By: Harini S. and Alexis Z.
H & A Corporations
“Beep! Beep! Beep!” I woke up with a start and glanced groggily at the alarm clock. 6:30 a.m. 5 more minutes won't hurt...right? I hit the snooze button and went back to bed. But soon after, I felt my dog leap onto my bed. Oh great. Just what I need.
I sat upright to reprimand my puppy, but after looking at her cute, fluffy fur, I couldn’t resist and I said, “Who’s the best dog in the whole wide world? You are!! Yes, you are!!” I said joyfully. She barked in response as if saying, “I know I am!”
I looked at the alarm again in despair. 7:00. “Well, I certainly can’t go back to sleep so I might as well get ready for school.” I went to my closet to get dressed. Hmm, what should I wear? My eyes sour the entire wardrobe, before falling upon a stellar outfit. A white crop top with streaks of blue, white ripped jeans and a pair of converse sneakers. Done! Suddenly, I hear a chime coming from my iPhone.
“Hey, girl!! Where r u? Mrs. Smith is looking for you!! And she seems extra grouchy today...Hurry up! You’re going 2 be L8!!
I quickly texted back, “STALL FOR ME!!! I'm almost ready!! PLEASE STALL!!! P.S when was the HW due…?”
“TODAY!! OH NO!! DON’T TELL ME YOU FORGOT!! It's 80% of our grade!!”
“How is that possible? She said it was due on Wednesday…”
“GIRL! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? Today is Wednesday. You're done for… ”
I quickly texted back, telling her to stall when I heard a scream coming from the other room. “Oh, brother.” My bedroom door swung open and on the other side stood a little boy covered in mud! It was my brother. “JAMES OLIVER MYERS!! Just what do you think you're doing you little twerp?”
“Nothing . . . I was just rolling around in the mud and now, I’m… jumping on your bed!!”
“Nooooooo!! NOT ON MY CLEAN, WHITE BED!!” JAMES! STOP! STOP!! MOM!!!”
“What did he do this time?” yelled my mom.
I was about to tattle on my brother but decided against it because...
1. I was already late for school.
2. I had to work on my Social Studies Homework
3. He did sad puppy dog eyes and I couldn’t just tell on him.
And 4… I JUST COULDN’T!!!
I looked quickly at my alarm and I almost died. 9:46 A.M. I WAS DEFINITELY GOING TO GET DETENTION. I quickly threw on my backpack, stuffed in my homework, and got out of there as quickly as I could.
When I arrived at Evergreen High School, I raced to my next class and snuck in as quietly as possible. I know that Lilly tried to “stall” for me but still… did Mrs. Smith notice? I hope that she isn’t going to notice that I was late, but if she does, I hope I don’t get detention or, the worst-case scenario, get suspended.
I waited a few moments, and when Mrs. Smith didn’t notice, I thought I was in the clear. However, during the morning announcements, Ms. Stacey, the secretary, announced, “Brooklyn Myers to the principal’s office. Brooklyn Myers to the principal’s office.” My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to pop out. After a not-very-long walk to the principal’s office, I anxiously opened the door and saw Mr. Dean sitting at his desk, looking very irritated.
“Do you know why you are here?” asked Mr. Dean.
“Ummm...no?” I replied.
“Well, for your information, this is the 6th time you’ve been late! What do you have to say for yourself??” he demanded.
“Umm...Car troubles? ” I replied, hoping he wouldn’t realize that I didn’t have a car.
“May I point out Ms. Myers that you don’t have a car. Any other explanations?” he pointed out. Well, there goes that excuse!
“Um… well… you see… I overslept,” I admitted. “I’m TRULY sorry Mr. Dean!”
“Well, I thank you for your apology, but according to school guidelines, if a student is tardy for more than 5 times, I am obligated to punish the student.”
“So in this case, you will simply stay after school to help Mrs. Decan, the librarian, organize the books on the shelves. And don’t even think about bailing!” he said triumphantly with a smirk on his face.
I knew that there was nothing I could say or do to avoid my punishment. But on the bright side, at least I didn’t get detention or suspended!
Finally! That day went on like FOREVER!! I can’t wait to get home! I was about to walk out of school, but suddenly, Mr. Dean showed up out of nowhere!
