"The writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which he is not always master- something that at times strangely wills and works for itself."
Charlotte Bronte

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hello Mackenzie & Amanda,

I really enjoyed reading the first 14 pages of your book.  I hope you continue because I want to find out what happens next.  You make quite a team!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Xavier's Mind Muser!


“Hello?” said Norman.
“Bad Idea” said Xavier. They were both thinking the same thing: They did not want to attract the bad  kind of attention.
A voice erupted around them, seeming to come every direction at
once - coming as much from the inside of their heads as the outside.
You are not welcome here. Leave this place.
The wind howled even harder, and the trees seemed to shake and bow with terror.
We need to speak to you” Norman called.
“Please just let us talk to you” Xavier said.
Leave this place, they both heard again. The  sound of the voice seemed to rush right through them, leaving them shaking and out of breath.
We won’t leave until we’ve spoken with you,” Norman said. With each step they took toward the tree, a voice inside both of them shout No! Turn and run! as if their brains were in the audience and they were nothing more the characters in a movie. A very scary movie.
Who are you?
“My name is Norman Babcock” said Norman
“And I’m his brother, Xavier.” said Xavier
“You don’t know us, but we know you. We’re your great-great-great… well, we’re  related. We’re kind of the same, you and us.”
They advanced two more steps as they spoke, but they still could not make out any details of the figure crouched in the roots of the tree. Light streamed from behind it, and jagged tendrils of liquid fire snaked from its head.
You are not dead.
“Well, no,” Norman said. They took a step.
You are a boy.
“That’s right.” said Xavier. They took another small step. At least she was talking now.
You are not like me at all.
Xavier was trying to come closer to see more of her features, but he wasn’t close enough.
Norman thought carefully before speaking This could go either way now. He could reach her in some way, human to human, or he could return her to the cataclysmic tantrum she had been having.
“I know what you’re feeling,” Norman said, taking another step.
“Both of us have felt it many times,” Xavier said, also taking a step.
No. No one knows that. No one knows anything about me.
“Your name is Agatha Prenderghast.” said Norman
“And we both know what happened, and we know that it was terrible.” said Xavier.
“We also know that you're tired, and we’re tired too.” said Norman
“We are just kids, and you are one too, so just calm down and sleep.”
A crack of lightning shot skyward, silencing the two.
I will not sleep! You cannot make me sleep! I burned your book to dust  so I will never have to hear your stupid stories, Now LEAVE ME ALONE!
“None of us are going to leave! Not yet!” said Xavier
“Not until you listen to us,” said Norman.
“She’s right,” said Xavier.”She destroyed the book. What are we suppose to do now?” Said Xavier.
“Um…” Said Norman.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Sentence Imitation - Submitted by Amanda

We followed the drunken sound of the carnival through a snarl of cramped lanes, where from wooden carts vendors hawked vegetables and dusty sacks of grain and freshly killed rabbits; where children and small cats skulked and prowled with hungry eyes, and women with proud, dirty faces squatted in the gutter peeling potatoes, building little mountains with tossed-away skins.

                                                                               Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (p. 303)

Friday, May 23, 2014

Mind Muser
By: Kieran

*None of this is from the book.*

    Today, Dad flew the J-3 again, but without Mom knowing he was flying the plane. He also threw water balloons like what Mom told him not to do on the house (instead of his shoes like another time) so I think Mom will be extremely angry at him. I watched him fly the plane out of the window of my room with the Japanese binoculars to watch Dad in the sky flying his plane. I didn’t tell Mom that he was flying the plane because I liked to watch him fly, but I still really wanted to fly in the plane with Dad again.

    I got a little bored and decided to call my old friend Kieran over. I asked Mom for the phone book, but she didn’t know where it was. I asked Dad where the phone book was after he landed his plane.

    “I threw it on the house over there when I was flying the plane,” Dad said.

    “What!? Why did you do that!?”

    “I ran out of water balloons to throw,  so I tried to find anything else to throw at the house and I found the phone book to throw.”

