Authored, Illustrated, and Designed by: Leo Baeck Junior High School Grade 8 English Class

Children’s Stories A School Project by Marvelous

English Students

Introduction

Tools for a Lifetime

Everybody has a chance to write their story - in school, in university,

or just for fun - but not everybody has the chance to write a story with a

message. For this project, we were very glad to be given the opportunity

to write stories with a personal touch and with real passion.

This chance wasn’t all about writing stories. It was about develop-

ing a tool for a lifetime. This tool doesn’t need to be as advanced as a mi-

crophone or camera; it’s as simple as a pen or pencil. And this pencil

doesn't need to have an advanced eraser; it just needs to pass your

thoughts onto paper. As simple as this may sound, the results can be

amazing.

The process of creating your own message and melting it onto pa-

per, then adding some pictures, gives people a sample of your feelings,

thoughts, and your life.

We are very thankful to have had this opportunity to express our

feelings in the right why. It is a tool that many other teenagers never get

to develop. Using this model of self expression, we were "saved" in many

ways.

Now all you have to do is to read what we wrote. We hope you en-

joy our stories and remember that you are looking into us – the marvelous

Leo Baeck students from 4'ח .

With love,

The Leo Baeck 4'ח Class

Teacher’s Note

For this project, Grade 8 students authored, illustrated, and designed their own

children’s stories. There were multiple goals connected to this multi-week course of

study. Most importantly was that it gave students the rare opportunity to construct

their own ideas and have it honored by others.

The principle goal of this project was to develop students’ English skills, as this

was completed in an English class. As such, the following English skills were taught

explicitly: storytelling, writing effective dialogue, vocabulary, punctuation, symbol-

ism, character development, ‚showing‛ instead of ‚telling,‛ and editing. Secondary

explicit skills covered illustration and working with Microsoft Publisher. Finally, so-

cial and emotional competencies were developed through the refinement of each stu-

dent’s personal values and by giving students creative/imaginative freedom over their

work.

In all, roughly 20 class periods were spent producing these stories, from gener-

ating the ‚seeds‛ of ideas to a final, digitally compiled version. Undoubtedly, the

work involved by everyone, students and teacher included, required a serious time

investment. Seeing the result made it well worth the effort.

Regarding class composition, it quickly becomes clear to anyone reading the

children’s stories that both English fluency and commitment played a role in the final

product. In this class alone, some students were virtually native English speakers,

while others struggled to compose full sentences. The project design was very sensi-

tive to this fact, allowing students to work toward their own differentiated potentials.

As for commitment, while naturally there were various levels of it, there were occa-

sions when students demanded to stay after school to continue their work.

As a teacher, it was truly my pleasure to see these stories develop and take a

life of their own. I learned and was inspired by the students’ values and creativity. I

urge all educators to consider this when designing curricula or planning lessons. It is

my belief that respecting a student - in the form of giving authentic tasks, valuing

their work, listening to their ideas, and encouraging them positively – increases their

self-confidence and motivation in the classroom. This, in turn, ultimately helps them

learn.

If you are interested in doing a project like this in your classroom, make sure to

check out the last section in this booklet, which explains the steps taken and includes

support materials. Feel free to copy the steps exactly or make adjustments as you best

see fit. You can also contact me at yotamhod24@gmail.com. Enjoy!

- Yotam Hod, Teacher

The Stories (1 of 3)

The Story of the Boy and the Town page 7—11

Dina Gorodnitski

A story about questioning poor leaders and celebrating differences

Perry the Parrot page 12—23

Amit Hershkowitz

A story about believing in your ideas and making friends

Pen Pal page 24—30

Dor Kleinfeld

A story about believing that you are smart and capable of learning

What will Help Nemo and his Tribe? page 31—35

Roee Ben Amara

A story about being a good leader

Todd and the Moon page 36—42

Sa’ar Matalon

A story about being good to those around you

The Little Garden page 43—52

Gabriela Udovich

A story about the importance of friendship

The Boy Who Never Laughed page 53—57

Hagar Sahar

A story about friendship and laughter

Gvanian page 58—63

Yosef Raisman

A story about truth, lies, and love

The Stories (2 of 3)

The Glowing Necklace page 64—68

Shira Labin

A story about self-confidence and believing in yourself

The Magical Mouse page 69—71

Tidhar Shosrad

A story about sacrificing yourself to help others

Beary the Bear page 72—74

Inon Starovieschic

A story treating your friends nicely

The Magical Envelope page 75—79

Batel Mankovsky

A story about trusting your friends and putting their interests ahead of yours

The Art of Dedication page 80—82

Yoni Halatnik

A story about giving and making something of your life

The Key to Success page 83—86

Maoz Karasenti

A story about what a person needs to do to succeed

The Imaginary Dog page 87—90

Goffer Oded

A story about having the courage to make friends

Missy page 91—92

Katya Mogilevsky

A story about treating others the way that you want to be treated

The Stories (3 of 3)

The Man in the Lemon page 93—99

Nithay Yarnitsky

A story about loneliness and the changes a person can make to have friends

Jake the Grey page 100—103

Avshalom Cohen

A story about treating people of all ethnicities, religions, and races equally

Timmy the Tractor page 104—105

Nithay Duek

A story about including others so they don’t feel lonely

The Underwater Sea Class page 106—108

Osher Ninno

A story about telling your friends the truth

Anna, Dana, and Johanna page 109—112

Nimrod Boker

A story about jealousy, admitting your mistakes, and forgiveness

The Sheep on the Hill page 113—122

Yuval Mendelson

A story about how money corrupts leaders and can destroy a society

Student Reflections

Reflections about the development of their writing and thinking.

Pages 123— x

Steps to Creating Children’s Stories in Your Classroom

Teacher Materials by Yotam Hod (Teacher)

Pages 124—138

By: Dina Gorodnitski

In a little town lived a boy, not so little, but also not so big. His name

was Tommy. Tommy loved his town. He liked the people, the houses, and

the parks. But what he liked the most was the colorfulness and the differ-

ences between the houses. Each house was different and had its own style

and touch. Each street wasn't like the other. That's why Tommy liked to go

out with his skateboard and wander around.

One day, Tommy went out

with his skateboard and skated

across the streets. The sun shone

over the windows and made them

sparkle like diamonds. All sorts of

flowers - roses, tulips, violets, sun

flowers and many more, grew in

front of the colorful houses. Eve-

rything was calm and beautiful.

In the main street Tommy

met all his friends and neighbors.

‚Hello Mrs. Smeet!‛ called

Tommy to the baker.

‚Hello Tommy. How do you do?‛

A little later Tommy met their neighbor, Mrs. Kukarlota.

‚Hello Tommy, how is your mother? Yesterday, I was planning to come

and visit her." (Tommy knew that "visit" meant come and gossip for an hour

or two). In the end of the main street was a big gathering of people. Tommy

saw his Friend Timmy.

‚Hello Timmy! What's going on here?‛ he asked.

‚It's the new ideas of Mr. Potato. Listen to what he is saying!‛ an-

swered Timmy.

And indeed, in front of his

house on a little stage, stood Mr.

Potato, the ketchup factory

owner, and he spoke to the peo-

ple.

‚Dear neighbors!‛ he

called, ‚Look at my new house!

This sort of color, these plants,

the shade for my car, the

porch< All these nice and ele-

gant, new things, are really necessary for a normal and honorable family.

From today all the people should plant roses, roses only. Look at the color of

my house. If we all choose grey and yellow as the colors of our houses, that

would be nicer and more homogenous. Also, from today, it is popular to put

white curtains with stripes and shades from bright wood only<" and so Mr.

Potato went on, telling everybody what to do so that everybody else could

match his new ideas.

Tommy went home. ‚That’s ridiculous, nobody will listen to him,‛ he

said to himself.

The days passed, and

some people started to

act like Mr. Potato and

listened to what he said

about being alike. They

colored their houses in

grey and yellow colors,

made their shades and

stairs look like they

were made from bright

wood, and so on.

After some

months, the nice, color-

ful town became all grey and yellow. All the houses were the same, like if

they were made in a factory. Even the flowers in the garden were all the

same: roses.

In one of the grey

houses of the little town sat

Tommy's family to dinner.

Tommy's mother liked

cooking and her cooking

was wonderful and really

tasty.

‚This is really deli-

cious, thank you Mom,‛

said Tommy, "very soon

your cooking will be the

only thing that is different from all the other houses," he muttered.

‚Don’t be so annoyed. It's not the most terrible thing in the world. I am

sure this will pass after some time,‛ promised Tommy's mother.

‚I know Mom, but now I even don’t like to go out. You feel like you

can get lost in all these streets! They are all identical!" cried Tommy.

‚It is true. But they aren't ugly, they are newly colored and well kept,"

said Tommy's father.

‚Yes, it's true,‛ admitted Tommy, ‚but the problem is that I feel that

not only the houses are all the same, it looks like the people in the houses are

also identical. They don’t have opinions, they can't stay themselves!" replied

Tommy.

‚Yes, we know," sighed his parents.

After dinner, Tommy requested to plant some new roses in the garden.

‚In the storeroom you will find some bags with rose seeds,‛ his mother told

him. Tommy went to the storeroom and found the place with the garden

equipment. He found the bags with the rose seeds and behind them he

found one half-empty bag -

a bag with orchid seeds.

Tommy knew that his

mother liked orchids very

much; he remembered that

before all the strange

‚house fashion‛ started his

family always planted only

orchids.

‚Why should we lis-

ten to what they say? Why

can't we stay ourselves?"

Tommy thought.

Tommy took the half-filled orchid seeds bag and planted the

seeds in the garden. From that day on he took care of the plants and just

couldn't wait until they grew and bloomed.

One day it happened. The little orchids grew and showed first signs of

blooming. Everybody was amused and surprised when it was clear that no

roses but orchids were growing in the garden. Some people agreed. Some

people argued, nagged their heads and clicked their tongues. The neighbors

started to gather around the house as if they never saw orchids. Tommy

went out to the garden and explained his decision to everybody. He spoke

to the people, exactly as Mr. Potato spoke a year before. But in contrast to

Mr. Potato's speech, Tommy spoke about staying yourself, loyal to your

opinion and to your style.

‚Why should we all be the same?

Our streets look like factories,

long grey factories. These facto-

ries are making the people look

grey and very much the same. We

don’t need to listen to what some-

body else thinks about our

houses. If we like orchids, why

won't we plant orchids?" he

asked.

‚And you, Mrs. Kukarlota,‛ he spoke to his neighbor, "your house was

always colored in pink, that was the color you chose and the color you liked

the most. Why should you live in a grey house if it so not like you?‛

‚He's right!‛ admitted all

the neighbors, "we all should

stay ourselves and not try to be

somebody else because some-

body told us it's better.

In one of the houses of

the little, colorful-again town

Tommy's family sat for dinner.

‚I am so glad that every-

thing came back to its course,"

said Tommy's mother, ‚and

that’s all because of you,

Tommy.‛

‚No, it isn't mom,‛ said Tommy.

‚Yes it is,‛ confirmed Tommy's father. "Maybe, if you didn’t plant

those orchids in that evening, we would all still be living in grey houses with

white curtains with stripes and planting roses all day."

The End

By: Amit Hershkowitz

A long time ago, in a peaceful and quite place, lived a family of

parrots. Mr. Parrot was the father, Mrs. Parrot the mother, and there were

three brothers: Ben, Jim and the smallest one - Perry. They all lived happily,

helping each other. Mr. and Mrs. Parrot were taking care of the kids while

the kids helped to take care of their home. Ben, the strongest one, helped to

lift the heavy furniture, Jim cleaned the house and Perry sat and thought

how to make the cleaning and lifting easier. As he sat and thought, he came

up with an excellent idea.

Our story

begins on a

peaceful day,

while all the

family prepared

for the coming

holiday of Ha-

nukkah. Every-

one was busy.

Mr. and Mrs.

Parrot did the

shopping, Ben lifted the Hanukkah lamp, Jim made a bunch of doughnuts

and Perry planned where to put the "Fire-Maker". The "Fire-Maker" was one

of his inventions; it was a big, black and red lighter that lighted the candles

of the Hanukkah lamp. Each candle was a different flame color. Some

flames were red while others were green, some were purple and some were

white. It was a big celebration of colors.

Near noon, the house looked

great, Everything was decorated

with straps that Mr. and Mrs. Par-

rot bought. The Hanukkah Lamp

stood in the middle of the house;

she was big and colored silver. The

doughnuts smelled so good, mak-

ing the air sweet and the feeling

even more. The "Fire-Maker" was

placed right in front of the Hanuk-

kah lamp, ready to light the candles. When the afternoon arrived, everything

was ready for the candle lighting. All the family started to sing Hanukkah

songs, spreading happiness and joy in the afternoon air.

Between the sing-

ing of the family mem-

bers, Perry noticed an-

other voice, a moan, a

stretch of a back, like

some sort of animal,

lurking to her prey,

ready to jump and de-

vour him. He looked at

his brother Ben, who

noticed it too. The fam-

ily sang another song,

but there was a gargle, some sort of a howl. Now Mr. Parrot noticed it too.

Another song, and the voices started to get stronger, closer. Another song

and there were many voices, much stronger, much closer. Perry looked at his

father, and his father looked back at him. The voices were so strong that the

family stopped singing, listening to the frightening voices, waiting. A few

more seconds, all of a sudden...

They heard a blood-freezing howl! The wall fell apart and they could

see the source of these voices - a group of cats! All the family members were

scared and frightened, they flew for their lives, and they didn't look back.

They heard the cats running behind them, trying to catch them. Their wings

couldn't move faster than that,

and the cats couldn't move

faster than them. Perry's heart

was beating so fast and he al-

most couldn’t breath, but he

managed to run away. Finally

the cats gave up and stopped

chasing them. The family was

still scared and shocked; they

spent the night outside, warm-

ing each other's bodies with

their own. "Tomorrow we'll

come back", said Mr. Parrot,

right before Perry fell asleep.

When the family came back to their house everything was ruined. The

decoration straps were all scratched by the big and sharp cat's nails. The Ha-

nukkah lamp was broken on the floor, filled with the oil of the doughnuts.

On the side of the room stood the "Fire-Maker", broken apart by the cats,

making all the gas escape.

The whole family was sad because of their broken house, but they

couldn't wait too long- they had to rebuild their house. They gathered some

blocks and started to put them down, one-by-one. Everyone worked to-

gether to complete their mission of building the house once again. Mr. and

Mrs. Parrot bought the materials while Ben and Jim did the physical work;

Perry was responsible to design the new house.

After a hard

day of work, the

family decided to

rest. They sat in a

circle, talking about

the hard labor and

the materials they

needed for the new

house. Perry was quiet this evening, he thought about the attack the whole

day, looking for answers. He remembered the idea that he thought about this

afternoon, wondering if he should suggest it. Finally, he had enough courage

to say it. ‚I have an idea,‛ he said loudly.

"Well, tell us," said Mr. Parrot.

Perry took a deep breath, and told them his idea. For a few seconds

everybody was quite, and then they burst into big, loud laughs.

"Don't be so funny," said Mrs. Parrot.

"This idea is for dreamers only," said Jim.

"Try again," said Mr. Parrot.

Perry didn't speak again the

whole day. At night, the sounds of

laughter wouldn't leave Perry's ears.

His mind was full with thoughts, so

full that he couldn't sleep. He got out

of his bed and went to one of the clos-

est tree tops. One thought bothered

him really hard, he wanted it so much

that he couldn't hear those laughs

anymore. "I'll show them," he

thought. Finally, after a lot of think-

ing, he decided to do it. He decided to run away.

