by Mary Amato
Omar said what the rest of us already knew: “That’s from a Mali Koam novel.”
“It’s from her book called ‘Secret Pages,’” Tee added.
Carly looked at Harrison, probably because he is always reading Mali Koam books during free time. “Did you do this?”
Poor Harrison looked shocked. “No.”
Nick started howling again. “I can’t believe I got you.”
“Nick!” Carly threw the papers at him. “You ruined it,” she said, and stormed away.
Not a happy ending.
Dear Kristin,
Your report of what happened was very good. However, “Not a happy ending” is another sentence fragment, not a sentence. It should be “The recess did not end happily.”
—
Dear Omar,
Mrs. Penrose said that if you’re writing a formal thing like a report, you need complete sentences. If you’re writing something creative that has a voice, then you can use sentence fragments. I don’t mind if you correct the spelling in here, but don’t try to make everybody’s writing style like your own. Different strokes for different folks. I like “Not a happy ending.” It has a rhythm that fits.
—
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31
Hi Carly,
This is Tee. I can tell that you’re sad and mad about the whole thing with your contest. Maybe other people didn’t have ideas, like me, or just felt too shy. I think Harrison isn’t writing yet because he needs time to get comfortable in his new home, like Benjamin in “Secret Pages.” I want us all to go back to being good friends.
It’s Halloween! So let’s just have fun today. After lunch, we get to put on our Halloween costumes and have a parade and a party. I bet you have a creative costume.
Your friend,
Dear Carly,
Nick was trying to get a laugh. Let it roll off you. As my mom says, don’t cry over spilled grape juice—unless you spill it on a white couch.
I know you were just trying with your contest, but it was kind of awkward for us because it was a competition. I don’t mind competing against other strangers in the big contest, but I don’t really want to compete against my friends. I liked it better when we were all going to write a story together.
—
P.S. I’m going to tell Nick he owes you an apology.
Yo Carly,
Roses are red
Cherries aren’t blue
Sorry for the blank papers
And the snake story, too.
—
Thanks, Nick. I feel better, but not all the way, because we didn’t get a story.
—
You’ll Never Guess Who Saves the Day
by Kristin
During morning free time, Mrs. Penrose called me up to her desk.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “I thought you’d all be excited for the Halloween party this afternoon, but everyone seems distracted and gloomy. Does this have something to do with the book?”
“Everybody’s kind of sad—especially Carly—because we didn’t write a big story together,” I said. “We kind of gave up.”
She thought for a moment. Then she said, “Let’s ask Harrison if he has any ideas.”
“He doesn’t say much,” I said.
“Let’s try,” she said. “Still waters run deep.”
We walked over to Harrison’s desk. He was finished with our morning work on personification, so he was reading a novel.
“Excuse us,” Mrs. Penrose said, and Harrison looked up from his book.
Everybody in the room was staring. Even the pencils were curious.
“It seems that the class would still like to write a collaborative story,” Mrs. Penrose said. “Do you have any ideas that might help, Harrison?”
(Hold on. Alexander wants to finish writing this.)
Tick, tick, tick, sang the clock.
Omar’s hand crept into the air.
“Hold that thought, Omar,” Mrs. Penrose said. “I’d like to hear from Harrison first.”
The spotlight was burning on Harrison’s face, and I wanted to put him out of his misery. But then he spoke. “I know how Mali Koam gets good ideas for her stories,” he said.
The entire room held its breath.
The usually silent Harrison went on. “On her website, Mali Koam says that she never gets good ideas when she is staring at a blank page. She takes her writer’s notebook and gets good ideas when she is walking.” He looked around at all of us. “Maybe we could take a walk with our book. We could all get ideas and then pick one to work on together.”
Silence.
Who knew so many words were ready to pour out of the new guy?
Then Mrs. Penrose said, “Touchdown Twist!”
We all jumped into position and did this crazy twist dance that goes down and up and at the end you put your hands in the air and yell “Touchdown!” It’s what we do when somebody has a particularly great idea.
Harrison looked at us as if we were insane. And then he smiled.
“Can we go on a walk tomorrow?” Jazmine asked.
“Tomorrow is a day off school, and on Monday we have a busy day, but we can go on Tuesday,” Mrs. Penrose said.
“Nobody tell anybody else about this walk idea,” Carly said. “It’ll be our secret strategy to get a story idea and win that contest.”
Thanks to Harrison, we have a new, secret plan.
And now . . . without further ado . . . it is time for recess, lunch and then . . . Halloween party time!
Mwa, ha ha. Guess who is now writing in the top-secret book?
Ever since you all said, “This is a private meeting,” I have been spying and watching for my opportunity to steal this book. I got it today at recess when Alexander temporarily left the book by the tree.
A story contest. How fascinating.
I happen to be an outstanding writer. I will write a killer story and win.