    I went over to the house, and found the phone book ripped and with the pages scattered on the ground. “It must have scraped against the shingles,” I said to myself. I searched for Kieran’s number and finally found it on the last page I collected on the dirt. I went back home, grabbed the phone and dialed his number.

    “Hello? Hi Mr. Watters. Can Kieran come over to play today? No I don’t want any bread. I want Kieran over, and can I talk to him? No I don’t want to talk to ham. I want to talk to Kieran.”

    “Hi Jack! I haven’t talked to you in a long time!” said Kieran

    “Do you want to come over to my house right now? Your mom said yes!”

    “Sure. I’ll be right over.”

    Kieran came to my house at about 2:00pm. We played almost the whole day, and called his mom again to ask if he was allowed to have a sleepover at my house. He was allowed, but his dad said he had to come back to his house at 2:00am! Kieran still stayed over for the sleep over though. It was lucky that he brought his PJ’s and toothbrush to my house. We got ready for bed and went to sleep.


Eileen's Mind Muser: The Penderwicks


“Bye Cagney! See you tonight!” I screamed at my brother as he was leaving for his job planting flowers for snooty Mrs. Tifton down the street.  Mrs. Tifton was an awful lady, who was forcing her son Jeffrey, (my friend) to go to military school, even though he wanted to be a pianist. Mrs. Tifton had a boyfriend named Mr. Dupree. Jeffrey, Sky, Jane, and I made a target for shooting arrows with rubber tips. It was of Dexter’s (Mr. Dupree’s) face, with his well known, mysterious smirk, right under his huge, bushy mustache. Skye and Jane were two of the Penderwick sisters, out of four. The other two were: the oldest, Rosalind, who I’m pretty sure has a crush on my older brother, Cagney. And Batty,  who is 4, and never leaves home without her precious butterfly wings. Anyways, Batty and Rosalind were coming over because Batty liked our bunnies, Yaz and Carla. As I was going to the kitchen, I came across a half eaten brownie plate, and shoved one in my mouth. I heard a knock on the door. 
“ Oh Yaaaaaz! I have your carrot!!!! I gulped down my brownie and rushed to the door. “Hi!,” said Rosalind, looking to the right, then to the left.
“ Is Cagney home?”
“No, he had to plant daisies for Mrs. Tifton.”
“Oh,” she sounded disappointed.
“Can you give him these when he gets back?” She was holding a plate of something wrapped in tinfoil.
“Will do.” Yaz hopped out from underneath a chair. Batty put a carrot on the ground, and watched in excitement as he nibbled on the treat. Carla hopped out and bumped Yaz to one side. She started to chomp the veggie down. I went to the cupboard and found a bag of parsley. I laid it on the ground as Rosalind shut the door and locked it tightly.
“Here,” I said as I took the plate from Rosalind and placed it on the counter.  6 minutes later Yaz and Carla were full. They both hopped back underneath the big chair.
“ Well, we better get going. Tell Cagney I said hi!”
“Bye bye Yaz!” Batty blew Yaz a kiss. They walked out of the screen door and slammed it shut. I went into the kitchen to check what was on the plate under the tinfoil.
“Yum! More brownies!” I yelled. Carla whimpered.
“ Sorry Carla,” I whispered. I scarfed down a brownie and ran to the closet next to the front door. I pulled out my red converse and threw them on. I quickly double knotted the laces and ran out the front door, locking it safely and securely.
Soon I was at the Penderwick porch.
“Hey,” said Skye and Jeffrey.
FISH HEAD!” said Jane in a weird british accent. She was being Mick Hart. Mick Hart, the oh-so-talented center came from Manchester, England, was dreamt up by Jane. I saw that they were all playing some type of soccer.
“C’MON!” Screamed Skye. “YOU’RE ON MY TEAM!” I ran over to Jeffrey, who had the ball at the moment but before I could get it, he passed it to Jane who screamed,
SILLY GIT!” Finally that was too much. Being called a fish head is one thing, but no one can stand being called a silly git by her younger sister, even when she doesn’t know what a git is.
PASS IT TO ME!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Skye fell to the ground. It looked pretty bad, but then laughing demonically, Skye was suddenly on her feet and throwing herself at the ball. She walloped it towards Jeffrey.
“Jane’s the monkey!” she shouted triumphantly. A few minutes later, Jeffrey was the monkey, and he was mad. The ball was flying high in the air, and slowly, it fell down towards the gardens.
COME TO MICK! UP PENDERWICKS! DOWN JEFFREY!
WAIT GUYS! THE GARDEN!” I yelled, but no one could hear me over Jane’s ( Mick’s ) screaming. I didn’t want to get in trouble - especially with Mrs. Tifton - so I made a run for it. Over the bushes, out the door, and up the stairs to the door of the apartment. I struggled to find the key, but when I did, I ( sweatily ) twisted it into the keyhole, and ran in. I kicked off my converse, and plopped myself down on the couch. I felt bad for Jeffrey, Skye, and Jane. In fact, I felt so bad that I took the brownies that were meant for Cagney, wrapped them up, and went over to Jeffrey’s house.
I went through the special entrance to the garden and I saw Jane. She looked fine, but she also looked like she was spying on someone.
“Hi Jane!” I said. I must have startled her because I made her drop a red notebook. I picked it up and gave it to her.
“ Oh good, its just you.” She said, relieved.
“Thanks,” She squeaked as she plucked the notebook out of my hands.
“So, what are you doing here?” I asked confused.
“And where are Skye and Jeffrey?” She hushed me with a wave of her hand. I saw a car pull up in the driveway, and rolled my eyes as Dexter Dupree came out.
“Ugh, what’s the big deal? It’s just Dexter!” Jane was still silent. Suddenly she ran out the garden and screamed,
“DEXTER! DEXTER!” I put my head in my lap. I had no idea why she wanted to talk to mean old Dexter, so I stayed and watched. I saw them talking, and then I saw Jane’s eyes tear up. She ran away to the Penderwick home, I was going to go after her, but I saw a backseat car door open, and I saw Jeffrey come out.
“So, did you see him? Was he there?” Skye said eagerly.
“I...I….I didn’t! Jane said as she burst into tears. I could hear, and see all of this from the front door. I knocked, but then got scared. I started to run away from the door, but tripped over something fluffy.