“Brooklyn Myers!! Just where do you think you’re going?”
“Ummmm… I'm going home, Mr. Dean.”
“Well, let me remind you once again that you have to help Mrs. Decan organize the books!! Now run along missy!” said Mr. Dean.
“OH MY GOD!! I’M SOO SORRY!! I LIKE TOTALLY FORGOT!!” I replied, hoping I wouldn’t get detention for forgetting.
“And I like totally don’t care!!!” replied Mr. Dean. I guess I must’ve gotten a weird look on my face because he said, “What? I'm down with the kids! I know about VSCO, hydro flasks, and sksksksksk!!”
“Ummm, actually, I’m heading to the library right now.”
I hurried toward the library. I thought the faster I finish, the faster I’ll get out of here. But how? There were literally 5,000 books in this library. I started to organize the nonfiction section since it seemed to have most of the books all over the place.
While I was organizing the historical books, I stumbled upon a book called, “Ancient Civilizations”. The cover looked really old, and I’m pretty sure that there was dirt on it. As I looked at the back cover, I could gather that it was about the lifestyle of the Mesopotamians. I never really liked to read books in the past but this book caught my attention.
So I opened the book to read more about it when, all of a sudden, the book started to pull me inside it! I closed my eyes, in fear of whatever was happening!! I was so anxious that my mind was coming up with unbelievable occurrences! For example, I thought that I had powers!! And that I could time travel! I mean let's be real. Who, in the world, has the ability to TIME TRAVEL?
I reluctantly opened my eyes, and to my surprise, there were enormous pyramids! I looked to my right, and saw a huge temple, right in the middle of the city!
There were so many people there, and they were wearing strange clothing. For one thing, some of the men wore tunics and togas, while the women wore peplos. I wondered about their strange fashion choices and thought that it was probably just a strange holiday that I’ve never heard of.
Suddenly, I felt someone tapping my shoulder. I turned around and to my surprise, saw a little girl around the same age as my brother. She looked at me weirdly and said, “Have I seen you before? You look really weird! What's your name?”
Ok. Normally if people call me weird, I usually think they're right, but this was a nine-year-old and I was older than her so I decided to say, “Ummm… I think you’re a little confused. My name is Brooklyn Myers, and I'm not weird! You're the weird one for saying that I'm weird so...HA!”
“Okay... Anyway, I don't think I've ever seen you before. Besides, I should know because I'm the King’s daughter. And if you're from another village, don't even try to steal our food supplies because we will find you!!”
“Um…the King’s daughter? WAIT. Are you Mr. Dean’s daughter?? Because he said he had a son… and… well… this is getting really awkward.”
“Who’s Mr. Dean?”
“The principal. Are you serious right now??” I asked.
“What’s a principal?” She asked.
“Never mind, okay! I don’t have time for childish jokes right now!! I need to know where I am!!!” I demanded.
“Oh, you're in Nineveh!” replied the little girl eagerly.
“Can you please write that down?” I asked.
“Okay! One minute, let me go get the supplies!”
I waited impatiently for her to come back but it felt like it had been hours! I mean, how long does it take to get a piece of paper and a pencil? Like, come on!! Finally, in the distance, I could see her hurrying back with what looks like a stone in her hand and is that... a weirdly shaped pen?
“Ok! Here you go! This is where you are!!” the little girl replied. I looked down at a slab of stone and it was some kind of weird, messy handwriting that I couldn't even read! It looked like ancient symbols!!
![Image result for ancient writing on a rock]](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Shlbv8TF6LmkA3fqSzJ0ee7Kokh4AFCaxfbIOMhvTfwbbbK28tvpDwfCx5-iKHTAW_9WYajwAytVo6tM-bi_iFWbuaJbAHx-wUH9PBetEqKXlbIPFcq_M1gu2svstteYQZOInrIT)
“I'm sorry, but I can't read this. It's way too messy. Where are your parents anyway? Maybe they can tell me where I am…”
“Oh, okay. Follow me!”
As I followed the strange little girl, and I began to notice some weird things. One of them was that there weren't any telephone poles or wires running up above the streets. There weren't even traffic lights.
What is wrong with this place!!! I mean if they like the decorations, I guess I don’t blame them, but this is just too weird. After a long walk, we finally arrived at her “house”, but that was a huge understatement! The “house” was basically a PALACE!! IT WAS ENORMOUS!!
