Each month, we feature EIGHT new pieces of student writing on the TWENTY-SIXTH of the month. (Get it?) This month, we are are featuring writing from six pieces of writing from our Washington Street Tutoring program in Ypsilanti and two pieces of writing from our Liberty Street Tutoring program in Ann Arbor.
826michigan Tutoring Programs
Aerania Allen, 14
Forbidden Queen
Arbor Prep Academy
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
I sat in front of my mirror while brushing my hair; I heard a loud thump. I went to the ballroom to see what was going on. It was a strange group of men dressed in black. “Grab the queen,” one of the men said.
“Eek! Who was that?” There, it was a girl. The men came over to me and put me into chains.
“I know someone who would pay a very good price for a princess and a queen,” said a man who was taller and more buff than the rest. This man wasn’t dressed in black, I quickly noticed. He was wearing blue.
He must be the leader, I thought.
“Come on, everyone, outside!” said the man wearing blue. As we passed the kitchen we saw my father (the king) laying down, unconscious, his injured neck staining the tile red.
“No! Papa, get up!” I screamed.
“Shut up,” said the man wearing blue as his hand casted a shadow on my face. When we finally arrived outside, I realized that I was surrounded by lifeless bodies.
“Where are the guards?” I thought. I can’t believe I didn’t hear anything when I was in my room. The man wearing blue told his soldiers to chain and blindfold us. I was really scared about what would happen to me and my mom. I also hoped that I wouldn’t bump into anything. Once we had reached the ocean, the chains and blindfolds were taken off. We boarded a huge ship. I was happy that I didn’t have to walk anymore. The men on the ship passed out pieces of bread to everyone who was in chains. I was so hungry that I shoved the whole thing in my mouth. My mom told me that I should save some of it. (Of course it was too late because it was already gone.) My mother reminded one of the men that she was kidnapped and that she wasn’t supposed to be there.
The man simply told her, “Go sit and eat your food. We will be in Spain in about three months, so keep calm, please. We are doing the best we can to keep everyone fed.”
A tired looking young lady sat down next to my mother and said, “I overheard your conversation. Did you really get kidnapped?”
“Yes,” she said. “My daughter and I were taken out of our castle and put on the ship.”
Michael Horne, 12
I Study
South Pointe Academy
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
I study, I study, I do my best, I study, I study, like all the rest. I study, I study. Some more, I suggest. I study, I study. I got an A+ on the test. I study, I study. With all my heart. I study, I study to get a fresh start. I study, I study. To get real far. I study, I study. I get a star. I learn, I learn. I didn’t throw a fit. I learn, I learn. I knew I could do it. I learn, I learn. I like to listen. I learn, I learn. I pay attention. I study, I study. I do my work. I study, I study. It doesn’t hurt. I study, I study. I did it all. I study, I study. I will never fall.
Lema Ebrahim, 10
The Boy Who Ruined China
Michigan Virtual Charter Academy
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Chin Su. He lived in a remote part of China, under the ruler of Emperor Chang Wee, a cruel and greedy king. All of his people hated the king, because he made them work in mines, to find gold and precious items for him to keep. They couldn’t do anything against him, because a powerful army was under his command. He would make them work from dawn until dusk, with no payment except raw rabbit soup, which was served two times a day. All people were forced to work, from the age of five until they were at death’s door. The conditions were very harsh, and many people died of disease, hunger, sickness, and old age. Now, in this tiny kingdom, there was a small cottage near the edge of the town. Inside it lived a small boy, Chin Su, with his parents. Chin Su was a little innocent boy, about seven years old, who had no idea about the Emperor or the outside world. His parents kept him hidden away in a secret library which was in his house, protecting him from the dangerous work in in the mines.
One day, the soldiers had come to Chin Su’s house searching for any victims that were not working in the mines. The parents heard the Emperor’s soldiers coming, and quickly hid Chin Su in a secret room where no one could find him. The parents, however, were taken away by the soldiers, never to see their beloved son again. Chin Su grew up alone, hungry, scared, only getting up every day at midnight to eat scraps of food from the garbage. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he would find some rabbit soup that the miners had left, often scared, chased by wild dogs, and careful not to get caught by the guards.
