Young
Writers
2008
Third - Fifth
Grades
Sixth
- Eighth
Grades
Magruder Elementary – Kindergarten
One
afternoon when I was playing with my little brother, my mom said my
friend was
coming over for a sleepover. I was so
excited. I waited for a long time.
Finally,
my friend was here. I jumped with
excitement on the front porch.
We
rolled out our sleeping bags and laid out our pillows. Then we
got ready for dinner.
Dinner
was good. Then we got ready for our sleepover.
The
sleep was great.
The
End
by
Hilton
Elementary – 1st Grade
Once
upon a time there was a bakery in the ocean.
It opened at 5:00 every morning.
Before the store opened, Trish the starfish and Ate-o the octopus
came. The first person to come was
Shelly the shellfish. She wanted a
Shelly Smoothie. She paid for it and sat
at a shell booth. Trish said, “I think
that we need to go to the market and buy some things.”
So
Ate-o went to the market. When he came back he had bought some shrimp,
dough,
and krill. Sassy the crab came to help
in the back. She had to cook three krill
cakes and Shelly Smoothies. Lolphin the dolphin came.
She wanted to order some krill cakes and a Shelly Smoothie. Then a reporter came in yelling, “A shark, a shark.”
Trish
and Ate-o went to their houses. All the
other fish went into cracks and holes in the bottom of the ocean. The great white came closer and closer. Finally the great white was right over them. He came in the bakery and ate all the
food. Then he left.
The
next morning Trish and Ate-o came to make the food for the rest of the
day. Sassy came over before the store
opened. Trish opened the store and the
first sea creature to come was Lolphin. She wanted a Shelly Smoothie and some krill
cakes.
Then
whale came and said he had spied swordfish coming to get some fish. The toucan fish came in and said, “Hide! Hide!”
So all of them hid in dark places. Angelfish came and asked to hide in the
bakery and Trish said yes. Ate-o said he
would spray some of his ink and try to get the swordfish to go away. After a few sprays the swordfish had vanished
into the wary seaweed. “I think we
should close the bakery now,” said Trish.
So Ate-o and Trish closed the store.
The
next morning Trish did not come so Ate-o called Trish, but Trish did
not
answer. Her friend did, and she said
that Trish had a bit flipper, so she could not work today, but she said
Sassy
was going to stay longer today. So Sassy came at
4:00.
Angelfish said she would like two Shelly Smoothies and sat at a table
and drank her Smoothie and that was the story about a bakery in the
ocean.
by
Ajitha
Tabb Elementary – 2nd Grade
In
a forest there lived a cat named Rosie.
It was one of the Lion King’s favorite cats. It was very
intelligent and always made the
king laugh.
Merenda, the fox and Joey, the bear were
jealous of
Rosie. They were also foolish.
One
night, Rosie was walking around the forest.
Suddenly she saw a white blink.
It was coming closer and closer.
The more close it came, the brighter it was. Rosie took her cape
and flew to where the
bright light was coming.
She
found out that it was a U.F.O. Soon the
U.F.O. landed. Three aliens came
out. Rosie hid behind the bushes so she
could hear what they were saying. They
planned to take over forest.
Rosie
thought quickly. She told the king about
the aliens. She found that aliens ate
metals and drank gasoline. Merenda and Joey told the king that actually
Rosie wanted
to take over the forest. The king said
that it would never happen. Rosie would
always try to help us, he said.
The
king followed the directions Rosie said.
He ordered everyone to come to the palace. The
king told them, “Do you know that we ran
out of metals and gasoline?”
“No,” said the
animals. The aliens overheard what they
said and
realized that they couldn’t get any food or drinks.
So the aliens thought that the Earth was not
the right place to live. The aliens soon
left the Earth and never came back.
Everyone
cheered, “Hooray for Rosie the Super Cat!”
Even Merenda and Joey cheered. They
realized that it was a mistake to be
jealous and selfish of someone.
Third - Fifth
Grades
Sixth
- Eighth
Grades
by
Ashley
It
was the summer of 1782. A
very hot one, of course.
A boy named Billy had been a soldier in the Continental Army. After the war ended he had been trying to go
back to his home back in
Billy
had been walking in
When
is this ever going to end? thought Billy,
walking up a
tiny stream going on for about a mile or two.
He then refilled his canteen with fresh, cool water.
Billy
then reached a dock with boats. He then
had a plan. He’d steal a boat, then try rowing his boat into
Quickly,
he then started his great plan. He got
the most fastest boat he could get. Billy then sailed off in the devastating
sea. A week later he noticed a
lighthouse. It looked very familiar to
him.