“Hi, Dad. I found this girl and she says her name is Brooklyn Myers. Do you recognize her?
“Brooklyn Myers? I don’t know a Brooklyn Myers in our village.” the King said.
“Um… hello. I’m totally NOT from around here so can I borrow your phone to call my friend Lilly? I seriously don’t have any WiFi right now, and I didn’t see any telephone poles or wires. Do you guys not need WiFi to use a phone or something?” I asked in confusion.
“What’s a phone?” the King’s daughter asked.
“Yeah… and what’s Wifi? Is it a new tool? Or a new place for our village to take over? If so, how many people live there? And is the king weak?” the King demanded excitedly.
“Umm… So… NO!! No, no, and NO! A phone is a device on which you can call, text, and do many other things on it, once you download apps. WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity. And you can use it to connect to the internet or call and text others.” I answered.
“What’s a device? And what's an “app?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No, I believe we are not.” the King said, looking at his daughter, confused.
“A device is an object that is made to do a purpose. And an app is an application that can serve many purposes! Any other questions you need me to answer? I’m not Google, you know.”
“Yes, what’s a… “Google”?
At this point, I was literally thinking about asking them if they knew how to add and subtract! Obviously, I didn’t say that out loud because that would just be rude.
“Google is the internet where you can search up stuff instead of going through thousands of information,” I said, trying to keep calm.
“How do you know all of this? You’re VERY talented!!” said the King, obviously amazed.
“What do you mean? You guys should know these things!! Literally! By the way, WHERE AM I??? Is this like an island so far away from civilization?”
“Oh! You’re in Nineveh! Where are you from, strange visitor? And why are you here?”
“What’s Nineveh? Anyway, I’m from Brooklyn, New York. And actually I’m not even sure how I got here…” I replied extremely puzzled.
“Oh, well, that's alright! Nineveh is near the east bank of the Tigris River.” said the King. “And if you want, my daughter, Misharu, can show you around! For the time being, you are welcome to stay here as long as you like.”
I hesitated for a moment and then I said, “Thank you so much.
“You are most welcome Miss. Myers.” the King replied.
“Sure! That would be great!” I replied, feeling very excited.
And so, I followed Misharu around the village as she introduced me to some workers. As we made our way around the village, I noticed that they didn’t have any plows. When I asked Misharu where it was, she simply said, “What’s a plow?”
Exasperated, I told her, “A plow is a tool that helps us to farm. Don’t tell me you guys don’t have it!”
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we don’t! I mean we can ask my mom! She’s the Queen!”
As I wondered what a Queen does, we finally arrived back at her “house.”
“Hello, Mother! This is Brooklyn Myers. She’s a visitor from a place called “New York”! And she's wondering if we have a plow. So… DO WE HAVE THAT??” asked Misharu, obviously puzzled beyond comprehension.
“Hello, Misharu. How are you? And I noticed that you are falling behind in your lessons, and your lettering is getting sloppy!”
“MOTHER!! I —”
“NOPE!! NOT ANOTHER WORD OUT OF YOU! Now go to your room and PRACTICE!! Or else…”
I was really feeling awkward between their bickering, so I just said, “Um, excuse me? Mrs. um… Queen? I don’t mean to interrupt, but I was wondering, do you guys have a plow?”
“Oh! Sorry…“Brooklyn?”...is it?” Anyway, what is a plow? And I’m pretty sure that we DON’T have it here!”
“Oh,” I replied, clearly devastated.
“But we do have many other inventions! Like the reed pen, writing, and irrigation systems! We also have Artisans and they make pottery, baskets, jewelry, clothing and most importantly, iron weapons!”
“What’s a Reed pen?” I asked confused.
“A reed pen is made by cutting and shaping a single reed straw or length of bamboo. It helps us write on papyrus or slabs of rock.” the Queen explained.
“Oh wow! Do you have other inventions?”
“Oh yes! We have much more! Why don’t we take a walk around the village and I could show them to you?”
“Oh, that would be great!” I replied, beaming with excitement.
We walked around the village and I began to notice that some of the items could use some modifications. For example, they didn’t have any snares!