— (from Mr. Suarez’s class)
Marcos!
—
I’ll write one too! May the best story win!
—
Alexander!
How could you let them steal the book? I’m glad we got it back, but it’s too late. Our secret is out. Now everybody from Mr. Suarez’s class is gonna enter! What are we gonna do?
—
What can we do? We can write the best story ever. On Tuesday we’re going to go for a walk and come up with a great idea. In the meantime, it’s Halloween parade and party time!
—
Let the ghoulish, ghostly, ghastly rumpus begin!
Halloween
This is Isabella. I am telling the story of the party!
Some moms and dads and my abuelita come after lunch. It is time to put our costumes on.
Omar says, “What’s your costume, Mrs. Penrose?”
“I want it to be a surprise,” she says. “Isabella, can you help me?”
I feel good that she ask asked me. She gets a bag and we go out to the hallway together. It is special in the hallway with just me and her.
She shows me her costume. She wants to see if I think it is funny and not scary. She knows I don’t like scary things. I know everybody will love it. I help her put it on. Then I walk in and say, “Drumroll, please.”
Everybody drums and Mrs. Penrose comes in wearing a black cape and fangs. She is a vampire!
“Mwa-ha-ha,” she says.
Everybody laughs. Even my abuelita!
“Now I want to do my surprise,” Nick says.
We know what Nick is going to be except for Mrs. Penrose, so we say, “Please let him surprise you.”
She lets him go to the hallway with one of the moms.
We want to see Mrs. Penrose’s face.
Then the door opens. It is Nick. He has on a brown wig of long hair, glasses, lipstick, a purple dress. He has a pillow stuffed inside for a fake baby.
“Your You’re me!” Mrs. Penrose says.
I laugh so hard my cheeks hurt.
—
This is Jazmine. Here’s what we are:
Alexander is . . . . . . . . a zombie werewolf.
Carly is . . . . . . . . . . a rich Hollywood movie star.
Tee is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a cat.
Buzz is . . . . . . Pelé, the soccer star from Brazil.
Kristin is . . . . . . . Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Omar is . . . . . . . . . . . . . .the President of the United States. (I have on a whole suit with a Minnesota state flag in my pocket because I never want to forget where I grew up.)
Jazmine is . . . . .. . . . . . a cute ladybug.
Harrison is . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . Benjamin, the character from “Secret Pages.”
Isabella is . . . . . . . . . . . . a doctor.
It’s Kristin now. I want to write about the toast. Not bread in the toaster. It’s when you clink your glasses.
Ms. Yang came to our room to see us in our costumes.
“Let’s have a toast and drink some blood,” Mrs. Penrose said, and she pulled red fruit punch out of the closet.
“Happy Halloween,” Mrs. Penrose said. “Everybody say ‘Cheers!’” We all said it and clinked our cups.
Then we did a toast in Spanish for Isabella (¡Salud!), in Vietnamese for Tee (Yô), in Arabic for Omar (Be a tak), in Hmong for Ms. Yang (Txhais key zoo siab) and in Swedish for me, Kristin (Skål).
Tee said, “Let’s make a special toast to the baby.” She held up her cup, and then she panicked. “I can’t think of what to say.”
“Happy baby!” Jazmine said.
“Happy baby!” we all said, and clinked.
“Can I clink the baby?” Nick asked.
Mrs. Penrose laughed and said, “Sure.”
Isabella got worried, because she thought Nick would do it too hard. But Nick clinked his cup on Mrs. Penrose’s stomach softly and everybody laughed.
Then we all clinked on Nick’s fake baby pillow.
Look at this! Too many messes are happening in this book! Did anybody see who did this? I bet it was Nick.
Dude. Wasn’t me.—
Perhaps it was made by a ghost!
—
I did it. I am very very very sorry.—
It’s okay, Isabella. Everybody makes mistakes.
—
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4
Hey,
Welcome back, everbody everybody. Happy November! Tomorrow we go on our walk to get a story idea. Get your brains ready. We’re going to write a better story than Marcos or DeeNice or anybody, and win this contest.
—
P.S. No leaving this book where it can get stealed stolen.
Snow is coming tonight. Maybe it will be dangerous. If Mrs. Penrose falls down that will be bad for the baby.
—
Even if it does snow, exercise is good for bodies and babies. My mom exercised all the time right before I was born, and she said I came out as strong and healthy as a horse.
—
If it snows, I hope we can still go, because I really want to get a good idea for a story.
—
I want to go on a brainstorming walk, too, but I also want it to snow, because I’ve never seen snow. It never snowed in Miami, where I’m from.
—
I hope it snows for Harrison, since he wants it to and since he’s the one who told us about Mali Koam.
—
Thanks.—
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5
It snowed the right amount!!!! Hurray!!!
To the Whole Class,
1.It snowed 2.5 inches.
2.We are on a walk right now. Our minds are bubbling with ideas.
