The Writers Circle Student Work

CELEBRATE OUR WRITING COMMUNITY

with the launch of our first literary journal

journal
The Writers Circle Journal
Volume I 2012

Share the stunning short stories, poetry, essays and more of our talented writing community.

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Work by some of our Youngest Students

Glenwood Elementary School | Eliza - Age 5 | Cooper - Age 6 | Ethan - Age 7 | Natalie - Age 7
Nestor - Age 8 | Anish - Age 8 | Keyonna - Age 9 | Colin - Age 9
Adi - Age 10 | Stephen - Age 10 | Nick - Age 10 | Kevin - Age 11

Glenwood Elementary School, Grades 3 & 4
Painting with Words

Her pencil zooms across the paper like it's running a race.
Paint drips chasing each other down the walls.
--by A.G

A rainbow like a smile in the sky.
Fog like shreds of cotton floating in the sky.
--by Alison A.

Sparkle started to cry so much, it was like tears flowing down a river.
--by Colleen H.

Sugar like tiny paradise cotton balls.
--by Joy L.

The sky sparkles in brilliant blue.
--by Kayla C.

The door squeaks like a mouse.
Popcorn growing like bouncing balls.
--by Lauren L.

An invisible blanket full of fear awakened me.
--by Melanie H.

The girls raced to the stable like rocket bolts.
--by Morgan L.

A single blue and green gumball--the world.
--by Lexi A.

~::~

The Girl Who Was Stuck in a Jungle

by Eliza - age 5

Girl in the JungleOnce there was a girl who was stuck in a jungle. She had to pass a river. She shook her rope and flew across. When she got to the other side, she saw a monkey.

The monkey jumped on her shoulder. “Maybe you can be my pet. Now I’m going to find my way home. It is getting late. I hope I find a place here to sleep before I get home.”

She found a cave. “That can be my home.”

But before she could go in the cave, there was another river. She saw another tree. She shook her rope and flew across the river.

“Yay. I finally found a cave.”

She fell asleep. The next morning she saw a pool of fresh water. She got a cup that she packed.

Soon the sun was in the sky. Then she found a tiger. Then she played with a bird. The tiger wanted to give her a ride. The tiger gave her a ride home.

“Mommy! Daddy”

“Where were you?”

“I was in the jungle. I brought a monkey for a pet.” Then she went to bed.

~ The End ~

~::~

The Sounds of the River

by Stephen - age 10


Rivers washing, kids shouting, an airplane, a hose, and some one using his nose.
Wind going up across and lifting a page.
The river that has claimed a pencil.
The sun that is shining down upon the spotlights.
The river, the river, that shapes rocks.
The sounds of two kids with a baseball.
The clouds that give us ideas and tower over us like mountains.
The small leaves that make the never ending migration to the ocean.
The river that has changed so many things and has also claimed them.
Bikes ride the ever-ridden path.
The sound of the airplane, a machine that has changed the course of mankind.
The bird, such a beautiful animal, which has inspired mankind in so many ways.
And the cars, which have given man access to the world.
The sky, the river, the cars, the airplanes, these are the sounds of the river.


The Hole I Dug

By Stephen - age 10

It looks like a forest.
Rivers and lakes as wood chips.
Roots as the trees.
Now it looks like a hole that will become man’s forest.

Now the scene shifts to an underground wonderland,
where the moles burrow, bunnies rest, and bear’s slumber.
This is the hole I dug.

 

Campsite

By Stephen - age 10

The crackling of a fire, oh how calm and peaceful it is.
The crickets are chirping the music of the night.
And the owl hooting, that wise old animal who flies oh so gracefully.
The wolves howling stories of old, stories that we will never know.
Birds singing their song until the spell of night ends it.
The frog croaking a lonely mourn that we will never notice.
S’mores, the food of a camper.
The tent that is a shelter.
The night which has won the battle with day, countless time and time again.
This my friends, this is a campsite.

~::~

Mighty Bites:
Adventure of the Cow!

by Cooper - age 6

Launch in external player

~::~

My New Jersey 2010
Baseball Game

by Ethan - age 7

Launch in external player

~::~

Big Fish

by Natalie - age  7

Hi ! My name is Megan Shortsberg. My big brother used to be a sailor. I am a biologist. My brother is 18 and he studies germs.

