| Mini Sagas

The Party Plan

By Keeley, 7, Woodstock, Georgia

One day there were three kids. There names were Kate, Sam and Tom. It was Kate's Birthday! Tom and Sam had to plan Kate's party. They went to the store to buy things for the party. They bought party hats, balloons, a battleship game and a $100 gift card for Toys R Us. Kate was at the park playing volleyball with her friend Miya.

Sam and Tom's mom were making Kate's birthday cake!! Sam and Tom went back home to wrap Kate's gifts. They used birthday wrapping paper. When they were done they hid her presents in their closet. Sam and Tom's mom were done cooking Kate's cake. Kate was coming home with Miya. Tom, Sam, Sam's mom and Tom's mom were waiting for her to get home. They turned the light off and Kate and Miya came in the door. They were all hiding behind the table.

Kate opened the door and they said, 'Surprise!!!'

Then they all had birthday cake! Kate had the best birthday party ever!
(September 2008)

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An Innocent Portrait on an Anonymous Mantel

By Adam, 13, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-on-Tees, UK

Max - the blue eyed, greasy-haired, teenage joker of the avenue, with more acne than skin - began the worst, if the smallest, journey of his life towards the wilderness which he called the neighbour's lawn. In amongst the greyish blades and dull, spindly bushes lay a single, multicoloured ball: the ball that shattered the mirror of dark, symmetrical vegetation into a spider web of colour, a vortex of reds, greens, purples and oranges that just kept spinning. But this wasn't the world breaking out into chaos - no, it was poor Max, who had broken into a fit of nausea and fear: he regretted knocking the ball over the wrought iron casket that held this dilapidated, red-brick marvel of a building, even despite the glory of the beast protruding from the ground around him. He had heard the rumours, and seen the so-called 'victims', but...

Could it really be possible?

The boy began to tremble uncontrollably, even with the five layers of clothing articles wrapped tightly around him. However, this outbreak of shivering had nothing to do with the yellow mist closing around him, feeling him out with it's gaseous tendrils, gagging him - choking him. He saw it rolling towards him, and ran, but couldn't escape the billion hands that were searching for something they couldn't find, their fingers reaching out and flowing into every crevice, crack and hole. Max stumbled and fell heavily, barely conscious. The last thing he heard was a scream - and it was his own.

Consciousness came back to him at daybreak, just as the sun was piercing the darkness. The pink light threw a silhouette over the entire garden, and, to a demented child, this long-grass seemed like heaven itself. He got to his feet, and caught a glimpse of the house: it was a squat Victorian building, ugly in the pearly light of dawn, with boards over every doorway and feature: the place was rotting in its own hell-hole.

Forcing themselves onward, his aching limbs struggled into life, and set off onto another journey toward the building. Ever since entering the property, it had acted as a magnet, absorbing his energy, and pulling him towards it and it was doing a great job.

For hours, Max wandered throughout the dilapidated pathways, searching - just searching - for an entrance. Eventually, he found one, a once magnificent oak door, from which the rotten planks and rusted nails had fallen. Thanks to his youth, the teenager just fit through, and he surveyed his surroundings. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Before him stood a fully-functional interior of a family home: a fire roared beneath the hearth, large, luxurious sofas were spread out over the wooden floor, which was covered by sprawled animal hides and skins, and the cream-papered walls were encrusted in family photos and portraits - there was just something wrong with them.

There were no faces on the photographs.

The family shown had been beheaded in foul horror, by a merciless murdering marauder. But, who was it? And was he still here?

Max turned with great rapidity, only, to his amazement, he stumbled upon a door which had only just appeared into his surroundings, a thick, oak slab, the handle brass. He pondered for a good few minutes over it, and came to a decision: it was either explore the room, or roam the wilderness outside for hours on end, searching for escape - and Max decided on the latter.

As the door screamed and protested as it left it's original position, Max came upon a room, much like the other, but with many cobwebs and piles of dust, as if it hadn't been seen, or used, in many centuries. There was also another difference: the large portrait of a medieval ruler, sitting above the mantelpiece: and, for that matter, the skeleton underneath it.

Max was horrified: he couldn't believe his eyes, and was just recovering from shock, when the eyes of the portrait rolled towards him in their wooden sockets, and let out the same force that killed the other poor man.

Only the walls saw the murder, and...

Only the blades of grass heard the scream.
(september 2008)

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The Secret Mission

By Danny, 13, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton-On-Tees, UK

My name is Antonio. There's an evil doctor called Dr Jess on the loose. I got this job because I was in trouble with the police so they said you can either go and look for the highly dangerous Jess. I was just dumped in the middle of the Sahara desert. They gave me all the latest weapons and lots more gadgets I was jumping through forests of Spain, fighting Jesse's bodyguards and with a lot of help from my best friend Lewi.

It all started about five years ago in secret training, when we were sent on a training exercise and Lewi almost lost his life. When that happened all I could think about was my first aid training back in England, 'Don't put your life at risk for someone else'. But, I also knew him from when we were little pupils at Whinstone Primary School and we still went to secondary school together. Although he was my best mate I knew I was going to have to do something to help him.
(September 2008)
All I can think about is my sweet girlfriend. I only think about her because she was kidnapped by Jess and I could not sleep for all the nights she was gone. My heart was broken and the day my princess came back it was like I was born all over again; the joy and relief.

I love going on dangerous missions and the risk of almost getting killed. I've recently been sent on a secret mission all the way over the Himalayas and round the Artic Circle. We were on the plane for twenty four hours but by my side all the way was Lewi. When we finally arrived it was pitch black but there was no time to waste, we only had seven days to catch the dreaded Doctor Jess.

We had to get a jeep to this mysterious place. It was all creepy but when the fighting started there was no stopping us. We bust down the door and there she was. The evil doctor was just sitting there. This was our big chance to grab her and that is exactly what we did. We took her back to England to receive our gold plaque and that was the story of the secret mission!

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The Ant Army

By Sarah, 9, Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland

There was once a village full of ants. There was a group of ants who called themselves Ant Army. One day an ant eater came to the city. All the ants of the city were gathering outside ant army H.Q. The village were shouting, 'ANT ARMY'.

The Ant Army were right on the case. They fought against the ant eater. They had to be very clever though as the ant eater is a giant compared to the ants.

The boss of the ants gathered them altogether and decided that all the ants should split into groups and attack the ant eater from all different sides. The ants then split into large groups. One particular group decided on the nick name 'The Raisins', because they were all as small as a raisin! The leader of this group was called Red, this was due to the fact he had a small red spot right on the top of his head.

Rather than fight by biting at their enemy The Raisins main job was to tickle the ant eater.

Red announced, 'By tickling our enemy we can help throw him off balance.'

But some of them disagreed, to start with no one really knew if an ant eater was actually ticklish! One brave ant called Spot ( no one knew why he was called this as he never had any visible spot!) stood up and asked Red,

'If we try to tickle him won't he roll over to stop us and then crush us all to death?'

All the ants looked concerned and turned to Red to hear the answer. Red just gave a little cough and looked around at his small army.

He thought for a moment then said, 'Well...I can't think of anything you use your noggins,' said Red.

Then Spot said, 'Why us? You're the master. You've got the brains.'

At this Red went redder than ever.

Then he said, 'I give up..the group is not strong enough we need to get more people.'

Then another member of the group called Pipsqueak (he is called that because he is the smallest ant on earth)said, 'But... but we're a team.'

'Well let me think,' said Red.

'We can't join on to another team,'said Spot.

Just then the ant eater ate Spot. The rest of the gang followed. Inside the ant eater was like a new world. The ants found food and got some furniture. They made their own H.Q. They saved the village of eater.
(September 2008)

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Chiquita Brown - The Mystery Of The Poisoned Food

By Lottie, 9, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK

We entered the classroom (owned to Mrs Bossy Boots Bagley) on Monday morning. Me and my best friend Vanessa normally wait until everyone had put their things away. Once the colossal stampede removed themselves from the pegs, the cloakroom wasn't immaculate, it was an atrocious mess. I quickly removed my crimson coat and satin boots and scurried inside the classroom. I waited until Vanessa was ready and we both promenaded in together.

Obviously, the frown lines on Bossy Boots Bagley's forehead hadn't disappeared, it must have scared her for life. You see, Bobby Taylor kind of scared her out of her skin by telling her he had brought rats to school and was going to set them loose in the classroom. But this time she game us a right telling off, guess why, cloakroom!

'Look at the target everyone, it's to keep our cloakroom tidy, and is our cloakroom immaculate? No, it's a disgrace, and why is that? Maybe because some of you are blind, and can't see massive letters, now, do you want me to commit suicide or are you going to keep the cloakroom tidy?' screeched Bossy Boots Bagley.

Our first lesson was boring, it was Numeracy, I was bored out of my skin, we were doing fractions, I mean why do we need to know how to cut a cake? It seemed like it was going on forever, until my pencil started to flash, I had to get to my adventurous mission, but first I had to make up an excuse to get out of the school and into the knowledgeable MCY.

I raised my sweating hand and spoke, 'Ummm, miss please can I go to the loo?'

'Hurry up now Chiquita,' replied Bossy Boots Bagley.

I opened the door slowly and sped through the corridor to the girls bathroom. I quickly stepped into a spare cubical and changed into my stretchy spy costume. The voices of children lingered around my ear lobes, so I knew that class had finished. The toilet started to lower down and so, I jumped on the cystern and entered the outside world, the spy lab.

My teeth chattered as I was lowered into the lab because of the massive walls that surrounded me, capturing me, closing me in. Suddenly, I stopped going down and stepped onto the concrete floor and walked to Mr Bee's mouth. He was sitting at his desk, his grotty feet resting on the edge, in his hands a newspaper probably from the local newsagents. He turned and looked through me, but he had a warm, friendly smile and a civil approach towards me. I was in there almost an hour, when I was let loose to go to my mission. My mission was that someone had been poisoning the food in the cafeteria, I had a pretty good idea who, I had three suspects, the cooks, the classroom teachers and the children, I just needed proof.