He
then saw a sign that said, “
But
a few feet before reaching the shoreline he saw a little ball of fur
yelping
for air. He got closer to it and saw it
was a beagle!
I
got to save it, thought Billy, reaching his hands out in the icy water. He yanked it out, and then covered it with
his velvet jacket.
Billy
woke up at dawn. He then built a tiny
fire for the pup – if it lived. He then
saw the little, scrawny face lighten up with tiny cute eyes staring
wide-eyed
at him.
Billy
said, “You know what? I’ll keep you,
boy, and your name will be Skippy.” He
then saw that Skippy wagged his tiny little tail happily.
Skippy followed Billy and started to trust
his new owner and followed him wherever his owner went.
Billy
then went up
He
spotted ten huge logs where his shed had been.
Billy had an idea! He could build
a house for Skippy and him. So he got to
work.
A
few months later, his house was built.
It was about six feet tall and eight feet wide.
Plus, his puppy was now twice the size of how
big he was when he just met him at
Billy
then had to make a bed and chairs. He
then went out in the woods to look for a deer.
Billy spotted a buck, he aimed his gun, then ….. Poowow, Kabbooom
zzzsss.
He fired his gun. He was
surprised because he shot the buck right in the heart.
It was a perfect shot.
But
the buck still went on running for about five minutes.
So within those five minutes, Skippy chased
that crazy buck, biting and snapping at its large legs and hooves.
The
buck then heaved its last breath, then
began to fall
down like molasses. Once it was down,
Billy grabbed his knife and began cutting the hide.
The
hide and all the meat could last about five years or so.
Billy built a bed with his huge hide. His
house was now a house. He and Skippy then
were like family and so
they lived a happy life. One day, Billy
said, “You know, Skippy, Have you ever heard that when all is gone but
little
is found, you can get a lot from that little?
I never knew what it meant, but now I do.”
by
Shai-Quana
Waller
Mill Elementary – 5th Grade
Once
there were two twin girls named Camille and La’Mille. They loved mysteries and they called
themselves “The Double D’s,” short for “The Double Detectives.” They were both nine years old and most of the
time they got along.
One
day, when they were in their yard, throwing a ball back and forth to
each
other, La’Mille accidentally threw the
ball too far
and it landed in the yard across the street.
Now, these girls loved mysteries, but according to them and the
other
neighborhood children, that house across the street was haunted. Camille and La’Mille
looked at each other, knowing what they had to do.
They walked up to the sidewalk that bordered
the side of their yard. They looked both
ways, checking for cars. The street was
deserted. They walked across the street
to the sidewalk that bordered the “haunted” house.
They walked slowly and cautiously into the
yard and toward their ball. Camille was
just reaching out to grab the ball when they heard something lightly
tumbling
down the stairs inside the house.
Camille
and La’Mille stood frozen, listening. Then they heard the object lightly hit the
door.
“Let’s
go check it out!” said La’Mille.
“Are
you crazy?” shouted Camille. “No way! The house
is
haunted. I’m not going in there!”
“Aw,
come on!” La’Milled complained. “There are only so many things that could
happen to us. And besides, all we’re
doing is checking out what that thing was falling down the stairs.”
“Oh,
all right,” said Camille. “But like you
just said: We’re only checking out what that thing was falling down the
stairs.” She picked up the ball and they
walked slowly toward the house. In her
mind, Camille was hoping that the door would be locked.
But to their surprise, it wasn’t. Still
walking slowly, they walked toward the
stairs. Right at the foot of the stairs
was a pair of small eyeglasses.
La’Mille picked the glasses up. “Whoa!
Look at these,” she cried, blowing dust off of the glasses.
“Yeah,
but I think we should go now; this place is giving me the
heebie-jeebies,”
Camille said, looking around the room nervously.
“But
we just got here!” said La’Mille.
“Who
cares?” said Camille. “You said we were
just coming in here to see what was falling down the stairs. It was obviously those glasses.
Now can we please go?”
“Fine,
but I’m taking the glasses with me,” La’Mille
said.
“You
can’t!” shouted Camille. “Yeah, no one
lives here, but someone did live here and they’re not
yours! Leave them here!”
“Hey,
you’re not the boss of me! And what’s
the fun of finding
something
like this in a haunted house and then leaving it there?” asked La’Mille.
“I
don’t know and we’re not going to find out!” cried Camille.