I was packing my things to go to work. My brother opened the door. He said, “I found a cave. It has millions of skulls!”

So we went on a boat. It was called Lucky Lady. My big brother sailed.

I put on my gear. I dived in. I took the first skull. I saw a scar. We talked by motions so I pointed to the top to say, “Let’s go to the lab, okay?”

My brother sailed to shore and we went to the lab. I said, “Look at that scar. It looks like our dad’s scar. Let’s test it, okay?”

Me and my brother tested it. My brother said, “Look at that scar. It has the same inches as our dad’s. AHA!” It was our dad.

He sold fish. He was fishing and he got a big fish, so he put it in his boat. Then he sank. I looked at the skull. I said, “How did you die?” I know! I will try the same thing and feel how it is like.

I tried it the next morning. I rowed my boat.  I got my fishing pole. I got a big fish and put in on my boat. I tried it but I sank. I was cold, wet and a little scared.

I quickly swam back to shore. Why didn’t he swim? I know. He did not know how.

I went to my brother. I said, “Our dad could not swim.” I shouted. Me and my brother were sad.

We put the skull in a grave and we gave him flowers. Me and my brother felt better.

~::~

Vampires Don't Exist

by Nestor - age 8

It was the middle of the night.  It was a blurry cold night.  It was late.  The kids who read fairy tales said vampires don’t exist.  Jack the vampire took his revenge and tried to hurt Briana, David, and Jeff. The kids tripped the vampire with the red wagon.  Then David threw a refrigerator on top of Jack.  The vampire then took off in a huge, blue helicopter.  At the vampire’s home, Jack ate a cookie with blood in it.  Then the vampire came back to the kids’ home.  Then Jeff threw a 360-pound sneaker at Jack.  It felt on top of him and squashed him.  Then the vampire died.  “Hurrah,” yelled the kids.

~::~

Desert Sand

by Colin - age 9

Chapter One

Once upon a time there was a boy named Wudstaf. Wudstaf lived in a little hut in the middle of the desert. Wudstaf worked as a baker in his little village. But he had a dream. One night it showed him in a fiery desert. And then he saw an old man sitting by a palm tree. There was a tide pool next to the old man and there was a diamond in it.

But then he woke up and said, "It was just a dream."

He thought about it all day while he was baking. Finally he went to the wise man. When the wise man heard his story, he said, "Well, why not listen to the meaning?" This confused him.

Wudstaf thought about that and then understood.

He went to a farmer. "Hello, brother," said the farmer.

"I will need one of your horses," said Wudstaf.

"What do you have to give me?" said the farmer.

"I have lots of bread," said Wudstaf.

"I will need some bread," said the farmer. And so the farmer got some bread and Wudstaf got a horse and rode to the fiery desert.

 

Chapter Two - The Image

He didn't know exactly where he was going. His horse just seemed to take him there.

When he got there, it was hot, so hot that his skin wrinkled like the desert floor. His face looked like the ocean.

When he got to the end of the fiery desert, he could see the old man and the diamond. He rode to the diamond and the old man. When he got there, he noticed that the old man was a statue. It had some markings on it. It showed the diamond being placed into a hole in the old man statue. Immediately he picked up the diamond. When he picked it up, it was lighter than he expected. He placed it into the hole in the old man's head and then something strange happened.

A beam of light shot up. He could see spirits and animals. But there were two spirits that caught his eye - a sun and a moon spirit. They almost looked identical. Then something even stranger happened. The moon and sun spirits began to talk and said, "Go into the lake!"

And he did. He didn't know why, he just did. He could surprisingly breathe. He swam toward a cave guarded by two warriors statues holding javelins and spears.

To be continued...