I had a variety of gadgets all to my liking, and my use. It is hard for spy companies to get all the new gadgets so count me lucky. My gadgets were the most brilliant, outstanding gadgets in the world. I had a laser lipstick, if you opened the lid of it, it would spurt out goo, really sticky goo, which changed into a sticky net once touched by a human or animal, or if it was to bump into something that you weren't aiming for it would fly around after your target until it caught it, pretty clever, eh? I also have a fountain pen, if you click it at the bottom it will shoot a trance needle, when it goes into something, him or her will do whatever you tell them to for up to 6 hours until the trance had worn out. I also have a jetpack in case of emergency, x-ray glasses and a torch all which are of helpful use. So now I need to set out to my tree house to plan how I will solve this mystery.

So you see, all my gadgets are welcome in all my missions. I think you now get the point of why new gadgets are welcome in all my missions. I must really be strolling off, I need to solve this problem or else the children of this school could end up getting food poisoning unless I stop this now!

I scurried into my tree house and set a scroll out on a tree stump. All I knew is that I had to search at night where everyone would have evacuated the school, but I also had to have a word with my suspects. My plan was to unlock the door with my door picker, and then investigate the cafeteria; the cooks normally leave the food piled up in the fridge so I can look at them pretty closely. However, I would have to stay clear of the schools janitor, he has an evil eye and approaches you with a sly ascent. I had no idea how I was going to approach my mission's statements but I knew I had to.

My tree house was really warm and cosy because of the thick planks of wood tightly fastened with strong metal screws, also, because of the massive oak tree's arms that curved over my tree house, (that stopped the wind blowing my tree house off the great oak). So obviously I was pretty warm, but I knew that something was missing, something's wrong, I can feel it in my bones, I thought....

The next day I woke up feeling thrilled, my mission would be successful, and I just knew it! But you can't be too careful though.

'Do you want some breakfast honey,' called mum from the sweet smelling kitchen.

'No thank you,' I answered, 'I have already eaten'.

Which was true, well maybe half true, I mean I had a few nibbles on my rotting chocolate bar before I came down. I know what you are thinking rotting oooh urrr, but rotting foods are really healthy for spies especially chocolate. 

So I set of to school feeling really nervous, I mean, I forgot to brush my hair and it's a right mess. My hands were sweating so much my school books were slipping out of my hands, maybe I was scared of the janitor catching me, I had no idea. Anyway, I strolled down the corridor to my first class, room 108, guess what it was, maths, we were recapping what we had learned yesterday. I did so bad, I mean, I hadn't listened once, oh well. I was walking home when I thought for a second, 'Will this plan work?' I had no idea.

I walked on the cobbled pathway and reached out for the shiny door handle. My sweaty hand made the metal door knob rust. The green door creaked open as I walked step by step onto the wooden floor and into my bricked house. As I entered the hallway I opened the cupboard door and hung up my dirty school bag and put my hard back books onto the wooden shelf.

I stopped for a second and my nostrils widened as a sweet smell of fish and chips entered my nostrils. I made my way to the dining room and the smell got stronger and stronger. As I entered the dining room I saw a plate full of crispy fish, smothered in sweet smelling vinegar and a mountain of lovely, chunky, warm chips, and behind it an empty space, just for me. I sat down and tucked in to my fish and chips. The luscious taste lingered on my tongue, as I chomped my chips and chewed my battered salmon and haddock. Once I had finished my tea I gathered all my dirty cutlery and placed them on my shiny, vinegary plate. I picked up my plate and strolled off into the kitchen, and gave my plate to mum,' Thank you,' she muttered under her breath. After that, I sped out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into my bedroom.

I quickly tugged off my school clothes and put on my stretchy spy costume once again. I could feel my nervousness boiling up inside of me, and I was sweating with scared thoughts approaching me, however that didn't stop me fighting for what I'm worth. Unfortunately, my parents would see me, and hear me sneaking out of the house, consequently, I had to figure out another way.....

I thought, and thought, and finally ha, ha; it was so simple. All I had to do was make a rope,(probably out of tights), then tie it to the bed rest, throw it out of the window and after that, climb out of the window, and down the rope, pretty easy, eh?

So I set to work, I slowly opened my drawer, and started rummaging through, trying to find a brilliant amount of tights, in the end I found ten pairs, and that would reach the ground (as I lived in a bungalow).

I quickly tied it to my bed rest and jumped out of the window and down the rope. However, on my way down my foot got caught in a plant of ivy growing on the side of my house. I grabbed my scissors and cut my foot free, now I was free to get on with my mission. I jumped down and sped along the path, it was pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing, (because the street lamps weren't working). All I had was my spy torch, nothing else.

I soon arrived at the school and it looked really scary at night all I could see was a light, coming from the janitor'scloset. I could just make out his face, reading a newspaper; his eyes were glaring at the tiny printed words. My heart leapt as he looked up, I thought he was looking at me, but no. However, just in case I ducked, unfortunately, into a nettled bush, the nettles spiked my face as I lowered myself. I would have to go round the back door to not be seen.

I crept, slowly, around the building, but I stopped for a second, the burglar light went off, and my heart missed a beat. I leapt round the corner where no one could see me. I creaked open the back door and snuck inside, my forehead was sweating with the sight of the old, grotty janitor. I could see the corridors reaching to open classrooms. I snuck down the corridor, keeping my body glued to the lockers and walls.

I soon arrived at the kitchen, the door was massive. I crept inside, unfortunately, I heard the janitor coming my way, his big heavy footsteps made the earth wobble, panic seized me as he approached. I made my way to a table, luckily the table cover was on and covering the sides, so I hid.

Suddenly, the footsteps became faint, so I knew he had gone the other way. I slowly crept to the fridge hoping it wasn't locked, luckily it wasn't. I shivered faintly as the fridge door opened and the cold air caught hold of my skin. I quickly looked on the shelves for anything suspicious, but nothing, I looked once more, but still nothing. I would have to move on to plan B.

I raced down the corridor and opened the big door, and sped across the rock hard, concrete playground. I turned around I could only see a silhouette of the janitor creeping along the end of the wall. I trudged home I had got my hopes up high, and it has been brought down, due to my failure of a plan.

'Where on earth have you been young lady,' mum screeched as I walked through the door (luckily my coat was on).

'I have been out with friends, the place I was not very fond of.'

'Room!' shouted mum, 'I'll bring you up your clean jammys.'

So of course I obeyed her order, I didn't want to get into trouble. However, I knew that I wasn't off the hook, I knew mum didn't believe the story of I went out with friends. I mean it was 10 o'clock, and I wouldn't go out at that time, it would be too late. Mum suddenly stormed in carrying a pile of warm clothes, and there on the top were mine, shining brightly as if they were Queen! I grabbed my set and climbed into them, they were so warm and cosy that I scrambled into bed immediately, and fell fast asleep.

Whilst running downstairs for breakfast the next morning, my brain was doing back flips. I was sorting out plan B (but I'm not telling you what it is, you will have to wait and see.) I decided to skip breakfast as I was not very hungry, and anyway I could always have something out of my dinner. I started walking, unfortunately, it was freezing. Consequently, I had to go and get a thicker coat.

When I finally arrived at school ( after all that fuss of coldness) I found Vanessa, all on her own, so I went over, and we started playing until the school bell went. When it eventually went, we noticed we were nowhere near the school door. So, to my belief we started to run. I mean, we, well I had never ran for anything, except for being chased by zombies, by monsters and ghosts. We got there just in time, (luckily). All the lessons flew by (I can't name them, I wasn't listening).

It was lunch time and this was time for plan B. I snook my lunch box into the hall so I could get a school dinner and bring it to the spy lab to be tested. I got in the queue and waited. When it was my turn I got macaroni cheese, crispy chips and for desert I chose green jelly topped with 100's and 1000's, and then I scurried into the toilets, pretending there wasn't any seats. I squeaked the door open and stepped inside; I rushed inside a cubical, and went down and down and down.

I took them to the scanning room, to be checked out. I placed the dangerous food onto the scanning bed, and suddenly pressed the huge green button that said GO! I waited, and waited and finally it had finished. Walking, very slowly, over to the computer to see the results. It said, POISONED! I knew exactly who it was.

That very next morning, my brain told me to organise a school meeting, so that's really what I did! Pressing 999, I ordered the police to come out, and get ready to catch the bad guy. So, at 1:30 I saw piles of children, come moaning into the hall, they were all sat down neatly, teachers also, and I could just see the police at the corners of every door, getting ready to pounce.

So I started to make my speech, 'Good afternoon, I have called you all here because somebody in this hall has been poisoning the school meals.'

The janitor looked up at me, a guilty expression widened on his face. The janitor ran, the police knew this was the guy or else he wouldn't have been running. The police were now hot on his heels. Suddenly, the police pounced, they all eventually, tumbled down.

I explained how I knew, 'You see, I scanned some of the food, and then checked what poison it was, and the only person who owned this poison, was the janitor.'

Everyone cheered me on, and someone shouted, 'Chiquita Brown saves the day again!'
(September 2008)

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The Mystery At The Museum

By Paige, 10, Boiling Spring, SC, USA

'Hey, Mom, will you sign my permission form to go on the field trip to the museum?' Jessica asked her mother.

'Oh course sweetheart, when is it going to be?' Jessica's mother asked.

'The twentieth of January,' Jessica replied.

'The twentieth, that's tomorrow!' Jessica's mother exclaimed.

'I know, I had forgotten about it until today, sorry,' Jessica said.

'Well that's alright, I hope you have a good time,' Jessica's mother said.

'Thanks mom, I'm going to go get ready for bed,' Jessica said.