The next morning, Perry was very far from his home. He arrived at the

big city, breathing her fresh air. Everything was loud in he city. Cars were

beeping, humans talked loudly and their steps were heavy and made a lot of

noise. Other birds were whistling to the beat of the human's legs. Perry

called it "The Music of the City." He flew on top of the high and grey build-

ings. Everything looked so unvaried in the city. After a long flight, Perry de-

cided to land in one of the alleys. He landed and looked around him; the

trash cans, the sidewalk, everything was grey, like the whole city. "Can't they

use some green?" he asked himself.

All of a sudden, he heard a whisper from behind the trash cans.

"Hey, you!" said the thick voice.

"Me?" asked Perry.

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm Perry, and who are you?"

"I'm the big scary monster!" said the voice, echoing in the whole alley.

"I don't believe you!" said Perry, as his heart beats became stronger.

"You can see it by my shadow!"

Perry looked at the big shadow that arrived at the wall, it's seemed like

a big creature. It looked like a dinosaur with a huge shell on top of his back.

"I'm... I'm not scared!" lied Perry.

"Really then, come closer," the voice ordered.

"Okay," said Perry as he started to walk towards the trash cans.

"Okay, stop!" said the voice, but Perry didn't listened to him. "Stop I

said!" he said once again, but Perry didn't mind. "Stop right now!" the voice

begged.

"I'm not scared, I'm scared..." repeated Perry while he came closer and

closer, collecting courage with each step that he took. Finally he arrived be-

hind the trash can and discovered a small, green creature, with a big shell on

top of his back. It was a turtle.

"This is a smaller form of mine!" said the turtle.

"Don't lie," said Perry, "I know you're not a monster."

"Okay, Okay," admitted the turtle.

"So, what is your name?" asked Perry.

"Sheldon," answered the turtle.

"Well, if you don't mind... I need to go," said Perry.

"No, wait!" screamed Sheldon.

"What?" asked Perry.

"Why are you here? You don't seem the city-type of creature."

"I ran away from my home," sighed Perry. "Nothing important."

"Why did you run away?"

"My family laughed at me so hard, I couldn't take it."

"Why did they laugh at you?"

"Because of one of my ideas."

"Oh, you look like a very smart guy."

"Maybe,"

Perry sighed again.

"I need your

help," said Sheldon.

"My help for

what?" asked Perry.

"I need an

idea, my shell, it's

really heavy, what

can I do?"

"Well," said

Perry, "let me think

of it."

And so it was, Perry thought night and day about how to make Shel-

don's life easier, sketching, thinking, planning every little detail. Finally, after

a few days of work, he came with an idea. "Why won't you take off this shell

and become a lizard?" Perry suggested.

"How I never thought of it?!" wondered Sheldon as he took off his

shell. "From now on, I'm a lizard!"

Perry laughed.

"Thank you so much!" said Sheldon.

"My pleasure!" said Perry, "Well, I think I'll go now," and he continued.

"I'll meet you again someplace, good-bye!" said Sheldon with tears of

joy at his eyes.

"Goodbye," said Perry as he flew away from there. He kept flying until

he arrived at a big, green forest. He landed on one of the trees, hearing all

the beautiful sounds of nature - the songs of the birds, the howls of the foxes.

He was also glad to see the green color unlike the grey color of the city. Eve-

rything was much more peaceful in the forest. The sun shined up in the sky,

making the air warm and nice.

"The forest is sure better," said Perry, feeling the air stroking his color-

ful, red wings. Finally he landed on one of the tree tops, slowly jumping

down to the ground. He looked around him, green-and-brown trees were

everywhere, from the ground you couldn't see the sky, but you could feel the

sun. Perry stopped to rest on a leaf, relaxing his stressed muscles. The voices

of laughs didn't leave his mind yet. He sat and pondered.

He looked up,

searching for a solu-

tion how to make his

family believe in him

and their voices echo

in his head. He didn't

notice that his eyes fol-

lowed after a mysteri-

ous wing flight - big

blue wings. He was

hypnotized by those

big blue wings; he couldn't keep his eyes off them. "What is this creature?"

he asked himself, and kept looking at those amazing wings. Finally he de-

cided to ask the creature himself.

"Excuse me," he said. But the crea-

ture didn't answer. "Excuse me," repeated

Perry, a little louder.

"Oh, me?" asked a small, female

voice.

"Yes, may you come here?" he

asked.

"Oh, sure," answered the creature

before flying down to the ground, as it

came closer, Perry could clearly see it was a butterfly, a female butterfly.

"I just wanted to look at your beautiful wings," said Perry.

"Beautiful?" asked the butterfly.

"Of course!" said Perry.

"They're not that beautiful," mumbled the butterfly.

"They are!" jumped Perry. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Betty," said the butterfly, "and yours?"

"I'm Perry," he said and smiled.

"My... my wings aren't so beautiful," said Betty.

"They are!" repeated Perry.

"Well, I don't like them."

An idea popped on Perry's mind, "I'll make you love those wings!" he

said with confidence. So he flew onto a high branch and started to design

and draw, one idea, two ideas, three, four - a flow of ideas came to him. He

was inspired by the red and yellow sun, by the green trees, by the voices of

the forest. After a few hours of drawing and painting, he finally had the final

design. Then he turned to find the right materials: colors, brushed; every-

thing he could find in nature. After a few hours of searching all the materials

were there.

"Close your eyes," he said to Betty while he started to paint her wings.

"Okay," said Betty and closed her eyes. Line after line, dot after dot,

and finally Perry finished painting her wings.

"Take a look," said Perry.

Betty looked at her wings and almost couldn't breathe. They looked

beautiful.

"Well?" asked Perry.

"They look wonderful!" said Betty, a big smile on her face.

"I thought you'll like it," said Perry.

"How could I thank you?"

"No need," said Perry, "but I

have to leave now."

"Bye," said Betty.

"Goodbye," said Perry and he

flew away from there, leaving the

beautiful, happy butterfly and the

green, magical forest behind him.

The next morning he noticed

a wave of smoke coming from

somewhere close to the mountains.

He flew there and saw a village. It

was not as quiet as the forest, but not as loud as the city. It was somewhere

in between. There were a few small houses with red roof tops and small di-

visions of grass. Perry could smell and feel the unity of the village people,

small children playing with each other, grown-ups talking about the hard

day of work that was waiting just for them. Perry could smell the cup of cof-

fee that everyone drinks in the morning, and the smell of hard work's sweat.

All the village people seemed so peaceful and happy, smiling and talking

with each other.

Suddenly he heard a wail be-

hind one of the houses. He flew there

fast to find the source of the wail. He

saw a big, skinny dog, sitting on the

floor. The dog wailed in pain.

"What happened?" asked Perry.

"Go!" the dog barked at him.

"I'm just trying to help," said

Perry.

"Oh, excuse me, I'm just a little hungry," said the dog.

"What's your name?" asked Perry.

"I'm Dag, and you?"

"Perry," he said.

"Again, excuse me," said Dag.

"That's okay," relaxed Perry, "are you looking for food?"

"Yes, I haven't ate for days," cried Dag.

"Did you try to take food from the humans?"

"I tried to steal some food but I got caught."

"I meant, did you try to be nice and ask for some food?"

"No," hesitated Dag.

"Then try that."

Dag went to a group of humans. He was as scared as them, but finally

one boy decided to stroke him, and Dag babbled with his tail. "Oh, he's so

cute!" said another girl, and soon he was surrounded by many children. Af-

ter lots of strokes one kid gave him a piece of meat.

"Eat it", he said. Dag ate the meat and a big smile arrived on his face.

Soon he got another piece of meat, and another one, and one more, and so

on.

"How could I ever

thank you?" asked Dag.

"Don't thank me," said

Perry, "just keep being nice."

"You have great ideas!"

smiled Dag.

"Thank you," com-

mented Perry. "Well now, I'll

have to go."

"Goodbye," cried Dag.

"Goodbye," said Perry, pondering, and he flew away from there.

Perry's thought about the last weeks, and from the moment he left un-

til then, he couldn't miss the message that someone was trying to tell him. He

should trust himself and not listen to what other people say. He also understood

that sometimes, as the idea is much more unique it's also better, and he was

ready to show his family he was right all along. He decided to come back

home and execute his idea.

After a long

flight home, he

could see his house,

exactly the same

way he designed it,

with little windows

and a big door. The

rooftop was blue,

and there were

flowers in the back

of the house. He

landed on the grass

in front of the house.

"Perry!" screamed Mrs. Parrot loudly. The whole family gathered up at

the door, everyone was there - Mr. Parrot, Mrs. Parrot, Jim and Ben. "Where

have you been?" asked Mr. Parrot.

"I'll tell you later," said Perry.

Mrs. Parrot hugged him with a big warm hug. Ben and Jim smiled as

they came closer to their brother. All the family started to sing for Perry, as

they were very happy. Between the songs the family heard those familiar

voices, the stretch of backs, the wails, and everything came back to them.

Perry looked at the other family members, who were frightened. Jim started

to shake, while Mr. Parrot hugged Mrs. Parrot and Ben strongly.

Quiet, a few seconds of quiet. All of a sudden, the cats jumped up from

their hiding place, threatening the family with their big sharp nails and smil-

ing, showing their big dangerous teeth. They looked hungry, as they licked

their lips. This time there weren't any doughnuts, but they seemed hungry

enough to eat chicken—or parrot actually. The cats gargled with joy, looking

at their prey.

"Fly away!" Mr. and Mrs. Parrot whispered. Everybody flew, every-

body but Perry.

"Are you crazy?!" asked Jim while he looked back at his brother. Perry

kept standing; the cats came closer and closer, smelling the prey. One cat

jumped at him, showing his scary nails.

"Stop!" screamed Perry.

The cat stopped and looked at him with shock.

"I have a deal for you," offered Perry.

"Speak, lunch," laughed the cat.

"What about a peace treaty?" asked Perry.

The response was quiet at first, and then followed by a wave of laughs.

"Peace treaty?!" laughed the big scary cat.

"At least I tried," said Perry and closed his eyes.

The cats came even closer and smelled his body. Some cats still

laughed at the idea of peace treaty. "That's what happens when you let your

food talk," giggled one of the cats; the other cats laughed after him. Perry

was thankful for each breathe he took, he was scared and frightened, he

knew no one could save him now after he took that risk.

He's eyes were closed for a few more seconds, and a few more, and a

few more. He wondered why it was taking so much time and he opened his

eyes. He saw the cats were hypnotized by some sort of flying painting. After

a few seconds of staring at it, he saw it was a butterfly.

"Betty!" he screamed, smiling. He was so happy.

One cat lost his focus on the

butterfly and turned his mouth to

Perry. He got his head closer to

Perry's body and was about to

bite it, but a big shell separated

them; the cat's teeth broke in a

horrible cracking noise.

"Sheldon!" Perry was sur-

prised.

The other cats removed

their eyes from the beautiful but-

terfly to the red Parrot and the

green turtle.

"We are doomed," cried Sheldon. The cats came closer and closer, smil-

ing with pleasure, smelling the fresh meat.

All of a sudden, they heard a frightening howl; a big scary dog came

out from behind one of the bushes.

"Dag!" Perry screamed, feeling so safe.

Dag caught one of the cats' tails, playing

with it, "Well, well," he laughed, "I can see some

food here, huh?"

All the cats gathered together, scared.

"Should I eat them?" asked Dag.

"No," said Perry.

He came closer to a black, green-eye cat.

"Are you the leader?" he questioned.

"Y... Yes," he hesitated.

"I'll offer it one more time," said Perry

clearly. "Do you want a peace treaty?"

The cat thought for a few minutes, feeling

Dag's foot on top of his tail. He was scared and

he shook his feet strongly, "Well, why not?" he

laughed, but he wasn't happy, he threw a look of scorn.

"Great then," said Perry. "Now go away and don't ever come back."

Dag removed his foot from the cat's tail, who ran away with the others,

still shaking.

"Haven't you taken off the shell?" asked Perry.

"I couldn't leave it," said Sheldon, "family property."

"Thank you so much!" said Perry.

"No problem," said Sheldon, "you helped us - we helped you."

"Well," sighed Betty, "see you some day."

"Goodbye," said Perry with joy, but he also was sad to leave his new

friends.

Betty flew away, Sheldon went to the city and Dag left back to the vil-

lage. Perry knew he will never forget them. After that, the family's life be-

came normal once again. They all took care of the house, like they always

did. They never had a

doubt about Perry's ideas

once more. Sometimes

Perry flew to visit Sheldon,

Betty and Dag, which were

his new friends. And they

all lived happily ever after.

The End

By: Dor Kleinfeld

One normal day, in a small village a kid named Will was woken up by

his mother. Except it was not a normal day because Will's mother woke him

up so he would go to school, and it was not just any day at school, it was the

first day of first grade. Will unwillingly woke up and grunted, "I don’t want

to go to school! I am tired and I want to stay at home and play!"

"But you knew

for over a year now

that you will go to

school this year and

you know that every-

one has to go to

school." His mother

said.

Will got up, got

dressed, ate his break-

fast and finally picked

up his new backpack.

He walked to the bus

stop which was near

his house with his

mother. When the

school bus finally

came, Will said good-

bye to his mother and

complained again that

he doesn't want to go

to school and learn,

and said he will fail.

Then Will got on the

bus, with a frown on

his face.

When Will en-

tered his classroom he still had a frown on his face. He thought of the awful-

ness of having to work all day instead of playing. He thought of failing

every single quiz and test, and unfortunately for him that is exactly what

happened after the teacher introduced herself. She decided to give everyone

a quiz in which they would write whatever they could about themselves and

about every subject they would learn this year. After a few minutes, the

teacher finished going over the tests

and she gave the tests back. Even

though she said they only represent

what they know now and that they

would learn more at school, many

students were unhappy with their

grades. Between them was Will, who

failed miserably. How was he sup-

posed to know? He didn't even

know all of the letters! After the test,

Will passed the rest of the day's in-

troductory lessons sad and he

waited for the end of the day. School

was as bad as he thought it would

be.

A week already passed since the first day of school, and during that

week Will didn't have fun at all. During that week he didn't make any new

friends and didn't listen to what he was taught. One day, the bus was late so

Will had to wait after school. The teacher invited Will to talk until the bus

came. She told Will she noticed he wasn't willing to learn and she asked him

why he wasn't willing to learn.

"I just don't want to learn when I

know I can play at home instead." Will

complained.

"But you know that everyone has to

learn." The teacher said.

"I know but I can't, I just can't

understand what we learn!" he whined.

"Don't worry, you don't have to know

everything instantly, but first you need to

agree to learn." She said.

"You know what? I have an idea.

How about I give you this pen, maybe it

will help you learn? It helped me when I

was your age and it helped other students."

And the teacher took out a beautiful black

pen with silver lines that somehow re-

minded Will of a smiling mouth.

When Will held the pen it felt heavier than it looked and somehow he

felt better while holding it. "Thank you!" Will said, "I already feel better!"

And Will got on the bus with his new pen, happy for the first time since he

started learning at school.

The next day Will went to school with his new pen. He was happy to

go to school for the first time in his life. When they started learning, Will

used his new pen, and surprisingly he didn't only understand what he

learned, he knew what the teacher taught before the teacher even spoke! He

answered every question on the work sheets he got and finished them before

everyone else. Later that day, the teacher gave everyone a quiz, which Will

finished first and all of his answers were completely correct.

For the first time in over a week, Will actually knew the answers to the

questions he was asked. Because Will finished the test, his teacher let him

wait in the hallway. Will was bored, so he decided to take apart his pen, just

out of curiosity to see how it worked. He started pulling the pen from both

sides to break it open, but with no success. He tried to twist it, to see if it

screws open, but again with no success. The beautiful black pen just did not

open. Finally he tried hitting it on the wall and heard some grunts from the

pen that sounded like someone said, "Stop it, stop it!"

Will stopped hitting the pen and checked where the sounds came

from. When he found nothing, he tried hitting it on the wall again. Again the

moment the pen hit the wall he heard, this time definitely from the pen,

"Stop hitting me on the wall!"

