“I hated all of it. The smell of cats and anchovies was terrible. The only thing to do was read the magazines they had there. All of them were four-year-old Sports Illustrateds. Everyone there looked like they were 900 years old. They were staring at me like I had three heads.”
“Her heart was beating really fast. Her stomach had butterflies in it. She wanted to know who her new owner would be. You must be wondering how she came to know, right? Well, Lucy is a smart cockapoo puppy, and believe it or not, she can read.”
“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Emily and her younger brother named Henry. They were the children of Mrs. and Mr. Gorr. Mrs. and Mr. Gorr were the most evil of the most evil of them all. Emily and her brother went to a normal school, but lived an abnormal life.”
“BOOM! The starting gun was fired, and we started the race. We ran across the track, jumping over hurdles. As I sped over the finish line, I smiled. I may not have been first, but I did my best, and that’s what matters. I am Lily, and this is my story.”
“They always turn their head with a shocked stare / They can’t believe / That I’d worked up the nerve / To stand up for myself”
“One changer / One mover / One shaker”
“‘Get up!’ yells my older brother, Jim, who never loves me. ‘Get up, or by the time we get to the store, the shelves will be empty.’ Oh right, I say in my mind. Ever since Trump’s wall was built, my life has been split in half.”
“He closed his eyes, hoping not to get hurt. He opened one eye. He was in a different dimension. He found himself in the middle of a velociraptor home. They had fresh meat in the corner and raw meat in another corner. It was neater than his parents’ house!”
“We pretend the storms have come early / We pretend we can’t hear the bombs in the distance / We pretend that everything is normal”
“Things like that could hide out in the back, / Things like that asking me out. / Lucky stars divided”
“For a while, there was nothing. But then I could feel my brothers and sisters and my mom licking me. I loved the taste of my mother’s sweet milk. Then, as quick as there was darkness, there was light. I saw my beautiful mother, and my pink and squirming sisters and brothers.”
“You’ve heard the other stories, I bet. Somebody makes a gingerbread man, he runs away, and he eventually gets eaten. Well, my story isn’t like that. Maybe it’s the dough I’m made of, or maybe it’s my raisin brain, but I survived.”
“In the year of 2007, there was a mass murderer somewhere in the state of Michigan. Alban McCluskey was on a journey with the orphanage, visiting the Great Lakes in Michigan.”
“I felt the wind blow through the new house and the floor creak as I walked up the stairs. As I lay on my bed, I remembered all the friends I had at my old school, before I left. I wish I could’ve spent more time with them. It made me feel upset. I really missed them.”
“The one star in our solar system is called the sun. It’s a big ball of fire, and if you come too close, it can burn you. It is very hot because there is a gas in it which makes it burn. 1.3 million Earths can fit in it! Woah! That’s a lot.”
“Josh Ricky woke up from his bed one morning, and it was his birthday. His mom gave him a Samsung phone. She threw it at his face, and he caught it right in time. Josh Ricky was so excited, he burst from his bed, got dressed, brushed his teeth, and all the other things he had to do. He sent some messages on his phone, took pictures, and listened to music. He was crying the whole time.”
“When I was a toddler, or maybe three to be exact, I was always biting, drooling, and rolling in mud with the pigs. Oh! And I almost forgot! I lived on a farm. But, now I live in a big city in a little apartment.”
“The boy ran into his house to find cobwebs and his dad gone. When he went to bed, he saw images of a guy that had no shape and no face, in the shadows haunting people. The Man in the Shadows said, ‘I will find you.'”
“One day, centuries before the Earth was as green as grass, there were very stubborn aliens that looked like plants. The plants used to live on a planet made of lava and they loved eating lava. Their planet froze and all the lava was gone.”
“So this is where it all began. It was cold and rainy in the forest, and Mr. Fire, the fire genie, was burned down. He couldn’t hold anything heavier than a small rock. ‘I’m going to go find the super strong potion that can make me strong again,’ he said.”
