I can also see horns protruding from the top of his head, and the stench, I can’t start to describe it, but I’ll try. It smells like rotten eggs dipped in sulfur.

“That smells disgusting,” I hear Henley say somewhere behind me.

“Henley, be quiet,” I say, turning to the sound of his voice.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! “Run!” I hear Axel yell.

I turn around to see the monster. I think it is a Minotaur from Greek mythology looming over me as I turn and run as fast as I can towards the sound of cracking twigs and dry leaves.

THE STAIRCASE Maya Cover | Grade 6, Boise Prologue: A long time has passed since these people have lived.

In 3002, time travel was hastily attempted in the hopes of changing history and foreseeing the future. The world watched at home on the news as the historic machine was activated. A crowd of people gathered to watch, and all 200 never returned. The time travel machine blew up, and history has it that they all died in the explosion.

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But history lies.

200 people suffered the consequences of an inter time glitch, something that bends and reshapes the flow of time. They found themselves in a strange land beyond time.

Where the restraints of life’s timeline are nonexistent.

After 1000 years, the world had left them behind, and time had moved on forever. The people learned to live with their immortality, and formed the town of Lardee.

The townsfolk ignored the weight of time and decided to relish their immortality to the point where it became almost spiritual.

There is a small group of people ranging from 3 to 10 living in the outskirts, including Sun Creek, Lurkin, and Rain Valley.

While everyone views their fate with different eyes, they all suffer from unnatural conditions. Their bodies adapt.

Their ways change, and their arms and legs grow. They remember one thing, one thing from their old life.

Some people can remember more. The young ones who still act like little kids.

Misery is a curse, some might say. Some might say misery is an idea of the mind. Regardless, these people live alone in time, coming back to life every time they die, staying in the same body forever.

They soon learned that death is impossible.

So, yeah! History lies.

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THE DRAGON’S TOOTH Gideon Dunn | Grade 6, Boise Chapter Two Today I will be taking the trial of the king. I am Lavitz Lorian Darkblade. I am the Elvin Prince. Every Prince before me has taken this trial. If you pass, you become king of the Elves, and if not, you become a peasant.

As I walked through the weathered door that a tree had grown around, I looked around and saw what looked like a black, skinless cross between a tiger and a wolf. As it pounced at me, I drew my machete and stabbed it straight through its head.

Then as I replaced my blade and drew my long sword, a horde of these creatures neared me. I ran toward the creatures and attacked. I could hear what sounded like a million yips.

I made it through all the trials with speed and ease.

After I exited the arena, I was crowned.

Chapter Four Yesterday I told my parents that I will be leaving. My duties are to join the war. My first stop will be Kaleidoscope City. My family tried to keep me from leaving. I had to sneak out, but I’m having trouble sleeping right now because I miss my dog who died last year. Anyways, I’m halfway to Kaleidoscope City. I have 11 miles to go tomorrow. The only person who knows is my father, who used our magic mirror to contact Kaleidoscope City to get me a guest room for royals.

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TWO STRINGS WINDED BY TIME Geddy Hindman | Grade 5, Boise As he stepped through the door, he saw a grassy field in front of him. It smelled like the forest, and he could hear birds chirping. But they weren’t birds. They were moths.

“What?” he queried, “moths chirping?!”

While he was trying to answer this, a moth flew up to him and let out a sad chirp. Its wing was hurt, so he let it land on his finger.

In his pocket, he had a piece of paper. He sat down and made a paper wing for the moth and placed it on the broken wing. It made a little confetti explosion, and the paper turned into real wings. Brandon was startled and jumped back. The moth let out a few happy chirps and sounded like it was saying thank you. Then it flew away.

Somehow, he knew that the moth was important.

Then he studied his surroundings more carefully. There were two suns, a stream to his left, and a forest behind him.

In front of him there was another door, which he decided to not go through. But as he was heading toward the stream, the door opened, and a girl stepped out. She was wearing jeans with rips in them and a jacket that said Don’t Give Up! “Who are you?!” they both said at the same time.

“I’m Brandon.”

“I’m Matilda.”

Then Matilda looked around and seemed more startled than he did.

“Ah!” she yelled as an eclipse of moths floated by her.

“Don’t worry!” he said. “They’re friendly.”

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SHAPESHIFTERS AND SORCERERS: TROUBLES WITH THE DEPTHS Alice Jackson | Grade 5, Boise CHAPTER THREE He took little notice of us on his way to his throne.

After he sat down, he eyed me contemptibly. I probably looked at him timidly. Then he spoke with an air of great importance.

“I have a quest for thee. Does thou accept?”

“What is the quest, Your Majesty?”

I caught myself at the last minute.

“The teachers should have taught you that,” he said. “The Treaty Stone was stolen by the people from the Depths.”

“That sounds terrible,” I said, careful not to look at Luke.

“Why me?”

He hesitated before replying.

“Every 1000 years, someone is born, and they can choose to be a dragon. The last known one was born in 4032.”

“And why is this relevant to me?”

And then it dawned on me.

“You don’t mean–” “Yes! I do mean. You.” I felt like my life just fell apart at the seams.

“It can’t be true!”

He replied with an air of someone explaining that 1 + 1 = 2.

“It is true. But do you accept to travel to the Depths to get the Treaty Stone and bring it back?”

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THE MANSION Caroline McCabe | Grade 6, Boise As I walk through, I can’t help but feel scared; unsettled. It smells almost of past-date pie, good, but yet so bad. I imagine the taste and start to quiver.

Oh, why did I do this?

I can almost hear the screams of the children before me, but it’s yet so so quiet. I can almost touch the low hanging chandelier. Why is it so low?

All of the sudden, I hear a BANG, and I want to run, to hide; but I can’t.

And as the footsteps near, I hold my breath, for I know this is my last one.

THE DRAGON’S TOOTH Caleb Mitchell | Grade 5, Mountain Home The fire demon struck first. Balls of lava and fire crashed up against the generated force field, which flashed orange on contact, identifying the attack element. At the same time, an acid demon crept around to the left side of the city and attacked the force field, which flashed green this time. The two different attacks spread out Umara’s troops between the city, with a guard around the capital, the main sector of the city.

The other five demons, led by a demon made of pure diamonds, looped to the other side to attack a weaker sector, called the 1900s. This sector was virtually undefended, only a lone watch tower and a small stone wall. A flare lit the night, an effect of water meeting molten diamond. The 42

signal for the other three demons to join the attack on the 1900s.

The two fire demons left the 3500s and began to make their way over. The acid demon left the 3300s and made his way over. By the time the people of Umara realized what was happening, it was too late. The combined force of eight demons hit the wall so hard that it didn’t explode, it disintegrated. The two individuals on the wall fell to the ground, falling about four meters to the ground. They remained motionless.

12 individuals armed with crossbows entered the sector.

“Fire,” the lead soldier commanded.

12 bolts flew toward the diamond demon, and twelve bolts bounced off.

The Diamond demon created and threw a ball of molten diamond, 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, at the men. Most of them got out of the way, but three individuals died almost instantly. The remaining 9 decided against shooting the Diamond demon, and targeted the lava demon instead. The bolts and two of the men were dissolved by lava.

The remaining seven tried to flee. Four were struck down by the Acid demon before they reached the gate, and another was killed by the Fire demon as they went through.

The 1900s had fallen.

Chapter One: Caleb Five years later.

Caleb Orebringer was an unusual dwarf. His height of 4’11” made him a good three inches taller than his age, which was 42. 42 was young for a dwarf, not a teenager, no, but 22 human years at least. He was a gruff dwarf who was never seen without his ax, the Storm Blade, an electrified ax made of steel. It was tipped with the rarest medal of all; iron.

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Rumour had it that iron used to be common, but whether that was true or not, iron was the rarest metal of all, now. He wore steel armor, the helmet of which covered his graying hair, as dwarven hair was the same as human hair. His eyes wore a dark blue. He lived in the military town of Umara.

There were times when Umara had been a beautiful place that was known throughout Gallik. Now, however, though still beautiful, it was clearly different. The streets once filled with playing children and adults were now vacant and bare. Occasionally, somebody would venture tentatively out, only to run inside at the first loud sound.The town itself, once filled with a healthy level of noise, was now unnaturally quiet. The reason for these changes was simple.

The demons.

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VIOLET’S REVENGE Phoebe Pulliam | Grade 6, Boise Chapter Two I jump awake and immediately feel the rumble of my empty stomach and shiver from the cold morning air.

My eyes are heavy from sleep and my legs are sore from walking yesterday.

Now that I think about it, it seems extremely strange that that building is out in the middle of nowhere. Seems a bit sketchy.

I get up on my feet and immediately regret it. My legs start shaking and I fall down. I yelp and roll over to my back.

What am I going to do? I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what and what not to eat. And I don’t know where I can find help!

I groan and push myself up. I use the tree for support and get myself to a standing position. I slowly step with one foot and then the other wincing with every step. I let go of the tree and move toward the road.

I walk and walk and walk and walk. I walk for a long time on the road until I see something up ahead, two bright lights getting closer and closer. When they don’t stop, I slowly start toward the edge of the road, and they keep coming.

I pick up the pace and get to a slow jog as I reach the forest on the side of the road. A few seconds later, I watch as dark green camouflaged military trucks speed past me, the wind blowing my short black hair away from my face. I yell and wave my hands. But they can’t see me in the dark morning light.

They passed me, and I try to cry. I want to cry but I can’t. My body won’t let me. My brain holds me back. I just want to cry and I can’t even do that. Help was right there.

But this cruel universe let them pass without them even noticing me.

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THE CRASH Thea Teague | Grade 6, Boise Chapter Two I wake up dazed and confused, my head pounding, and my heart feels like it’s about to be out of my chest.

Painfully, I turn my head to the right to see that Jacky is already awake. I managed to stand up and look around. The inside of the mouth is dark and wet. I hear water dripping from the ceiling. My eyes adjust, and I see spider webs all around. I walk toward the front of the mouth and look down. I see Jacky down below, collecting pieces from our broken ship.

I climbed down Skull Rock slowly and carefully, because falling onto the mountain would not be fun. I walk over to Jacky.

“Hi,” I say.

“Oh! You startled me!” she replies.

“Sorry! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, you?”

“I’m alright.”

It’s silent as we continue to pick up bits of metal.

Once I finish, I bring my pieces to Jacky and explore. It’s cold, but not too cold. There is some snow, but most of it has melted. The mountains didn’t have too much special, so I walked down to the shore. I look around and see a boat, Not too big, but not terribly small either.

I go back up the mountain to find Jacky. Once I find her, I bring her back down to the boat to explore. We find canned food, supplies and a toolbox. Jacky takes the toolbox to go fix the ship, while I take the food.

Once we get back to the ship, I pick up the headset and tell the crew back home what we found. But instead of the cheery voices of the crew, I hear a dark, gruff voice.

“I know you escaped. And I know that you are on 46

Skull Rock. I have your little ‘crew’ here. And if you don’t return in 48 hours, your friends will die.”

MY MONSTER Ursula Nygren | Grade 6, Boise My monster pushes me to do my best.

It’s like my pet that follows.

Can you just STOP! It’s bugging me.

I breathe it in ….and out …. like sugar it’s something sweet but too much? …. …It really gets to me. My monster is a wrecking ball waiting to knock me down again again and again My monster gives me doubt.

Some days I find it gone and dead but the next …it’s back again my monster is sometimes my only thought. Dragging me down down down beneath the seas of despair.

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MY LITTLE MONSTER Lily Funkhouser | Grade 8, Boise I love my little monster. My little monster can sometimes be difficult or sneaky, but in the end he’s my beloved monster.

He sometimes can steal stuff from my room, or even talk back to me, but we figure it out in the end. I can share stuff with my little monster and I can always cheer him up when he is sad. My little monster cares about me and I care about him. My little monster wakes me up sometimes in the middle of the night because he had a bad dream about me, or he just couldn’t sleep. I always invite my little monster in my bed if he is like this. My little monster loves me and I love my little monster.

THE WHITEBOARD Colin Reilly | Grade 8, Boise the white board awaits at the front of the room silently watching the class until every last pupil is gone.

It speaks to the teacher Pick up your pen!

Its scheming will go into action today.

The next morning when the class returns we are confused to see their teacher perfectly drawn on the whiteboard.

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MY MONSTER Kailyn O’Connor | Grade 8, Boise Competitivity, my closest friend and worst enemy.

The silver medal is never enough.

I go for the gold no matter how tough.

I’m a rubber ruler, I bend and bend but never break.

I push my barrier breaking limits to whatever it takes.

I try to outrun the coaches and teach the teachers.

But I’m only human after all.

I need to slouch in order to stand tall.

Sometimes I prioritize my status over the people who love me.

My monster built me up then destroyed me.

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HARMLESS ANIMALS BEING DANGEROUS Jordyn Stacy | Grade 8, Ogden Axolotl closed the backpack quickly. Newt took the bag and put it on.

“Hurry up!” Golden screeched. “The birds are almost here!”

Axolotl looked up to see the flock fairly close to them. She grabbed Newt’s arm and dragged him to the golf cart. Axolotl pushed Newt into the back and climbed in front.

“Now drive!” she yelled. Golden jerked the golf cart forward.

“Molly, you all good?” Newt asked. The small owl-fox head popped out.

“A little startled, but I’m fine.” Axolotl’s eyes narrowed as she saw the flock close behind them.

Something rammed into the back of the golf cart, causing it to jerk forward. Golden yelped and turned sharply onto a new road. Axolotl looked back again. “Golden, those aren’t birds. They’re owls!”

Axolotl cried.

“Well, we’re screwed!” Golden said. He sped up and swerved around a stray tire in the road. Axolotl turned and jumped into the back with Newt.

“What are you doing?” Golden screamed. Axolotl ignored him and stared out, her hair hugging her head.

“Awfully close!” she said, sitting back down. Axolotl watched as Newt fumbled with something. A moment later, he turned around and aimed a crossbow at the owls.

“You have a crossbow?” Axolotl said.

“And the arrows have been dipped in a poison,” Golden said. Newt aimed at a fairly close owl and shot.

Surprisingly, the owl caught it with its talons.

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MY MONSTER Addie Lindsay | Grade 7, Boise The visible monsters in this world like bears and fire and knives are not the things that scare me Though as much as they try my monster lives inside me deep down in the back of my brain and changes the things I can’t see into things I’d rather not say no my monster will not leave me it is my good and bad for my monster and I are together for always in my imagination you can’t change that

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LURKING IN MISTAKE Hank Reilly | Grade 6, Boise It can lurk in the shadows when it’s light.

Darkness worsens the feeling of it.

Watching, knowing it will come. A monster of one, everything. It could appear anytime, mildest form is best.

When you feel confident, the seed of doubt in its mind goes up, down, into the ground. The roots wither as it pierces the veins of the solid soil. When it surfaces too early, it meets one of the talkers. It goes straight through their feet, only then you feel like the shadow was only a trick of the light that stabbed through the clouds.

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MONSTER Violet Reilly | Grade 6, Boise The monster is not always there But at one moment it may appear Hanging over you like a cloud on a stormy, humid day The monster is flawless perfect as a pearl A white smooth sphere with no indent or chip The monster is wanting to come at the perfect moment And when it does come it stays with you until you forget it is even there But then it will pounce again reinstating its presence The monster shapes your future Following you, waiting to see what you will become.

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SPACE Emma Bainbridge | Grade 6, Boise A place that’s unknown a place with no light a place that makes my mind think about what the planets up there are like a place with different worlds and a million different lives the place that makes me happy to get to learn what it’s like.

THE BRAIN Maxwell Waxberg | Grade 7, Boise It’s a locked box, with the key locked inside. A mystery, where the truth hides.

It’s locked up, away from prying eyes, yet it’s a beauty, hidden inside.

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JOURNEY TO THE CITY Audrey Stewart | Grade 3, Boise Once upon a time…there were two friends. Their names were Isabella and Alexandra. Isabella could see the future and Alexandra could read minds. They were very useful powers to have.

They were sisters, but they acted like friends. They had no idea who their parents were because they were born in an orphanage. They lived there for the first five years of their life until they escaped. I’m going to tell you about the year they found their parents.

They knew their parents were alive, not because of some weird feeling, though. If that was it, Isabella and Alexandra would not rely on it. It was because their parents didn’t have enough money to pay for clothes for them. The people that worked at the orphanage said so.

Isabella was ten and Alexandra was twelve when they found their parents. It was their fifth day of traveling in the desert. Isabella was the first to spot the only City in the whole desert. And in that city was an Oasis.

“Look!” Isabella shouted. “A city! Oh, there’s a guard blocking us. Alexandra, can you read his mind from here?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Alexandra said. “He’s thinking the password is —” Alexandra looked at the guard but she looked like she was listening to something. “One two three four five.”

“What?” Isabella says.

“That’s the code,” Alexandra said.

“Okay,” Isabella said. Isabella walked up to the guard. “One two three four five.”

The guard stepped aside. Isabella and Alexandra entered the city.

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HARMONY AND THE THREE FLUTES Nandita Rosario | Grade 4, Boise Hello reader! My name is Nandita and I am going to tell you a story about a girl named Harmony. When she was two she taught herself the world’s hardest piano piece! When she was five she learned how to play all the instruments in the world. Except for one: a flute!

Her grandma bought Harmony her own flute and took her to flute classes. It took THREE YEARS to learn how to play the flute. Then something happened.

To be continued…

Hello reader! We’re back. Funny story, on the way here I…oh yeah, back to the other story…*Ahem* Then something happened. When Harmony got home, she went straight to her piano to calm down from lessons, when all of a sudden, it disappeared!

She went to her room to play drums, and picked up a drumstick, when all of a sudden, the set disappeared!

She went crying to Grandma, and Grandma gave Harmony her flute. But that disappeared too!

When she went to the living room to show Grandma that the piano had disappeared, there was a flute in its place!

And for some reason, the window opened. And the lights went out.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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CHARLY AND THE SIX BIRDS (an excerpt) Ryan Richards | Grade 3, Boise Charly was an 8-year-old boy. He didn’t know what his purpose was yet, but he did know that he could count on his friends.

One night when Charly was asleep he woke up, but when he woke up, he woke up in a forest on the other side of the world. And he didn’t look like himself. He looked like his favorite bird, the bald eagle. He didn’t know why and how this was happening. He started to feel tired. He then woke up in his bedroom.

That day Charly and his friends Talea, Kiki, Winstin, Ray, Mouku, and Ruky all said the exact same thing happened to them. Talea woke up as a parrot. Kiki woke up as a bluebird. Winstin woke up as a crow. Ray woke up as a toucan. Mouku woke up as a seagull. And Ruky woke up as an ostrich.

“Hey! Guys! Did you remember the test today?” Ruky said.

“Uh-oh,” said Charly.

“I totally forgot,” said Ray. “Me too!” everyone else said. “We’re going to get an F-!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

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THE HYDRA Gavin Brown | Grade 3, Boise The Hydra is a snake or dragon that if you cut off a head, two more grow back. You can beat it by piercing its heart. The Hydra is a Greek myth or fantasy. A myth is something that is true or not true.

Another myth is about Poseidon. Poseidon has a trident and can control water. Then there’s Cyclops, the oneeyed giant with a horn and a laser eye. It eats sheep.

My favorite is the Hydra.

DOLPHINS AT DAWN Mukta Shrotri | Grade 4, Boise Hello reader. This story I am going to be telling you about is the story of a dolphin named Dawn.

One day, a baby dolphin was born at dawn. That same day fishers came and caught the baby dolphin’s mother by accident in a net. Down, down, down she went.

The baby dolphin got so scared and started to freak out. But soon enough she figured out that she had to do something.

Dawn followed her mother. Her mother was struggling and the more she struggled the tighter the net got. Dawn had to do something. So here’s what she did: she swam as fast as her fins could take her so she could catch up to her mom. Then she started to nibble the net.

While all of this was happening the rest of the dolphin pod was waiting patiently to see what happened.

Back towards the bottom of the ocean, the baby dolphin was done nibbling the net. She had started to pull her mom up 58

but she just was not strong enough.

But she wouldn’t give up. She tried and tried until she finally started to pull her mom away from the ocean floor. She was pulling her mom up by the strings she had nibbled. Up, up, up they went. Finally they reached the pod.

When the pod saw what happened they started nibbling the net. Soon the baby dolphin’s mom was free.

WHAT WE SEE Lilly Sellery | Grade 6, Boise Inspired by artwork at the Boise Art Museum I see a girl in a jumper.

I see a blue and gold pot.

I see a bowl with fun colors.

I see a quilt colored red.

We see things the way we want to see them.

I want to see them beautifully.

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AN ODE TO DAISY, ROCKY, GHOSTY, AND BAXTER Elma Garza | Grade 5, Boise Some dogs are mean but most are kind and understand your emotions.

A dog’s personality is dependent on their owners, like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly.

When I broke my tooth, my dogs understood I hurt and felt like a sour lemon, and they helped me feel better.

I feed my pups, I water them, and they give me love and cuddles as a currency in exchange.

When I’m sad my dogs can magically feel it too and they tell me “it will be ok.”

Dogs are like honey, they’re sweet forever and stick with you for as long as they can.

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A WALK Emmy Wingert | Grade 5, Boise The sun is warm and bright on my face. There’s a slight breeze and the shade feels cool. The river beside the path rushes. “On your left!” a biker yells. The pavement path turns into a grassy park. I hear children playing in the shady park.

Soon enough, we reach the rose garden. There are so many roses and so many colors. I can’t count them all.

I smell a pinkish-red rose. It smells fresh and sweet. I see a fountain with blue water. It is wet and splashes me. It feels nice on this hot summer’s day.

