The Future Machine by Angela, age 9

The future machine always works, but today it works really badly. When Gummy presses the transport button the machine puts her in the past. The past is ugly. It smells like garbage, sounds like ghosts howling, and the foods tastes like tissues. The future feels rough, and it looks like a thousand grocery stores. There are only grocery stores, not a tree or plants to make oxygen, so Gummy brings her oxygen mask. She builds a Future Gun out of things she finds on the ground in the past. She presses the red button on the Future Gun, guess what? She transports back to where she was.

She keeps on trying to go to the future, but the machine keeps on going to the past. “I think this machine needs a rest,” she says. “I’ll just write some haikus while I wait.” Monsters eat dummy, the dummy is so ugly, I play ball outside. “I don’t think it is a real haiku,” she says. “I am not specific because I don’t know how to be specific.”

Instead of writing another haiku, Gummy tries the future machine again. She hopes this is the last time this machine will go to the past. “Ah!” she yells. She knows all this noise disturbs her parents while they are watching TV. But the future machine continues not to work!

Gummy uses the screwdriver to hit the future machine as hard as she can. “Take that future maniac!” she yells. She drinks some orange juice because she is tired. She is so sweaty that she almost cries. She does not give up so she goes back to the machine. She kicks the machine to try to make it work. She presses the transport button again. This time it works but the Future Machine is wrecked because she kicked it and hit it with a screwdriver.

The future machine has five grocery stores, smells like fresh air from the sky, tastes like mango, sounds like birds chirping, and it feels like the soft fur of a kitten.

Gummy wishes to go inside the machine again but her parents say no because of dinner. At night she wants to sneak to the Future Machine. She can’t because her parents always watch her. But if she ever does, her mission will be accomplished.
Every other day Gummy’s parents are not tired so they watch her. But not today. Today they are tired, so Gummy sneaks to the Future Machine and she goes to the future and her mission is accomplished.

This is what she sees in the future: Her parents are yawning, her mom is sitting on the toilet, snoring, and saying, “I like boo boo” after each snore. Then she wakes up and drops newspaper into the toilet. Her dad is crazy. He goes to his friend’s house with a hammer and breaks their window and yells, “Yay!”

His friend says, “What are you doing?”

“Breaking your window,” Gummy’s dad says.

“Why?”

“Because you are my friend.”

Gummy sees them argue. Then she writes a letter. It says:

Dear Mom and Dad,
I do not know what is wrong with you today. Dad, you used a hammer to hit your friend’s window, and Mom, you put newspaper in the toilet. I don’t want to see any of that again.
Bye,
Gummy

PS: I hate you.

Gummy just waits for the candy that she ordered to come. It is the future so it should be here by now. But her deliveries don’t come because the delivery man is mad. His face is red. Gummy goes back into the Future Machine to eat pie. The pie tastes like tomato. “Bye bye, Future Machine,” she says.

Gummy goes back to her house to eat an apple. Then she goes to a candy shop inside the Future Machine. The shop smells like cotton candy, the walls taste like chocolate. She also goes to a grocery store to buy a banana and another apple. She jumps out of the Future Machine and eats her food. “How come the fruits taste bad and the candies taste good?” she says. “Maybe I should ask the person who sells the fruit why it tastes bad.”

At night Gummy doesn’t sleep because she sneaks up to the Future Machine again. She says, “I’m going to live in the machine forever!”

About the author

Hi! My name is Angela. I am nine years old. I live in an apartment with my mom, dad, brother and my uncle who sleeps next to Barbie. I like science, playing games on the computer, and animals. When I grow up I want to be an artist. If I were an animal, I would be a bunny so I could escape from people with my stinkiness. I am scared of cockroaches. I wonder about puppies. Why do they keep on yapping around?

To Anthony by Giang, age 8

To Anthony

Sorry I kicked the ball at your face
I was mad because the ball hit me
When it hit me, it felt like a block of ice
coming out of nowhere
I heard you laugh at me
so I kicked the ball
I wasn’t kicking it at you,
but somehow it hit you

From Giang

To My Turtles by Anthony, age 8

To My Turtles

I’m sorry that Ivy and I did not feed you
I am also sorry that I dropped you in the tank
I am sorry that I did not stop my dad from shaking the tank
I’m sorry that I kept tapping the glass
I’m sorry that I did not feel your shell
I know you like it when I feel your shell

From Anthony

Puppy Death by Trang, age 11

Puppy Death

This is just to say
I’m sorry Little Bootie, Rosey, Whity, Stella,
Flora, Bloom and Flor,
because my uncle killed you
My sister’s kids saw what happened,
they said he hit all of you with a knife
They tried to stop him,
they pulled on his leg,
but he hit them with his hand
When I heard you were dead
I cried

From Trang

Goshi & the Three Dragons by Jason, age 9 & Yong, age 11

Chapter 1
The Secret

Long ago, three dragon eggs were scattered all over the world, one in the North, one in the Southeast and one in the Southwest. The numbers two, five and six were written on the eggs. If someone ever gathered them, a peaceful dragon called Genron would grant a wish to that person and the wish would come true. But every time the wish was granted, negative energy was restored in the eggs. If three wishes were granted, the eggs would be full of negative energy and they would release this energy and form a dragon that was pure evil. It would throw the Dragon Eggs and destroy everything. It had no name, only a nickname, The Smoke Dragon. This secret was hidden in a book that was in the library.