Will turned the pen around and saw the silver lines on it moving. He

heard, "Yes, I am a talking but don't worry, I am also the one who helped

you learn today."

"Am I crazy or is this pen talking?" muttered Will.

”Yes I am a talking pen" the pen answered, "I am the all-knowing pen

and it is my job to teach kids how to learn. I know it's hard for you to under-

stand, but I need to help you be as good in school without me."

Will thought for a while and said, "I don't know if I am crazy, but I just

know keeping you is a good idea."

For the next few months of school Will had exceptionally good grades.

His pen helped him learn, but whenever he held the pen he could know al-

most anything he wanted. He knew which kids to befriend and how to run

in physical education class to outrun everyone. He was simply the most suc-

cessful kid in his class. All was good until one day when the teacher told the

class they would have a test that would be a big part of their mid-year report

card grades. Will wanted to take out his pen to consult him about the test.

But, he couldn't find it! He panicked and almost screamed, but then remem-

bered that he needed to keep the pen's secret because if he didn't, others

might get jealous. He decided that

he might have left it at home and

that he should look at it when he

gets home.

When Will got home he

couldn't find it. Now he really

panicked. He asked his parents if

they saw it and looked all over his

room and he didn't find it any-

where.

He spent the next month un-

til his test searching for his pen, at

studying for the test but more

than both he panicked. Finally by

the day of the test he was com-

pletely demoralized. He was sure he will fail the test. When the teacher gave

out the tests he almost screamed in despair. The minutes it took him to finish

the test were the worst in his life. He answered the questions as well as he

could, but he wasn't sure if his answers were correct without the pen to

guide him. The days he waited to get his test graded were the second worst

time in his life.

It took his teacher one week to check all of the tests. Will was once

again sad about going to school. He waited all day for the teacher to give out

the tests. When she finally called him to take his test she smiled at him. He

did not know why she smiled at him until he took his test and saw a big A

written on it. And was he dreaming? No, he really saw his beloved pen con-

nected to the test! He asked permission to go to the bathroom, and when he

got there he spoke to the pen.

"Where were you? I almost failed without you!" he told the pen

angrily.

"I am sorry but I needed to test you, to see if you could learn without

me. And obviously because of your grade you are ready." The pen replied.

"But I panicked and nearly failed!" said Will.

"But you didn't fail even under these tough circumstances, which

proves my point even better." The pen retorted.

"Okay, I guess you are right. I really can't have you with me forever."

Will admitted.

"Good, then now is a

good time to tell you that I

will need to leave you and

help another kid instead." The

pen said.

"Well I guess I have to

let you go. Maybe we will

meet again, or maybe I will be

the next Einstein thanks to

you." Will happily said.

"Oh, I remember

Einstein. He didn't think his

future was bright before I

helped him," the pen said.

They both laughed knowing

that it is the last time they will

be able to laugh with

each other.

A few more

months passed and it

was the best part of the

year again – the end of

the school year. Will con-

tinued to be the best stu-

dent in his class since the

pen had to leave him. By

now he had lots of

friends and lived out of

school better. It was al-

ready the last lesson and

in it they talked with the

teacher about what they

will do next year. Every-

one was at the edge of

their seats, waiting for

that final bell ring. But

Will thought what he

will do next year. He thought about how fun it will be to learn new things

and how helpful it will be. He thought of what new friends he will have and

what new things he will do. But then as the bell rang and everyone left the

classroom Will thought that in any future years when the teacher will ask

what they did in previous years, he will always have one answer. He learned

how to learn thanks to a certain black pen with silver lines.

The End

By: Roee Ben Amara

Once upon a time, there was a mean jumping-ball machine named

Mean. Mean always tried to tease the balls, but because the jumping-balls

were much smarter, they never listened to him.

The leader of the jumping-balls, Gwizzle, always tried to figure how to

escape from Mean prison and go free. Gwizzle had a son, named Nemo.

Nemo was the cutest, smartest, biggest, and most more colorful of all, not

because he tried to be like that, but because of Gwizzle. His father always

taught him to be nice and kind to others. Because of that, he was the most

beautiful jumping-ball, from the outside, but also from the inside.

Mean's home was in the big shopping center called, "Shop in the City."

Every time that a human watched Mean and the jumping-ball tribe, they had

to pretend they couldn't move and talk. This was because if the humans

knew it, the humans will operate on them, cut them up, and so on. Because

of that, Mean and the jumping-balls slept during the days, and woke up at

night.

One night, when it was almost sunrise, Gwizzle couldn't sleep. This

was because a great plan about how to get rid of Mean came to his head. The

plan was to keep Mean busy, so one or a few jumping-balls could try to es-

cape, then find a plan to free them all.

The next night was very exciting. A bunch

of Jumping-balls, called "The Specials," had a

meeting where they made important decisions.

They agreed that only one jumping-ball will es-

cape, because this way Mean wouldn’t notice.

If a group of jumping-balls escaped, Mean

would surely notice and chase them. They also

decided that the escaping jumping-ball will be

Nemo, the son of Gwizzle, because he was the

bravest, smartest, and fastest jumping-ball out there.

When they told the tribe, every one wanted to applaud, but they kept

silent, because they didn’t want to keeps Mean's attention.

After one week, the day to make the plan work had come. Everyone

was so nervous that they barely talked. The time had come. Everyone went

to the other side of the machine, where Mean could see them, and started to

fight. When Mean laughed at them, Nemo snuck out of the machine, and

started to run away. The problem was that Nemo's path walked through an

area that drew Mean's attention.

When Nemo almost succeeded to escape, Mean noticed him. "Hey!

Come back here if you don’t want your friends to be hurt!" Mean shouted.

Nemo knew that Mean won’t try to hurt the jumping balls, because then he

would have to catch another tribe of jumping-balls, or gums, which is

known as a hard mission. Mean turn around to tried to run after Nemo.

"COME HERE, YOU LITTLE USELLES JUMPING-BALL!" he screamed. But

Nemo ignored him. Mean started to chase Nemo, but Nemo already escaped

at the next intersection, and he hid there, between the flowers. When Mean

reached the intersection, he giggled out-load "Come out, come out where

ever you are, you little annoying toy!"

Suddenly, a thin pink line started to rise from the ground and got

bigger and bigger, until an orange appeared, followed by a clear blue sky.

"Oh no, the sunrise! I'll have to catch that little creature later<"

Nemo turn around to

relax, but instead, a dragon

head looked into his eyes.

Nemo almost fainted. "Heya,

buddy," the dragon said.

Nemo noticed now that the

dragon was only a head, and

on a white background.

Nemo wanted to say,

"Who are you?" But instead he

said, "What are you?"

The dragon head laughed, and said, "I'm Taghiare, the sticker."

Nemo relaxed. I just got away from that machine," Nemo said. "He always

annoys us, and teases us so we get angry at him,‛ he said.

"Don't worry friend, I'll help you find a way to get rid of Mean," and

Taghiare relaxed him.

"The problem is that this is what I am supposed to do, but I don't

have a plan," Nemo admitted.

"Shhhhhh! Here comes a human! Be quiet!" Taghiare whispered. The

human past by, and Nemo and his new friend restarted their conversation.

‚How can we do it?"

‚I think I have an idea, but I'm not sure if will it work."

‚Ok, let's hear it".

”Fine. First, we need to go get a friend if mine, named Tayra."

Taghiare whispered, "She's on the other side of the shopping center."

”Why, do you need something?" Nemo asked

‚Eh< kind of<‛

So Nemo and his new friend walked their way to the place where

Tayra lives, from one hideout to another, running and crawling, walking and

jumping. The days came and passed like a butterfly. Because the jumping-

ball and the sticker were very little, they needed days and days to reach their

destination.

Finally Nemo and

Taghiare reached Tayra home.

It was near the field, so there

was a beautiful view, (that be-

longed to an old farmer and

his daughters, who convinced

him to fill the field with wild

and rare flowers). Tayra was a

good-looking jumping ball machine, with shades of pale-blue and blue, as

opposed to Mean (who was red and black). She lived in peace with her

tribe.

"Hey Tayra!" Taghiare shouted so Tayra could hear him.

"Who said that?" Tayra asked.

"It's me, Taghiare! I'm down here!" he replied.

"Oh, Taghiare! I haven’t seen you for a long time! What's up?" she

whispered, because a human almost heard Taghiare's shout.

‚Listen, can we go inside? We didn't have a good morning’s sleep

since last week. Can you wake us up later tonight?" Taghiare asked.

"Sure," she said, "But, why did you say us? You aren't alone here?"

she asked.

"My new friend, Nemo, is with me," he said.

Nemo and Taghiare climbed up to Tayra's mouth, and got inside. In-

side the machine, there where a lot of Jumping-balls, much bigger than those

that were inside Mean. The nice jumping-balls offered Nemo and Taghiare

the best food and beds, but it was too late - Nemo and Taghiare already

curled up and had gone to sleep.

After a long night of talking, Nemo and Taghiare explained the plan

to Tayra, and the moment had come. Did Tayra agree to their plan, or not?

"Sure!" she said shortly after. If some human were close to there, he

would have thought that a bomb exploded right there. Every jumping-ball

(and there were a lot) cheered and clapped.

And so our story ends. Taghiare's plan worked, Nemo and his tribe

were released, but they preferred to

live with Tayra. Tayra made Mean

think she loves him, but there was a

mistake there: Tayra did fall in love

with Mean. Mean learned how to be

friends with the jumping-balls, because

his new girlfriend Tayra had a lot of

those little devils.

The End

By: Sa’ar Matalon

Once upon a time there was a little kid named Todd. Todd was only 8

years old, but even at that age he wasn't nice to other people, including old

people. One day, Todd walked in the street, and as usual he picked on a little

child. The child screamed, "Leave me alone, Todd!"

You are always picking on me. ‚I will tell my mom! She will teach you

how to behave!"

Todd knew that the child's mother will tell his parents, and they will

ground him for the whole week. So, Todd just walked away, to his school.

A few days after that, Todd sat under the big oak tree near by his

school. Todd always hung out alone there, alone with his daydreams. Todd

looked at the sky and saw the stars and the moon. Todd looked at the sky

almost every night, so he learned all the constellation.

He saw Scorpio,

and Leo,

but Todd never noticed that the moon wasn't full.

Todd started to worry because that night he saw that the moon is only half

full, and the night after that, he saw it a little smaller.

Night after night, the moon became smaller and smaller<

When Todd saw that the moon was almost gone, he ran to his father

screaming! "The moon disappeared! The moon disappeared!"

Todd's father knew that Todd wasn't nice to others so, he told him,

"The moon disappeared because you weren't nice to people."

"But how did it affect the moon?" Todd asked.

"Every time a person isn't nice to others, the moon tries to run away

from him" his father explained.

Todd was amazed. He decided that he will change his ways! He told

his father that he will be nice to the other people from now on.

Todd's father told the whole story to Todd's mother because he didn't

want her to tell him the true. They were both happy about Todd's decision.

Todd was nice to the little child.

He showed him how to whistle

and they became best friends.

Two weeks after that, Todd sat under the oak tree. He wanted to see

his progress, but shockingly the moon still wasn't full! Todd was sad.

He went to his father again and told him that he was nice, but still the

moon wasn't full. His father told him that every month the moon gets bigger

and bigger, and then smaller and smaller.

Todd understood that his father just wanted him to be nice to other

people. He decided that being nice is the most important thing.

The End

By: Gabriela Udovich

In a little town far, far away there was a house with a garden. In this

house lived a boy. That boy had a little lot in the garden, in which he planted

daisies, roses, and tulips. But there was one flower that the boy liked the

most, and it was the most beautiful and special flower in the whole little lot -

a sunflower. Every day the boy went to the garden, watered all the flowers

and just sat there, looking at the beautiful colors and shapes of the flowers.

Every day the sunflower waited for the boy. When the boy came the

sunflower felt great. He felt like he was the most beautiful, special and won-

derful flower in the whole world. Much better than the other flowers in the

garden, that's for sure. At these happy moments of the day the sunflower

was a king. He was at the center of the boy's attention, and the boy gave him

everything he needed.

The boy never wanted to leave. He always wanted to stay and enjoy a

little bit more from the flowers. "It is wonderful to look at the amazing flow-

ers I grew," explained the boy to his mother when one day she asked

him why he likes being out side the house so much.

Every day, when

the boy left the sun-

flower was sad. He was

just a regular flower that

had to give and share

with his community

everything he had. But

one day, after the boy

went, the sunflower felt

very lonely. He wanted

to cheer himself up. ‚I’m

the best flower in the

world. The most beauti-

ful, colorful, wonderful

and amazing

flower!‛ He kept saying

to himself while sitting

in his bed. ‚All the other flowers aren’t as great as me!‛ Then, a mischievous

smile spread across his beautiful little face and he stood up. ‚I’m the most

amazing flower in the whole world in the boy’s eyes, so he treats me like a

king,‛ the flower thought as he started walking from one side of the room to

another. ‚But when he leaves I become a normal flower, just like every other

flower in this community. I have to give, and even worse, share!‛ the sun-

flower thought disgustingly. ‚But I should be treated like a king all day long!

So,‛ now the sunflower stopped, ‚The other flowers should give me, share

with me, do as I want!‛ The sunflower smiled with pleasure and wondered

how could it be that he never thought about this before. ‚Fooooh,‛ panted

the sunflower while he went to his bed and checked what time it was, ‚It’s

way past bed time, and I got so tired from all this thinking!‛ The sunflower

went to sleep, deciding that he should share this wonderful idea to all the

flowers in his community.

A knock on the door

woke up the sun-

flower. ‚Knock- knock!‛

said a happy voice outside

the door, ‚Wakey-wakey!‛

‚Oh, come on,‛ mut-

tered the sunflower, still

half asleep, ‚Who could be

awake so early?‛ He

walked to the door and

slowly opened it. He saw

his neighbor there, Donny

the daisy.

‚Good morning,

sleepy boy!‛ said Donny

happily and entered to the

sunflower’s house.

‚Hey you too,‛

mumbled the sunflower,

while rubbing his eyes.

‚Oh, your house is so untidy,‛ sighed Donny. ‚You know I have few

things to tell you about this!‛ (every time when Donny came he said some-

thing about cleaning up the sunflower’s house. He really enjoyed cleaned

houses).

‚But my house is always untidy,‛ admitted the sunflower.

‚Not like my house!‛ Bragged Donny.

‚So clean it up for me!‛ Commanded the sunflower.

‚What!?‛ said Donny, who was shocked. ‚Explain it right now!‛ he de-

manded.

‚Well,‛ explained the

sunflower. ‚The boy treats me

like a king.‚

‚Yeah, we can see that,‛

acknowledged Donny.

‚So I thought, why

shouldn’t I be treated like a

king all day long?‛ asked the

sunflower.

‚You must be kidding

me!‛ said Donny.

‚No, actually I’m not,‛

admitted the sunflower.

‚But you can’t do that!‛

argued Donny. ‚This is very

selfish, not fair and an unfriendly thing to do!‛ He exclaimed.

‚It seems very fair to me,‛ said the sunflower, and then he threw

Donny out of his house.

The next day, every flower in the garden already knew that the sun-

flower and Donny argued, but nobody knew the reason. ‚The rumor says

that you argued with Donny,‛

Rosa Rouge the journalist asked

the sunflower. ‚About what?‛ But

the sunflower didn’t answer her.

‚Mr. Sunflower?‛ Rosa tried

again.

‚I’m hurrying, don’t bother

me now!‛ said the sunflower and

walked away.

Apparently, the sunflower

didn’t have to tell Rosa what hap-

pened, she found out herself. One

of the neighbors that heard the ar-

gument told her. On the next day,

every flower in the garden read in

the newspaper what the argument

was about. Today, when the sun-

flower was sitting in his house and

drinking his cup of tea, he heard a noise outside the house. ‚Who could

make such horrible noise during tea cup hour?‛ Wondered the sunflower.

