The Penguin Story

illustrated by Lucia Kolba and her mom Holly

Chapter 1

Once upon a time there was a penguin who lived in an aquarium. In front of the enclosure that he lived in was a gift shop. One day the penguin was looking in the gift shop from his enclosure to see if there was anything new. Then he saw a beautiful stuffed animal penguin, and he immediately fell in love with it. Then, oh no! A little girl bought it. How could he ever get it now?

He decided that he should follow the little girl, and maybe when they got to her house and she went to bed he could sneak in and get it. But then he realized, how could he get out of his enclosure? The only person or penguin who had the key was Emile, the person who came every day and fed him. Luckily she would come any minute now to feed him, and right that second she came.

He had an idea. He wasn’t that hungry. So instead of eating he sneaked up to her while the other penguins were eating and took the key. That second he saw the little girl walk out of the shop with her mother. He quickly went to the door of the enclosure and unlocked the door and went out.

The little girl was carrying the stuffed penguin in her arm. He followed her and then he got a great idea. The little girl’s pants were black and white. And so nobody would see him he walked right at the back of her pants so it looked like he was a part of her pants.

They walked all the way to the bus stop. They waited for the bus. Finally the bus came, and they went on it. The penguin had a little trouble getting up the steep steps to the bus. But he made it. When they sat down he didn’t know how to hide himself. Then he got a great idea. After the little girl sat down he lay down behind her lower back, and again it looked like he was another part of her pants. Finally they got there. It was much easier getting down the stairs than getting up was. But the penguin thought it was because he had grown that short time.

They walked down that street and made a right turn, and they went up that street a little bit and then they were there. It was a pretty little house painted yellow. They walked in through the door. The key to the door was a funny shape. Through the door there was a hall and then a door to the living room. The living room was a cute little room with two windows, two couches, a chair, and a coffee table in the middle. There was also a fireplace. Then they came into the dining room where there was a table. There was some food on the table. Then he noticed that through the door that led from the dining room to the kitchen there was a father cooking.

Chapter 2

When the father noticed that the mother and the little girl were home he turned around from his cooking and said, “How was it?”

The little girl who had the stuffed penguin in her hand said, “It was great! And look what I got!” And then she held out her arm and showed the father the stuffed penguin. The father said that the penguin looked very cute and said that she should go and put it away in her room. So the little girl went to her room, and the penguin followed. The penguin hoped that the mother or the father would not look at the back of the little girl’s pants because it did look peculiar. He did blend in, but not so much. Anyone could notice if they looked for more than a quick glance. But luckily the mother and father did not look at the penguin.

The little girl went to a door and opened it, and there was a room full of stuffed animals. There must have been a thousand stuffed animals. Some were sitting on top of shelves. Some were sitting in little corners. Some were even leaning against the bottom of her bed. But she had tons! The little girl looked around her room trying to find a place to put the stuffed penguin. Then she found a place on top of a shelf where there were two other stuffed animals, but there was a place where the stuffed penguin could go. The real penguin wondered when the girl’s bed time was. He was really eager to get the stuffed penguin and go. He didn’t want to wait all day. Or maybe the little girl had a nap time that was sooner. That would be good.

Then the father called and said, “Dinner’s ready!” So the little girl went to have dinner. She sat down at the table in the dining room, and she ate pizza. The penguin was not interested in eating pizza at all. But he was hungry. So he decided to sneak around in the kitchen and try to find some fish. So he went to the kitchen, and he looked around. He opened up a cabinet and looked in there, but there was no fish. Then he thought maybe in the refrigerator. So he climbed up on top of a counter and pulled open the refrigerator door. Luckily the door did not make any noise when it opened. He looked around, and there was some fish. He climbed into the refrigerator. It was pretty cold, but he was used to it. He took out the fish and started having a snack.

When he had finished the fish he heard from the dining room the little girl saying, “I’m done.” So he put the fish back in the refrigerator, closed it, hopped off the counter, and ran behind the stove to hide just as the little girl came in to put her plate in the sink.

The little girl went back to the dining room and then the penguin heard the mom say, “Why don’t you go brush your teeth and we’ll probably have time to watch a movie before bed.” So the little girl went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. The penguin sneaked out from behind the stove, and he sneaked over to the bathroom to see what the little girl was doing because he did not know what brushing teeth meant because he didn’t have any teeth. Then the little girl when she was done brushing her teeth went back to the dining room and said that her teeth were all brushed. The mom said, “Did you floss?”

