The Awesome Trip to Istanbul (a real story)

One time we went to Istanbul.  This is why we went to Istanbul.  Because Dad had to teach at a law school.  We stayed at a teacher's guesthouse.  We could see dolphins jumping in the sea from our window.  We rode a ferry in Istanbul.  It took us across the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia.  We went to a mosque.  It was called the Blue Mosque.  As mosque is a church for Muslim people.  Mommy had to wear a head scarf.  We did it sometimes but not all of the time.  My aunt and uncle, Scott and Coco, came to visit.  I went to the Aya Sofia with them without my mommy or dad.  All this time, Bronte was in my mommy's tummy.  At dad's law school, I met a friend.  His name was Sertach.  My Grandma and Grandpa came to visit too.  I loved Istanbul and I loved all of the tulips there. 

The Man Who Kept our Bike (a real story)

One time we wanted to go to the zoo.  But we were riding our bikes.  We lost one of the bikes on the train platform.  We were worried that it would be taken.  But a teenage boy who was waiting for a train, instead of getting on the train, he stayed with mom's bike on the platform.  Daddy and I went back to the station and saw that boy waiting with our bike.  We got it and we went to the zoo happily.  This is the story of the man keeping our bike instead of taking it.

The Princess and Prince that Love to Eat

Once upon a time, in a far away land, there lived a princess and a prince that loved to eat more than anything.  One time the prince said, "I would like to have some tomato soup."  The princess did too.  For one hour he looked for tomatoes and he picked one hundred of them.  And he put them in a pot at home.   Then he said, "Some chicken would be good in this stew too."  Then he looked for half an hour for a chicken, and he finally found one.  Then he put the chicken in the pot.  And then he said, "It would be really good to have some green beans and onions in this soup."  So he got some onions from his cupboard, and he went to his farm to pick the green beans.  Then he said, "A little bit of water and lentils would be nice too."  So he got lentils and put them into the pot.  Then he got four cups of water and put it in the pot.  He stirred it for a little bit and then said, "Some garlic and cumin would be good too...and the secret ingredient--a little bit of salt and pepper."  So he added two tablespoons of salt and pepper.   "I'll add some noodles too," he said.  He let it cook for twenty minutes, but then it overflowed and there was lots of smoke everywhere.  He had to get under a blanket and open all of the windows.  He coughed a hundred times.  So he went to look in the pot and said, "The soup is ruined!"  "I'll just have to make another one!"  And he did and they had a big dinner party with the soup.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end. 

The Snow Princess

Once upon a time, there was a girl that loved snow more than anything else in the whole world.  But there was no snow where she lived.  One day she heard someone calling for help.  And then she saw a little bird stuck in a cage.  The bird said, "A mean witch put me in this cage, and no one will help me because everyone is scared of the witch."  The girl who loved snow more than anything in the world, said, "I'll let you free."  And she let the bird free.  Then the bird said, "I have a surprise for you."  And the bird gave the girl a crystal and told her to smile in it.  And then there was snow everywhere, and the girl had a beautiful white dress on.

One day the girl saw something flying in the air.  She realized that it was the witch.  The witch waved her magic wand and got the necklace from the girl and locked the girl in a high tower.  No one could ever save her.  But one of her snowflake helpers tried to find her.  The snowflake finally found the girl and said, "We have to get you out of here."  So the snowflake flew for two hours and finally found the witch.  And when the witch wasn't looking, she grabbed her keys and unlocked the Snow Princess and all of the other animals that were trapped.  From that day on, everyone called the girl the Snow Princess, and they all obeyed her.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

Cows that Type and Throw a Party

Once upon a time, there was a big farm in the middle of the land.  And the cows could type.  And the farmer was furious.  So the farmer called the policeman.  But the policeman said it's wasn't a problem.  So the farmer said to the cows, if you don't stop typing, I'm going to send you to animal jail.  So that night all of the cows went for an emergency meeting.  They had a plan.  They said that they would stop typing if the farmer would stop blaming them.  So the farmer finally said that that was a good deal.  The farmer stopped blaming the cows and the cows stopped typing.