He opened the door and saw at least ten journalists.

‚Don’t you have a cup of

tea to drink now?‛ asked the

sunflower.

‚Do you really want the

whole community to serve

you?‛ Questioned one journal-

ist. Dustin Daisy was his name.

‚Oh, I understand what

makes you bother me during

the tea cup hour,‛ said the sun-

flower.

‚Well, yes.‛ he answered

to Dustin.

Silence fell on the house.

‚Then we shouldn’t talk to you

any more, if you are so un-

friendly and selfish!‛ said a journalist named Risotto Rice.

‚She is right!‛ agreed the journalist Tony Litt, and all the journalists

left.

‚At least nobody will interrupt me while I’m drinking my cup of tea!‛

Thought the sunflower. ‚Oh great,‛ he said after he tasted his tea, ‚Now it’s

cold!‛

The next day, the fourth day from the horrible argument, the sunflower

walked slowly to the center of the lot

(where he meets the boy every day),

enjoying the wonderful, warm sun

rays. ‚Oh, hey Danfort!‛ waved the

sunflower. Danfort looked shortly at

the sunflower and walked away fast.

‚I wonder what happened to

him,‛ thought the sunflower and con-

tinued walking. While he walked, all

the flowers walked as far as they can

from him. But the sunflower didn’t pay

attention to this. The sunflower arrived

to the center of the lot. ‚The boy isn’t here yet,‛ thought the sunflower, ‚Or

maybe I’m too late?‛ He hurried and asked a daisy that stood near, ‚Sorry,

could you tell me what time it is?‛

The daisy looked at the sunflower, and said with astonishment, ‛You

are the sunflower that thinks he is a king! I’m not your servant!‛ The sun-

flower didn’t understand, why did she act like this? He went home, thinking

about what just happened.

Four days later the sun-

flower felt a little bit lonely.

Nobody spoke to him these

days, everyone looked at him

angrily and walked away

when he said something to

them. The sunflower started

to get a little worried, too.

Nobody shared with him wa-

ter and food, and the sun-

flower didn’t have so much

of this.

A week later, nobody

looked at him. Everyone be-

haved like he wasn’t even there. Now, the sunflower felt very lonely. He was

very worried too. He almost finished all his water and food. Even though the

boy tried to give the sunflower everything he needed, he couldn’t give him

enough. The most important thing was that he couldn’t give the sunflower

love and care as the flowers could

give him. He couldn’t talk to him,

hug him, laugh with him.

One morning, when the sun-

flower brushed his teeth and

looked at the mirror, as always, he

accidently swallowed his tooth-

paste. ‚Look at me!‛ he said to

his reflection in the mirror, ‚I’m

not so colorful as always! My beau-

tiful bright yellow and orange col-

ors became almost white yellow

and ugly orange! This is so horri-

ble!‛ The poor sunflower looked at every detail on his little body. ‚Oh no!‛

he said, terrified. ‚My stem dried, and now it’s not as straight as always!‛

The tears dripped on his face. ‚I’m not so beautiful and perfect as I used to

be,‛ he realized. ‚Now, I’m not the most beautiful and amazing flower in

the whole world.‛

On that day, in the house, the boy talked with his mother. ‚Mommy,‛

he said, ‚now it’s Spring, so would you like to go with me to the garden and

see the most beautiful sunflower in the whole big world?‛ His mother

smiled.

‚Of course, dear. Lets go, but tomorrow, fine?‛ The boy nodded with

his head.

A day later, the sunflower walked to the center of the city, feeling very

sad. ‚If I’m not so wonderful,‛ he thought, ‚than the boy might not love me

any more!‛

‚You will see,‛ said the boy to his mother five minutes earlier, ‚My

sunflower is amazing!‛ While they walked to the little lot, the boy told his

mother how great the sunflower is. It has beautiful colors, a great green

straight stem and of course a wonderful smell.

‚Yes honey, your sun-

flower is< nice!‛ said the

mother when they arrived,

with a little smile on her face.

The boy saw the sunflower

and sat down quickly, with

big astonishment in his heart.

‚What happened to my sun-

flower?‛ he asked his mother.

‚It was a lot prettier!‛

The mother sat behind him. ‚I

think it’s sick, honey,‛ she said

gently.

‚Does it have a fever?‛ asked

the boy worriedly.

‚No, dear,‛ answered the

mother. ‚It is sad. Maybe nobody likes it.‛

The boy looked at her, surprised. ‚But I really like him! I take care of

him every day!‛ he said.

‚You are a boy, dear,‛ explained the mother. ‚The sunflower also needs

flower love! You have nothing to do about it, so now,‛ she said, while stand-

ing up, ‚Let’s go home. I made great lemonade!‛ She smiled, and thought

that she has to uproot this poor flower as soon as possible.

The sunflower, of course,

heard the whole conversation

and became even sadder than

he was. ‚What have I done?‛ He

asked himself miserably. ‚Why

do I deserve this?‛. He walked

back to his house, understand-

ing that the boy doesn’t like him

anymore and he is alone now,

more than ever. All the way

back home the sunflower tried

to find answers to only one

question: Why? Why? Why?!

‚I know!‛ said the sun-

flower loudly, a few minutes af-

ter he started walking. All the

flowers around looked at him,

wondering who he was talking to. ‚I’m not the most beautiful flower in the

whole world,‛ he thought, ‚Because I’m sad. I’m sad because I don’t have

friends.‛ He started walking around. ‚And I don’t have friend because I was

very unfriendly!‛ Now he stopped. ‚So that means that I need my friends

to be happy and beautiful! But because I was so unfriendly nobody likes

me.‛ The sunflower smiled. ‚I have to apologize in front of all my friends,

and I will start immediately!‛

The sunflower started with Donny. He came to his house and ex-

plained him, for at least half an hour that he is very sorry about what he said

and that now he understand that it was very wrong. "Would you please for-

give me?" he asked at the end. Donny didn't answer.

"Of course I forgive you!" said Donny after a while. "You are my best

friend!". They hugged each other, laughing with joy.

The sunflower came back to his house, and called Rosa Rouge. "Hey,

Rosa?'" he said on the telephone, "I need you to write in the newspaper that I

apologize."

"What?!" she asked, while bringing a pencil and a paper.

"So, write that<" said the sunflower and dictated to Rosa that he is

very sorry about what he said, and he wants all the flowers in the little lot to

forgive him.

"Finally you understand that it was very wrong to want to be our king;

to be better than us!" Rosa said from the other side of the telephone.

"You are right," agreed the sunflower, "I guess I had to feel lonely for

some time. Just then I understood that I need you, my friends!"

At the next day, when the sunflower walked to the café in the center of

the lot in the garden, still nobody talked to him. "But why?" He thought,

"The article is already in today's newspaper!".

A little tulip girl then ap-

proached the sunflower. "Mr.

sunflower?" she asked, "Did

you really mean what you said

in the newspaper?"

The sunflower smiled to

the little tulip girl and nodded

with his head. "I meant," he

said and lifted the little girl,

"That now I understand how

important it is to be friendly,

not hurt others’ feelings and

not being selfish! And now," he

asked the waiter, "Please give

this adorable little girl a nice,

tasty candy!‛ All the flowers that few minutes ago looked at the sunflower

angrily now came closer to him, with smiles on their faces.

"Thank you, Mr. Sunflower," said the little girl, licking her big candy,

"Now you are nice again!"

At that day, the sunflower understood that friendship is the most im-

portant thing in the world, more then being beautiful and wonderful and

amazing, and more then being a king. Also he understood that you have to

give and share if you want to be a good friend in your community.

The boy understood that nobody is perfect, even the most beautiful

flower in the whole world.

And the other flowers in the little lot in the garden? Well, everybody

promised that they will do everything so that this story never happened

again.

The End

By: Hagar Sahar

A long time ago, in a small

town, lived two kids, a boy and a girl

called Michael and Jenny. Michael

and Jenny were best friends. They

were neighbors, and met each other

every day. They liked to play to-

gether with their toys, watch TV, and

play outside.

Even though they were best

friends, Michael and Jenny were

very different; Jenny was very funny

and had a great sense of humor. She

loved to laugh and tell jokes. On the other hand, Michael was very logical

and serious. He never understood funny things, and never laughed.

Jenny didn't understand why Michael never laughed, and hated that he

was always so serious. She wanted him

to understand her jokes, and laugh at

them. So, one day she decided that she

will try to make Michael laugh, no mat-

ter what.

Later that week, Jenny and Michael

met at Jenny's house. Jenny was plan-

ning to tell jokes to Michael, the funni-

est jokes she knew. She was sure it will

make him understand that the world is

very funny, and very different from

what he knew.

‚Hey Michael, I have a great joke to

tell you," she started. "What is there in

hell that frightens the kids so much? At the entrance to hell there's a sign

that reads: 'Welcome back to school!'"

”What?" said Michael, who was very confused. "I didn't understand.

What's so funny about that?"

Jenny was surprised. She always thought that joke was really funny, and

she couldn't understand why Michael didn't laugh.

”What? You didn't understand it? Kids don't like school, so the joke

implies that school is like hell!"

”But school isn't like hell! School is very important, and I don't think we

should laugh about it!"

‚But it's a joke, Michael, I

don't really think school is like

hell." Jenny said. "That is the point

of jokes, they aren't serious."

" I don't like jokes." Michael

said. "I think they're stupid."

" So let's do something else,

there's a great TV show now!"

Jenny said.

She was disappointed that her

try didn't work out, but she thought that maybe a funny TV show may make

Michael laugh.

She turned on the TV and the

show started. Jenny understood

every joke the characters said and

laughed all the time, but Michael

didn't understand, and after a few

minutes he said, "I don't like this

show. Let's watch something else."

" But Michael, it's so funny!"

Jenny said, amazed.

" No, it's not funny! All of the

people in this show say and do stu-

pid things, and it's not funny at all."

Jenny was very confused, but she

didn't give up. She knew there must

be a way to make Michael laugh, she just needed to try more things, and

then she will find it.

After they watched TV, Jenny and Michael went to the park. They loved

to go to the park sometimes. The park was very big, and there were a lot of

people there. Some of them were kids like them, which came to play in the

park, and some of them were adults. But when Michael and Jenny came to

the park, it was almost empty. Most of the people were now at home, eating

lunch. But there were some little kids with their parents that were having a

picnic.

One of the little kids ate a banana and threw the peel on the ground. His

parents didn't notice that, and after a few minutes, when his father rose up

to throw away his peel, he slipped and fell. Everybody in the park laughed,

except for the father, who was angry. He told his kid that he needs to throw

away his garbage. Michael said to Jenny, "That wasn't funny! You don't need

to laugh about that! This man could have got hurt!"

" But he didn't get hurt, so it's funny." Jenny replied.

" What's so funny about watching people slip and fall?" Michael asked.

He was very confused, because everyone laughed and thought it was funny,

not just Jenny.

" It's just funny, not everything

needs a reason to be funny," Jenny

said. "Maybe now he will under-

stand," she thought.

After a few hours Michael and

Jenny went back home. Jenny was

desperate. She didn't know what to

do. She tried everything she thought

could work. She thought now that

maybe Michael will never laugh.

Maybe he just isn't able to laugh.

Michael still was very confused.

He tried now to understand what's

funny about all the things he saw. He wanted to know what you feel when

you understand something funny. He wanted to understand funny things

and laugh of them, but he just didn't know how.

When they returned to Jenny's home, Jenny's mother made them two

cups of tea. Jenny and Michael started to drink, but then they noticed – the

tea was salty!

They were both disgusted, but then Jenny

started to laugh. Michael looked at her. It was

weird she was laughing because her tea was

salty. Her mother probably put salt instead of

sugar. "Why is she laughing?" He thought.

Maybe it's because her mother got confused

and made a mistake. When you think about it,

it is funny.

And then, Michael started to laugh. "Now I

understand!" He said. "Your mother made a

mistake, and made our tea salty. It is funny,

and there isn't a logical reason for it, it's just funny."

" Finally you understand!" Jenny said and smiled. She felt relief. She

succeeded to make Michael laugh.

From this day on,

Michael was still serious

and logical, but he also de-

veloped a sense of humor.

He always laughed from

jokes, and even told jokes

sometimes. Jenny and Mi-

chael remained best

friends, and now they

were even closer, because

now Michael could under-

stand one of the most im-

portant things to Jenny –

humor.

The End

By: Yosef Raisman

One day, on a high mountain, far away from here, was a hut. In this

hut was an old woman, wearing black clothes, smiling a terrible smile, with

yellow teeth. She had blue glittering eyes and huge fingernails. She was a

witch. Down the mountain was a forest, with high trees, and a few red flow-

ers. There lived a tall and beautiful man, who was the forest guard. On one

particular day the witch from the mountain saw the forest guard for the first

time. This is where the story began.

It was a normal day in the hut. The witch made a murky potion and

her frogs seemed to jump into her cauldron. The cook book, with her recipes,

was talking to her and the old tree was yellow as always.

"Now," screeched the cook book, "add five feathers."

" O.K," she replied quickly.

"And one fir branch".

”Oh! I'm sorry," she cried, "I forgot..."

‚So go to the forest and get it!" barked the cook book.

She left the hut with a frightened facial expression, and started to go

down to the forest. After three hours she finally got to that cursed place. She

was very tired, very exhausted. "Here you are..." she mumbled, looking on a

big fir tree. She took one branch, and climbed back to the hut.

"What are you doing!" someone screamed. The witch turned back. She

saw a beautiful young man, with green eyes, and a lovely smile. She disre-

garded it and started to run to the mountain.

"I don't know," she admitted, when she got home, "it was an unusual

moment."

I know this feeling," said the cook book. "It is love."

‚Love,‛ she agreed.

A few day later she had a plan. She decided to make something that

will give her his attention. Something unusual, like dinosaur, something

amazing, something special. This "something" was the lie seed, a tree that

nobody saw before, and nobody knows what its effects are..

”I don't think that that is a good idea," whined the cook book.

"I do think that that is a good idea," interrupted the witch.

Making a lie seed is very hard effort. Without any rests and with

many many things to do, the witch was decisive, and after two months she

finished the work.

The lie seed was small and blue, with a flame engraving. The witch

liked to think about the forest guard, and to think that he will touch her

beautiful lie seed. That thought gave her the strength to go down the moun-

tain on the second time. She wanted to plant her lie seed.

The way down was boring and the lie seed was heavy because it grew

up to a giant size. "You are so heavy," complained the witch.

‚I know," it answered. The witch was dumbstruck.

‚I imagined," she thought.

She stopped near the fir tree, and dug a big pit. She sighed, put the

seed in the pit and sat on the ground. The forest guard found her sleeping,

beside an ugly tree that he never saw before. He took her to his lonely house,

in the middle of the forest.

The house was green as the trees and high as them. The forest guard

liked his house. The witch started moving in his arms. He opened the house

door, and moved inside. A telescope was on the cupboard, watching outside.

A bird model slept beside it. The forest guard laid the witch on an ancient

sofa.

Where am I?" asked the witch when she woke up. "And who are

you?"

‚Oh, I'm Eldon, the forest guard, and you are in my home."

‚You have a nice home.

"I know, I like it to," Eldon agreed.

They talked for a long time, and Eldon felt that the witch is very nice,

and kind. She looked ugly, but he could see what was behind this mask. Af-

ter they finished with the talking, Eldon carried the witch back her hut.

Smiling to himself, he returned to his house.

But that is not the end of the story. The lie seed, that became an ugly

tree with complicated branches, started to do some unpleasant things.

‚Disaster!" howled the cook book, "Look what you have done!"

‚I haven't done anything!" lied the witch.

‚You are telling lies!" Reviled the book.

When she met the forest guard, two hours after this argument, she was

uneasy and excited. It was on a hill near the fir tree, near the lie tree. The for-

est guard was funny and polite as always, but he couldn't start talking. He

tried many subjects: Magic, Cooking, Clothing<

‚Look!" He said pointing to the close hill, "A new tree grew up there."