Jessica went upstairs to her bathroom, brushed her teeth, washed her face, combed her hair, put her favorite pajamas on, the ones with the cute little puppies. Then she climbed into bed and turned her reading lamp on. She took out the book she was reading, it was a Nancy Drew mystery. She just loved mysteries. When she grew up she wished to be a famous detective, just like Nancy. Little did she know that her dream would come true much sooner than expected.

The next day, Jessica climbed out of bed sleepily.

'Whoa!' she said when she looked at her hair in the full length mirror in her bedroom.

'Hurry and get ready Jessica, you don't want to be late for the field trip!' her mother called from downstairs.

Jessica changed into a blue t-shirt with a butterfly in the middle, jeans, and tennis shoes because she knew she would be walking around a lot. She went downstairs and started fixing herself some Frosted Mini Wheats. She ate it quickly, then found her book bag and slung it over her shoulder.

'Bye Mom!' Jessica called as she walked out the door.

'Goodbye Jessica, have fun, and be safe at the museum,' Jessica's mother said.

'I will,' Jessica said.

She closed the door and went out into the cold air. She went over to the bus stop where other children waited too. She spotted her friend, Claire.

'Hey Claire, aren't you so excited about the museum?!' Jessica said.

'Yeah, I can't wait until we get there!' Claire said.

Suddenly the bright yellow bus appeared in front of them. The door squeaked open and everybody climbed in.

'Hello Mrs. Cook, how are you today?' Jessica asked.

'Oh I'm fine, thank you,' Mrs. Cook replied.

Jessica and Claire sat beside each other in one of the seats in the front. The bus lurched forward and was off.

'Hey Claire, did you get the math homework we had last night?' Jessica asked.

'No, not really, I'm horrible with fractions,' Claire replied.

'Yeah, me too.' Jessica said.

They played rock, paper, scissors until the bus squealed to a stop in front of the old brick school.

'Okay everybody load off the bus, and have a good time on your field trip,' Mrs. Cook said from the drivers seat up at the front of the bus.

'We will!' a chorus of voices called out.

Jessica and Claire were the first ones of the bus. In front of them were much more buses to take them to the field trip, but charter buses that had miniature televisions in them, and seats that could lean back.

'Whoa, I went on these buses in kindergarten when we went to Strawberry Fields, they are so cool!' Claire exclaimed.

'I know, I bet we'll watch a movie!' Jessica said.

They looked around until they saw the rest of their class and their teacher, Mrs. Johnson loading onto bus number eight. They rushed over there and climbed into the bus.

'Wow, this place is cool!' Jessica said.

'I know!' Claire agreed.

They took their seat right as the bus started moving. A TV was in front of them and the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks started playing.

'Oohh, I love this movie!' Claire said.

'Yeah, I've been really wanting to see it for a long time!' Jessica said.

They watched the movie until they arrived at a big white building.

'I guess this is the museum,' Claire said.

'Yeah I guess so,' Jessica said.

'Load off the bus quickly and quietly,' the bus driver said.

Once all the kids got off, the teacher led them inside.

'Okay everybody, where do you want to go first, the aquarium, the Imax movie, or the dinosaur display?' Mrs. Johnson asked.

'The dinosaurs, the dinosaurs!' almost everybody chanted out.

'Okay then, the dinosaurs it is.'

We walked awhile until we came to a huge T-rex dinosaur skeleton.

'Wow, that T-Rex is awesome!' a boy said from Jessica's class.

'Yes, it is,' agreed Mrs. Johnson.

Jessica saw that Mrs. Johnson looked like she was in a kind of a trance, starting at the skeleton. Mrs. Johnson suddenly jumped out of her trance and smiled at the class.

'Uh.. let's move on shall we?' she said shakily. They went to the aquarium next, and while they were looking at the jellyfish, the lights went off!

'Ahhhhh!' screamed all the kids.

Jessica looked around but Mrs. Johnson wasn't in sight.

'Jessica, what's happening?!' Claire cried.

'I don't know Claire, I'm really getting freaked out, I don't see Mrs. Johnson anywhere!'

After waiting in the dark for what seemed like an eternity, the lights cut back on.

'Man, I'm glad that's over!' Claire said.

'Yeah, but where's Mrs. Johnson?' Jessica asked, looking around.

Just as quickly as Jessica had said that Mrs. Johnson raced in the front entrance and looked around.

'Mrs. Johnson, over here!' Betty, a girl from Jessica's class cried out.

'Oh class, I've been so worried about you!' Mrs. Johnson said.

'Where were you?' Jessica asked.

'Oh.. um.. I was getting my water bottle from the bus,' Mrs. Johnson fumbled.

'Uh... Mrs. Johnson I don't see your water bottle with you,' Claire said.

'Well... I decided I wasn't that um... thirsty, so I put it back,' Mrs. Johnson said, color creeping up her neck.

Jessica thought something was strange about all this.

'Hey, lets go back to look at the dinosaurs!' Claire said.

'Umm... how about we just stay here, I heard there's an octopus in the aquarium,' Mrs. Johnson said.

'Noooo, dinosaurs!' the whole class cried.

'Well, umm.. I guess so,' Mrs. Johnson said, her face now bright red.

'Yay!' everybody yelled as they ran over the dinosaur exhibit.

As the class was rounding the corner of the museum, Jessica saw the great T-Rex. But something was different about it this time Jessica thought. Then she looked up, a short cry escaped her throat, the head of the skeleton was missing!

'Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson!' Jessica called, 'The head of the T-rex is missing!

'Oh... that's uh, horrible, terrible.. yeah um..let's move on,' Mrs. Johnson said.

'But Mrs. Johnson, shouldn't we inform the museum keepers? Or the police?!' Jessica said worriedly.

'They'll probably figure it out themselves, I mean, it's quite obvious,' Mrs. Johnson said.

Jessica knew what she had to do though. She was a detective and she wanted to get to the bottom of this. Just think, it could be her first case!

Jessica started running off towards the main entrance of the museum, she had saw people who worked here over there. When she got there she was sweating and out of breath.

'Please, please, can I talk to somebody?!' she yelled out.

An old lady came hobbling over to her.

'Is there something you need child?' she asked.

'Yes, the head on that big T-Rex is missing!' Jessica said.

'Oh my gosh! Let me get Lenny, he will come with you to see what has happened,' the old lady went over to a young man and was talking and pointing at me.

'Young lady, will you please take me to this dinosaur?' he asked.

'Yes, it's over here,' Jessica took him over to the skeleton where she pointed out where the skull was missing.

'Oh my this is horrible, yes, a catastrophe indeed, one of our most prized skeletons, skull missing, oh no!' he said, his words coming out in a mess.

'They probably turned the lights off when they stole it and then turned them back on before they left,' Jessica said.

'Wow, great detective work, what's your name Miss?' Lenny asked.

'My name is Jessica Ambers, and I will do any detective work you will let me do!' Jessica said.

'Oh yes, I will miss Jessica, and I am going to inform the police right away, so don't worry a bit,' Lenny said.

'Okay, will you tell me if anything is found out about who did the crime?' Jessica asked.

'Certainly Jessica, my pleasure,' Lenny agreed.

Jessica then ran back to her class and told them what she had just done. She looked up at Mrs. Johnson, she looked steaming mad.

'Jessica, why did you run off in the middle of our field trip without any warning? I am going to have to give you detention for two weeks! Never do anything like that ever again!' Mrs. Johnson said.

All the children stood open mouthed at Mrs. Johnson.

'Mrs. Johnson, two whole weeks?' Jessica said meekly.

'Yes, field trip is over, everybody go out and load onto the bus without a word,' Mrs. Johnson demanded.

'Yes Mrs. Johnson,' everybody grumbled.

When I got on the bus Claire slid into the seat beside me.

'Mrs. Johnson is so harsh isn't she? I mean two whole weeks! My brother got that for getting in a fight, what you did was what the right thing to do was,' Claire said, angrily.

'I know, this is so unfair!' Jessica said.

The rest of the ride was in silence, Mrs. Johnson didn't even play a movie. That night at home I told my mother what had happened.

'That mean old no good teacher! I am speaking to the principal about your punishment, two weeks, that's unbelievable!' she said.

Jessica went to bed that night thinking maybe Mrs. Johnson was right, maybe she shouldn't have told, but then, no, she knew she did what was right.

The next few days were horrible for Jessica. She went to school only to find Mrs. Johnson glaring at her day after day from her desk. Mrs. Johnson tried to ignore Jessica as best she could by not calling on her, or letting her do most anything at all. Jessica was miserable. But one Wednesday afternoon, her hopes soared.

Jessica's mom called to her, 'The phone is for you!'

Jessica grabbed it from her mothers hand and said, 'Hello?'

'Hello, is it Jessica?' a voice on the other end asked, it sounded somewhat familiar.

'Yes, this is she, who are you?' Jessica asked.

'This is Lenny, remember, from the museum?'

'Oh yes, hi Lenny, have you found anything out yet?' Jessica asked.

'Oh yes, bunches of things, could you come over to the police station at exactly 5:00 so I could share with you the evidence of what has been found, maybe you could help me with a little detective work?' Lenny said.

'Oh yes, I would love to, I'll be over at five sharp!' Jessica said.

She said goodbye and hung up, 'Mom!' she called.

'Guess what, Lenny from the museum called and said that the police have found some stuff out and for me to be over there at five!' Jessica said excitedly.

'Oh that's wonderful I will certainly have you over by then,' Jessica's mom said.

Jessica couldn't wait until it was time, finally when the big grandfather clock in their living room struck five, Jessica grabbed her mom and hopped into the car. They drove over to the town's police station where they met up with Lenny who was waiting outside.

'Come in ladies, and I will show you the evidence,' Lenny said.

They went inside where they stopped at a table that was covered with data and papers and graphs and many other things.

'The police collected fingerprints and some DNA, and they have found three suspects, Mr. Towny Lancaster, Ms. Amy Borges, and what was that last one... oh right, Mrs. Sally Johnson.'