“Once there was a boy who was eleven years old. His name was Jack Rutinburg. He wanted to be invisible because he thought being invisible was cool. He wanted to be cool because he felt like he was not cool. Jack’s home was old and very dirty. That is why he felt like he was not cool.”
“One time in a faraway land, a young boy named Bob was playing in the snow. He wanted to have a snowball of his own that never melted. He really liked snowball fights, and he wanted to have them every day.”
“Once there was a pig named Bob Ben Bangtem. He wanted to fly. He wanted to fly because pigs do not fly and he wanted to be different. Bob wanted to be different because he felt that being different was cool.”
“No! Bad chicken, stop! No!”
“When she touched it, her hand went in, and then she stepped inside, and there was a whole new world. There were apple trees, blueberry trees, and other berry trees. There were thousands of mountains and a big stream.”
“I grew up in a safe place. I was adopted, but I loved and needed my adopted family, and you have to understand that. We didn’t have too much money, so we moved to a place that we could earn money, but it was so very dry there. I did not feel like I was home. There was no rain ever. It was not a safe place.”
“A color as sweet as a rose / A smell sweet as a lemon / A touch stronger than gold”
“As I ran and ran, with the wind blowing in my hair and the sand sticking to my wet feet, I was thinking of all the people and fights that I was leaving behind. A comfortable life where I didn’t have to go to school, or be tutored at home, would all be thrown away. This was going to be a new start to my life, and I had no idea where I was going.”
“I am a boy named Oscar, an undocumented teenager, and my family is also not documented. And as I entered home after a “great” day at Cayden Bay Community High School, I saw a flyer about a URV competition, also known as an underwater robot contest, that could give you a scholarship at a technology college.”
“My best friend is named Annie. I met her in kindergarten, and she’s the best friend I could ever have. She’s funny, generous, and determined. Now, we’re in third grade. I walk into my classroom and take a seat at my desk. My teacher assigns partners for an art assignment that we’re doing. I cross my fingers, hoping that I get partnered with Annie.”
“Once, in the house of Huncars, there were two identical twins named Emma and Sophia. One was interested in music, drawing, and relaxing, and the other was interested in soccer, basketball, and swimming.”
“Nick was eight years old, and he loved to play soccer and was excited about the playoffs. He knew how to play his hardest because he was playing the stars. To win, Nick and his team had to practice a lot, so they were ready for the big game.”
“Teddy got into his car and slammed the door super hard. It was only 8:30 AM, and so many things had already gone wrong. First of all, he got fired from his law firm. His boss was very unfair. At least, to Teddy, he was. But Teddy didn’t care. He just wanted to go home.”
“It was midnight and pitch dark. We had done many things before, but we had never done this. We went into the woods seeking adventure. Everyone said we were a bunch of punks. Even our parents. Me, Evan, Chris, and Mike loved hanging out. Even when we got in trouble. And we got in trouble a lot.”
“It was a Saturday night, and I was going back home with my family. It was raining, and the road was slick when a big semi truck came around the bend, out of control! We slipped and hydroplaned as the truck was getting closer and closer to us. The truck was coming at a blazing speed. Then… smash.”
“A sassy five-year-old girl walked into preschool on a cool winter day. It was the first day of December, and Sandy Mcgriffin was feeling confident. After all, she was perfect. Her pigtails were always done perfectly and rested on her back perfectly, she got anything she wanted, and she was the Queen Bee of the class.”
“Once upon a time, ther– / ‘Hey! Stop narrating. I can hear you.’ / As I was sayi– / ‘I said STOP!'”
“It’s red, white and blue / These are the colors of us / Colors of our flag”
“Rain pounded on the windows. Lightening flashed. Kara sat by the windowsill. Tears slid down her face. Her heart raced. Where was her dad? Then, she felt her phone buzz in her denim pocket.”
“I awoke to the sounds of screeching, hollering, and cries of pain. For a second, I thought the cruel Lord Mao, the so-called Devil, had come to punish us. But when I looked out the window, I saw barbarians. Thousands of them were on the horizon!”