‚I know..." mumbled the

witch.

”I love trees, but I don't

know which tree it is," said El-

don. "Do you know?"

"No."

" I saw you planting it!

You should know!" snarled El-

don.

She disregarded and

started to run to the mountain,

just like on their first meeting.

When she got home she went to

her room, and started to cry.

"What have I done!" Sang the

witch.

‚I think you should go to

him," barked the cook book.

‚I don't need your recom-

mendations!" Sobbed the witch.

‚You gotta make some-

thing that will stop the lie!“

”I know," she agreed.

It was a long night for the old woman. She couldn't sleep, and all the

night she thought about the ugly tree and about all the events from the be-

ginning. She woke early in the morning and went to Eldon's home. She

waited until he woke up, and then she told him about all the events.

"I love you," he said, after she finished her story, "But we need to stop

this disaster".

They sat in his home until a very late hour. At

the end they had an organized plan. "It is go-

ing to be hard", said Eldon, "but we should

make it." He went to the cupboard and

watched the lie tree through the telescope.

"I'll meet you tomorrow," he said, "bring your

cook book."

During the night the witch slept. In the

morning, she took the book and ran down to

Eldon's house.

‚Making a true seed is not as difficult as making a lie seed," said the

cook book. It was the first time he saw the forest guard. He thought that El-

don is a really beautiful man. "You just need to believe."

Eldon and the witch looked at each-other's eyes. Explosion! A yellow

seed was on the table. The witch smiled and her old skin fell. Her teeth be-

came white. Eldon smiled to. It was the seed of love, the seed of trust, the

seed of truth.

Eldon and Gvanian, the witch's real name, got married in a huge en-

chanted wedding ceremony, wearing white, shining clothes. The cook book,

nervous as always, and the new happy couple lived happily ever after, with

an unusual level of honesty and an unusual love.

The End

By: Shira Labin

In a little town, somewhere on the planet, lived a girl named Jane. Jane

was ten years old and learned in the elementary school in the town. One

day in June, Jane's teacher told the class about school's traditional talent

show. ‚Each student can take part in the show. You can sing, dance or do

anything!‛

The students were so excited that the teacher had to knock on the table

with her pan, so the class will be quiet.

‚Remember,‛ said the teacher, ‚You have two weeks until the show!

All the students that want to join must write their names on this list by the

end of the week!"

The lesson ended and they all

went home, excited and happy.

Only Jane was quiet.

‚What happened?‛ asked Lilli,

Jane's best friend.

‚Oh, nothing,‛ replied Jane. ‚I’m

thinking about the show.‛

‚You will be great!‛ said Lilli.

‚You are the best dancer in

class!‛

‚I don’t know,‛ sighed Jane. ‚I’m

too scared to perform.‛

‚Scared?!‛ wondered Lilli.

‚You have to go to your grandmother! She will help you!‛

‚Great idea!‛ agreed Jane. ‚I’ll visit her today!‛

In the afternoon, Jane went to

her grandmother's house. Molly,

Jane's grandmother was knit-

ting gloves when Jane arrived.

‚Hello dear!‛ said Molly.

‚Hello Molly!‛ replied Jane.

‚I’m so happy your here because I

need your advice.‛

‚Come and sit next to me and

Ill try to help you,‛ promised Molly.

Jane sat down on the brown sofa

and told Molly about the talent

show.

‚I need to decide by the end of the week and I don't know what to

do!‛said Jane.

‚I think I have the solution for your problem,‛ hissed Molly.

‚Really?‛ wondered Jane. ‚What is it?‛

Molly stood and went to her bedroom. After a few moments, she came

back with a fine jewelry box, made of wood with flower pattern on it. She

sat down and took out from the box a lovely heart shaped medallion.

‚I got this medallion from my mother. She was an actor and when she

retired she gave me this medallion.‛

‚What so special

about it?‛ inquired Jane.

Molly smiled. ‚My

mother said that the necklace

can help you to contend with

your fears. She was right.

When I lectured in front of a

big audience, the necklace

helped me.‛

Jane looked at the trans-

pert medallion.

"Unbelievable," she whis-

pered.

‚Take it until the show,‛ offered Molly. ‚I’m sure that it will help you.‛

‚Thank you very much!‛ said Jane. ‚I’ll take good care of it!‛

She put on the medallion and went home to practice her dance.

On the next day, Jane showed the medallion to Lilli and told her its

story. The medallion amazed Lilli. During the history lesson, the teacher

gave an oral exam.

‚I’ll ask one student and he will answer in front of the class,‛ ex-

plained the teacher.

She asked all the students and then it was Jane's turn.

‚What if I make a mistake?‛ she asked herself. ‚They will all laugh at

me.‛ Jane held the necklace. ‚With the necklace I can do it!‛ When she

said it, something strange happened. The necklace started glowing. ‚It

is awesome!‛ Jane thought to herself. ‚Molly was right!‛ She quickly an-

swered the question and started thinking about the special necklace. After

she discovered that about the necklace, Jane was sure that she will perform

in the show. She wrote her name on the list and went home, thinking about

the show.

Time passed, and Jane

woke up on the morning of

the show. All the students

came to the main hall to or-

ganize the show. The stu-

dents were very busy,

they did the final rehearsal

and everything was

great. During lunchtime,

Jane sat next to Lilli and told

her about her dance.

‚I’m sure you will be

great!‛ promised Lilli.

‚I hope so...‛ replied Jane. She put her hand in the pocket, looking

for the necklace when...

‚The necklace!‛ screamed Jane, ‚I can't find it!‛

‚Are you sure that it isn't in your pocket?‛ asked Lilli, trying to calm

Jane down.

‚I’m sure!" sobbed Jane, "We have to find it before the show starts!‛

All the students helped Jane to look for her necklace.

It was an hour before the

show when they all gave up

and returned to the prepa-

rations. ‚I can't perform

without this necklace!‛

whined Jane to her teacher.

‚But what about your par-

ents? They came to see

you!‛ replied the teacher.

‚And Molly too,‛ mumbled

Jane. ‚I

can't disappoint her!‛

‚I told you,‛ said the

teacher, ‚You have to per-

form!‛

‚I’ll do it!‛ declared Jane, and she ran to get ready.

The show was very successful and all the performers were great.

Jane was the star of the

show. She danced like

a little fairy and her eyes

were glowing from happi-

ness. When the show ended

Jane came to Molly, ‚I have

to tell her about the neck-

lace,‛ she muttered to her-

self.

‚Dear Jane! Your dance was

amazing!‛ said Molly and

hugged Jane.

‚Thank you Molly,‛ replied

Jane, ‚But I have to tell you

something important.‛

‚I'm listening, ‚said Molly calmly.

‚It about the necklace....‛

‚You don't need to tell

me,‛ interrupted Molly. ‚Your

teacher told me that you lost

it, but it doesn't matter! When

you danced, you were glow-

ing without the neck-

lace! When you are sure about

what you are doing and have

self confidence you are glow-

ing, and everybody can see

it!‛

‚So... you are not an-

gry?‛ Jane wondered.

‚Of course Not!‛ an-

swered Molly. ‚And look

what I found under my

chair!‛

It was the necklace, transparent and glowing.

‚I’m so happy to see it!‛ said Jane. ‚But I don't need it anymore. I can

glow without it!‛

The End

By: Tidhar Shosrad

One day, like every day, Ben

walked from his school to his house,

the same way he went every day. Sud-

denly he felt something in his leg, and

this something went up until he

reached his neck. Ben saw that this

something is a little animal, a mouse,

and the mouse said, "Please don't hurt

me! If you don't hurt me I will help

you to help other people and make

you feel better with yourself."

And Ben said, "Hey, you can talk, are you a magical mouse or some-

thing?"

"Yes, and I help people, I can to do magic. Do you want to transfer me

to help people?"

"Of course, I love to help people." And then it all began...

They continued to go and on the way they saw a little cat stuck on one

tree. Ben said, "Oh look the little cat, he

is stuck on the tree and can't get down,.

Can you help him?"

"Yapp," said the mouse and the cat

got down. It seem like ropes got him

down.

‚Thank you that you got the cat

down," said Ben and he felt better.

The next day, Ben saw in the news-

paper that five people robbed a bank.

Ben said to his mouse, "Hey, you are a

magical mouse, lets go and stop the rob-

bers!" and they went to stop them.

At first they went to the scene of

the crime, to the bank that just yesterday was robbed. They went around the

bank, searching for a hint, but they didn't find anything. "Hey, I think

they are near the port, I can feel it" said the mouse and they went to the port

to catch the robbers.

They came to the port, and Ben saw a suspicious ship. They checked

the ship and heard a conversation.

‚We did it! We robbed the bank, let's escape from here. Come on peo-

ple, we must to hurry, let's go! Everybody to

the ship! Come on!"

And then every one of the robbers went

up to the ship, and Ben followed them and

went up to the ship too, but he hid from

them. The ship almost went away, but then

one of the robbers noticed Ben.

He said, "Hey, look here! There’s a little

kid here!" And then all the robbers noticed

Ben and came to him.

Hey kid, what are you doing here?"

asked one of the robbers.

I heard you and I know that you robbed the bank and I'll stop you!"

answered Ben.

