This year, we’ll be posting 8 new, exciting pieces of student writing on the 26th of the month (Get it?). Each month will be curated by our staff. Our aim is to give you an entertaining and fair sampling from our many programs.

This month, we’re celebrating the MANY (almost twenty!) sessions of Drop-in Writing we offered each WEEK this summer.

AUGUST 2014!

Creed Villanueva
Age 11, Scarlett Middle
Harry Potter Eats Giant Adorable Rogue Onion ‘N’ Mushroom Pizza

In the Gobi Desert, Harry Potter chased an adorable giant rogue onion ‘n’ mushroom pizza to New York and ate it. Then he turned into an ever bigger pizza.“We’re all doomed,” said somebody. One month earlier, at the Pizza Factory™, Dr. Cheese tried to make a giant onion n’ mushroom pizza. He accidently added toxic waste and the pizza came to life. It escaped the factory and Harry Potter ate it, but he became a pizza. Fortunately, he rolled down the Grand Canyon.

Aly Pacifico
Age 11, Emerson School
Letter to Piñata

Dear Pinata,

You come in lots of different shapes. You are sold in party shops for birthday parties. You are colorful and get whacked with a stick so candy falls out when you get whacked multiple times then the candy falls out.

Sincerely,
Aly

Matthew Yeh
Age 11, Northside Elementary
Piñata Response

Dear Aly,

I hate getting smacked, you know, by a ton of little kids.

I feel like I’m gonna throw up with all the candy stuffed in my stomach, please just stop hitting me, all I ever wanted to be was a colorful little pony. You know, it hurts my feelings that I get beaten up at birthday parties. And even worse no one ever says sorry.

So please go hit something else, like a stuffed animal or your friend. Because I would rather be left alone instead.

GO AWAY,
Piñata

Heami Oh
Age 10, Slauson Middle
How to Write a How-To

1. Grab a useable pencil.
2. Get a piece of paper.
3. Write “How to write a ____”
4. Under that, write your first step.
5. Write the rest of the steps down in order.

Marianna Alva-Wies
Age 8, Bach Elementary
Candy Volcano Erupts Day

On the United States of Weird, when the candy volcano erupts everyone runs to get the candy. People eat candy all day! It only erupts one time a year, but of course it is legal to eat other foods too. There are no laws. It erupts on Halloween day. Everyone loves it! They celebrate it by dressing up in crazy costumes. After two hours everyone dislikes it. It is very boring to do for more than two hours.

Clara Crabb
Age 12, Hillside Middle
The Gloomy Slumber Party

There is a girl wearing a white sweater splattered with candy. She is holding a white cat with a little pink nose. There is a shiny party hat planted on her head at a bit of an angle. She is wearing grey sweat pants with a gloomy look on her face. She was at slumber party, but she was made fun of because because of her unique outfit of choice. Now she is at home cuddling with her kitten.

Hamza Khan
Age 12, Tappan Middle
Stranded in Australia

I had just woken up when I saw a kangaroo about to jump over me. I was on a flight to Japan when our plane got struck by lightning and crash landed on what looked like Australia. It was also possible that I was the only survivor. I had to find some food since my location looked deserted. As I searched I realized that I had once wanted to travel to Australia but not like this. After three hours or so, I think I found what looked like a palm tree. Luckily it was growing three small “coconuts.” I drank the water out of one of them and ate the inside of one of them and saved the rest for later. The blazing sun was starting to set so I chose to sleep under the shade of the tree to protect me from the heat. I had a hard time sleeping because of the hardness of the ground. I finally went to sleep. When I woke up there was a huge furry thing on my face, making it impossible to see. I used all of my strength to push it off. I stood up to see an enormous cat laying down right next to me. It was an average household cat. It had a collar that was impossible to read since it was scratched out. I thought to myself, ‘Why is there a cat here and why does it look so healthy?’ I later noticed that the two coconuts I had stored for food had been eaten and there was nothing left of them but shells. All of a sudden the cat said “Hello.” I thought I was dreaming, but then realized that I wasn’t.

I was trying to recover, but then the cat said, “What’s wrong with you, don’t you talk?”

“I can talk,” I said, startled by the cat.

“Follow me,” the cat said. I followed it for the rest of the day. We finally came to a towering stone wall. We found an opening in the wall. We went inside and found a very large building. Next to the building, there was a duck. Something unusual was going on here. The duck opening its mouth and said, “QUACK.” The ground shook and part of the wall broke off and tumbled toward the ground. I decided to go inside the building and find out what was going on. The cat and duck followed me. The cat wasn’t talking anymore. There was a sign that said, ‘Welcome to our laboratories.’ There was a brochure on the ground. The brochure said that the building was part of an experiment in the 1940s to give humans superpowers. They had used animals as their test subjects. That explained the talking cat and the earthquake duck. As I walked further into the facility, I noticed a sign that said HANGER. It didn’t occur to me at first, but then I realized, “That’s my ride out of here!” I sprinted to the hanger, and sure enough, there were a few old helicopters in perfect condition. The cat came with me as I flew away. Later, I landed in Sydney and took a plane home. I had survived on my own in Australia.

Amaya Melendez
Age 11, Thurston Elementary
My Lucky Escape

I look like a round orange ball. I am a fruit, but the problem with me is lots of people like to eat oranges. It’s very nerve-wrecking because when someone reaches in the bowl, I’m always very nervous that they will chase me when I see all my friends go. Sometimes I get lucky if someone drops the bowl, then me and my friends roll away and escape. I roll my way under the couch and hide out.