“Yay! School’s over, summer is here! / Time for camps, skateboarding on ramps, / Let’s go to the beach, and don’t get a leech!”
“Lilly and Anthony were twins who slept in the same room, and every night, their father would tell them a special story about the mysterious tree before they went to sleep. This is how it went.”
“SUN : I hear Rain’s gonna flood the area! (SUN nudging WIND) Think you can stop it?”
“Once, there was this fairy, and her name was Clara. She lived in a hollow tree, and she made her own house. She lived there with her brother, Jim. Clara and Jim lost their parents in a fairy train crash, and now, they had nobody to take care of them.”
“It was a cold night, and everybody was snuggled in their moss dens, and suddenly, the ocean made a loud CLANG! Cries of surprise filled the camp, then suddenly, the ocean pack came to war.”
“Once upon a time, there was a hill. Through summer, winter, and spring, it was an ordinary hill, but in the fall, pumpkins dug themselves out of the dirt and lived on the sides. When they did this, it was called Pumpkin City.”
“My name is Maddison. People don’t usually think about names that often. People think names are not important. That is the biggest piece of green booger juice I have ever seen.”
“Once upon a time, there was a world of animals with no pollution, and everyone lived in peace. But as people got more advanced, we started polluting. There was a world that people could not see, but all the animals could. And a giant war between the animals started.”
“There were three weapons that were forged by the king of dragon warriors. He was invincible with the sword. He was so powerful that he was able to destroy a whole army with one strike on the ground. Two strikes, he destroyed 60 armies. And with nine strikes, he could destroy 90,007 armies.”
“But as soon as she touched the water, she couldn’t figure out what to do. She’d seen how much fun everyone else was having and wasn’t thinking about what she was doing when she jumped in. Luckily, she jumped in the shallow end of the pool, so she didn’t drown. But she got so embarrassed that she ran all the way back to her home.”
“Jane lit the fire as she looked up at the mountain. Her family had been trying for years to get into the village. After they left their old village, they needed to find a new village. The village they were trying to live in had a list of people trying to get in.”
“One day, there was a cat named Sam who was black with white stripes. He could speak English and was not too dumb, but not too smart. Sam had a brother named Bob, and Sam wanted to get their favorite fish, flounder, for dinner for the both of them.”
“Once upon a time, on a very sunny day, a pigeon named Beirdo was going golfing. On his first try, he got a hole-in-four! Beirdo was so happy. He couldn’t believe he did so well on his first try! Suddenly, he heard a loud roar! Beirdo then used his good hearing to find out what made that noise!”
“Once upon a time, there was a three-star cop teaching safety lessons to a school. The kids didn’t listen to the cop because it was boring, and all he did was talk for two hours.”
“Pollution does not look pretty, if you do know what I am talking about, because it looks like a bunch of garbage and chemicals mixed together. It builds up with a smell of raw fish, chemicals, and the worst smell you could ever imagine.”
“One day, a while ago, there was a small, small bee. That bee had one wish, to become the most beautiful bee in the history of living things. However, he needed to obtain a flower so divine that even humans wished they could have it too. On a silent November day, the bee set out for an adventure.”
“Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived with her mother and her father. They lived in New York City. The father worked in the Empire State Building. So, one day, her mother sent the little girl to the Empire State Building to give her father his lunch.”
“Once there lived a beetle named Walter who was frustrated that he was ordinary. Every other beetle had different markings, like spots or stars, but all he had was plain, boring, white stripes. He wanted to make himself unique.”
“SHYLA points for JOYCE to go left and ROSA to go right. / JOYCE and ROSA do so. / SHYLA steps back, shakes her head, and walks over to ROSA. / ROSA looks scared.”
“First, there was a baby panda bear and me. I was at the Bronx Zoo on July 8th and saw a baby panda bear on the day of its adoption. The panda bear was a black and white yummy shish kabob, but I did not want to eat it. I wanted it as my pet.”