Chin Su kept his identity a secret until the day he turned sixteen, the day everything changed. It was a cold, dark winter night when Chin Su went out searching for food. He had begun hunting a few months back, killing wild geese and fishing. He was strong enough to explore the dangerous woods. On this particular night, he had seen a piece of ripped paper along the banks of a stream, and had quickly picked it up. Lighting up a fire to warm himself and read the note; he soon found what the words meant. He recognized his parents in the headline and found out that they had been killed by the Emperor Chang Wee. Cold, sad, and furious he vowed to get revenge on the cruel tyrant that had robbed him of his childhood.
The following year, Chin Su had begun exploring the books in his secret library. His literature, however, was Science. Robotics and mechanics interested him greatly and he soon found himself tinkering around with small scraps of metal and other objects. Being a very talented child, he immediately learned all there was to learn about mechanics. As he lay in bed one night, he was thinking about one particular chapter that he had read that day. It had been about human-sized creatures that could do anything that their master asked them to. They were created simply by putting pieces together and forming a large lump of things called robots. Chin Su was obsessed with these mysterious hunks of metal, so he decided to experiment and try out making one. Chin Su used the scraps of trash lying around, connecting ten cans to iron wires, thus creating electricity.
Before long, he had created a seven-foot-tall mound of walking, talking trash. He had named it Mino, and trained it to obey his comments. A couple weeks later, Mino was as strong as five soldiers and smarter than half of them. “The time is right,” Chin Su told Mino, “that we can take over this evil king’s treasury and free the poor people in need of help.”
Mino nodded, understanding. Mino went back to massaging his master’s feet and cooking dinner at the same time. Early the next morning, Chin Su set off quickly toward the castle. There he saw, among the tall pillars, were ruby-studded stores, heavily guarded by hordes of soldiers.
“The Royal Treasury,” Chin Su whispered. “You know what to do.”
Mino nodded again, bowed his head toward Chin Su, and clambered over to the large group of guards near the entrance, a dagger and a bow and arrow in his hands that was the size of trash can lids. It only took a few seconds to notice him, a bizarre thing made out of plastic wrappers and broken tires. Mino started screaming at them as if they were pesky rats that needed to be killed. Just the sight of Mino made people run away in terror, and those who remained, he simply stampeded on top of them, crushing them like a stamp of cards.
Pretty soon, Mino made it into the treasury, hurt and somewhat broken. He scooped up a large piece of gold and coins stashing them inside his body. The guards had been horrified seeing Mino, but that didn’t stop them from trying to attack him. Of course, he fought them off like a real boss, but in the end, he still got a bit injured. When the people saw Mino fighting for them, they rushed from their homes to help him. Grown men, young boys, and all types of animals stampeded through the castle door, straight toward the throne which the emperor was seated on. Within minutes they had attacked him, trampling over him before he would call out to any of his soldiers who were dutifully fighting the robot, unaware of the mob that was inside the castle walls. Mino died from the attacks a few days later, but he was never forgotten. The people in the Kingdom forever respected him and Chin Su, who was now happily the ruler!
David Wall, 10
Stay in School
Fortis Academy
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
Once upon a time in Windybrookeville, Larry (a.k.a. Boxer Joe) was trying to sneak out of the classroom. Right at the door the teacher caught him at the last second and said, “Larry, you never stay in my class! But before you leave, let me just say something. Tentacles on Boxer Joe!”
Larry said, “ How do you know my other name? And bye!” So on that night he faced Tentacles. Of course, nobody knew who Tentacles was except the teachers. Boxer Joe was surprised to see that he was facing a giant squid, but on land with a shirt and pants. He had four arms and four legs. He is summoned by the teachers when students repeatedly keep doing something bad and don’t stop (which in Larry’s case, they should’ve done it a long time ago). Tentacles battled Boxer Joe (Larry) and, for the first time in forever, Boxer Joe had been beaten. Joe got mad, real mad. So every day after school he trained, trained,and trained! And he even skipped school less and got better grades, D’s, C’s, and C-’s. He battled Tentacles again and lost. This time he got mad, just mad. He trained even more, stayed in school the whole time! After a month he faced Tentacles and finally won. Tentacles disappeared into a little ball of gas and POOF! He was gone, and at the end of the school year Larry finally passed! And he did life like that; he didn’t throw out his whole life. He had a family, grandchildren, and had a memorable life! And BTW, if you keep getting in trouble or anything, Tentacles might fight with you to fix you up too, so be good!!
