Bottle of the Ocean By: Maggie Yang, Abby Hulek, and Chloe Rushing

WHOOSH! The wave washed over the bottle, drowning it deep down into the dark ocean. I watched for minutes as it slipped away into the salty sea, never to be seen again - Or so I thought...

Five years later...

Finally, it was my tenth birthday! All of my friends sat around a big round table as I watched the flames flicker like a fairy on my white ice-cream birthday cake.

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Kayla! Happy birthday to you!”

I smiled the biggest smile I could. What do I want to wish for? I thought. I know! A vacation to my favorite place ever - the beach!

I blew all the air out of my body, and the flames went out. I looked up and saw the smiles on all of my friends’ faces.

“See you later!” I waved goodbye as my friends headed out the door to catch their rides.

“Hey - Kay, can I talk to you for a second?” My mom asked in a low voice. She always delivers bad news when she gets in this mood.

“I don’t see why not…” I felt like my heart was going to fall out of my body. I HATE it when my mom acts this way.   We walked up to my bedroom in silence. I sat down on my bed and my mom looked as though she was going to cry.

“What?” I burst out. I couldn’t help it.

“We have a bit of a crisis,” Her expression scared me. My hands started sweating and I felt like the room temperature had suddenly rose to be 10,000 degrees. My heart was beating out of my chest and darkness closed in on me. I didn’t know what to do. I sat there staring at her like the world was going to end.

“We’re moving!” My mom’s voice rung in my ears. It took a few moments to process her words, What? Beach? Moving? And then the meaning overcame me, I staggered back a few steps.

“What?” I asked in shock.

“ To the beach,” my mom said looking at the floor shoulders drooping.

“The beach?” My shock overcame me.

“Yup.” She said.

“That is SO COOL!” I yelled.

When I opened my eyes I was looking outside at the beautiful beach. Palm trees everywhere, and the cool, velvety blue ocean next to the glistening white sand, shells dotting the smooth grains. I was in the driveway of my very brand new house. It looked like a mansion. The warm blue color lined the outside of the house. The sleek and shiny white paint covered the whole house. The swimming pool, waving softly in the gentle breeze, invited me, the gleaming sunlight shining on it and, next to it, an amazing fireplace built into the wall with pearly white couches next to it, and a low intricate glass coffee table matching with the couches.  

“THIS IS AMAZING!” I squealed.

I got up and ran to the beach as fast as I could. The waves were almost as high as me. I loved when this happens. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I see something wash onto the shore. I start to slowly walk over, being cautious that it might be a creature or something like that. I then realized it was a bottle. The bottle was covered in seaweed and it was very clear that I could see a little piece of paper rolled up inside. It had something like a heart sticker or something like that. I looked and realized it was the note I wrote five years ago. I quickly opened the bottle and reread the paper impatiently. How could this be happening? I felt like the world was spinning. Everything was getting sucked in to the bottle, including me...

To be continued:  the sequel will be coming soon!


Interviewing Newspaper Artist Sophia Marsala by: Grace LeBreton

Sophia is an amazing artist and really enjoys it. Sophia has been publishing comics for the Park Forest Times school newspaper.  She is eleven years old on the 6th grade Wolves team, and has also made some really beautiful pieces in art class.

What is your favorite piece of art in the newspaper?-  “I think it would be my first comic.”

Have you written any stories?- “No, but I have a selection of comics.”

How do you come up with the art ideas?-  “I start sketching then it turns into something great.”

What's your favorite color?- “ Honestly, blue.”

Do you use your favorite color at all in your art?- “I actually don't color my art a lot, but if I did I would.”

Is there anything you don't use much in your art?-  “I don't usually put eyelashes on my characters much.”

If you could go back and change anything would you?- “I would make it a little neater and draw lighter at first and check over my work to make sure it's done.”  

Have you been writing with the newspaper since Marking Period 1?- “Yes.”

Do you express your art in any other way besides the newspaper?-  “I do sketch sometimes when I'm on my own or with friends.”

