Sisters Middle School creates young authors

If Mrs. Susie Werts, English teacher at Sisters Middle School, has her way, she will be unleashing nine fifth-graders, nine sixth-graders, five seventh-graders and seven eighth-graders loose into the world of writers.

All 30 of them are writing animal stories that will be published and for sale on Amazon by June 8 of this year.

The students have an enthusiastic teacher who knows how to help them write clear sentences, where to dot the i's, put the commas in the right places and put their thoughts down on paper for everyone to enjoy. The students also plan on illustrating their stories. To make it all work, they're also looking for financial help to meet their deadline of June 8.

The title of this student publication will be "Animal Adventures from Sisters Middle School." Sisters author Jean Nave, author of the "Harry and Lola" stories about two Scottish terriers, is assisting the class.

Kassandra Carillo's story revolves around her pet penguin, Floppy, who wants to try new food and travels around the world with his best friend, Jimmy. They visit France, the South Pole and other wonderful world-wide gourmet destinations. When asked what happens next, Kasandra just smiled and shrugged...

Eleven-year-old Ryon McIntosh's story is titled "A Mistake with a Genie." He has two St. Bernards walking along a beach one day and they find a tortoise guarding a piece of metal in the sand. The two dogs dig around under the metal and find a lamp, which they lick and...

Bridget Huni's story involves two dogs, Harry and Lola, going off on an adventure with Pippin, a rabbit who escapes from its cage. They get lost. What will happen next is for her readers to discover.

Sofia Afatati's title is "Got School." She has Harry and Lola having an adventure going to school, and Harry always wanting to try to find ways to have fun. But Lola keeps warning Harry about not having too much fun, it always gets him into trouble. One day Harry tries out a new dog food and then jumps into his owner's bed, after which he develops a bad stomach ache, and moans, "Lola is always right."

Jalya Townsend has Harry and Lola off on an adventure at the Sisters Rodeo with Cricket, their horse pal, and a girl named Jalya. Cricket sprains her leg in an accident two-days before the rodeo, but Harry and Lola heal the injury with their superpowers.

Riley Garcia's story is titled "Lost." It involves the Palmer family, who go the beach with their pet dachshund, Lucy. Daddy Palmer throws a stick far out on the beach and Lucy becomes lost searching for it, and the Palmer family drive away looking for her...

Grace Papworth's story involves a new Pomeranian puppy, Lexie, who is not treated very well by two other dogs in the family, Lucy and Sophie. The older dogs make rude comments about Lexie and run off without playing with her. But then a wonderful thing happens...

Many other fifth-graders have their stories well underway, and the sixth-graders are also into the author mode. Drew Henderson's story involves a boy named Scorpio, who is a shape-shifter who cannot control his powers and is always getting into trouble because it makes him late for school. He meets his cousin, Woven, also a shape-shifter, but a villain, who causes Scorpio more problems...

Then there's Emily Boraas with her story about a girl names Neko who lives in Phoenix and for some unknown reason has a cat's tail attached to her tail-end. She wants to go to a dance, but can't make up her mind. Emily's sister, Lilly is writing an adventure story about two dragons, Firebreath and Icewrath, who sometimes have trouble making the right decisions.

And so the stories go, each child taking the path his or her imagination decides to go. Each story unique and involving animals and other characters they see and hear.

For more information, email Werts at [email protected]