“Look,”
said La’Mille.
“I’m taking the glasses and you can’t stop me.”
“Oh, yeah? Well,
what
would happen if I told Mom?” asked Camille.
La’Mille’s angry
face transformed into a pleading face.
“Oh, please just let me take them,” she cried.
“And please don’t tell mom.”
“Okay,
okay,” said Camille. “After all, I’m the
oldest. I’ve got to take charge.”
“You’re
older, by one minute,” said La’Mille,
sticking the
glasses in her pocket.
“Two
minutes!” said Camille.
“Big diff.” They
walked out of the house and walked back home for dinner.
When
they got home, La’Mille ran straight
upstairs to put
the glasses in her jewelry box. Then she
came downstairs and took her place at the dinner table.
She ate her spaghetti quietly and quickly while
her parents and Camille talked. Whenever
she was asked a question, she gave a
simple answer like ”yes,” “no,” or “sure.” When she was finished with her dinner, she
put her plate in the sink and quietly slipped upstairs to the room that
she and
Camille shared. Up in the room, she took
the eyeglasses out of her jewelry box and examined them carefully.
“Whatcha doin’?”
said a voice
behind her.
She
turned around, hiding the glasses behind her back.
It was Camille.
“Oh,
it’s only you,” La’Mille said, relieved. “I’m just looking at these glasses.” She put them on and gasped.
Through the glasses, everything was black and
white. She was no longer sitting on her
bed, or in her room.
Women in petticoats
with large hats and men with
suits and ties were
roaming
around in some sort of bar. It was like La’Mille was in a dream.
Then she shifted rooms to a small office. Sitting
at a desk was a man. He was middle-aged,
about forty to
forty-seven years old. He was a small
man, about five foot four, and he had a pair of eyeglasses on the tip
of his
nose, much like the glasses that Camille and La’Mille
had found, but smaller. Standing beside
the man was a woman, about the same age as the man, dressed in
petticoats and
an apron. Her clothing wasn’t as fancy
as all the other women’s, for she had a dull colored dress, forest
green, and
no large fancy hat. The man had a pencil
in his hand and was concentrating on some puzzle on the desk in front
of him.
“Oh,
William,” the woman exclaimed. “Hurry
and finish the puzzle! I’m dying to know
where the treasure in our home lies!” she said dreamily.
“My
darling Eileen,” William said. “Don’t
rush me. This is complicated.
But wait no more, for I have finished the
puzzle that will tell us where the hidden treasure is.”
“This
is fantastic!” Eileen exclaimed. “Let’s
go and find it!” She slipped her cloak
on and they ran out of the office.
Outside
of the office, William and Eileen ran through the bar.
Just as they were getting to the door, Samuel
McGloof blocked the door so they couldn’t
get
out. Samuel McGloof
was the bar owner. He usually never
wanted William and Eileen in there, and hadn’t noticed they had come in
that
day.
“Well,
well. If it isn’t William and Eileen Chancer,” he said with a sly smile.
“Yes,
it’s us. Now will you let us out?” asked
William.
“Hey,
what’s the hurry?” asked Samuel, still smiling.
“We’re
trying to get home, that’s the hurry,” said Eileen sternly.
“Fine,
go ahead,” said Samuel. “But I’ll find
out what’s going on somehow.” He moved
out of the way and the Chancers ran out.
“Ah,
home sweet home,” said William, when they’d arrived at their house. “Now, this is pretty much a map,” said
William to Eileen. “All we have to do is
follow the words in order,” he explained.
“Okay,”
said Eileen, peering over William’s shoulder.
“The first word is kitchen.” So
they walked to the kitchen.
Meanwhile,
Samuel McGloof had closed the bar early
and followed
the Chancers home.
It had taken him a while to close the bar, so he arrived
just when the Chancers
were in the attic, the last place on the
list. He burst
open the door right
when the Chancers were coming down the
stairs with a
small chest in William’s hands.
“You
found treasure and you didn’t tell me?” asked Samuel.
“Well, you’re going to pay,” he said, running
toward William. Samuel tackled William
to the floor and the chest dropped out of his hands.
A pair of eyeglasses dropped out, the same
ones that Camille and La’Mille had found,
but
everyone was too worked up to notice.
Samuel and William wrestled down the stairs and out of the door. Outside, the two night policemen were
there. Samuel and William were arrested,
and Eileen was taken downtown to answer some questions.