3.I am creating a graphic organizer. I’m going to pass it from person to person. Write down one story idea this walk is giving you. I will do the first one as an example. Then we can vote on which one to use for our big story.
Sincerely,
P.S. No smudges, please.
Results of Our Hike Around the School Building
Name One Story Idea You Are Getting
Omar —A class at Delite Elementary School in Minnesota takes a hike by the creek on a snowy day.
Jazmine—Snow fairies!
Tee—I’m not sure what to write. That rabbit we saw in the snow on the bank of the creek is staying in my mind. I’d like to write about that, but I don’t know what could happen to make it a good story.
Alexander—A mysterious boy named Elaxendar makes a Zombie Owl out of snow that can fly.
Nick—Frosty, the Zombie Snow Owl, flies in our window, and he melts and all that’s left are his black eyes, and a girl named Krusty thinks they’re chocolate chips and eats them. Ha-ha.
Kristin—I’ve heard that the eyeballs of Zombie Owls are delicious and nutritious, Nick. I will make sure Santa puts some in your stocking. But that’s not what I wanted to write for my idea. Here is my idea: A pioneer girl gets lost in a snowstorm. (Snow from a branch just landed on the page, and it made a smudge when I wiped it off. Sorry, Omar. You can’t control Mother Nature.)
Buzz—School is closed forever and we have a snowball fight.
Harrison—It never stops snowing, and huge mountains of snow form, and we can walk on top of them in silence except for the crunching of our feet in the snow, and we are so high up we can touch the moon with our fingertips.
This is Alexander again. I just wanted to say that even though Harrison’s idea doesn’t have any ghosts or vampires, it gave me a chill up my spine because of the way he wrote it.
Isabella—I got nothing. Except maybe frostbite.
Carly—I think a lot of these would win. Let’s vote on one tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Nick’s Story
Krusty was going to write, but I’m in the mood, dudes. So let me tell y’all what’s going down.
Indoor recess today because of freezing rain. Oh joy.
Mrs. Penrose is sitting at her desk reading a book about babies. We’re sitting on the floor in the Good Book Nook having a jolly argument.
Krusty made us take a secret vote by writing down the story we wanted to work on. Problem? Everybody voted for their own idea, which meant nobody won.
Awkward!
What did we do next? Argue argue, blah blah, yada yada, shmada shmada.
Finally Harrison came up with an idea. “Why don’t we just write to Mali Koam and ask for advice?”
“A famous author won’t write us back,” Isabella said.
“Come on, it’s worth a try,” Carly said.
Then Omar, that daring, adventurous fellow, said, “We have to ask Mrs. Penrose first.”
Immediately Mrs. Penrose said yes. She loved the idea.
By the way, I have written a nonfiction book about babies. It’s educational. I will put a copy of it here for free.
Babies
by Nick the Slick
Babies. They drool. They burp. They sleep. They cry. They poop. The End.
If I were sitting in a chair, I would be falling off it, I am laughing so hard. I would buy that book.
—
Nick,
Hilarious! Mrs. Penrose was just teaching us about sarcasm this morning, and you used it. Very clever. I’m not being sarcastic. I mean it.
—
Dear Friends,
Writing a letter to an author! What an exciting project! Why don’t you write your drafts in here? I’ll help you mail the final letters, and we’ll include a stamped envelope with our school’s address on it to make it easier for her to write back to us. Ms. Yang is going to be over the moon about this idea.
Your teacher,
I guess it’s okay for Mrs. Penrose to tell Ms. Yang, but nobody tell anybody else about this. Espeshally Especially DeeNice and Marcos.
—
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Hey,
Here is my secret letter to the auther author. We’ll get secret advice so we can use it to make the be
st story and win.
—
Dear Mali Koom Koam,
My name is Carly Grace Winston, and I have three sisters and a cat named Big Foot. I used to have a gerbil, but it exscaped escaped and it prolly probably got ate eaten by the cat. Are you a famus famous writer or just a regular one? Almost everyone in our class reads all your books. Tee told me to check out “Fur” from the libary library, but I didn’t read it because the cover looked boooooring.
We want to write a big story and win a contest. Please tell us how to do it. We want to get rich and famus famous.
Yours truly,
P.S. Please put your autograf autograph on this line so I can sell it and make some money.
To Carly:
1.Your letter was bad.
2.You didn’t even spell the author’s name right.
3.I vote that Mrs. Penrose should NOT mail your letter.
4.We should all write one letter.
5.I will make a graphic organizer.
Sincerely,
Hey, Omar,
Mind your own beeswax.
Yours truly,
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Hi!
This is supposed to be fun! We can all write letters if we want. Mrs. Penrose says that we can help each other make our writing better, in a nice way. Remember CBC (Compliment Before Criticizing)? We are supposed to say something nice first and then give our concrete suggestion for making it better.