“Yaz!?”

The things from the story are bold.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Andra's Mind Muser! Awake and Dreaming.


I was just talking to my friends about my trip to Vancouver when I saw the new girl walk in the classroom. She wore new plaid pants, with a matching green sweater and a red vest. Her name was Theo.  She was placed at the table with Jasmin, Will and my best friend Elise. I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation.  

“Did anyone watch The birds on Saturday night?” I heard Jasmin say.

“I did!” I heard Will reply. “My parents were-” I got cut off from Ms. Trembley asking me a question about South Africa.  

“How many colors are there in the South African flag?”

“Um… 5 or 6?”

“6 Andra,” she said, “You were kind of right.” and Mrs.Trembley walked away.

I went back to my eavesdropping. It’s looks like I haven’t missed much. They were still talking about The birds.

“...must be very brave.” I heard Elise said, “I can’t watch movies like that.”  That is when I decided to join in the conversation.

“Did you know that the second one is coming out later this year?” I asked.

“I know! I saw the trailer for it!” Jasmin said. “It looks scarier than the first one!”

Ms. Trembley walked towards us. “Did you hear what I just said?”  Neither of us dared to say anything. “I thought so.” she walked away, “You can chit-chat at recess, but now it is time to learn.”

Ms. Trembely was talking about South Africa but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was thinking about Theo. How I think I saw her before on my vacation to Vancouver. When me and my mom were in Vancouver going shopping. I saw a girl begging. Dancing to the Nutcracker song I think. Maybe that was her evil twin or something. Right at that thought, the bell for recess woke me up from my daydreams.  