‚You are so wrong, come on guys, tie him!‛ And all the robbers came

and tied him, and put him in the prisoner’s room.

~~~ In the Prisoners Room~~~

‚What a stupid person I was, why did I

come here at all?‛ Ben said. Suddenly, Ben heard

something move, and he said, ‚Who is this?‛

‚I am the magical mouse, you already forgot

me?‛ said the mouse.

”You don't know how happy I am that you

are here,‛ sighed Ben. And then the mouse re-

leased Ben from his tie. The mouse moved him

and Ben to the police station. There Ben told the

police all he knew and the police came and stopped all the robbers.

~~After Two Days, Ben Talking to his Mouse ~~~ ‚Hey mouse, why do you look like that? It seems like you're gone.‛

”You don't need me anymore, I did what I needed to do. You are now

a better man and you are helping to the community. Now I need to help an-

other person and I must go,‛ said the mouse and he was gone. So, Ben was

left alone and continued helping the community.

The End

By: Inon Starovieschic

Once upon a time there was

a small town called Springfield. In

the town there was a small house.

In the small house there was a

small family. Mom, Dad, and a

small boy called Gary lived there.

He had many toys with names

Tracy the Tractor, Cary the Car,

Dolly the Doll, and Beary the Bear.

They were very good friends until

one day something happened.

Beary was eating at Dolly's house when he shouted, "I don’t like your

food."

”I'm sorry," cried

Dolly.

"I don’t want to

be your friend if that

is your food," Beary

bellowed and left

Dolly's house.

Dolly didn’t know

what to do. She was

terrified from that incident and decided, along with the other toys, to ignore

Beary. And so every time that Beary talked to them they went away from

him. After three times he thought, "Why did this happen?" But he under-

stood why – it was because he wasn't nice to all the toys. So he wanted to be

nice again.

Beary decided

to help Cary to clean

her house. He made

a big dinner for all

the toys. After a few

days he asked Cary,

"Can I play with

you?"

Cary an-

swered, "Yes, but

only if you will be nice."

"I'll be nice," Beary

said. They played for a

long time until Beary

needed to go home. And

they played also in the

day after and after and

after.

On the fourth day,

Cary talked with Dolly

and Tracy and they agreed that they can play with Beary again. And the

toys were happy that Beary was nice and they could play with him again.

And all was back to normal until one day< But that is another story...

The End

By: Batel Mankovsky

Bill is ten years old and he lives in a little town, with his mother, father

and grandmother. His best friend is Oliver, and they live very near to each

other. They play together, study together, and do almost every thing to-

gether.

The story began on a very cold day of January, while Bill and Oliver

were talking in the play garden near their school.

“We’ve got so much homework to do for tomorrow, I don’t know if I

can do it all,‛ sighed Bill.

“Yea,‛ agreed Oliver, ‚And I still need to finish the work about the

dinosaurs<wait a minute! I forgot the book about the dinosaurs in class.‛

“Well, go and take it, I don’t think they already closed the gates,‛

suggested Bill. Oliver nodded, and hurried to the school, leaving his bag

near Bill.

Bill sat on the ground, waiting for Oliver. He opened Oliver’s bag and

searched for his English notebook that he gave Oliver earlier that day. He

found the notebook and was about to close the bag when he saw a little note

in the bottom of the bag. He took the note and opened it. The note was wrin-

kled, but the words were still visible. “Don’t tell Bill about that, ok?”

‚Tell me about what?‛ wondered Bill. ‚Is there something he is hiding

from me?‛ And then he remembered that he saw a couple of his friends

talking quietly, and when he came closer they immediately stopped and

looked at him with a strange expression. He didn’t know what that was all

about, but he started to get angry. He looked up and saw Oliver walking to-

ward him, holding his book.

‚Thanks for waiting<why

did you open my bag?‛ Oliver

asked, looking at his bag that

Bill forgot to close.

‚I wanted to take my Eng-

lish notebook, but when I

searched I found this,‛ accused

Bill, showing the note with an

angry look on his face.

Oliver looked confused.

After a moment he said, ‚Why

did you take it?‛

‚Because I saw it!‛ said

Bill, almost yelling. ‚What is the

meaning of that?‛

‚I<I can’t tell you<‛ muttered Oliver.

‚Why not?‛ demanded Bill to know. ‚Are you hiding something from

me?‛

‚No, no<really, it’s not important!‛ replied Oliver.

‚So why can’t you tell me?‛ questioned Bill. But Oliver didn’t say a

word.

“Fine! Don’t tell me!‛ shouted Bill. He took his bag and ran from the

play ground before Oliver could say another word.

Bill was angry. He couldn’t believe that Oliver would hide something

important from him. They were, after all, best friends. He walked to a little

grove near his home, because he did-

n’t want to go home yet. He walked

quietly on the path when he saw a

little hut between two trees. He

stopped. It wasn’t there before. The

hut was small, with one little win-

dow. There was no sign that some-

one lived there.

Bill was curious. He knew it

could be dangerous, but he took a

deep breath and entered the hut. It

was pretty dark there, and very

dusty. The only thing that was there

was a small table. Expect for this, it was empty. When he came closer to the

table, he saw a big envelope there. He took it and peered inside, but there

was nothing inside. Suddenly, the door of the hut opened and a man came

in. Bill almost yelled. He was startled.

‚Don’t be afraid boy, I won’t do anything to you,‛ said the man

calmly.

Bill looked at him. He was an old man, and he was smiling at him.

‚I see you found this envelope. Do you know what it does?‛ asked the

strange man.

‚What can an envelope do?‛ wondered Bill, but he answered, ‚No,

sir.‛

‚Ah, this is a very special envelope. You see, if you’ll write some re-

quest on a piece of paper and place it into the envelope, that request will be

realized,‛ the man told him.

Bill almost laughed. Did the man

expect him to believe to that? But the

man looked serious. ‚I know it’s hard to

believe, but I’m not joking with you,‛

said the man, looking directly at Bill’s

eyes. Bill didn’t know whether to believe

the man or not.

‚So<what you’re saying is that I

can write anything I want and it will

come true?‛ asked Bill suspiciously.

‚No, not exactly,‛ replied the man,

with a little smile. ‚Only if you ask for a favor for a friend, and not for your-

self, it will work.‛

”So I can’t ask something for myself? Why?‛ wondered Bill aloud.

”Oh, I don’t know why<but this is how it’s works,‛ said the man,

looking a bit amused.

”But I don’t have anything to write!‛ said Bill, more to himself than to

the man. He thought about Oliver and the argument they had earlier. Why

would he do something good for Oliver after today?

‚Well, that is your choice,‛ sighed the man, and without warning he

left the hut.

‚Wait!‛ shouted Bill as he ran after him, but when he opened the door,

he didn’t see him. The man was gone.

Bill was angry. Angry because of Oliver and because he was confused.

But then he looked at his watch and saw the hour. It was late and his parents

may be worried. So he took a last glance at the hut and left, leaving the enve-

lope behind.

For the next two days Bill didn’t talk with Oliver at all. They sat near

each other in class, but talked just with other pupils. On the third and the

fourth day Oliver didn’t come to school, so it was easier for Bill.

The fourth day after their quarrel was Bill’s birthday. His mother sent

him to buy a cake while she was making dinner, and they planned to cele-

brate Bill’s birthday with a magnificent dinner. When he opened the door he

couldn’t see anything because the room was dark. He wondered why his

parents turned off the lights when suddenly the lights turned on.

‚Surprise!!!‛

The room was full of people. He recognized his class mates, and his

parents and grandparents. And they all were singing ‚happy birthday to

Bill, birthday to Bill<‛

Bill smiled. And then he suddenly

thought, ‚What if that was the thing that

Oliver didn’t want to tell me? Probably it

was< I need to apologize!‛

He went searching for Oliver among

the celebrators, but didn’t find him.

‚Where’s Oliver?‛ he asked Michael, his

friend.

‚His mother fell ill, didn’t he tell

you?‛ Michael wondered.

‚What? No!‛ cried Bill. ‚Yeah<and

now he and his family are in the hospital

with her. He wanted to be here but he couldn’t,‛ Michael informed him.

Bill felt horrible, but he knew what he

needed to do. After all the guests left he told

his mother that he is going to take a walk. He

ran to the hut, hoping the envelope was still

there. It was, exactly in the place he left it. He

took a piece of paper and a pencil, and wrote

quickly, ‚I wish Oliver’s mother will recover

soon.‛

He took the paper and put it into the

envelope. He still wasn’t sure if it will help,

but he had a feeling it would. He left the en-

velope there and ran back to his home.

The next day Oliver came to school. Bill

talked with him, apologized to him and they made peace with each other.

Oliver told Bill that his mother was about to

recover quickly.

‚It seems that the man knew what he

was talking about,‛ thought Bill. The next

time Bill was in the hut the envelope was

gone, but it didn’t really bother him.

The End

By: Yoni Halatnik

Dana was a young girl. She had a lot of friends

and a very busy day so she went to sleep early. She

woke up early in this ‚Shabbat.‛ She loved to think

that she had a long free day to do whatever she wanted

to. This was because she hated school and she loved to

give from herself. Dana didn’t understand why she

had to be in a cage. (She even tried to drink RC FREE

but it was no good).

Dana had a small hut; every time she felt trapped

in the world she went there. ‚Why are people so busy?

Why can’t we be free? Why are we so eager to work

ourselves to death?‛ She was a really smart girl. She

was a ‚B‛ student but had the smartness that will lead

her to good life.

One day, after

school, Dana came

home and saw a 20-

30 years old male

sitting near the house entrance. He was

all dirty and it seemed that he didn’t

shave for a long time. ‚Mister, are you

looking for somebody?‛ Dana inquired.

‚No< I’m just sitting here, thank

you!‛ The dirty man said.

‚Are you sure?‛

‚You know what ‘kiddo?’ Do you

have some water?‛

‚Sure! Dana put her bottle on the

floor with a lot of excitement; she loved to help other people.

For the rest of the day Dana felt warm feelings of giving, the same

warm feeling everybody has when they do-

ing something for universal values. ‚It’s like

everybody has one thing they need to bring

to the world, and in my case it is the art of

dedication,‛ Dana told herself.

The next morning she woke up all mad.

‚Oh, I need to go to school once again! I am

spending so much time sitting in a class

when there is a great world outside the window.‛ Those were her regular

thoughts.

She came home very tired that day, feeling

that the world was all gray. ‛I want to do

something with my life.‛ She went to her

small hut. ‚I want to make my life special,‛

she shouted to herself.

‚I’m sorry,‛ Dana heard from outside the

hut.

‚Hey! You are the man from my house.

What’s up?‛

‚It’s all good, kiddo. I heard you want to do

something special in your life< well? Do

you have a plan?‛

She choked, and the man disappeared.

Dana ran home at full speed, not stopping at all! Suddenly she fell,

and the man was on top of her. ‚You know kiddo, many people are afraid of

me, they run from me. I think you are running to me. They, people, see me

one time. I think you

earned the chance to see

me twice.‛

The man continued,

‚You are on the right road,

kiddo. Remember, if you

want to feel free from time

and space you are always

welcome to our hut, it is

always open for you. But,

I have some problems

with the door; you may be

locked inside if you stay

there too long.‛

Dana woke up with a bitter-sweet smile. ‚One more day in school I

guess.‛ She knew that she had a dream, but she also knew that there is a

real-life lesson beyond it!

The End

By: Maoz Karasenti

Once upon a time there was a kid named was Tom. Tom was a horrible

student and he had no mom. His father was unemployed. One day, instead

of going to school, Tom walked in the street. Near the road he found an old

key. Tom didn't ask anyone for the key, he took the key and ran to his tree

house. Tom liked to be in the tree house because he could be there alone and

think by himself. Tom climbed on the tree and sat on the sofa and looked at

the key. There was a big S engraved.

At 3:00 pm, Tom came home. His father was in the kitchen, making

lunch. Tom put his bag in his room and sat at the table. His father served the

food and started to say, "Your principal called."

But Tom didn't react.

"She said you didn't come to

class today." his father said firmly.

"This is not acceptable! After lunch

you will go to your room to do

homework and you won't get out

until tomorrow. And you will not

get dinner."

Tom went to his room and

slammed the door nervously. Tom

went into his room nervous and fell

on his bed and thought, "Why can't

I be good at school? I just can't

learn. The material goes in one side

and gets out from the other."

Tom bore the key and he noticed the key was smaller. "What

happened?" Tom thought to himself. After one hour Tom decided to escape

from his room. Tom's father was in the living room, watching television.

Tom's house was on the second floor. He climbed out the window and

caught the rail of the emergency steps and climbed on them. After he

climbed, Tom went down and ran

away to his tree house.

When Tom reached his tree

house, he looked at the key. It was

now even smaller, like his eye. Tom

was thinking when suddenly, a little

cat jumped in from the window, took

the key, and ran away from the tree

house. Tom jumped from the hole in the floor and struck the ground. He

didn't care about the pain. He stood up and ran after the cat.

The pursuit after the cat was

long, but Tom recognized it because

of its white hair and black tail. It

was a special cat. After ten minutes

the cat flung the key away and dis-

appeared. Tom, exhausted and tired

from running, stopped to catch his

breath. Between his legs, he found

the key waiting. This time, it was

bigger.

Tom looked around him and

saw a big house. The house was

huge and in the entrance had a little

lock on it. Tom thought to himself,

"Maybe the key opens this house?"

He approached to the door and tried to open it, but the door didn't open and

a loud alarm started to ring. Tom ran away as fast how he could.

When Tom came home, he

climbed into his window from the

emergency steps the same way he es-

caped. The minute Tom reached into

his room, his father called him for

dinner.

The next day, Tom woke up and

went to school. In school there was a

new student. Tom was the only one

who talked to the new student, Char-

ley. Soon, Tom and Charley were

best friends. They met after school and did homework together. One day,

Tom's father got a phone call from the principal who said that Tom started to

invest in his studies. When Tom came back from school his father said,

"Your principal called."

"But I didn't do anything!" Tom defended himself.

‛No! She said you are investing in your school work and I'm proud of

you," his father said.

The next day, at lunch, Tom felt that his pocket was close to rupturing.

He pushed his hand into his pocket and he grabbed the key. It was huge like

his palm. Tom understood! When he succeeds at something, the key grows

larger and larger.

Months after the phone call Tom was on his Hanukah vacation. One

day, Tom decided to find out what the key opened. He looked at the key and

saw an arrow on the key. He started to go to where the arrow pointed. After

a long time, Tom came to an old house. Tom was scared to enter because he

thought the house was full of spiders. Tom was brave and entered the house

anyway. The key signaled to Tom to go up to the second floor. When Tom

climbed, the steps were close to breaking. In the second floor, there was just

one room. Tom entered the room and saw a little box. He inserted the key

into the lock and opened the box. In the box, there was a note. It read:

The End

If you read this note it means you

succeeded

Well Done!

By: Goffer Oded

Mike was a young boy that lived in a small town near the ocean. He

had two big brothers that were in the army, and they didn't live at home.

His parents worked all the time and came home late at night. This situation

taught him to be very independent; he made his own food and watched TV

alone after school. Because of this he created an imaginary dog that relieved

his loneliness.

One sunny day, some boy in

Mike's class invited him to see a movie

with him.

"Go with him," said Mike's

imaginary dog.

"No, I can't, I'm too shy," mum-

bled Mike.

"Do it!" screamed Mike's imagi-

nary dog.

"I can't come to your house to-

day," said Mike to the boy. "I< I< I

have a family dinner today, maybe to-

morrow," he stuttered. The boy said

goodbye to Mike and went home, and

Mike was lonely again that day.

Some other day Mike's parents

came home early because his brothers

came for a vacation from the army and

they all ate a family dinner together.

"So Mike, how was school?" asked

Mike's father, giving a look straight into

Mike's eyes.

"Okay," replied Mike without even

looking at his father's face.

"Why don't you go to sleep at one

of your friend's house tomorrow? Dad

and I are going to come home very late

tomorrow, and we don't want you to

sleep all alone in our big house," said Mike's mom looking at Mike, trying to

get a clue about his answer.

"Um< Um<, I will think about it," murmured Mike.

Late in the evening, when Mike and his imaginary dog went to sleep,

his imaginary dog asked him, "Would you promise me that you will go

sleep at someone's house tomorrow? Don't be afraid, I will come with you

and help you talk to him."

"I promise," said Mike and

he began dreaming. Mike woke

up in the morning and got

dressed up for school. He was

very nervous because of what

he promised his imaginary dog.

"Look! Here is Ike! Ask

him if you can go sleep over his

house tonight," said Mike's

imaginary dog loudly.

"No, he is too evil," replied

Mike while he was trying to get

out of his promise.

And that went over and over again until Mike didn't agree to ask

someone if he can sleep over his house. Then, the bell rang for the end of

the day and Mike had to find someone to sleep at his house.

"Here is Dan!" said the imaginary dog, "the guy that invited you last

week! Ask him! He is your last chance!"

Mike gathered all his

courage and started talking to

Dan. Dan said that he would

love it if Mike sleeps over his

house and they decided that

Mike will come to Dan's

house at eight o'clock. Mike

started to become friends with

Dan and the imaginary dog

started to fade.

At eight o'clock exactly,

Mike stood at Dan's front

door. Dan opened the door and Mike didn't know what to do.

"What should I do?" asked Mike to his imaginary dog, hoping for an

answer.

"Just start talking to him," said the dog, and Mike started talking to

Dan without stopping. He didn't even notice that his imaginary dog almost

disappeared.

In the morning when Mike woke

up and went home he realized that he

didn't see his imaginary dog! He

called him all day long and he found

nothing.

At night, when he was very tired

from searching and went to sleep, he

found a note on the bed. It said, "Dear

Mike, I was very glad when I found

out that you have a friend. My job is to

go to every lonely boy in the world and