One day there was a big earthquake, but they were all safe.  The farmer had started to be really nice to the cows.  They were all really happy.  Then the cows wanted to have a surprise.  They found out that it was the farmer's birthday.  One day the farmer was in his house, the cows sneaked away and got birthday supplies at the store.  When the farmer was gone the next day, they blew up balloons and made a cake, and hid in his house.  When he came  home, the cows jumped out of the his house and said, "Happy Birthday Farmer!"  They had a really nice time at the party, and they all lived happily ever after.  The end.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Once upon a time. in a far away land, there was a town called Chew and Swallow.  In most ways it was like most cities.  But there were no food stores...they didn't need any.  The sky supplied all of the food the people could possibly want.  One day it rained juice and soup, mashed potatoes and peas, and two thousand hamburgers for lunch.  The food landed on lots of people.  Everyone was safe and they got out of the hamburgers and had a good lunch.  One day there was big hurricane of salt and pepper and lots of different food.  Lots of things got damaged and it was awful.  Then there was another hurricane and two hundred houses were damaged.  One day it rained really, really hard all different kinds of water, juice, and soup.  The sky was really grey and all of the people had to stay in doors for most of the time.  Many things were damaged and people were really, really scared.  Big doughnuts and big ice cream were damaging roofs and houses.  The policeman and ambulances all gave up.  The decision was made to leave Chew and Swallow.  The people took big pieces of cheese and used them for a sail and sailed away to a new place.  But they had to buy all of their food.  They lived happily ever after.

Madeline the Tight Rope Walker

Once upon a time, there was a little girl.  She didn't have a mom or a dad.  So she would steal a lot of things from people.  She was six years old.  Her name was Madeline.  One day she stole something from a man but then he caught her.  Instead of telling the police, he made her do a job where she had to do something she didn't want to do.  She had to look really pretty on a stage.  She did not like that job.  She wanted to do the tight rope in the circus, but she wasn't good at it.  So Madeline practiced the tight rope, but the mean man kept making her do the job she didn't like.  He was a really mean man.  One time, he wanted to steal a really, really, really pretty bell--a bell that had diamonds and jewels inside of it.  He also wanted to steal someone's child.  The really mean man told a lie to a policeman and said that Madeline was the one who was stealing things, so she got put in jail.  They finally let her out but they tied a rope around her hands so she couldn't move her hands.  Then Madeline had a good idea.  She told the idea to the policeman and they finally untied her.  They used the rope and thew it to a rock and then she tight roped across it.  She had a trick where she could put her head down and hold the rope with her feet and then swing back up.  She saved a boy from the really mean man.  And they lived happily ever after.  The end.

Fun Life

This story was originally a picture book that Simone drew.  It was the first story book she created.

Once upon a time, there was a family who lived in Chicago.  They had very comfy beds.  Everything was comfy.  They woke up in the morning, and they got out of bed.  There was a little rhyme that they always said when they woke up: "Wake up, night time, it is wake up time."

They ate their breakfast, and then they were off to school.  They did lots of fun things at school.  Then they went back home.  The family had a mom, a dad, and a child.  The dad's name was Jacob, the mom's name was Khania, and the child's name was Abby.

They went to the beach after school.  They stayed for two hours, and then they went home.  The beach was very windy and cold.  But it was still very, very, very fun.  They walked home and saw some roses.  They saw lots of kinds of flowers.  They saw sunflowers, lupines, and tulips.  They enjoyed the walk home, but the dad lost the directions so they didn't know how to get home.  They didn't know what to do.  But then all of a sudden, they remembered how to get home: it was left, right, straight, right, straight.

The next morning, Abby went to school.  They learned about math and the alphabet.  She came home with her friend.  Her friend was named Nala.  When they got to Abby's house, they played.  They played doctor, then they played house, and last they played restaurant.  Then Nala had to go home.  Nala was a little bigger than Abby.  Abby was four but Nala was six.

That night the family went to see fireworks.  They were red, blue, yellow, and purple.

At dinner time the family had spaghetti and meatballs.  Abby cooked it.  And Abby set the table too. Abby was a great help to her mom.  After dinner, she scrubbed the dishes.  The dinner was very good.

The next morning, they got dressed.  Abby picked out a dress that had butterflies on it.  And Abby picked out some green pants with with polk-a-dots on it.