I decided to be friends with her. At recess, we talked with each other. And during the week, we played with each other and worked with each other. But one day she started to fade.

Or was I fading? I don’t know but I didn’t see Theo unless she like shook me or something. I couldn’t see her. All of this was going fast. So fast that It made me dizzy! I thought that maybe she left the school.
So I asked Ms. Trembley.

“Ms. Trembely, has Theo left the school?” I asked Ms. Trembley.

“What do you mean?”

“Well I haven’t seen her for a long time.”  

“Of course not!” Ms. Trembley laughed, “Stop asking me silly questions and go outside for recess.”

Maybe it’s only me, but I have to confirm that. So I got an idea of asking the other peers in my class if they noticed it too.

“Have you seen Theo anywhere?” I asked Jasmin, Will and Elise.

“No! I actually haven’t seen her for a long time.” said Elise, “Have you guys?”

They both shook their head.

“Ok, thanks.” I said.

I just couldn’t fall asleep. I was tossing and turning, thinking about Theo. I eventually fell asleep. But I woke up in the hotel in Vancouver, my mom calling me for breakfast.

“Eat up your breakfast fast. We don’t want to miss the ferry to Vancouver.”

On the ferry, I couldn’t think about anything except that dream. Or was it a dream and was Theo having the same dream in her point of view? And how do you pee in your dream? When I have a dream and I pee, I usually wake up wet. I knew that none of these questions can be answered. But was it really a dream?

Bold is from the book.

Mind Muser - by Aidan (Mr.Popper's Penguins)

AIDAN                           LITERATURE CIRCLE - MIND MUSER                       2014.05.16
‘Twas very quiet in the Barbershop. The barber was cutting my mop-like hair. A penguin standing next to a strange looking man found this very interesting, leaping onto the countertop, accidently knocking down the scissors.
“Well then, what do we have here” I said, seeing the strange spectacle of a penguin jumping up and down ecstatically in front of my face; in still water, one of the most boring towns around of all places!
“Oh, pardon me, sorry, so sorry, this is my penguin Captain Cook,” a tall man, who strangely resembled a toothpick dressed in black and white, said to me and the quite red faced barber.
“And you are?” I asked the strange man, “since I most definitely have not seen you at any point around Stillwater. I then pointed out to myself that he actually resembled the penguin he was accompanying.
“Oh...where are my manners, young man. My name is Mr. Popper,” he replied to my question.
“The painter?” I said, “is this the regular routine for a painter.” For a painter, he was doing something rather...eccentric.
“Yes, yes I am a painter. If you are wondering, this is not what I usually do. I actually love the south and north poles, and then this man named Admiral Drake decided to send me a penguin, which is rather strange...do you find that strange, I -” he replied.
“OK! I get it!” I said, averting a obvious, boring 2 hour ramble about everything that had happened to him in the last week. Mr. Poppers eyes widened slightly, and shook his head, making that self-correction ‘tut, tut’ noise, and said,
“sorry for that.” He walked up to the barber, and started talking to him as the penguin jumped onto my lap. He weighed more than I expected, and it didn’t help that he seemed to be doing some sort of tap-dance on my lap. He had sleek black feathers, and a big stomach covered in snow-white downy-feathers.


As the penguin started dancing around the barbershop, I heard the barber starting to get annoyed, saying to Mr. Popper:
“can you please remove that dang bird out of here? He’s messing up my shop!” He sounded angry with the cute, innocent penguin.
“Sorry, I’ll leave now,” said Mr. Popper, “but can I take Captain Cook out through the back of the shop? People seem to be giving me some odd stares.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Popper,” said the barber, obviously pleased that he got his way with Mr. Popper and his penguins.


So, as I stared in astonishment, Mr. Popper took Captain Cook in his arms, and amid cries of “Quork?” “Gawk!” and Ork!” made his way out of the shop and its back room and out a door into an alley.
"See you later, Mr. Popper!” I said, waving goodbye to the odd man and his strange, waddling friend.