Jessica's chin almost fell right down to the floor. She remembered Mrs. Johnson telling the class her first name at the very beginning of the school year... Sally!

'You have must gotten something wrong, Mrs. Sally Johnson is my teacher!' Jessica sputtered.

'Wow, your teacher, well I bet she's not the one. The suspects will be asked questions tomorrow at noon, I will call you again if anything new comes up,' Lenny said.

'Well goodbye Lenny, remember, tell me everything that happens!' Jessica reminded him as her and her mom left the room.

'I can't believe your teacher is one of the suspects!' Jessica's mom said.

'I know, that is so crazy!' Jessica agreed.

Or was it crazy, Jessica thought, Mrs. Johnson had been acting really strange on the field trip. But she knew her teacher couldn't be a real criminal!

The next day Jessica was full of nerves, she couldn't wait until Lenny called her. It was a weekend so she didn't have to go to school. She played with her dog, Muffie, she jumped on her trampoline, she listened to her ipod. But the whole time the only thing that was on her mind was the crime, and Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson, she had known, had always had an interest in dinosaurs, she loved talking about them in Science class, but why in the world would she want the skull of a T-Rex?

Jessica was lying on her bed reading a new Nancy Drew book her mom had bought her when she heard the sound of a phone ringing.

She jumped out of bed and raced over to the phone she grabbed it and said, 'Hello?'

'Hello, this is Lenny, exciting, very exciting wonderful news, we have found the criminal, they confessed!' he said.

'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! No way I'm coming right over there in a flash!' she said and hung up.

'Mom!' she called, 'They found the criminal, we're going to the police station right now, Lenny is going to tell us who is guilty!' she said, jumping up and down.

Her mom grabbed her car keys and her purse and they both ran over to the car, and drove as quickly as they could all the way down there. They saw Lenny and another lady. Jessica couldn't see her clearly through the car window, but when she got closer she recognized her as... Mrs. Johnson!

'Oh my gosh, Mrs. Johnson, how could you?!?!' Jessica screeched.

'I'm sorry Jessica, but it's a long story,' Mrs. Johnson stammered.

'I don't care how long it is, I want to hear it,' Jessica demanded.

'Okay well it all started when I was in college, I decided to become a paleontologist. I became a very good one and I had found almost every piece to the T-Rex skeleton, except the skull, I was so frustrated that I quit being a paleontologist and became a fifth grade teacher. But when I saw that beautiful T-Rex skull I just couldn't help myself, I stole it. I regret it now, but there is nothing I can do to change it,' Mrs. Johnson said.

'My oh my,' Jessica's mother said.

'Well, I'm sorry to tell you this but you are probably going to be in jail for a while for theft,' Lenny said.

'Yeah, I know,' Mrs. Johnson said, glumly.

Mrs. Johnson is out of jail now, and the skull is back where it belongs. Jessica is helping a lot of people with her cool detective skills. Wow, Jessica never knew how a simple field trip to a museum could change her life forever.
(September 2008)

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Thompson Manor

By Jay , 12, St.Neots, Cambridgeshire, UK

James ran and ran through the bleak, inhospitable house cursing himself over and over for being so stupid. He knew he shouldn't have gone in on and on he ran tripping and falling over every couple of minutes. The broken rubble was like gravel on his bare feet. Cobwebs breaking on his browhis cut feet were bleeding like the sunset. It pained him to run but he still kept going through the stale smelling, crumbling, structure then he tripped on a crack and that's when he saw him that was the last thing he ever saw!

2 weeks later......

'Ok team we go in and find the boy.'

I was in charge of operation 'missing wolf' to find James. I took a team of 42 police officers into Transville to find this boy. We searched everywhere and I mean everywhere through the restaurants, the pubs, the public toilets but I found zilch. Then I tore open the big dumpster bins I even ripped a lid off it's hinges but still I found diddly squit. So we went door to door with photos his mum had provided us with every one knew who he was but no one had seen him since the gigantic storm 2 weeks ago. Then we came across the count in the street he always seemed a bit odd to me, he had blue eyes looked like he was in his mid 30's. He always looked bonkers but he said he hadn't seen him so I pressed on. That was my first mistake.

It had been 3 weeks since we had started looking for James. So we decided to do a search of every house in Transville. We had the armed response unit on standby, the helicopter 'S O 95' up in the air and my team on the ground conducting the search. Then I got a radio call from 'S O 95' screaming into my ear,

'We have eyeball on a boy matching the description in the town cemetery, repeat the town cemetery.'

So I replied, 'Thanks ground unit out.'

We went to the cemetery it turned out it was just a kid matching the description but it wasn't James. I went back to the search we went into four houses arrested 5 people on suspicion of his abduction. I ran round a sharp corner and that's when I saw it, Thompson Manor.

I thought, 'Naaaaaaa, the count is a good friend of mine he wouldn't have taken him.'

So I moved on. That was my second mistake.

After another day I was told to check Thompson Manor for James. I was a bit angry that they hadn't listened to me but I did as I was told. As we entered, the count wasn't there so we began to search. Every room had smashed glass all over the floor, the doors were falling off there hinges and there was a thick layer of dust on the ground. Little particles were floating in the air, one got into my eye. I opened a door and what looked like a body was there I radioed through to the helicopter and it was a positive ID; it was James. We took the body outside it smelled like it had been dead for a long time we called his mum to break the news to her. We never did find the count but I hear he's a master of disguise so watch out he could be sitting right next to you.
(September 2008)

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Soul Mates

By Lena, 10, CO, USA

'Hi!' I tried to sound upbeat.

'What do you want freak?'

Ok that stung.

'Um...I was just thinking maybe I could hang out with you guys?' I was making ANOTHER brave stab at making friends. So far it was not working.

'Sure you can.'

Oh my gosh! This was my chance! Don't blow it Laurel, I thought to myself. Just be cool.

'Really?' I said hopefully.

'Sure. When pigs fly you dork!'

OK that did not work the way I had hoped. I did not have a single friend at my big, expensive, private school. Maybe kids didn't like the way I looked? Hope bloomed in my chest that maybe... just maybe if I gave myself a new look I could get friends. I quickly pushed that thought out of my head. It could not be my looks. I look pretty average with my straight shoulder-length brown hair and my green eyes. The only thing that makes me look different is the big black splotches that I have on my clothes from my exploding science experiments. Maybe if I got new clothes..... Oh that would not work either. I would have to come up with a new plan.......

The bell rang announcing the school day was over. I walked over to the only place that cheers me up: The public library. I went to my favorite section (the comic books of course!) and started looking for a Betty and Veronica issue that I had not read. I found one and was reaching out to take it when another hand came and touched the book the same time I did.

'Oh, I am so sorry were you going to take this?' The owner of the hand said.

'Oh take it, I have tons more at home!' I insisted.

I looked up to see who I was talking to. My eyes locked with the girls eyes. They were brown and warm. The girl had short blond hair that was held back with a black headband. I saw the girl's clothes and fought back a mad desire to laugh. The girl had black stains on her shirt and pants (like me) except they were smaller than my black stains from messed up science experiments.

'I'm Katie,' the girl said, studying my face.

'I'm Laurel,' I said, studying her clothes trying to figure out what her black stains were from.

'Are you staring at my ink stains?' The girl questioned meeting my gaze.

I felt myself starting to blush. Now the girl thought I was some kind of a clothing snob. At least I figured out what her stains are from. Ink. I think that's kind of cool. I like writing. And that's how I found my soul mate Katie. Katie and I got Starbucks and talked for an hour. I learned she loves Betty and Veronica. (Like me.) She is a good speller, she loves cheese, (Like me. We debated about the best kinds.) She plays keyboard. ( I play guitar. Maybe we could play solos together!?!) We exchanged phone numbers and email addresses and promised to keep in touch. YAy! I am so happy!


You know what I said earlier about how I found my soul mate? In case you don't know a soul mate is a person who knows everything about you and can read your mind. Usually your soul mate is the opposite gender of you and you are supposed to marry them. Instead of getting married Katie and I were BFFs. We talked on the phone in the morning and before we went to bed. We met at Starbucks, the library, or the bookstore after school and we slept over at each others houses every weekend. I liked it best when we slept over at Katie's house. We would play hide-and-seek ( I know a bit babyish for two eleven year olds but its so much fun in Katie's house!) Then we would watch scary movies.

I remember one sleepover in particular. We had just given each other makeovers and we were in her room reading comic books out loud when Katie put down her comic book, went over to the window and let out a deep sigh. We had only been BFFs for about two months and I suddenly became worried she was becoming bored with me. I joined her at the window and followed her gaze. My eyes landed on the library. The same one we had met at. Then I saw tears starting to run down Katie's face.

'Wow, Kat are you okay?' I whispered.

'I'm fine. I'm just so happy we me,' she whispered back.

We spent the rest of the night hugging, crying (happy tears of course) and smiling at each other. We spent nearly two hours sitting across from each other and reading each others mind. I was never bored with Katie. Together we made a band with one of her school friends who was a great singer. Our band was called 'I Love Life', Katie chose the name.

Katie introduced me to her school friends and we instantly bonded. My favorite one was Alexa who was smart and witty with short, glossy, dark hair. A lot of the time we would all do things in one huge group or sometimes Alexa, Katie, and I would do things together. But most of the time it was just me and Katie. I owe a lot of myself today to Katie. I am much more social and I have learned not to take life for granted. Katie was always full of ideas and most of them were good. She knew how to make everything fun. I was the happiest I had ever been in my life during that year when me and Katie were best friends. I wish it could have just lasted longer. Because once Katie and I started 6th grade, disaster struck.

I had started noticing that Katie had been getting lots of big bruises everywhere. I was a little concerned, but not too worried. Her mom scheduled an appointment at her doctor just to make sure she was OK and I thought that was the end of it. But I was very wrong. After her appointment at the doctors I called her to see if she wanted to grab some hot cocoa at Starbucks. Here is what our conversation was like:

'Go away, whoever you are. I don't feel like talking,' Katie sobbed into the phone.

