A CHOICE-FILLED ADVENTURE STORY
THE SECRET WATERFALL BOOKSTORE —
Adventure with a Lonely Monster Written by Students of MS. ABIAD’S 4TH GRADE CLASS at UNIVERSITY PREP SCIENCE AND MATH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
FIRST EDITION PRINTED AND BOUND AT 826MICHIGAN
Copyright Š 2020 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, and the authors. The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study. By purchasing this book, you are helping 826michigan continue to offer free student programs. For more information, please visit: 826michigan.org
You are in a bookstore under a waterfall at Niagara Falls. It sounds like the water is coming down like rain. In the corner of the bookstore, you see a book that is out of place. The book has information about cities you don’t know about, such as New York or Los Angeles. You move the book, and the shelf moves! Behind the shelf, you see a mystery item—a key! The key has a tracker on it, which will help you figure out which door it opens.
If you decide to open a door to a scary monster, turn to page 2. If you decide to open a door to a path in the woods, turn to page 3.
1
You open the door to the scary monster. The monster goblin has a deep voice, big eyes, and is pretty tall. He has a very long tail, strong arms, and duck feet. It looks like he can fly and breathe fire! In his very deep voice, he says that he likes to eat any kind of healthy fruit or vegetable and closes the door in your face. You open the door again and enter. You wonder if you could tickle the monster to make it turn nice. You notice two weapons behind the door. You choose to fight him with the short sword, but the sword breaks. The monster tells you that he was lonely and closed the door because he wanted to play a board game with you. You’re worried if you don’t play the board game, he will be angry.
If you decide to play the board game, turn to page 4. If you decide to run away, turn to page 5.
2
When you open the door, you land in the woods on a secret island. Around you are wolves and vampires. You feed the vampires McDonald’s chicken nuggets, a Big Mac, and red Hawaiian Punch since it looks like blood! You throw a steak and make the wolves play fetch. Since the vampires and wolves are distracted, you can now run behind the secret doors. Each door has a rock in front of it with a note underneath. The notes tell you that behind one door is food, behind another door is a magic wand, and behind the last door is another portal to magic flowers.
If you decide to go to the door with the magic wand, turn to page 6. If you decide to go to the door with the portal to magic flowers, turn to page 7.
3
You decide to play the board game with the lonely monster. You play a game of chess, which is tricky. The monster is really happy. He decides to let you go through the next door! It leads you into another room with no windows or doors. On a table in the middle of the room, you find a key. You move the table to the side and find a hole underneath. You wonder if it is an escape and you jump in. You are trapped! You call out for the monster to come and help you. The monster comes to help you. He breathes his blue fire, which is hotter than red fire, to burn the metal into dirt. This makes you fall to the lower level, which is made of ice. The monster melts this layer too. Now you and the monster are on the third and final layer together. There is a container full of icky slime. You pick it up and tell the monster to blow fire on it. He tells you this is a special kind of magic slime. Now, you can choose whether the slime comes alive, or gives you the chance to make wishes.
If you decide to have the slime come alive,
write your own ending. If you decide to have the slime grant wishes,
write your own ending. 4
(start again at page 1)
You decide to run away from the green monster. When you run away and taunt him, he gets sad, grows taller, and his tail extends. His tail is multi-colored, furry, and has scales like a dragon. The monster starts to cry and his face starts to turn red. You notice that the monster wasn’t trying to chase and hurt you. He was trying to make a friend because he was lonely. You notice that his tail has a life of its own and as it continues to extend, it grabs your foot, because he was so sad. When he grabs your foot, he says in his deep voice that he just wants to be your friend. You decide to be his friend and play a board game with him. Be careful, because if the monster loses, he might get mad at you.
If you decide to play Uno, write your own ending. If you decide to play Connect Four, write your own ending.
5
(start again at page 1)
When you get behind the door with the magic wand, you realize that the wand can help you float in midair. Now that you know you can float, you want to go to outer space! You see planets and stars. It feels nice to be in outer space. You go to the moon and you see some craters, which are filled with blue cheese. You can’t smell the cheese, but you give it a taste.
If you decide to bring the blue cheese back to Earth,
write your own ending. If you decide to leave the blue cheese on the moon and look for aliens, write your own ending.
6
(start again at page 1)
You see flowers all around you. Around you is a candyland and some of the flowers are made of candy. There are chocolate dandelions and caramel sunflowers, which are edible. Some flowers have different magical powers. Flowers of the same color have the same magical power. Pink and purple flowers have loving powers and red flowers have kindness powers. You are trying to get back home and you need to choose between eating some flowers or picking the magical ones.
If you decide to eat the edible flowers,
write your own ending. If you decide to pick the magical flowers, write your own ending.
7
(start again at page 1)
inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities. Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing. Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members. We believe that with one-onone attention from caring adults, students improve their academic performance, develop a sense of belonging, and discover the unique value of their voices. We also believe that the more fun a student has, and the more directly we speak to a student’s interests, the more we can help students find the fun in learning. That’s why our programs are more than just extra homework. All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their individual voice. ONLINE LEARNING LAB In the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned all of our programs online. Our priority is to ensure the safety of our community, while continuing to offer engaging, high-quality opportunities to students. Each of our main programs—Schoolwork Support, Workshops, Field Trips, and In-school Projects—has been reimagined for the virtual space as part of our new Online Learning Lab. For the 2020–21 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well! SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18. Generally, we offer this program at three locations: at our Liberty Street Lab in Ann Arbor, at the Michigan Avenue Branch of the Ypsilanti District Library, and at our Winder Street Lab in Detroit’s Eastern Market, though in-person programs are on pause this year. We have added a Virtual Schoolwork Support program. Students are paired with two tutors to work on assignments for school and writing projects of their choosing.
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