I find a spot in the shade. I take time to soak in the surroundings. I hear a bee buzz and a bird chirp. I notice a spider crawling on an Irish Gold rose. The thorns scratch my hand as I touch a rose stem. The Summer Dream roses are beautiful and smell very nice.

I smell one last rose as I leave. The rose is a Rio Samba. It smells amazing and is as beautiful as a midsummer night’s dream.

We sit in the squishy green grass. A beautiful yellow and black butterfly flies by.

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FEELING ART Jaci Ulmer | Grade 5, Boise Inspired by a painting called Ghost Dog at the Boise Art Museum I look around, no art piece really speaks to me. But then I see a beautiful and cloudy rustic look, with a unique color scheme of golden brown, gray, and small bits of a gloomy rainbow. There are a lot of amazing whites on it too.

Everything is in smooth strokes. At the end of a perfect paint stroke are incredible metallic-like clumps, and a dark black sandy texture. I can feel my way through the art, almost seeing how big and time-consuming it was to make. I see the flow of it, how smoothly it enters the canvas. Around the canvas is the maroonish brown color of a wooden frame.

It makes the art look more secure and official. The paint swerves around my eye. I think of how wonderful art is.

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THE FRACTURED GIANTS Estella Wood | Grade 5, Boise Inspired by the Jacob Hashimoto installation at the Boise Art Museum Thousands of strings. Hanging shapes inside of shapes, in a big white room. Shiny cement floors. Two small black benches sitting right below the giant art piece. From the top of the wall to your finger. Two rows of square red dotted shapes move in a small gust of wind passing by. The floor squeaks as you leave the room, walking past people taking photos. You almost feel like they are taking photos of you. Their phone volume all the way up, the clicking twenty feet away and you can hear it. Hearing people chat about the art with their heads pointing almost completely up. They look like they’re choking. Setting down your pencil, you end up slapping your seat to try to find it. People are looking so close at the art, you think they might miss a step and fall right into The Fractured Giant, ruining the whole thing.

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ODE TO DOGS Pilar Hurlbutt | Grade 5, Boise I love dogs for their cuddly but adventurous personalities.

I take tons of photos when my dogs let me dress them up in bandanas, scarfs, and bows.

One of my dogs is a mix between a husky and a red golden retriever.

Another one is a full red golden retriever.

The other is an ancient chocolate lab.

Having dogs makes my life better because I always have someone to play with.

My dogs are some of my best friends.

WHAT THE DRAGON SAID Harper Montalbano | Grade 6, Boise Inspired by a dragon mural in Freak Alley A tree on fire The smell of s’mores Up so high on a skull Ghosts surround me, about to attack Just watch out about who I am Some of us can rip off skin with water And one became the alpha!

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ODE TO CATS Lucy Leland | Grade 5, Boise I love the sound of cats meowing.

They meow all of the time.

At lunch, at noon, at night, even at breakfast.

I love old cats, young cats, and baby cats.

I love my cat, she is the best cat in the world.

She lights up my long life.

I love the sound of her purring while she sleeps on my lap.

ODE TO IDAHO Jiho Kim | Grade 6, Boise The never-ending green grass, and natural farms with wild lives.

A place of real true nature.

Like a beautiful decorated park, with many plants surrounding it.

Everything is filled with beauty.

It fills my mind with its beauty.

When I came here, I knew it was going to be amazing from the start.

The bright, silver moon winking, the twinkling stars peeking out to say “hello.”

It’s as beautiful as the spring flowers enjoying warm air. It is warm and filled with colors.

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QUICKWATER ACADEMY Kalea Daly | Grade 6, Boise When my car pulled up to the Big Red Barn, a big banner caught my eye. It read “Welcome to Quickwater Academy!” As I opened the car door, my sister, me, my friend, and his little sister ran out. With our heavy bags, we slowly walked over to the entrance of the Big Red Barn. My friend’s dad signed me in, and all four of us headed inside.

Mrs. Wats greeted us. “Welcome back, Daly girls!

How are you?”

“We’re good!” My sister, Ella, and I said.

“And I assume these are your friends?” she said.

“Yes,” said Conner and Avery.

“Well I hope you have a great time.”

During camp, me, Conner, Ella, and Avery were split off into age groups. Me and Conner were in Pathfinders, 10 through 11, and Ella and Avery were in Explorers, 8 through 9. Throughout the week, each camper got to bake and make trail mix in Mr. Talent and Mrs. Wats’ class. Then there was hunting class with Mr. Nevada, fire-building with Sarge, and ax-throwing with Tony.

At the end of the week, after everything, I was begging to come back. If you’d been there and done all those classes, you’d be begging to come back just as I was.

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THE FLORA Aline Gibeault | Grade 7, Boise Chapter One I can remember on a stormy night, Dad and Mom got into a fight the day after I picked my plant.

“She’s a menace! She chose a plant that could lead us to war!” Dad protested with a stern look.

“Well, she’s my child! I will never throw her away,” Mom said with her amber eyes glittering.

“Well, you can choose only one. Me or that kid!”

Dad yelled.

Dad’s voice made me sad. I wanted to change my plant, but it was the only one that stood out to me. The name of the plant was called The Forbidden Plant.

“Well I choose to stay with my child,” mom quivered out. From where I was, I could sense that Dad was angry and felt betrayed, and mom was balling her eyes out. I was only five that day when dad left.

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GIVE THEM A CHANCE Athreya Iyer | Grade 7, Boise It was a sunny day in Tensed, Idaho and the tension was worse than usual. The police showed up at each of the houses and took teenagers and young adults onto a space transport to Noomat, a world that lost human explorers created. Earthlings believe these changed humans are disloyal to the print, all of their thoughts must be visible at all times. Due to this, Earthlings brought all of their soldiers.

Papier Blanc, an 11-year-old boy, is sent to the war. As the transport leaves, Papier places his tear-covered hand on the window, pointing at his house. As they land on Noomat, they are met with the sounds of screaming. They have landed in a rose garden. What once was a rich, blossom-filled garden is a pile of ashes. Some random person hits him on the head and yells, “Move OUT!” The teenagers slip and slide as they scurry out of the transport. The person who hit Papier on the head says, “Fire!” The group pulls out their rifles.

Papier aims the gun at a villager who is surrendering with his sweaty palms and says, “No.” In that instant, the rest of the company aims their weapons at the high command and kills them all. They scramble for cover as the guns of the transport fire on the town. Dust fills the air as shells hit the ground. One by one the houses fall, creating plumes of dust as cover. The transport runs out of ammo, ceiling its fate.

The teens jump up onto the transport. They break open the hatch and take over the ship. They change frequencies and pilot the transport to a military base.

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ALL WORLDS IN ONE Felix Antink | Grade 7, Boise It was an unusual day. First, I had a regular routine with feeding my dog and washing dishes. I wanted to hang out with my friends. I met them at the park. By the time I was leaving, a strange portal opened up in the sky. Things went flying into it. Houses, trees, I tried to hold on to a bench but it was pulled off the ground. I was struggling to keep hold of the ground. I started to float up to the sky. As I was in the portal, I saw purple lights flash around. Lightning struck and thunder boomed! The next thing I knew, I was lying on the cold hard pavement in an unusual world.

THE LOST STRANGER Chloe Bastian | Grade 9, Boise In the majestic land of Eretha, where the FirePeople performed many a crime, where the Water-People lived content and peaceful, where the Earth Ones joyfully observed nature’s will, and where the Wind-People towered extravagantly in the clouds above the other tribes, lay a small water-farm.

This water-farm in the Water-People’s land in the east, where ice-flowers flourished and water-trees grew in abundance, housed many other strange, beautiful species.

The farm thrived, adding to the happiness and peace that existed in its dwellers: a middle-aged man named Qi-Jin, and his daughter, Da’nae, and Da’nae is where it all began, on a comfortably cold night when she decided to take a stroll through the garden.

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VELVET SKEYE Teagan Tanous | Grade 7, Boise The two men walked right past her. Phew, she thought. If those bodyguards recognized her, she’d be dead.

She jumped when she almost collided with a holographic wanted poster featuring her grinning face. She pulled her bandana up farther and lowered her face. I shouldn’t be here.

Suddenly she was pulled into an alleyway by a familiar face. It was Skeye. Her blue hair fell to her metal knees and she looked extremely worried. “Nova!” she whisper-shouted. “You can’t be out here!” She held up the holographic poster. “We’re wanted. Alexa found out about us. We have to get out of here!” Before she could protest, Skeye dragged her down the alleyway and into her hovercraft. Velvet was there, too, in the backseat. Velvet and Skeye were her friends from The Galaxy, an organization trying to save humanity from the control of AI. Right when Nova was about to say hello, Velva Velvet shushed her silently. She scrambled in beside her. The doors closed and Skeye took off in the air.

“Ok, now we can talk.” Velvet let out a huge breath.

“Did you see the news article? We’ve been discovered. I had to leave my shopping outlet with nothing!”

“What Velvet thinks is nothing about 12 suitcases full of random tech,” Skeye pointed out from the driver’s seat.

Nova laughed, pulling down her bandana.

“We just came to you, Supernova. But Skeye saw you right near those two AIS we’ve been tracking.” Velvet winked, gesturing to her open R-doc tech. Sure enough, two red dots blinked on the screen.

“Velvet, how did you...” she was cut off mid sentence by a metallic voice. “Face detected. Nova Lee. Vehicle detected. Series 8B hovercraft. Please exit the vehicle and hover towards me. Skeye’s face went white and her metal 70

knuckles tightened on the wheel. “You guys...”

“DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!” Velvet shrieked, and Skeye shot forward the law enforcement directly behind them.

“Slow down and immediately exit the hovercraft,” a voice called somehow still calm. Skeye screamed and almost smashed into a skyscraper.

“Skeye, focus! Is your brain offline?” Velvet shrieked.

More police hovers zoomed after them now, Skeye shooting them through the city at 400 miles per hour.

“Nova! Laser rifle!” Skeye threw the taser at her and she immediately threw it aside. “Out of ammo!” Velvet frantically looked back out the back window and checked her screen.

“THEY’RE GAINING! SKEYE! CAN THIS HUNK OF JUNK GO ANY FASTER?” “NO, THIS IS THE ONE BOSS CRASHED INTO THE AI PLANT!” “WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?! SKEYE, WATCH OUT!” Nova screeched as she narrowly avoided a holographic warning sign, featuring Skeye’s part-metal face.

“Uh-oh,” Velvet said, her pupils narrowing. Nova saw it, too. “We’re on White House property! We’re going to crash!” Nova jumped and grabbed the steering handle, veering them right towards the gardens when she meant to steer them away from them.

“GIRLS! LOOK DOWN!” they shrieked as they smashed into the manicured lawn.

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CELL SET BY STONE Betty Clark | Grade 8, Boise I smell the warm, inviting tea outside of my cold, musty cell. Opening my eyes, I see the usual wooden plank fall from the sky opening roof. I sit up, the warm fragrance is getting thicker. I could almost imagine my freedom. I hear loud clicks of a witches’ boots. Once I saw the tip of her cold black boots, there was no guessing who she was.

“Damen, you mustn’t lay around in your night clothes.” She appeared holding a tray with a polished tea kettle and cup. “You look like a slob. Get up I say, dust yourself off!”

“Is that for me?” I ignored her command, looking at the tray holding many silver items. “What’s in the kettle, Alice? Tea? Coffee? Boiled water? The head of Typhon? A Minotaur horn?” Alice rolled her amber-red eyes.

“None of the above, now stop your foolishness. The only way you may get any of those is if your cell wasn’t set in stone.” She must have been joking.

“The only way it could be sent in stone is if it was stone. No witches have set a curse on my cell, nor have laid a finger on it,” I spoke. A witch’s curse is a powerful thing. It could take centuries to set a curse on a human. A hundred years to set one on a demon. Witches live for thousands of years, yet no one has tried.

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THE WORLD OF THE WELL Adeline Dina | Grade 7, Boise Mia woke up and looked around, trying to remember why she was here. She sat up and started to walk around.

She was in a garden and not just any garden. Walking around in it felt magical. It even helped her forget her past trauma, for now she remembered why she was here. She walked through the flowers, taking in the scenery. The flowers were all different colors. Red and white, yellow and orange. Their sweet-smelling fragrance filled the air, which helped calm her nerves as she recalled what had happened.

It was a normal Friday afternoon. School was out, and it was finally the weekend. Mia was walking with her best friend since kindergarten, Sarena, when they stumbled on an old well.

“I think we took a wrong turn,” Mia said, looking around. “Let’s turn back.”

“I think we should look in the well,” said Sarena.

“I’m not sure, we might fall in,” said Mia, even though she was already moving toward it after Sarena.

Looking down in the well, they saw something surprising: a rose garden. Trying to get a closer look, Mia stepped closer and slipped, almost falling in, but luckily, she was able to grab onto the edge.

“Sarena, help me,” Mia called for Sarena, begging for help. She felt Sarena grab her hand, but instead of pulling Mia up, she pushed her away from the edge. As Mia fell, she heard Sarena’s voice.

“You should be careful who you trust.”

That was how Mia landed in this magical garden. It was all because of the betrayal of her supposedly best friend.

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RAINBOW FRIENDS Max Wyatt | Grade 8, Boise I push Aiden out of the way and yell, “GO!” Now I’m in a fist fight with Blue. He lunges at me, but I get out of the way landing some strikes, then the worst thing happens...

I hear Orange’s alarm, I have to make it to a locker quick. I run fast to a hiding spot. I see Orange come into the room, but it’s too late for them.

WILD THINGS Franklin Hunt | Grade 7, Boise I found myself under a bench for the second time that day. This time was different though. The black sky was filled with thousands of scattered stars, thousands of reminders of the rules we were breaking. My accomplices shifted on either side of me, Augustine probably to get a better view, May probably to find a more comfortable sleeping position. I was about to slap her to keep her awake when a movement near the closest fountain caught my attention. I watched as, ever so slowly, the spray from the water dwindled to a stop. I glanced at the other three fountains still going strong. Auggie looks at me. “This is it,” she mouthed. Apparently she’d done this before, we didn’t know that before we agreed to help her, of course. I looked back at the fountain and stifled a gasp. The water filled its stony basin, bubbling over the sides into a foaming pool at the base that was slowly growing, steaming as it touched the grass. Then, pushing itself out of the water, a lumpy, misshapen object began to rise. A thick bulky trunk pushed 74

the dark, bulbous shape upward, then reaching its apex, it stopped.

I looked at May. Her eyes were wide with fear, her face placid and sickly. Auggie wasn’t doing much better, although I could tell she was trying to keep her composure.

I may or may not have been whimpering like a frightened puppy. Then the thing began to move again. Its top half started to quiver and sway almost hypnotically and bright blue seams spread quickly across the shape that rested on its trunk. The lies grew thicker and wider until, in a flash of violet light the thing unraveled. Auggie clamped a hand over my mouth, that’s the only reason I didn’t scream.

THE LESSON Rio Kitamura | Grade 7, Boise I woke up, and quietly got out of bed, trying not to wake up my sister. I turned on the radio and headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of milk, like how I would start my day.

“We have decided to do an experiment on you all by deleting two things from the world each day. Well, we are letting you know this since we do not see enough gratitude from our citizens towards nature,” said the press secretary from the radio. Suddenly, the lights went out.

“What’s going on?” the whole room became pitch black. I couldn’t see anything. “Ow! What did I bump into?”

Glass shattered around the room. I opened my eyes as big as I could to find a window and open the curtains for sunlight.

Then, I noticed that the lights were disappearing from the city, building to building, and the sun was gone. When my eyes finally got used to the dark, I noticed that all the 75

wooden furniture had disappeared from the kitchen.

“Lime, what’s going on in the kitchen? I’ve been hearing huge sounds from there. Are you okay? Can you turn on the light? I can’t see anything.”

“Lemon, I can’t. The sun and all the trees have been deleted from the world!”

“What!?”

SHIFTING Laila Herstein | Grade 9, Boise Beautiful tall pines enclose a cluster of roses by a clear pond. They create a beautiful bed of flowers. As you approach this bed, you notice something moving within the brush of the flowers. As you try to move the roses aside, the thorns cut your delicate skin. The creature pokes its head out as a drop of blood hits one of the white roses, staining it red. As you back away, you fall into the pond. You drift through the clear water, just going down and down. You’re not drowning, you’re okay. You smile as you drift into sleep.

You’re back. The strange garden is waiting for you.

You want to venture outside of the surrounding trees. You try, but something keeps you within the boundaries. You are afraid of what could be out there. You are safe here, so you stay. You go to the roses. As grass crunches beneath your feet, and the sweet, sickly smell of nectar feels your nose, you stumble and forget where you really are.

This is the last day that you’re going to visit the strange world. You know this because you’re on death’s doorstep, you don’t have much time. You never did. The grass shines like emeralds beneath your bare feet. You walk 76

to the pond where the roses are, something feels different.

A gentle breeze smelling of sweet vanilla drifts toward the wall of trees. The soft grass curls around your bare toes.

You reach a hand into the surrounding blackness, a warmth that starts in your fingertips spreads throughout your whole body. You step beyond the trees, welcoming the warm darkness.

LIFE AT THE PIZZAPLEX Gabby Schuldenfrei | Grade 11, Boise It had been about a year since Y/N snuck into the Pizzaplex. Vanessa had apologized and was trying to do better. Speaking of better, Y/N’s health had improved.

It was a cold December day when Vanessa and Y/N got back from speech therapy. Freddy was waiting by the door with a blanket. He held his arms out and Y/N climbed on, Freddy stood up. He covered Y/N with the blanket.

“Hm, now where did the little superstar go?” Freddy teased. “Are they under my hat?” The blanket giggled.

“Are they on the ceiling?”

More giggles.

“Oh my, I think the blanket is alive. Hello Blanket.”

More giggles.

Freddy lifted the blanket. “Oh! There you are, superstar!” Freddy smiled as Y/N giggled more.

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INTO THE COSMOS Savannah Rutledge | Grade 10, Boise “Well, if you’re so worried about it, you should go to Space Prep,” suggested Sophie, brightly. “If the serum was created by an element from space, then the cure to it is probably also in space.”

Go to Space Prep? thought Lynn, as she fidgeted with her hands, but then I’d have to get a career in space when I graduate and then I’d have to leave everything behind…my home, my family, my cat.

She just shrugged, hoping to convey that she wasn’t interested. But she was interested. As a matter of fact, she talked to her mom about transferring to the school later that night.

KHOMBU CAVALUGHN-THE MASKED USURPER OF GRINDROD Benson Roundy | Grade 11, Boise Emperor Ohun of Grindrod was suddenly made aware of a terrible, pounding procession. Footsteps. Heavy, strong footsteps reverberated against his chamber. His blue eyes shimmered with fear, and with great difficulty, he spoke to his bodyguards.

“That must be him…” he whispered. “So this…this is the masked usurper known as Khambu Cavalughn.”

The door rattled.

One of his guards tried to swallow his fear, but he was still quivering. “We still have time to get you to safety, My Lord!”

Emperor Ohun Stood from his throne, and with 78

gentle fingers, unsheathed his shining blade, as if doing so for the last time.

“It’s me that he wants. I…I will try to negotiate with him,” Ohun said through clenched teeth.

The Thundering footsteps stopped. The six bodyguards positioned themselves in front of the king, hesitantly pointing their spears at the door. The door began to move. The handle slowly turned. The handle stopped halfway. Silence abounded. The knob retraced its rotation, then it went back to the halfway point, where it stopped before. It paused. The knob gently shook. The door was locked. The knob shook again. Then the entire door began to shake. Once. Twice.

Emperor Ohun gulped, blinking hard. The door shook again, this time wildly, violently, and vigorously. It got louder and faster, but eventually, after an awkward halfminute, it slowed down and eventually stopped.

The bodyguards were now not as scared as they were confused. A gentle knock followed on the door. One of the guards jerked his head to face Ohun.

“He can’t get in?” he whispered, awestruck.

Emperor Ohun’s face squinted bewilderment. A whisper was overheard from the door.

“Knasta, do you have a–” The door’s latch clicked, and the door swung open.

It slammed with the force of its impact against the wall, and there Khamu stood, with a porcelain mask on his face, painted to be half scowling, half smiling. He turned around, adjusting his posture to make it seem like he intended to pause.

Ohun and his bodyguards had to lower their eyes to look at him–he was nothing at all like they had expected, and a full two feet shorter.

The terror in their eyes was replaced with bewilderment.

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THE FIRE MOON Kerrigan Stokes | Grade 9, Boise Luna felt herself lift from the ground. She began to float in the air. A fiery glow seemed to blaze around her. She felt more in control than ever in her life. When she spoke, Luna’s words were deep and echoing.

“You may have taken everything I’ve ever loved, but I won’t let you hurt any more people. I refuse to rest until monsters like you are destroyed.”

THE FINAL SPLITTING Iris Antink | Grade 10, Boise The air was thicker and more smoky than on the island. The hot steam from the water, healing and protecting.

The white and silver scales of Zade’s head twitched collecting power from the smog. The power that grew in the pond.

THE ADVENTURE GAME Milania Akers | Grade 12, Boise A skinny, ice-like vine snaked around his ankle. The more he struggled, the stronger it became. Another caught around his wrist, pulling him backward.

He staggered, screaming, as the vine grew teeth, biting into his flesh. He was dragged from his friends, lost in a 80

flurry of snow and wind, to the looming statue of the Winter Queen. The frozen vines rippled into ice shackles.

He met the queen face to face. Her breath was frosty, voice like silk.

“Well,” she murmured. “What do we have here?”