Do you love all your art pieces thus far?- “Yes, but I wish I could make my comics a little neater.”

Have you ever had to remake a piece or turn it into something different?- “Yes I'll be drawing a character then realized it looks like something else and change it.”  


My Thoughts on Al Capone Does My Shirts and Artemis Fowl By Katherine Kennedy-Phillips

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a very bright book with some sad moments because it shows the hidden side of a sibling relationship. It shows how siblings care and love eachother even if they don’t express it too much. And it shows that even if they get in fights with each other, they are there for each other when things are rough. The main characters are Moose Flanagan and his sister, Natalie Flanagan. This book takes place in the early 1900’s when Alcatraz prison in San Francisco was still running. The story takes place on Alcatraz island, and Natalie and Moose are kids that live there because of their father who takes a job there as a guard.  Natalie has a disorder that people couldn’t identify because it was in the early 1900’s. People just called her crazy. And Moose was in charge of taking care of her. The book shows the story of how Moose deals and takes care of Natalie while having to deal with living on Alcatraz. If you enjoy a quick read that just warms your heart I totally recommend it!


Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer is a very adventurous book. It follows a boy named Artemis Fowl ll. His father went missing when he was eleven and he took over the family business because his mother, after his father went missing, wasn’t in a good position to take over. The story explains Artemis’s first experience with fairies and shows how a genius plan was played to get gold for his business. Artemis always wears suits and is a complete genius for a teenager. He does everything with his bodyguard, Butler, who is a incredible character in my opinion. They both are incredible characters. The book itself is very well made and has a sort of feeling that just makes you want to turn the page to see what happens next. If you move on to read the other books it gets even more fantasy-like and even more fantastic for people that enjoy adventure and fantasy. It was probably one of my favorite series to read!


Evil Fat Kitty by Emma Herzing

 My family drove on a bumpy unfamiliar driveway, just to get the new family member, a kitty. You don’t know how excited I was! We walked up to the house, the family greeted us and gave us our very own kitty, Lucy. She is this beautiful grey color and her eyes are like a light green explosion. She grew fast over the first year and so did her terrible attitude! I wasn’t very happy about that. She tries to eat me, my dog, stringy stuff, pom poms, our hamster, and way more stuff. When she doesn’t want to eat me, she sleeps beside and sometimes steals my pillow.

       I was fast asleep when then I heard a huge BAM!!! I ran to the living room and there it was, the hamster cage on the hard floor. I looked at Lucy, then at the hamster. Lucy knew I wasn’t happy so she ran into the kitchen with fright. I gently picked up the cage and placed it back onto the bookshelf, looking at the frightened, poor hamster. I was thinking what’s Lucy’s problem! A few weeks passed and I got over her attacking my hamster. Oh, surprise, surprise she did it again and that time Sammy, the hamster, passed away. I hated her! After the incident happened I didn’t pay attention to kitty at all, (but I still love that she sleeps beside me every night, cause I still know she loves me).

        I always ask my mom, “ Why do we even have Lucy?” All my mom does is give me that one look that parents do when they are annoyed.

        I hate when I’m trying to plug my phone in, and next thing I know Lucy just has to pull the cord away. I always yell at her, “CAT!! What are you doing?” Or maybe, “Lucy, just stop. Okay?” She usually will just sit there and stare, or walk away with disappointment.

        On the weekends, only the weekends, Lucy will wake me up and keep on making the squeaky meow from her “starvation” voice. I’m talking about non-stop eating. She’s always begging for food when she already has some in her bowl, and my mom says she not fat! “Oh, kitty is like the fattest thing in the world,” I think.

Even though she’s too fat to run, she does it anyway, but she only runs when she “needs” her food or when she’s chasing my dog, Stanley. When Lucy tries to catch him I say, “What did he ever do to you?”

        She looks at me with wide eyes like she wants to say, “Everything,” but that wouldn’t ever happen so she just gives me that look.

