Planet Hopper

January 10, 2023 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Space Blog, Workshop, Young Authors

Written by Quincy

A boy is sleeping when he somehow falls onto his bed, bounces off of it, and tumbles to the ground. He starts wondering how that’s even possible when he looks around and realizes this isn’t even his room. Scared, he dashes to the window and looks outside. But there aren’t people walking on sidewalks or buildings everywhere. Instead, it’s wastelands as far as the eye can see.

He starts hyperventilating and rummaging through stuff, trying to find anything that will give him answers. He eventually stumbles upon a phone that looks exactly like his. But the second he presses the power button, cosmic lights start flashing in his face and he starts feeling himself getting pulled into the phone. And then, everything goes black.

When his vision comes back, he sees that he’s on his back. But no, he’s not on top of a bed or anything, he’s FLOATING THROUGH SPACE. He begins to think about how he’s even breathing right now, but he decides to ignore it and look around. Beside him are Mars and Earth. Beside Mars is Jupiter, and beside Jupiter is Saturn. Beside Saturn is Uranus, and beside Uranus is Neptune.

“Well at least everything else is normal,” Calvin thinks to himself.

He spots a satellite being dragged towards Earth and grabs onto it, wanting to go back home. He takes one last look at the rest of the planets and notices a completely unfamiliar planet. Just when he’s about to start theorizing on how it got there, the satellite slams into a force field and they start floating in the direction of Mars.

He floats, and he floats until he hits Mars and somehow loses 10 pounds out of nowhere.

“WHY IS THERE A FORCE FIELD ON EARTH?!” he screams, falling to his knees.

“FORCE FIELD?” an alien asks, smiling. When Calvin looks up, he sees a 6 feet tall alien with red skin and more muscles than he could ever get. Normally he would bolt away the second he saw it, but he was calm. For some reason, the alien looks oddly human and sounds younger than him.

“Um, how old are you?” Calvin asks the alien.

“I’m 7 years old. NOW WHERE’S THE FORCE FIELD?” the alien screams, looking around.

“I’ll tell ya soon. But for now I need to look for—WOAH,” Calvin says, cutting himself off after seeing what was ahead of him.

There is building after building, each one exceeding 50 feet. I guess Mars was already inhabited. Calvin trudges through the dusty planet to the massive buildings while the 6 foot tall 7 year old follows after him. But the 7 year old isn’t the only tall one. There are 5 foot babies, 6 foot kids, 7 and 8 foot teens, and then 8 foot adults. Calvin was normally happy that he was 5’10” in grade 9, but even the KIDS make him look tiny.

He expects them to gossip about him not having red skin, but they all seem to know he is from Earth.

“Uh, when did humans come to Mars?” Calvin asks a girl.

“Stop acting stupid,” the girl says. Calvin makes a confused face and then walks away.

“Wait, you actually don’t know?” the girl asks. “We came to Mars in 2026.”

“2026?! I THOUGHT IT WAS 2023!!” Calvin shouts as sweat rolls down his cheeks.

Calvin then explains to the girl how he got there, but she just shakes her head and walks away. Because he just lost 10 pounds, Calvin rushes to a restaurant. There, they have all sorts of exotic foods like Dust Chicken, Red Rice, Dry Ice Cola, and much more. Eventually he decides to settle on a hamburger since it is really the only normal food there.

“I want a BLUE STEAK!” the 7 year old says. Calvin reluctantly takes out extra money for the 7 year old, but then the cashier tells him it’s not nearly enough. Turns out, 10 dollars in Earth money is just a dollar on Mars. He tosses all the money he has at the cashier and sulks. And he sulks. And he sulks.

Eventually he notices a poster that reads “The Raid of Granthor! To learn more, come to Jupiter” with a picture of the same planet he was on earlier. He’s about to sprint out the door when a question comes to his mind.

“Why is everyone ignoring this? Surely it’s important.” But he also stays because he obviously needs to eat. Once the food comes, he scarfs it down his throat and heads out the door. He shoves his hands into his pockets looking around for his phone while running when—

*CLANG!*

—a metal pole sends him to the ground.