RECENT WARS Annika Vermooten | Grade 10, Boise As a young girl was sitting at her table, a man in a blue and red ensemble hurried into the tavern. He was wearing the Kingdom’s garb. Seeing this particular set of clothing was not as uncommon as it probably should have been recently. It belonged to messengers of the King that had been burdened with news of treaties and outcomes of battle.

The Kingdom had been in a stalemate with the Bodrahn Nation. Relations had been tense between the Kingdoms since the end of the last war when the Amaris Kingdom had sided with the Chartansans, and not the Dewdruns, who the Bodrahn had sided with.

A hush spread through the tavern, which was suddenly flooded with tension.

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ETERNITY Mason Shin | Grade 10, Boise A red sign saying “failed” popped onto the hologram as Julia took one more sip out of her white mug. Feelings of failure overwhelmed her as she took her glasses off to put her hands over her tired eyes. She must figure it out fast.

Sooner or later the government was going to cut the funding.

She lived her life with one final purpose, the equation of immortality. People grow old and die because they lose their ability to reproduce cells. Yet, theoretically, a person with cell mutation could live forever. It has been proven that it’s impossible to modify a person’s cell in this way. Yet, with the mutation granted by nature, this could be a possibility.

Julia’s equation was meant to find approximately when this mutation will occur so people could prepare for it. She took a deep breath and retyped some new numbers into the system. As she prepared herself to see failed come up on the screen green letters spelling “success” popped up. For a long moment, her brain could not process the information. After realizing what success meant, a smile spread across her face.

THE BEAST WITHIN YOU Mason Parker | Grade 9, Boise “You’re a monster,” Widow spits. “A murderer. A beast!” she seethes.

Her words stop Rafe short. What could she mean by that? “I’m no monster,” he says. “I’ve only been running from one. That’s what this has all been about!” He raises his voice.

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“The Beast has been chasing me, killing all those people.

I-I’m running from the monster! Why are you trying to stop me?”

She stares at him, then rummages through her pocket with her good arm. She pulls out a compact mirror and tosses it to Rafe.

He opens it and stares at the person in the reflection.

He’s bloody. His face is disfigured and his features are cruel, dangerous even.

As Rafe looks at himself, she says, “You’re the monster. The beast you’ve been running from? It’s been you all along. You are your own monster.”

THE WALLS WILL CRUMBLE B Reese | Grade 9, Boise When the sliver of light was gone, I stared at the ceiling, forgetting to blink. I thought of Mysha who was broken on an old dirty mattress in her room. I thought of Keenan, who might be dead in the middle of this maze, surrounded in a pool of his own blood.

Finally, the artist grunted and the pain that had pounded away at me like a drum... stopped.

Leaving behind my burning black blood, and a blade forged by my own skin.

A way to protect Mysha. A way to watch Pristore’’s walls crumble down around us. We will stand in the rubble and she will know it was all for her.

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FIRE WATER Tony Pantera | Grade 3, Boise The young turtle Macbeth set off on a journey to save the fire water. It burns wood.

“Now time for brainstorming. Hmmmmmmm…I know how and…but if I use a train, no, I’d have to wait until winter, which is about 11 months away. I should use a bike.

No, it would burn. A boat. Yes. It will not burn and I don’t have to wait. Let’s start going to the temple of the giant pig, where the giant pig works on the water since he got eaten by the butt-face birds. I think they think it’s funny? But it’s not.

Oh no an ice-fire-berg!! We’re gonna crash! I’m swimming to safety. I’m here. Oh no, a bird. I’m fighting it and it’s not going well. It’s out of breath. I’m punching it.”

Two minutes later: “I’m in and I’m turning the temperature crank. I saved the turtles by making it colder?!”

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THE LITTLE DRAGON Elinor Pense | Grade 3, Washington, D.C. Once there was a little dragon who lived in the forest in a deep and dark cave. Her scales were bright red. Her tail swooshed like it was dancing but she stayed there alone.

One day a flashing light came into her cave.

Something put her in a box. The next morning, she woke up in an exhibit. She could not see the glass and *CRASH*, the glass broke. She ran. She ran for weeks and she finally found her way by sniffing her way home.

She went into her deep dark cave, her scales lit up and she saw another dragon who wanted to be her friend.

THE END

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OH NO LITTLE LADY Josie George | Grade 4, Boise Lady “Mom!” Lady yelled. “THE! DOOR! IS! OPEN!” Their owner walked in.

“Oh.” Two people walked in behind their owner.

“Oh!” Lady said, running up to the strangers. Bosco, Lady’s brother, rolled over. The people talked to their owner, then they scooped her up and put her in a carrier. She heard some loud noises, then the ride to new life started.

Missy (Cat) “A sister!” Missy screamed. “No one told me about this!”

Missy pointed at the puppy enjoying being pet.

Mittens, Missy’s brother, yelped when he realized how close he was to Lady. He slipped across the floor, his tabby cat tail disappearing down the stairs.

That night, Missy saw a shooting star. She wished that in the morning, Lady would be gone. She looked closer… it was an airplane. Missy sighed sadly and walked away.

It was not an airplane.

Lady “Bark bark woof bark!” whined Lady. She had sooooo much energy! She has to get out of her kennel! Lady looked out the window and saw a shooting star, wait no, a wishing rock! They are so powerful and can grant wishes and destroy worlds!

She started to wish. “I wish…”

Then there was a blinding flash.

Missy “She’s gone!” Mittens yelled happily into Missy’s ear, 86

waking her up.

“What!” Missy said.

Mittens ran to Lady’s kennel and Missy followed. It was true…Lady was gone!

THE END Find out what happened to Lady in Book Two!

JOSH AND THE EVIL CHICKENS Lok-Kan Sin | Grade 4, Boise Hi my name is Josh and I’m a drummer and I live on Cookie Planet. Willy Wonka owns the planet and I live on the Apple Region of Cookie Planet. I want to be a soldier and fighter for our region. So I’m going to fight school.

Day 1 of fight school: I wake up, do all the normal stuff like get up, brush teeth, get dressed and eat breakfast.

Then I started to go to fight school. I haven’t told you yet that there are royal chickens and they rule everything except the Apple Region.

The place was like a dojo but with guns. We learned how to use a gun and I have a new buddy, Jeff.

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THE CANDY QUEST Nora Davenport | Grade 4, Boise Chapter 1 Strawberry was super excited. She was starting her new job today. She was wearing her favorite dress, which looked like a big strawberry.

“I think I’m ready, Mom!” shouted Strawberry from her bedroom.

“I packed your lunch!” replied her mom, Coconut. “It has strawberry cheesecake, and a chocolate sauce on the side!”

“My favorite! Thanks, Mom!” “No problem, my little cloud collector! Now go!”

“Bye, Marsh!” said Strawberry as she left. She giggled as Marsh, her marshmallow dachshund, stood on two paws and barked goodbye.

THE DANGER Tessa Henderson | Grade 3, Boise “What is that and why is it following me?”

Six minutes later— “Let me go, Dragon Feather!”

“No, I will not, cuz I need you to die. Your pup ran before I got him.”

“It is a she.”

“Lock her up pup!”

“Go find Chuppa. He will help you. The griffin will also help you. She will hel—” “Bark!”

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Three hours later— “Chuppa, help her.”

“Pup, go get her.”

“Dragon Feather, you cannot put me in a rose garden.”

“I have improved it from last time. I have put wolves in there and fireflies in there too.”

THE JELLYFISH Piper Nickell | Grade 3, Boise Chapter Five Luna and Violet rowed back to shore, but then they realized a movement in the chocolate river. A jellyfish appeared. Luna and Violet asked the jellyfish if he could tell them the way back to the castle. The jellyfish said that he would tell them only if they brought him with them. They had got in the spaceship and the jellyfish told them the way.

He was in a big fish tank. He told them that he was under a spell and it would only end if someone would bring him to Luna’s castle. They got to Luna’s castle and he got his own room in the castle.

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THE MAGIC DIMENSION Avery Carroll | Grade 4, Boise Chapter 3 “No,” said the butterfly.

“Is it a magic spell?” asked Adeline.

“No,” said the butterfly.

Anneliese hummed as she thought. Adeline caught sight of Anneliese.

“That’s it!” Adeline said, almost yelling.

Anneliese jumped back. “What is it?” she asked.

“Singing! You can’t see or touch it! But you can hear it!” Adeline said.

“Oh yeah!” said Anneliese. “Excuse me.”

“Yes,” said the butterfly. “Good job!”

Then silver gates opened that led out of the garden to the castle.

“Thank you!” said Adeline, walking away wobbly.

Anneliese followed her.

“No problem!” said the butterfly, flying to a flower.

The gates closed and the two walked off.

“I can get my tail and be queen!” said Adeline cheerfully.

“Maybe they can help me get my wings for the fairy flying contest. It’s my heart’s desire!” said Anneliese.

“My one wish is to be queen,” said Adeline.

“Wait, you’re the princess?” asked Anneliese.

“Yeah,” said Adeline.

“Cool!” said Anneliese as she pushed open the castle doors. They saw three cats: Holly, the dilute tortoiseshell, Cleo, the calico, and Willow, the tabby cat.

“Hello, citizens,” said Holly.

“Hi,” said Adeline.

Just then, a blast of cold wind blew in the room.

“Lindana!” yelled Cleo.

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Then a dragon with brown horns, green scales and wings appeared.

“I took all the magic from the fairies and mermaids!

My Exoskel is gone. He stored the magic and now I have enough to shapeshift into a dragon!” she laughed a screechy laugh.

Lindana sucked the magic out of Holly, Cleo and Willow with her largest horn. All magic was gone. But Anneliese saw a crack in her horn. Too much magic.

KIRBY STAR ALLIES Ollie Rowe | Grade 4, Boise Chapter One Kirby was lying against a tree. He was fast asleep, but something was happening. Purple crystal hearts were being scattered across the universe. Suddenly, Kirby woke up to waddle dees carrying food plates. He knew that he was on another adventure.

He slid through the waddle dees. He needed to find out what was going on. Suddenly, Poppin Bros., Jr. appeared.

Then a heart formed above Kirby and he threw it at Poppin Bros., Jr. and then…Poppin Bros., Jr. became an ally.

“Huh,” Kirby said, as Poppin Bros., Jr. threw a bomb into a blade knight. Kirby quickly ate Sir Kibble and got cutter. He threw three cutters at a waddle dee carriage and destroyed it.

They found a cave entrance. It was a shortcut to Dedede’s castle. They ran into the cave and saw a dribbly.

Kirby ate it and swallowed.

“Blegh,” he said.

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“Rainbow rain!” he yelled as he splashed 5 skabus.

They ran out of the cave. There was a small palace.

Kirby walked in. There was a rod with a heart on it. Kirby grabbed the rod and suddenly Bandana Waddle Dee, King Dedede and Meta Knight appeared. Kirby didn’t know what to say. So many weird things all at once.

“Buh wha?” he blubbered.

1 Month Later: It’s been a while since the Jamba Heart Crisis started, but now it could end.

“Spear Copter!”

“Blaze hammer!”

“Match Tornado!”

“Blossom storm!”

Spin!!! Slash!!! Flare!!! Poom!!!

They had just beat the last magic general of the three.

THE STRANGE STONE Grady Rowe | Grade 6, Boise Sploosh! The water flew up as something hit it and fell in. I was curious. Nothing moved around me. I turned my back and another sploosh happened. Squawk! A mailman was trying to fly. I tried not to scream, “What’s going on!”

And turned away. I saw what made the noise. A stone flew up and splashed into the water. I was amazed as seven more flew and created a sign: that’s when I realized I was dreaming.

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REVENGE OF THE TOMATOES Jared Brooksby | Grade 4, Boise Jed is eighteen. He is very calm and patient. One day at his grandparents’ house in a warm, bright sun, he woke up and ate breakfast. He wanted some tomatoes, so he went to the garden.

“Hmmm,” Jed said. “Which one should I choose?”

So he chose some big red tomatoes. He went back to the house. Halfway there he heard squeaking. He found out that his tomatoes were squeaking! He then heard them talk.

“Bluchawawabqushsh,” they said.

“Uh…hello?” he asked. But it didn’t come out normally! It came out as squeaks!

The tomatoes understood.

“Walhahaohellob,” they squeaked.

He heard it as “hello!”

They squeaked, “Wawahomehomehappyhappy.”

He understood. They wanted to go home.

Jed had a plan. At 5:00 AM tomorrow morning he would help them. He wanted to help them go home.

At 5:00 the next morning, Jed went to help the tomatoes. He went to the garden and found the tomatoes.

He knew they wanted to be in the forest. He snuck out to go to the forest. He ran there, for he was near.

For day by day he looked around the forest to find a spot but the tomatoes kept telling him it was the wrong spot. Then the tomatoes said they should rest for a while.

Only then Jed noticed big balls behind the tomatoes. Then they hatched and the baby tomatoes inched forward trying to eat Jed! “Treachery,” he thought.

Now Jed is backed up behind a tree! What will he do?

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THE ADVENTURES OF DOODLE Henly Kim | Grade 5, Garden City It was 9:21 p.m. and Henly, Alex, and Jameson were having a sleepover for three nights. This was the second night.

Alex yelled, “Best sleepover ever!” and jumped on the counter, screaming across the house.

Henly and Jameson agreed. Twenty minutes later my mom shouted, “Time to go to bed!”

So, they crawled onto Henly’s bed. Five minutes passed, then Henly’s mom came in and opened his window.

“I’m just going to open the window a little bit,” she said.

“Okay,” we agreed.

Then something weird happened. The house started to shake, glasses rattled in the cupboards and they were kept awake by the shaking. The painting of the Doodle on the wall started to come to life.

“What is happening?” worried Alex. The shaking faded away.

“I’m glad that’s over,” they all said in relief.

As soon as they were done talking, the painting of the Doodle popped right out of the wall and started running around in circles.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” screamed Alex.

“What is that?” asked Jameson.

“I think it’s a Doodle,” answered Henly.

“Ooooooooooooooh,” both Alex and Jameson called out.

“But I want it!” exclaimed Henly.

“Okay,” Jameson said with a sigh.

Just as Henly was about to grab it, it multiplied.

“What the?” Henly said.

“I’m keeping that one!” yelled Alex.

But as Alex was just about to grab the second one it out popped another Doodle.

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“Well I want that one!” protested Jameson.

So each of them now had a Doodle. They all searched the library the next morning. They were there for about an hour and a half. Henly’s Mom had told them that they should get going but Henly, Alex, and Jameson insisted that they stay for at least another thirty minutes. Henly’s Mom agreed. But then after about twenty-four minutes later they finally found something about what had happened the other night.

“I found something!” shouted Henly Henly’s Mom told him to quiet down. Then Alex and Jameson came over to see what he had found. There stood Henly, holding an old dusty book he had just found at the top shelf. “Look, there’s an ancient legend that says there are thirteen different types of stones. The legend also says that there are thirteen mysterious temples, each containing three of these stones. The book also says that the stones will turn our Doodles into awesome forms!”

So they decided to go and find the stones. It took a few days for them to convince their parents that they were going on a camping trip for a while with his friends, without their parents of course. But they agreed. They were ready to travel…

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THE BLUE ROOM Harper Pantera | Grade 6, Boise When we moved in I was the first one in the blue room. It was big and dark navy blue, almost black like the floor, which had a red chair bolted into it. Strange. I shrugged it off and found my room. It was late and I was tired so I went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up to a crease in my bed next to me, as if someone or something was sitting next to me. Scared, I jumped out of my bed and ran out of my room, before I knew it I was outside the blue room, I looked at the door. It was locked. Was this a ghost and what did they want from me?

Later that day, I went to the library to read about ghosts and learned two types of ghosts that it could be. It could be a demon, who has a “ghost room,” where they tend to have the most paranormal activity. Or a lurcher, a ghost with unfinished business so they come back as a ghost to finish it. It could be a demon because the blue room is kind of suspicious. Who is this ghost and who killed it?

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THE WORLD JUMPERS: BOOK ONE Bridger Belts-Kauffman | Grade 5, Boise The road to the store was destroyed by space debris.

I went through the nearest side street and found a portal. I got out of my car and went through. I saw something amazing on the other side. The portal smells old and musty…

TWO QUATRAINS Anna Grabe | Grade 5, Boise April weather is warm Birds begin to fly Bees begin to swarm no clouds in the sky.

Camping The campfire glows The air smells of pine The cool wind blows There are trees to climb

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DEEPNESS Yewon Kang | Grade 6, Boise I can’t find my Unicorn! I thought I’d put her in the stables. Well, at least I thought. I set up flyers all over the neighborhood but still no response. So I went on a hunt for my unicorn, Stacy.

“Oh! I found her footprints!” I told Lily who is my one and only best friend. “Maybe we can hunt her down!”

The footprints led us to The Deep Forest where all the horrible legends come from. It was getting dark and still no sign of her. Suddenly, we heard a loud thud! And screeching noises. Me and Lily rushed towards the noise with a thumping heart. It was Stacy getting attacked by Dragons! We rushed towards Stacy but it was too late…

JULY Chaewon Kang | Grade 5, Boise As the steaming winds pass, fallen leaves lie as people say bye, people walk by.

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SEASONS Briella Nickell | Grade 6, Boise Winter Cold air everywhere a cool breeze snow falling from the trees Fall Leaves swirling on cement an upcoming spooky event.

Spring Life crawling through the night green at every sight flowers blossoming Summer Short nights bird flights, coming home the smell of flowers the sight of life bringing the sun lots of fun

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THE ACROBAT, A FLEA, AND A ROPE Rayne Brent | Grade 6, Boise “They will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Too many people are judged by their looks and not by their personality. People are told to be ashamed of who they are and how they look.

Everyone is imperfect perfect. An Acrobat, a flea, and a rope.

An Acrobat, confident she will succeed when she steps on the rope she walks confidently. Halfway down the rope a flea comes. It shakes the rope. The Acrobat becomes less and less confident. The sweat on her forehead drips down her face. Her salty face kept getting warmer as the sun was right in front of her. The flea tries to bring the Acrobat down, and keeps failing, the Acrobat wouldn’t give up. Right as the Acrobat is at the end, she slips and falls. The flea feels superior to the Acrobat. The Acrobat gets back up. She won’t let the flea win. She won’t accept defeat! The flea is shocked.

It thought it had won. The Acrobat is better than ever. She makes it across! She had won. The flea was defeated and couldn’t do anything about it. Always treat others with kindness.

After Martin Luther King Jr. from “I Have a Dream Speech”

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THE DEGENERATES Maisie Murphy | Grade 6, Boise We are the degenerates discarded from society what have we done to deserve this?

Have we not acted ladylike?

GOBLINS AND DEMONS Kameron Lum | Grade 4, Oakland, California Once upon a time, people went on a hike on a trail.

Then they broke out into a fight and they went to their hideouts.

It was in the city but when they came back, the city was in flames. Everyone was gone and monsters were everywhere.

Before they went in, a monster attacked them. All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning hit the monsters.

(A note: Before we get further into the story, the monsters took over the world by a portal made by a sorcerer who was evil. Back to the story…)

After that happened, it started raining acid rain, and some fire lighting. If the acid hits you then you have a hole in your body. Then the fire lighting shoots and hits your eyeballs and then it gets stuck and then demons pull the string attached to the lining and your eyeballs come out. The monsters have knives as feet and chainsaws as hands and hooks as a body. All of the monsters live in Hotel 101

Transylvania and it is painted beige.

They learn subjects. But one person hid in a flood.

The flood was 100000000000000000000000000000 feet deep. Then the people peddled purple monsters with plastic poo.

THE GREEDY PRINCE Yuma Kitamura | Grade 3, Boise One day, there was a prince who had fancy clothes and lived in a beautiful castle. However, he was very greedy because he didn’t help the people who needed his help.

As time passed by, he realized he was in a bakery.

The prince said, “Why am I in a bakery? Why am I wearing old, dirty clothes?”

Just a second later a big tornado blew it away. The prince was immediately sucked out of one of the windows.

When he hit the ground, an envelope fell from the sky and landed on his head. He opened the envelope and found a letter. The letter was addressed to him and said this: To Jack, The reason why you’re in this condition is because you didn’t help people who needed your help. You should know how much the people were struggling. – From God. “What?!” The prince said.

He suddenly woke up and jumped out of bed. “Oh, that was only a dream. Thank goodness. But there are people who are really struggling and need my help. Okay.

I will make this world a better place,” he thought. At last, 102

the prince happily gave a lot of his money to the struggling people and the world became a better, peaceful place.

THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY Brayden Pan | Grade 4, Boise I think that mind reading is fun but it has to be controlled by me. A race with that power would be fun, and maybe it could put thoughts in your head. It (the superpower) would remove the noise outside so they can focus on the controller’s thoughts.

Well…one day it came true.

Today is the first day of 2086. I first classified I was a “human” then I took my “I want” which can produce anything out of air. Scientists studied the “Big Bang” which produced atoms out of thin air. Well, not air, nothing. The “I want” is the “Big Bang” for everything. Then I saw a part of something. It was the “Mindits.”

The “Mindits” are a sentient species. We found out after we made light speed spaceships. The “Mindits” can mindread and put thoughts in your head but only one thought. They are good at teamwork, which humans are weak at. That is why humans say “teamwork makes the dream work.”

The “Mindits” world is acid fountains which they consume like water. They make it into blobs which are food.

There are two continents made of rocky tundra.

I went outside with the army of “I wants” which are made of gold, which is common because of asteroid impacts in 2046.

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BOOK 2 Henry Miller | Grade 3, Boise “What is it?” Henry asked as she pointed a finger at the ground, where she was staring.

“There’s nothing there,” Henry said. But when he looked closer, he saw that there were tiny pink petals on the floor.

“It’s from the violet. I know it,” said Hannah.

“No, it can’t be,” said Henry.