make him feel better. Now that you

have a friend there is some other boy

that needs me. I had a very good time

with you and I'm sure that we'll meet

again. Your loyal friend, The Dog.‛

The End

By: Katya Mogilevsky

Missy was the favorite kitten in the house. All the kids loved her,

stroked her and gave her treats. She was very smart and funny, she had a

puffy red fur and a long cute tail. She never shared anything with the other

cats, Milky, Rosy and Cindy. She always ate the treats she got alone, and she

never left a place for the other cats on the cozy bed the kids bought for her.

All the other cats never liked her. They were very jealous.

One day, Missy took a walk in the

yard, looking for a quiet place to eat the

giant piece of fish she just got. Suddenly,

she heard a barking noise. A giant dog

was running her way; Missy hated dogs.

She was so afraid she literally flew up the

nearest tree, and then stuck her claws in

the trunk and waited for the dog to go

away. When the dog left Missy still wasn't

safe. She looked down and the ground

seemed so far away. She tried to climb

down but her legs couldn't move – she

was too scared.

"Help!" She cried. "Help!" but no one heard her. Everyone was inside

the house. So she waited for someone to come. And then she tried to call for

help again and the other cats heard her and came to see where she was.

"I'm stuck on the tree!" she cried. "You know how to climb, help me to

get down!"

"Why would we help you?" Rosy said. "You never helped us even once.

You never shared your treats with us. You never let us sleep a little on your

bed! You always bragged about being the favorite cat. Now we won't help

you." And they left Missy alone on the tree and went inside.

Missy was sad, tired and hungry. But after a few minutes past the kids

found her and took her down. "Poor kitten! She was stuck on the tree for so

much time, she must be so hungry!" They went inside and gave her a few

pieces of salami. Missy took the salami and went to the room where the

other kittens always rested. Then she gave everyone salami and they rested

together, ate, chatted and everyone was happy. And since that day the cats

always shared treats, rested together and played together, and the kids loved

them all the same.

The End

By: Nithay Yarnitsky

Our story happens in a kitchen, a regular kitchen, like the one you

have at home. In this kitchen, there are lots of fruits.

I’m going to tell you a secret so don’t tell anyone else. If you look very

carefully at the fruits you will see little people.

All the people live peacefully together except one—the man in the

lemon. The man in the lemon is sad because everybody else lives in a sweet

fruit, and he has the only sour one.

One day, all the fruits decided to make a birthday surprise party for

the lady in the cherry. They invited everyone to the sweet cherry, except

one—the man in the lemon. No one wanted the sour guy to ruin the sweet

party. The man in the lemon didn’t know about the party but when he saw

everyone else going to the cherry he was very, very sad.

The man in the lemon didn’t know what to do. He was very sour and

his personality was also sour. He didn’t want to listen to the others because

he knew that he was right and they were wrong.

‚What is bad about being sour? They should be sad, because in the

end they will all want to be like me. I have a better life,‛ said the main in the

lemon.

The man in the lemon decided to go far away to a place without an-

noying people.

He walked in the street and then he found another lemon. ‚Hey,‛ he

thought, ‚Here is someone with whom I can talk.‛

‚What do you want from me?‛ muttered the other main the lemon.

‚I want to be with someone, I do not want to be alone,‛ explained the

first man in the lemon.

‚And do you want me to help you with this?‛ the other man in the

lemon asked. ‚I am the loneliest man in the world and I am happy with it,‛

he said. ‚And you are not welcome in my home, so leave!‛

The original man in the lemon went back home. ‚I don’t want to be l

ike him,‛ he thought to himself. ‚Now I realize that’s who I am. I have to

change myself immediately.‛

‚I don’t know what to do,‛ the man in the lemon thought to himself.

‚How can I make myself sweeter?‛ The man in the lemon could not sleep.

‚What can I do?‛ But after a while, it came to him. ‚I should make my

lemon into lemonade!‛

The man in the lemon started to cut and squash the lemon, and in the

end he made a beautiful glass of lemonade. It was so sweet that all the other

fruits wanted to go there.

And, one day, when the man in the lemonade had his birthday, every-

body came to him home and made him a surprise party.

The End

By: Avshalom Cohen

Our story begins in the 1940's of the previous century in New York

City. Jake was a white boy, his family had a lot of money. It is really impor-

tant to tell that in those times, the difference between whites and blacks was

huge.

One day, Jake schemed a little trick just for his

own fun. He came to the class earlier than usual, he

took a baseball bat out of his bag, and he crashed and

destroyed all the equipment in the class. After he fin-

ished he went back home.

Later

that morn-

ing, when

Jake and all

his friends

and the teachers came to class,

they saw the disaster. The teacher

asked if someone knew who did

this. Jake, because he hated black

people, blamed a black boy

named Josh for what happened.

Because Josh was a

black boy, the teacher

believed Jack.

Josh was ex-

pelled from school

and Jack was very

happy.

The next morning,

when Jake walked to

school something

weird happened.

When he looked at

the park the grass

wasn't green. It was

grey, and so was the

tree. Jake saw every-

thing that should be green as grey, but the rest of the colors he saw normally.

Jake didn’t understand this but he guessed that it only his imagination.

During the afternoon of that

day, Jake went with his

buddy to the park to play

baseball. There they meet

two Latino boys. Jake and

his friend hit them and

made them leave the park,

all because they were differ-

ent from them in color and

origin.

The next morning was

even weirder than the last.

Jake woke up and opened

the window. He looked at the tree and he was surprised to find out that it

still looked grey, the same as the grass. When he looked up, he was so

shocked, he had to

step back and sit on

his bed. Now not

only what should

be green looked

grey, but so were

the sky and every-

thing else that

should be blue.

And so it con-

tinued, day after

day. Jake hurt people without reason just because they were different. He

hurt blacks, Latinos, Jews, Chinese and others. And each time he hurt some-

one, he lost one color from his sight, even black and white.

Until one day when Jake woke up, every-

thing was grey. He even couldn’t tell black

and white people apart. Jake went to the

park, he sat on one of the benches and he

started crying.

Suddenly a man appeared from no-

where. He got close to Jake, and Jake could

recognize that this man was old, and that it

looked like the old man had a halo around

his body.

This old man sat next to Jake, and said, ‚Listen to me Jake.‛

Jake was surprised. ‚How do you know my name?‛ he asked.

‚It doesn’t matter,‛ answered the old guy. ‚Now you can see the

truth,‛ said the weird man.

Jake thought a little bit and then looked around himself and at

all the people in the park. They all looked just the same. And then Jake

screamed, ‚Now I understand. Now I can see the truth that all the people

are the same. It doesn't matter what their color, religion or origin it!‛

From this forward Jake was a different person. And today, he works

for Amnesty International.

The End

By: Nithay Duek

Once upon a time, beyond the great green forest, there was a small

country. In the country there was a small town with small houses and small

children. But one of the children was different. He was a tractor. His name

was Timmy.

Timmy didn’t have legs; he had

wheels. And Timmy didn’t have hands; he

had a lever. Timmy also made weird noises

while he spoke. Noises like, ‚trrrrrrrrrrr

chu chu chu, trrrrrrrrrr chu chu chu.‛

The other children didn’t like Timmy

because of these differences. But mostly,

they didn’t like him because of the noises he

made while he spoke.

When the children were playing, Timmy

usually couldn’t play with the kids. He was able

to play only in the sandbox. He was barely able

to play ‚hide and seek,‛ because of his size and

the noises he made.

So, when the kids were playing, he usually

watched them and was sad and jealous. The kids

laughed at him, and they teased him.

Timmy was all alone and he didn’t have

friends at all. But, there was a fgirl that didn’t

just laugh and tease like all the other kids. She

especially annoyed him on purpose to make him

feel even more sad and lonely. Her name was

Gloria, and Timmy hated her for her behavior to-

wards him.

One night, when Gloria fell asleep,

she had a dream. When Gloria came back

to the playground, she told all the other

kids about the dream. And the kids

called Timmy.

From that day forward, all the kids

and Timmy played only games that kids

and tractors could play as one.

The End

By: Osher Ninno

Two hundred miles under the sea level, there was a great kingdom.

In this magical kingdom there were a lot of sea creatures like fish, starfish

and jellyfish. They had a shop, an office, and a school, just like on land.

In the school there were some students. One of them, called Star, was

a big starfish. Star was a good friend of Fishy, another student. Mister Octo-

pus was the teacher of the underwa-

ter sea class in this school.

Fishy had an interesting book.

Star wanted to read the book so he

borrowed it from Fishy. Star was

reading the fascinating book for a

few days until he finished it. After

he finished the book, he wanted to

return the book to Fishy, but he

couldn’t remember where he put it.

He was looking for the book but he

couldn't find it anywhere.

At school, Fishy asked

Star about the book. Star didn't

want to tell Fishy that he lost the

book, so he told him that the book

is interesting and that he is still

reading it. Fishy really wanted his

book so he asked Star to bring the

book in the next day.

The next day, Star told Fishy

another lie. Star was sad because he

didn't like lying to Fishy. After one

of the lessons Mister Octopus asked

Star what happened, because he saw

that Star was sad.

Star told him about the book.

Mister Octopus talked with Star and

explained to him that he would have

liked to know about the book, even if

it is gone.

The next day, Star told Fishy

the truth about the book. He apolo-

gized to Fishy. Fishy was upset

because the book was lost. He was

angry with Star for losing it and

lying, but he saw that Star really

regretted lying and felt sorry

about the book.

After school Fishy went to Star's

house. They found the book to-

gether under Star's bed. They

were both happy and they were

still good friends.

The End

By: Nimrod Boker

Anna and Dana were very close friends. Every day they loved to go to

kindergarten together and play many games, like hide and go seek. On

many days they met at each others’ homes. If one of them wasn’t in the kin-

dergarten, the other called and asked how she was doing.

One day, a new girl

arrived to the kindergarten

class. Anna approached the

new girl and asked her,

‚What's your name?‛

‚My name is

Johanna,‛ she answered.

‚Do you want to visit

me today?‛ Anna asked.

To this Dana reacted

sharply. ‚But today I am

supposed to visit you!‛

Dana got upset.

‚But we meet almost every day!‛ Anna argued.

‚So what,‛ Dana shouted.

‚You are so selfish,‛

Anna yelled. ‚I don’t want

to be your friend anymore,‛

Anna screamed.

‚So Johanna, do you

want to visit me today?‛

Anna asked again.

‚Yes, I will arrive.

See you in the afternoon,‛

Johanna answered and

went home.

Dana was jealous. In

the afternoon, after she fin-

ished crying, she decided to

take revenge on Johanna. ‚I

must take revenge on

Johanna, she thought to

herself.‛

The next day,

when Dana arrived

in the kindergarten,

Anna was already

there. Dana ap-

proached her and

asked, ‚How do

you do?‛

‚I am fine,‛

answered Anna, as

though nothing

happened.

‚Yesterday,‛ Dana lied, ‚I met Johanna in the playground before she

visited you. We began talking,‛ she continued, ‚and then I asked her if she

will visit you. She laughed and answered that she thinks you are a flatterer

and a nagger. She doesn’t really want to be your friend, but her father

makes her. He forces her to be friends with you.‛

Dana finished talking and saw Anna’s eyes fill with tears. Crying,

Anna ran away from

Dana.

Dana did not

like the sight of her

best friend crying;

nevertheless she was

happy because she

got her revenge. She

thought to herself,

‚Now everything will

return to what it was,

to how things were

before.‛

Later that day, when Johanna arrived to the kindergarten, Anna ap-

proached her, shouting, ‚You are a liar.‛ Then, she added, ‚I hate you! I was

nice to you when you didn’t have any friends and you speak bad things

about me behind my back. I don’t want to see you again!‛ Anna finished

shouting and screaming and went away with tears in her eyes.

Johanna was astonished. ‚I didn’t gossip about you,‛ she shouted to-

wards Anna.

‚You are a liar,‛

Dana said.

Johanna (who

then started crying as

well) said to Dana,

‚Don’t interfere. It’s

surely you that inter-

fered between Anna

and me. You are evil!‛

When Dana

came back home she began to feel bad. ‚Maybe, I should not have done

this,‛ she thought. Anna can make friends with whomever she wants to.

Dana decided suddenly that she had to make up for the damage she had

done. She called Anna and confessed. ‚I have to tell you something. I lied

to you about Johanna.

She didn’t gossip about

you. I was very jealous

and I am sorry.‛

Anna replied, ‚I

am very disappointed

with you. You have to

ask forgiveness from

Johanna.‛ Thus, they

finished the conversa-

tion.

In the morning, when Anna, Dana, and Johanna were back in the kin-

dergarten, Dana asked the two other girls, ‚Do you want to come over to my

place today?‛

Johanna and Dana an-

swered together, ‚Yes.‛

Then Dana asked

Johanna, ‚Do you forgive

me?‛

‚Yes,‛ she said hesi-

tantly and the three of them

were really close friends

from that day onwards.

The End

By: Yuval Mendelson

Once upon a time, atop a big hill, lived a fleet of sheep. The sheep were

very happy on their hill. Many types of sheep lived in the fleet. There were

the rich sheep, the modest sheep, and the poor sheep. The rich sheep had a

lot of weeds to eat from. The middle sheep didn’t have a lot of weed but they

could live from what they had. The poor sheep had a gust for life. The rich

sheep’s names were Bosh and Pride. Some of the middle sheep were Frank,

the artist, Abraham, the scientist, and Mr. John. It was like that all the time,

but one day Abraham discovered<

THE FIRE!!!

Abraham was the sheep that

discovered the fire. After the discov-

ery Abraham wanted to tell Bosh.

Bosh was so enthusiastic from the

discovery that he said, ‚The sheep

must use it always.‛

Not long after there were a lot

of bonfires all over the hill. With the

fire all the food was better. It were

easier for Bosh and Pride to build

their villas, in the night the sheep

weren’t cold, and overall the sheep

just had a lot of preference for fire.

Because Bosh and Pride were the

sheep that had the bonfires, all the

sheep needed to pay them. Bosh and

Pride became more and richer.

One day, while Frank was walking alone in the forest for inspiration,

he smelled the smoke of a fire. ‚Why does the smoke of the fire have such a

strong smell?‛ he thought to himself.

The second he thought that, he heard ‚Ahhhhhhho!‛

‚The wolves came back,‛ he thought. ‚But why?‛ He ran back to the

hill. ‚Maybe it’s because of the smoke? Yes, it must be because of the smoke!

I must tell Bosh and Pride!‛ He thought and ran.

When Frank reached the hill, he saw Bosh stand and count his weed.

‚Bosh!‛ screamed Frank while he ran towards him.

‚What?‛ Bosh answered.

‚They came!‛ Frank panted.

‚Who?‛ asked Bosh as he approached.

‚The wolves!‛ Frank said as he fell down, because of his effort.

‚Why do you think?‛ Bosh started to press.

‚I heard them while I walked in the forest! I think it’s because of the

smoke,‛ Frank said.

"I don’t think so,‛ answered Bosh in disbelief. ‚I don’t think the smoke

is what calls the wolves, if they really came.‛

After this conversion, Frank went to sleep. He was very tired after the

meeting with the wolves.

During the night

Frank dreamed of the

wolves. They come to the

hill and shouted at all the

sheep. He saw so many of

them, they were every-

where! All of them were

big, black, and with sharp,

glaring teeth! The sky was

red and clouds of smoke

flew there! He didn’t know

what to do! One wolf was

running towards him; he

knew it was the end. He knew he was going to die!

Frank woke up. All his wool was wet, as he was so afraid of the

wolves. The dream was so clear that he thought he was there. After he recov-

ered, he saw a lot of sheep congregated in one place. Frank joined the other

sheep. ‚What is going on?‛ Frank asked.

‚Oliver wasn’t here in the morning,‛ someone said. ‚But this was<‛

Frank looked down at wool on the ground. Frank ran to the villa of

Bosh. When he arrived to the villa he knocked on the giant door so hard that

he thought it will brake. The door opened slowly, and an old sheep stood be-

hind the door. ‚What do you want, Mr. Frank?‛ asked the old sheep.

‚I must talk with Mr. Bosh!‛ Frank demanded.

‚Ho, I’m sorry but Mr. Bosh is very bu<‚

‚Who is it, John?‛ Bosh interrupted Mr. John.

‚Mr. Frank is here,‛ Mr. John answered.

‚Come in Frank! We are all waiting for you,‛ Bosh screamed.

‚Come in, Mr. Frank,‛ said Mr. John.

‚Thank you,‛ answered Frank. As he entered, he saw the villa. The en-

tire thing was gilded and it blinked. Frank saw all magnificence; the entire

weed. There was a chandelier made of diamonds on the ceiling. ‚How can

he be so relaxed with all the wolves coming here?‛ Frank thought.

Behind the table, Frank saw Bosh, Pride and Abraham. ‚Sit down,

Frank.‛ Bosh said. Frank sat on one of two chairs that were empty.

‚John, please sit down too, you can help us,‛ said Bosh.

‚Thank you‛ answered Mr. John.

‚So, where we were?‛ asked Pride.

‚We started to think of the reasons why Oliver disappeared,‛ answer

Abraham.

‚Because the wolves!‛ shouted Frank, who couldn’t wait.

‚What?‛ wondered Abra-

ham and Pride, ‚Why do you

think that?‛

‚Because I heard them!

They smelled the smoke and the

food. They are coming! They

grabbed Oliver!‛ Everybody was

in shock; everybody except Bosh.

‚If you are right, we must

stop the bonfires!‛ Abraham

mumbled.

‚But he isn’t!‛ shouted

Bosh as he stood up.

‚Sir, Mr. Frank is writing,

maybe it is the answer for

Oliver, and you know that the

situation can be like what hap-

pened before ten years ,‛ said

Mr. John politely.

‚We won’t close the bon-

fire!‛ said Pride.

‚But<‚

‚No, and that is the end!‛ interrupted Bosh.

Frank and Abraham left the villa. They were very angry. ‚We must go

away. We will die if we will stay here,‛ said Frank.

‚But how? If we will go we will be killed outside. The wolves, the

foxes and the dogs will eat us. We must stay here!‛ answered Abraham.

‚We can go with more sheep. If we do that, we will survive,‛ said

Frank.

‚Maybe,‛ muttered Abraham.

During the night Frank

dreamed anther dream. He

was in the forest, like the one in

his thoughts. All he saw were

trees and trees; all the things

are very peaceful and clam. He

lied down on the weed and

closed his eyes. When he

opened them, he saw a bear,

but not a regular bear, a very

little yellow bear. The bear

started to climb the tree. It