On and On by Jordan

On and On

November 13, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Space Blog, Workshop, Young Authors

Written and illustrated by Jordan

KABOOM! A volcano erupted! 

The potatoes from Taterville could only count on one person for the job; Baba G was his name! He came flying out in his potato truck. Once he got there, he realized that his best friend, Cupa Luppa, was there too. He had a potato launcher and a mega beam potato. Suddenly the volcano stopped, but Cupa Luppa received a call saying that there were three huge megalodons trying to eat the cows with ADHD that randomly ended up in the ocean! 

WIthout any hesitation, Baba G and Cupa Luppa zipped off. But the lava from the volcano got on the potato truck! Luckily Baba G could fly. Cupa Luppa couldn’t, but Baba G said that he could handle it. 

BAM! Baba G shot a laser from his hand like Iron Man and killed the first Megalodon. The two other Megalodons swam fast towards Baba G. He took out his potato gun and fired off several potatoes killing both the Megalodons. They dropped like flies. The cows were close to dying, but they didn’t, thanks to BABA G! 

Both Cupa Luppa and Baba G went home thinking their day was over. But on the news, they said that In New York, Godzilla was roaming the city! Plus it was very dark, and raining. People were panicking and going nuts. They were super tired but knew they had to keep the peace. 

Baba G put on his armour and flew out. Cupa Luppa met up with Baba G and was not nervous. They both did everything they could, yet nothing worked except one thing. What no one had seen before was that Baba G evolved into something else! Godzilla looked surprised like he had seen a duppy. With laser hands, ice breath, speed, and an iron punch, it was too much for Godzilla to handle. One shot, two shots, three shots, Baba G used everything he had. One more hit would knock Godzilla out forever.  Cupa Luppa wanted to finish it all, so he did one again with a big mega beam potato.

Godzilla knew never to start problems with them again. From that day on, Taterville stayed in peace. 

Michelin Star Employees

November 4, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Space Blog, Young Authors

Written and illustrated by Siyu

The sound of an alarm ringing wakes Lucia up. The sudden loud creaking sound of the awfully built wooden floor of her room echoes in the darkness of the cave that she calls home. Lucia excitedly gets ready and cooks a delicious breakfast for herself. Today she was going to check if anyone had signed up for an interview to be an employee at her newly built restaurant. Lucia was excited and anxious. 

“What if nobody signed up? What would I do then?” Lucia mumbled to herself. 

As she walked out of the dark cave called home she received a text. It was from Candy, her best friend, and well, only friend. 

“I’ll meet you at the community board,” the text read.

Approaching the community board, Lucia walks slowly in the magical forest called Luraincean. Looking at the beautiful colours of the forest, it feels peaceful until Lucia is startled by a tap on the shoulder. 

She lets out a sort of squeak and said, “Candy! One day you’ll seriously give me a heart attack!”

While laughing Candy said, “Okay! I’m sorry, it’s not my fault that you do that every time.” 

Lucia huffs while Candy keeps laughing. 

They arrive at the community board in a good mood, but it quickly changes. Looking at the community board, it was blank, there was nothing at all. As Lucia stared at the board, her expression became worse. Lucia pulled out her phone and went online to her webpage but still, there was nothing. She walked home with Candy by her side, clearly upset.

Days, weeks, months later and still not a single person even touched her poster looking for help.

“August 28, yes, that’s the date where I give up my dreams and live a normal life in my dark cave with my sensitive right eye, horns, wings, and  weird tail!” she shouted angrily to herself. 

While walking back to take her poster down, she bumped into someone. Lucia muttered, “Sorry,” before reaching to take down her poster when the person yelled in a childish tone. 

“Please don’t take that down! We would like to sign up for an interview if we’re not too late!” 

Looking back at them, Lucia sees a cat woman and a rabbit boy, both younger than her. 

With pure excitement, Lucia said, “Yes, it’s still open! We can go to my house to talk    more!” 

