Sports agent Chip McFoddlesworth (Seth Meyers) discovers Lee and Peter have an aptitude for the game of dirtball. Featuring two new stories: “The Hanukkah Ghost,” a song about a spooky holiday gathering, written by Raia, a 7 year old from Illinois, and “The Dragon That Just Wanted Hair,” a story about a follically challenged beast who yearns for luscious locks, written by a 9 year old from Pennsylvania named Avalon.
Scroll down for the original stories behind the episode!
Illustration by Camila Franklin
The Hanukkah Ghost
by Raya, age 7, Illinois
It was a Hanukkah night and the family was getting ready to light the menorah. It was the brother’s first time lighting the menorah himself, because he was only 5. When he was one inch away from the menorah, the flame on the candle, and all of the lights went out. The baby cried, the parents hugged each other, and the boy ran to his room. He heard a oOoOoOoO noise and ran to his parents. He said, “I heard a noise! A scary noise!”. The mom said, “Ok, everyone calm down.” Then they all heard the oOoOoOoOo, and now they were really scared. Then scary music turned on and they were really frightened. They turned on the lights and saw nothing. The lights snapped off again. The ghost said, “I will haunt you!” and it was angry. The mom said, “What do you want from us???, and the ghost said, “You never come to my mansion, and I have great latkes! I send messages every Hanukkah about my party and you never respond!” The dad said, “Because we can’t see them! We are humans and you are a ghost!” The next Hanukkah, the family went to the ghost’s mansion and had a great time playing dreidel and eating latkes and gelt.
THE END
Story Pirates’ adaptation of “The Hanukkah Ghost” was composed by Melissa Gordon and produced by Brendan O’Grady with vocal arrangement and direction by Jack Mitchell
The Dragon That Just Wanted Hair
by Avalon, age 9, Pennsylvania
“Hi I am Ginger and I have a dream. I only tell my best friends what it is, but you seam nice so, more than anything I want hair.”
THE NEXT DAY
“I’m awake so that means its time to go on a journey to find hair!! First we have to go through the Tropical rainforest. Here we…”
“Wait wait wait Ginger its me your dragon neighbor I thought I heard you say you wanted hair because come in side and look at all my hairs on the wall I sell them but you can take on for free.”
“Oh my gosh there are so many I want thise blond braid have a nice day Dragon neighbor” !!THE END!!
Story Spark
Avalon, who wrote “The Dragon That Just Wanted Hair" is presenting this week's Story Spark!
Write us a story about a character who does or wears something unexpected, like a turkey wearing shoes! Remember to make it creative and original. AND HAVE FUN WRITING IT!
Roll Call Stories
The Day When the Bus Drivers Didn’t Pick Up the Kids
by Arthur, age 9, Connecticut
Eddie and Arthur were waiting one morning for the bus #10,000 to take them to Hopewell School. Mr. Bobby didn't see them. They ran to Arthur's place to watch the news on TV about bus drivers. All over, Connecticut, bus drivers did not pick up kids for school! They were grumpy! Eddie and Arthur yelled, "Stop! Stop!" But it didn't work. Arthur made cookies! He made a bow-and-cookie launcher. It worked! Mr. Bobby stopped and drove them to school. Yay! Yay!
Click to download story with illustration.
The Sloth, once upon a time!
by Gwen, age 8, UK
There was a sloth and he had a suspicos caritor. Won day he saw a wardrobe and he slowly climd in he sow 2 buttons and he pressed 1 and the wardrobe started to shake and then shake and then it stopped and sloth cimed out of it and hi apierd to be In a town cuald wakrima and it was bussy and he went in to a shop and asked the shop kipper for a ice cream and the shop kipper sede
Over ther on the left ,so sloth looked on the left and HI SAW HOTCOCLET
So he bort it and asked how much is it ,the shop kipper sed free so sloth worked out then the shop kipper sed WHER IS MY MONE oooooo sloth sed hirs som money waw this is confusing One apon a TIme.
The Flying Christmas Trees
by Rosie, age 5, Colorado
Once upon a time there were two sisters. One was seven and one was eight. They went to buy a Christmas tree for their mommy and daddy.
They took it home and decorated it. And when they were done decorating everything it was bedtime.
Both of the little girls but they didn’t know their Christmas tree was magical. As soon as everyone was asleep, the Christmas tree came alive.
It talked to find the right way into space. It asked questions of the other Christmas trees. It was hard. But at least there was one Christmas tree who knew how to get to space.
And when one Christmas tree went into space, the rest of them did too. This was at midnight so you’ll never see it. But if you did stay up until midnight it might happen. So you might want to try it.
They circled and swooped around planets. If you were a Christmas tree you will love doing it.
The planet they loved the most was Jupiter. The red dot and storms - they were cool. Well, it’s worth it. When you have a Christmas tree you might want to stay outside until midnight to see if it happens to you. And when your Christmas tree floats out the door, grab a space helmet and grab the tree.
The trees brought everything they could turn into ornaments back from space.
The end
The Tri Baby Tournament
by Patrick, age 8, and Nico, age 5, Massachusetts
Once upon a time, there were three baby kingdoms. The names of the kingdoms were:
Bubbinshire, Babyton, and Gagaland. King Jack and Queen Taylor ruled Bubbinshire. King
Max and Queen Alexis ruled Babyton. King Mango and Queen Dingding ruled Gagaland.