CATCHING FIRE Charlie Keefer | Grade 4, Boise Planet: 22305 Date: 2423\July Chapter 1 Today we landed on 22305. As I step out of the ship my nostrils fill with smoke and I can tell that this is not a planet of peace.

Chapter 2 I find a nice cave and sleep. I know I can’t let my guard down. I wake to the sound of humming. It feels like an earthquake. Boom! The ground explodes and I black out.

Chapter 3 When I wake up, my ears are ringing. Everything is blurry. My whole body hurts and my hands are bleeding.

“Crista,” says a deep voice. I look up.

“Who are you?” I ask.

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“Hotdog,” they say.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“We translate our names into English,” says Hotdog.

“Oh,” I say.

“My real name is GooGooMeMawToilet.”

Chapter 4 Hotdog brought me down a tunnel. At the end, the three suns shone through four plastic-looking bodies. The fire burning on the walls of the tunnel made me remember I can’t trust them. At the end, we stopped. The big alien took out a sword. Shiny!

Chapter 5 I wake in a cave of fire, not knowing where the exit is. The ceiling has a hatch. I try to climb up but the fire burns my hands. “I need a ladder,” I say. The fire creates a ladder. I touch the ladder. It burns but I keep climbing up. It hurts my leg. I look at it.

Chapter 6 A giant gash. I rip a piece from my clothes and wrap it around the gash. I keep climbing. I get to flat ground. I see my spaceship. I hop in and I leave. The world is on fire and fumes of smoke fill my nose.

Chapter 7 When I get home people line up and ask me questions.

“What did the planet look like?” they ask.

“Fire,” I say.

“What do the aliens like to do for fun?” they ask.

“Well, pyromaniacs are pretty self-explanatory,” I tell them.

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(QUESTION MARK) THE CRUSHING SPACESHIP Jimmy Williams | Grade 4, Boise The Spaceship on the White House.

The Spaceship crushes the White House.

The president gets angry.

Now it smashes all other presidents.

Then he was sent to world jail.

But he broke out.

And was sent back to his spaceship.

The president sent an army…

But the spaceship already left.

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SPACE RIM Miles Keefer | Grade 3, Boise Monday, July 24th 2030 There are no signs of life. There is only metal here.

Chapter 1 So after I found the woods I found a piece of metal.

I picked it up and threw it. It somehow broke. There was a slimy thing in it.

Chapter 2 I picked up the slimy object. It was an Alien! There’s blue acid that has dead Aliens. I found some brown metal.

From the brown metal water was spouting from it.

Chapter 3 I went into the factory. “There are tons of bombs and battleships,” I said. An Alien responded, “I’m rara roo roo.”

“Oh, I’m Damon,” I said. There’s orange plants.”

Chapter 4 When I touched the orange plant its leaves fell. It was weird. Then there was a Boom. The humans had started a war. Me and rara rooroo ran to the bombs. We pick them up.

Chapter 5 I ran out of the factory as fast as I could. I threw the bombs at the surrounding ships. I came down. Me and rara rooroo got in a battleship. We shot down 3.

Chapter 6 Rara rooroo and I jumped from the battleship, went down and passed out. I woke up in a cave. Rara rooroo 107

wasn’t there. I looked outside. It was in ruins.

Chapter 7 I found rara rooroo on the ground. He was breathing.

I brought him to the cave. An hour later he woke up. “Stay in here,” I said. I went to the back of the cave. There was my backpack.

Chapter 8 I finally have my own water and knife. I said, “Here, knife, rara rooroo. Rara rooroo, I’m going to have to leave.”

“Oh,” said rara rooroo. “Where do you live?”

“San Francisco,” I said.

THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT Eugene Luo | Grade 3, Boise 5.5 billion years ago, after the sun was created, gravity was constructed. Soon, pieces of debris clumped together to create planets. But what about those gas giants on the outer rim? They were created by gas and hydrogen particles. ~~~ After a billion years of cooling down, a hot clump of rocks named Earth was starting its first orbit around the sun when a dwarf planet about the size of Mars crashed into the new-born Earth. The impact caused pieces of Earth and the Mars-sized dwarf planet that would 4.5 billion years later be named Thea to form what we now call the moon.

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~~~ Soon, after the early Earth had cooled down enough, the first bio-organisms and bacteria formed in the gushing oceans. Those little tiny things created the first prehistoric creatures which evolved into dinosaurs and 2.8 billion years later turned to birds and humans were added to Earth’s species which is the reason we are all here today.

THE ADVENTURES OF MOCHA AND HONEY Grace Warrington | Grade 3, Boise Mocha and Honey are two very cute, very curious puppies. They are always in for a little adventure. They always see the best in people, and they absolutely never give up. You are in for a real “treat” because if you love animals, fun, adventure, and more – then this exciting book, and these loveable brave puppies as the stars of the book, is the perfect fit for you.

Part 1: A Beginning, from “The Museum Thief” “Sniff, sniff, I smell bad news,” Honey said one sunny day as she was sitting on the warm porch in the backyard.

“I wonder what it is!” said Mocha.

Part 2: Into the Woods Honey noticed a butterfly fluttering near the clover patch, and it landed on her nose. “Good luck,” Honey thought. Soon the puppies were at the park, and Grace was playing in a nearby tree. As Honey rested, Mocha got to work.

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Part 3: Escape!

At last, the big night arrived. “Time to escape!” the puppies both said together, as they went outside. Mocha found a way to get to the roof. As they crossed the rooftop, they noticed the raccoon heading toward the museum.

“He’s going to the museum,” Honey said.

“Then that’s where we’re going!” Mocha exclaimed.

They had seen the raccoon earlier that day at the park. They had noticed the raccoon was a thief because he was holding a brown thief bag. At least, the raccoon did not notice them. By the time they reached the museum, the raccoon had gone inside. “Come on, he went inside,” said Mocha. They made their way inside and caught up with the raccoon. They noticed he was holding a bright blue gem.

Mocha also noticed that there was a large parachute hanging from the ceiling above. “Ssshh,” Mocha said to Honey.

Honey remained quiet. Mocha jumped up and covered the raccoon with the parachute. They took the gem from the raccoon and put it back on the pedestal.

Part 4: Home Sweet Home “All I wanted was something special from the museum,” said the raccoon.

“Well, try these instead,” Honey handed the raccoon some dandelions, and the raccoon thanked them and went home. “We should probably go home soon, too.” And with that, they headed home.

Once they were inside their warm dry house, Mocha said to Honey, “Let’s get some rest before the sun rises.”

“This sure is Home Sweet Home,” Mocha added. It sure is, and with that, they both turned round and went to bed.

THE END!

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CORAL AND THE SHADOW SPIRITS Ruby Lingle | Grade 3, Boise Introduction Hi there, my name is Coral. I’m a mermaid. Our magic world is not doing great lately. Everything is dying. It’s because of the Shadow Spirits Queen. Nothing is stronger than her magic except the Magenta Stone Crystals in Iceland. My goal is to find them and save my land.

Chapter 1: The Good Byes I’m in my room finishing the last touches of my suitcase when my mom and dad walked into my room.

“Honey,” my mom said, “Dad and I have…thoughts, so just in case, we packed a kit for you that has dog spray, dog tasers…”

“Okay, I’ll take dog spray to make you stop talking,” I told them.

“Wonderful, all of us win,” my mom said.

Sherrrrrrrch “Okay, that’s the bus! I love you, byeeeee!” I told my parents.

I was on my way out of town. In one hour, I was out of my sea country. My first stop: a wise octopus that lives in a cave. It was dark ooooo ooooo.

Suddenly a red figure jumped out. Next thing I knew I was laid down on a seaweed bed. I looked around and saw an old octopus. “You okay?” it asked. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just hardly ever get visitors down here. Is there anything you want to ask?”

“Well, do you happen to know anything about the Magenta Stone Crystals?” I asked. I got my notebook and pen out.

“I’m sorry to say I don’t know anything. I know a guy who probably does. But I’ll warn you, he’s the King of the 111

Jungle who also lives in the depths of the Jungle.”

“Oh, thank you!” I said. I swam as fast as I could. Two minutes later, I swam to the Jungle.

One thing that you should know, when my front paws touch the ground, I turn into a cat. That’s how I walked on the beach. Then I started to walk through it and there was a little light poking through and there were flowers, fruit, and tall trees. There was a branch, and on that, something very thick and long I didn’t know. But I soon would.

Chapter 2: The Chase The next thing I knew, I was being chased by an anaconda! Up the trees, flying off vines, hiding, then a branch broke out from under my feet and I fell, and for the second time that day, I passed out.

When I woke up I was in a castle with a King’s knight.

“Oh you’re awake!” the knight said. “I found you on the ground passed out surrounded by the anaconda. And you’re from, if I am not mistaken, the Sea Land?”

“Yes!” I told the knight.

“So I’m taking you to live in the castle unless you wish to go back to the sea.”

“Well, I’m on a mission to find the Magenta Stone Crystal,” I told the knight.

“Well, you’re in luck! The king knows a bit about it,” the knight said.

In 20 minutes, we were at the king’s castle. It was spectacular: gold walls, glorious plant decorations, and all the colors of gems. And I thought the outside was amazing!

When we got to the throne room, the King was dressed in a red robe. I curtsied for the King.

“Hi, I heard you need to know about the Magenta Stone Crystals,” the King said.

“Yes!” I told the King. I took out a notebook and pen.

“Well, I’ll show you,” the King said.

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He took me to a portal.

“You skip the mountains,” the King said.

“Great! Bye!” I said. As I leaned through the portal, I was in the desert! In front of me, there was a camel. “Oh hi, ummmmmm can you take me to Iceland?” I asked the camel.

“Yes! Let’s go!” the camel said.

For the next hour, I was riding on a camel. When we got to the barrier, the camel told me, “Just look and listen.” Before I could ask any questions, I took the camel’s advice. I just looked around…I saw ice, snow, icebergs…oh the icebergs! They made the word ‘Magenta Stone Crystals’ and an arrow pointing to ice! But I saw the Queen Shadow Spirit’s guards.

I knew I needed to hurry. I ran from the iceberg.

When I touched the ice, a door appeared and I looked around. I touched the doorknob. Nothing happened.

When I closed my eyes and listened and touched the door it opened! I walked and saw a hurt bird. “Ah, poor thing!”

I thought. I gently wrapped the bird’s wings in my scarf.

Suddenly, the Queen Shadow Spirit was banging on the door. Then I was blinded. Next, I saw Magenta Stone Crystals.

When I got off the ice, everything was green and healthy, and the Shadow Spirits were gone. And I ventured home.

THE END

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THE VILLAGE Lucy Lingle | Grade 5, Boise The rock they were standing on was solid beneath their feet. The wind rushed through her hair as she looked over the land. The rushing river roared beneath them.

She pointed across the river at a village. “A village,” she exclaimed.

The sun shone in their eyes as they walked to the village.

“Are you sure the people in the village are nice?” her friend asked.

She tripped over a rock and fell on the soft green grass. When she fell, she smelled flowers and pollen.

“Are you alright?” the other girl asked.

“Yes,” she replied. She wondered what the people at the village would be like.

SAPPHIRE’S ADVENTURE Mia Barth | Grade 5, Boise Sapphire woke up to a noisy bell ringing by her window. She got up and slid on her cozy slippers. She walked to the window, rang the bell three times. put the bell in the old red bucket, and sent it back to the window across from her. Then her best friend Lily opened her window too.

“Hi Lily! What are you doing today?” said Sapphire.

“Not much. I have swim practice later and we’re going to the market in a couple of minutes. Do you want to come? I bet my mom would let you,” said Lily, excitedly.

“Sure!” said Sapphire.

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TWO MOONS, TWO SUNS Laina Williams | Grade 5, Boise Excerpt from Chapter 4: They kept hiking until Olive pointed. “There’s a solar storm!”

“Only Sage Grey can make solar storms,” Tonic explained.

“That’s true,” Jackfruit said.

“You don’t know that, Jack Attack,” Skylar told Jack.

Skylar pulled out her fire trident. “I’m fighting.” She ran toward the solar storm.

Sage Grey was waiting for Skylar.

She lunged at him.

He swung his sword.

She dodged it.

It went on.

Jackfruit transformed into a bird and tore his cape.

The shape shifters shape shifted, and Tonic did all she could to defeat them! They won but Sage Grey was still alive.

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THE EPIC JOURNEY Ollie Butterfield | Grade 5, Boise Ice and his group finally make it to the Turtle Mountains.

“There is Firecracker and my dad! My dad is wrapped in chains,” said Ice. “Let’s fight,” said Firecracker.

Firecracker threw a bomb but the wind mills blew the bomb back at Firecracker. The bomb blew and the ground started to shake. All the mountains around them started to rise and the mountains turned into turtles, light and dark green.

The windmill took their blade and hit Firecracker like a golf ball, and he disappeared.

A COLD DUSTY NIGHT Beck Gaines | Grade 5, Boise The cold, dusty dirt stuck to the soles of their shoes.

The clouds covered up the sky like they were trying to hide something. Everything felt dull and subtle. The wind whistled in their ears. As they stood there all alone, waiting in the cold, they stared at the pebbles hoping they wouldn’t have to waste their day like this.

“I am really sorry about breaking the pot. I thought she would just scold me, not both of us,” Tom said, shattering the silence.

“It’s alright, I mean, there are worse things that could happen, right?” Placid replied.

They had yet to learn their future would take a troubling turn.

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5 ODYSSEYS Leo Hahn | Grade 5, Boise “Extra, extra,” exclaimed Eup, walking down the street. This was his normal life ever since his parents died three years ago.

“Hi. I would like to buy one of those please,” said a man.

“Sure, that will be 25 cents,” Eup responded as the man put a cold coin in his hand.

After his shift, Eup walked home like he did every week. When he got home, Eup looked into his rusty orange mailbox. To his surprise, he found a letter.

When Eup looked closer and read who the letter was from, it said: “To Eup Magenta, from Mom and Dad.”

THE EARTH MYTHOLOGY Emilie Ashmore | Grade 5, Boise In the beginning, Earth used to be twice the size it is now. One part of the world had humans and objects you see today. The other part had humans with dragon parts like tails, wings, horns, and teeth. And the plants, rocks, and clouds were all animals.

Then a golden apple appeared and if eaten could grant any wish. and because of that, war struck.

Each part of the earth fought for the wish: the magic side versus the normal side. They fought so bitterly that the Gods that created the world split the Earth in half. They decided to give the apple to no one.

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THE JOURNEY TO HYLITH Albert Pan | Grade 6, Boise Inside the spacious palace, Orion and the hunter confronted the wrinkly, evil general Dracus Sylethus on the smooth marble floor.

After a few rounds of sword fighting, a slash to the neck left Orion unconscious.

Dracus was about to slay Orion, but a bolt of thunder hit the palace. Dracus was fatally stabbed by the hunter.

Dracus and the Hylith rebellion were dead, but could Orion survive?

THE DIRECTOR Stefan Patrick | Grade 6, Boise “Sir!” yelled Scott, seeing the director sitting down with his coffee. “Can you find this in the database?”

The only thing that replied was a splash of hot coffee onto the director’s chair.

Scott moved in boldly, and then was alarmed when he saw the “director.” That was when he realized that he wasn’t even in his director’s room.

Everything in the room went from glamor to warping, pieces of paint chipping, and the black trim cracking under stress within seconds. The director evolved into a humanoid darken. These types could shapeshift well, but when in a snit could be dangerous. And this was the predicament Scott was in.

The pastries were being ripped under the tension, while stone and reinforced concrete chunks slid from the 118

walls. Scott did the only reasonable thing and pulled the fire alarm. It quickly vanished and reappeared on the ground with darkened claw marks.

THE DARK WATCHERS Kylie Benton | Grade 5, Boise Chapter Four A soft breeze made its way through the small door as Iris lifted her sword one last time as the cool metal brushed her skin. Outside, the sun began to fall wearily.

She had stopped evil from spreading but at what cost? She had lost her best friend. She was no hero. She felt a familiar feeling of loss and she thought of her forever missing Ally. She missed her. She loved her even though it was never real.

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MRS. NICENESS Quinn Adams | Grade 7, Boise Scene 1 Mrs. Niceness’s preschool classroom, filled with twenty kids. Mrs. N stands at the front of the classroom.

Mrs N: Good morning class! Today is an especially magical day because we are all going on a field trip to the river!

All the Preschoolers: Grooossss!

Mrs N: Gross? Why do you say that?

Preschooler 1: Cuz the river is made out of pee!

Mrs N: What? Pee? Who told you that?

Preschooler 2: Nigel did, Mrs Niceness.

Mrs N: Nigel, that is not true. The river is made out of water.

Nigel: Gross. Water.

Mrs N: Anyway...

Billy: But, Sweet Teach, what if we fall in?

Mrs N: Billy, I’d appreciate it if you called me Mrs. Niceness or Mrs. N. And nobody is falling in. We’re all going to be very safe.

Billy: No, we aren’t.

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Mrs N: Yes, we are, Billy. Any more questions?

Billy: (to himself sulkily) Why are you such a weirdie? Yeah.

That’s my question. What do you think about that? Yeah.

Mrs N: (not having heard Billy) No? Great. Let’s load up!

They all leave the classroom.

End scene.

THE BRIDGE Andy Jensen | Grade 7, Boise PART 1: A boy enters the stage. A girl is hanging laundry.

Erik: Good morning.

Girl: (sadly) Oh, hi, Erik.

Erik: What’s wrong?

Girl: Just thinking about the bridge.

Erik: Do you ever think we’ll cross it?

Girl: No. Erik: Everyone thinks we’re crazy for wanting to.

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Girl: Everytime I bring it up my dad yells at me for being ungrateful.

Erik: Well, I have to go. Meet by the bridge later?

Girl: Of course.

PART TWO: After School Erik and the girl are sitting by the river.

Girl: So how was school?

Erik: Mrs Gilliland has still failed to teach me math, Mr Clapp can’t teach me to read.

Girl: Well...enough about that. Any ideas?

Erik: Save up and buy a drone to distract the guards.

Girl: That would take too long. What if we just ford the river?

Erik: Too deep. We could drug the guards.

Girl: Where would we get the supplies?

Erik: Don’t know.

A voice from far off: Jill, Jill, where are you?

Girl: Well I guess I have to go.

Erik: I’ll walk you home.

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Jill: Thanks.

A cop enters the stage.

Jill and Erik: (groans) Hi, Kimono.

Kimono clears his throat.

Jill and Erik: Sorry, hi, Sir Kimono Violet.

Kimono: That’s better. Now what are you two doing?

Jill: Walking home. .

Kimono: You weren’t talking about crossing the bridge were you?

Jill and Erik look at each other.

Erik: No.... we were talking about (looks around)... flowers.

Kimono: Good. Now run along home.

Kimono exits stage.

Jill: I hate his guts. Why can’t he just leave us alone?

Erik: I don’t know, see you tomorrow?

Jill: Yes. End scene

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POWER OUT Finnleigh Isaacson | Grade 7, Boise Scene 1 Lilly: The city of New York has been hit with an asteroid and none of the rest of the world knows. So no one can help us, all the power is out and all of New York is hiding.

Rose: We need to find a power source so that we can find people.

Lilly: We should go to the power plant. See you tomorrow at 9:00.

Rose and Violet: Okay, see you tomorrow.

Scene 2 Violet: This place is creepy.

Rose: Let’s go.

Violet: What is that?

Lily: It looks like a giant metal ring. We have to look at that.

Rose: It’s glowing.

Lily: We have to look on the other side.

Rose: Wow, the darkness goes on forever.

End scene 124

RAPTOR OASIS Connor Branden Wirz | Grade 8, Boise The story thus far: in a faraway planet in another galaxy, there is an island with mountains and a haunted forest to the north, the scarlet savannah in the east, desert in the middle, and oasis in the south.

PART 3: In the Distance Bill: Hey, Phill, you got the ship in a good landing position?

Phill: Yep, Bill, I’m the Engineer and mechanic, I know what I’m doing.

Bill: You always do.

Phill: Well, you gonna do anything besides watch TV? Will: Hey, give me a break. I’m the pilot of the spaceship, soon to be spacebase now that you got the ship in position.

Phill: You flew it on autopilot.

Will: You didn’t do any better!

Phill: I constantly monitored the autopilot, which was supposed to be your job.

Bill: Is it just me or do you guys see something in the distance, beyond the endless desert.

Bill, Will and Phill go to a window and look where Bill points.

Phill: I think I see a speck of green.

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Will: Would someone get me binoculars?

Phill goes and brings the binoculars.

Bill: A...tree!

Phill: Impossible! There shouldn’t be enough air on this planet.

Will rushes outside without his helmet on.

Bill: Will, wait!

Phill: ...They were all wrong...the air is fresher here than on earth.

Bill: We should check out the tree, who knows what else is out there?

The three drive a car to the tree and find a tropical oasis, with fresh grass coated with morning dew.

Will: Are we in heaven?

Phill: Earth clearly isn’t the only planet suitable for life.

Bill: Let’s continue on...

They continue and find a cave sitting next to the lake in the center of the oasis.

Bill: A cave?

Will: Race ya to the bottom!

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Will sprints through the cave, the rest follow slowly.

Phill: Someone lives here, see the fire?

Bill: Let’s be careful.

Phill: And there appears to be meat cooking over it.

Bill and Phill continue down through a hallway lit by modern lighting and into another room where they meet Will.

Will: That meat close to the entrance of the cave was good, tastes just like beef.

Bill: You took the meat without a second thought!

Will: You make that sound bad.

Phill: I don’t get it...You’d think the people living here were primitive from the fire, and hay beds in this room...

Will, mid conversation notices two large eggs in one of the hay beds and puts them in a brown bag he brought.

