It was a sunny day at the James Sanderson Learning Center. Daniel, Laurie and Arthur sat on the swing set. “So, have you met that girl, Polly Peten?” Laurie asked Arthur and Daniel. “You mean the girl who never takes off her stilts?” Arthur asked. “I don’t even get it,” said Laurie. “Every time I…
It was a normal day on Learningbook Island and at the James Sanderson Learning Center. Everything was running smoothly. Outside, the sun was shining, and the grass shimmered green. The students bustled through the hallways to their classes inside the main school building. Daniel, Arthur, and Laurie hurried to their next class. “Ugh. I can’t…
Elizabeth let the door of Marcus’s townhouse slam behind her. “Good,” she thought, “he hates it when the door slams.” She was sick of doing his housework, laundry, and errands. But he was her cousin and her legal guardian. She was under his thumb, at least until she turned 21. That was ten years away.…
Daniel Smith and his friends, Arthur Sinsupper and Laurie Locketbox, walked down the long hallways of the James Sanderson Learning Center. “I don’t get it. The school schedule said, ‘Mr. Cobbler’s class on Advanced Math would be on the fourth level of the school. Well, here we are on the fourth floor. Where is it?”…
Chad Greasley, the vice-principal of the James Sanderson Learning Center, called for quiet. The kids were just finishing dinner in the dining hall, and it took several tries for Chad to get their attention. “Boys and girls! Ladies and Gentlemen! Attention, please!” he called through the microphone at the front of the hall. “I have…
Daniel and his friends, Laurie and Arthur sat around the campfire bundled in sweatshirts with their feet stretched out toward the fire. It was the annual 1st-year campout at the James Sanderson Learning Center, a boarding school located on a remote island. The kids were camping in the woods on the far end of the…
It was Halloween day on Learningbook island, and the fall wind chilled the air as the leaves fell in a red and brown haze on the grounds of the James Sanderson Learning Center. The school was holding a Halloween festival where kids were allowed to dress in spooky costumes while carving pumpkins and eating candy.…
Mrs. Jackson walked with her kids, Theodore, Johnny, and Susie, in downtown Crawn City. Their hometown. They had come downtown to get passports for the kids. As they walked past the grey government buildings on the way back to the parking lot, they turned at the street corner onto an empty street. In fact, there…
Late one summer evening, deep in the Canadian wilderness, near a narrow dirt road. The sun was dropping almost below the horizon, and the sky was streaked with purple and red. The air was heavy and humid. Insects buzzed, small animals rustled through the underbrush, and birds sang their evening songs. Just then, a loud…
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and their kids Theodore, Johnny, and Susie, were spending the weekend at a hotel in Austin, Texas. Theodore was a smart kid with glasses and red hair. Actually, his hair was orange, but people called it red. Johnny was a regular, fun-loving 10-year-old boy, and Susie was a little girl with…
It was a wonderful morning on Learning Book Island, the location of the James Sanderson Learning Center. The sun was shining, and the bees were buzzing. This particular morning, Laurie Locketbox woke up and quickly got out of bed. She had to hurry to meet Daniel and Arthur about their “Save the Beavers” project. She…
The James Sanderson Learning Center’s first-year class filed off the bus at Sea Park Aquarium. Daniel, Arthur, and Laurie jostled their way through the line of kids getting off the bus, eager for some fresh air. All of the kids were glad to stretch their legs after the bus ride and excited for a day…
Daniel peered through the glass case in front of him. Behind the shine of his faded reflection on the glass, he saw a dust-covered doll wearing an old-fashioned dress. The doll had been propped up within a case since he first arrived at the school many months earlier. The glass case was placed right outside…
Several years ago, there lived a horrid little boy named Jake. Jake was a nasty kid and a liar. He loved to tell lies. He loved to weave tall tales about how much better his life was than others. He created whole backstories to prove the things he did in his spare time were much…
There once was a big Ferris Wheel that stood tall in the middle of a beautiful amusement park. It proudly spent its time spinning its wheel around and around for all the visitors of the amusement park. It would lift them up and take them high into the sky. It would then stop so the…
Once upon a time, inside the living room of a suburban home was a lightbulb screwed into a socket on the ceiling. His name was Darrel, and every day when the people who owned the house came into the living room, they would flip a switch on a wall beneath him that would tell him…