When I asked the Queen about it, she looked perplexed and said, “I’m afraid we don’t have any and what are snares?”
“Snares are traps for catching people or wild animals! I’m actually really surprised that you guys don’t have any!” I replied, obviously amused!
“Oh… well, if you want, you can make one! That way, we would have some! What do you think?” She asked, secretly hoping that I would say yes.
“Oh,... um, sure! I’m pretty sure I know how because I was a Girl Scout!”
“What's a Girl Scout?”
Oh no, not AGAIN! Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Whew!
“A Girl Scout is a girl who gets to help, educate people, learn new things about the world, and have fun while doing it. It also means stepping out of your comfort zone and doing things for people other than yourself and feeling good about it.” I explained.
“Oh, that's cool! I wish we had that here! It would be amazing for Misharu and especially the other kids in our village.” she replied enviously.
“Then why don’t we do just that? A Girl Scouts right here in your village! But first, I’ll show you how to make the snare! Ok?”
“Sure!! THAT WOULD BE AMAZING!!” replied the Queen excitedly.
And so, I went to get the supplies in the forest and showed her exactly what materials I needed.
“Ok! So we need a sturdy tree, a wire, sticks, a knife, and a rock. Speaking of rocks, do you see any?” I asked the Queen.
“Ummmm...Oh! There’s one.
“Nope! That's too big..”
“Oh. How about that one?” She asked, hoping it’s the right size.
“Nope! Too small! Are we going for Goldilocks and the Three Bears, kind of story?”
“What’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears?” questioned the Queen.
“Oh, never mind. Oh, look at that rock! It's perfect! Can you get it for me?”
“Oh, sure! OUCH!” cried the Queen, obviously hurt.
“Are you ok? What happened?” I questioned, a little worried.
“I'm sure it's nothing. Except there’s a huge red bulge on my calf!!” she screamed.
“Oh no! Where’s the hospital? I'm pretty sure you have one, right?”
“Actually we don’t have a “hospital” whatever that is…”
“Ok then, let me take a look. Back in Girl Scouts, we used first aid kits a lot!”
“What's a —”
“Don’t you worry about that!” I said, trying to reassure her.
I quickly mended the Queen wound although she would probably have some swelling up after a few hours.
“Thank you so much!” she said happily.
Now, let's get back to making the snares! It didn’t take very long to make one. When I finished the first one, I showed it to the Queen and she said that we should show the King and see what he thinks! I was so excited! We quickly went back to her beautiful “house.” When we arrived, we saw Misharu scowling in the corner.
“Misharu! Come here! Look what this Brooklyn has done! Be careful, though!” she cautioned.
“I know. I know. Oooh, this looks so cool! You should show dad!” said Misharu eagerly.
“We are!” I said.
Suddenly, the door of the “house” opened. It was the King. He came in and I showed him the snare that I made.
“What is this?” the King questioned.
“It’s called a snare and it’s a weapon,” I replied.
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Can you make more? With new and improved weapons, our village can finally conquer the surrounding villages!” said the King, sounding delighted.
“Um… sure. How many would you like me to make?” I asked.
“As many as you can make if that’s not too much of a problem for you.”
“Of course not, I’ll go start making the snares.” I was about to head out to gather more supplies but then, the Queen said, “Misharu, you can go help Brooklyn make the snares. It’ll be a great experience for you when we start our village’s very own Girl Scouts.”
I guess she was about to question what a Girl Scout is but she didn’t and just said, “Ok.” Misharu and I walked to the forest to get the supplies for making the snares.
“Hey Brooklyn, how do you make snares anyway?” she asked.
“So first, you take a piece of wood and put it in the ground. Then you take a long, sturdy rope and tie it to a nearby tree. Then you take a rock and hold down the rope, so it won’t fall down. And that’s how you make a snare. Here, you try.”
“Um… ok,” she said uneasily.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” I replied.
It took a while putting it together but other than that, she was a natural at this! Together, we made more and more snares. When we made about 75, we brought them back to the “house”.
“Mom, Dad, come look at what we did,” Misharu announced, proudly.
They came into the room and they said, “Wow, that’s great girls! And you made a bunch of them too.” We headed back and made some more. By that time, it had gone dark, so the Queen offered me a place to stay.
