Introduction
Over the last four weeks, some of Barbara Jordan Elementary School’s most creative writers have been bravely expanding their imaginative horizons. Their challenge? To make the familiar world seem completely new and beautiful, or to bring a totally unfamiliar world vividly to life. Through a series of writing exercises, they’ve embraced this creative mission and produced some wonderfully wacky, musical, and spine-tinglingly creepy poems and stories.
These writers, for instance, have studied metaphor, and suddenly that thing perched atop the lamp in the classroom became not a lampshade but a soup bowl. The sound of rain became a knock on the door or fingers tapping. They’ve studied alliteration and repetition, and everything from pets to chips to video games came alive with poetic possibilities. And they’ve read descriptions of amazing islands (both real and imaginary) and pushed themselves to invent magical worlds of their own. Prepare yourself for friendly and human-like animals, teleportation scissors, underwater castles, a chocolate pool, and a well-dressed skeleton with a bottle of ketchup.
So dive in and experience the work of these up-and-coming young writers with fearless imaginations!
Noah Weisz
Badgerdog Teaching Artist
How It Sounds
When it rains it sounds like
water and underwater and
someone knocking.
The river sounds like
it’s about to rain
and when it rains hard
it sounds like a storm.
Kimberly Puertas
Creative Writing
I did a backflip.
I do hip-hop.
I got a makeup kit.
I love chips.
I did a backflip, I do hip-hop.
I got a makeup kit. I love
chips.
Madison Rogers
Roblox
Roblox
jump
tap
click
brum
dum
zzzzzz
shshsh
Andrea Cordova
La Lluvia
lluvia
se escucha como
los sonidos de la boca
como sss ssss
sss ss
ss y
tambien
se escucha como los
dedos pegan suavamente
A. C.
My Island
My island is in the sky on the clouds. It’s pink with burgers that have long legs and trolls that have tattoos and the forest. The forest, it’s the screamer forest! Anyone that dared to go here came. There’s thick fog and mud, rats, ravens, and the eye.
You’re probably wondering, What is this eye? The eye can see the future and then disappears in the fog. It doesn’t say anything, it just blinks and looks at you.
But back on the pink clouds 😊 it’s like the normal world just on clouds but magic, dark magic, helpful magic, wizards, fairies. Somehow there is water that floats. Dimensional scissors teleport to a new dimension. That is all I know from this place, but I’ll keep looking.
Edgar Jimenez-Urbano
Games
Click
Roblox
Click
Fortnite
Click
Minecraft
Click
Pix
Click
Ninja Legends
Click
Call of Duty
Malachi Fruge
The Island
It was a sunny Sunday, and I landed on an island called Green Hill. And there are animals that talk. They stand on two feet. And they wear clothes.
E. A.
What Does a Cat Do?
meow cat
sleep growl milk
cat sleep meow
whiskers growl meow
growl sleep milk
U. C. O.
Comparing the Real World and an Island
When I landed on the island it was half-day and half-night. People and animals. Everything from the real world that was big on the island was small, and everything from the real world that was small on the island was big.
It was an island that was very nice. The animals were very friendly. And everything was cool. There was a portal.
Ximena Segura
The Mysterious Island
When I arrived I saw the island that was never seen and rare…So when I saw it, it was full of trees and fog, blood was on the trees and ground…I saw some people but they were wearing hoodies full of blood standing still…The animals had red eyes with sharp claws…It was raining…When I looked back my ship was gone…I didn’t know what to do, the animals and people got closer when I wasn’t looking.
I forgot to mention that it sounds like claws scraping a metal wall…and it smells like blood. So I ran and ran…I tripped and fell in a hole…I noticed that there were talking skeletons, one was wearing a blue jacket and he was wearing sandals and he had a bottle of ketchup in his hand…
E. F.
Fairy World
My fairy world is colorful with pink, purple, and blue. It has rainbows everywhere. My world has colorful cupcakes with toppings like sprinkles, strawberries, chocolate, and candy. There’s an awesome candy sparkle cake. My friend Strawberry says that her house is made of sparkles and candy. I have gone to her house very often. I love the chocolate pool. There’s a spa. There’s a candy chair. There’s a fruit with chocolate in it. There’s a beautiful pancake restaurant. The pancakes are very yummy. They have chocolate and strawberries. I love the chocolate pool. I go there very often. Sometimes I eat the chocolate.
My friend Strawberry and I go to the pancake restaurant. She orders the fruit/chocolate pancakes. I order the chocolate pancakes. That’s all for now!
Jessica Escobar
Mermaid World
When I got to Mermaid World, I was surprised by seeing a lot of mermaids. They lived in a castle in the middle of the ocean. They could swim fast like a fish when it’s scared. The mermaids had a tail so sparkly and pretty. All the mermaids were having fun swimming and playing with the ball.
N. R.
What Does the Dog Do?
bark
crying
dog
sleep super cute
growl growling
playing with siblings
B. R. R.