William
and Samuel were put in jail for assault, and Eileen couldn’t bear to
live
without her husband, and begged the policemen to put her in jail with
him, and
they did. The eyeglasses still sat at
the top of the stairs lingering forward, looking as if they were about
to fall.
La’Mille took the glasses off. “Put them on,” she said to Camille.
Camille kept her mouth open in awe the whole
two minutes that she had the glasses on.
“Did
you see it all?” La’Mille asked when
Camille had
taken the glasses off.
“It
seems like I had them on longer than you did,” Camille said.
“No,
I think time just slows down when you’re watching TV,” La’Mille
said with a smile. Camille opened her
mouth to speak but closed it back up.
Camille
and La’Mille learned a great lesson: Don’t be
greedy,
stubborn, or evil, because it won’t get you anywhere. Although
they wanted to keep the eyeglasses,
they knew that the right thing to do was to take them back to their
original
spot: in the chest, up in the attic of the “haunted” house, and they
did so.
by
David
Waller
Mill Elementary – 5th Grade
Did
you know that the whole world cuts down four billion trees a year? All of that cutting just for paper. Also, some people think it’s stupid to
recycle. I don’t know why they hate to
recycle. It’s sometimes fun!
I just don’t feel well about all the
construction. It would be okay if they
would just build a few stores, like only ones we need.
Like a grocery story, one clothes store, and
a basic needs store.
I
think it’s rude to cut down forests because innocent little creatures
the lord
has provided for us are being killed! If
all the animals die then we die, because we need meat.
It is one thing if you’re killing a little
bit of animals. We need that to
live! We also need to breathe and if we
cut down all the trees we can’t breathe.
I
know
by
Ashley
Lighted
faces,
flash in the darkness,
a light shines on a stage,
there I am, a puppet without strings,
not bound by time,
still my fright cripples me,
so there I stand silently as the show plays in
back of me,
acting like I am invisible to everyone there,
the puppets in back of me are people that live
everyday lives,
still they are controlled by time,
held in line by strings.
Moved
by the slightest flick of the
wrist,
and bound with no freedom of their own,
however I am the lone one,
who will rise past time,
and show the puppeteer there are no boundaries in
life,
and no whims to our will,
so that we, can stand alone,
without strings, and follow our,
Hopes,
Beliefs, Dreams,
and even brave the most difficult of problems,
by only using our courage.
Sometimes
even risking our lives to do so in the process,
so if time could stand still for all,
as it stands still for one,
then maybe we will all strive toward the goal of
our dreams,
and beat all obstacles in front of us,
as I, the lone puppet,
without strings
dance in front of the world,
for everyone to see,
and rise up,
facing the world’s problems.
by
Ye-rin
Dawn’s
first lights break through
The
dreary pitch black night.
The
orange rays reflect off the
Purple
majestic clouds that float
Lazily about. A
powdery red haze
Mists over everything.
And the
Color
wheel turns around and around.
Morning’s
starched cotton clouds
Roll
about in the dark blue heavens.
Fresh
gales swirl dead golden leaves
Around.
Dark, lush, green grass dance
As the wind sweeps over them.
The
Navy
sky turns to cornflower.
And
the color wheel turns around
And around.
Mid-day’s
bright white sun beats down
Upon
brown, outstretched arms of
With the sweet melody of colorful birds.
The cerulean jays. The scarlet cardinals.
The
brown swallows. The burgundy
Branches
are weighted down with the
Hues
they produce with their songs.
And
the color wheel turns around and
Around.
Evening’s
elegant sunlight is filled with
soft lavender and pink lights as the
Magenta
sun slowly departs from
The sky.
Shining one last brilliant flash,
She
disappears from the rim of earth.
Indigo
is rapidly spilt across the empty
Heavens. A
light dusting of bright
Twinkling
stars are pasted above.
Then,
a spot of ivory is added to adorn
The tar-colored night.
And the color wheel
Turns around and
around.
by
Karishma
As he walked away I knew what was to
happen now. All the memories poured into
my mind, and they never left. Did he
even look back to me? To
see the tears racing in my mind?
And they finally fell onto my skin, and when I wished he would
take just
one last look at me …. he did.
And then I thought maybe, just maybe; he
realized that what he was going to do wasn’t right.
And I watched as he turned back around. And
walked away into the …
Horizon, the one I pictured in my
mind, it was never real… What was real
was the not-so empty hallway in which my reputation had been ruined. And not even that, my heart was in ruins once
again. I had trusted him, and now I
didn’t stop him from walking away from me.