“Thank you so much for letting me stay in your beautiful home,” I replied gratefully.
“It’s the least we could do after all you did for us. You taught Misharu and me how to make snares and you made a bunch of them yourself. And after we obtain more, we’ll start our village’s first Girl Scouts.” She said, happily.
I went to bed and thought, how long has it been since I’ve been in this strange land? I mean what kind of place is called “Nineveh?” But then, it hit me. I remember studying about Ancient civilizations in Social Studies, and the name Nineveh sounds familiar… But… HOW DID I END UP HERE? One second I was in the school library, and the next, I got… transported through time? Wait a minute! Let me think back to before I got here.
I grabbed a library book, then I opened it and I was here. I BET THE BOOK SENT ME HERE!!! It makes so much sense now! The weird writing. No devices, and no Wifi! Plus, they kept asking me so many questions!! I decided to think more about it tomorrow because I was exhausted from making all those snares!
The next day, I was woken up by Misharu jumping up and down on my bed! I was about to go back to sleep, but then, I remembered that I had to tell the King and Queen that I got to Nineveh through a… BOOK. I didn’t know how to begin the conversation so I just said, “So, how are you peeps doing?” I asked nervously.
“Well… I'm not sure what “peeps” mean, but we’re doing--”
“I GOT HERE THROUGH A BOOK!” I blurted, unable to stop myself.
“YOU WHAT??” They all said in unison. Oh boy. How, oh how, did I get into such a mess? Since I blurted out that I got here through a book, I decided to explain this to them.
“Um… you see, I was late to school because of my brother—he’s the same age as you, Misharu—and he jumped on my beautiful white bed! Plus, I also forgot to do my Social Studies homework and well… things kind of went downhill from there. I got called to the principal's office because that was my 6th time being tardy.” I paused here and took a breath before blabbering on.
“Luckily, I didn’t get detention or suspended but I still got punished! I had to organize all the books in the library after school. There were about 5,000 books! And at the end of the day, I was about to leave to go home because I forgot about my punishment, but Mr. Dean, the principal, reminded me that I had to organize the books. So, I thought the faster I finish, the faster I would get out of there. And while I was cleaning I found a book called, “Ancient Civilizations”! It looked kind of interesting and when I opened it, I ended up here…” I finished, somewhat lamely.
“Wow.” still very shocked by my explanation. “Oh… So you’re from the future then. No wonder why all of a sudden a Brooklyn Myers just came into our village. So, how are you going home?”
“To be honest, I don’t know… yet.” After that, there was an awkward silence for a while until Misharu said, “Well, then I’ll help you figure out how to get home! BECAUSE it's MY RESPONSIBILITY! Kind of… ” she declared triumphantly.
I was so excited that someone would be helping me, and I guess that I was so excited that I said, “YAY!! OH MY GOD!! WOULD YOU ACTUALLY??? WOW, THANKS SO MUCH!!” I screamed in joy. I quickly stopped because everyone was giving me weird looks.
“Ok, so let’s get started,” said the King. They all tried to think of ways to get me home. But how I wondered… I thought about this for quite a long time. Suddenly, an idea struck me! What if we got every single book in the entire village and try to see which one would take me to my time! The others agreed and we spent the rest of the day trying this out. Sadly, our efforts were in vain. If only there was WiFi here so I could Google up how to get out of a book. LITERALLY!
It was still quiet until someone suggested, “Why don’t you go back to the spot where you first got here. Maybe there’s something there that can help you get back.”
“Ok, I’ll try that. I think there were pyramids and huge temple somewhere in the village when I first got here.” I replied. “ But I don’t know where the temple is… Where do I find the temple?” I asked.
“It’s in the center of the village. Misharu, you can show her where that is.” the King asked.
Misharu nodded and walked with me around the village. She showed me the temple and together, we search around the temple, the pyramids, the spot where Misharu and I met. We searched for hours but found nothing.
Still, I wanted to get home. I’m not saying this place is bad or anything, I just want to get home where there’s modern technology that makes things way more efficient. We looked around a little more until we finally gave up.
“It’s getting dark, let’s go back to your house Misharu. We’ll search again tomorrow.” I said.
As we went home without luck, I decided that tomorrow would be my lucky day! So, I went to bed once again, hoping to go home tomorrow.