        I’m not excited at all anymore to have Lucy. I mean I want to keep her, but it’s just hard.  She is a pain in the butt! At some points I just wish she would disappear. I keep on telling myself, “I like guinea pigs better.”


High Hopes for a New Beginning by Ivan Atwood

I could not imagine the pain that my second uncle Big Peter felt when he got bit on the finger.

It was a nice day before Easter, and my family was about to take a picture at the house that my family goes to every year. Then the unthinkable happened: the bite.

My uncle Keith let My dog Piper out of the dog crate. She zoomed out to the yard. One of my relatives is blind and has a dog named Zeke. Piper ran and bit  Zeke on the lip. Zeke had dangly lips and Piper held on while Zeke whimpered. Then my mom, dad, and Big Peter ran over to get Piper off of Zeke. Big Peter was in the front. He pulled her away and got himself bit. In this very moment, I saw his finger bitten off, I felt scared for me and everybody else. The finger was bitten off from the first knuckle.

Big Peter went, “OW!” My mom is a nurse, so she knew what to do in this situation. She grabbed the rest of the finger and took it inside and put ice on it.

The ambulance came, and so did the police and animal control. My sister and I were crying because we were super scared for us and our family because we hated to see anyone get hurt. My other sister came and helped me calm down.

Later that day, we dyed Easter eggs. I was still crying but I got though it. Then my mom went back to my grandma and grandpa’s house with Piper and slept there so that Piper would not hurt anyone else.

I just want Piper to know that I love her very much, though I miss here and want to see her again.  But because she is not good with other dogs and kids, she now lives with new and great people. But the moral of the story is be safe around dogs.


"Someday" by Kamrynn Wamboldt

Someday

By Kamrynn Wamboldt


Someday you might be the

Best at a sport.

Or you might wake up

And admire

Everything you would not notice.

You might be nice to the

Worst person in

The world.

Just remember

That someday,

If you

Work hard,

You will do something you never

thought you would

Ever do.


"Spiderman" by Elisandro Aranguiz

Ahhhhh, Peter Parker, the web slinger nicknamed Spider Man after his supernatural inheritance of spider powers.

Spider Man is actually Peter Parker, a 15 year old who lives in New York City. He also has supernatural powers in the new thrilling and exciting movie Spider Man Homecoming, but first Let’s talk about how and  he got those powers and why.

Peter Parker “inherited”  his powers when he was in school: l he went to Tony Stark's lab field trip,  and while they were talking about mechanics of a machine, he decide to get curious and explore a lab he found in a farther back part of the lab. He approached a  tall shaped cylinder in front of him. He walked closer to it and noticed a control panel next to the vessel, which he decided to press a big red button (which is obviously not good at all) and you now what happened, the most predictable thing: the door opened and a swarm of spiders started flowing out. He luckily didn't get bit while he was in the lab, but, when he rushed out there was a spider on his back that he missed, and you know what: Crunch!

And it wasn’t any normal spider, it was a  venomous radioactive supernatural spider with radioactive venom, and that venom was inserted into his blood system which gave him powers.

Now we can go back to  present time in New York City.


"Perfect World" by Delaney Dixon

We live in such a perfect world,

We live in constant watch,

We live told what to do and say,

With time told by a clock,

We live and run across the town

Getting recognition,

While I sit here and write and think,

Regretting my decision,

But we live in such a perfect world,

Where I fight to be that perfect girl,

That we seem to all invision.  

Don’t you see my vision?

Don’t you see the world we live in?

Or are you blinded by the given?

The ones who stand unforgiven,

Getting all the recognition

That seems to be a haze,

We live in such a perfect world.



My Family's Reunion by Joshua Lynn Sunday

I had fun at my mom’s family reunion.

They call it “The Corn Boil”.

We were waiting

for the kids who are related to me somehow

to get there so they could play with us.

I forgot most of their names.

Then, they came and I met new people

and it was fun.

We played kickball and soccer in the heat.

It was fun to play kickball but it was too hot.

The kids and I took a break

because we were sweating so much.

So we ate some yummy pizza mountain pies then we

played again.