Chapter 2
The Magic Training Academy

Goshi went to the public library and found only one book about the secret of the eggs. He just wanted to be granted a wish. He didn’t care about the Smoke Dragon. He read it and he rushed back home. He packed up fast because he wanted to go and find the eggs. The next day, he went to the magic Training Academy and trained for five years. When he was sixteen, he had money to travel by plane with his book. When he landed, he was in the north in the continent of North America. When he went to California, he went to a stream in the mountain region. He felt like something was waiting for him.

Chapter 3
Hi Fatty!

The stream was polluted! It was about one hundred percent toxic. Whatever was in it would die in a few minutes. A chubby dragon broke out of its prison. It was about four feet tall. It had the power to pollute landforms, bodies of water and the air. The dragon was called Haze Genron.

Chapter 4
The First Battle

Goshi attacked the creature. It cried and turned red. It stopped and attacked back. Goshi blasted his lightning bolt effect. He summoned it by opening his palm and releasing a lighting bolt. It looked like a long zigzag. When the lightning hit Haze Genron, it fell onto a plain and the force left a big crack in the ground. A humongous jellyfish came out of the crack and drained all the energy from far away and blasted all that power at Goshi. It simply shifted its tentacles and a hurricane was made. Goshi blocked its power by creating his own hurricane. The hurricane was like a large knife or blade targeting the jellyfish. The destruction was so big that it cut the head off of the Jellyfish. But then its body disappeared and a meteor was targeting Goshi. He dived into the polluted water! He was so weak that he almost died. Something at the bottom healed him somehow. He was alive! He could swim so he came out of the lake and saw something round heading his way. It was Dragon Egg Number Two. He was happy. His next adventure was waiting for him.

Chapter 5
Hi Midget

The next dragon was Rage Genron. It was as short as a baby. It was just two feet tall. It introduced itself. It had the power of electricity. Sometimes when it was fully charged it grew so big that it couldn’t move.

Chapter 6
The Second Battle

Rage Genron grew because before Goshi got there, it charged up. Rage shocked Goshi and Goshi got really weak. Rage never stopped shocking him so Goshi fainted. Suddenly it began to rain hard. Rage was going nuts! Explosions were happening all over his body. A few hours later he was in a coffin. People thought he was dead, but he broke free. A kid stared at him. He said, “How did you do that?”
“You got to eat green vegetables. That’s what my momma once said.”
“Can you teach me how to do those moves?”
“Ok,” said Goshi. “I will teach you advanced moves.”

Chapter 7
Hi Ugly


The kid learned how to do advanced moves fast. The next dragon had a disguise and could turn into an ugly princess. It had the power to control water and wind and it could control whatever it liked but it had to use lots of energy. Its name was Onoshi Genran.

Chapter 8
The Third Battle

Onoshi Genran tried to punch Goshi. Goshi used his fire power by doing something with his fingers. Onnoshi started to dance. It never stopped. These moves caused a hurricane of spikes. In a few minutes Goshi would die. Luckily, the kid popped out of a bush and used one of the rarest powers, the Ancient Dragon Blast, by opening his mouth and releasing a dragon that came out and sliced up Onoshi. Onoshi died, but it fell into a lake and the water restored its energy. It turned into a four-foot tall gecko and attacked the kid. Goshi killed it with a kung-fu move.

Chapter 9
Wish Release

All three eggs were now united and a dragon came out. It was peaceful. It said, “I will grant you a wish.”
Goshi and the kid said, “We wish all the negative energy was gone forever!”

About the Authors

Hi! My name is Jason and I am nine years old. I live with my mom, dad, grandma and sister. This is my second published book. I am also the author of Curses. I like to watch TV, play videogames and play on the laptop. I am good at school, kickball and finding lost objects. I want to be good at building towers. I want to be a pharmacist when I grow up because they don’t have to go to college as long as doctors do. If I could be any animal I would be snake because snakes can slither fast and they can inject poison. My biggest fear is bugs.

Hi! My name is Yong. I am eleven years old and I live with my dad and mom. I like to videogames like the Olympic game on my laptop. I am good at building with Legos because I can make Homer and Harry Potter. When I grow up I want to be a baseball player and a very good scientist. If I could be any animal, I would be a tiger because they are very strong. I am also the author of My Face Is Made out of Gold, Yong and the Dragon and Attack of the Ninjas.

To Momo & From Momo, by Lisa, age 8 & Tiana, age 10

To Momo

I am sorry that my mom held you by the neck
and put you in the bathroom,
I know my mom didn’t like you because you made trouble,
like when you pooed in the living room
When we came back from China you were a grown-up
and you didn’t make trouble anymore,
But after one week we had to give you away
because the building manger didn’t let us keep you
I wish I could see you again
Please forgive my mom.

From Tiana & Lisa




From Momo

I will forgive your mom for holding me by the neck
When she held me this way
her hands felt all sticky
I will also forgive you
for giving me away
After you visited me one day,
I ran away
I wish I didn’t do that
so I could see you again
I am in a new family now
When they hear me purr,
they always pet me
And every time I smell fresh fish
I hiss

Written for Momo by Lisa