Phill: ...But then what about the LED lights? And how would anybody get any power?

Bill: We should probably get going before anyone notices us.

The three walk to the entrance of the cave. Raptor Yellow appears.

Raptor Yellow: Chirirrp!

End scene 127

NIA AND GELATO Evie Openshaw | Grade 7, Eagle Scene 1 The docks, on a chilly spring morning. Both squeak as the sea settles from the past night’s storm.

At rise: Nia - a cat - sits up, then looks at a barrel of fish sitting on the shore. She runs for it hoping to capture a fish.

Gelato: (yawns) Ah, yuck, why am I wet? (Looks above at the leaky boat he lies under) Boat leaking again?

Nia arrives at their boat with a small, scrappy fish in her jaws.

Gelato: Tuna again? How much longer can I keep this up? A leaking boat, tuna everyday, fisherman throwing rocks at us...

Nia: Calm down, Gelato. It’s not that bad. Plus, tuna is delicious!

Gelato: Not when you have it every single day it’s not. Can’t we look for a home in the town?

Nia: You know that the town is no place for a dock kitty. The humans are too unreliable.

Gelato: What about the woods?

Nia: Are you crazy? The woods are worse than the town! You could be swept up by a giant owl at any moment!

End scene 128

REVOLUTION Kennedy Hood | Grade 7, Nampa PROLOGUE Soldier: We begin our story in France.

Imagine, The city lights, Sparkling Eiffel Tower in the distance Gardens upon gardens filled with flowers Art galleries The setting sun radiating this beauty Imagine, The side no one talks about Graffiti littering the walls of everything that once sparkled, Oil paintings from hundreds of years ago being destroyed, Bits and pieces of the Eiffel Tower crumbling before your eyes, The light pollution so bad, you can’t even see the moon.

Flowers decaying and turning to dust in your hands.

Now our story begins Nearly 300 years ago Gor the fight for freedom in France.

The French Revolution, 1788, October 3rd.

In not even a year, the fight begins.

Scene 1 Young Valentina and her dad step onto the stage.

Valentina: Daddy, one day, will you take me around the 129

world? One day, will we play together?

Dad: Yes, dear. One day, when we’re free, I will take you, my sweet daughter.

He bends down, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Valentina: I love you, Dad. Dad: I love you too, mon amour...

Soldier: The war begins.

The fight for Freedom right before your eyes.

Flashes of soldiers and Redcoats, and the French in Horizon Blue.

The fight continues, and after 10 years, the English surrender.

They stagger home, and the French soldiers’ eyes light up.

Bodies are scattered along the field, their guns at their sides.

They had died, for their new country, Free from the brutal tyranny of King George.

It is so that one of the soldiers that passed out on the field was Valentina’s father.

Oh, who will tell the poor thing?

End scene

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THE CABIN Olive Reeder | Grade 7, Boise Alfred - dad Nori - dog Borah, Pratah - brothers Narrator Scene 1 Narrator: It’s winter, and a fire blazes. A warm cozy cabin nestled in the Andes Mountains far from civilization. It’s covered in snow. The snow fell in the middle of a storm.

The wind whipped around like a swarm of bugs swaying together and dancing.

Two young boys were snuggled close together near the fire desperate for warmth. Their father was out hunting for food–the game had been scarce due to the lack of water and food. The two boys were cuddled in a ball near the flickering fire. They were asleep but cold as icicles. They were both dreaming of their father, who was out alone in the cold winter night searching, hoping he would find food.

As the night went on the father got even more in his thoughts of his late wife, who recently died because of starvation. The father eventually gave up, bent down for some rest. Little did he know he was miles and miles away from home with no food and only thoughts of his freezing boys keeping him alive.

Scene 2 Borah: When do you suppose father will be here?

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Pratah: I would have thought he would have been here by now. But what do I know?

Nori: More than me, that’s for sure! I am a dog, not a human.

Humans have knowledge, dogs have strengths as well, and good hearing.

Borah: But seriously, Father has been gone all night and he still hasn’t returned!

Nori: Perhaps we should look for him?

Pratah: I honestly do not think that is a good idea, Nori. It has been storming all night. I don’t think it is going to stop now.

Nori: Why? The storm could stop any minute!

Borah: Don’t you dare jinx it!

Suddenly the wind and snow starts to blow and howl, breaking the cabin silence.

Pratah: You JINXED it!!

Nori: I did not!

Borah: You actually did.

Pratah: Borah is right, but never mind that. Father is still not home. We have no food. Nori doesn’t either. We have three choices: find Father and starve. Find food and bring it back then find father. 3: stay here and starve to death.

Nori: How about number 2. We find Father and we don’t 132

starve to death.

Pratah: Nori is right, we really do not want to starve to death, well, at least not today.

Nori: You’re finally agreeing with me! I like you!

Borah: Fine, but we will have to prepare. We will have to take all of our winter gear, and probably leave Nori here. He has no boots or coats, he would freeze!

Nori: No way! I am strong dog! And you’ll never get any food or find your father without me! I am stronger than you, and you guys do not know how to hunt. You guys don’t have strong like I do. If you do not take me with you, you guys will starve before you can freeze to death.

Pratah: I actually agree with Nori, Borah. We will most likely die without Nori. He has strengths that we don’t. And we have strengths that he doesn’t. We would be better off together.

Nori: I completely agree!

Borah: I guess you are right. And I do not want to die today. I also want to find Father.

End scene

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THE TORTOISE AND THE DUST CLOUD Annika Benton | Grade 7, Meridian The tortoise was not a normal tortoise. Unlike the rest of the tortoises, he liked traveling far far Away.

Tortoise decided to take a skiing trip to the mountains around Christmas time. Tortoise just loved the white snowy sky and the hills.

However, the trip soon came to an end and Tortoise had to walk all the way back home. Portis was slowly getting closer to his home and he heard lots of animals clamoring up ahead.

Bunny: Tortoise! There’s a huge dust cloud around our town!

Tortoise: Well, it’s all right! We can all go up to the ski hills!

My treat!

And so they did.

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THE DUCK, THE PIGEON, AND THE DONUT Eva Necochea-Smith | Grade 8, Boise One day a duck and a pigeon were on a date.

Scene 1 Duck: You’re my favorite pigeon.

Pigeon: You are my favorite DUCK. Duck: I’m the only duck in this world...dude, we are floating in space.

Pigeon: I was trying to lighten the mood.

Duck: Well it didn’t work, the mood is pitch black.

Pigeon: Shut up. OMG! Look, there’s something!

A donut flies to them.

Duck: Hi, how are you doing?

Donut: Okay.

Pigeon: Have you been floating around here long?

Donut: Nah. Duck: What’s your name?

Donut: Nah. Pigeon: Do you know any other words?

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Donut: Yep. Duck: Good, is your name really Nah? Donut: (thinks a bit) Nah. Duck: (starting to become impatient) Then what is it?

Donut: Yep. Duck lunges at the donut.

Pigeon: Nooooo!

Pigeon lunges at Duck.

Donut: Awh. Nah! NAH OK!!

Duck eats the donut, ignoring the objections of others.

Pigeon: What the HELL!?!?

Duck: He was annoying.

Pigeon: Fair.

Duck: You’re my favorite pigeon.

Pigeon: No. THE END

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PORTALS Rio Kitamura | Grade 7, Tokyo, Japan SCENE 1: At the Secret Factory Boss: Hey, Sam. Sam: Yes, Boss?

Boss: Are you close to finishing this gate?

Sam: Yes, Boss. I have planned the world behind the door already and I am almost done with the outside design.

Boss: Our goal by the end of this year is to get to 30. We do not have half of them completed and ready to place yet.

You are one of our top elite gate creators. These creators are chosen to make magical doors and gates that lead only people with clear kind hearts to special magnificent worlds.

Do you understand? What kinds of portals have you planned so far?

Sam: Um... well, a portal that leads humans to a world where they can choose whatever appearance they want to be. This one is mainly created for people who are dissatisfied with their face or body, maybe because of some kind of surgery, accidents, and so on. And... another one is called Gate 3.

I’m planning to place it somewhere hidden in a station. It leads you on a train and takes you to a world where extinct creatures live.

Boss: Well done. I’m counting on you, Sam. Scene 2: June and the Door 137

June walking down a mall with her friend Hanna.

Hanna: June, where should we go next? I think we went through all the stores.

June: Yeah! Hold on, I’ve got to use the restroom real quick.

Hanna: No worries, I’ll be waiting just right here!

June: Thanks! BRB! June heads to the closest restroom then finds a mysterious door on her way.

June: Huh, I visit the mall pretty often but I’ve never seen this door before. Weird.

June starts heading to the restroom again, however she feels like she has to see what the other side of the door had, right now, or else she would lose her chance. The door seems to have a special strong attractive power to it. She knew that going into a strange door isn’t a good thing. She hesitates a bit, but finally opens it and steps in. Without seeing a sign that said the bridge of heaven or...hell...

TO BE CONTINUED…

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I REMEMBER Alexandra Murawski | Grade 5, Boise I remember when I was little I heard a song on the radio that reminded me of cheese.

I remember my grandma’s birthday. It was fall-themed and we rode in a wagon.

I remember going to a candy store that had jelly beans. I got a bag of jelly beans flavored Tutti Frutti.

I remember when I used to go to gymnastics. I couldn’t even do a flip.

I remember a good restaurant with a fountain. They used to have orange candies.

I remember my mom showing me a picture of Ronald McDonald, the old McDonald’s clown.

I remember when we went to Chick-fil-A and the Chick-fil-A cow guy showed up.

I remember going to Yosemite. It was great!

I remember almost choking on calamari.

I remember making a clay owl.

I remember when my cat bit my brother’s face because he was hungry.

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JUGGLING MEERKATS Deeya Barman | Grade 5, Boise Anna, Bell, and Ava went to the carnival and took seats before the meerkat juggling show. The meerkats gathered their lightbulbs from a bucket and lined up on little red dots facing the audience. They were juggling perfectly, their little paws flashing in the air like they were hot. Until one meerkat on the far left dropped his lightbulbs. Soon after, one by one, the other meerkats all dropped their lightbulbs too. The showman, David, got so angry he started yelling at them. The meerkats pranced outside, throwing shards of glass at David as they went. The crowd howled with laughter as David yelled in pain. The meerkats marched all the way to the forest.

GREEN SCENERY Aiden Mehr | Grade 6, Boise Inspired by artwork at the Boise Art Museum Green plants of different colors, bright flowers blooming in their hue.

A bird sitting on a log looking out, leaves as a cover, white water drifting away.

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NIGHT Briella Nickell | Grade 6, Boise Light bouncing off glass, but not sunlight.

Moonlight.

Starlight.

We have waited for hours, for eternities in all, to destroy the sun each time it sets.

The sun gets to shine while people are there to see, to look up to, while we only get bats, dark, where no one is there to see us finally climb the sky.

NIGHT Aiden Grunke | Grade 6, Boise I put my red pajamas on, and brush my teeth.

I glance out my bathroom window at the dark, sleeping city. I hear a car go past outside.

Crickets chirp, owls hoot.

The dog snores softly on the floor.

It is very peaceful.

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THE KOALA Vidhu Sutharsan | Grade 5, Boise Once upon a time, there was a farmer who lived in a wheat field, making wheat for Cheerios. He felt lonely because he had no one to talk to, so he stole a koala from the zoo and replaced it with a fake one. It wasn’t easy taking care of the koala because it would make big messes. Once, the koala made a mess so big, the farmer had to spend $200,000 to fix his house. One day, he overheard two people talking about a Squishmallow factory being built in the wheat field.

He decided to stop the factory from being made by scaring the construction workers. He dressed up in a koala suit and acted vicious. The construction workers ran away screaming.

He lived happily ever after with the koala. Well, not really, because it still made big messes. But the farmer decided he could live with it.

SUNSET EVE Ava Rishkofski | Grade 5, Boise Walking outside, Grass drifting in wind.

Dinner is done.

Willow is walking, Her black body curving.

Shades of orange and purple light the sky.

Wind blowing my swing.

Stars light up the black, cold night.

Good-night moon Atop a hill, I think but don’t say.

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NIGHT Brady Mehr | Grade 6, Boise The black cat, big and fluffy, walks down the grey carpeted stairs.

He meows at the yellow wooden door, wanting to be outside in the brisk, dark night.

He likes feeling the slight breeze against his soft face and long whiskers.

I watch him as he smells the bright and colorful flowers. He loves running in the cold grass.

I watch him from the cold-floored foyer.

THE RESCUE Tori Shenk | Grade 6, Boise Date: June 13th, 4000 A.D. TV: “A meteor is going to hit Calif–” Granny turns the TV off.

“That’s not going to happen, Buddy,” Granny says.

Buddy is the dog.

“I’m not going to put on the news. Let’s watch F*R*I*E*N*D*S.” *30 minutes later* “Granny, is mommy coming home?” says little Betty.

“Hun, mommy’s gone forever–remember the crash?”

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“Yeah…”

“Plus, you’re supposed to be in bed now. Go!” Betty goes to her room.

The air rumbles horribly. Betty runs out to Granny.

“Get in the attic!” Granny says.

Buddy runs with them into the attic.

A meteor crashes through the attic ceiling and hits Buddy in the chest.

“BUDDY NO!!!!!!!!!!!!” says Betty.

He dies slowly.

Betty and Granny go outside.

Outside, there is a search team.

“Are y’all okay?” the rescue man asks.

“Yes,” says Granny.

“No,” says Betty.

“What?” the rescue man asks.

“My pup died! Can you help?” Betty says.

“We will try…” *15 defibrillator shocks later* “We’re sorry, he didn’t make it,” the rescue man says.

Betty starts to cry.

“Don’t cry, —--” “Betty,” Betty says.

“Don’t cry, Betty.”

“He’s gone!!” Betty cries.

Betty and Granny move to Iowa.

“Here, I’m sorry that Buddy died. I have a gift for you.”

Granny gives Betty a very gigantic box. Inside, when Betty opens the box, is a tiny little adorable puppy.

“Do you like him?” Granny asks.

“No, he’s not Buddy.”

“Come on, Betty, give him a while.”

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*Two years later* “I love you, Bubby,” Betty says.

“You’re not Buddy, but I still love you…”

THE END

A BURNING FIRE Ronin Guill | Grade 5, Boise Scene 1 As the fire burned hot and fumy, we all closed our eyes and prayed.

“The fire,” I said to all the campers.

“What about the fire?”

“Just look!” I replied in an angry tone.

“Wow!” everyone said. “It’s, it’s. Beautiful.”

The fire was black but that didn’t last for long as creatures started to pour out. The people were scared but I wasn’t. Now I am always scared. So this was a first.

The creatures were picking the army men one by one and eating all of the hearts? But only the heart. I was the only one that wasn’t scared. I was like invisible to them.

I walked around for a while and I wondered to myself who started the fire and why?

Scene 2 As Trever looked around he saw a weird void thing standing in the middle of the street? As he walked closer he felt as if he was getting pulled into it. Suddenly he was flying 145

into it!

In a blink of an eye he was in the medieval times of Britain! He tried to run back to the void, but it had vanished.

“No!!!” Trever said in a sobbing voice, “How am I going to get back. You know, I think that I am going to walk around and forget about it.”

He walked around for a bit and realized that he wanted a friend, just a friend. He felt scared and the spikey and dangerous creatures started to turn to him. He managed to get himself out of it.

“Wow, that was a close one.”

He kept walking and disappeared into the smoke.

HOSTERSON SITCOM Harper Pantera | Grade 6, Boise Scene 1 HOST (off-stage): Helloooooooooo NYC, it’s your favorite host, Host Hosterson of Hosterson Valley, here to Host Hosterson Valley Sitcom!

HOST enters from left and sits in chair behind his desk.

HOST: Before we continue, a quick ad from our sponsor, in Antarctica.

Ad starts.

AD: Hello there, I am a Genetic Disease, here to genetic your diseases. Write this down, folks! Write down the number on 146

the screen. Now I see you.

Creepy violin music plays as ad ends.

HOST: And, we’re back! It’s time to introduce Kate K-k-what the heck? Come in Kate K! KATE enters on unicycle.

KATE: Helloooo NYC! I’m Kate Khababalaga! I love to— Kate falls off unicycle.

KATE: AAAAAHHHH!!!

HOST: Okayyyy…now for Harper…P-p-p WHAT IS UP WITH THESE LAST NAMES!!!!!

HARPER enters.

HARPER (looks down at Kate): Hellooo--. What the?

Harper helps Kate up and sits down.

HARPER (with sass): Anyways, as I was saying! I’m Harper Palalalaba! I am a dress designer!

Kate sits down.

KATE: And I am a professional unicyclist!

HOST: Ok…Kate can you show us some unicycle tricks?

KATE (nervous): Ummmmm…s-sure.

Kate gets on unicycle.

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KATE: AAHHH! Kate immediately falls.

HOST: Okayy…That’s all for today folk! See you next time!

On Hosterson Valley Sitcom!

NICK enters.

NICK: Hey weirdos! Bye weirdos!

Applause. Sitcom ends.

END OF PLAY

THE COOKIE Neil Prashant | Grade 5, Boise It is a boring and gloomy morning in BILLY BOB JOE’s stupid house. He has to eat disgusting broccoli and carrots for stupid breakfast. It is so stupid and stuff.

BILLY BOB JOE: For years the humanity of children has thrived. We used to get anything we want or sleep anywhere we want. Life was great for us kids, until it all got ruined. Evil Beasts called Parents raided “our” territory and enslaved us to do terrible things like chores and homework and took away our most prized object: yummy snacks. I, Billy Bob Joe the Great, have searched and searched for snack leftovers.

Billy walks up to a chest and opens it.

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BILLY BOB JOE: When I finally found it, the last cookie is mi—(choke cough) WHY!? I can’t believe— JOHNNY: I’m sorry. But do you know how hard it is to survive without cookies? (Technically for just one minute after our Parents took them away.) But still the cookies are mine so hahaha Bye. JOHNNY waves his fingers and walks away.

JOHNNY: Hi kindergarteners! Hi first graders! I totally didn’t just get the last cookie ever that I stole from this weird dude called Billy Bob Joe, and I’m not going to run into the sewers where I can hide and eat the cookie all by myself.

The KIDS shrug without care and Johnny runs away and hides in the sewers.

There stands the stupid old hospital for stupidos, which people always heard screaming and crying noises from inside.

BOB: I hate this stupid job. I have to deal with stupid bozos stupidly crying all the time!

SOMEONE (screaming): I wanna live in the toilet!

BOB: Shut up stupid bozo! What made this stupid life so boring?

SOMEONE: You literally just said that like two seconds ago.

BOB: I said shut your stupid mouth on your stupid face stupid bozo. Anyways, I need something fun to entertain me.

BOSS: Young man get your butt back to work!

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BOB: I Said NO! Shut up! Uh-BOSS: I am so offended, so you’re fired!

BOB: Why! Wait a minute. This is actually good. Now I can do whatever I want. Hmmm a cookie will do.

Bob smiles and runs away.

Down in the dark, musty sewers where dead creatures that nobody has seen lurk, there is one creature that rules them all and it always taunts: “I will eat you! I will eat you!”

JOHNNY: Okay now I’m actually going to eat you cookie.

Now hop in my mouth.

As Johnny is about to eat his cookie, someone jumped at him.

BOB: Gimme that cookie stupido.

JOHNNY: NO. It is a brutal war. Bob gets slapped really hard and Johnny gets slammed into the ground. The two keep fighting and fighting—it is a brutal war—until the cookie gets crushed and mushed and is no more…sooo nobody gets the cookie.

End of Play

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SHADOW MURDER Nik Schwartsman | Grade 6, Boise Midnight. MARRY is sleeping peacefully. Suddenly a loud noise rings out. Marry awakes.

MARRY: What was that? Hank, are you okay?

Hank is her ex-husband. She had left him because he could never make time for her. She calls out again. Nothing. She looks out her window and sees SOMEONE dressed in black robes.

They have a silver gun attached to their hip. The gun glistens in the moonlight in his left hand. HANK’S body drapes across his shoulder.

Marry pulls out a phone and starts dialing.

911: 911, what’s your emergency?

END OF EXCERPT

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THE ALCHEMIST’S PLAGUE Nora Jackson | Grade 6, Boise Scene IV Revirii. Summertime. AVERY’S MOTHER is sitting in their cottage. CHILDREN RELATIVES are sitting around her, and there is some furniture dispersed around the room. Through the door, AVERY walks in with LADY WIND following, above. Avery has windswept hair and looks happy.

AVERY (pulling on Mother’s arm, speaking in baby-like talk, obviously young): Mommy! Mommy!

MOTHER: Yes, Avery?

AVERY: Lady Wind! She was playing with me!

Lady Wind looks down, smiling fondly.

MOTHER: Oh! That’s good luck! Do you want to hear a song about Lady Wind and the other faeries?

AVERY AND OTHER CHILDREN: Yes! Yes! Ya-a-a-a-a-a-ay!

MOTHER (starts to sing): Long, Long, Ago, Down in the Land of the Faeries Lady Wind lived On the West breeze And many other faeries Lived upon the Hills 152

From sage to stream to anything the faeries would dwell But then the faeries in the hills from their sage to their streams to their anythings they got lonely so they made animals to keep them company But one special animal was made above the rest humans.

But they were crazy, uncontrolled and powerful so the Lady elected a Queen and started our country Long, Long ago in the land of the fairies As she sings, children skip-dance around her and the furniture, and the ADULT RELATIVES come out and sing too. At one point, Avery skips backstage and comes out older. At the end 153

of the song, the relatives disperse. Still humming the tune of the hymn, Avery picks up a basket and looks to her mom, who is knitting in her armchair.