The little girl said, “No.”

The mom said, “Well, can you go floss?”

The little girl said, “But I don’t want to floss.”

The mom said, “You have to floss because if you don’t, then stuff will stay stuck between your teeth, and that will make you get cavities. So you should floss if you don’t want to get cavities.” So the little girl went back to the bathroom and flossed. The penguin was still in the bathroom thinking about what the girl was doing when she brushed her teeth. Then he watched the little girl floss in amazement.

The little girl went to the dining room and said, “I flossed.”

The father said, “Good. Now we can watch a movie.” So they all went to the living room and picked out a movie.

The little girl said, “I want to watch Peter Pan.”

“Okay,” said the mother, and she took the movie out of the shelf. While they were watching the movie the penguin thought this was a good time to go get the stuffed penguin. So he sneaked to the bedroom. It was hard for him to reach the doorknob, so he jumped. The sound of his feet hitting the floor again made a thump.

The father said, “What was that?”

But luckily the little girl said, “Shush! The movie’s starting. It was probably just the radiator.” (They had a very loud radiator.)

The penguin heard all of that and said, “Phew!” Then he went into the room. He saw the stuffed penguin on the shelf next to the two other stuffed animals. He wondered how he could get it. The shelf was too high for him to get up on to it. So he decided to make a way he could get up. The bed was right next to the shelf, and he could get up on the bed. So he jumped onto the bed, and it was very soft and very bouncy. He loved jumping. He decided to just do a few jumps. He started. Luckily the bed was not squeaky at all. He did a couple of jumps, and he loved it so much he did a couple more. And then he thought, “I better stop now!” So he did one last jump, and SQUEAK! The bed squeaked.

“What was that?” said the mother?

“I don’t know,” said the father.

“It was probably just the radiator again,” said the little girl. “Look! Peter Pan and Wendy are about to fly!” So the mother and father ignored it.

Meanwhile the penguin was starting to climb up onto the shelf. He pushed himself up one last time, and he got on the shelf. Then he crawled a little ways to the stuffed penguin and took it up in his arms and hugged it. Then he noticed that he couldn’t get down while holding the stuffed penguin in his arms. He thought for a minute, and then he said, “Well, it’s stuffed. I could just throw it down onto the bed, and then I can jump down myself.” And that’s exactly what he did. Then he jumped up much more quietly this time and turned the knob and went out. He sneaked past the bathroom, past the living room, into the dining room, and finally to the door. He turned the knob and went out.

Chapter 3

He wondered how he would ever get back to the aquarium. Of course he hadn’t been paying attention when they were going to the little girl’s house, so he didn’t know the way, and he had no idea when another bus would come. He knew the way to the bus stop so he went there and he waited and waited and waited for the bus, but it never came. Finally he fell asleep. When he woke up the sun was going down, and the bus still had not arrived (unless it had when he was asleep, but the penguin did not think that).

After a while the penguin decided to just walk and see where he ended up. He might find some place where he could stay for the night. So he walked the other way down the sidewalk, away from the little girl’s house. He walked and walked and walked until all of a sudden a man came up the street. The man said, “What a cute little penguin! I’m sure my son would love to keep him as a pet. I’ll just take him home. He looks lost.”

When the man picked the penguin up the penguin hid the stuffed animal penguin under his wing. The man carried him to his house. It was a little distance. Finally they got there. The house was the most crazy house the penguin had ever seen. It was striped black and white like a zebra, and it was shaped sort of like a crooked hat. It was very strange. The man took the penguin into the door which was spotted like a cheetah and shaped like an elephant and the man then put the penguin down on a couch that was striped, but not like a zebra – like a tiger. Then he called, “Michael! Michael!” And a little boy came running down the steps that were multicolored like a parrot. The man said, “Look what I’ve got for you.”

And the little boy said, “What?” And the man showed the boy the penguin. “Oh, he’s so cute!” he said. Then he said, “Can we make some furniture the color of a penguin one day? I don’t think we have any penguin things yet. We have, let’s see… parrot, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, zebra…” When he was done saying tons of animals (and none of them were penguins) he said, “See? We don’t have anything with a penguin yet. Can we please make one? Please, please, please?”

