Dedicated to the magic of imagination...

Colvin: Magic makes anything possible: infinite possibilities.

David: Anything is a possibility.

Hayes: With magic, you can do or eat anything in a story like spider eggs and slugs.

Luke: Magic makes a story fun.

Padwa: You can do anything you want to do with no limits.

Sollie: I like to play in a story with magic.

Sylvia: You can do anything with magic.

Virginia: I think it makes the story unique. It adds more to it.

Vivian: I like that with magic, anything can happen.

Table of Contents

Come unlock the doors...

The Revenge of the Gingerbread page 3

The Kid and the Spider page 14

Why People Have No Tails page 18

Ocean Adventures page 23

Why the Elephant is the Wisest Animal page 27

Friends page 36

The Runaway Peppermint page 40

Three Fun Friends page 46

The Compass page 52

Meet the Authors page 58

The Revenge of

the Gingerbread

By Colvin Davis

Once upon a time, the Gingerbread Man was taking a stroll through the secret forest when he spotted a huge gingerbread house under a tree.  He went in and saw a gingerbread phone on the wall. 

He used the phone to call his gingerbread friends - the Gingerbread Girl, the Gingerbread Woman, the Ninjabread Man, The Sourdough Man, the Gingerbread Baby, the Gingerbread Boy, and the Gingerbread Cowboy.  He told them they were invited to a secret meeting about how to get revenge against the Old Lady, the Old Man, and the animals that tried to eat them.

When they came, the Gingerbread Man and all the others sat at the big table with cups of coffee (all but the Gingerbread Baby, of course) to discuss the problem.  The Gingerbread Man asked, “All of us have had many problems with an Old Lady, an Old Man, and many other animals (including a sneaky fox) trying to eat us, right?”    

Everyone said, “right!” 

The Gingerbread Man and all the others started brainstorming ideas for how they could get revenge against the Old Lady, the Old Man, and the animals.  They all thought for a while and then the Gingerbread Boy said, “I know, we’ll leave our toys out so that they trip on them.”    

The Gingerbread Man said, “No, our toys are too small for them to trip on.  I know you like toys, but that just isn’t the solution.”

The Ninjabread Man said, “We could sneak up on them and use our Kung Fu fighting.”    

The Gingerbread Man said, “No, only you know how to fight with Kung Fu.  Zip it!!!!”

The Gingerbread Cowboy said, “We could use a lasso and tie them to the wall.”    

The Gingerbread Man said, “No, our lassos are much too small. We’d need a Gingerbread Cowboy Giant to do that.”

The Sourdough man said, “How about I put the most sour sourdough I can make all over us and then they’ll think twice about eating us.”    

The Gingerbread Man said, “Good idea, but that doesn’t get back at them.”

The Gingerbread Girl said, “Maybe we don’t need to get back at them. All we need to do is be safe.”  

The Ninjabread Man yelled, “No! That’s not an option! We need to do something to get revenge for trying to eat us!”

The Gingerbread Man agreed.  The big argument made the Gingerbread Baby start to cry.  The Gingerbread Man pressed a button that opened a trap door beneath the Gingerbread Baby’s seat and down he fell through a tunnel leading out of the gingerbread house.

“Bye bye,” said the Gingerbread Man.  “Now back to the meeting, everyone.”

Suddenly, the Gingerbread Man thought of something.  “Not all of our friends are here.  I don’t see the Gingerbread Woman.”    

The Sourdough Man said that he saw her on the way over, driving in an odd-looking sports car.  The car seemed to be stuck in a bush.  The Gingerbread Man said, “You really saw her and didn’t help her or say anything about it?” 

“Yes,” said the Sourdough Man.  “I didn’t want to be late to the meeting.”

Where is Gingerbread Woman??

The Gingerbread Man said, “Then I will send you to go fetch her.”    

So, the Sourdough Man went out of the gingerbread house and found the Gingerbread Woman where he last saw her.  He said, “Gingerbread Woman, do you need help getting out of that bush?”    

The Gingerbread Woman said, “Yes, get me out please and then we will go get the others.  Then we’ll bring them to my underground base.”    

They got back to the gingerbread house and told everyone to come to the Gingerbread Woman’s secret base.  The Gingerbread Man said, “I don’t know where that is.”  The Gingerbread Woman said, “Of course you don’t know - it’s a secret base!  I’ll lead you there.”    

When they got to the base, the Gingerbread Woman told them, “See these sports cars?  They aren’t ordinary sports cars.  They’re a special kind of car that can travel back in time called a DeLorean.”

The Gingerbread Man said, “I’ve seen that car in a movie called Back to the Future but I didn’t know they were real.”  The Gingerbread Woman said, “I have a plan to get revenge against the Old Lady, the Old Man, and the animals who tried to eat us.  These cars have stink bombs attached to rockets on them.  We could go back in time to when we were first being baked by the Old Lady and the Old Man.  Then we will release the stink bomb rockets and use the car to go forward in time, back to the future.” 

The Gingerbread Man said, “Hey, I knew it involved the movie!” Everyone agreed and said that was the best plan ever.  The Gingerbread Boy said, “Let’s get started already!” The Gingerbread Woman said, “I have a DeLorean for each of us, loaded with stink bomb rockets.”  

They all got into a DeLorean and the Gingerbread Woman said, “3, 2, 1, Go!”  They traveled through time to when they were first being baked.  They waited in the oven for the door to be opened. 

While they were in the oven, the Old Lady and Old Man’s grandkids came and took the DeLoreans from the counter, which they thought were new toys.

When the gingerbreads jumped out of the oven, they searched for their DeLoreans. They couldn’t find them, so they started running for their lives. 