'Kat, what's wrong?' I said, suddenly concerned.

There was silence on the other end of the phone. Then Katie started wailing and I could barely make out what she was saying but here's what she said:

'I have leukemia.'

Once I heard that I started wailing as well. Can you imagine? My soul mate had an illness that might be fatal. With those 3 words my life changed.

Katie was at the hospital a lot. That meant no more sleepovers, Starbucks, or reading Betty and Veronica comics together out loud. But Katie was determined to keep in touch with me and her school friends. Katie went to school as often as she could and if she was well enough she would try to call me every day. I prayed every night that Katie would get better. And guess what?!? She did! Oh, I was so happy I went into my yard and screamed out of pure joy. Katie and I had a sleepover that night and it was our best one ever. We talked, gave each other manicures and played our favorite game hide and go seek. I was nothing but joyful that night. I was certain that nothing could make me sad. Oh boy was I wrong.

Then one night she woke up crying. She was rushed to hospital and I later got a call from her dad telling me that Katie's leukemia was back and it was bad. I went to see Katie as often as I could. One time when I was there I heard the doctors talking in the other room.

They said, 'It's gotten so bad it's almost incurable. We should warn the family that her time is limited....'

Before Katie could hear what they were saying I started to talk loudly over them. I left shortly after that because I needed to cry but I did not want to do in front of Katie. When I got home I locked my door and cried for hours. My soul mate, my best friend forever was dying.

One month later I got a call from Katie's mom. I knew the call was coming but I did not want to believe it. My mom drove me to the hospital and I ran up to Katie's room, tears streaming down my face. Katie was almost dead. I just needed to tell her that I loved her.

I walked into her room and said softly said to her, 'I love you.'

Katie looked back at me and said, 'I love you too.'

Then I gently hugged her. I sat next to her talking about the latest Betty and Veronica I had read, trying to act normal even though we both knew it wasn't normal. Katie started to close her eyes. I knew she was almost gone.

So before she left this earth I told her one more time, 'I love you.'

I saw Katie's corners of her mouth lift. My soul mate died with a smile on her face. I recapped that moment at her funeral. My speech was as followed:

'Katie I'll miss your laughs and hugs, your bright smiles and outgoing personality. You taught me a lesson everyday without having to say a word. Like the time when we were walking out of the mall, our arms loaded with bags and you saw an old lady struggling with her packages. You dropped everything and ran to help her. Or the time you talked me into volunteering at the soup kitchen with you. Every time a person came up holding out their plates and bowls you would give them a big smile scoop some food out compliment them on something and then wish them a good day. You always amazed me. If you are out there Katie looking down at me and smiling I just want you to know that I love you.'
(September 2008)

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Don't Bully

By Lillian, 6, Woodstock, GA, USA

Once upon a time there were two boys and one girl. Their names were Jon, Joe and Sally. Sally had a problem. The two boys were bullying her, and that's not nice. One of the boys called her girl friend. She told the teacher that they were bullying, and they stopped. They said sorry and became friends.
(September 2008)

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The Caterpillar

By Asia, 6, Woodstock, GA, USA

Once upon a time Amia the teacher gave the children candy to eat at recess. During recess Lanu found a caterpillar on a tree. Lanu asked Amia if she could bring the caterpillar home.

'Yes, you can bring the caterpillar.'

So Lanu brought it home. Lanu played with her caterpillar. Then she put the caterpillar to sleep and she got to sleep too.
(September 2008)

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Road to Freedom

By Sam, 10, La Crosse, WI, USA

I heard a faint squeak from a dark, unbeknownst corner of my cabin. Another rat, no doubt. There are many in the slaves cabins. I lay there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about what my life had become. I already knew the answer, not much. I was born in slavery, and was raised harvesting sugarcane on a plantation. I was separated from my family at the age of eight. My brother, James, and my sister, Sarah, were sold to a man named Abel. That is all I know about their whereabouts. I regret to say that I know nothing about where my parents, Amos and Molly, were sold. That was three years ago. I wonder if my parents and siblings often think of me. However, I must stop thinking of these things, because I know they will bring me grief. You would think that I would have gotten over it, now that I have lived this life for eleven years. Ignoring the continuous sounds from the rat, I tried to drift back to sleep. I looked up at the ceiling, and at the thick layer of mold covering the wood like a blanket. I have often dreamed of having a blanket like Master Dickinson. I knew that slavery was not right, and that we were just as good as all the white people. I have thought about escape more times than I have counted, but I have always realized if I were a fugitive, I would most likely be caught. Then, I remembered Master Dickinson whipping us with a sneer on his face, and I knew what I must do.

It is late evening. I am waiting anxiously in my cabin for the others to fall asleep. That is when I plan to escape. I look over at the others. A handful asleep, but most still awake. I wait longer. I would approximate it is about midnight when I finally decide it is safe. I must not let the others know I am leaving, for if they know anything about my departure, they might try to stop me. Master Dickinson whips the other slaves if one tries to escape. I wonder if I should even go. Then I remember the backbreaking labor that I am forced to do every day. I remember the feel of a crisp whip hitting my flesh. I stoop down and crawl out of a small hole in the cabin, a place where the wood has rotted completely away. As I come out, I find myself near the back of the plantation. As I am running toward the fence that marks the end of the property, I dream about what a new life might be like in Mexico. Like a fresh meal. Untouched. Undisturbed. No one telling me what order to eat it in. I reached the fence and jumped. One of my feet catches on a post, and I trip. There appears to be a bad splinter jammed in the top of it. As I pull it out, I see blood. I will have to bandage this up, or I may leave a trail of blood that would be easy to follow. I tore a strip off the bottom of my shirt and wrapped it around my injured foot. I hope that no hounds will pick up the scent of my blood. I ran on without being bothered by the injury to my foot. It was not until then that I realized that I had no idea where to go. I was not even sure if I was going the right way. However, I ran on.

I have heard about a network of safe houses referred to as 'stations' on something called the Underground Railroad. I imagined I would be traveling on it, even though I had no idea where it was. On and on through the woods I went. It was cold, wet, and dark. I kept my eyes firmly set ahead of me. I was coming to a small house. I had no idea if this person would help me or be against me, so I ran around it, not bothering to stop. I could almost swear that I saw a man's face look out of the window, and smile. To this day, I am not exactly sure what that meant. As I pressed on, I realized that I was getting much more tired. I would have to find a safe place to take refuge where no one would find me. Hours later, I found an old broken-down wagon near a stream. I knew this would be a good place. I settled down in it, just the place to spend the night. As I closed my eyes, I thought I might actually make it.

When I awoke, I heard the sound of men's voices. I listened to their conversation and I made an obvious conclusion that they were bounty hunters! For what I could tell - EIGHT of them! I hardly dared to breathe. I heard that they were setting up camp there, and that they did not intend to leave! I lay motionless for hours, just listening to those men talk! I was growing so stiff I could hardly stay still. Then, about when I decided I could not take it any longer- the wood against my back gave way! At that moment, I found myself lying in the middle of a bounty hunter camp.

I looked around at the various men around me and without a second thought - fled. I ran as fast as I could! I heard gunshots, screaming, yelling, cursing, and everything else behind me! For some reason... I got away. The next few nights were tough, but I made it through. I ran into many more bounty hunters, but none found me as the first did. I tried to remember my family, friends and other slaves who worked next to me at Dickinson's plantation. I remembered the songs they used to sing, oh those songs! I could not have made it through those first tough years. I specifically remember my favorite song called 'The Drinking Gourd'. I think it went something like this:

When the sun comes up and the first quail calls, follow the drinking gourd.
For the old man is a-waiting to carry you to freedom,
If you follow the drinking gourd.

The riverbank makes a very good road.
The dead trees show you the way,
Left foot, peg foot, traveling on,
Follow the drinking gourd.

I never will know what those words will mean but I am certain it would help me if I did!

The next day I ran into another bunch of bounty hunters. After the first incident, I ran over how I would stay safe if another came- I would wing it. There is so much different terrain on this land; there is no set way to know the best thing to do. It wasn't a perfect plan, but it worked for me.

Days later, I received word of the next stop on the Underground Railroad. It happened something like this: I was sprinting through the woods as usual and along come a white man. He was togged up in clean suspenders, a new straw hat, and crisp blue jeans. He looked straight at me several times without seeing me. By this time, I had become quite frightened of him (in fear of him reporting me). He walked by my hiding spot (an old twisted tree) a few times before noticing me. When he looked down at me, I knew my long, hard journey had ended and that I was to be returned to Master Dickinson. Then at that moment - he smiled! He grunted out the words that I have wanted to hear for so long... HE KNEW THE NEXT STATION ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD!

A day later, I reached the station. It is called the Reuben Benedict House. I am offered a bed for the night and a warm meal. There I hear the most stunning news of my life- I am in Ohio! All this time traveling I thought I was heading south to Mexico - as I mentioned earlier. I need to bend my plans quite a lot, but I believe that Canada will do just as fine. When morning comes, it is time for me to move on. I thank the Station Masters for their wonderful hospitality, and make my way out the door. I am directed to the next station, a place called the Rush R. Sloane House. As I trudge along, I cannot help but wonder why I wanted my freedom so badly. Why I am willing to risk my life for it? The answer was in my head long before this moment, but I have never noticed it until now. The answer is...I am a human being too.

I arrived safely at the Rush R Sloan House and many houses after that. There was only trouble the night I stayed at the John Hossack House in Ottawa, Illinois. I was cozy in my bed when I heard the sound of arguing. Then I heard someone tearing through the house, most likely a bounty hunter. John Hossack whipped into my room and told me to climb out the window and run for dear life. Wasting no time, I took a tremendous leap out of the window and tore north. As the John Hossack House faded out of sight, I could have sworn I heard someone yell, 'Milton House!'