“Bert the bee was a very happy bee. Most bees would always worry about the honey needing to be made, and the conditions of the queen bee. Bert decided there was more to life than that.”
“Three hundred years ago, two ninjas got in a fight, one very dumb ninja and a smart and skilled ninja. The dumb ninja, who was named Mighty Sword, challenged the smart and skilled ninja, Legend Speed. The dumb ninja wanted to show Legend Speed that he was better.”
“Once upon a time, there were a king and a queen. The queen was about to have a daughter, the princess. After a while, they had an ugly, spoiled daughter. They decided to have a christening for the princess, hoping that the fairies could change her.”
“Hello, my name is John Scott. Today we will be filming and studying one of Australia’s most famous animals, the kangaroos, with world famous nature and animal researcher, Noah Norris.”
“In Sapphire City, there were only women, but they could still have babies. In the city, there was a mine called Saphria Mine. In Saphria Mine, you mined for sapphires. The sapphires weren’t out in the open, so you still had to mine for them. But the evil queen named Jewelia wanted all the sapphires for herself.”
“Her lips were as red as candy, / The lake was as shiny as a stain glass window, / The water was as clear as a mirror”
“When George got to school, he saw something that he had never seen before. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. It was a girl. The most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. She had blonde, wavy hair and eyes that twinkled like the stars. She just walked past him.”
“One day in Washington, D.C., Mr. Man Bun, the man with eight sideways (∞) money, wanted to spend money, so he thought I’ll go buy useless items. But he already did that, so he said, ‘I’ll go to a tourist trap.’ But nope, he did that already too.”
“It was the kayaking trip that ruined everything. It had started out fine — together me and my best friend, June, eased into our life jackets, splashing each other playfully.”
“‘We’re going to the beach all summer this year!’ said Mom. ‘Isn’t that exciting?’ ‘NO!!!’ I screamed. ‘There is an awesome summer camp that I’m finally old enough to go to this year! Me and Leah and Nick have been waiting to be old enough to go there since we heard about it when we were seven!!'”
“Georgia, you shouldn’t be spending all your time just exploring in the wild! Just for that, I’ve asked Miss Divine to come over and teach you tea party manners! We’re going to a fancy party tonight, and you have to know all your tea party manners, and other manners as well.”
“Maggie went up to her room, but instead of doing her homework, she wrote and doodled about being a famous chef. She imagined being a big star. A meat chef, not a pastry chef. She doodled about being really famous and winning a lot of awards and getting to meet the president.”
“I feel very angry / Red’s the color of my face / I slam my door / I stomp my feet / Like a stubborn flea”
“Today is a rainy day and I feel sad / Tears like the rain fall from my eyes / More rain falls and more tears fall from my eyes”
“Hi, I am Buttercup the pig. I live on a farm, and I’m the only pig. I am so lonely, and I need some friends. All the other animals are cows and horses and chickens. They don’t want to be friends with me, because they’re friends with their own species.”
“BAILEY: Do you want to play outside? / HARLEY: Sure. / BAILEY: What do you want to play? / HARLEY: We could play basketball.”
“Jazzy stormed into the rap studio angrily, waiting for her crew. She suddenly noticed a note sitting on her beat-up, full-of-pencil-marks desk.”
“I don’t know how to begin this action story, but I do know that it began in a strange place: Yale Law School. There was a strange man and an annoying, young girl. They were both 20 years old, and they somehow got mixed up with each other and found that nothing was going to be normal.”
“‘One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.’ As soon as those words were uttered, generations were inspired to ask themselves one question: Is there life on other planets? The people were half right.”
“‘No! No! Please, no!’ said Wormy. ‘I’ll do anything! Don’t feed me to you!’ ‘Okay, me and Suali were considering enlisting in the bird army. We’re fighting against those horrid humans in Germany that are trying to make birds extinct. Could you take care of our dear Joe?'”
“Once upon a time, I was sleeping on a shelf. I would tell you my title, but I do not have one because the humans are lazy. That’s how the humans ruined my life. Other books made fun of me because I didn’t have a title.”