AVERY (obviously older): Well, Mother, I’m going to go pick mushrooms up at Brackandale Ridge. I’ll camp there tonight, but I’ll be home by teatime tomorrow! Love you!

MOM (looks up from project): Okay, Avery. Be careful, and good luck!

Scene changes. While that happens, Lady Wind says: LADY WIND (offstage): Yes, Little Avery had a happy childhood. But little did she know, the plague was closer than ever to her home, and when she came back from mushroom picking, she’d find something that would change her life forever.

END OF SCENE

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BOB THE ROBBER Kate Seilnacht | Grade 5, Boise Scene 1 The Boise Public Library. 10 minutes till closing time. BOB walks in, opens door. DING DING DING. MRS. QUICK: Welcome to the library!

BOB: I’m Bob the robber, here to read and check out My Little Pony, Volume 100.

MRS. QUICK: That’s nice. That would be in the infant section.

Bob finds the book and shouts.

BOB: Prepare for me to use my library card to check out this book.

Bob walks up to the check-out machine and awkwardly tries many failed attempts to check out his book.

MRS. QUICK: Do you need help, honey?

BOB: Yes I do.

MRS. QUICK makes her way over very slowly. When she eventually gets there, a 5-year-old boy runs in.

ARCHIE: Gramma Gramma it’s closing time. After you close you can bake cookies with me!

MRS. QUICK: Ok. 155

Very fast she bolts to the door and flips the OPEN sign to CLOSED and runs out the door with ARCHIE pushing Bob out the door too. He stands there in a daze.

Scene 2 The next day, Bob comes back as soon as the library opens and walks in the door. He looks behind him and sees a big line of people. He asks someone in the line: BOB: What are you waiting in line for?

KATIE (person in line): To check out my books.

So depressed, Bob waits in line for three hours. Then it is finally his turn. Bob is looking at the check-out machine. Hallelujah music plays.

MRS. QUICK: I’m sorry, honey. We’re closed.

So Bob is never able to check out his book My Little Pony, Volume 100.

End of Play

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UNDER PRESSURE Ria Prashant | Grade 5, Boise Characters: Amelia Richard Ross Eliana Ms. Ember Mr. Ember Ashley Kylie Abigail Lily Robbers 1-4 Scene 1 Scene starts in AMELIA’S bedroom, filled with iridescent jewels, sparkling pearls, glimmering gold and gleaming silver. Amelia is standing impatiently with a grimace on her face. In front of her is a set dressing room with pink glitter all over it. RICHARD is behind the set dressing room making annoyed noises. Amelia is wearing a gown laid with lots of dazzling diamonds and jewels.

AMELIA: Get out you blockhead!!! My Mom and Dad would want you to!

RICHARD (staying behind wall): But I simply can’t. It’s— hideous, insulting, and just, simply, terrible.

AMELIA (in demanding yet bratty tone): But that’s not fair!

Amelia stamps her foot.

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AMELIA (con’t): I’m the princess! You have to listen to me!

RICHARD: No. No. No. NO! Never!

Pause.

AMELIA: Oh stop it. You’re just being a big baby. Now get your butt out here!

More groans from behind the set dressing.

AMELIA: That’s it. Get out here, now! I don’t care if it looks silly.

Richard comes out, obviously annoyed. He is wearing a ballerina dress, twinkling in the sunlight. He is brandishing a BIG scowl on his face. On his head is a fairy flower crown made of tulips, roses and violets. The sickly sweet smell wafts through the air. He is also wearing makeup; the blush on his cheek is too vibrant.

AMELIA: Aw, you look amazing! Now let’s play “The tale of Amelia!”

RICHARD: But that’s the 20th time this week!

Amelia’s bratty smile shifts into a nasty pout.

AMELIA: But I am the princess and I want it! And if you don’t give it to me, I will ask Mommy to rip out your legs, snap off your arms, pull out your teeth and— RICHARD: Okay, okay! Geez!

Richard faces opposite of Amelia and mutters: 158

RICHARD: Princesses these days are spoiled AND dangerous!

Richard and Amelia exit left.

END OF SCENE

RILEY’S SUSPICION Lydia Rose Mann | Grade 5, Boise The basement of a medical building. Fall. A physical therapy exam room. RILEY enters and DOCTOR BASEMENT VILLA THE LUSCIOUS MUSTACHE is staring at her through the doorway.

DOCTOR BASEMENT VILLA THE LUSCIOUS MUSTACHE: I hear you have problems, eh?

RILEY: Are you a real doctor or are you just a creep? I mean, we are at a doctor’s appointment in an abandoned basement, Doctor Basement.

DOCTOR: So you don’t believe I’m an actual doctor. Why’s that? I’m convincing, right?

RILEY: It sounds like you’re hiding something.

DOCTOR: What? I’m not hiding anything!!

Doctor Basement is nervous. Riley seems like she’s uncovering something mysterious about Doctor Basement.

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RILEY: You sound nervous. What are you hiding?

DOCTOR: I’m hiding nothing. Nothing at all.

Doctor leaves but Riley is still working on uncovering his secrets.

Scene 2 Riley knows something is up but she doesn’t know what he’s doing. Riley heads home.

RILEY: Mom, I don’t think that guy is a real doctor. He is really weird and— RILEY’S MOM: Stop making a fake narrative about this doctor. He seems like a nice guy.

Riley stays suspicious. But…curtains close.

End of Excerpt

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THE VERY BORING LIFE OF AN ASTRONAUT Riv Prashant | Grade 5, Boise Outer space used to be a beautiful place. So quiet and peaceful, a place with floating balls of fire and aliens making peace, all until a disturbing smell shattered the universe like glass.

On the dusty surface of Mars lies a very distorted and stinky space shuttle. The interiors are crowded with dust, and the walls look ancient.

In a cramped room of the old and musty shuttle stands a man cramping his back, bending over the toilet with a plunger. The man is about 21 years old.

BOB: I hate this job! Joe why didn’t you flush the toilet, now it’s clogged, again! And Rick you pooped on the floor! Aren’t you potty trained?

JOE and RICK walk in the room, tired and lazy.

JOE: Uh, sorry?

RICK: Whatever.

A mucilaginous brown liquid bobs up and down, and bursts into BOB’S face like a bomb.

Bob gags and sputters in revulsion.

BOB: This job is so stupid!

Bob vividly recalls his very first day on the inadequate space shuttle. He had to clean the brand new toilet that was already clogged.

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BOB: You are probably wondering how I got here, well it all started on the day Anime Wizards Versus the Government got released. Anime Wizards is this really cool video game and stuff, and in this version you can kill the government for making you pay taxes and bills. So anyways I couldn’t pay for it because it costs twenty-four dollars and I only have two cents that I stole from a blind and homeless man cuz nobody cares to help them. I asked this dude how to make money, and he said get something called a job. Obviously I don’t know what a job is, so I asked random people for a job, until I stumbled on this company called NASA. They asked me what school I went to, but I obviously did not know what school was either so I just said yes— RICK: Wow you’re dumber than us.

BOB: Stop interrupting! And I’m not dumb!

A scowl spreads across Bob’s face, he is so raged his facial expression breaks his distorted face.

BOB: Anyways, after a few seconds of intense studying, I got the job. I thought this job would be like a spectacular space adventure with laser guns and aliens, but no, I was the toilet scrubber. I had to scrub and unclog the toilet every day! And they pay me even less than my convenience stand where I sold earwax and snot. You are probably thinking I could fly the ship back, but Rick and Joe’s poop weighed our shuttle down and we crashed into Mars. So now we are stuck here forever!

END OF EXCERPT

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THE BAD TOOTH Arianna Lee | Grade 5, Boise SCENE 1 DAUHL sits on his bed thinking about Rosie. He wants to call Rosie.

DAUHL: I wonder…Do you think Rosie would be able to come over today for dinner.

Ring ring ring.

DAUHL: I wonder if it is Rosie? Hello. This is Dauhl.

ROSIE: This is Rosie, Dauhl. Can I come over? I need to ask you something.

DAUHL: Sure, Rosie! I would love to have you over for dinner.

ROSIE: Thanks!

10 minutes later…knock knock.

DAUHL: Hi, Rosie.

ROSIE: Hi, Dauhl, can I come in?

DAUHL: Sure.

ROSIE: I have something to tell you.

Scene 2 163

Next day…NIK is in his room eating candy.

NIK: Yum yum yum! Twix is so good. I think I can have another piece.

NIK’S MOM: Nik, are you ready?

NIK: For what?

NIK’S MOM: The dentist.

NIK: WHAT? WHY? NIK’S MOM: Look at all those black teeth.

NIK: I don’t have any black teeth.

NIK’S MOM: Yes, you do. Anyways, get ready in 10 minutes.

NIK: OK! SCENE 3 DAHL: So what did you want to talk about?

ROSIE: Well, I got this note from the Candyland Queen.

DAHUL: What does it say?

ROSIE: It says…“Dear Rosie and Dauhl, This is the Candyland Queen. I want to invite you to Candyland. There is every single candy you can imagine, and if you do come then you have to go on a journey to find the most legendary candy in Candyland. It is guarded by a Candy Wizard named Ryan Nik Candy. PS: Meet me at the train station. Signed, Candy Queen.”

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DAUHL: So do you want to go to whatever this is called land?

ROSIE: It’s Candyland, and I don’t know? I would have to tell my parents and my parents would definitely say no.

DAUHL: Then tell your parents that it is a school trip. But then actually go to Candyband.

ROSIE: Candyland, you weirdo. If so, how long would it be?

DAUHL: 3 days or 3 hours.

ROSIE: I can try.

DAUHL: Great.

ROSIE: Besides the point, can I have dinner at your place?

DAUHL (happily): Sure.

End of Excerpt

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NATURE EXPERT Eliana Miraglia | Grade 3, Boise Congratulations!

You’re a nature expert now.

See the red roses.

MYSTIC AND MARCH Izzy Conner | Grade 4, Boise Chapter One: Stranded I am Mystic. I have long blonde hair with teal highlights at the bottom. A flood came to our village, or as I could say it, the world flooded. I was lucky to grab my bag of clothes and my husky, March. March is very loyal, so she follows me everywhere. March has an aquamarine collar. I am 14 and March is a puppy. We quickly hopped onto a floating piece of wood. We watched in sadness at the sight of our destroyed village as we slowly drifted away.

THE GARDEN Iris Cluff | Grade 4, Boise The scent of roses.

The beautiful flowers.

I love the garden.

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POPPY AND RUBY: CHAPTER ONE Daniel Armagost | Grade 3, Boise Poppy is old and has red hair. Poppy has a gun, too.

Ruby is old, too. Ruby has blue hair. Ruby has a gun, too. Ruby and Poppy live in a treehouse. They went hunting. They saw a snake. They shot the snake. They brought it home and ate it. The next day, Ruby got sick. Poppy had no choice. He’s getting the cure for Ruby’s illness.

CHAPTER ONE Carly Solberg | Grade 3, Boise Alex Sky lives in Minecraft in a turquoise house, and she has lavender-colored eyes and pure blue eyes.

What she doesn’t know is that the Archilliger is building his army! Anyway, she lives in an ocean biome. Her hobbies are training dogs and cats and fighting drowned. At least she has experienced fighting, because war is about to start, but when she dies she will always respawn.

But if you think she feels alone, you are wrong. She has a friend named Simon. Simon is really nice, but he cannot respawn, so if he dies once, he is gone. Alex does not want to lose him, but she is afraid she will, because he is always getting into trouble and always wants to fight with Alex. He always ends up having half a heart left, and Alex thinks he is overconfident because one time he said, “Hey Alex, I bet I can jump off a cliff and survive with a water bucket, okay?”

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SHADOW MOUNTAIN: CHAPTER ONE Emily McElwain | Grade 4, Boise I never thought I would be falling into a garbage chute. Me, the goddess Shadow, falling down to the city of New York! But I finally got down to earth. I was in a garbage chute. I was about to get out and I felt pain! How could I be immortal? I noticed that I had blood that was red coming out from my right pinky!

I looked into the strangely shiny garbage chute. I saw myself: I was way different. I had short black hair and bangs. I was wearing baggy jeans and a white t-shirt that was stained.

At least I kept my style, slightly.

I looked up, and I knew who was responsible for this.

Zeus! I know dear reader, how is this possible? I don’t know.

One second I was a black-shoed goddess, and then the next second, boom, I’m mortal.

I can’t believe how you scrawny mortals can live in this itchy body. I wish I could go back up to Olympus and shadow the world with my shadows! But no, I’m just a scrawny little mortal in New York! Ugh, I look in my wallet: no phone, no money, just a license.

I hear a gross chewing sound. I look behind me and see a girl eating berries. I mean who eats berries, eww.

The girl says, “Hi I’m Hunter Kowalski.”

“You are my cousin’s hunter, right? A hunter of Artemis?” I ask.

“No, hunter of Diana, actually.”

“Have you come to free me from this smelly and itchy body?”

“No,” she says, “Zeus says I’m your master.” I think, no, how could Zeus?

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THE BEE WAGGLE Ellie Sarver | Grade 4, Boise Fly down from the hive and catch yourself before hitting the hard, cold ground.

Scan the area for yummy flowers to get to; many flowers aren’t very far.

Buzz off to the nearest flower, a buzz loud enough so other bees know you are coming through!

Buzz hello to other colonies on the way. They might give you sweet honey that gives you warm fuzzies inside! (Yesterday, they handed over honey that tasted like going into sweet heavenly clouds!)

See that the flower has already been pollinated and buzz off to the hive.

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LIFE Anderson Sharp | Grade 4, Boise Every once in a while, humans feel happy, sad, confused, mad. And we may not know where we come from, but wherever we come from, I’m happy to live, and no matter the hard times, we end up okay.

My feelings are like the roar of the tiger, but my happiness is like a flower blooming in spring. My energy is like a meerkat in the morning. My colors are like a butterfly’s wings.

I am as loud as a lion, yet as quiet as a mouse.

I dream I’m as long as a green tree python, and as fluffy as a Chinese red panda.

And life goes on.

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GOODBYE, PARIS (CHAPTER ONE) Ella Wright | Grade 6, Boise I walked around the city. This would be the last I’d ever see of Paris. Earlier that cold windy day, my parents had told me the heartbreaking news. Dad lost his current job and needed to find a new way to make money, fast. Mom had been going to interviews for months, but everywhere she went, every time she tried, they turned her down without a second thought. So that left them no choice; we were going to have to move. Tomorrow.

My mom thought it would be a good idea to see the city one last time before we would have to say goodbye. But all it really did was make me sad. First we went to a museum, then to a fancy restaurant, and finally to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I looked down at the beauty below. Couples gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes, their hands intertwined.

Cyclists slowly biking around the city. Birds flying in and out of trees, sometimes with tiny twigs in their beaks. How could there be so much happiness around me at one of my most depressing times? Eventually, my mom said it was time to go and finish packing.

I took one last look at the place I used to live, trying to capture it all in my memory before finally turning my back and saying goodbye. My mom explained how this would not be the only time I would be sad and heartbroken and that I would have to keep fighting, because that is how life is. She then hugged me tight and closed up all the boxes. Boy, I never knew how right she was.

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UNICORN AND KITTY: A WORLD Hana Armagost | Grade 5, Boise There is a planet in space. This planet is called Unicorn and Cat World. It is very tiny. Unicorn and Cat World stand on the Craters of the Moon. Cats and unicorns that live in this world walk on their hind legs. The world they live in is a pink world. The only trees growing there are palm trees.

The streets of this world are very busy. You would always hear meows and neighs. There is a lavender purple candy store.

Kittens and baby unicorns would go there every day after school. The weather is very nice, and every day it is cloudy.

Clouds in the Unicorn and Cat World are purple, so it is dark.

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GEMINI’S ADVENTURE Ben Cohen | Grade 5, Albany, NY My name is Gemini. I am 23 and am an American spy.

Right now we are smack in the middle of World War Two, a.k.a. WWII. My job is to spy on the Axis countries, including the Japanese and the Germans. I also am charged with sniping enemy soldiers if I see them in groups of less than five, because my commander thinks I’m pretty good at that.

Right now I’m positioned in Berlin spying on the Germans. I’m disguised as a German soldier. I am armed with some grenades, my sniper rifle, and my eyes. Also, I do have a lousy radio that I use to report back to the US. I have successfully brought down 13 soldiers, 3 lieutenants, and the colonel this week from my perch on the roof. I tell mission control back in the US of A that I am heading home to my family.

I am on a flight back to New York where my wife and two kids live. When I get to the Albany Intl airport, I am surrounded by German soldiers armed to the teeth.

They immediately take me into custody and bring me back to Berlin and throw me in a cell. Lucky for me, the German soldiers were stupid oafs and forgot to take the stuff I still had. I backed into the far corner of my largish cell and threw a grenade at the door. It was blasted open. I then proceeded to the kitchen of this place using the helpful maps on the walls.

In the kitchen, I stole weeks worth of food and drink. I then went to the armory where I loaded up on equipment. I then made my way to snipe everyone in the base.

All I know right now is that we are in Berlin at a different base. I practically have this place to myself, so I use the computer equipment to find where we are. Then I send a coded message via radio to the US about what had happened.

I went out disguised as a general and destroyed half the German army by sending a massive amount of troops into a 173

pit with explosives. That only worked because I murdered the real general. Soon after, I found out the Japanese surrendered because the US had bombed them. Soon after that, Hitler surrendered, thanks to me.

1943 Holland Seibert | Grade 5, Boise April 6, 1943 Two British cadets, one Russian, and one American cadet are on a mission. They’re in a dirt room underground, “trapped.”

“What should we do?” Sergei said.

The American, David, looked around at the dirt walls.

“We are going to run out of oxygen soon,” Nelson, one of the British, said.

David looked at the floor, looked at Gus, then spoke.

“We could dig ourselves out,” David said.

“Yes! That’s it! You’ve done it, you stupid idiot!”

Gus said.

The four started digging straight down, then to the left, then up. They finally found light again. They looked at the sun happily. But they were still in German camp. They ran into the nearest building, then looked around.

“What should we do?” Sergei asked.

“We could find a uniform. There should be some in the laundry room,” Gus said.

The four of them went through the concentration camp by sneaking through and then finally finding a laundry room. They saw prisoners.

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“Hello,” Nelson said to the prisoners. “We were caught on our mission to free you all. We went into the underground dormitory where we almost died. You know it is filled with gas every afternoon. We escaped by digging a tunnel. We need some Nazi uniforms, please. We will call in backup later to free you all.”

The prisoners were confused but gave them the uniforms. The four men put on the Nazi uniforms and discussed what they could do.

“We could go to the radio room and say we’re taking over the shift. Then we could use it to talk to General Abinsons,” David said.

“Yes! But we have to use our best German accents when speaking to them,” Gus said.

The men went out of the mossy green tent and walked down the dirt path.

“Halo, wir übernehmen die Funkschicht,” Sergei said.

(Readers, that means, “Hello, we are taking over the radio shift.”)

The men, in frog green outfits with hats on, nodded to them and walked out.

“We don’t have much time. We’d better hurry,” Nelson said.

Sergei connected the radios and found his boss’s signal. “General! We are in the base camp! Please come get us and everyone here!” To the three other men, Sergei said, “The General and the troops will come, I bet.”

“We’ll have to stay undercover till then,” David said.

The four men looked at each other for a moment, then went to bed in the bunker.

“Good night,” Gus whispered.

The men fell asleep, until bombs started falling outside.

“General,” David whispered.

They went outside and saw the general.

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“C’mon,” General Abinsons said.

They loaded themselves into the B-32 bomber and watched prisoners be freed.

“Goodbye,” David said.

LOVE AND WAR Lydia Rose Mann | Grade 5, Boise Sorrow drifts about the small house where John and I live. Soon John will have to leave for the war. He is packing now.

I say to myself, he hasn’t left yet. I just hope that he comes home alive. I will miss him with all my heart. I just wish he didn’t have to leave. He is the love of my life.

Tonight we will sing the most worshipped hymns to protect him in the morning when he leaves and when he is at war. How much I will miss him there is no telling.

Today is the day John will leave for the war. I made him a delicious breakfast because he’ll be having mush the rest of the time at war.

He leaves, and now it’s just me.

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LIFE OF A CIRCLE Harry Werre | Grade 6, Boise I’m one of the circles in the collection titled “The Hashimoto Index I.” The collection is made up of me and 95 other colorful circles with a light brown X in the middle of it.

I am a blue and gray striped circle with a light brown X. It’s really fun being in a big collection. The only downside is that there are 95 other circles, and I don’t get recognized a lot.

The other thing is that I’m trapped in a small glass box. I see a lot of people come and go, but sometimes people stay a while and look at the whole piece. Besides that, I really like being in an art museum.

EYES IN THE WOODS Shiloh Hodges | Grade 6, Boise One red eye appears in the dark woods five eyes after and crawl in the woods ten eyes join the pack you can hear them howl three more come to fight then they vanish out of sight

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WACKY WEDNESDAY Charlotte Kline | Grade 6, Boise Fish swim, not fly.

What a bummer.

Sidewalks are hard, not bouncy.

Dang it.

Sprinklers shoot water, not fire.

Drat.

WHY? Wouldn’t it be fun to walk on the clouds?

Or drink the moon?

Why can’t it be wacky Wednesday once?

Or every day!

Wouldn’t it be fun to have the world upside down just for one day?

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OSWALD AND PETUNIA Katherine Larkin | Grade 7, Eagle 7 EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY Oswald drags the log along the path, with Petunia following him. Soon they reach the river.

They climb onto the thick logs, they float down the river.

Rapids appear, tossing Petunia and Oswald back and forth.