When I fell asleep, I had a dream about finding my way back home. In my dream, I was walking around to try to find a way to go home, like I did yesterday. But this time, I actually found something. I found a book just lying there on the ground. It didn’t look like a normal book. For example, it was made of some futuristic material! I was sure that it didn’t belong to this time, but I still looked around to see if anybody dropped it. I didn’t see anyone around, so I decided to open it to see what it was about.
I thought that if I got here by a book, I’ll just get back home by a book. I opened the book and it was similar to how I got here. I got sucked into the book and was back at the library! Suddenly, I woke up, gasping for breath. I told everyone about my crazy dream and the Queen said, “Well, maybe that’s how you’re going to get back home! It can’t hurt to try!”
I searched the ground to see if there was a futuristic book on the ground that could take me home, like in my dream. I kept searching, along with Misharu, just like we had done yesterday. So far, we found nothing. I would go home today, I was sure of it. I didn’t know if it was still Wednesday back home, but it had been around a week here. Anyway, I searched some more and just like in my dream there was a book on the ground. It was titled, “Inventions of the Future”, I had found the book! AT LAST!! ONE MORE DAY HERE AND I WAS GOING TO DIEEE!!! I was about to open the book right there, but I wanted to say goodbye to Misharu, the King, and Queen, so I began the walk there.
“SO??? DID YOU FIND IT??? WAIT. IS THAT IT? THE BOOK? OH MY GOD!!! TS IS!!! ARE YOU LEAVING US?? ARE YOU--”
“Yes, Misharu. It is the book. And yes, I have to leave. I just came to say goodbye and to thank you for your hospitality! Seriously! I owe you one!”
“Oh, Brooklyn! You don’t owe us anything! You just helping our civilization improve had been amazing!! Using these ideas, we can develop much faster, and we have to thank you for that.” replied the Queen gratefully.
“Yes, thank you!” replied the King.
“You’re welcome! Again, thank you so much for everything you did. I know I caused you a bit of confusion at first… but I’m glad I could help you all improve too. Still, I’M GOING HOME. FINALLY!!! No offense… ”
“None taken… I think… Anyway, we’ll miss you very much! replied the King.
“I’ll miss you guys too!” I said, very sadly. “But I have to go back to my time.” We all said one final round of goodbye’s and I opened the book.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light flashed before me. As I looked behind me, I saw the King, Queen, and Misharu waving goodbye. I waved as well, and when I looked in front of me, I saw my school library in a portal-like thingy. I immediately felt a surge of power coursed through me and everything went blank.
“Brooklyn? Brooklyn? Are you ok? I think you passed out from a lack of dehydration… Please don't sue the school!” said a worried voice.
“Mrs. Decan? I’m fine! I… I… what am I doing here???”
“OH NO!! You're NOT FINE!! LET ME TAKE YOU TO THE SCHOOL NURSE!!”
“I'm joking Mrs. Decan! Just a little joke! Are you ok?” I inquired.
“NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!” said Mrs. Decan very sternly.
“I’m sorry… Wait, what time is it?”
“It's 2:35?. Why?”
“Oh! I have to go home! Did I finish organizing the books?”
“You didn’t, but it's fine! You just go home and rest!--”
“But--”
“NOPE, NO “BUTS!” Now, you go home and rest, I'll tell Mr. Dean you weren’t feeling well.” said Mrs. Decan.
“Oh ok.” I grabbed my stuff and headed home, wondering if what happened was really real. Suddenly, a drone passes in front of me! What is going on??? I look at the sky and there are drones all over!!! I looked at the people passing by and they have these futuristic looking glasses! I look up once again and is that… a flying car? Did I accidentally go through another book again? Or… Oh! When I told the Queen about the ideas that were in my time, she must’ve built on those ideas and that must have really developed!! But I don’t mind this change at all!
After a long walk, I finally arrived at my house.
“Mom? Dad? Hello? Are you there?”
I heard a clattering coming from the kitchen! I grabbed a nearby lamp and head inside quietly. What I saw surprised me so much that I dropped the lamp, which caused it to shatter! Is that a ROBOT? In my KITCHEN?
“Hello, Miss. Brooklyn! How was your day?” replied the robot doing the dishes.
