Young Writers

 

2008

 

Newport News Reading Council

 

Kindergarten - Second Grade
First Place
Second Place 
Third Place


Third - Fifth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place


Sixth - Eighth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place

 The Sleepover

 

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

 


 

 

The Bakery in the Ocean

by

Frances

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.

 

           Ate-o and Trish came to the bakery and baked all the stuff again.  Then all the people came back to the bakery and ordered again.  Then Sassy left and went home.  Then they closed the bakery and went home. 

          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.

 

 

 

 

 

Rosie the Super Cat

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.

 


 
Kindergarten - Second Grade
First Place
Second Place 
Third Place


Third - Fifth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place


Sixth - Eighth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place


A Lonely Soldier

by

Ashley

Seaford Elementary - 4th Grade

 

          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 Sherbrooke, Maine.  This is when the story begins.

          Billy had been walking in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for about one month.  He had only been eating crackers and drinking tiny sips of his water in his canteen.  All of his muscles had been tight and sore from walking each and every day.

          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 Sherbrooke Harbor.

          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, “Sherbrooke Harbor, the relaxing way to have living.”  Billy shouted, “I’m here.  I made it!”

          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 Sherbert Street, leading him to his house.  But there was no house there!  He then spotted ashes where his house had been.

  

          “Great.  I have no house, no family, and no love!  What else do I have to lose?” Billy whimpered.

          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 Sherbrooke.  So now Skippy was about one year old.

          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.”

 

 

The End




The Eyeglasses

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.

 

 

 

 


Trees Have Lives

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 Virginia has a lot of trees, but those trees provide shade on hot days.  That is what gives Virginia its beauty.  If we cut them down then Virginia will be very hot, and we will have less oxygen.  So please take this to heart and help the environment.

 

 

           

 



TIME is the MASTER

by

Ashley

Tabb Middle School

 

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.

 


Nature’s Color Wheel

by

Ye-rin

Gildersleeve Middle School

 

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

Forest trees.  The atmosphere is heavy

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.

 




On the Verge

by

Karishma

Hines Middle School

 

            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?”
            “No, that’s not what I meant!  I know how hard everything is for you right now.  I know that you’ve had your share of ups and a lot of downs.  And right now I feel like I don’t even know who I am anymore.  I know I’m not bipolar.  I know I’m not depressed.  I know I’m not crazy.  Then why do I have to question my every move?  My every statement?  My every thought????  Why am I happy one minute and wanting to die the next?  Why do I sometimes be way too nice to one person and the next day I’m overly confused?”

            “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 Chesapeake Bay Bridge, holding this notebook and writing all this.  I am now going to put down this pen and notebook and take his picture and drown into the water along with my broken and confused self; that will take my pain away in one moment.  Racing through my mind now are thoughts of so many things, but one thing is standing out… Take back everything you ever said, you never meant a word of it, did you?  You never did.

 

 

Kindergarten - Second Grade
First Place
Second Place 
Third Place


Third - Fifth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place


Sixth - Eighth Grades

First Place
Second Place
Third Place