“Eight-year-old Sam sat in class listening to his teacher, Phillip, who said, ‘We are going to have a class election.’ The second that Phillip said that, Sam knew that he wanted to be elected. He thought of a speech and a reason to be elected.”
“There was a boy named Josh. He was nine. He liked video games. He woke up to find that a new one came out! He was watching his favorite show when a commercial came up that said a new video game had come out called The Assault on Mars. He wanted it bad. He was jumping off his seat!”
“Once upon a time, there was a half-mermaid named Linna. She desperately wanted to go see her parents in the ocean. But she was an orphan and lived on land with her adopted parents. She was born in a bubble with half-air, half-water, and when she breathed in, she became a half-mermaid and half-human.”
“Once upon a time, there was a girl named Riley, and she went for a walk in the woods on her way home from school. After about ten minutes, she walked into a wire fence, stretching between two gigantic trees. At first, she thought, That’s funny, last time I was here, those trees were tiny!”
“Sometimes, he played in the forest and looked for mushrooms to collect, but he heard that there was a kidnapper in the forest. He collected the mushrooms for no reason with his friend Bob, who just liked going to the forest. There were only squirrels in the forest, or at least that’s what he thought…”
“Gabi knew California would be terrible when she was on the plane, but she never imagined it like this. Gabi wanted a best friend more than anything, but her life made that impossible. She was new to South Middle and needed extra help in every subject. However, nobody gave it to her, so she was public enemy number one.”
“4B was a party pencil that liked to do things that weren’t supposed to be done. She was the tallest pencil. 2B was the shortest pencil, since she was the youngest, and 3B wasn’t too tall or too short. She was just right. Their biggest fear was getting their butt tips cut off in a sharpener or by the stupid chef.”
“On a sunny morning, a little girl opened her eyes to see a shadow in the corner of her room. As she slowly got up, the shadow disappeared in front of her. She walked downstairs and saw her mother in the kitchen as usual. Everything was normal. It must have been a mistake.”
“I remember the day when the UN solved the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. The day when it all started. On that day, as soon as the scientists discovered the material that made so many ships and planes become lost, NASA started receiving strange signals.”
“I would like to invite you to an estate like no other, a magical mansion, which holds many secrets. A dinner party. We will experience things you have never experienced before. I hope you respond to me as soon as possible. If, and when you do, come to the estate in a Victorian fashion.”
“When Fluff, the hardest working pegasus horse in all of East of Cloudville, heard that the Pegasus Horse Games were now open to pegasus horses eleven and older (Fluff had just turned eleven!), he was beyond excited.”
“‘Can I have an elephant?’ Ethan asked his mom in the living room. ‘Because I want to ride on it, so I can transport easily while having fun, and since I don’t really have any friends, Mom.'”
“‘Achoo,’ Ari sneezed. ‘Are you okay?’ Ari’s mom asked. ‘No, I think I have a cold,’ Ari answered, depressed.”
“So there she was, walking around a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. Looking around, 23-year-old Amanda, a puny cashier, was off to a clothing store. It was a sizzling yet gleaming Sunday morning. The cars were driving, and the children were skipping.”
“Hello, I am The Narrator, and I am trying to write a nonfiction book about animals that live above and below us. I just finished eating my breakfast. And I am 37 years old. Currently I am at the beach, and I can see that there is a small bird named Mr. Bi- ‘HEY! WHO ARE YOU, AND WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME?!’ the bird says.”
“Once, there lived a piece of bread named Peanut Butter. Peanut Butter lived in a little cabin with his mother named Cream Cheese. He really wanted to find a friend. One Thursday afternoon, Peanut Butter set out to find a friend.”
“Once in Old San Juan, there was a doge who wanted an army so that he could lead the army and be their king. But to get to the army, he first needed the iPad in order to suck himself in it and join the game, since doges are magical creatures. In order to get the iPad, he needed to get past a human who didn’t like doges.”