This was what I thought was our final meeting, before he took
his life
away from us all. There was no way to
stop him. The decision had been made, I
thought.
“Move on, get a life, or just a new
one,” the voices said.
“Stop making it harder than it
already is,” my conscience sneered.
“Say goodbye,” one voice
replied. “His time is up.”
Though I did not agree with those words, I
acted as if it did not affect me. That
night I rode my bike to our very first meeting place, and also the
place where
he planned to bid me farewell.
“So much for
not trying to make a scene, huh?”
I attempted to break the silence.
“Same to you.”
The words he said stung me intensely.
“You didn’t have to tell everyone
that your life was at its ending…”
“I didn’t plan on it, but when I
heard those hurtful words come from their mouths, I just couldn’t take
it
anymore. And you, you didn’t even try to
stop me, or even walk away with me. You
have no reputation to protect anymore, do you now?”
“Will you just stop!
I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything,
and I don’t care for my ‘reputation.’ I
already told you, all I …” and he interrupted me.
“All I care about is you! I know!
I’ve heard this lie about a million times, and I need none of it. Your sympathy and tears have no matter to me,
when everyone knows that who you really care about is ‘him,’ huh? All your stupid little blogs
talk about this awesome dude, and you haven’t even ever thought it was
important to tell me his name!” His
words shocked me.
“Are you serious? Is this the part
you couldn’t tell me
about? You really want to know who it is? It’s you! Yeah, that’s right. So
before you go and assume anything else, I
advise you to actually talk to me about it!
What’s wrong with you? We used to
be so close! If you had ever asked me
how I felt, I would’ve definitely told you!
And what do you think you were gonna
do? How could you even think about that? Why do my questions always remain
unanswered?”
“It just seems so easy to leave
everything that’s so painful to you!”
“Am I that painful?”
“Do you want to go to a
psychiatrist?”
“I’m not psycho…”
“I’m not saying you are, but maybe
you need to get your feelings out to someone who will help you.” I was a little ticked off now.
“I don’t need anyone but you. Are
you content with that statement?”
“Might as well
be.”
“Will you ever let me leave… I just want my last
words to be with you.”
“Same here, but I won’t let you
go. I promise.”
“What do I do now?” he laughed.
“Oh, God, you are crazy … Let’s go
home, maniac,” I grinned, which was a first in the last couple of hours.
“That’s cool with me. You know what
I used to think? That I had a guardian
angel, and now I don’t
think that. ‘Cause
I know it,” he grinned and showed off his perfectly shaped teeth. We hooked arms and walked home, the moon
shone brightly above us. And for some
time I was caught up in our little world.
Now that’s funny. Reality soon came
up behind me, took a knife,
and before I knew it, it was making my heart bleed all over again. This is a story of an injury in one’s life. You may think that injuries are always
physical, but most are emotional. I wish
what I just told you was real, that he had met me where he planned to
….that we
lived “happy-ever-after” in the end… but that was just me and what I
wish had
happened when I rode my bike to our first meeting place.
The truth is what always makes my eyes red,
if only he had a guardian angel. He
never came to our meeting place, but I stayed there, the whole night,
just
thinking about what could have happened if he had come.
The next morning I woke up and was still
lying in the woods. I took my phone out
of my left pocket and turned it on. It
asked me to “connect to voicemail” so I pressed the “ok” button and put
it on
speaker phone.
“Welcome to your voicemail messaging
system, one new message. To review your
messages, press one,” the voice said, and before it could continue I
pressed
one. “One new message,
yesterday, four seventeen pm.”
“Hey, it’s me. I love you with all
my heart. I know you don’t think so
anymore but that’s
the truth. No one believes me
anymore. They think I’m lying all the
time for attention but that’s not true and you know that.
Everyone around me is dying, it’s about time
I do, too ….”
“No more messages,
to go to the main menu press ~.”
“BEEP.” I
pressed the end button on my phone. I got
up from the ground, tears falling down
my face. I put my phone in my pocket,
got on my bike, and rode all the way to my house. I
turned the door knob and the door was open,
as always. I took a sticky note off the
counter along with a pen and wrote, “I’m sorry for what I am going to
do. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused
you…
It’s just too hard to breathe when your air is gone.”
I put the sticky note down on the
counter top, walked over to my book bag, unzipped the top pouch and
brought out
a picture of him. All I remember after
that is one second I’m in my living room and the next I am standing on
the edge
of the
Third - Fifth
Grades
Sixth
- Eighth
Grades