“Of course, of course,” said the father. “You should go to bed now, son. You can play with the penguin and name him tomorrow. And you also have to go and brush your teeth and floss.”

“Oh, okay,” said the little boy and went and brushed his teeth and flossed.

While all of this talking was happening, the penguin was looking around at this new place. It was so strange with all the animal things. It’s like they really loved the colors and patterns of animals. But he did notice there was nothing the color of a penguin. But he wasn’t listening to the little boy so he didn’t know.

When the little boy left the man took the penguin in his arms and said, “Want me to make a bed for you so you can go to bed?” The penguin just looked at the man. The man put the penguin down and got some sheets and blankets and a little mattress and made a bed for the penguin. When he was done the man tucked the penguin in and went upstairs to read to the little boy.

The penguin waited until everyone else was asleep. Then he decided to have a look around. So he sneaked out of bed and quietly tiptoed to a door on the other side of the room. He quickly jumped up and turned the knob, then pushed the door open. He looked inside.

He saw skeletons and bottles full of little animals with two heads. At first he was very very scared. He almost screamed. Then he found a little lamp. He turned it on, and he realized that the father was a scientist and that these skeletons were studies and that he had found these animals with two heads. Now he wasn’t scared. So he walked in.

There was a desk and a chair. He jumped on the chair and looked on the desk. First he saw a jar of pencils and pens. Then there were a couple of pieces of paper with drawings of the two-headed animals and notes about them. Then he saw a map – the perfect thing to escape with. He unfolded the map and looked at it. He saw the aquarium on it, and there was a dot where he was.

He wondered if he should escape with this map now, or if he should wait until the morning. They might feed him. But they also feed him very well at the aquarium. The aquarium people were probably wondering where he was, and when he came they would feed him right away. So he decided to go to the aquarium now. Anyway, it wasn’t very far according to the map.

Chapter 4

So the penguin went to the front door and jumped up, but this time it didn’t work that well. When he jumped up he got a hold of the knob, but he couldn’t turn it so he kept on swinging. It was very scary. He wanted to hold on to the knob with both wings, but he was holding the map with one wing. So he couldn’t use that wing. So he decided to drop the map. And then he could turn the knob with both hands and go down and get out with the map. So he dropped the map. Then he tried turning the knob. It was pretty hard at first, but then he finally got it, and the door swung open. The penguin jumped down. But when he fell down it went “Thump!” and the little boy woke up.

The little boy had been sleeping and dreaming of the new penguin furniture and what kind of fish he should feed the penguin in the morning for breakfast. He had woken up just as he was deciding on cod fish. When he heard the thump he jumped up, and he thought it might have been part of his dream. But then he had a second thought. Maybe it wasn’t a part of his dream. He had woken up because of the thump, so it probably wasn’t a part of the dream. He put his slippers on to investigate.

First he looked around upstairs and didn’t see anything. Then he went downstairs. First he went to the dining room where he couldn’t see the penguin at all. Meanwhile the penguin had quickly taken the map up and went through the doorway. He closed the door behind him. But it made another “Thump!” as the boy was just about to look in the kitchen. The boy jumped up and went to the door where the sound was coming from. He didn’t see anything. So he just forgot about it and went back upstairs because he was really tired.

The penguin walked along the street going back to the bus stop, found the bus stop just as the bus was coming. On the way to the bus stop he was thinking about how to get on the bus and be on the bus without anybody seeing. He couldn’t do the blending in trick because he didn’t have anybody to blend into. He could look around, but it would be too risky because he might be caught while he was looking around. So he tried to think of something else. He thought maybe he could sneak in and find a little nook to hide in and just hide the whole time. That might work, and with all the people that are rushing around in it, they may not notice him. But still it was pretty risky. Then he decided on one plan.

He wouldn’t actually go in the bus. He would go on the back of it. As the people were getting in the bus they would be too busy to notice him, and he would jump on the ledge on the back of the bus and ride along. And that is exactly what he did.

As the bus was coming he jumped on the back and took himself for a ride. Finally they got to the stop he wanted. It was only a block away from the aquarium. He jumped off of the bus and started walking along the street. He looked at the map again and realized it was closer than he thought. It was just around the corner which was right in front of him. So he ran around the corner, and there was the big entrance to the aquarium.

