Smitty becomes an official member of the Story Pirates, but is surprised to see what exactly that entails. Featuring two new stories: “The Secret Theme Park,” a song about a girl (Krysta Rodriguez) who discovers the coolest place ever at her mom’s work friend’s house, written by Simone, a 10 year old in New Jersey, and “Ryan in Rhinebeck Grows Rhubarb,” a cautionary tale about always reading the instructions on the magic seed packet before planting, written by a 5 year old from New York named Oliver.
Scroll down for the original stories behind the episode!
Illustration by Camila Franklin
Mission from Rolo
Coming soon!
Original Stories
The Secret Theme Park
by Simone, age 10, New Jersey
When I was done playing Ultra Destroy Dudes, we drove to Mom’s MYSTERIOUS FRIEND’S house. When we got in, she was all “Hi! You have a lovely family, Marisa.” and “I am SOOOOO happy you could all come!” She got sing-songy on the “sooooo”. I was a little creeped out.
Anyway, we ate a dinner of “gourmet chicken nuggets” (aka nuggets with Fancy Man brand ketchup.) and then Alicia (that’s the friend’s name) said “How about you all watch a movie on the couch and I’ll go get us some popcorn. We sat down and were watching a (slightly boring) movie, when the tv, walls, and floor were pulled away as if they were PAPER, walls, rails, and a floor were PUT on the couch, and we heard Alicia say, over a loudspeaker, “Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle while the roller coaster is in motion. Thank you!” “Wait.” I thought. “ROLLER COASTER???” The couch/cart suddenly surged onto the track at a speed of, like, a MILLION miles per hour! We could see smudged shapes (from the speed) of people and…theme park stuff! I was also screaming the entire time, though, so there wasn’t much time for excitement.
Finally, after a lot of sudden lurches and drops and heights, we screeched to an abrupt stop. I got off, feeling queasy but happy, and anyway, although secret, it WAS A THEME PARK, so I played games and road rides the entire rest of the day. Mom ended up buying special tickets for the elaborate entry. It was a good (but very weird) day.
Our adaptation of The Secret Theme Park was written by Jack Mitchell and produced by Brendan O’Grady and Jack Mitchell.
Ryan in Rhinebeck Grows Rhubarb
by Oliver, age 5, New York
Here is Ryan. He is Oliver's Dad. He has a house in Rhinebeck with a garden. One day... Ryan went to the store and bought magic rhubarb seeds. Unfortunately, Ryan didn't realize they were magic seeds with two warnings.
Warning #1 – Don't put near your mouth.
Warning #2 – Seeds are magic.
(Warnings written by rhubarb. Just kidding!)
Ryan planted the seeds and went to Brooklyn for the week. When he came back to Rhinebeck, he noticed that some of the other plants were missing!
“Oh no!” said Ryan. He also noticed that the rhubarb was… HUGE!
Ryan thought it was one of the animals. He went to bunny’s underground house and asked him, “what were you doing in the night? Did you eat my plants?”
“I was sleeping!” said the bunny.
Ryan went to the pond to find frog. He checked every single lily pad. Frog had to wait an hour while he did. At the last lily pad, he found frog.
“What were you doing last night? Did you eat my plants because the rhubarb is huge!”
“Rrrrryan, I was sleeping! You should ask Owl, he’s nocturnal.”
Ryan walked to Owl’s tree and climbed up.
“Owl, were you eating my plants last night?”
“Did you see the warnings on the seed packet?” asked Owl.
“What?! Huh?! What warnings?”
That night…
Ryan decided to sleep in a tent by the garden. He peeked out of his tent and saw the giant rhubarb eating the other plants.
“STOP” yelled Ryan. “I’ll give you your own garden.” The rhubarb kept eating the plants, so Ryan picked him up and put him in his own planter and gave him some weeds to eat.
THE END!
Story Spark
Simone, who wrote “The Secret Theme Park," is presenting this week's Story Spark!
Write a story about a character who unexpectedly gets transported to a strange new place. Where are they, and why and how did they get there? Be sure to emphasize the contrast between where the character began and where they traveled to. How are the two locations different?
Roll Call Stories
A Boy That Was Not In A TV
by a 4-year-old named Quinten in California
Once there was a boy that was not in a TV but he got into one and then he turned all gray and turned into a zombie and it said “brains!”and it wanted brain sandwiches. And then he walked into a rainbow and it turned him back into a human and then he saw the city and he went down to the city and he stole stuff (because he was a bad boy). And then he bumped into a robot and then he was dead but he was still alive and there was a giant castle that smooshed him and then he was dead but he was still alive and then he was flattened but he was not flattened and he got put in a stew but when no one was looking he escaped out of the stew. The end
The Dougoul Dwarfs: A True Story
by 8-year-old Dash in Illinois
Hello. This is some breaking news we have. NASA has launched a new rocket. The thingy. It will take off in 5 seconds, so unfortunately we are going to miss it, so this news is pointless. (Back to NASA).
Dash, are you ready? Get on the ship.
T - 2 seconds.
Blast off.
What do you see?
I see a rainbow planet. I'm in the atmosphere! I'm falling! OW!!!! Um, what are those weird worm things with legs?
Hello, welcome to Dougoul Land. I am a Dougoul Dwarf.
How many are there?
1,000,000,000,000.
Ah!! Bye. NO! Wait, I didn't know I was in a maze.
(Dash goes through the hard maze. Finally done.)
A grocery store?? I'll go in.
A Dougoul thief!!!! Stop that, Dougoul thief.
What's that ball?
(It's a Dougoul orb.)
Hello, would you like to change reality? The ball said.
Um...sure?
rummble rummble
Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Catttts!!!!!
It's raining cats!!!!!!!
The end.
Mr. Shadowland’s Nightly Boba Run
by 7-year-old Xuân June in North Carolina
The Man with the Glasses with a Man on His Glass
by 6-year-old Aaron in The Philippines
One day, the man is gonna wear his glasses and the man decided to wear his glasses. And then before he wore the glasses, a little little boy so so so small jumped into the glasses and then the big man saw the small man. And then the small man said his name— I'm Shoekini! The big man asked, "How old are you?" Shoekini was 200 years old!
Listen to the full story:
Super Boogies Save The World: Novel #1
by 9-year-old Ethan in Kansas
We’ll feature new stories every week!
