Mr. Popovac’s fifth graders spent the morning with us brainstorming, writing, editing, and publishing their very own book–a story of culinary annexation–as a part of 826LA’s Field Trips program. The students participated in a Choose your Own Adventure field trip last year, and even brought back one of their favorite characters to cameo in this new adventure – Segway Steve! Please read on and enjoy Gummy Trouble in Little Burritoville.

A huge thank you to our awesome volunteers from Team One for making this particular field trip so much fun: Ivan, Sophia, Chase, and Rachel. Also, a big shout out to our intrepid Field Trips program intern Eian for his support.

And now, onto the story!

Far, far away on a planet known only as Burritoville, there was a secret pop-up restaurant where the two friends Billy the Kid and Hot Dog were eating. Suddenly a meteor crashed on the patio, and out walked a band of gummy bears singing a sinister song that went something like “We are the gummy bears. We are the gummy bears. We are the evil-evil-EVIL-evil gummy bears.”

The leader of the evil gummy bears said, “We’ve kidnapped your good friend Segway Steve, and we will not return him unless you surrender your restaurant to us, and feed us all every single day.”

Billy the Kid and the Hot Dog frowned at each other and Billy responded, “Give us a week to think about this decision.”

Six days later, at Billy’s house in Burritoville, there was a knock at the door, and the gummy bears appeared. The gummy bears said, “We’ve grown impatient and demand a decision or we’ll blow up Burritoville!” Billy dove for the black hole controller on his coffee table and hit the button, which transported them all to Unicorn Land.

As Billy and Hot Dog were trying to figure out a solution to their dilemma, their trusty steed Cowicorn, a rare purple, red, and black unicorn cow with dual burping horns and motorcycle wheels, appeared. They hopped onto Cowicorn’s back and rolled into a burping battle with the gummy bears. The side who could burp the longest and with the most flair would be the victor.

All the gummy bears gathered their best belches and burps, but in the end, they were no match for the mighty Cowicorn, who drank a whole two liter of Pepsi that day. He let out a loud burp that echoed through the hills of Unicorn Land, and the gummy bears fell to their knees, defeated. They sang their sad gummy bear song: “We are the gummy bears. We are the gummy bears. We are the loser-loser-LOSER-loser gummy bears.”

Once the victors had returned safely to  Burritoville with Segway Steve, they all went back the restaurant and had a few laughs about their adventure, quickly picking up where they left off as old friends. But then Segway Steve saw a cookie that he wanted, and he turned into a super-chipmunk and snatched it off the table before jumping out the window and disappearing. Hot dog shook his head and sighed, “All that for a cookie.”

The end? DUN DUN DONUT!

If you are a prospective volunteer and you would like to join in on the fun we have here in the 826LA writing lab, please read about our volunteering opportunities here.

If you are already one of our wonderful volunteers and would like to see what Field Trips are all about, email Kenny (Echo Park) or email Mike (Mar Vista) and read more about our Field Trips here.

If you are a LAUSD teacher and would like to bring your students in for a Field Trip and an unforgettable writing experience like this, you can find more information here.