It was a blast.

Then, we had the brilliant idea to play hide and seek

in the dark and it was super fun!

It was AWESOME to be a hider

because it was dark

so most normal

places could work 10x better.

But it was bad to be the seeker

because you couldn't find like ANYONE in the dark!

Also I got glowlights and made a hula hoop.

But then we went to bed, and when we woke up,

we played EVEN MORE!

And then we took MORE breaks, ate MORE food,

and got MORE sweaty.

It was a great time!

But in the end we all went home.

As we waved goodbye we got

Into our cars and drove away,

Thus ending our family reunion once

more


"Backspace" by:Kamrynn Wamboldt

Have you ever just hit the backspace when you are

Writing a poem or a book well don’t hit it now

Do you know if it is bad or not just keep writing

Or whatever you are doing because chances are

You may have just hit the backspace on something

That could have changed the world or how the world looks to people

So next time you think about hitting that backspace don’t.



My Personal Field Trip by Joshua Sunday

On my personal field trip, I wanted to find a frog so we traveled into the woods and looked. We found many spiderwebs and some bugs, but no frogs. We were about to give up but some kids said they found a few frogs so we looked. We couldn't find any, so we were very sad. But suddenly, one of my friends found one and gave it to me. We played with it and then let it go. It was a fun day.


"Weekend" by Kamrynn Wamboldt

Some peoples’ weekends might be extraordinary

Most of us have happy or boring weekends

But what about the extraordinary people?

They must have the best weekend

They will meet new people

See new places

Are you one of those people?

Why don’t you find out?


"Christmas Story" by Simone Plaisance

Isabella sat on her mound of pillows on Christmas Eve afternoon, thinking about how her mother had refused to buy her the new fluffy pink princess pillow.

“You have too many pillows like these. Do you know who’s wallet it hurts?” Her mother said to her earlier that morning in the store.

“But mommy! It’s different! It’s a different shade of pink and has more fluffiness than the others!” Isabella wailed.

“Sweetie, it’s Christmas. Be grateful for what you have. You know, other kids can’t have great things like this.”

“But mommy, it’s so pretty and pink and fluffy! I need it!”

“No, you do not need it. Besides, every time you want one, I buy it for you, and it ends up under your pile after the first week!”

“I promise that won’t happen this time! I’ll love it forever and ever and sleep with it every night!”

“You know that won’t happen. Come on, I need to pick up toothpaste and then we’ll be done and you can watch that princess show on TV when we get home,” her mom concluded. Isabella sniffled. She wondered why her mom wouldn’t buy her the pillow. It was so pink and soft and pretty! The next thing she knew she was on the ground, her cold tears soaking her cheeks and onto her pink dress, screaming like she was being attacked by someone. Her mother scooped her up, checked out quickly, and carried her out of the store looking very angry.

When they had pulled into the driveway, no one said a word. The silence had quelled Isabella’s kicks and flailing and she no longer had the energy to throw a tantrum.

Her thoughts of the morning were interrupted when her mom called from downstairs.

“Isabella! Get into some nice clothes! We’re going to your friend Sasha’s house for Christmas Eve dinner as soon as your father comes home- and he’s on his way!” Isabella’s face brightened. She had been to Sasha’s small house many times, and was excited to play and eat dinner with her. Isabella couldn’t wait for the stuffing, ham, gravy, cranberry sauce, pudding, and to open presents?! After all, what was the point of Christmas without them?

The family arrived at Sasha’s little doorstep. Isabella’s mom was carrying all of Isabella’s presents that Isabella insisted she open with Sasha.

“Isabella!” Sasha opened to door gleefully.

“Sasha!” Isabella skipped over to her friend.

“Welcome to our humble abode!” Sasha’s mom strode over to the family. “We have some baked chicken ready for y’all when you want it. Isabella, Sasha, go have some fun!” Isabella and Sasha scurried off to open their presents.

“I can’t wait!” Sasha exclaimed as they burst into her room. “I’ve been waiting to open my present till you came!”