Now all he had to do was figure out how to get into the aquarium and into his enclosure and find a place to hide the stuffed animal penguin. He didn’t need the map any more. So he found a garbage can and threw it in there. That way if somebody found out about him it wouldn’t be a clue for them. Then he went into the entrance of the aquarium, crawling around on the floor and sneaking behind cages and through little nooks until he finally found a big map on the wall. He looked at it and saw that it was only a little farther to his enclosure. So he snuck further and further until he saw it. And then he noticed that he had forgotten the keys at the little girl’s house! How would he get in?

Then he had an idea. The person who fed him, Emile, who he had taken the keys from, would probably by now have gotten a new pair of keys and would probably be there to feed them pretty soon. But he didn’t know how soon because he didn’t know what time it was. He remembered seeing a big clock somewhere in the aquarium so he went back to the map to find out where it was. When he got to the clock he found out it was 3:30. That meant that in ten minutes Emile would come and feed the penguins. It was perfect timing. So he went back to the enclosure and waited ten minutes, and then sure enough Emile came.

She walked up and opened the enclosure, and the penguin snuck in behind her. First he blended in with the other penguins, and then he looked around to find a place to hide the stuffed penguin. He found a perfect little nook in the rocks where nobody would find it. So he stuffed the stuffed penguin in the nook. Then he went to have a snack. He was very hungry. He played with his penguin friends, swam in the little pool, visited his stuffed penguin, loved to be back in his enclosure, and lived happily ever after.

THE END

Water Bug Goes to France

This is a story that me and my mom and dad wrote with a game that I made up where you write down a couple of words at random, and then you have to use all the words in one part. And then you write down another set of words, and the next person would write a part using those words - until you finish the story.

Once upon a time there was a water bug who was wading in the water and trying to find something to eat. He was wearing glasses and played the guitar. His favorite food was carrots. At swimming class he practiced running on water. Where he took the swimming lessons there was a big pile of junk. He thought he might be able to find a carrot in there.

The water bug did not find a carrot in the junk pile. What the water bug did find was something more astounding, more remarkable, more incredible than anything the water bug could possibly have imagined. At first the water bug thought the thing it had found was only a lowly flower, a mundane, everyday sort of flower. And although it was in fact a flower, it was something entirely magical - a magical flower, a most incredibly magical flower.
“Hello!” said the flower to the water bug as it shone in the junk pile like the sun in the sky on a clear, cloudless day. The water bug jumped back. It didn’t know what to say. It found itself for the fist time in its life utterly tongue-tied. “What wish may I grant you?” asked the flower.
The water bug looked askance. “You’re not for real, are you?”
“What have you got to lose?” the flower responded.
And the water bug, having considered this, said, “Well, ok. I’ve always dreamed of going to France.”
“France?” asked the flower.
“Yes,” said the water bug. “I hear they have very nice cheese there.”
“Well,” said the flower. “If you go to France, you’ll need some way to get around.” “Yes,” said the water bug. “How about a golf cart.”
“Ok,” said the flower, “No problem. And you might need a guide since you probably don’t speak French, do you?” The water bug had to admit that he did not speak French. “No problem,” said the flower, rubbing his two leaves together in a can-do manner. “I will give you this salamander to accompany you.”

And with that the water bug found himself instantly transported to Paris in a golf cart. Seated next to him, wearing quite a becoming floral sundress and bright pink nail polish was a lady salamander. “How do you do?” she asked.
“Very well, thank you,” replied the water bug.
“How are you enjoying Paris?” asked the salamander.
“Well, I’ve only just arrived,” said the water bug.
“Then we must be off,” said the salamander, “For there is much to see.”
They toured the land of the kingdoms of old, snacking on ketchup and treating their noses to new aromas.
“My, but the cars are all so small here!” remarked the water bug.
“Yes, it’s not like in the United States,” agreed the salamander who had been translating all day and whose tongue was quite exhausted.

