SUMMER STORIES

VOLUME I

COLLECTION OF 5 STORIES WRITTEN BY CHILDREN IN THE AGE GROUP 8

TO 15 YEARS DURING THE ONLINE CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP IN

THE SUMMER OF 2012

WWW.ED2NETLEARNING.COM

Volume I: July 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1478186441

ISBN-10: 1478186445

Copyright @ Ed2Net Learning, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without the prior permission of the copyright owner and publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and

incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used

fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead,

events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

www.ed2netlearning.com

Contents

FOREWORD ................................................................................................5

CANDYLAND’S REVENGE ............................................................................7

TO SAVE A HUMMINGBIRD ....................................................................... 23

A GLIMPSE IN THE PAST ............................................................................ 39

BIRDS OF PREY ......................................................................................... 51

WORLD WAR III ....................................................................................... 83

AFTERWORD ........................................................................................... 87

Foreword Writing is much like hitting flint against a stone until it catches fire.

Though I have published one short story and one novella (and written

hundreds of other stories), Just like a fire, writing is difficult to start.

But a flame, if properly fed, can light up an entire city; and the drive to

create and nurture that flame takes tireless practice and consistent

effort.

For these students, being involved with ED2NET’s summer

creative writing program became a trial-by-fire to get their finished

story done on time, but it has also been a bit of a confirmation for

myself, to remind me that it is effort that feeds the fire. While my

students were writing their books, most never having written a story of

this length before, I was also putting the finishing touches on the

manuscript on my own novella.

We started with five students from different backgrounds but

all interested in creative writing. We ended with five writers.

Five students entered ED2NET’s creative writing summer

seminar and were given the tools, structure, and time to create a story.

Each of these stories reads differently—for some it was their first time

writing a narrative and for others it was their first time writing in a

different genre—but they all wrote consistently to create a story and

rewrote it to nurture their flame and help it grow. This book you are

holding is proof of their creative sparks.

---- Clint Pereira, Tutor and Writer

Ed2Net Learning, Inc.

Clint Pereira has been a fan of fantasy and science fiction (see Tolkien and Bradbury) since he only reached his parents' knees. He has a short story published for

theundeniables.org about a young girl guided away from her home by a mysterious fox. Clint has since become

knee-deep in zombie fiction, however, and currently acts as the writing moderator for a zombie art/writing group online. His first novel (also about zombies) will be in

print by early fall of this year.

After receiving a B.A. in English with a creative writing focus at CSU Northridge, Clint took some

post-graduate courses at the college of education. He has focused most of his efforts on teaching English, spending the past three and a half years as a tutor, writer, and

freelance editor.

CANDYLAND’S REVENGE By Anjali Vadhri

Anjali is transitioning into eight grade at Hyde Middle School. She is an avid

reader and likes to write in her spare time. She is currently learning the nuances of

digital photography.

In “Candyland’s Revenge,” Anjali Vadhri created

an entire society of unicorns. This world-building is

an important skill for those who write fantasy or

science fiction. Anjali was very flexible in writing

about her unicorns, having them present but not

really taking over the story entirely. Though we

begin with a flawed protagonist, I really do get the

feeling that he’s trying to fit into a society that

expects an awful lot from him.

---- Clint Pereira

9 Candyland’s Revenge

It was a sunny Monday morning in the city of Candyland. Billy

the unicorn woke up with sunlight pouring through his window. He

yawned and immediately trotted over to his mirror, which he stood in

front of for a good three minutes, staring at his reflection. His milky

white skin almost seemed translucent that morning.

“You’re so vain, Billy!” said his younger sister, Beth, who was

standing next to the doorframe of Billy’s room.

Billy rolled his eyes and gave Beth his best glare. Billy’s sister

ignored him and shook her head disapprovingly.

“You could brush your mane for once. And just look at your

tail!” Beth exclaimed. Billy looked at his tail sadly. It was true. His

blonde tail was all tangled up.

“I would but I never have time, mother,” Billy said satirically. “I

have to go to City Hall and deliver the candy.” In Candyland, once you

turned 18, you quit school and were assigned a job, like farming the

daily crops of candy and delivering them to City Hall. Billy’s job was to

deliver the candy from City Hall to every unicorn’s house every

Monday in the morning. But Billy didn’t mind the job because he got a

profuse amount of candy after all the deliveries.

“Now that I’ve wasted time talking to you about stupid stuff,

I’m late!” Billy yelped as he ran through the house to the front door.

He couldn’t wait until Beth got a job. Only two more years until she

10 Candyland’s Revenge

would be doing whatever she would have to do and finally leave Billy

alone.

“What about breakfast?” his mother, Karen, called from the

kitchen. She didn’t have a job because unicorn mothers were allowed

to stay at home. “I’ll get something at City Hall. Bye mom!” Billy

replied, racing across the lush grass of his front yard.

As Billy got closer to City Hall, he noticed something weird.

Unicorns were running out of the building and screaming like there

was no tomorrow. Billy rushed into City Hall and stopped dead in his

tracks. There, in front of him, was the biggest unicorn he had ever

seen. He had a silky long mane and tail and his muscles bulged under

his dark black skin. But what seemed the most striking was the long

silver scar across his left hind leg.

The black unicorn was taking all the candy hurriedly and

shoving them into large burlap bags. He finally seemed to notice Billy

and said in a gruff tone, “You want something, kid?”

Billy opened his mouth to say something but he was so

shocked nothing came out. All he could do was stare at the unicorn’s

scar. Finally, he mustered, “Who are you? You’re not supposed to be

taking the candy!”

The black unicorn snorted loudly and said, “I really don’t care.

And the name’s Charlie.” He then loaded the bags of candy into a big

11 Candyland’s Revenge

cart. “Nice meeting you.” Then Charlie stole away, pushing the cart

with his two front legs as he galloped.

Billy slumped down against the wall and closed his eyes. He

couldn’t believe what he’d done. Charlie had stolen all the candy and he

hadn’t done anything to stop him. All that was left was a couple of

cheap drugstore chocolate wrappers.

Someone tapped Billy’s shoulder. Billy opened his eyes and

standing in front of him was the Mayor of Candyland, Mayor John.

“Are you all right, Billy?” asked the Mayor, peering through his

glasses in concern.

“I’m okay, Mayor, but a unicorn named Charlie stole all the

candy!” Billy said.

“I know, I’ve heard,” Mayor John replied. “Now the farmers

will have to plant more candy to make up for what was stolen. Don’t

worry Billy! Everything’s going to be all right. You go on home now.”

Although the Mayor said this encouragingly, Billy noticed he

looked forlorn.

“Okay then Mayor John. Bye.” And with that, Billy trotted

home.

At home, Karen was anxiously watching the news on TV for

any information on the theft.

Afterword Creative Writing is about storytelling, and we humans have always

loved stories! This book is the outcome of Ed2Net’s pioneering Online

Creative Writing Workshop.

All the stories are creation of young authors, ages 8 to 15 years. This is

the first collection of 5 fictional stories being published as a book in

the summer of 2012. Ed2Net has ignited the passion to write during

the course of this program.

Ed2Net thanks all the parents who have been extremely supportive and

inspiring their children to do creative writing.

Rahul Akhaury President Ed2Net Learning, Inc. www.ed2netlearning.com

Ed2Net has been working with over 10,000 students across 100 schools in the US

for last 5 years. Ed2Net provides very innovative customized online tutoring in

Mathematics, Reading, Writing, Science, and Technology, individually or in small

groups for students from Grade 1 to 10.