At Lucia’s house the interview goes well—maybe even better than well. Lucia learns that the cat woman’s name is Cynthia and that she is 21 years old. The rabbit boy’s name is Rain. He is 14. 

Cynthia completed her cooking degree in the eastern part of the Luraincean Forest and went west to start a new life. Rain didn’t want Cynthia to do all the work by herself so he wanted to work as a waiter—since he was old enough. Cynthia gave Lucia her contacts, Lucia also stated that she needed more people for the job and if she couldn’t find any, they could start in about a month. Lucia told Candy about it when she was visiting, and Candy was happy for her. Candy suggested that she could work as a cashier as well to help.

Breathing in the fall air and seeing the leaves fall while wearing a light jacket, it was September 24, exactly three weeks before the day the restaurant would officially open. 

“Lucia!” A small voice in the background said, “Lucia!”

 It was loud enough to make Lucia realize it was Rain. Rain and Cynthia clearly had something good to say. They found chefs for the job and a whole team!

“Sorry, for the last-minute notice. My friend Iris, recently lost their restaurant and is looking for a job.  Their restaurant was quite far away, so I didn’t hear from them,” said Cynthia walking beside the long River of Dawn. 

This was a great surprise for Lucia as she needed more employees.

October 15, 2033, three weeks passed—it was the official opening day! Lucia interviewed Iris and their team; they were all very qualified. Iris had also helped Lucia’s restaurant by posting the opening day online. It was popular since a lot of people loved Iris’s food. Opening day was a huge success! Customers rushed in, the line was down the street, and people were posting the food on their social media. The day was awesome! 

Dear Future Me,

Crying tears of joy, I ran to the restaurant texting everyone to meet there. It has been two years since opening day. I am 24 now. Today, I got my first Michelin star. This was always a dream for me. I was happy with the restaurant I had, but I did it—me, Lucia Woods did it. What will happen in the future? The future is uncertain, but the present is clear now. Thank you, dear employees. – October 15, 2035 

Love, Lucia, your past self

All of this was sealed in an envelope for the future, an unknown place that will never be known.

THE END

Dreams

October 9, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Young Authors

Written by Batoul

It was a very important day for Calvin. It was the last game of the season, and he was the best player on the team so all the pressure was on him to win. The whole school was watching so he kept getting more worried by the second. 

The game had started and all he could hear was the sound of his school cheering him on while the other school cheered for the other team, of course. 

Both teams kept making shots and getting them, but it was a tie, and it took one shot for either of them to win. He had the ball, attempted a half court and made it! Their team had won. The stadium was screaming so much. Calvin was so happy. 

Someone walked up to him, and he was so confused because he didn’t know that person and assumed they were not family. Calvin asked the person who they were and the person introduced themselves as William. He said he was the counselor at the university Calvin dreamed of going to. Calvin was in absolute shock and was not able to say anything. 

 William handed Calvin a letter, which included a scholarship to the school. At this point he couldn’t speak and started crying. William congratulated him and left.

Calvin’s family came running, to congratulate him and hug him. He came to the conclusion that dreams do come true.

Darkness

September 25, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Space Blog, Young Authors

Written by Kratos

My story is about a snake named Skull Snake who wants to find his family and then go back to where he came from. 

Skull Snake has a skull snake dragon as a pet, and he can fly, slither, and teleport to anywhere he wants. He can slither like a snake, and he can fly like a dragon. He has 50 sharp tails, 550 dragon teeth, and 550 claws. His body color is black and red, and his elements are fire, void, darkness, water, lava, earth, and telekinesis. 

He lost his family to some alien catchers. Alien catchers look like humans, and they have a power called “controllable movement.” They can control stuff like objects, the ground, the furniture, and other stuff. The alien catchers used some objects to build a cage for Skull Snake. Skull Snake found out, and made a new power called “disabling people’s power,” which allows him to disable other peoples’ power by using his mind. 

