A professional glassblower (Cecily Strong) discovers Eric’s natural talent and tries to convince him to go pro. Featuring two new stories: “The Mismatched Puzzle Piece,” a song about a backwards journey through the alphabet, written by Olivia, a 7 year old from Colorado, and “The Sad Queen,” the story of queen and her court who learn to appreciate even the lowliest subjects, written by a 7 year old from Florida named Arjun.
Scroll down for the original stories behind the episode!
Illustration by Camila Franklin
Original Stories
The Mismatched Puzzle Piece
by Olivia, age 7, Colorado
Once upon a time, there was an alphabet puzzle. And letter Z realized he wasn’t in the right place at his puzzle space. He knew he had a dangerous quest through the alphabet to find letter A and switch places. He had to make sure he didn’t get smooshed by yoyo Y. He knew he had to go through the gates of X . Then he would have to avoid the W walrus to make it to the next letter. And then he would have to go through the V for Villainous Victor. While he went through that he met Victor the villain. Victor tried to trick him to stay where he was but it didn’t work. In letter U, there was an unbirthday happening. Some of them tried to force letter Z to stay for cake but he didn’t because he knew he would get a tummy ache. When he went to turtle T, there was a slow tortoise who offered him a ride but it took hours to cross the letter T street. Next he had to avoid the rattlesnakes in station S and he made it through even though he stepped on a few. Wiggily R was all written wrong, but letter Z made it through just fine. In Quilt Q, he had to knit a quilt to pass. In Popcorn P, he had to make sure he didn’t step on any popcorn, because if he did it would cause it to explode. In O, there was a friendly octopus but he accidentally sprayed ink. It took a while to get through because it was so dark but he made it through anyways. In Narwhal N, he had to make it through a maze and not touch any of the pointy narwhal horns. In monkey M, he had to monkey around but he made it through with a few swings on vines. Next in Lion L, there was the king of the jungle. And he made it through even though the lion tried to eat him. In Koala K, letter Z snuggled a lot but then he went through when the baby fought with his Mama. In Jellybean J, he juggled jellybeans. He went to the circus and got through. In Igloo I, letter Z met an Iguana and helped build an igloo. And then he went to the next letter. Letter H was hot! Letter Z went through but he sweated a lot. In letter G, he had to say “ggg, ggg, ggoooooo” and he went in a go-cart to make it through. In F he had to swim like a fish. He had fins and he had one big wish: to make it through the alphabet without getting tricked, kicked, or whipped. In Elephant E, he had to make through the elephant that would try to stomp on him or even you. In D for dog, there was a lot of meat. Even though the dog said he can’t be beat. In C for cat, letter Z said “meow!”. He made it through when he changed into a cow. In bug for B, he sang a song happily. In letter A, he went through the apple tunnel. It looked like a silly little funnel. Finally he felt in the right space. Letter A made the whole adventure to Z’s old place.
The end!
The Sad Queen
by Arjun, age 7, Florida
Once there was a sad queen who was not happy and was very sad. She was sad because: One, her kitchen was not clean. Two, her clown was not funny and he didn't even have a red nose. Three, there was thief who disrupted the peace.
One day a wizard came to her and said, “I think I can help you.” The wizard tried all his spells on the clown but nothing worked. Then he tried all of his spells on the kitchen and one worked. “See I told you I could help,” he said.
The queen said, “But I still have other problems.”
“I know someone who can help,” said the wizard. Poof! The wizard was gone.
A maid appeared where the wizard was standing. “I think I can help,” she said. The queen took the maid to the clown. She threw her broom and the clown’s red nose appeared. The queen cracked up. The queen threw the broom on the floor. Later the thief tripped on the broom and was found unconscious and went to jail.
Th queen solved her problems and lived happily ever after.
The end
Story Spark
Olivia, who wrote “The mismatched Puzzle Piece" is presenting this week's Story Spark!
Kids: write a story where the main character has to use a mnemonic device for a school project. Tell us what they have to remember with the mnemonic device, and what the mnemonic device is. Try to make the mnemonic device as silly and crazy as possible.
Roll Call Stories
The Evil Amphibians
by a 7-year-old named Xander in The UK
Once upon a time in a creepy town, frogs were taking over the world with their evil minds. Mel, a scientist, tried to stop them with her science potions, but it didn’t work. The president frog said “stop fighting” but that also didn’t work. Mel made all the frog’s food rotten by magic, but the frogs were still alive! Her car got destroyed, and her movie got cancelled because of the frogs. And then, Mel used her newly discovered magic to fight the evil frogs and make them extinct, there were only nice frogs allowed. Mel looked at the carnage and said “at least there are still nice frogs around.”