Soon they came to the Louvre where they went inside and saw lots of paintings. They went to the Asian part and saw a Buddha. The floor was marble. And then, once they were all museumed out they decided to go shopping for a little bit, buying some very Parisian things. The water bug bought a candlestick that had the Mona Lisa on it, and since he was quite thirsty, he bought a liquid that said it was flavored with strawberries. They went to their hotel and started to unpack. The water bug was a little bit displeased because there was no fireplace, and then he thought he could make a fire pit of course in the ground in the hotel, but he needed coal. So he asked the person who worked there for some coal. He said, “What do you want it for?” And he said, “For a fire.”

“You can’t make a fire with coal,” the man in the hotel lobby told the water bug. The water bug looked disappointed. “But I’m cold,” he said, and the salamander translated.
“D’accord,” the hotel man responded. “If you give me a moment,” he said in English, “I will look in my cave for something.”
“Cave?” the water bug asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said. “I mean basement.”
“Cave means basement in French,” the salamander explained to the water bug.
They went back to their room, and a little while later the doorbell rang. The hotel manager was there with a little heater just the right size for an insect. It used a battery for power and was quite cozy. The next day the duo headed south and drove all day in their golf cart. By the end of the day they had reached Provence, and they stopped on a hill covered with lavender and watched the sunset behind the Mediterranean. Just then the most unusual thing happened. A hippopotamus wandered by chewing on a leaf.

The salamander took out her camera and started taking pictures. But the hippopotamus stopped abruptly, turned to her, and said, in a rather haughty tone, “You haven’t just taken my photograph, have you?”
“Why, yes,” said the salamander. “You looked so lovely and refined with the sea at your back and the Victorian sun dial behind you.”
“Well,” said the hippo, blushing, “since you put it that way…” And she strolled on down the path still munching on the leaf.
“My dear friend salamander!” exclaimed the water bug, “You do have a gift for words.”
“Some day,” replied the salamander, “I hope to write a book.”
“I should very much like to read it,” said the water bug.
“In the meanwhile,” said the lady salamander, “We should be getting you back. Simply take hold of this magic pine cone, and you will find yourself once again in the pond where you live.”
After saying their good-byes, the water bug grasped the pine cone, and before he could say escargot he was back astride the surface of the pond, guitar on his back and a carrot in his hand.

The Dream 2

Once upon a time there were three ladybugs, and their names were Luna, Lentina, and Leequana. It was the night time, and the three ladybugs had just gone to sleep. And they all had the same dream. And this is their dream.
They dreamed that they went to the pool and they had lots of fun. Lentina brought her water wings because she didn't know how to swim on her own. She was the smallest one. Luna could jump into the pool and make a big splash, but Lentina didn't like to be splashed so she always went out of the pool when Luna jumped. Leequana couldn't jump, but she could swim backwards. Lentina could swim backwards a little bit. And Luna said it was too easy.
After they played for a little while in the pool they said that they were hungry so they took a little lunch break and ate aphids. After that they went back into the pool and splashed and played again. Then they woke up and it was another day.
The end

The Euro

Once upon a time there was a Euro. He just got made in a factory, and he was all bright and shiny. A person picked him up and brought him to La Banque de France. And he got put into a safe. And then a person came to the bank. And the owner of the bank took the Euro out and gave him to the person. The person put him into her wallet and then put her wallet into her bag. There was a bunch of other Euros there. And there were lots of cents. It was very hot in there, and he was sweating, and the other money was sweating too.

That afternoon the person went into a boulangerie and gave the Euro to the boulangère to buy two poppy seed rolls and a baguette. Then he got put into a cash register where it was very dark, and he couldn't see. He kept on bumping into other Euros. Sometimes he fell into a place where cents were supposed to be, and sometimes cents came into the Euro spot, but they always got back into their own spot. Then he heard the door of the boulangerie open. A woman walked in and said she wanted a baguette and a croissant. It cost two Euros, and the woman gave the boulangere three Euros. The boulangere opened the cash register, and now it seemed very very bright. But the Euro got used to it. The boulangere took out the Euro and gave him to the woman as change. And the woman put him in a wallet and walked away.

She went home, and she gave him to her daughter. Her daughter decided she wanted to buy something with him. So she went out on her way to the toy store. On the way she dropped him, not noticing she did. It was very boring on the ground, and he kept on moving over so nobody stepped on him. When there was nobody there he laid down flat so someone would find him and pick him up. The ground kind of hurt his back. Then a man came along and found him on the ground and picked him up.

