Pablo the Talking Hamburger: Limousine Driver

By Byrne Elementary's 2nd Grade. Illustrations by Corinne Mucha

Once upon a time, in the very flashy and exciting city of Las Vegas, there lived a very special talking hamburger named Pablo. Pablo could talk only because he had very special ketchup that had very special powers. This ketchup let anyone who couldn't talk before, talk, as long as they were slathered in ketchup!

This put Pablo in very high demand for his limo service, called, "You Wanna Ham? You Get A Burger Driver." Pablo drove all of the rich and famous celebrities that came to Las Vegas. Brian Urlacher, Michael Jackson, Elvis, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Justin Bieber were all Pablo's customers.

Everyday, Pablo would go to Hamburgerland, the high-end hamburger restaurant in Las Vegas. He would pick up orders for all of his customers, because they loved the hamburgers so much. His best, and most-loved customer, was Mr. Hot Potato, the inventor of the game Hot Potato. Pablo would drive him around every day, because Mr. Hot Potato had so much money that he had nothing better to do than be driven around by a hamburger in a limousine.

But, one day, the special magic ketchup that helped Pablo talk ran out. "Oh, no. I'm going to need to find some more ketchup," he thought to himself. The first place he tried was the local Jewel-Osco. He thought that maybe he could find it in the condiment aisle, with all the other ketchup. But there was none there!


What happens next?! Will Pablo find more ketchup? Will he ever be able to talk without it? Will Mr. Hot Potato ever get to ride in a limousine again?
Finish the story yourself, and send it to awigifyouwantit@gmail.com

Never forget how much i loved you

By: Gbemi O. Peabody Elementary school
Never forget the time you told me you had feelings
You were always on my mind all this time i didn't know what to say i was... speechless
I tried to tell you how i feel but deep down i felt something real it was... you!
I saw you playing with my best friend and i asked" Who's that"? you told that's you're gurl
I got curious never knowing furious
I cried and tried i thought it was really understandable that probably we just don't belong
The next day you said hey i didn't say nothing hey again and i said i didn't wanna play this game because in the beginning you told me you had feelings but never knowing with reasons!

George Washington: Facts

By Brennan K., Grade 6

• George Washington never had any hair
• He is actually very short.
• He wears stilts.
• He wears brown lipstick.
• He has a whole room full of wigs.
• We can exclusively reveal: He never knew how to read.

Boat the Amazing Tiger and the Flying Chickens

By Legacy's 2nd Grade class, with Mr. Hauser
Illustrations by Jeni Crone (Noun Confused)

Once upon a time in the far off and distant future, there was a planet called The Big Pants Planet. This planet was filled with big, fat chickens! The chickens were so big that they weighed one hundred pounds each and were six feet tall.

On The Big Pants Planet, there also lived a talking tiger, whose name was Boat. It was his job to take care of the chickens. Boat had a red body, with blue stripes, and a yellow tail. He was a really interesting looking tiger. Sometimes, the chickens would make fun of Boat, because he had bunny ears instead of regular tiger ears.

Luckily for Boat, he also had amazing powers. Not only could he talk, but he could make the chickens fly. It was important to make the chickens fly, because they needed to bring down food for the whole planet. All the chickens of The Big Pants Planet fed on special, floating popcorn that made up the clouds in the sky. Even though the chickens were six feet tall, they couldn't reach the clouds without flying. Sometimes, if they were lucky, there would be a huge popcorn rain, and food would come flooding down on the whole planet.

One day, there was a huge storm, and popcorn fell everywhere. All the chickens were really happy, because they had all the food they could want. But the storm kept coming.

Soon, butter and cheese were falling from the sky, covering all of the popcorn and all of the chickens. The storm was so bad that all of the popcorn was getting ruined and soggy from all of the butter and cheese.

What happens next?! Will Boat save the chickens? Will it ever stop raining butter? Will the chickens ever stop making fun of Boat's bunny ears?
Finish the story yourself, and send it to awigifyouwantit@gmail.com

Abraham Lincoln: Facts

By Alyssa M., 5th Grade

Hello Rihanna

This superb collaboration is featured in Meauh Shakes & Milk Sharks, our newest chapbook. Stop into The Boring Store to pick up your copy.