PETUNIA Heeeeellllppp meeeee! I’m all wet!!!

OSWALD I think we’re coming up on a waterfall!

Petunia screams as a sudden cliff comes into view.

A violent rapid tosses Petunia off the log, and the river sweeps her to the edge, where she reaches up and grabs hold of a hanging branch before she slides down the waterfall.

PETUNIA It’s driving all its energy at me! Noooo! I can’t die this way!

Oswald, save me!

Petunia sobs. Oswald pulls a determined face.

OSWALD I’m coming, Petunia!

He paddles to the banks, and leaps for the ground, carrying the log with him. He shoves the log under Petunia, where she is dangling from the tree. Her feet find the log, and she crawls 179

back to the ground. She gives Oswald a big hug.

PETUNIA Oh, Oswald, you did it! (gasps) I broke a nail! No! Oswald laughs.

OSWALD Come on, the lake should be just at the end of this waterfall!

Petunia groans.

8 EXT. LAKE - LATER They are climbing down the side of the waterfall.

They are standing in front of a huge lake. Oswald hugs Petunia.

OSWALD We did it! We found the lake!

The two jump up and down, cheering loudly.

They’re sitting in front of a crackling fire underneath a sky full of stars.

PETUNIA You know what? Maybe a little dirt isn’t so bad.

OSWALD You know what? Sisters aren’t so bad either. They laugh happily, together, for the first time.

THE END 180

ROSES Charley Lutz | Grade 8, Boise 1 EXT. ROSE GARDEN - DAY A bee lands on a flower. After pollinating for a few seconds, it buzzes away as a YOUNG GIRL runs throughout the garden, giggling. As she runs, she looks back at her father and bumps into a strange man whose face is covered and is clothed head to toe in red. He turns around and looks down at the girl. The only part of his face visible is the mouth, filled with very long teeth.

He raises one finger to his face.

FIGURE Shhhh.

The FATHER walks over and takes her by the hand, leading her towards the exit. But before they take a single step, the RED MAN taps the girl on the shoulder, reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a rose. He gives it to her. They both look at him quizzically and leave.

FATHER C’mon, honey, time to go.

A GUARD stands near the fence. He saw the whole scene and shoots a pointed glare at the RED MAN. The RED MAN sees and dramatically pulls another rose and sniffs it.

As the FATHER and YOUNG GIRL leave, the GARDENER enters. He wears a sun hat and a khaki shirt. He seems middle aged and is slightly overweight.

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He walks down the center path, looking at the roses and writing down the occasional observation. After a while, he sits down.

He pulls a picture of a young girl out of his jacket. After staring at it for a few moments, he puts it away and closes his eyes. He falls asleep. He dreams.

2 EXT. DREAM SEQUENCE He “wakes up” on the same bench, but the rose bushes have grown to enormous heights like hedges.

An enormous sense of unease moves through him.

He stands and begins to try and navigate his way to the exit.

A voice inhaling and exhaling is heard. Then every rose on the bushes falls off.

The GARDENER starts to run, and immediately hears footsteps behind him. He runs and runs, falling multiple times and gets his jacket snagged on a rose thorn. After trying to free it for a moment, he ditches it entirely and runs on. As he rounds another corner, he comes back to the same bench he started at.

He collapses. As he crawls up against the hedge, the person chasing him steps out from behind the corner. It is the RED MAN. He pulls a knife out of his sleeve.

End scene

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THIS NUMBER CAN NO LONGER BE REACHED Katy Brewton | Grade 7, Boise EXT. ICE CREAM STORE - DAY 4 GIRLS all around 15 years old are getting ice cream.

SOFIE Mom, we got our ice cream. (pause) Mom? TAYLOR Your mom’s car is here, do you think she went to look at the different stores?

MELODY, the third girl, looks around to notice the abundance of kids walking around without parents.

MELODY Hey, guys, have you noticed that there is no one older than us here? All the kids are without parents.

SOFIE Melody, don’t be dramatic. I’m sure there are some parents here. I’ll just call my mom.

SOFIE pushes her mom’s number into her phone.

PHONE VOICE Beep. Beep. This number can no longer be reached.

EMILY, who had gone inside to get another spoon, comes out. As EMILY opens and closes the door, a bell hung on the door rings.

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EMILY There are no workers inside, isn’t that kinda weird? There were like 4 just a minute ago.

EMILY sees SOFIE’s pale face and MELODY’s and TAYLOR’s scared glances.

EMILY Are you all okay? What’s going on?

End scene

THE MAN Eva Necochea-Smith | Grade 8, Boise Old Man = Nelson Middle Aged Woman = Cleo Old Dead Woman = Sherry The story thus far: an old man is awake in his apartment.

4 INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT The shot goes to the window where there’s a time lapse of the sky as the sun rises. We see THE MAN who hasn’t moved a bit since he went to bed.

His alarm clock goes off. He gets up.

We see THE MAN pick an outfit and go downstairs.

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He makes two pieces of toast and sets two places at the table.

He puts out two cups of coffee.

Instead of eating, he sits and stares at the food for a long time.

5 EXT. APARTMENT BUILDING - LATER THE MAN walks down the front steps of his apartment and down the street. He walks to a box which has multiple mailboxes on it. He unlocks the box that has the number 202 on it.

Inside there are so many letters and sympathy cards they spill to the ground. THE MAN grumbles and puts them in his grocery bag.

He keeps walking.

6 EXT. STREET - LATER All the trees are beautiful oranges and yellows and reds, but THE MAN doesn’t stop to admire anything, he doesn’t look sad or mad or even happy, he just looks around as he walks.

Many people look at him and give looks of pity.

7 EXT. THE STORE - LATER THE MAN arrives at Bob’s market.

8 INT. THE STORE - MOMENTS LATER THE MAN is about to put two frozen mac and cheese dinners into his cart when he looks sadly at the second box.

He places it back on the shelf and stares at it a bit more.

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After a while he sadly places it in his cart with the first box.

He goes down the aisle getting two of everything he needs (two sodas, two candy bars, etc.).

End scene

SOLVE Olivia Sandow | Grade 7, Meridian 1 EXT RIVER BANK - DUSK Images of reeds, of moving water, of birds, leaves moving in the breeze. Slightly ominous music plays.

We hear an OLD LADY’S VOICE as the images unfold.

OLD LADY (VO) I was walking my dog, and I think I saw a garbage bag, a big garbage bag. So I went to pick it up -- thinking it was trash -and I felt what a human body could feel like, the same weight a human body would be..

From above we see the OLD LADY by the riverbank, her dog, and a garbage bag, a big garbage bag.

Black screen.

2 EXT RIVERBANK / CRIME SCENE - NIGHT Sirens in the distance.

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A SHERIFF glimpses yellow crime scene tape, police lights flashing on trees. Other officers collect evidence. We don’t really see her face yet.

She approaches the garbage bag.

The body is revealed. A woman, her head has been shaved, her face scratched and bruised, she has no blood, all ways of identifying her are gone: a “Jane Doe.” DEPUTY I think it’s her! I think it’s the missing woman!

SHERIFF (seriously) Yes, I agree, but we can’t be sure. All we can do is search for fingerprints from the person who could’ve done it, and have an autopsy done.

We see the SHERIFF’s face for the first time - it’s creased with confusion and overwork.

An ambulance arrives. Jane Doe is put inside. The ambulance leaves for the hospital.

The search for evidence continues at the crime scene.

The camera tilts skyward.

Transition to: 2 EXT. PARKING LOT - NIGHT A HOODED MAN burns bags. A WOMAN approaches him.

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WOMAN What are those bags you’re burning? What’s in them?

MAN Oh, the usual. Clothes.

WOMAN So you killed another-The MAN cuts her off mid-sentence.

MAN You know it. I took her by force this time, she looked about 28...easy catch!

Details of their hands, they both wear wedding rings. The two are married.

End scene

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SAD REALITY Claire Barrett | Grade 7, Boise INT. RESTAURANT - NIGHT WE open on two men, FRANCIS and JACK sitting at a dinner table at a busy restaurant. Soft chatter and jazz in the background.

FRANCIS We should have a ouija board session.

JACK Why, what’s wrong with reality?

FRANCIS Well, a lot of things.

JACK A ouija board isn’t going to fix any of those things.

FRANCIS Well, after Mom’s funeral wouldn’t it just be nice to talk to her? I mean, you’re so depressed -JACK Depressed? I’m not depressed.

FRANCIS Jack, you’d make Santa Claus cry.

JACK Santa isn’t real.

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FRANCIS Well, you make me cry.

JACK But you always cry.

FRANCIS No, I don’t. You’re the one who’s sad.

JACK Sounds to me like you’re the one who’s sad.

FRANCIS Well, ok, I’ll admit life’s been hard. I mean with mom not being around anymore, or dad, or grandma and grandpa, or Albert Einstein, it’s just you and I. I only have you now and you make me cry.

JACK Then why’d you invite me to dinner?

FRANCIS Cause it’s just you and I. FRANCIS (reading the menu) So what are you thinking of getting?

JACK The steak looks good.

FRANCIS (whiny) Steak?

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JACK Yeah, why?

FRANCIS But, you always get the steak.

JACK Cause I like the steak.

FRANCIS You know what, we should make a rule.

JACK looks confused.

FRANCIS Just for tonight. When it comes to decisions we do what we wouldn’t do. Really! I think it’ll be good for us. I mean, you’re indecisive like the devil deciding how to torture someone.

JACK Are you comparing the devil to me?

FRANCIS And it’ll be good for me as well because...

Francis pauses to think.

JACK You don’t think.

FRANCIS About what?

JACK Nothing, never mind.

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FRANCIS No, tell me. I thought we agreed that we’ll take risks, have trust, say yes-JACK Just think of what you’re asking me. You are asking me to be stupid just so you can be happy.

End scene

COFFEE Lucy Brewton | Grade 9, Boise 1 INT. COFFEE SHOP - MORNING KELLY stands at the entrance of the Starbucks. Her hair is messily put in a ponytail and she looks slightly crazy. We can hear blurry chatter in the background.

We see her eyes darting around as she scans the room.

We can feel her heartbeat speed up as her eyes land on something.

We see a group of 7th grade GIRLS and BOYS standing in front at the cash register, ordering drinks. They are VERY loud and even the cashier looks a little stressed.

We see KELLY again, and she’s very nervous. However, she really needs the caffeine.

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We see her feet as she shakily puts one in front of the other.

Someone bumps into her and she mutters a “sorry.”

Now, we can see her face as she lets out a breath she’s been holding. We see her mouth as she recites her order to herself.

KELLY (whispers) Tall Iced Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso with one pump white mocha and vanilla sweet cream cold foam.

She continues to chant under her breath as one of the 7th graders hands in cash and they leave.

We see KELLY, who is slightly pale, walk up to the register.

CASHIER Hi! Welcome to Starbucks. What would you like to order?

KELLY (slightly stuttering) Uh, Iced Latte, I mean, Brown Sugar...

We see her hands nervously twisting her clothes.

KELLY ...Latte, no...

Her eyes dart around frantically.

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KELLY (stammers) ...shaken espresso with one pump of, ah...white mocha and uh..uh...

A 7th grader bumps into KELLY as she walks to the trash and KELLY slightly stumbles. We see KELLY up close.

KELLY ...and, uh, the sweet cold foam. (pause) Vanilla, ya?

We zoom out slightly on KELLY and can see she is relieved to be done ordering.

CASHIER (kindly) And what size?

We zoom back in on KELLY and see she is stressed again.

KELLY Tall (pause) please.

KELLY attempts a smile, and we finally zoom out from her face.

CASHIER (returning the smile) And will that be all?

KELLY nods yes and hands the appropriate amount of money to the cashier with shaky hands.

We can see KELLY’s hands as the cashier gives back change and they are slightly steadier.

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We see her feet again as she goes to sit down and we see that her feet are more steady as well.

KELLY takes out her phone while she waits.

We zoom out and see the entire coffee shop. The baristas are working hard, 7th graders talk in a corner, and an old man reads a book while sipping his coffee. The audio goes from chatter to a serene lo-fi music.

We are brought back to KELLYwhen we hear the cashier call out her order.

We follow KELLY’s feet to the counter and move up her body until we see her hands grab the cup.

We follow her hand until she brings the cup to her mouth and takes a sip.

THE END

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ROSIE: A CHARACTER SKETCH Hally Zurof | Grade 5, Boise 1. My character’s full name is Roosevelt, but her nicknames are Rosie and Rose.

2. Rosie is a girl.

3. Rosie is five years old.

4. Rosie is a standard poodle.

5. Rosie lives in Boise, Idaho in a house.

6. Rosie’s career is sleeping, chasing squirrels, getting attention, and barking at the mailman.

7. Rosie has white and blonde hair and a short stubby tail.

8. Rosie is kind and loving.

9. Rosie’s greatest strength is professionally getting the mailman to run away.

10. Rosie’s greatest weakness is the squirrels when they run up the tree and start teasing her.

11. Rosie spends her free time sleeping.

12. Rosie lives with Jarrett, Amy, Jennings, Hally, Willow, Sam, Flippy, and Fin Zuroff.

13. Rosie has the strongest connection with Jarrett Zuroff because he works from home and because he feeds her some of his breakfast.

14. Rosie’s children are stuffed animal dogs.

15. Rosie wants to go everywhere with you. That’s what she wants most in life.

16. Rosie is hopeful in the car driving to the Cabin—and at the Cabin!

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THE ZOOKEEPER’S SECRET Lia Kane | Grade 6, Meridian In the bustling acropolis of the Oregon Zoo, a shadowy figure sneaks in unnoticed. The sun blazes down, but when the figure flashes by, the visitors feel nothing but a refreshing gust of wind. In all the pushing and talking and noises and roars and screeches and humming, nothing is heard. The silent thief clicks open the door of the zoo office and rushes inside the empty room, eyeing the donation box…

“In here,” says a voice, and the thief quickly ducks under the table. The light switch flashes on, and the zookeeper closes the blinds. “Are you sure this is the right thing, Arnold?” he stammers.

“Yes,” says another voice behind him, and a loud roar comes that almost makes the thief hit the roof of the desk and blow his cover. He can feel the goosebumps on his skin as a lion steps out from behind the man.

“Stand,” says the zookeeper as he holds out a tiny brown nugget. The lion stands and then gobbles up the nugget. The thief is terrified of the giant lion. The lion must be a wizard! Yes! An evil wizard bent on destroying the world! But as it purrs in the zookeeper’s hand, he lets go of his tension. “We can’t have a trained lion, you know,” says the keeper.

“But think of the profit,” says Arnold, plugging his nose from the lion’s smell. “We can make it seem like he is a human in a suit!” he says, sitting down in an armchair.

“But what if the authorities find out?” the zookeeper asks.

“What if they all think he is in a suit? No one will know,” says Arnold.

“No one but you and me,” the zookeeper repeats, and they nod grimly.

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The thief is terrified. He is the only one who knows this secret! Imagine what they will do to him for knowing, not to mention for being a thief. They can turn him into an ocelot! Zookeepers can do that, right?

The zookeeper leads Arnold and the lion away, and the thief begins to shuffle.

“Shh,” the zookeeper whispers. “Do you hear something?”

But the thief, fast as the wind, is already gone.

DOPPELGANGER Maizey Hume | Grade 6, Boise I flipped over my grilled cheese sandwich. “Darn it,” I mumbled, as the grilled cheese edges were revealed to be burnt. I turned around to grab a knife to scrape off the edges when a news broadcast came on. I thought that was weird since I didn’t have any news stations on my TV. I turned off the stove and walked to my living room couch. “That’s strange. I have never seen an emergency broadcast,” I said.

“Please remain calm and lock your doors immediately. Do not open the doors for anyone. Especially a familiar voice. They are not your friend/family. They are a doppelganger.”

I sat up and ran to lock my doors and windows to my tiny apartment. After I had double-checked everything, I sat down, my phone clutched in my hand. I would have never expected to see my old friend “Jesse” in my TV reflection. A long eerie smile spread up past her cheeks, and we made eye contact through the reflection.

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THE LIGHTNING PRINCESS Allison Cantlon | Grade 6, Eagle Prologue I stood at the foot of the building for what seemed like the last time. The castle was no longer at its former glory. No, this time it was just a castle with evil forces emitting from the outside. I looked down at my little sister barely holding onto my ankle.

“What … do?” she cried. I saw the fear on her face.

Even though I was just three and she was just an infant, my brain calculated what we needed to do. Escape.

“We leave, Symph,” I sighed. “We are no longer safe according to our father.”

Symphony’s lip quivered as she began this horrible cry. “Want … stay! Stay … father!” Our father, King Thunder, had most likely died to save Symphony and me. Last time I had seen our father, he had screamed in agony and pain for our mother, Queen Strike, who had died at the feet of her throne. It was then father was distracted by this casualty and was caught off guard when his own minister chopped his arm off. The minister was possessed by the evil spirit, whoever they are. Father then barged into our rooms, and with his one arm, he grabbed us both and gave me these instructions: “Save yourself and your sister. Don’t stop until you are far away … Watch out!” He then threw us out the window (Don’t worry, it wasn’t very high!) and we saw a red flash the minute we ran out to the moat.

I picked my sister up from the rock-hard ground, and we made our escape. “Hold on, dearest sister!” I called, and in an instant, I pulled away from the dark power our land held now. I stumbled backward after I had exited the dark lair, and before I knew it, everything was black.

I woke up feeling as if I was moving forward.

Symphony was sleeping next to me, all patched up with 199

bandages. “Oh, good. You’re awake,” a man said. I looked around until my brain processed that we were on a carriage.

“Where are we heading?” I asked the man, looking down at my hands. “And why am I all bandaged up?”

“I found you and your sister on the outskirts of the new kingdom,” he started. “A monster had gotten to you or something, so I grabbed the both of you, bandaged you up, and put you in my carriage.”

“But where are we heading?” I whined.

“We are going to my home,” the man said, turning around, “The Land of Pyro!”

“Yawn!” Symphony said, getting up. “Who … dis?” she asked, puzzled.

“I am Baltimore FireFace, little one, and I will take you to my kingdom!”

“King … dom. King … daddy …” she sputtered.

“Whahhhhh! Daddy!!!!!”

“What does she mean?” Baltimore asked.

I sighed and relaxed, ready to tell Baltimore the whole, tragic story. “You see, it started just a couple of hours ago when the whole thing went down …”

Chapter One: Midnight Chaos I recalled the story in my head. Was what father and James said true? The arm chopping, the casualties, the carriage, and the dark forces? How could it be true? I flopped onto my back, my head on top of the comfiest pillow probably in the history of ever. I couldn’t sleep while my brain was this active. I guessed I would just go for a walk.

I got up off my bed and walked out the ajar door which led to the vast hallway. Blood stains lined the candlelit walls as I walked towards the great chambers where my mother’s body still lay. It had been about thirteen years since Valdoor had killed my mother and fought my father ‘til he could no more. Father had been terribly wounded in battle, 200

losing his arm and getting back up to prove he would fight until death took his life. However, I feared for my father. I didn’t know how long he could take the battle, considering losing Mother and almost at his final breath. I stood by my mother’s body. “Fighting for thirteen years doesn’t mean you can’t clean this place up a bit,” I muttered to myself as I picked her up and placed her in the corner of the room to deal with later.

“Can’t sleep *cough* either, huh? *cough, cough*” Teagan sputtered behind me.

“Teagan?” I asked. “You should be in bed! I don’t want you to suffer!”

“Sorry, sorry *cough,*” Teagan choked. “I just *cough* couldn’t sleep. *cough*” “Sigh, I just think everyone is cursed and that Valdoor may have cast a killing spell on you and that Ashta is going insane and so am I and—” I started. Teagan had started another coughing fit which worried me most of all.

With every cough, I could see his magic, strength, and life slowly draining from him. “Teagan!” I cried, rushing to his side. “Come on. Let’s get back to your room.”

“But … *sputter* … okay …” Teagan coughed. As we approached the entrance to his room, out burst a mad Emilee, stomping towards the soundproof bathroom.

However, even soundproof walls couldn’t hold in Emilee’s screams.

Christoph burst onto the scene, looking worried.

“I swear, Symph, she’s cursed. Cursed I tell you! She, like, totally hates me now. She used to love me! What is wrong with this world?” I held in a laugh. It was quite rare to hear something like this come out of Christoph’s mouth. Well, the way he said it at least.

“Hey, hey, folks. Quiet down! Red and I are trying to sleep!” Magma said below us.

“Waittttttt a minute … are you and Red having a 201

sleepover?” I asked Magma.

“Ummmmm … maybe?” He lied.

“Seriously? *cough* You’re hangin’ with *cough* girls now? *cough*” Teagan asked.

“Okay, no more excitement, Teagan. You need to save your energy. You too, Magma,” I pleaded.

“Awww. Five more minutes?” Magma asked.

“What? I thought you were whining about the noise,” I said while being confused.

“Ehh … I’m a night kind of lizard,” Magma answered.

“Oh my gosh. What in the name of lightning is happen—” I whispered.

“WHEEEEEEEEEE!” shouted Quinn, bursting out of the room in a tornado.

“QUINN!” Tae screamed. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?” “Having fun!” she yelled over the howling wind.

“Hey, I wanna sleep!” Shanghai whispered quite loudly. (It’s crazy how she can do that.)

“OOOH! A party? FUN!” Ashta yelled, skipping out of her chambers.

It was chaos. Emilee was screaming, Magma was complaining about how loud it was but how he wanted to stay awake, Quinn was in a tornado, Tae was panicking, Teagan was coughing up SMOKE now, Christoph was cursing, Shanghai was covering her ears with pillows (poor girl), and Ashta was blasting music and dancing.