“Once there was a person who wanted to be king. His name was Mr. Poppins. When Mr. Poppins was younger, his father died. He blamed God for his death and wanted revenge. He wanted world domination.”
“Something was always strange about green, / The color was never really a sheen / The color green always reminded me of money, / The color was never really funny”
“In the emoji world, there are shops and buildings. Let’s head over to my friend, Heart emoji. Okay, we are here. Heart emoji is very upset, and I wonder why.”
“Olivia was bursting with joy. She had just turned nine, and she got an iPad for her present. She smiled as she quickly downloaded a million video games and apps. But little did she know that the new love she had just found would soon be lost forever.”
“It took the turtle six hours to reach the ocean. Once it reached the ocean, the waves reached out and grabbed the baby turtle. The baby turtle knew that if she could find other turtles, she would find out what her name was, but the ocean was really big, and it would be a long trip.”
“One day, Riley, her mom, and Riley’s new teddy bear, Teddy, went for a walk. Where were they going? Only her mom knew. It was a surprise for Riley. Riley was so happy when she found out there was a surprise.”
“Super Dog and Super Cat were big rivals. One day, they met on a Japanese mountain. They fought for a big diamond. Super Cat lost. ‘Until next time!’ said Super Dog.”
“Logan woke up at 12:55 at night and slowly tiptoed down the stairs. She was almost always up, whether she was reading or drawing, so even if it was super early in the morning, she could function normally.”
“I stare into the monster’s eyes, / His face covered in dirt and smeared with grime, / His eyes dark, empty, and meaningless voids”
“Once upon a time, there was a boy named Leo. He lived in Kingstown, but one day, a tornado broke the village. Kingstown never gets tornadoes, so it had to be the evil wizard. Leo was also a wizard, but not a trained, good wizard. The master’s wisdom told him that Leo was ready to attack the bad wizard.”
“Flora was so mad about being short! She couldn’t stand being teased anymore, and all she wanted was to get taller. But how? Flora decided that she would wear stilts. Then, she would be taller than everyone!”
“One day I was cleaning the basement of the orphanage, and I found a big, old, dusty book of fairy tales. It looked interesting, so I read a page or two, and after that, I could not stop.”
“The music flies out out of my fingers / like flower petals in a heavy wind / tossed around the living room.”
“On October 28, 1955, William Henry (Bill) Gates, the richest man in the world, was born. He was born in Seattle, Washington. As a young kid at Lakeside Prep School, Bill Gates wrote his first computer program on a General Electric computer.”
“Julie hated Monopoly because her daughter played it so much, and she was tired of it. But she figured that she would play for the sake of July’s entertainment. Suddenly, they heard a yell.”
“I was a normal girl who lived on Mars until these people came. They landed right in front of my shelter that was at the very top of Mars. They said they were from Earth. I have seen these type of people before, but I have never talked to them.”
“Lola ran straight to the nurse. When she got to her locker, she saw 100 books! Her friends, Alex, Lexi, and Olivia walked up to her. “Hey guys, my bad dreams are coming true!’ said Lola.”
“The Greyhound dropped him off at jungle square, where he bought a 4×4. As he put the pedal to the medal, he took a sharp right turn and ended up running into a tree. He got out of the burning 4×4 and got a cab.”
“They almost never had new students. Everyone gasped, but Hammy gasped the loudest. He felt his heart rising with excitement. A new student? I wonder who it is!”
“There was once a bug named Fred, and he was very stupid. His biggest dream was to become the President of the United States of America. He knew he had to make some money, so he decided to get a job.”
“It was a hot, sunny morning, and Lily’s long, brown hair was sticking to her face. Her blue eyes were watching the cars pass by as she waited for her friend, Emily.”
“I kicked the ball up the field for my friend, John. He received it. Then, a player on the other team came running, slammed right into me, and everything turned dark. “
“Lilly walked to the park. She found a charm bracelet. The charm bracelet was shiny and had hearts and rainbow charms on it. She ran home with the charm bracelet. It was getting windy.”