By Clevonte H. (Grade 6), Bryan M. (Grade 4), and Dory Trimble (826CHI Intern)

I said, "Hello Rihanna, how are you?" She said, "Good, how about you?" "Fantastic," I said. Rihanna's new album Rated R is good; bad, because she has some curse words in the songs, but the vocals are personal. I wish she had her own show, a singing show. She could sing, play games, and let people come on stage. One day, Beyonce came to the show. Rihanna said, "OMG! She is going to be on my show. I'm so happy." At first I thought they did not get along. I found out I was wrong.
One day, Rihanna and Beyonce went to the park. Then they went for a walk and picked their favorite song. Rihanna chose "Diva." Beyonce liked "Wait Your Turn." They both argued about the songs. Beyonce said, "'Wait Your Turn' is better." Rihanna said, "'Diva' is better." Then they became friends again. (You can listen to both at home and the club.)

They talked and talked, and they finally decided that both songs were good in different ways. Beyonce went on Rihanna's TV show and explained their argument and how they resolved it. That's how I found out that Beyonce and Rihanna get along, and now everyone else knows too!

Graduation Day

Poem by Gbemi O., Peabody, 8th Grade

We all have tough and good times, remember soon we're all going to shine
Graduation is here, everybody cheer
We'll walk down the aisle and our parent's will say "WOW! we raised the best child"

We fought through some bad times while the time fades away
Like an orange sunset whiling through the day

We're in 8th grade, so we'll soon go our separate ways

It's Graduation Day!

It's hard for me to let go, but give it some time and it will flow

I could do it and i know you can too, because it's graduation day and I love it and we'll work it through

Graduation Day!

New Chapbook: Meauh Shakes & Milk Sharks!

New!
Fun Fact: A chapbook is called a chapbook because they were sold by "chapmen," or merchants who dealt in small pamphlets, collections of songs, poems and the like.
To get this excellent chapbook, you won't need to travel to 17th Century England. Just come in to 826CHI and learn more about the dreaded Milk Shark, how to make Everything Soup, an excellent cover illustration by Emily Hutton, and much, much more!

Dylan Klezko's Search for Paint

Written by Brittany, Alexis, Martin, Atanacio and Brianna of Peabody's 6th Grade

Once, in 1951, there was a famous painter named Dylan Klezko. He liked to wear a backwards baseball cap and a striped shirt. He had blond hair and loved playing soccer.

Dylan made paintings of his feelings and sold them to the people of Mercury. Doing this made him very rich. The people of Mercury had lots of money, so he became a trillionaire.

One day, Dylan was painting a portrait of the King of Mercury, to give as a present for his birthday. After planning the next step of the painting, he tried to pick up some more paint with his brush, but there was none left. "What happened to all of my paint?" Dylan shouted to himself. "The King's birthday is tomorrow!"

Dylan saddled up his dragon and started searching around the neighborhood for paint. He looked at Digibor & Diaz, the local art store, but they were sold out. He went all the way to Asia on his dragon, but still couldn't find any paint.

After searching for three hours, Dylan decided to call his friend Miguel, who was a time-traveling Roman soldier. Miguel traveled through time, helping people. Once, Dylan helped Miguel find his magic marble, so Miguel owed him a favor.

"Can you help me find some paint?" asked Dylan. "Why?" replied Miguel. "I need to finish my portrait of the King," said Dylan. "If I don't, the King's going to put me in the dungeon and never let me out."

"I know just where to find some paint," Miguel replied happily. "We need to go to Mercury!"

So, Dylan grabbed his painting, and the two of them put on their space suits, got on Dylan's dragon and launched into the air. It took only one hour for the dragon to get all the way to Mercury, because it was the strongest dragon in the universe.

Once they landed on Mercury, Dylan only had three hours left to get the painting to the King. He tried running into the nearest Foolish Paint store, but some guards stopped him. "Halt!" they shouted. "You need a Mercury passport to get into the store."

"But I'm from Rome! I don't have a Mercury passport," cried Dylan. "Are you Dylan Klezko, the famous Roman painter?!" one guard asked, excitedly. "Why, yes," he replied. "I just need some more paint to finish this portrait of the King."

Once they heard this, the guards opened the door right away and helped Dylan find the paint that he needed. He grabbed one bottle of each color paint and finished the painting on the spot. Next, the guards rushed him through the streets to the King's birthday party.
Once the King saw his birthday gift, he gasped. "That is the nicest painting of me that I've ever seen!" he exclaimed. "Thank you so much," Dylan answered.

Dylan, Miguel and the King celebrated until two o'clock in the morning, eating the favorite foods of Mercury, pig feet tacos and root beer.

Dog in a Gingerbread House

Story by Tania S., Grade 6
Illustration by Tadzio K., Grade 6

Who I would like to live in my gingerbread house is a dog. I would like a dog because I would like to see if I could have a smart dog. My dog's name is Susie. Or, if that dog is not smart, I will sell it and give it to another person and try to get a smart dog. I don't want to train it because I want to see which dog is smarter. I want a smart dog so it won't eat my gingerbread house.