climbed and climbed until he

was on the third branch. Now

Frank saw there was a beehive.

The bear took honey from the

beehive and ate it.

At this moment, Frank woke up and saw a lot of sheep beside

him.

‚Another one!‛ someone screamed. Frank jumped to his legs. Again

there were a lot of sheep in one place. But this time, Frank knew why.

‚Who disappeared?‛ asked Frank.

‚David,‛ someone said. A little piece of wool was on the ground.

After a few minutes, Frank moved away from the crowd. While he was

walking a little bit he heard someone call, ‚Pssst, come here.‛ He went to

the bushes. Mr. John was there!

‚What happened, Mr. John?‛ hissed Frank and entered to the bush.

‚I think you are right,‛ whispered Mr. John, ‚about the bonfires.‛

‚Oh, so, what do you think we need to do?‛ asked Frank.

‚Didn’t you say you have a plan?‛ asked Mr. John.

‚We have one, but you have a lot of experience<‛ answered Frank.

‚What is your plan?‛ asked Mr. John again.

‚Well, we thought to go away with other sheep,‛ Frank said.

‚And why do we need to go?‛ asked Mr. John.

‚What do you mean? If we will stay here we will be meat for the

wolves!‛ said Frank.

‚Think Mr. Frank!‛ said Mr. John in a cunning way. ‚Why do we need

to go?‛

"What? Because if we will stay we will be dead!‛ said Frank , this time

a little angry.

‚Mr. Frank, why must we go if we can win? We can try to extinguish

the bonfires!‛ snarled Mr. John.

‚But how?‛ asked Frank.

‚Ask Mr. Abraham,‛ answered Mr. John and he went out.

Frank ran to Abraham. Abraham was exactly where Frank thought he

would be, in his laboratory.

‚Abraham,‛ screamed Frank.

‚Please, can you be a little bit quiet?‛ asked Abraham angrily.

‚Sorry,‛ whispered Frank, trying to be quiet.

Frank waited a few minutes. ‚What do you want?‛ asked Abraham.

‚I just want to ask you how we can extinguish the bonfires?‛ mumbled

Frank.

‚Oh, it’s very easy. You just need to spill water or sand on the fire,‛ an-

swered Abraham.

‚So, we can do it tonight!‛ said Frank in happiness.

‚Yes, but why?‛ asked Abraham warily.

‚Because, if we will extinguish the bonfires, we won’t need to run

away from here!‛ yelled Frank in happily.

‚Oh! Good! So where and when we will meet tonight?‛ asked Abra-

ham, excitedly.

‚We haven’t decided yet,‛ mumbled Frank.

‚I can understand you, but why we?‛ asked Abraham, very surprised.

‚Mr. John is with us too,‛ answered Frank.

‚Okay, he can help us,‛ said Abraham

‚We meet here when the sun sets. I will tell Mr. John.‛

Ten minutes after the sun set, Frank and Mr. John were near Abraham’s

laboratory, but Abraham wasn’t there! ‚Why would he be late?‛ asked

Frank, more for himself than to Mr. John. They waited there for ten more

minutes, but Abraham never came.

‚We need to go. We waited a long time for him and we can’t wait any

longer,‛ whispered Frank.

‚I think you are right. He isn’t coming,‛ answered Mr. John. They

started walking to the first bonfire.

‚Wait!‛ Abraham screamed.

‚Where were you?‛ asked Frank, ‚I was in the laboratory. I worked on

a new project,‛ answered Abraham.

Frank was angry, but he didn’t say anything.

While they were arriving to their aim, they saw some guards on the

bonfire. ‚What are we going to do now?‛ asked Abraham.

‚We will wait a few minutes until they will move,‛ answered Mr. John.

They waited, then the guards moved from the bonfire. That second, Abra-

ham, Frank and Mr. John ran to the bonfire. They turned their backs to the

fire kicked the ground. Sand scattered on the fire, and after several minutes

the bonfire was put out.

‚The bonfire was extinguished! The bonfire was extinguished!‛ one of

the guards screamed!

At this time all the sheep came to see what happened. Abraham, Frank

and Mr. John ran to the second bonfire. Now there weren’t guards, as all of

them were at the first bonfire. The team worked together to extinguish this

bonfire too.

‚The second bonfire was extinguished! The second bonfire was extin-

guished!‛ the sheep yelled.

Abraham, Frank and Mr. John ran to the bushes. ‚I can’t do this any

more, I’m tired,‛ mumbled Abraham and he fell on the ground.

‚How do you think I feel?‛ whispered Mr. John. Frank felt that he can

put out one more bonfires, but there were still another three!

‚We can’t put them all out! We must do it tomorrow,‛ said Frank.

‚We can’t do it tomorrow because tomorrow the bonfires will have

more guards!‛ answered Mr. John.

‚We need to find other plan,‛ said Abraham.

‚We can go away! We can take some sheep with us and anyone who

stays will die alone,‛ advised Frank.

‚I think this is the only option we have,‛ said Abraham.

So, during the night, Frank went to sleep alone. All the other sheep

were at the bonfires. He thought a little bit of the escape. After that he went

to sleep. In his dream he was alone on the hill. The entire hill was green. He

loved it. All the things were so beautiful. He started to draw the hill. He

drew all that he saw. He didn’t think of what he was drawing.

After he finished the picture, Frank looked at it. It was so nice. But

what was it? At the side of the picture there was something red! He looked

at the hill and he saw something red at the end of it. Then he understood - it

was a bonfire! After he saw this bonfire he saw another bonfire, and another

one. Slowly, slowly, the entire hill was red! Frank didn’t know what to do!

He was so scared of the fire! Now he looked at his picture and it was burn-

ing!

‚Two sheep! Two sheep!‛ screamed the masses of sheep. Frank woke

up and he ran to the sheep. Abraham was there.

‚Can you see them? No! Why? Because they have disappeared!‛ Abra-

ham addressed the crowd.

‚We must extinguish the bonfires! But, because Bosh and Pride want

our weed we can’t! What do I advise? I advise that we get away from here!‛

‚Why do we need to go? We can close them alone!‛ someone shouted.

‚You can’t, Bosh and Pride have a lot of guards!‛ answered Abraham.

‚The sheep didn’t disappear because of the bonfire! Last night there

were fewer bonfires and the wolves ate two sheep, not one, but two!‛

shouted Pride.

Abraham was very angry. ‚If someone wants to join me, come to my

laboratory today,‛ Abraham said.

‚Good job,‛ Frank said to Abraham. Both of them started to walk to the

laboratory.

‚No, Pride destroyed everything,‛ Abraham answered.

‚But all the sheep want to be with us,‛ said Frank.

‚Well, we will know this evening,‛ said Abraham and he entered his

laboratory.

The day passed by. No one talked about what happened. Frank

napped on the grass. He thought of the escape. He wanted to go away from

the hill, but he loved the hill at the same time. He was so angry at Bosh and

Pride that he wanted to move away from them. Now, after the dream it was

clear to him how much he loved the hill, as the hill was the place he was

born. The hill was his home. He wanted to stay in the hill but he couldn’t.

This made Frank was very sad.

At the end of the day, Frank went to the laboratory. When he came in, a

lot of sheep were there. He was very happy. Half of the tribe was in the

laboratory. Frank started to search for Abraham and Mr. John. ‚I told you,‛

he said to Abraham when he saw him.

‚Yes, I think I will start to talk now,‛ answered Abraham. ‚Everyone,

please, be quiet!‛ he shouted. ‚I’m very happy to see so many of you here

tonight. All of us know why we here?‛ Abraham asked

‚To try and decide where we will go,‛ answered Ron.

‚Right! So, like everyone knows, because of the bonfires, wolves

started to eat our sheep. We tried to talk to Bosh and Pride but they didn’t

want to extinguish the bonfires. So, we thought the only option was to es-

cape from here. Now, the question is to where. Does anyone have an idea?‛

asked Abraham.

Everyone was quiet.

‚OK, I thought it will be like that. I thought of a place in the forest, it

is nice. But we must go to there quietly,‛ Abraham said.

‚But when will we go there?‛ asked Tom. ‚I think we should go to-

morrow, before the morning,‛ answered Mr. John.

‚But every night the wolves eat one sheep!‛ someone shouted.

‚We must save our energy for the walk! If we walk now we will be

very tired before we reach the place that Mr. Abraham is talking about!‛ an-

swered Mr. John.

‚He is right,‛ said Abraham.

‚We will go tomorrow before the

morning.‛

‚Where we will meet?‛ Tom

asked.

‚Here.‛ Abraham answered.

During the night Frank

dreamed of an exhibition. All his

pictures were there. He saw Bosh

and Pride there. However, he was-

n’t there himself; all the pictures

were there alone. Now he under-

stood, Bosh and Pride were the

only sheep there, and all the other

viewers were wolves! He saw it

and was shocked! Bosh and Pride were together with the wolves didn’t care.

Then he saw the picture - the picture that he never drew. He saw the hill

with a red point! Then he saw the fire in the room! He saw the fire ‚eat‛ his

picture slowly!

‚Wake up!‛ Abraham shouted

at him.

‚Yes, I’m coming,‛ Frank said

while he stood up. They walked to

the laboratory.

‚How many came to the labo-

ratory?‛ Frank asked

‚Everyone,‛ Abraham an-

swered and he opened the door.

Everyone that was yesterday was

there.

‚Did someone disappear?‛

Frank asked.

‚Tom,‛ someone said. Every-

one was sad, but ready to go to the

new place.

‚Is everyone here?‛ Abraham

asked. A piece of wool flew in the

air.

‚Yes,‛ some sheep answered. ‚OK, let’s go.‛

The End

Student Reflections

To reflect on this project, students answered the following three questions: How did

you write your story? What classroom activities helped you the most? What

changed about your understanding of story-writing now that you have authored one

of your own? These were there responses:

***

In the beginning, my story was boring. But, as I progressed through

the writing, it started to be easier to write. Suddenly a whole flow of ideas

came to me about how the story should continue. It began to be harder to

choose from all of these ideas. Finally, I picked the plotline that seemed the

most interesting.

The classroom activity that helped me the most was the one about our

values and how to choose them. This activity gave a certain direction to my

story.

Now, after I authored a story of my own, I understand how tough the

"art of writing" is. Writing is not just throwing random words and hoping

the story will be good. Writing has to do with expressing your opinions and

feelings. Writing takes a lot of thinking— thinking about the plot and about

the dialogues. Each of these has to be perfect for a good story.

- Amit Herschkovich

***

By: Yotam Hod, Teacher

10 Steps to Creating Children’s Stories The following steps document the process used to achieve these stories.

Though there are 10 steps described here; in sum the project took roughly 20 non-

consecutive class periods (about 15 hours of class time). Some steps require more

time than others, from one period to at least several periods. Providing an exact

timeline is moot because every class learns and works at a different pace. The

teacher should follow each step and only continue once they are convinced that most

students have sufficiently progressed. As this project is broad and creative, in my

opinion it is best to not enforce strict deadlines, but rather to frequently suggest

rough benchmarks (saying, “you should be about here by now”) throughout the pro-

ject. While it is a good idea for students to submit their work for periodic review, al-

lowing them to work at their own pace is a key ingredient of making a safe, nurtur-

ing classroom where they can produce such imaginative work.

STEP 1: Introduction to Children’s Stories

After introducing the unit idea and sharing the aim of authoring, illus-

trating, and designing their own children’s stories, read several famous chil-

dren’s stories to them. Make sure these stories have some sort of moral to

them, which they usually do, as well as a symbol that somehow represents

the value. As you read the story, ask students both basic comprehension

questions, such as, ‚What happened?‛ as well as higher-ordered questions,

such as ‚What does the tree represent?‛ Two suggested stories are, ‚Finding

the Green Stone‛ by Alice Walker, and ‚The Giving Tree‛ by Shel Silverstein.

STEP 2: Identify Values

Recall the read stories and point out that children’s stories often teach a

lesson, always connected to some value. Everyone has values, and you are

interested in hearing theirs. They will use these values when creating their

own stories, so should start thinking about what is important to them.

Generate a list of values with the students on the board. Then, give

them a ‚Values List‛ (Attachment A), followed by the ‚Value Ma-

trix‛ (Attachment B) to help them identify their 3 most important personal

values. Follow the instructions on the worksheets.

Have students share what their values are with the class and why they

are important to them. Give them a homework assignment of asking their

families how they exemplify these values. They should write one or two

sentences for each value.

STEP 3: Generating Symbols

Symbols are used to give meaning to values so that readers can better

understand them in a story. Have students think of a symbol for each one of

their three most important values. How does the symbol change when the

value is and isn’t manifested? Have students draw symbols for each value

(see Attachment C – Symbols). Take turns with the class sharing what they

have come up with. Be sensitive with this activity and remember to honor

students’ viewpoints. Before having them share, you may want to talk to the

class about the importance of respecting one another.

Students that have trouble generating symbols should be encouraged

to think and develop ones on their own time. At the end of the lesson, tell

students they will ultimately have to settle down on one symbol and value,

so they should think more about the one they see as best for their story. No

final decisions need to be made just yet, though many students may already

have story plots worked out in their heads. Just remember that the creative

process works at a different rate for everybody.

STEP 4: Character Development

Every story has characters, and often there is one lead character and

several supporting characters. (The symbol can even be one of the charac-

ters, or something that influences the character somehow, such as the tree in

‚The Giving Tree‛). For readers to connect to a story, they need to identify

with the character’s thoughts, feelings, struggles, etc. Look back at the sto-

ries and characters you read at the beginning of the unit. Who are they?

What were their thoughts, feelings, and struggles? Choose two or three dif-

ferent characters that you read about, and complete a character analysis

chart together with the class, on the board (Reference Attachment D – Char-

acter Analysis Chart).

Have students think of 4 characters for their own stories. They should

complete the character chart (Attachment D) either in class or for homework.

STEP 5: Plot and the Shape of a Story

Look over one of the stories that your class read, and prepare a one

sentence description of the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action,

and resolution (See Attachment E – Shape of a Story). Write these on the

board in a mixed order, and have students work out the correct order.

After completing this task, draw the ‚Shape of a Story‛ graph on the

board and label the 5 main parts. Now, read the second story together and

have students decide which what events in the story’s plot match the shape.

Finally, have students complete their own plots (Attachment E) based

on the shape of a story covered in class. Have them submit this to you and

look it over to make sure they include all 5 parts. Give them feedback in the

form of questions and encouraging comments.

STEP 6: Writing a Strong Introduction / “Show Don’t Tell”

Read the introduction to one of your stories. Ask students what is the

purpose of an introduction, or exposition, which includes providing a set-

ting. Reread the introductions to the stories that you chose, and ask them to

point out how it was written. Make the point that good writers follow the

idea, ‚Show, Don’t Tell.‛ Ask them how they could change sentences into

ones that show and don’t tell (Attachment F – Show Don’t Tell)

Have students write an introductory paragraph that explains the set-

ting of their story whilst showing and not telling details. Have them share

their introductory paragraphs, with the rest of the class looking for the de-

tails of who, where, what, when, and also examples of ‚showing and not

telling.‛

STEP 7: Dialogue

Read the dialogue attachment together with the students, having them

point out the differences between each section (Attachment G). Have them

write a sample dialogue between two or three (if they are up to the chal-

lenge) characters in their story.

After they have completed it, read through a section of one of your sto-

ries that has dialogue with the class. Have students point out the various

dialogue tags used. Discuss with students the reasons for using various dia-

logue tags.

Hand out the dialogue tags sheet (Attachment H), and have them re-

write their dialogue using some of the tags. You may need to translate (or

have them translate) many of the tags before beginning.

STEP 8: Story Draft

Assign students a firm due date to write a first draft of their story.

Give them approximately one week to hand it in. Review the drafts and

provide feedback for the students. You may want to have two rounds of

drafting. The first round of drafting should focus on their value, symbol,

characters, ‚showing‛ details, introduction, and dialogue. After they have

made these corrections, then have a second round that works on their Eng-

lish (spelling, grammar, mechanics, formatting, etc.)

STEP 9: Illustrations

While they are working on their stories (at home), use in class time for

students to illustrate their books. You may need to bring in supplies such as

paper and markers. Students that absolutely refuse, often citing poor artistic

skills, can either find pictures from the internet or have a friend draw for

them for extra credit (to the friend). Bring in several books and show them

examples of good illustrations.

Before students get started, have them decide on 5 parts of their story

that they would like to illustrate. Have them complete an ‚Illustration

Draft‛ before getting permission to draw their final versions.

To keep the focus and momentum on getting their stories submitted on

time, have volunteer students at the beginning of each class read or share

both their pictures and parts of their story.

STEP 10: Putting it all together

Scan in the students’ photos (or have them do it). Bring the class to the

computer lab and give them a quick tutorial of Microsoft Publisher. Have

their work (stories and pictures) available on the computers. Have them for-

mat their stories, with the images, to make a final product. You can collect

their documents at the end and put finishing touches on it (or have inter-

ested student volunteers do that for extra credit). This section requires a lot

of work, but seeing all the students’ work together is a great motivator. Once

put together, it can be sent to the Principal, parents, all the students, etc.

Have a class day or two when students read their stories to each other. Or, if

you are ambitious, invite students and parents for a reading one night after

school.

Attachment A— Values List

Attachment B— Values Matrix

Attachment C— Symbols

Attachment D— Character Analysis Chart

Attachment E— Shape of a Story

Attachment F— Show Don’t Tell

Attachment G— Writing Effective Dialogue (1 of 2)

Attachment G— Writing Effective Dialogue (2 of 2)

Attachment H— Dialogue Tags

Attachment I— Illustration Draft

For questions or comments

about this publication,

please contact Yotam Hod at

yotamhod24@gmail.com