Oke-dokey!
So, I'm sorry! I know I'm a bit late getting to ya'll on the ole blog!
Anyways, the winner this week is Kate! Her story, 'The Magic Toadstool' was fantastic!!
It's full of creativity and inspiration!
If you want to read Kate's winning story then keep reading!
Have a great day!! ^-^
Emily
The Magic Toadstool
Chapter One
One Rainy Day…
Plink! Plink! Plink! Marie Northdrop was sitting in her bedroom looking out on the cold, rainy, windy, foggy, day.
“I wish I could have an adventure!” She thought.
It was ten o’clock and she still hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.
Marie was ten years old, had long dark brown hair, big brown eyes, and a kind face. She was very pretty. She didn’t like 4th grade very much.
“Marie! Breakfast!” Came the distant voice of her mother.
Marie went to the top of the stairs and then she thought, “I at least should have a little fun.” And slid down the banister instead. It seemed like hours until the ride was over. She walked into the kitchen. Everybody had left for work and her 8-year-old brother Max had left for 3rd grade. There was a small piece of toast waiting for her. She ate quickly, grabbed her backpack, and ran off to catch the bus. She got her bike out of the garage and rode as fast as she could, and she didn’t stop. When she got to the bus stop the bus had already left. She rode to school and went to the door.
The first thing she saw when she got there were the class bullies, Kristen, Charlotte, and Maria. “Great! Just great!” she thought. “First I’m late—now this!”
“What do you want?” asked Marie.
“Your backpack,” said Kristen coolly, folding her arms. Charlotte and Maria did the same, of course. They always did.
“Why should I give it to you?”
“Because we told you to,” said Kristen.
Scared, Marie gave over her backpack and slunk away.
When she got into her classroom, her teacher Ms. Pinpon was doing the roll call. She stopped.
“You’re late.” She said.
“I missed the bus.” Marie said.
“That will be detention.”
“But…”
“No buts! You will clean up the kindergarten room during recess.”
When Marie sat down she saw Kristen smirking in the corner. Marie turned away. Ms. Pinpon was strict. Very strict. She had to get out of her detention! She was planning to write a poem at recess. But how?
“Ms. Pinpon?” said Marie raising her hand.
“Yes, Marie?”
Suddenly the recess bell rang.
“I need to use the bathroom!”
“OK. But hurry up!”
Marie looked around in the ladies room when she got there. She found a window. She crawled through the window and found a nice shady place near a red toadstool with white spots. She started to write:
Here I am, all alone,
Nowhere to go,
Nowhere to roam.
Here I am, all alone,
Just Marie.
When she was done she lay down on the grass looking at the clouds and wished again that she could have an adventure and suddenly, WHOOSH! She was in a different world. A whole different world.
Chapter Two
Holy Animals!
Marie sat up rubbing her head. “Whoa! Where am I?”
“Well, well, well! You’re in Animal Land!”
Marie jumped. She turned around. There in front of her was a doe and her fawn.
“Can all of you talk?”
“Of course!” said the fawn. “I’m Hellen! Frogs, birds, cats, dogs, cows, horses, fish, pigs, wolves, deer of course, and bears can talk.”
The Doe shuddered at the name of bear.
“What’s the matter?” asked Marie.
“I’m Samantha, and an evil grizzly bear named Griswald Bushal is trying to take over our land—the forest, the mountains, and the valley in between!”
“I’m Marie and can I help you defeat Griswald?”
“Yes! Yes please!” Suddenly animals started coming out of nowhere.
“Let me introduce you!” said Hellen. “Everybody, this is Marie! Marie this is Hannah the frog, Amy the hawk, Nina the cat, Kate the dog, Porkchop the pig, Howl the wolf, Katie the cow, and Haeley the horse!”
Samantha nudged Marie. She nudged her again.
“What?”
“Follow me.” They walked to the valley and to the edge of a small pond.
“This is Natalie the fish! This is Marie!” Inside the pond was a small goldfish.
“Where does Griswald live?” Marie asked Natalie curiously.