“Where are they?” Isabella asked through the pile of presents she was holding.

“Hold on!” Sasha skipped over to her desk. She pulled out a small, neatly wrapped gift and showed it to Isabella. “Here it is!”

“That’s it?” Sasha nodded. “Really? But where are the others?” Sasha looked confused.

“What others?”

“The other presents! Surely this is not it!”

“But this is my present.”

Isabella gave up on questions. “Let’s open them.” She said finally. Sasha opened hers to reveal a chocolate bar.

“Yesss! Just what I wanted!” She announced joyfully, “Let’s split it!” They both ate their half of chocolate happily. They had finished tearing through Isabella’s presents when Isabella’s mom poked her head in.

“Isabella, we’re leaving in fifteen minutes,” She said. Isabella looked at Sasha and her piles of toys.

“Sasha, I want you to have some of my stuff.” Isabella looked at the way Sasha smiled.

“Really? Thanks!” Sasha beamed. Sasha took her pick of Isabella’s pretty princess toys.

“Time to go,” Isabella’s mom said. While they went home, Isabella thought  about the way Sasha looked at her.

The next morning, her parents had a surprise for her. As she unwrapped the present, Isabella revealed the pink princess pillow.

“Just what you wanted!” Her mother said.

“Thanks mom, but I don’t really need it.”  


Happiness By Zeke Koppenhaver

You cannot buy your happiness,

‘Cause happiness is free.

Don’t you know, can’t you guess,

It’s there for you and me.

And what you do with what you’ve got,

Can change the way you feel.

Just do your best and do a lot,

‘Cause happiness is made for YOU,

Just take a bit and see

That happiness is what you do

With something that is free.


"NEW YORK CITY" by Joshua Sunday

“Get up!” said my dad.

“I'm coming!” I said as I rushed out.

“You gotta get you stuff before we go,” my dad said.

“And go wake up Carly and your Gram.”

I got my stuff (and woke them up) and we drove out to New York City! As we were entering NYC, I saw HUMONGOUS 600 foot buildings and wanted to go see EVERYTHING! I said, “We should go see that on! And that one!”

It was SO different from anything I've ever seen! In State College, the tallest building is the Fraser Centre which is 155 feet, but the tallest building in NYC is the one world trade center which is 1,776 feet!, that's only 941 feet away from the tallest building in the world! The one world trade center is the 7th tallest building in the world!

NYC looked so much cooler than anything in State College. Dad, Carly, Gram, and I went and put our stuff in the hotel and we went on our adventure! We went and saw the Rockefeller Center (and it's 873 feet which is still bigger than the Fraser Center), and it was so much bigger than buildings in State College! It was so black and big and cool. We were near the top after the tour (we climbed stairs and went up elevators) and my dad was talking to a tour guide and he told us we were not supposed to go up top but he would let us. So, we got in the elevator and when we got up there was a box around the elevator and it was windy so they made it so you don't fly out and die. There was also railings to help too, but they were really short. We were all scared so we called an elevator and left the building.

Then, we walked to Central Park witch was so big and cool and pretty. Then we went to McDonalds to eat and we saw a BIG billboard advertising Jurassic World (because it hadn't came out yet) with the Megalodon (big fish dinosaur) almost the size of a skyscraper!

We then went to Times Square and all the lights, and people, was as magical as people say it is. Then we saw some spooky people dressed in mascot costumes like Elmo and Buzz Lightyear and it was spooky because they were like 30 year old people trying to get money by taking pictures with people. “Let's get out guys,” I said.

So, we skedaddled on out of there.

We then slept and had to go home because it was sunday and school was on monday. But it was so cool because of how different it was then state college. It was so awesome to look up and see skyscrapers TOWERING over us! It was so beautiful and different. I would totally go back!


"Snowman" by Kamrynn Wamboldt


Snowman

One snowy night the little girl on the street

goes out to build a snowman she hangs on tight onto

her dad she thought she was going to blow away

and never see her daddy again, her dad said i

will always be here for you are my little snowman