“Umm… it was fine? WHERE ARE MY PARENTS??? AND MY LITTLE BROTHER??” I demanded, with surprising fierceness.
“They are upstairs. Are you feeling ok?”
I was about to scream once again, but then my parents came downstairs.
“Honey! Are you ok? We hear you screaming!”
“I’m fine, I just… Hey, what do you have in your hands?” I questioned?
“It’s your Social Studies Homework! Did you forget to do it?” accused my parents.
“Yes,” I said sheepishly.
“Well, if you want, we can help you with it! Also, why were you late?” they asked, concerned.
“I got punished because I was late, but don’t worry! I just had to help Mrs. Decan with the books…” I replied, sort of happy.
“Oh, ok! Why don't we take a look at your Homework?”
“Sure! Why not?” I opened the leaflet to see the prompt and when I saw it, I almost burst out laughing.
“Write a three-page essay about the civilization of the Mesopotamians. Such as some of their inventions. Compare and contrast the differences between the inventions in the past and now. Use prior knowledge or evidence from the book, if needed.”
A THREE-page essay, well I could just write 27 pages based on the adventure I had with them!!!
“So sweetie, do you know where the Social Studies book is?” asked my Mom.
“No, I think I’ll just use my prior knowledge on this one!”
“Oh really? How do you know so much?”
“Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll tell you all about it…”
I learned three important things that day…
One, to never be late for school, two, to always do my homework, and three, always ask my parents for help when I need it. As long as I promise to do these, I will never go through another portal for the rest of my life… or at least… for the rest of this school year.
Sneak Peek
of Book 2
Underwater Exploration
Chapter 1
I never thought I’d be a fish. I’d never thought I’d say that. I’d never thought I could stay underwater, but all of that happened… and MORE!! But I should’ve expected it because I spent a week with the Mesopotamian's!* The day started pretty normal. I brushed my teeth, got ready for school, and restrained at yelling at my brother because his birthday was coming up. Luckily his birthday is a BIG deal because if it wasn’t I would be screaming at him every day of the year!
As I opened the door to my house, something caught my eye! It was a book that my grandma gave me last year. I had never bothered to read it because it was titled, “Mysteries of the Ocean.” I mean, who wants to read a book about the ocean? Ok. Maybe my brother because he is OBSESSED with the ocean! Even his room has rocks, seashells, pebbles, and starfish! He even has a fish tank with a goldfish, puffer fish, and seahorses! I decided to give the book to my brother, but I was now a little bit interested in it, so I put it in my bag to read it during a free period or lunch.
Read Book # 2, Underwater Exploration to find out what happens next.
Author Q & A
Name: Harini S.
Where did you get the idea for this book?
Well, I got this idea when we were Social Studies and I said to Alexis, “Hey! Why don’t we write a book?” We started planning out where the story would take place, and we finished writing in a week and 3 days!
What time of the day is best for you as a writer?
The time of day would definitely be in the evening. More specifically, 10 A.M - 6 P.M. However, we have been writing this story after school, and so we start at about 4 and end at 9:00 P.M. And I’m pretty surprised that we were about to keep our grades up and write a book simultaneously.
What are some of your hobbies?
I enjoy drawing, writing, reading, and working on my blog, (harinigem.blogspot.com), and I LOVE to work on my ongoing tech projects!
Are you currently writing another book?
We are currently writing Underwater Exploration, which is Book 2 of the series Book Portal Adventures. Make sure you keep an eye out!
Do you think you’ll be the best selling author in the world?
I mean, let’s be real. Alexis and I are only in the 7th grade. Although it might be possible to be a best selling author, I think it will be a blessing if a couple of people to read it!
Name: Alexis Z.
Do you like to write?
Yes.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I like to do math, design/draw, and technology.
Are you going to write any other books besides the Book Portal Adventures series?
Probably.
Do you like what you write about?
I don’t know, maybe whatever comes to mind and mostly fiction books.
Did you like writing this book?
Yes.
About The Authors
[Picture not displayed to remain privacy]
Harini and Alexis are 7th graders. Both authors like reading, drawing, and of course, writing books! Their favorite subjects in school are Math, Science, ELA, Social Studies and Art. They also enjoy learning Spanish! Check out the rest of their books in this series.