“In the highest mountains, in the peaks. He is very, very tall! 20 feet to be exact!” said Natalie.
“Wow!” Marie exclaimed.
“That’s why he lives in the mountains,” said Samantha.
“He sure is huge!”
“Yes he is. And dangerous!”
“How?”
“Many, many years ago, he killed tons of animals in the forest. Hellen used to have a father but not anymore,” said Samantha sadly, shaking her beautiful head. Tears were shining in her bright, blue eyes. Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.
“Why doesn’t Hellen have a father?” asked Marie.
“One day Griswald wanted power! More power than you could ever imagine! He used to be friends with us, he told us about his plan to be the ruler of Animal Land, but we refused. Animal Land should be for everyone to share. He got furious, so he left. Then he started killing animals all over the place! There was a terrible war! Hellen’s father went out into the war and never came back.” Samantha burst into tears.
Marie quietly comforted her. “And then?”
“A few of us animals escaped while we could and hid deep in the forest until the rampage was over.”
“That’s terrible!”
“It is.” Samantha gave one last sniff and pulled herself together. The sun began to set.
“Time for bed!” shouted Hannah.
“We need to get a place for Marie,”
said Nina and Kate.
Marie said, “I’ll just choose a nice quiet spot. Nothing fancy!” She chose a spot in the forest near the pond, and fell fast asleep.
Chapter Three
Exploring Animal Land
The next morning Marie picked flowers next to the spot where Natalie lived. After a little while Marie talked to Natalie. She told her how one day she and her brother Robert were playing in their pond and a cat friend of Griswald gobbled him up but she escaped.
“When that cat gobbled him up,” said Natalie, “I wanted to give him a piece of my mind!”
“I already do want to give him a piece of my mind!” added Marie.
After they chatted for about an hour Marie played leap frog with Hannah. Then she played tag with Nina and Kate. After that Amy took Marie for a ride so she could see Animal Land from a bird’s-eye view.
“This is great!” shouted Marie over the wind. “I wish I could live in Animal Land forever!”
Amy grinned. After Marie started to feel a little nauseous she hopped off and walked over to Katie. “I’m thirsty! Do you know where you get your water?”
“How about some milk instead?” Katie offered.
“OK! But where do you get it?”
Katie shut her eyes tightly and suddenly . . . SPLASH! Katie squirted milk all over Marie and into her dry mouth.
“Thanks! That was very . . . um . . . refreshing! How do you get food around here?”
“Guess!”
Marie thought for a while.
“I give up! How?”
Katie turned to Haeley and winked. Haeley looked up at the sky and neighed. Amy came down with a dead squirrel in her talons.
“Oh! I get it!” Marie said.
Haeley began to talk. “Amy catches food, Hannah catches bugs, I eat hay, Hellen, Samantha, and Katie eat grass, Howl . . . well . . . you know, the same as Amy, hunts, Natalie eats whatever, Nina catches mice, and Kate and Porkchop eat leftovers. You will too!”
“Now I get the whole thing!” said Marie.
Amy brought squirrels for everybody to eat for breakfast.
“Mmm . . . this . . . this is . . . this is delicious!” said Marie, in between bites.
She swallowed. “This is better than cheeseburgers!”
Amy exchanged confused looks with Katie and Haeley.
“Oh!” said Marie banging her fist on her head. She had to explain the whole thing about burgers, sandwiches, and cheeseburgers to them. Marie walked over to Hellen. “Do you want to visit Natalie?”
“Yes!” Hellen said eagerly.
“Samantha?” asked Marie turning her head.
“Sure why not!”
It was getting dark as they walked over to Natalie’s pond. When they got there Natalie was acting strange. She was swimming in circles over and over and over again.
“What’s the matter?” asked Marie.
“A storm! A STORM! A STORM!” She cried frantically.
Hellen gasped. “Oh, no! We have to warn the others! That’s how Amy lost her mother!”
“What kind of storm is it?” asked Marie.
“Wind! Hail! Rain! Snow! More wind!” She kept swimming in circles.