A day after the John Hossack incident, I came to a point where I could see Canada! I could see the Canadian border! I could see freedom! I was four feet, three feet, two feet. THUD! Someone knocked me to the ground. I looked up and saw a man's face. I recognized the man's face. It was the face of Master Dickinson.

Master Dickinson dragged me back to the Milton House. I hope he does not realize that this is a station on the Underground Railroad. There he let out all his anger. After he had finished, he started to prepare our trip back to North Carolina. He said once we got back to his plantation, that there would soon be someone missing. We left later that day and made tracks south. Now everyone knows that Dickinson is a tick infested jerk, but this was ridiculous! I have never seen that man scratch himself so much! In addition, he stunk! To be honest with you, I could not tell if I was traveling with a man or a skunk! After an hour of walking, Dickinson started ranting and raving about his chest, and minutes later, he was dead on the ground. I had no way of knowing about heart attacks and the itching that that precedes it back then, but I was sure it was serious! I ran back to the Milton House, told them about the corpse, and then headed north again. As I looked up at the sunset, I knew there was a straight road to freedom ahead of me.
(August 2008)

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A Secret Trip on the Underground Railroad

By Beverly, 10, La Crosse, WI, USA

Ouch!

The sharp pain of a nail hits my finger. My name is Elijah and I work on Master Steven's plantation in York Town, Virginia. Right now I'm building a horse stable. I'll be lucky if they don't tear it down, it looks pretty bad but what can they expect from a ten year old boy working on a stable without a partner? I just so badly wish I could run down the lane and catch a train to a northern state and have my freedom. But I can't do that. Actually I can't go anywhere until I finish my job or can I?

I look around to see if anyone is watching me. No one is watching. I drop my hammer and nails and look out the barn door. All I can see is the other slaves working in the garden patch. I take off running as fast as I can! I hope no one has seen me yet. I'm breathing real hard as my heart thuds in my chest while I run! I break off into the woods by the road. Still running, I crunch over dead leaves and leap over twigs and broken branches. After running for 5 minutes I whirl into a field of Queen Ann's flowers, pokeweed and old tangled grape vines. I try to run through the gruesome weeds, but they pull me back, so I walk.

Just then I hear a twig snap and two dogs barking. Surely Master Stevens knows I'm gone by now. I start to run as fast as I can through the brush! I come to an old rusty barbed wire fence bent to the ground. I quickly hurdle over it. Still trying to run through the weeds, I look around and can't see anything but rain pouring down on me and the field. But wait, in a distant cornfield something tall and bony reaches up and out of it. It looks like an old tree! I sprint towards it in the thick rain.

Finally, I reach the cornfield. It is very wet and muddy. I slip through the aisles of corn now seeing the ancient, crooked tree. I trot towards the tree now noticing a deep hole in it. I look down in the hole now also seeing a dim orange light, which I guessed to be a fire. I wiggled my way in the hole. When I got in, I used an old rope ladder to get down to the cold damp bottom. There were 4 other people in the shaft. They were the same as me, fugitives. One motioned for me to sit with them by the fire. They asked where I was from, what my name was, and how I knew this was a station. I told them I didn't know it was a station until I arrived in the hole. After that, one of the women in the group handed me a cloth. I asked her what it was. She told me that it was a secret map of the stations on the Underground Railroad. I thanked her for it; I knew I would need it.

That night I didn't sleep one wink. I thought about why I wanted my freedom. If I made it to Canada and grew up the rest of my life there, my children would not be born into slavery. I also thought about the dogs I'd heard that scared me half to death! I worried about how I'd keep from being captured. I would have to travel quickly and quietly and know where I was going. I was also concerned about my family. I wondered, has my brother Sam run away too? What about Momma and Poppa? How was everybody? Was anybody hurt? I had countless questions to ask. But something told me everyone was all right. Now I knew, somehow, I would make it to freedom.
(August 2008)

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The Two Birds

By Jamie, 9, Tobago

There was once a huge flat field and in the field there was a gnarled oak tree. In the oak tree two birds were making a nest for their young.

When they were half way through the mother bird said, 'I am to tired to continue building this nest you must continue while I rest.'

The father bird wondered how he could ever finish it by himself but he tried and he tried. He worked all night and all day for three days, until he finally finished.

He proudly told his wife that his handy work was done and joyfully the mother bird laid three eggs. As time past they hatched into white fluffy chicks.

Moral - Try hard and it is likely you will succeed.
(August 2008)

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Frog and Tortoise

By Sienna, 9 , Pasadena, CA, USA

One day athletic Frog came upon Tortoise going for a canoe ride.

'Tortoise you are as slow as a snail, but I am as fast as lightening and agile,' Frog shouted.

Tortoise was hurt but said, 'I am slow and I take my time but I always get the job done. I challenge you to race me across the lake tomorrow.'

Frog laughed until he could not breath. 'Race you! Of course I will win, so I accept your challenge.'

Frog raced away and soon everyone on the lake knew about the race.

The next day everyone who lived on the lake was there, everyone could see Frog and Tortoise across the lake. Soon the rhinoceros king put up his bulky hand for silence.

Then he hollered, 'We will all be excited to see who wins, but now let the race begin.'

The pistol went off with a tremendous bang. Frog raced forward with impressive speed while Tortoise went forward as if he was going on a cruise. Half an hour went by, Tortoise was still going slowly, Frog was getting tired. 'I think a rest wouldn't hurt' Frog thought. Then he put the anchor down and then he fell asleep.

When he woke up everyone was cheering excitedly. He looked up only to see Tortoise nearing the finish line. He jumped up, shot forward and tried to hoist the anchor. It was stuck! He knew he would lose so he sat down sulkily and waited for help.

Frog learned that you should not boast.
(august 2008)

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Bully Season

By Laura Jane, 11, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

February 1st or number 509 of Bully season, as soon as I take my first blink of the day the pain of bullies approaches my small and timid mind. I'm shaking in terrible fear and my heart is pounding, like a big base drum in the lead of a band; as soon as the scary feeling of the bus arriving I will start the day of the bully!

While I get dressed in the clothes that will soon be wrecked my parents are sleeping and my gran is searching for her reading glasses which I have just come across. As soon as I am dressed I have to skip getting washed and go straight down stairs and put my cereal in the nearly broken bowl with no milk, give gran her glasses, wake up my parents, eat a horrible breakfast then head on to the life threatening bus and sit in my seat, the seat of the Bully.

Sitting down my blood all going cold, freezing in my veins, my heart pounding harder than ever, that can only mean one thing! We're here, my Bully's house, as he approaches the bus, my heart jumps right into my throat and I am now stiff. The Bully sits next to me crushing my hand already his eyes are filled with the evil that I've always known he's had.

'BEEP, BEEP, CHING.' That's the sound of the bus door opening or the sound of the metal bar door opening to my lonely prison cell.

We are here the place I dread, school also known to me as a prison cell with me as a target. I try to walk in without getting noticed but the bully can smell fear just like a shark can smell blood. The bully grabs my thin coat, steals my bag and drags me into the tower of terror.

He drags me to his peg, waits till everyone is in class then he hangs me up by the label of my jacket and thumps my jaw like I'm a punch bag, leaves me hanging and goes into class. My dark red blood drips from my lip, my tooth falls from my battered mouth and a salty tear trickles down my swollen cheek.

My bully is back from class with his friends, one of the Bully's friends wants my jacket so he held me down and pulled it off, another wants my shoes so he violently snatched them off my feet. A slightly chubbier fellow with a bad temper seems to want to get rid of some anger so he punches me in the stomach several times, leaving me in agony. My Bully grabs my collar and drags me to the lunch room, where more chaos can happen.

Halfway through the day and I'm all ready sore from head to toe, face swollen, arms aching, chest throbbing, stomach in agony, legs in pain and feet freezing cold. While the Bullies stuff their face I try to enjoy my peace but the pain has got the better of me. I tried to slip away but my bully is watching me like a hawk. I whispered to the next table 'HELP!' But no answer or advice comes from them I'm stuck here with no way out.

Lunch is finished and back to the hanger for me and before they go into their class they all give my face and stomach a good punch for good luck on their tests. My nose is now gushing with blood and I think they punched my stomach so hard all my organs have swapped places, and now instead of one tear there is a salty, water shower coming from my eyes soaking my swollen cheek.

It's home time and as I expected my clothes are wrecked and I am in full agony and pain with no one who cares or notices it. For a third time today he drags me to my seat and threatens me to show no sign of pain.

'BEEP, BEEP CHING' Is now the sound of the door opening at my stop or a passage way to a different kind of pain.

At home I say hello in a low profile voice but mum is at the hospital working, dad is ill and gran doesn't understand anything when I'm quiet. I get changed and went down stairs to cook dinner, since dad can't move and gran can't cook. When I'm finished cooking and bandaging my burnt fingers, I hand grans dinner to her and feed dad his.

When I'm finished that, I eat my cold dinner and do mine and my Bully's homework while helping my dad and gran.

A few hours later Mum came home from work with a small carton of milk, dad and gran's pills, some chicken, 2 eggs and a chocolate bar for me. I helped her with the bags, thanked her for the chocolate, then she lent down to give me a kiss, hugged gran and kissed dad gently on the forehead.

Mum wanted to be alone with gran and dad, so I went upstairs to my bedroom with my luxurious chocolate bar.

In my bedroom there is not much, a bed (which is small and uncomfortable,) a little piggy bank (with only 10 pence, a button and 3 gummy bears,) a short and squint cupboard (used for clothes and now a chocolate bar (which I treasure!) .

I took a bite out of the chocolate bar and it felt great, chewing that one delicious bite.

It is now night. I get changed; go downstairs to brush my teeth with my grotty, old toothbrush, say good night and go back upstairs to sleep in my small bed.