The man brought him to the Metro and put him into a metro machine. In the metro machine it was almost like an enormous slide. He kept on sliding down through tunnels, and sometimes he got flipped over on his heads and sometimes on his tails. Then he ended up in a big space, and there was lots of other money in there. It was very crowded, and he kept on getting squished by the 2 Euros because he was a 1 Euro. After a long, long time the machine emptier-man came and emptied all the money but forgot him! So he had to wait until tomorrow for him to come back. He waited and waited and it kept on getting more crowded. Then he fell asleep. He woke up in the morning, but he still had to wait until the evening. So he waited and waited and waited. He was very very bored. Then finally it came to be evening, and the man didn't forget him. He got all the money and brought it to the bank.

He didn't like it in the bank. It was all boring in those tubes of money. He was glad when a peson came and took him. But what he wasn't glad about was that the same things happened all over again.
The end.

The Molecule Journey

Once upon a time there was a little molecule that was very lonely. He didn't know what kind of molecule he was, and he didn't know what the molecules that were around him were. But even though he didn't know those things he still had a fun time playing with the other molecules.

One day he got tired of being with the same molecules. He decided to go out and find other molecules to play with. He decided to go to the river. It was right next to where he lived. There he found lots and lots of water molecules. They were very nice. And he also found fishes with lots of little fish molecules in them. They were all very nice and were glad to meet him. They played for a while, and then he decided to find other molecules to play with. But first a water molecule that he liked best gave him a present. It was a little picture of her on a string for a necklace. Then he said thank you and he went off.

The next place he visited was a seagull. He hopped onto it, and there were the seagull's molecules in its feet and its beak. Those were the first places where he visited the molecules on the seagull. When he went on the beak the molecules were too loud there. So he went to the feet. When he got to the feet the feet molecules were too sharp, and he didn't like getting scratched with them. So he decided to go on the feathers. The feather molecules were very nice and soft, and they let him lie down on them. He got very relaxed and fell asleep. Then before he knew it the seagull had dropped him! But luckily he landed on a duck.

The feather molecules on the duck were very nice and soft too. So he had a nice, soft landing. Then the duck took him back to where he lived, and since he could see it very big, he noticed that he was a tree molecule. He had lived on a tree!

The end.

Josefina and the Heart Person

Once upon a time there was a person that was named Josefina. Three doors down lived a heart person. One day Josefina went to the playground, and she saw the heart person, and they played together. Before they went home they planned a play date. The next day the heart person went to Josefina's house, and they played again. Before the heart person went home they planned another play date. The next day Josefina went to the heart person's house, and they became best friends. Every Tuesday they had a play date, alternating houses each week. One Tuesday Josefina decided to live with the heart person, and they became pretend sisters.
the end.

John Superhero and Simon Clayfeet on the Mountain

Once upon a bad time John Superhero heard someone yelling. "Help! Help! Help!" He flew around trying to find where the call for help was coming from. Finally he found the place, and he saw who was calling for help. It was his friend Simon Clayfeet. He was lost on a BIIIIIIG HIIIIIGH mountain. John Superhero saw that there was water on one side of the mountain, and there was forest on the other. If Simon Clayfeet went down the side where there was water he would drown because he can't swim. And if he went down to the forest he would get stuck in the trees.

Simon Clayfeet didn't dare go down either side. He knew that there was forest on one side and water on the other. And there were giant sea monsters in the water! And there were forest-proof scorpions in the forest. (They're called 'forest-proof' because they're not supposed to live in the forest, but these can.)

John Superhero flew down and landed on the mountain. He asked Simon Clayfeet where he was trying to go. Simon Clayfeet said he was trying to go to the Natural History Museum. John Superhero knew where that was. He picked Simon Clayfeet up and held him while he flew, but then he realized that a piece of the clay on Simon Clayfeet's foot was stuck on the mountain, and they couldn't pull it off. It stretched out as they flew, and they couldn't fly much farther or it would break, and that would hurt Simon Clayfeet.

John Superhero said that Simon Clayfeet should stay on the mountain. He flew down to the forest. He sneaked without the scorpions noticing. He took one strong stick and flew back up to the mountain, and he scraped the clay off with that one stick. And then he picked Simon Clayfeet up, and he carried Simon Clayfeet as he flew to the Natural History Museum, and put him down there.

The End