Karter Tamblyn, 9
Adventures of a Pig Named Pig
Ann Arbor Learning Community
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
Once upon a time there lived a pig named Pig. Some days Pig would go on nice, relaxing walks in the park. Every day Pig would go to the Pig Miracle, an ice cream shop and get her favorite fudge-flavored ice cream. Somehow Pig seemed to always have an adventure. She met a pink, fluffy unicorn named Pink once; then after introducing herself, Pink turned into popcorn. Pig ate the popcorn up! “Yum!” Soon after, Pig decided to go down to Yummy Town. In Yummy Town you can get anything in the world to eat, including Pig’s favorite food, spaghetti and meatballs. As Pig was heading over to the Italian food tent for some spaghetti and meatballs, she saw a shadow running by stealing food from the Italian food tent. She saw the shadow again and again, suddenly all of the food in the Italian food tent was gone! Pig ran over to the shadow and then . . . To be continued.
Rosie Kozura, 9
Let Me Tell You All About Harry Larry
Ann Arbor Learning Community
Washington Street Tutoring in Ypsilanti
Not long ago a guy named Harry Larry lived around here. Most people liked his nature and some did not like him at all, but later in his life he was able to establish new friendships, so Harry Larry lived happily ever after. Hey, the story cannot end like that, I mean all you did was talk about a guy named Larry who was harry, I mean, come on! What does he do? Eat strawberries all day? No, he eats sauerkraut and turnips. He does not eat strawberries all day. How do you know? Well, because, sorry to burst your bubble, I am Harry Larry! Gasp! The End.
Jason Li, 14
New Sport: Pencils
Pioneer High
Liberty Street Tutoring in Ann Arbor
Point System:
One pencil they snap = 1 point
(Underwater) = 2 points
Goal = 2 points each ½ pencil
Underwater goal = 5 points each ½ pencil
The players get unlimited time each round, but usually players who complete each round faster get more points. They would all start at the time. Pencils is a competitive sport. It’s kind of costly to play because you kind of need coaches and each team will end the season snapping ten thousands of pencils in total. The pencils that are broken can be sent to factories and hopefully they are able to be fixed.
In a normal team, there are about fifty players. Each local team has tournaments about every other week. After the season ends, the top few teams from each county advances to the state tournaments. The top national tournaments. After nationals, the top team of the nationals will be featured on TV and all over the internet. Each national tournament will result in a ton of broken pencils and possibly make the 2076 Summer Olympics. The members of the winning team will also get their names featured.
The object of the game pencils is to snap more pencils and win more points than the other team. For each pencil a player snaps, he/she gets one point. Then they swim halfway to the pool and throw their two half-pencils.
Drew Donaldson, 15
The Inevitability of Name Calling
Community High
Liberty Street Tutoring in Ann Arbor
I’ve got one thing that’s got to be said about middle school.
You’re going to get called things. Mean things. It is inevitable. If kids stopped calling each other mean things in middle school, it would be unnatural. Massive unseen forces bigger than all of us would shift, and the world as we know it would cease to exist.
What? I’m not exaggerating. It’s in the Bible somewhere, I bet you.
When someone calls you something insanely disrespectful, just ignore it. Unless they’re right and call you something most decent people haven’t even heard of. They’re just trying to get a reaction out of you. That’s one skill that a poor young child being thrown into the harsh and lethal war zone of middle school must learn; don’t let people get your reaction.
Did someone take your binder out of your hand? Throw it across the hall? Stomp on it? Super glue it shut? Duct tape it to the bottom of their shoe to step on it hundreds of times on their way to the top of a volcano? And then drop it INTO said volcano? Don’t ever bat an eyelid. Just buy a new binder.