Morning again, another day of Bully season. If I count correctly it is number 510. I got dressed in my 2nd last T shirt, last pair of trousers and my wrecked shoes. Mum and dad still sleeping and gran have lost her reading glasses again but this time I haven't come across them. I start my routine and then the dreadful sound of the bus comes to my mind.

I step on to the bus, slower than yesterday scared of the painful future that lies ahead. I sit in my seat and a tear comes down my soon to be swollen cheek. My face is going red, I feel like a bomb about to explode, which means... GULP. The Bully.

He sits next to me, I freeze in fear. He turns and grabs my hand; his eyes tell me its going to be a long, long day.

'BEEP, BEEP CHING' goes the doors of the bus, now I am entering my prison cell for the second time. I have no jacket, so I have no hood to hide under, only my shame to cover me. I try to run in to the school (since my Bully isn't a very good runner,) but I start limping halfway since my feet are still sore from yesterday. He will catch up now. Gasping in air and limping to the front door my Bully catches up, he picks me up and slaps me, hard! It's painful, but I'm used to it by now.

Now I am inside the school and once again I am taken to his peg, watching all the other children disappear into their classrooms one by one. The last child goes into class, my bully looks mad and suddenly his friends come out of nowhere and now start to hit me any where they could.

My Bully and his friends have gone into class and I look a state. I have a black eye, my nose and lip are deeply bleeding, and I think I've lost several teeth, my clothes are ripped to pieces and I can't move. My tears build up until I burst out crying, so much that it looks like I have just came out of a pool.


A school inspector heard me crying, he looked normal, white teeth, gelled back hair, dark brown eyes, pointy moustache, black suit, shiny shoes and a gold watch on his wrist. He didn't do much, came to me, lifted my head slightly, took a handkerchief to wipe away my tears, sat me down on the bench next to me (which I have just noticed,) gave me a polite smile and left with out sound.

A few minutes after that pleasant but mysterious visit from the school inspector, my bully came out of class, what is he going to do now? I thought. As soon as he lifted me up by the front of my collar, I hear the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway.

As the sound of the footsteps got louder and closer I get more worried and relieved in a way because if it wasn't for the footsteps I would have been squished right about now.

My Bully and his friends are distracted by the footsteps, so I try to slip away one little move at a time. I am almost of the bench but when I take my 2nd step towards the next corridor someone puts their hand on my shoulder. Presumably the Bully.

I turn around, close my eyes and crunch up my arms and shoulders, I wait a few minutes and surprisingly I wasn't hurt or punched as I presumed, I was actually touched lightly and lovingly like an angel had just landed on my shoulder.

I opened my eyes and it was my mum, dad (in a wheel chair), gran and the school inspector, I looked round them and the Bully had been taken away and I was safe.

I asked my parents what happened but all was said was, 'Its ok son, its over.'

Now you see if I had told on the first day that I was being bullied, it wouldn't have started, so if you think about it the Bully was me.

Don't keep it to yourself, tell when being bullied.
(August 2008)

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Seamor`s Story

By Hayley, 8, CT, USA

Once upon a time there was a bear named Seamor. Seamor was a lonely bear. Everyday Seamor would hunt for food, eat and rest. Seamor had no friends. One day Seamor was out for a jog and bumped into a porcupine.

'Ouch,' said Seamor 'sorry,' said the porcupine.

'It's OK,' said Seamor 'it was just an accident.'

'My name is Rosemary,' said the porcupine, 'What's your name?'

'Seamor.'

'What a nice name,' said Rosemary.

'I like your name too,' said Seamor. 'Do you want to come over for dinner? I am having Roasted Bird.'

'Sure,' said Rosemary, 'I will bring some Baked Bird Liver.'

'OK,' said Seamor.

So Seamor finally has a friend and the dinner, well it went well, and now Seamor has many more friends like: Kimmy Koala, Ali Alligator, Emerald Elephant, Madison Manatee, Lio Lion, Dana Dog and Julia Jellyfish plus now Seamor lives in a zoo!

Now Seamor is a very happy bear.
(August 2008)

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The Lost City

By Alexander, 8, Bronx, NY, USA

Centuries ago there was believed to be a lost city called Atlantis. Today people are still wondering about it. Some say it sank underwater and 'mermaids' live in it. Some say it's a myth. Some say it just sank.

Long ago when Earth was first formed everything was land and underwater was underground. Then the underground opened up and it kept opening up until the Earth was water and land. Atlantis was part of the land. Atlantis was very advanced. It was almost as if they had alien technology. Then one day Atlantis sunk underwater because of an earthquake.

Once I went underwater and found the sunken city of Atlantis. I was at home doing my homework then my little sister came in the room with the twins who lived next door. They were dressed like crossing guards.

'Why are you dressed like that?!' I asked.

'This week happens to be safety week and you happened to have a safety violation!' replied my little sister. She took out something that looked like a water gun and electrocuted me with it. Then she pointed to the lamp. My jacket was on fire. 'Lesson learned. Don't leave your clothes on a lamp!' said my sister.

'I didn't leave that there!' I said.

'I know,' giggled my sister.

'I hate it when you do that,' I said, but then my mom came into my room and said,

'Don't curse at your sister!'

My sister made a face at me while my mom wasn't looking at me and set her electric gun to 105 volts of electricity. She reached out and electrocuted me. My hair flew up like a broom and I fell to ground. There was a loud THUD! My mom turned around and asked what happened. I would've said Amy electrocuted me but I couldn't open my lips apart.

My mom turned around and my sister said, 'Hey Alex one thing before I leave.'

'What?' I asked.

She reached out and she said to twins Max and John, 'You know what to do.'

The twins took out an electric gun and electrocuted me again, then they took a slingshot out of their pocket and flung some pebbles at me.

'Hey remember what else,' said Amy.

Then the twins took out some boxing gloves.I cracked up.

'HA!! Some 4 year olds are going to beat me up with boxing gloves!' I said.

I laughed as if I needed to laugh to survive!

'You shouldn't have said that,' said the twins.
Amy said, 'They're black belts in over 46 karate schools and battled 5 gorillas, 7 tigers, and 3 lions and won. They're also experts in over 79 gymnastic schools, pros in over 54 boxing classes, and professionals at soccer, baseball, basketball, and every other sport that requires speed and strength.'

'Pfft yeah right,' I said.

Max sneaked up behind me and flipped me over. I was lying down on the floor and they stepped on my stomach. I got up and they took Amy's electric gun. They kicked me in the knee and punched me in the face. They set the electric gun to 200 volts of electricity and stuck it in my shirt. As the electricity traveled through my body I was yelling, 'I HATE YOU!' between each ZAPP and BZZT! While the electricity was traveling through my body the twins practiced their Kung Fu. Amy grabbed the gun out of my shirt and turned it off.

'Eww I better wash your nasty germs off it,' said Amy.

She washed it in the sink but she didn't realize the warning on the back of it that said: DO NOT POUR LIQUIDS ON THIS!

'Huh what are those yellow zigzag beams around it?' said Amy.

Then she felt a little electric shock. She quickly threw it in my shirt and it electrocuted me like crazy. As the electricity flowed threw my body Amy took a basketball and threw at me. It hit me hard in the shoulder and I fell on the computer desk. The electricity from the computer traveled into my body.

'When you die can I read your diary?' asked Amy, as the electricity flowed through my body.

Then she grabbed the gun out of my shirt and quickly threw it out the window.

'That was a waste of 20 bucks,' said Amy.

Then John gave me an atomic wedgie.

'I am sooooo taking a video of this!' said Amy.

Max kicked me in the knee, John punched me in the face. John flipped me over and I fell out the window. I landed on top of a car and it rode to the dock. Everyone in the car got off and so did I.

'So I guess your going scuba diving too,' said someone who came out from the car.

We all walked onto a ship. Some guy at the ship gave me a scuba diving suit and told me to put it on. I put it on and he told me that I'm going scuba diving with the family in the car I landed on. But I couldn't believe the family didn't find out I was on their car. The man pushed me and the people I was swimming with off the boat. We dived down and I saw a dolphin. I held on to it's fin because I knew that dolphins are very gentle. Meanwhile, at home Amy and the twins were thinking of an excuse for where Max was.

But then Amy said, 'Wait why are we making an excuse so he doesn't get in trouble. Aren't we trying to get him into trouble? Why don't we tell Mom and Dad he sneaked out? That way he'll get in trouble.'

The twins agreed.
Meanwhile I was scuba diving I found something that looked like a UFO.

'LOOK!' I yelled. The people surrounded me.

'WOAH!' they all said at the same time.

Then I saw some broken buildings and a broken sign that said welcome to Atlantis. There were also broken machines that looked as if they were from the future

'Goodbye Todaysville and hello Tomorrow town!' I said.

'We found the lost city of Atlantis!' said one of the people from the family.

'We?!! Don't you mean I found it?' I said. He took out something that looked like my sister's electric gun.

'Stop trying to hog up all the credit!' he said.
'Doesn't that break in water?' I asked.

'No this is waterproof,' he said, 'So as I was saying, stop trying to get all the credit for finding Atlantis!' Then he set it to 205 volts and electrocuted me with it.

'HONEY!' yelled a lady who I think was the mom, 'Don't do that again! And by the way he did find it himself!' Meanwhile at home Amy and the twins were telling their dad that I sneaked out.

The dad was stupid so he yelled, 'MY SON IS MISSING!!'

Then he ran and fell out the window and landing on the neighbor's lawn. The lady who lived next door was mowing the lawn and she accidentally released the lawnmower and it went right over my dad. His clothes were all ripped into shreds and all he had on was his boxers. He ran onto the streets with his hands in the air yelling,

'MY SON IS MISSING!'

He ran onto the docks and the man who gave me the scuba diving suit handed one to my dad and told him to wear it. He pushed my dad into the water. My dad dived down and found me.

'What are you doing here?!' asked my dad.