Once every year, a Tri Baby Tournament would be held amongst the baby lands and the
three kingdoms would compete in a magnificent tournament of abilities.
The Kings competed with the other Kings and the Queens competed with the other
Queens. The first way the Kings and Queens would compete was by seeing who could get
the highest in the air. The second way that they would compete is by seeing who was the
strongest. The third way they would compete was to see who was the fastest. And finally,
a tie breaker would be a battle with baby weapons. This is a story about the Tri Baby
tournament of 2022.
For the first competition of getting the highest in the air, the babies could use any of
their baby weapons. King Jack used his jackhammer as a pogo stick to launch himself into
the air. He flew 200 feet high with his pogo stick. King Max used his ax to bang himself
right off the ground. It didnt work very well. He only got 50 feet. King Mango used his
super sucking power to suck himself all the way to the moon. He clearly got the highest
because nothing is higher than the moon in babyland, so he won.
The Queens also put on a magnificent performance of jumping following the Kings. Queen
Alexis used her sticky X balls to get 200 feet high. She threw them into mid air where
they stuck to the sky and pulled her up to the clouds. Queen Dingding used her super
strong leg jumping power to jump 300 feet into the air. Queen Taylor used her super long
tail rope to lasso herself to the moon. And again, nothing is higher than the moon in baby
land, so she won.
The strength competition was perhaps the most pure show of abilities because the babies
couldn’t use any of their baby weapons, only their own strength. The queens always went
first in the strength competition. First up was Queen Alexis. Queen Alexis used her strong
arm muscles to lift up a whole school that weighed 18,000 pounds and threw it into the sky.
Next Queen Dingding used her super strong legs to kick a shed that weighed 1,000 pounds
all the way up a hill. Finally, Queen Taylor used her super strong elbows to body check a
2,000 pound cow and send it rolling down the road. Queen Alexis won.
Next was the battle of the Kings’ strengths. King Mango went first. King Mango wasn’t very
strong. He used his weak little arms to lift a 100 pound shed and barely threw it 20 feet.
King Max on the other hand had very powerful fists. He punched a 2,000 pound cow
halfway to the moon. King Jack was the strongest king of all though. His mighty arms
picked up a 100,000 pound skyscraper and threw it all the way to the moon! King Jack had
clearly won.
Lastly, was the speed round. It was another competition where none of the babies could
use baby weapons. All the kings and queens raced one at a time on the same quarter mile
track. King Max ran the track in 4 minutes, which wasn’t very fast for a baby. King Jack
went second and ran it in 2 ½ minutes. Impressive, but still not that fast. King Mango went
last and ran faster than both of them, clocking in at 1 minute flat! Next up the Queens
took their shot. Queen Taylor went first and ran the quarter mile as fast as King Max, 4
minutes. Queen Dingding went second and she tied with King Jack at 2 ½ minutes. Queen
Alexis ran last and won fastest of the queens, finishing her quarter mile at 1 ½ minutes.
All the babies had won one round each, so that meant there had to be a tie breaker to
determine the winner of the Tri Baby Tournament....the big Tri Baby Battle! This was the
most exciting battle of all because it had the most action. All the babies were allowed to
use their baby weapons in the Baby Battle making for an impressive and wild show. The
baby battle was held in the big gorge between all three baby kingdoms. Nearly 5,000 fans
came from all three kingdoms to watch the showdown. Most people were rooting for
Bubinshire because it was the biggest kingdom and King Jack was quite popular among the
people for his cute looks. The second favored kingdom was Babyton, mostly because a lot
of people thought that Queen Alexis had a really cool name. The least popular kingdom was
Gagaland because the names of the King and Queen were kind of silly and they weren’t
very good looking either.
The tournament began and the crowd went wild! Queen Alexis started off by throwing her
X balls but Queen Dingding used her shield to block them and the X balls shot right back
at Queen Alexis. Queen Alexis was out of the competition. King Jack sauntered in next and
challenged Queen Dingding with his jackhammer. Using the most powerful setting on his
jackhammer, he pointed it directly at Queen Dingding’s shield and knocked it right out of
her hands. She was out. King Max grabbed his mighty ax and came running at King Jack. He
swung his ax at King Jack but at the same time King Jack turned his jackhammer right at
King Max. King Jack’s jackhammer was too powerful for King Max’s ax and broke it right in
half. King Max ran off crying. Now he would have to make a new ax now! Queen Taylor and
King Mango now both entered the ring, and Jack stepped aside,. If Queen Taylor or King
Jack won, Bubinshire would win! The crowd was in full uproar! King Mango rapid fired
mangoes at Queen Taylor, but Queen Taylor dodged them. Using her tail ropes, she wound
up and whacked his mangos right out of the gorge. King Mango was out. BUBINSHIRE HAD
WON and the reward was an ancient butt cheek. Mr Diaper, the manager of the Tri Baby
Tournament presented the ancient butt cheek to Queen Taylor and King Jack. Bubinshire
became well known around the whole world as a kingdom with strong, fast, and high jumping
records.
The End.
