Last week I had the chance to visit Colfax Elementary School in North Carolina to talk about writing with Mrs. Whitlock’s second graders and Mrs. Wilson’s fourth graders. We discussed what an author does, learned the word “empathy,” recited together a couple lines from Walt Whitman, and then in teams wrote stories and shared them aloud.
The kids’ enthusiasm was wonderful. Their imaginations unbridled. And they cared not a whit what an editor or publisher might think. For them, the world was magical. And so were words.
The Invisible Girl! by Rosie and Satina
Once upon a time in a faraway land there was a mad scientist. He wanted to do something excellent. He wanted to make somebody invisible. So he mixed a moth’s wing, boiled water, hand sanitizer, and conditioner. Then he tested it on the moth and then the moth turned invisible. Then he said, YES! YES! IT FINALLY WORKED! After it worked then the moth flew away. The moth got in a bottle. Also there was a girl named Lily. When she went to the bathroom, she drank the moth, then she turned invisible. And she never knew until she woke up she had a sister. Then she was invisible forever! The end.
The Big Adventure by Emma, Makiya, and Alexandra
Once there were three friends who wanted to go on a BIG adventure. One day the three friends were playing outside. When they were playing outside a mysterious man in a black suit came by with a suitcase. He asked the three friends, “Do you want to go on an adventure?” The three friends said, “Yes.” The man opened his suitcase and sucked the three friends in. When they went into the suitcase they were in a magical world that had dragons, unicorns, mermaids, kings, queens, princesses, princes, giant lizards, faeries, and lots of animals. They also had King Kong and Godzilla. The suitcase had wizards, too. They were very excited to have their adventures. THE END.
There were many other notable stories, like a comedy about Sir Derpalot riding through an enchanted forest to save Princess Nutella from her Jello tower, and a zombie apocalypse where the zombies ate all the people and started eating each other until only one zombie was left. That zombie pooped a rainbow.
Thank you, Mrs. Whitlock and Mrs. Wilson! Thank you, little Colfax Vikings!
(Two more stories are below. Click on the image to enlarge.)