'It's a long story,' I said, 'But I did find the lost city of Atlantis.'

We all swam into the lost city of Atlantis.

'HA!' said a boy named Wilson, 'There was technology like this before my grandmother's grandma was born and they call Atlantis advanced!'

'Oh yeah if you're so advanced show us what technology you have.' I said.

Wilson took out his electric gun and shot a building of Atlantis with it. The building fell and knocked down each other building. Then a shark appeared in front of us.

'Who dares disturb the lost city of Atlantis? Or should I say broken city of Atlantis,' said the shark.

Nobody answered.

'That's how you want it? Then fine!' said the shark.

A kraken, loch ness, and army of mermaids swam in front of us. There was also a merman with a crown. I was guessing he was the king of the mermaids but I was wrong; he was the king of the sea.

'ATTACK!' yelled the king of the sea.

I snatched the electric gun out of Wilson's hand and shot it at the sea monsters, shark, and mermaids.

'I forgot to tell you that certain underwater creatures don't feel electricity,' said the King.

We swam away and I dropped my (well, actually his) electric gun. It fell into the sand and sank deep into it. It kept sinking underwater/underground until it reached the ultimately hot heat. The combination of electricity and heat caused the sand from above to explode and make a hole. The sand from above exploded even more and then got bigger. It was like a black hole getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Meanwhile, we were swimming until we saw and underwater cave. It was too small for the shark and the sea monsters to fit in. We swam inside and so did the mermaids. We kept swimming until we reached a dead end. We were doomed and there was nothing to do. The mermaids got closer and closer and closer and then

'AHHHH!' The mermaids screamed as I pulled out a pro's guide to hunting all sea creatures.

'He is a pro at hunting all sea creatures?!' said the king.

They all swam away in fear. Meanwhile the hole made from the underground explosion was getting bigger and rocks were falling in. When the rocks fell in the explosion made it shoot straight up out of the water. Everyone was at the dock watching the rocks shoot out of the water. We swam to the hole and someone named Derek said,

'What the heck is going on?!'

Then a nerd named Jackson said, 'Studies show that deep underground is hot enough to explode when mixed with electricity.'

'Huh?' I said.

'If someone dropped a source of electricity and it sank underground then made the dirt explode and the rocks are falling in and exploding and shooting into the air,' said Jackson.

Everyone looked at me since I was the one who took the electric gun.

'I accidentally dropped the electric gun,' I confessed.

'Well, we have to do something before some serious happens,' said Jackson.

Then a giant squid got stuck inside. It shot straight up out of the water and all the townspeople shrieked. My dad didn't hear a word we were saying and he was just swimming near the hole. Then he swam in the hole and got stuck in the rocks. I reached out to help him up but he accidentally pulled me in. I got stuck in the rocks and I could hear the rumbling. The explosion was probably going to be huge because the rumbling was loud. Then it started rumbling again but the rumbling sounded different. Then me and my dad started shaking and shot straight up into the air. We landed back into the hole. The hole got bigger and bigger and we kept shooting into the air and some of the rocks banged onto our heads. Then the shark and the sea monsters came. I wanted to take out my sea creature hunting manual so they could be afraid of me but I was stuck in the rocks. I needed a source of energy strong enough so that I can shoot straight up and hit the shark or sea monster but hit them hard. I held my breath and took off my air tank. I opened the cap and the air blew out then I shot straight up into the air. I hit the shark and flew out of the sea. I flew onto the dock with my air tank and took out my phone. I send a text message to Wilson. I thought he had a waterproof phone since he had a waterproof electric gun and he did.

My text message said, 'Open your CAP on the AIR TANK AND FLY to the Dock. Tell everyone ELSE 2 Do 1T.'

He told everyone to take the cap off their air tank and fly to the dock. They took the caps off their air tanks and flew to the dock. Then a baby shark arose from the water and floated in the air.

'We are the ghosts of Atlantis,' said the baby shark.

'Wait a minute there's only one of you and you're a sea creature not ghost,' I said.

Then a sea snake arose from the water and floated in the air.

'Well that explains your question about us and now your question about ghosts. You see long ago when Atlantis existed sea creatures didn't. Then Atlantis sank and we became sea creatures,' said the baby shark.

Then more sea creatures floated in the air, then a loch ness monster jumped out of the water.

'When will this adventure be over?!' I said.

'When you repair Atlantis' buildings,' said the sea snake.

'There's no way I could repair the buildings unless I go back in time and make this never happen,' I said.

'That's an excellent idea! We could lend you a time machine and you could go back in time but there is a better chance you will go in the future,' said the baby shark.

He swam down and took the time machine that I saw and swam back up with it. He threw it to me and he also threw an instruction manual. I went inside the time machine and Derek asked if he could come with me, so did Wilson. The time machine was pretty big so I said they could come. We all got in the time machine and I read the manual. It said to hit the green GO button.
So I pressed the GO button and a voice said,

'Now traveling to the future.'

'NO!' I yelled.

I hit the red button and I thought it was the stop button but I forgot that the red button is usually the bad button.

Then the voice said, 'Now traveling everything inside and around time machine to future.'

Then there was a flash of light and we all traveled to the future.

'You should've read the manual you idiot!' hissed the sea snake.

'It's the destroyer of Atlantis! I thought he was dead!' said a townsperson.

'Everyone get him!' yelled a townsperson. Everyone chased me and I ran. Then I tripped over a bug and everyone attacked me.

'I'll bite his leg and you'll pull his hair!' said a townsperson.

'Hey everybody, why use our fist and legs when we can beat him up with laser guns and electric guns.'

They shot their laser guns at me and electric guns. I ran into a portal and landed on a flying car. I stood up and slipped. I fell all the way down and landed flat on my face. The angry mob attacked me again. I managed to escape quietly and they didn't even realize that I left. Then we went back in the time machine and pressed the green GO button. Then we went further into the future. On the news (in the future) they were developing a project to fix the lost city of Atlantis. They also threw tomatos at me.

'That's what you get for breaking the lost city of Atlantis,' hissed the sea snake.

Everyone even Wilson, Derek, their parents, and my dad threw tomatos at me. The family threw it at me for getting them into this big adventure and the townspeople well of course for breaking the lost city of Atlantis. Then I woke up tied to a chair underwater.

'I guess you had a good sleep,' said the shark.

The family and my dad were also tied to a chair underwater.

'You thought you could get away but you couldn't,' said the kraken.

'We won and you lost,' said the loch ness monster.

'But wait if this was a dream does that mean the hole that got bigger and bigger is not real?' I asked.

'Nope,' said the king of the sea.

'Good to know,' said Wilson.

'You know what to do,' I said.

He took out his electric gun and zapped the rope right off. He did it to everyone elses rope too. I grabbed a fish that was swimming by and took Wilson's electric gun. I cooked the fish with the electric gun and tossed onto the kraken. The shark tried to bite the kraken but the kraken threw it to a mermaid. They kept tossing it around so the shark wouldn't bite them. But I remembered that the adventure wouldn't be over until I fixed the lost city of Atlantis. Then I remembered the time machine. I told everyone (except the enemies of course) to follow me. We swam over to where I found the UFO. I went inside and searched for the manual. It said it could only go to the future. I pressed the green button and it teleported into the future.

I took a grow gun 3000 from the future and went in a time machine that was from the future but could go in both the past and future. I traveled back to my home time with the grow gun 3000.

'Everybody take their cap off your air tank and fly to the dock,' I told them.

We all flew to the dock and put the cap back on. I told them to wait and that I had a solution to this problem. I ran back to my house and asked my sister for her model of Atlantis. It was about 4 feet high.

'Give me 50 bucks and it's all yours,' said my sister.

I went to my wallet and took $50 from it and gave it to my sister. She handed me over her model of Atlantis then asked, 'Why are you wearing a scuba diving suit?'

'It's a long story,' I replied.

I ran back to dock with my model of Atlantis. I told them to swim back down and place the model of Atlantis on the underwater soil. I was lucky it didn't float. I shot the grow gun 3000 at it and it grew huge. The top of the building reached out of the sea.

'Now for the finishing touch,' I said.

I placed a sign that said, 'Welcome to Atlantis Hotel!' Then our air tanks were running out of air. We held our breaths as we sacrificed the last of our air and flew to the dock. But it was too late. We didn't have enough air left. We quickly swam to the surface and took a big gasp for air. We climbed back into the dock and the kraken's tentacle flew out of the water and smashed the dock. We held out breaths and sank underwater. I swam to the surface and went back onto the land. I asked the guy for 6 extra air tanks and he handed them over to me. I put one on and swam back down. I gave the extra ones to them.

Then the loch ness yelled, 'Atlantis isn't a hotel!'

'Why don't you just take off the sign?' I asked.

'Because fish are already swimming inside and taking up all the space!' yelled the loch ness monster.

Then the kraken kept trying to smack us with his massive tentacles. We ducked and we dodged and did whatever it took to not get hit (except dying, getting seriously hurt, or drowning). Then he smacked Wilson. Wilson fell as if he was drowning but he could still breathe. Then Derek got smacked by the kraken and fell just like Wilson. Then the parents and my dad got smacked by the kraken and I was the only one left. I did a high-pitched scream and the glass buildings of Atlantis shattered into a million tiny little pieces. The kraken covered its ears but my scream was too loud.

He swam away and yelled, 'SHUT UP ALREADY I GIVE UP!'

Then the loch ness monster came. I yelled but he roared even louder. Then I scattered fish bait all over the loch ness monster and the fish bit the loch ness monster trying to eat as many fish bait as they can.

'I swear I'll be back!' yelled the loch ness monster.

We swam back to the surface and all walked home. Then I got home and made my pillow 3 feet longer with the grow gun 3000. I hit my sister with it and she pushed me out the window. Then I landed on someone's car; someone who was going scuba diving....
(August 2008)

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The Rat Catcher

By Renee, 7, Penarth Val