As soon as it had started, however, it was over in the blink of an eye. Teagan’s coughing panicked everyone.

Even Emilee came out of the bathroom to see. Teagan was not only coughing up smoke now—he was coughing up PURPLE SMOKE. PURPLE SMOKE! It engulfed Teagan as the coughing began to stop.

“Dudeeeee …” Ashta whispered.

“What the …” I started.

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Soon, evil laughter came from Teagan.

“I know that voice …” Quinn whimpered.

“It’s—” Emilee panicked.

“VALDOOR,” I said in a monotone voice.

BURNEY Gus Panitch | Grade 5, Boise One time, there was a dog named Burney. He was very intelligent. His owners wanted him to be able to do tricks. One day, when Burney and his owners were on a walk, a person walked up to them. He said, “Can this dog do any tricks?”

“Yes,” Burney’s owner responded. “Sit, paw, lay down, roll over, stand up, jump, stand on two paws.” Burney did as commanded to all the tricks.

The stranger then said, “Yes, he’s hired.” Turns out the man was looking for a very intelligent dog. He was the owner of a lifeguard company.

The owner then said, “Okay. When does he start work?”

The man said tomorrow.

“Okay,” the owner said. The next day, Burney’s owner drove Burney to Burney’s favorite spot: the beach.

After a little playing in the water, Burney went to his platform. He waited for four hours before his shift was over.

After he was done with work, his owner took him to play at the beach. After a long time of working, Burney was tired.

They then went to bed.

This process repeated over and over again. Ten years later, after a long time working, Burney could finally retire.

After about a week, Burney’s owner took him to the beach 203

to play, but when they showed up, Burney walked right to his platform. His manager had taken over his spot, and then when he saw Burney, he gave him lots of pets. Burney then played a lot at the beach, and from them on had a really good rest of his days.

TEN HAIKUS Santiago Arispe | Grade 5, Boise JUMP is very odd French fries, potatoes, tractors What is the meaning?

Unicorns, slides, beets JUMP’s festivals and tractors Why do we have to go?

Saltines are good Saltines are like SunnyD SunnyD is good Orange, lime, strawberry SunnyD is very awesome SunnyD is good Peace is everything When Peace surrenders to war Nothing is equal Those are tall buildings They make you look very small but you are bigger 204

Nature is all made by the creation of Earth and the peace by land The one single word can change almost everything if you put effort Carpet squares are nice They help you sit in wet grass Thank you, carpet squares You are our idol We love you, Guitar Guy We wish you were here

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THE STORM Dishi Deliwala | Grade 6, Boise Once upon a time, there was a musician. The musician loved to play the violin. Many people loved his music but not him. He was very quirky and strange. One day the musician thought he should get a pet. He lived alone since he was so strange. But the nearest pet store was in the next city that was an hour drive away. The sky was greenish and there were whistling sounds, but the musician still got into the car and headed to the pet store. When he reached the pet store, he asked the storekeeper for a puppy. The storekeeper was very happy, for no one was adopting pets.

“What do you want to name it?” The shopkeeper asked.

The musician named his little puppy Sonata.

Outside, it was getting darker and darker and more windy.

“Thank you for adopting this little puppy. He truly loves you,” the shopkeeper said.

As the musician walked out with his little puppy, he was nearly thrown back into the store. A strong gust of wind had hit him, and he was on the ground. Sonata was in a cage next to him whimpering. Sirens were blaring everywhere.

The ground was shaking. And the musician finally realized what was happening. A tornado!

His puppy’s paw was clawing at the side of the cage.

The musician was very scared but still reassured Sonata that everything would be alright. He rushed into the pet store and followed the shopkeeper into a crawlspace. The crawlspace was more like a basement because it had to fit all of the pets and kennels in it.

“Are you okay?” the shopkeeper asked, for she had seen him being knocked over.

“Yes, but can I wait here until the storm passes?” the musician asked.

The shopkeeper said yes. The musician remembered 206

the time when his concert was delayed because of a severe thunderstorm. He had waited that storm out and would wait this one out too.

“We are safe,” he reassured himself and Sonata. “We are safe.”

ON THIS ISLAND Avery Hull | Grade 6, Boise On this island, by a little tropical creek, buried beneath trees, the river’s crashing of the water is quiet and peaceful. You walk closer, step on a stick, and it makes a cracking noise! Everything smells so refreshing, looks so beautiful. The coconuts are delicious! The leaves feel so smooth.

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WOO YOUNG WOO Maggie Shields | Grade 6, Boise Snickerdoodle was an imaginary land. It was a nursery rhyme, a quote, and it’s in a lot of jokes. But the rhymes weren’t rhyming, the quotes weren’t inspiring, and the jokes were like something you would see in the back of a mom’s minivan. The town that made up Snickerdoodle was called Woo Young Woo. It was a very sad town, dull, gray, and depressing. They were the exact opposite of each other.

Let’s go to the main character of this story: her name was Vivy, and she was looking for a job before she graduated high school. It was the busiest day of the week so everyone was crowding the streets, the shops, and the roads. After a few hours, she checked every place she could, but everyone said, “No, sorry, we are not hiring at the moment.”

She was starting to get upset, and she was hungry because it was nearing lunch time. But then suddenly a sign caught her eye. It was big and red and had the words “FOR HIRE!!!!!!!” She rushed into the little black restaurant and paused for a moment. All the people, all the noise, from the outside world were gone. She looked around, and instead of seeing a big fancy room, she saw a staircase.

She rushed down it and just tripped a few times, but then it ended and she finally saw the cash register. No one was there so she stood there for a moment, and then she saw something shining. It was a golden statue. She used to see them in homes, restaurants, and museums, but this one was different. It was a dragon. But then suddenly a little round old lady came to the register and, breaking Vivy’s zone, said, “WHAT!!!!”

Vivy turned to her in shock and then said, “Oh, I’m here for a job.”

The lady took her hand. “COME WITH ME!” Vivy rushed to her so she wouldn’t rip off her hand. “WE ARE 208

OUT OF ORANGES AND YOU NEED TO GO BACK AND GET THEM! GO OUT THAT DOOR AND TAKE A LEFT! HURRY, KIDS NEED THEIR ORANGES!!” The lady pointed to a door that said “Employees Only.” Vivy ran to the door and took a left. There she found boxes of food, but there was one more door that said “Exit.”

She heard some deep voices. “Are you ready?

Today, we have to hurry if we are going to make it to Snickerdoodle.” Vivy was shocked. Did he just say Snickerdoodle?

The man said, “One moment. I need to go to the bathroom.” The second man agreed and walked off.

Vivy didn’t know what to do. Should she just get the oranges or …… Well, she was already in the back of the truck.

This was too big to pass up.

The truck started to move. Vivy felt like she was there for hours, but then it came to a halt. “Okay, I’m going to go to the restroom. Are you coming?” said one of the men. The other man shook his head and left.

Once Vivy was sure they were gone, she jumped out of the car and took a look around. She was amazed. The trees were pink, orange, purple, and blue. The clouds looked as sweet as cotton candy. She saw little animals that looked so adorable she almost passed out, and there was a big lake and it was so many colors from the whole rainbow.

She hopped out still in shock. One of the animals came up to her. It was so soo so cute, then she saw something fall out of the sky. She ran to it, and it was one of the clouds. She picked it up and took a bite. “Wow, this is delicious,” Vivy said. It tasted exactly like cotton candy. She was amazed, but then she thought, Wait, it’s real. I need to share this.

Then she heard the guys come back. She ran back to the truck. “I’ll get the box from the back seat, and then we can leave.” A few moments later it was the long journey 209

back to Lucky Bunny Town. She jumped out of the truck when it was just stopping and kept running across the street.

She was getting yelled at but just kept running. She made it to the local TV station and burst through the door. “I need to say something. Really fast. Just let me in!”

“I’m sorry, but that would not be possible,” said a lady at the front desk, but Vivy was so eager to say what she had to say so she just rushed past her. She saw someone talking in front of the camera. She pushed her out of the way and started telling everyone what she had to say. Now, two years later, everyone lives in Snickerdoodle, and Vivy has learned to speak up for herself, to just say what she has to say.

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SEASONS: AN ABECEDARIAN POEM Dahlia Fields | Grade 5, Boise After every winter, Begins a spring Colorful flowers bloom Delicate petals emerge “Every spring is the only spring” Fun is just beginning Greetings Summer Happy memories start here Imaginative worlds align Jumping in pools Kites soar Laughing More continues in the fall!

Nothing beats the leaf piles!

Other than the raking, Playing in the leaves Queer weather Running around Skiing and snowboarding is here Tinsel for sale Uncles and aunts in town Vixen and Rudolph flying through the sky Winter’s snow is perfect to sled on Xanthous sunsets Yawning and waking up to snow on the ground Zipping through the year to start a new one

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Acknowledgements Summer Writing Camps at The Cabin touch the lives of hundreds of student writers and adults each summer due to the talent of our teaching-writers, the generosity of funders, and the gifts of time and support from volunteers, interns, board members, and community partners.

Thank you to teaching-writers Colleen Brennan, Sonya Feibert, Meg Freitag, Desmond Fuller, Chris Mathers Jackson, Heidi Kraay, Aurora Mehlman, Hannah Phillips, Hannah Rodabaugh, Daisy Rosenstock, Daniel Stewart, and Tracy Sunderland.

Many thanks to our 2023 interns, camper-support assistants, teaching-assistants, and Cabin staff: Sierra Culver, Avery Gendler, Nina Franscella, Darien Smartt, Fiona Van De Graaff, Aidan Cahill, Caryl Bawens, Josh Edwards, Hillery Honora, Nicole Force, Amaia Gavica, Eloisa Harper, Taryn Davis, Kaela Fretwell, Becca Gurnee, Paige Porter, Prisca Hermene, Everett Millles, Eve Barry, Adie Bartron, Hillary Bilinski, Hillary Colton, Chris DeVore, Gen Emerson, Jordyn Marcroft, Emmy Parton, Joel Wayne, Megan Williams, and Kurt Zwolfer.

A special thanks to Albertsons Library at Boise State University, Zoo Boise, World Center for Birds of Prey, Boise Art Museum, and Flying M Coffeehouse.

Writing Camps and publication of Camp Fire are made possible by generous support from the Whittenberger Foundation, The Idaho Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Idaho Community Foundation, 213

Academy of American Poets, Amazon Literary Partnership, and Ball Ventures Ahlquist.

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Teaching-Writer Biographies Colleen Brennan is a freelance writer, editor, writing coach, and teacher with an MA in linguistics. Her stories appear in the Boise Weekly, Writers in the Attic, and A Year in Ink. A native Minnesotan, she has lived and worked in San Diego, Boulder, Paris, Bordeaux, and Boise. She is the recipient of a literary arts grant from the Alexa Rose Foundation.

Sonya Feibert (she/her) is a writer, comedian, and improvisor who’s tried out too many jokes on her dog (Chloe is unimpressed). She’s completed humor and sketch writing courses through NYU, Second City, Hoopla, St. Nell’s, Thurber House, and more. Her writing appears in the Writers in the Attic anthology: Rupture, Dovetail Literary Magazine, The Belladonna Comedy, Slackjaw Humor, and more. In 2021, she was awarded an Alexa Rose Grant, and in 2022 received a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. Learn more at yesandsome.com.

Meg Freitag is the author of the poetry collection Edith, and This Is a Book for People Who Love Dogs, an illustrated work of nonfiction. She’s a graduate of UT Austin’s Michener Center for Writers and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Originally from mid-coast Maine, she now lives in Boise, Idaho with her partner, Mark, and two perfect dogs.

Desmond Everest Fuller holds a BA in English and Spanish from Portland State University and an MFA in fiction from Boise State University. He was the associate editor of The Idaho Review, a 2021 Glenn Balch Award 215

finalist, and a 2023 Sun Valley Writers Conference Fellow.

His fiction is forthcoming and appears in literary journals such as Grist, Indiana Review, Peauxdunque Review, Aquifer: The Florida Review online, Hawaii Pacific Review, West Trade Review, The Gravity of the Thing, and elsewhere.

Chris Mathers Jackson is a freelance writer and editor, an aspiring novelist, a teacher, a mom, an artist, and a lover of the natural world. Chris received her MA in English Literature from University of Montana in 2005.

She taught English Composition at UM for three years before leaving to work with younger learners. She worked in the administration of Missoula International School for a number of years before becoming a full-time freelance writer, editor, and graphic designer. After several years, she stopped doing design work professionally to focus on her growing family and her passion for the written word. In 2019 she established a book review website (LitReaderNotes.com). She writes creative nonfiction and fiction, usually with a focus on environmental writing, and has been working on a novel since 2020. In addition to teaching, writing, and editing, Chris enjoys spending as much time outside as possible, adventuring both near and far, with her husband and two daughters.

Playwright and writer across disciplines Heidi Kraay examines the link between brain and body, seeking empathy with fractured characters. Her work pulls myth, metaphor, and monsters together to discover connections across difference. Plays include Unwind: Hindsight is 2020, see in the dark, How to Hide Your Monster, New Eden, and Kilgore, as well as co-devised plays, one-acts, plays for young audiences and short plays. Her work has been presented in Boise, regionally, in NYC and internationally, most recently through the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, 216

MING Studios, Mission at Tenth’s podcast Artifact, Boise Contemporary Theater, Storyfort, Climate Change Theatre Action, The Bechdel Group, West of Lenin Theatre, Spark!

Creative Works, and Oregon Contemporary Theatre.

Recent publications include Smith & Kraus and Magical Women Magazine. Heidi holds an MFA in Creative Inquiry, Interdisciplinary Arts from California Institute of Integral Studies and is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America. www.heidikraay.com Aurora Mehlman is an emerging fiction writer who works with The Cabin, College of Western Idaho, and Boise State University teaching classes in Creative Writing, English, and Digital Arts. She is also active in her local community.

Mehlman is staff at Treefort’s Storyfort, where she organizes and facilitates great programming from both local acts and visiting authors, and she is the co-director of the Bishop’s House Writing Collective. Recently, she has been published in 45th Parallel and Boise Weekly, and she shared her stories at the Idaho Botanical Garden, Scaryfort, and Story Story Night’s Grand Slam. Mehlman is currently at work on a novel.

Hannah Lucille Phillips is a fiction writer from the Endless Mountains region of Pennsylvania. She has BAs in creative writing and English education. Currently, she is working on her first novel while serving as the associate editor of the Idaho Review. Her debut TV pilot OUT is in post-production through BSU’s NTVI (Narrative Television Initiative) and will premiere in early 2024.

Hannah Rodabaugh holds an MA from Miami University and an MFA from Naropa University. She is the author of three chapbooks, including We Don’t Bury Our Dead When Our Dead Are Animals, a collection of Pushcart-nominated ecological elegies. Her writing is featured or forthcoming 217

in The Indianapolis Review, Camas Magazine, Glassworks Magazine, Blueline Magazine, Wild Roof Journal, EcoTheo Review, Berkeley Poetry Review, and others. She has been an artist-in-residence for the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management and received a 2024 Literature Fellowship from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. When not writing, she volunteers for the Golden Eagle Audubon Society. She teaches at Boise State University and The Cabin.

Daisy Clar Rosenstock is a third year poetry MFA student at Boise State University. When not writing or reading, she can be found daydreaming about abandoned houses or chatting with the local dying pine tree.

Daniel Stewart, a poet, is the author of the collection The Imaginary World, and a teaching-writer for The Cabin’s Writers in the Schools. A Pushcart Prize nominee, he won the Erskine J. Poetry Prize from Smartish Pace, and has published in BOAAT, Graviton Lit, NightBlock, Prairie Schooner, Puerto Del Sol, RATTLE, Sixfold, Skidrow Penthouse, Thrush Poetry Journal, Yes Poetry, and elsewhere.

Tracy Sunderland loves storytelling and the particular demands of writing plays and screenplays. Her short films have won multiple festival awards and her first feature film script Tailor played in festivals all over the world and won the 2021 Best Screenplay award at Festival 36 Mostra de Valencia in Spain. Tracy holds an MA in filmmaking from London Film School and received the 2015 Fellowship in Filmmaking from the Idaho Commission on the Arts. She also teaches at Boise State University and received the Adjunct Faculty of the Year Award in 2015.

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Index A Abdallah Aldalli 24 Addie Lindsay 51 Adeline Dina 73 Aiden Grunke 141 Aiden Mehr 140 Albert Pan 118 Alexandra Murawski 139 Alice Jackson 41 Aline Gibeault 67 Allison Cantlon 199 Anderson Sharp 170 Andy Jensen 121 Anna Grabe 97 Annika Benton 134 Annika Vermooten 81 Arianna Lee 15, 163 Asher Westhoff 21

Aurelie Underwood 8 Ava Rishkofski 142 Ava Schell-Mesler 9 Avery Carroll 90 Avery Hull 207

B Beck Gaines 116 Ben Cohen 173 Benson Roundy 78 Betty Clark 72 Blaise Yang 27 Brady Mehr 143 Brayden Pan 103 B Reese 83 Bridger Belts-Kauffman 97 Briella Nickell 99, 141

C

Asher Wulf 22

Caleb Mitchell 42

Athreya Iyer 68

Carly Solberg 167

Atticus Dunn 23

Caroline McCabe 42

Aubrey Yang 30

Chaewon Kang 98

Audrey Stewart 55

Charley Lutz 181 219

Charlie Fisk 26

Emmy Wingert 61

Charlie Keefer 104

Ernie Jiron 19

Charlotte Baldwin 10

Estella Wood 63

Charlotte Kline 178

Eugene Luo 108

Chloe Bastian 69

Eva Necochea-Smith 135, 184

Claire Barrett 189

Evie Openshaw 128

Clementine Genetski Chumbley 32 Colin Reilly 48 Connor Branden Wirz 125

D Dahlia Fields 211 Daniel Armagost 167 Deeya Barman 140 Dishi Deliwala 206

E

F Faye Brassell 25 Felix Antink 69 Finnleigh Isaacson 124 Franklin Hunt 74

G Gabby Schuldenfrei 77 Gavin Brown 58 Geddy Hindman 40

Eliana Miraglia 166

Gideon Dunn 39

Elinor Pense 85

Grace Warrington 109

Ella Wright 171

Grady Rowe 92

Ellie Sarver 169

Gus Panitch 203

Elma Garza 60 Emilie Ashmore 117

H

Emily Mathes 28

Hally Zurof 196

Emily McElwain 168

Hana Armagost 172

Emma Bainbridge 54

Hank Reilly 52 Harper Montalbano 64

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Harper Pantera 96, 146

Kalea Daly 66

Harry Werre 177

Kameron Lum 101

Henly Kim 94

Kate Seilnacht 155

Henry Miller 104

Katherine Larkin 179

Holland Seibert 174

Katy Brewton 183

I Iris Antink 80 Iris Cluff 166 Isolde Dau-Miller 13 Izzy Conner 166

J

Kennedy Hood 129 Kerrigan Stokes 80 Kylie Benton 119

L Laila Herstein 76 Laina Williams 115 Leo Hahn 117

Jaci Ulmer 62

Lia Kane 197

Jameson Costello 36

Lilly Sellery 59

Jared Brooksby 93

Lily Funkhouser 48

Jiho Kim 65

Lok-Kan Sin 87

Jimmy Williams 106

Lucy Brewton 192

Joleen Owens 19

Lucy Leland 65

Jordyn Stacy 50

Lucy Lingle 114

Josie George 86

Lydia Rose Mann 159, 176

Joud Khalf 12 Juman Aldali 34

K Kabir Indukuri 27

M Maggie Shields 208 Maia Diggs 33 Maisie Murphy 101

Kailyn O’Connor 49 221

Maizey Hume 198 Mason Parker 82 Mason Shin 81

Ollie Rowe 91

P

Maxwell Waxberg 54

Phoebe Pulliam 45

Max Wyatt 74

Pilar Hurlbutt 64

Maya Cover 37

Piper Nickell 89

Mia Barth 114

Q

Milania Akers 80 Miles Keefer 107

Quinn Adams 120

Mukta Shrotri 58

R

N

Rayne Brent 100

Nandita Rosario 56 Neil Prashant 148 Nethra Radhakrishnan 20 Nik Schwartsman 151 Nils Dau-Miller 24 Noor Khalf 28 Nora Davenport 88 Nora Jackson 152

O Oliver Bullard 7 Olive Reeder 131 Olivia Sandow 186 Ollie Butterfield 116 222

Ria Prashant 157 Rio Kitamura 75, 137 Riv Prashant 161 Ronin Guill 145 Ruby Lingle 111 Ruhaan Indukuri 31 Ryan Richards 57 Rylee Tranter 12

S Santiago Arispe 204 Savannah Rutledge 78 Shiloh Hodges 177 Sophina Eaglstun 10 Stefan Patrick 118

Stella Reynolds 16

T Teagan Tanous 70 Tessa Henderson 88 Thea Teague 46 Tony Pantera 84 Tori Shenk 143

U Ursula Nygren 47

V Vidhu Sutharsan 142 Violet Reilly 53

W William Rex 21 Winnie Hurwitt 18

Y Yewon Kang 98 Yuma Kitamura 102

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2 0 2 3 Summer Writing Camps

Camp Fire The Cabin is a Boise, Idaho literary arts organization. We forge community through the voices of all readers, writers, and learners. Writing Camps nurture the imagination and awaken the senses through creative adventures in the art of writing.

MY MONSTER Addie Lindsay | Grade 7, Boise The visible monsters in this world like bears and fire and knives are not the things that scare me Though as much as they try my monster lives inside me deep down in the back of my brain and changes the things I can’t see into things I’d rather not say no my monster will not leave me it is my good and bad for my monster and I are together for always in my imagination you can’t change that