“Calm down!” The wind started picking up, Marie could feel a cold drizzle running down her back, it was dark.
“Quick! Climb on my back!” said Samantha, bending low.
Marie climbed on and Samantha ran as fast as she could. They finally got back to the forest and warned everybody. The storm got worse. The wind blew harder, trees fell, animals panicked! Then a tall oak tree snapped and it fell, covering Marie as it went. Down, Down, Down. Marie could hear faint voices of Hellen and Samantha and still panicking animals. She caught a glimpse of Nina and Kate running in circles. Then everything went pitch black. Silence.
Chapter Four
A big explanation
The next morning birds were chirping and the sun was out shining brilliantly. There were very few big puffy clouds that were a blinding white and the sky was a wonderful blue. Marie woke up groggily on a bed of grass and hay next to the small pond where Natalie was poking her head out of the water every once and a while diving back in for some air. All the animals were staring at her.
“Are you OK?” asked Samantha.
“I . . . I think so.” Marie sat up. “How did you get me here?”
“Well,” started Samantha. “Katie and Haeley moved the tree out of the way while Amy picked you up and carried you here. It was stormy and foggy so the rest of us led the way.”
Marie noticed Hellen was limping. Marie stood up and walked over. She put her arm around Hellen’s neck.
“What happened to you?”
“I stumbled and broke my hoof. It was SO stormy, I could barely see!” She whimpered.
Suddenly there was a humongous roar that shook the ground. Many animals tripped and fell. Marie gripped Hellen to make sure she wouldn’t fall again. A huge 20-foot high grizzly bear was standing on a mountain peak of the tallest mountain. Griswald had returned.
Chapter 5
Teamwork
“Quick! Get on my back!” Amy offered.
Marie climbed on her back. I wish I had a sword! She thought. Like magic, a sword appeared in her hands. Griswald walked down the mountain. The ground shook with every step he took. He grabbed Marie and crushed her in his humongous hand. He probably broke her left arm.
“Nobody hurts my friend!” shouted Hellen. She stood slowly and wobbled like a baby taking their first steps.
“Hellen! Help!” Marie called desperately.
Hellen jumped into action. She leaped into the air and magically started to fly. Marie threw the sword at Hellen and she caught it and threw it at Griswald’s chest. He fell down as if he was in slow motion. Amy dived for Marie as Griswald lost his grip on her. There was a big boom and then there was complete silence. Marie heard tiny pops. Animals started coming out of Griswald’s chest where he was still bleeding.
“It’s the animals Griswald killed!” shouted Hannah.
Kate and Nina jumped into the air saying, “Hooray for Marie and Hellen!”
“Now that he’s dead . . .” said Samantha.
“They’re alive!” added Amy.
“Thank you,” said Samantha. “Thank you for saving Animal Land.”
“You’re welcome!” Marie said. And she meant it.
Marie turned to Hellen. “Thank you for saving my life.”
“You’re so welcome!”
“Hey everybody!” shouted Marie over the noise waving her hand in the air. “Come here! You guys want to know something? You guys are my very first and best friends. And I know how we defeated Griswald. Not with magic or a sword. Something Griswald didn’t have. Friends, friendship, and something very important. Love. I love you guys, and you will always be in my heart.”
She petted and hugged every single animal in sight.
“Good bye! I’ll come and visit!”
Marie wished to go home and appeared in the school playground once more. No time had passed.
“Marie! Time to go home!” It was her mother.
“Coming!”
Marie gathered her stuff and stuffed it in her backpack. Her mother was in the car starting the engine. She saw 3 figures coming toward her. “Oh no! Not again!” Marie groaned. It was the bullies. Again.
“Hey dummy! Give me your backpack!” said Kristen.
Marie racked her brains to think of what Hellen would do in a situation like this.
“For your information, you are just mean bullies who are wrong to take my backpack!” Marie walked away. That was that.
Kristen, Maria, and Charlotte looked at each other, open-mouthed and speechless. Marie hopped into the car and went home safe and sound.
The
End
By: Kate ☺
