Excerpts from Volume 1 - Family

I am Jack. The giant claims that I am a terrible person but, really, I am not! Now listen to my version of what really happened. My mom did not give me any snacks to eat when she sent me to my bedroom that night. I looked out the window and saw a big bean stalk. My dad had only planted the beans yesterday after my mom got it from the supermarket. I was surprised that it got big so fast! I opened the window and climbed up the beanstalk. It was very tall.

When I reached the top, I was next to a house, so I jumped down and lightly knocked on the front door. A lovely lady opened the door and I asked for some food. She told me to come inside. She gave me a jam sandwich and some apple juice. I took a first bite and then I heard and felt the floor rumbling! The lady quickly hid me in the oven. From the oven I could see a giant.in the room. He was huge! He looked really scary and mad. He was shouting at the lady.

I saw a cupboard and thought it might have food. I slowly sneaked out of the oven and crawled to the cupboard. I opened the door and there was no food, only shiny gold pieces. I took some and put them in my pocket. A gold piece suddenly dropped with a big clink sound! The giant turned around and saw me. I started running out of the kitchen and down the hallway. The giant was chasing me. I made it to the front door and luckily it was open! I ran out to the bean stalk and started climbing down quickly. I could see the giant, but he wasn't as fast as me. I got down and asked my mum for an axe. She started helping me to cut down the tree. My dad heard the noise and came to see what it was about. When he saw, he went in and got a chainsaw. We cut down the beanstalk quickly as we worked together as a family. The giant came tumbling down and hurt himself.

I only took a few pieces of gold, because he had a lot. He was mean and did not share. I wanted to give it to my mum because she likes shiny things.

written by Keyondre Prevost; 6 years old; England

It's a happy day.
My mother is here.
One hug from her and all dark clouds clear.
All in all, she's pretty fair.

She shows me much love.
She's more graceful than a dove.
Not just me, but my family agrees,
That my mom's beyond compare.

Something that puzzles me,
Is how my mom carries
All her responsibilities,
And still has time for me.

Mother, I love you.
Everything I do.
It's all for you.
My dad and I admire you,
You know this is true.

written by Imani Henry; 11 years old; Dominica

Meet Fernance and Cyrilla Prince. They live on a tropical island paradise. They have superhero abilities. Fernance has super stretchy powers and Cyrilla can become invisible. Both of them can also fly. They spend most of their day in the garden and taking care of their 16 children. From now on we will refer to them as FP and CP. You need to remember this.

Yes, they had 16 children! One day the kids were playing outside. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and ka-poof! The first child lifted a boulder and threw it against a wall. When that happened FP and CP realized that all of their 16 kids would eventually become superheroes. No one knew about the superpowers of the Prince family. FP and CP would always talk to the children about keeping their superpowers hidden. It was a Tuesday afternoon, one of the children from the Prince family was playing with her friends at school. She looked up and saw an asteroid heading towards her island. She quickly gathered her siblings and went to the garden to find their parents. They told their parents what they had seen, and they came up with a plan to save the country.

The plan was to send two of their kids, Fedelia and Hatty, to destroy the asteroid. Hatty would freeze the asteroid to slow it down, and Fedelia would use her super strength to punch it into pieces. But the plan did not work. The asteroid was too big and fast for just the two of them. All of the Prince family came together to save the island from the asteroid. And they did...for now.

written by Dontae Carrington; 7 years old; Barbados