To save his family, Skull Snake went to Area 51 and took control of the guards with his mind. When he took control, he disabled their powers. He flew down to another area inside Area 51 and found some unknown creatures.  The creatures flew home, scared. Finally, Skull Snake found his family. His mom, dad, brother, and sister are happy ‘cause Skull Snake rescued them. 

“Let’s go back home guys,” Skull Snake said. 

So they got their dragon, and flew home. And that’s the end.

Orange Shirt Day

September 21, 2022 Homepage Story, Resources

Canada’s residential school system has been recognized as cultural genocide. 

Orange Shirt Day came about when residential school survivor Phyllis Jack Webstad shared her story in 2013, about her first day at residential school. She was a six-year-old girl when the school stripped her, including her orange shirt, which was bought by her grandmother. 

September 30, the annual date of the event, signifies the time of year when Indigenous children were historically taken from their homes to residential schools. In June 2021, the Government of Canada passed Bill C-5 to name September 30 as a federal statutory day. It is observed as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Support for Survivors

Residential School Survivor Support Line 

24-hour crisis support to Survivors and their families. 

1-866-925-4419 

Alberta: 1-888-495-6588 

British Columbia: 1-877-477-0775 

Manitoba: 1-866-818-3505

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Labrador: 1-866-414-8111  

Ontario: 1-888-301-6426 

Quebec: 1-877-583-2965 

Saskatchewan: 1-866-250-1529

Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut: 1-800-464-8106

The Hope for Wellness Help Line 

Offers help to all Indigenous peoples across Canada. 

1-855-242-3310 (Available in Cree, Ojibway, Inuktitut) 

Indian Residential School Survivors Society 

A provincial organization with a 20-year history of providing services to Residential School Survivors. 

Crisis Support: 1-800-721-0066 

Regular: 604-985-4464 

Learning Resources For Allies

  1. Learn the history of the land you are on.
  2. Familiarize yourself with the Calls to Action identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
  3. Familiarize yourself with the Calls for Justice identified by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
  4. Learn about #LandBack. 
  5. Learn from the Assembly of First Nations’ Digital Education Toolkit’s classroom resources to help educators and students learn about residential schools and treaties.
  6. Listen to Indigenous perspectives from the Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led research and education centre, offers resources to support the reclamation of Indigenous land and life. 

Here is a list of resources curated by Myseum Toronto.

Organizations to Support

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society

A provincial organization with a 20-year history of providing services to Residential School Survivors

Native Women’s Association of Canada 

A national Indigenous organization representing political voices of Indigenous women, girls, and gender-diverse people in Canada

Woodland Cultural Centre

Preserves, promotes and strengthens Indigenous language, culture, art and history

Indspire 

A national Indigenous registered charity that invests in the education of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples

Ayla The Mind Reader

September 21, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Young Authors

Written by Na’Shylah

My story is about a superhero called Ayla. She is 22 years old and very beautiful. She’s known for her beauty and intelligence in Chicago. She has long blonde hair, and her suit is white and gold. She has a stud nose piercing. She wears gold stilettos that are about four inches tall. In her spare time, she likes to read. 

What people don’t know is that she can read people’s minds.

The busy city Chicago is her hometown and where she lives right now. She really likes Chicago pizza. She hangs out with friends in the city and sometimes, she goes shopping! She’s always outside and blends in with regular people. She’s good at hiding her superpowers.

But there are a lot of villains in Chicago. That’s where a lot of the crimes happen. There are so many people and only one of her! She’s used her superpowers before, but not like what’s about to happen.

Ayla was at her boss’ secret headquarters. She got a call from her boss saying there is a bad guy roaming the street and hurting people. She suited up, and her boss gave her a description of what he looks like. 

The villain’s name is Class Stopper. He wears black pants that say his name on it, a black t-shirt, a sweater covered in blood, and solid black waterboots. He hurts so many people, takes little girls, hurts his family, and wants everything to be about himself! Ayla knows all of this. 

Ayla flies to the location with her gold stiletto shoes that can transport her anywhere. She finds Class Stopper close by where she lives, in the northern part of the city. She reads his mind. She finds that he likes her and thinks that she’s really pretty. She is so grossed out!