~::~

Prologue to a Nightmare

by Adi - age 10

A dark, dirty street. Midnight. Cans and paper litter the allies, and a breeze carries dust, obscuring the moon and stars. Streetlamps shine muddled half-light, and though the street isn’t truly dark, shadows are everywhere. You see a silver glint in the corner of your eye, and hear the hard shriek of a knife being sharpened against a stone. Dread tingles up your spine, light-stepping and bone-chilling. Nervous, you start walking faster. Scratch… Scratch… Scratch… Scratch…. It gets closer and closer, and you break into a run. A figure in the shadows steps out in a dark cloak obscuring their face. You hadn’t noticed them before, but you know their intentions. You know what they’re after. Scratch… You turn to face them, turn to face the inevitable. “You…” You whisper, full to the brim with fear and apprehension. Later, when morning came, people living on Grove Avenue reported a lone, dead man on the sidewalk, hardened blood trapping him on the ground, and numerous knife marks on him with a paper in his hand saying “It is”. In other words, a perfectly normal day on Grove Avenue… or so they think.

~::~

The Taskmaster

by Nick - age 10

(Beware, graphic content!)

I took a deep breath and pushed through the door. I almost screamed as the smell of rotting flesh hit me. All around me, piles of the stuff sat there, stinking of their foul odor. I heard a shriek and I jerked my head to the side, my shark tooth necklace jangling. One of The Workers was shaving off a kidnapped child’s flesh. The skin was then handed to another child, a dark skinned Hispanic girl with long black hair, who then dipped it in a mucus green liquid. When she pulled it out, it was leather-like. I noticed that most of her flesh was also kind of leathery. When I brought my attention back to the kid; she was binding the flesh onto a notebook. With a sickening lurch, my hand fell to my own notebook. Another scream resounded off the walls. The poor child whose flesh had fallen off was being forced back to work as another child, this time a heavy-set boy of about twelve with a crew cut and milk white skin, was beginning the terrifying process anew. Guts, blood, and veins fell out of the first girl. Two minutes later, she was dead. She dropped to the floor with a terrifying thud. At this point, I could see muscle and bits of bone. A shrill noise came out of my mouth, and I realized I was screaming. One of The Workers saw me and began to emit their alarm which always seemed both shrill and low at the same time. Instantly, all the other Workers in the room looked at me; and I fancied every Worker in the world looked at me, too. I promptly flew out into the hall… and straight into my best friend, Jake.

So before I go into total freak-out mode, I should explain some things. My name is Cara, and I’m fourteen years old. I have green eyes (“One like the ocean, one like emeralds” as my mother used to say.) black hair, and a scar running down my cheek. I got it when my dad started drinking heavily and I tried to calm him down. Apparently, he didn’t like that. He started hitting me. I would probably be dead right now if it wasn’t for Jake. He came in and kicked my dad to distract him. Jake is my best friend. He’s fifteen, light brown hair and a LOT of freckles. They cover every other inch of his face. His dad is a Taskmaster-worshipping drunk. I met Jake when I was six. My mom had died three months before, and my dad had just had his first drunken fit. I had run away into the woods and gotten seriously lost. I found him foraging in the woods for strawberries. (When I asked him about it later, he just smiled and said “I was tired of blueberries.” Creepy, no?)

He helped me get out of the woods and we became fast friends. I owe him everything and he owes me everything. He gets beaten a lot as well as getting locked out. I’m usually the one with the food and shelter and he's the one with the grin and the wisecracks. Although he does help with food and stuff, he's basically the spirit of our duo. But no matter what, we protect each other in this harsh world.

~::~

Animal Charades Story

by Kevin, age 11

Hi! My name is Rawrimadino. I live deep in a jungle in Africa.  Specifically, I am hanging from a vine. I’m very hungry, though. I’ll try to find some bananas by swinging from tree to tree. Oh, there’s one! Yum!

Now that I’m full, I am finally in the mood to tell you about me!  I am small and have brown fur.  I also have brown eyes and big ears.  I like to eat bananas, swing from vines, walk on my hands, and throw empty banana peels on the ground so hunters slip!  I am 11 years old and my parents are somewhere getting more food.  I’m just here picking dirt off me and cracking coconuts open with my head because I’m bored. There, in the distance, I can see my mom and dad coming back.  They have six bunches of bananas! Oooh! Aah!  I don’t know why but when I am around bananas, I start to hop and clap!  I guess it’s just natural…

Uh oh! Here a lion comes!   Ah! He’s chasing me!   Time to try out my new empty banana peel! 1.. 2.. 3.. drop!  Woo! And there he goes, flying backwards screaming! Hahh!  

That was a long and tiring day! I’m going to bed!

While I’m gone, try to guess what animal I am!