“Dear Diary, I know this is probably going to be the longest diary entry ever, but a lot happened today.”
“My name is Kayla Carter, and my brother’s name is Matthew Carter. I have red hair and deep, ocean blue eyes. Matt has golden hair and chocolate brown eyes. He reminds me of my dad even though they look nothing alike.”
“I woke up in the morning, after a fitful night of sleep. ‘Britney?’ I called out to my nanny who had spent the night because my parents were on a business trip. ‘Oh, hi, Sophie!’ I heard a strange, female voice call from downstairs. ‘Britney had to go, but I’m here — my name is Brooke!'”
“I, Jammy, was in my house, getting ready for bed. I changed into my pajamas, and walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth. My teeth were as clean as fresh snow. After a day of continuous running from sports, I was tired when I went to bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was sleeping.”
“Once, there was a blue monster from Antarctica. That’s why he was blue. He had one black eye, two white horns, and dark blue patches on his blue body. He came to Brooklyn. He went to school there. Some of the people in the school threw chocolate over his head. All he wanted was love. But he couldn’t get it, because he looked like a big, angry monster whenever they put chocolate on his head.”
“Ginger and Fred met at the fish game during the fair. They met each other by just looking around at all the fish in their bags. When they saw each other, it was love at first sight. They were lucky to be close enough to touch. They tried to kiss, but they tasted plastic instead of each other’s lips. It was gross!”
“Enid knew that it was one of those horrible days. She couldn’t deny it. It was in the air. Her best friend, Amia, was absent, she got a D- on a math test, and she had lost her science journal.”
“Plum, the golden retriever, was grazing in someone’s yard and playing with a ball. Plum belonged to a boy named James. Plum really wanted to go to the country, except they lived in the city, and Plum wanted to go to, well… Plum didn’t know exactly where.”
“Her black hair swayed in the wind. Her weak body shivered, both of cold and of fear. Her bright eyes and pale skin were the only things they had in common. As if land morphed to her fear, ravens cawed and bloodhounds howled. The moon shone darker, and the trees withered around them.”
“We ran through the pine woods and towards the creek. Finally, I cornered her between me and a rock. I didn’t take one moment to hesitate. I crouched down and pounced on my sister, pinning her to the leafy ground. I let go of her, and we rolled onto our backs, looking at the sky, letting darkness surround us.”
“Crayon Monster wanted to go on the 5 train, but all the trains were out of order. He was furious! He blew rockets out of his head and mouth. They flew everywhere. Nobody got hurt. Everyone else was at home because it was early in the morning.”
“Once upon a time, there was a killer sheep name Sheepy. Sheepy’s mom wanted Sheepy to be a gamer. But Sheepy wanted to make lots of money, and the only way he could think of getting rich was stealing. He stole a quintillion dollars from banks, shops, anything that would get him money.”
“One day, Spike the cat was running around in the backyard of his house. He suddenly spotted a fox, perched in one of the surrounding trees. He ran back to his home in fear. It was Spike’s first time seeing a fox, and he did not know what to expect. “
“Once upon a time, there was a dragon who lived in a castle. The dragon loved adventure. It was red and orange, and was named Fire. Fire hated living in a castle, and he was about to go on an adventure. He had already explored near the castle, but not in the forest.”
“The cat wanted a ball of yarn. The cat had run out for yarn. She knew it was in the attic, but there were ghosts in the attic.”
“Once, there was a town near a beautiful beach with palm trees and a food bar. Ten thousand king cobras lived under the sand, and they chased away all the people. They made the town their own kingdom.”
“A puppy named Sugarpaws was raised by a boy named Sammy. She was named Sugarpaws because she loved cookies, and always had sweet stuff sticking to her paws. She was golden brown, and she had a beaded flower crown on top of her head because Sammy and Sugarpaws found scraps and put it together.”
“I lay in my bed and shivered under the covers. Thunder boomed outside the window, and the wind was howling outside. A streak of thunder flashed and revealed the number 13 written in blood on my door.”