The mom and Abby decided on an agenda for the day at breakfast.  One of the things on the agenda was to take cookies to everyone in the neighborhood.  When they got home from delivering the cookies, they looked on the agenda to see what they were going to do next.  It was night time.  Next on the agenda was to go to their friend's house and have a sleepover.  The dad was going to stay home, and the mom and Abby went to the sleepover.

At night, they could see the stars out their window.  It was night-time at the sleepover.  It was at Ted's house.  Ted was Abby's friend.  In the morning, they got up and had oatmeal for breakfast.  After breakfast, they left Ted's house.  They went to a birthday party at Nala's house.  Nala was turning seven.

Abby's mom had a new baby.  He was a boy.  His name was Jackson.  But Abby was jealous of all of the attention he was getting.  Abby wanted to think of an idea to ruin some of the attention he was getting.  But then Abby decided that Jackson was littler than she was, and she decided not to ruin his parties.

After the last party, two of Abby's friends came over.  Their names were Leah and Alex.  Abby showed Leah and Alex her basement that had tons of toys.  They played for a long time.  Abby showed Alex and Leah her favorite toys.  They were a frog, a panda bear, a lamb, and a walrus.  The walrus' name was Walry, the frog's name was Froggy, the Panda's name was Pandy, and the lamb's name was Lamby.  They all played together with the stuffed animals.

They went to see an enormous rainbow at the museum.  After the museum, they went to see firecrackers.  They were purple.  All of them were purple.

After the firecrackers, Abby's friend Nala came over for dinner. Abby played with Nala when dinner was over. Then Nala went home.

It was night time.  When Abby went to bed, Khania went grocery shopping.  Khania bought oranges, cantaloupe, ice cream, cookies, peanut butter, carrots, apples, and chicken.  She also got M and Ms and toys.

The next morning, they went to the swimming pool.  They swam for three hours and they had a fun time.  But Abby got a bit whiny on the way home.   When they got back home, Jacob gave Abby a little bit of ice cream, and that calmed Abby down.

After the swimming pool, they went skiing.  They went skiing for three hours all as a family.  It was very, very, very fun.  Then they went home.  They lived in Chicago in a little red house.  It was an apartment building.

They went to the Art Museum to see paintings.  They saw one, big enormous painting.  Because it was so big, they only saw one.  Then they went home.  It was Jacob's birthday so they had cake and ice cream with a couple of friends.

That night they went to sleep.  The next morning, they had to move to another house.  They had to wake up very early.  They promised their landlord that they would be out of the house before eight o'clock.  They also promised their landlord that they would be out of the little red house after eight months.  They were sad to leave the little red house.  But Abby helped pack and they found a big blue house--not an apartment building.  They lived happily ever after.  The end.

The Lion King and Lion Queen get Married

Once upon a time, there was a king, and it was a lion king.  But he didn't have a lion queen for a wife.  He wanted to have a lion queen, but he didn't know where to find one.  One day there was a big hurricane and a lion queen saved the lion king.  Then the lion king asked her name.  She said her name was Sheena.  And the queen asked, "What's your name?"   And the king said, "My name is Rick."  And she said, "Can you come over to my house for dinner tonight?"  And he said, "Yes!"  So the lion king and the lion queen both went back to their own castles. When it was time for dinner, Rick went to Sheena's house.  They had antelope and wildebeest for dinner that night.  Then the lion king went home.  The lion king and the lion queen liked each other.  Then there was another hurricane and the lion king saved the lion queen that time.  Because they were so happy, they went out dancing.  And then they flew a kite.  But the wind was so strong from the hurricane, it lifted both of them up and they got caught in a tree.  They didn't know what to do.  They got in an argument about how they were going to get down.  Then they agreed.  The plan was for the lion king to climb up to the branch where the kite was and then swing back to get the lion queen and jump to the ground.  Then they were all happy.  That night they went to the lion king's house for dinner.  And at dinner they got in another argument because the lion king wanted to get married but the lion queen just wanted to be really good friends.  They went home and they were mad at each other.  The next night they didn't have dinner together.  But the night after that, they did, and they decided that they were going to get married.  The lion queen had changed her mind because she always wanted to have children.  So she finally decided that she would get married.  After they got married, they had two girl lions and one boy lion, and they lived happily ever after.  The End.