“EW!” she says in her mind.

But she uses that knowledge to get him to stop these things. 

When they finally faced each other, Class Stopper felt nervous! He really likes her.

Ayla says, “Hi, Class Stopper.”

Class Stopper is too nervous to talk. But Ayla knew from reading his mind that he is too weak for her.

“We should hang out sometime,” says Ayla but she doesn’t like him at all.

Class Stopper blushes and looks down at the river next to them.

While looking down, Ayla grabs his weapon and throws it in the river.

But Class Stopper doesn’t get mad! He isn’t really paying attention when she grabs it. 

Ayla walks off and says, “Another success for the day!”

The end.

The Enchanted Forest of Dreams Come True

September 9, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Story Seeds, Young Authors

Written by Jasoni

There was once a girl named Zyma and she was going hitch hiking with her parents. There is also a Bunny named Chocolate also known as Brownie. 

The bunny is lost in the forest and is in need of an owner. Zyma really wants a bunny for her birthday. Zyma’s birthday is in two days and the bunny’s birthday is two days after Zyma’s. They know that because it said on the bunny’s collar.

Myla’s Parents went to the bathroom and it took a long time before they returned. Meanwhile Zyma sat with the bunny and she was all alone. After a long time of waiting for her parents to return… it started to turn dark and she was very worried. 

The bunny ate a piece of lettuce and it had some aura from the trees on it, rumor has it that if you eat something that has the aura on it you will be sick for two days and after two days you will be back to normal. Myla thought it was poisoning and now she is worried about two things!

Eventually her parents end up coming back. Zyma is HAPPY and FURIOUS and asks her parents where they have been? They said that when they came from the bathroom they could not remember the way back and that they were “lost.” 

Zyma didn’t believe a word they said. She ran to the car with the bunny with anger, when she got into the car she found a note saying, “We have to abandon our daughter because we don’t have enough money to take care of her.”

Zyma started to SCREAM and CRY in a lot of anger and frustration. The bunny seemed to calm her down and took all her pain away. 

Her Parents came into the car and started driving back. They didn’t say anything because they know Zyma won’t believe or answer them. 

When they got home Zyma asked her parents why they were going to abandon her. They acted like they didn’t know what she was talking about but they eventually admitted they did. They said EXACTLY what the note said. They found a box for the bunny and they all went to bed. 

The next morning when Zyma went to school, her parents went to buy supplies for the bunny.

A few years later. 

Zyma is now 16 and she decided to help her parents become more independent by becoming an entrepreneur by making her own business. She makes enough money to go to college. Zyma’s Parents are now really proud of her for all her hard work. Another one of her dreams was to help out her parents and community, so that dream came true… and that’s why they called it the ‘Enchanted Forest Of Dreams Come True.’

The End

The Legendary Art Piece of Miko

August 19, 2022 Homepage Story, Kid's Stories, Space Blog

Written by Fatimah

Shenhe is an old swordsmith ship member, and she’s trying to earn a badge from them. She is a human with white luscious straight hair and curled pointy horns with a red stripe on them. She is trained with the art of cryo/ice and uses her hand gestures whenever she is in danger. She has white eyes and her pupils are pale blue and shaped like stars. She uses a katana/sword if she has to defeat a being that is not allowed in the existing new world.

Thunder and lightning keep on making loud noises on the mountain. As she gets closer to the art piece she encounters a festival that is happening. A person who is hiding their face with their hat said, “Would you like to join the art event?” Shenhe says yes as her favourite hobby is painting. She gladly joins in. 

As time passes by she says with a confident voice, “Hah! I won and you lost, now what’s my prize?”

“Oh, the prize is the legendary art piece of miko. I believe you were trying to get a hand of it right?” 

Shenhe’s 10 friends came and said, “Woah, was it that easy?” 

“Yes it was, it really was,” Shenhe says. 

After she gets the art piece she goes back to the dojo and her dreams are fulfilled. 

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