Before they could escape, the Old Lady and Old Man grabbed them. Right when they were about to be eaten, the Gingerbread Baby showed up with an odd-shaped ball and threw it on the floor. When it hit the floor, it exploded.

The Old Lady said, “Who cracked an egg?”    

The Old Man added, “A rotten egg!”   

The grandkids joked, “Last one to clean it up is a rotten egg!”      

The Old Lady said, “Stop joking around. There’s a mess to clean.” 

As they were cleaning, the gingerbread people took the DeLoreans from the toy box where the kids had left them and sped out the door.  All the gingerbread people had just enough time to escape, except for the Gingerbread Man.  When the Gingerbread Man tried to escape, he found that the Gingerbread Baby had locked all the doors and windows. 

The Gingerbread Baby said, “No buts - let’s just get our butts out of here!”  He unlocked the front door and they both drove out. 

The Gingerbread Baby said, “You don’t deserve to be saved unless you say sorry for kicking me out of the meeting.”  

The Gingerbread Man said, “Ok, I’m sorry, but you just can’t cry during a meeting!”    

Help!!!

But they had forgotten about the animals.  The Gingerbread Baby had set traps all over town and when the animals ran after them, they got trapped, including the sneaky fox.  When the Old Lady and Old Man finished cleaning up the egg, they ran out and got trapped as well.    

The gingerbread people used their DeLoreans and went back to the future to the gingerbread house in the woods and everyone lived happily ever after.    

The Kid and the Spider

by David Serrano-Kirchsteiger (almost 7 Y.O.)

Once upon a time a little boy named Bobby went on a boat with his family. It started out as a beautiful day, but suddenly a thunderstorm neared. The boat was struck by lightning and broke into many pieces. Bobby grabbed the motor and floated away on one wood board. After half-a-day, he reached the shore of a tropical island.  

Soon he got hungry and started looking for food. He got lost in the jungle but found a mango tree near a dark cave. He thought that the cave would make for good shelter, when suddenly a spider popped out of the cave. The spider said to the little boy: “Want to be friends?”. So they became friends. The spider said: “Want to make thread out of my spiderweb, so you can make new clothes?”. The boy said: “OK. Then let’s make clothes.”

The next day, the boy collected wood from the broken ship by the shore. They carved wheels out of wood and built a go-kart using the boat’s motor and tying it together with spider’s thread. Driving toward the pond to fetch water, one mile away, they saw his family walking to the same pond. The boy couldn’t believe it. He was so happy to be reunited with his family. Right away they started to destroy the go-kart and started to make a boat out of the pieces. They sailed home and lived happily ever after.

The End

Why People Have No Tails

by Hayes Okumu Obado

Once upon a time there was a hunter who lived by the plains in Africa.

One day he went out to hunt in the forest but could not get any food for a few days. Finally, he saw a dragon. The dragon was fierce and blowing fire from its mouth. The hunter tried to kill the dragon, but the dragon started chasing him.

He ran as fast as he could but the dragon came closer and closer. He felt a tug as the dragon grabbed at him and caught his tail.

When he reached home he realized that his tail was missing. That day he had no food and was very hungry.

When he woke the next day he found a lot of food on his breakfast table and he was very happy. That is why people do not have tails.

The End

Ocean Adventures By Luke Honda

Har the Pig leaped into a cup with a bunch of dirt in it. Har picked the red flower growing in the cup. Har fell asleep in the cup and it started to rain. The rain turned the dirt into mud and he sailed away in the sea.

Then he banged into an island. There was a banana tree on the island. All he ate was bananas. It was his food, but Har did not really like bananas!

Har planted the red flower. Then he swam to another island to find more food. What Har did not realize was that the red flower was mysterious and magical!

The magical red flower said "I'm magical!"

Har was so surprised all he could say was 'Uhhh..."

"You can plant me in the cup and then the cup will fly."

Har said "Ok" shyly and planted the flower back in the cup.

Har leaped back into the cup. The cup started to fly and Har was so happy! As he sailed through the sky, Har saw a Luke paragliding.

The magical red flower said to the Luke, "This pig named Har needs to find his way home. Can you please lead him to the mole hole that will take him back to his home?"

They flew to the mole hole and Har crawled through the mole hole back home. The flower teleported to Har.

Har planted the red magical flower on his roof. Now Har's house can fly!

Why the Elephant is the Wisest Animal

by Padwa Okello Obado

Once upon a time there was a mighty lion who boasted he was the best and strongest in the whole world. The other animals were angry and sad.

The elephant didn’t think that was true. So he invited the lion for a competition to knock down a baobab tree.

The lion laughed at this challenge. Then when the day came, the lion charged at the enormous tree and tore all the bark off and broke the branches, but the tree wouldn’t fall down.

Then the elephant had his turn. He picked the tree up with his trunk easily out of the ground. He threw the trunk onto the ground.

The lion felt disappointed and angry. He tried to get fair with the elephant. So, the lion invited the elephant for a competition to kill a buffalo. When the day came the lion hid in the bushes and leapt at the buffalo and brought him down.

The elephant was impressed yet also thought he could do it. Since he was too big, he couldn’t hide and the buffalo ran away.

The lion said, “Ha! I am better than you!”. The elephant asked, “Could you tear down the tree?”. “No” the lion said in embarrassment.

“See, we are both good but at different things.” The lion laughed and agreed and all the animals in the savannah were happy again. They had a feast to celebrate. And that is the story of why the elephant is the wisest animal.

Tinda!

Friends

by Sollie Allison

Once upon a time there was a little mouse, a furry dog, and a big cat. They were friends.

One day the cat and the mouse met a scary bear and a chicken. The chicken wanted to peck the mouse. The cat ran away because it was afraid of the bear. The mouse ran away from the chicken into the house. The mouse looked around the house for the cat.