The End
The Day it Rained Cats Doing Gymnastics While Eating Ice Cream
by 9-year-old Anna in Ohio
It was a hot summer day. I was out in my backyard doing stuff on my bar, when all of the sudden something fell beside me. It was another bar, except it had a cat on it! I looked to the side of it and there was a not on it! It said “we are the cats doing gymnastics”. Then, more and more started to come they were doing flips, handstands, and cartwheels, and they were eating ice cream! I asked them to do a routine, and they were amazing! They even showed me how to improve my skills. There all time favorite ice cream flavor was cookies and cream. Then my friends came over and they did some gymnastics with the cats, we found out the cats could talk! We went to my front yard and every one was doing gymnastics with the cats playing with them, and talking to them! They stayed until night. Then they walked away. Everyone went home. It was the best day of my life!
The Very Loud Lawnmower
by 8-year-old August in Texas
One day, a bunny woke up and heard a very loud buzzing noise. So, Guinevere the bunny went outside and saw a lawn mower and was very annoyed. She went to the tape store and bought some very sticky tape to keep busy. When she came home, it was, still, there!! First, she put on earmuffs, but it sucked them up! Next, she threw muffins at it. Also, she threw her couch at it. After, she went to the basement and dug deep into the ground, but she still heard it!!
She called her lawyer, but bunnies don’t HAVE lawyers!! She said, “SKUDLEMUFFINS! I wish it would stop!”
Tired, she tried to ignore it by taking a walk. On her walk, she saw two signs. The first sign said, “Are you very annoyed? Then try ear buds! Only $10!” The next sign said, “Build the best astronaut suit! Prize $10.”
She decides to build for five hours but builds a great suit. So, she goes to the place and wins $10. Then, she goes back and gets the ear buds. Meanwhile, the lawn mower goes so loud it explodes the earth!!!!!!!!!!
Guinevere kicks the lawn mower to Neptune. She tapes the earth back together. She gets a medal from the king of the world.
The lawn mower says, “Ah SKUDLEMUFFINS!”
The End!
CLICK HERE TO SEE AUGUSTS’S HANDWRITTEN VERSION AND DRAWINGS!
The Punny Dad
by 7-year-old Natalie in Washington, D.C.
There once was a dad who had too many dad jokes. One day, his hungriest kid came to him and said, “Dad, I have a nosebleed.” His dad said, “More like a nose FEED!!” That wasn’t any help at all, so the kid went to his mom. A few days later, the kids’ door fell off. They said, “Dad, can you put the door knob back on?” And the dad said, “More like a door NOT!”
One day, one of the kids said, “Dad, I have a really serious request for you. Can you help me rehearse my complaint to Nana about the fact that she won’t let me drive her motorcycle?” The kid said, “I’m going to say, ‘But Nana, the motorcycle is so cool! I want to ride it!!” The dad said, “Sounds good, son, but how about you change ‘But Nana’ at the start to ‘BANANA!’”
A few weeks later, they went to a witchcraft shop and bought a potion that would make him very, very serious. They poured it into a glass of water and it blended in. When their dad came in from outside, they said, “Hey, Dad, we poured you some ice cold water for this hot day.” and gave him the glass with the potion in it. The dad said, “Hot day? More like a NOT day!” That the son said, “Daddy, can we play toothbrush monster? I don’t want to brush my teeth.” This was a game they played where the dad pretended to be a monster and chased his son around until the kid brushed his teeth. But tonight, the dad said, “No son, that sounds like too much fun for me. I’m very serious.”
The next day the daughter said, “daddy can we ride piggy back to school?” The dad however said, “no, you know me I am a serious person.” And the daughter went to school sad. The next day the son and the daughter told their mom, “Mom, that’s too serious, we want the funny dad back.” So their mom went to the shop and bought a reversed potion. The mom said, “here kids this should cure your dad.” So they brought it home, poured it in a glass of water and gave it to the dad, who drank it. He turned back into a silly dad.
The kids said, “Dad, we’re so glad you’re silly again, we even missed your ‘Dad jokes’!” And the Dad said, “DAD jokes, I think you mean RAD jokes!”
And that’s the story of me is me, happy me is best.