“No one knew when the house appeared. All they knew was that it wasn’t recorded in any construction book. None of the supply companies had a clue what it was either. It seemed like it had just… appeared. All the kids were a little freaked out by it. Actually, thinking back, everyone was scared of the house. All they knew was that the lights turned on at night and were off in the day.”
“She turned on the light, but the body was still there. The light turned off, and then the body was there in front of her.”
“The hum / Of the city / As you / Step / Outside / The beat / Of the footsteps / Of millions / Of feet / As you / Journey / Towards / Your destination”
“So once in third grade, we had a substitute teacher who was evil. His name was Mr. Broom, and once, I was putting a bin over to one of the shelves. Then the shelves knocked down on me, and he told me to clean it up. And he said for no one else to help. And he wouldn’t let us use the bathroom, so I peed in my pants once. And he was just completely evil.”
“We are leaving today! Today, today, today! Today, we leave for America. Today, I get to start a new life.”
“Once upon a time, there was a boy named John who went in the forest alone without his parents and got lost. He lived in the forest for seven years. He liked living in the forest. He ate different types of berries. He made friends with parrots and woodpeckers.”
“’If the trip to Mexico is in a few weeks, then why are we packing now?’ ‘It was just decided at 12 o’clock that the trip will be today. By the way, it is at 4 o’clock in the morning right now. The trip is at 5 o’clock in the morning.’ Daniel’s mouth hung open like a broken glove compartment.”
“Their parents left for the airport a week later. Then the next day, Owen and Zoe got back from the grocery store and found a man sitting up sharply on their couch. He was in a tuxedo. They didn’t know the man, he was just there. Owen quickly and quietly ran to the kitchen so he could get a butcher knife in case the man was dangerous.”
“Once upon a time, a boy named Naruto found a coloring book on the sidewalk, and it came with a lot of different colored crayons. Naruto liked to draw, so when he got the book, he started to draw a haunted house with a wizard who lives in a different universe.”
“Take a deep breath / Push off the wall / Don’t let your feet slip / Don’t waste any time / Not even / A second”
“I rubbed my eyes and shuddered. ‘It’s only a dream,’ I told myself. But I had been having this dream every night this week and was beginning to think the woman’s message was important.”
“‘Your science project needs to be creative,” Jeffrey’s science teacher croaked, “so I do not want to see any baking soda volcanos, or — ‘ Ring!!! The bell chimed as all the students got up and rushed out of the school. Jeffrey grabbed his backpack, hopped on his skateboard, and rode down the road with his best friend, Matt.”
“The whole class giggled except Eliot and Paige, Stephanie’s best friends. Eliot and Paige were twins. They didn’t laugh because they knew what had been going on.”
“Three years ago, a panda was born in a forest that was being cut down. All the pandas were being taken to the zoo by a hunter named Bob and his wife named Blobana, so that the forest could be cut down. They both had over thirty years of experience and threatened to kill all the animals if only one did not go to the zoo.”
“One day, Caterina heard a huge panic going on in her village. She stopped digging to see what was going on. In the distance, Caterina saw people she had never seen before.”
“The tire wheels screeched. My head lurched forward. If my seat belt were any looser, I would have cracked my skull. Jessie gasped.”
“He wasn’t any old dog. Spot would grow up to be one of the most adventurous and successful living things ever. By the time he was one years old, he found out about the Makr.”
“My dad was a scientist. He invented a black rose the could turn into any medicine. One day, my family was sitting down and watching my dad invent the black rose. He was using some rose petals, dirt, Mount Everest water, ground cinnamon tree leaves, and mud from the Dead Sea.”
“He always walked down the unnamed street when he wanted to be alone, which was often. He liked it because no one ever walked on it except him. When people came to the entrance of the street, they always walked past it like it was not there.”
“John loaded his rifle as his fellow troops dropped dead on the ground, covered in blood. A grenade landed on John’s sandbag. He quickly threw it back, but a sniper had been aiming at John. He was gonna get shot without even knowing it… “