We are proud to present the latest installment of our Field Trip Book of the Month series: a tale from our Storytelling & Bookmaking Field Trip written by students from Grand View Boulevard Elementary.
Ms. Taru’s second graders spent the morning with us brainstorming, writing, editing, and publishing their very own book – one of adventure, friendship, and everyone’s favorite motif: cheese – as a part of 826LA’s Field Trips program. This was one of the first publications overseen by our Field Trips program intern, Eian. The story commenced an uncanny string of cheese-themed stories lead by Eian, a lactose-based reputation that he has not only learned to accept, but now embraces to a concerning and unhealthy extent. Please read on and enjoy Muell, The Baller, and the Mysterious Blue Pizza.
A huge thank you to our awesome volunteers for making this particular Field Trip so much fun: Casey Shubin, Epiphany Hulburd, Lauren E. Smith, Kerstin Zilm, and Eian Peters.
And now, onto the story!
Once upon a time, there was a guy named Marco who lived in Los Angeles and loved to eat pepperoni pizza. Marco wasn’t just any normal guy because sometimes he turned into the Baller.
As the Baller, Marco had complete control over fire. He could throw fire when he was angry, write messages in fire, and could burn walls and knock over buildings.
The one thing that made him the most angry was when people would not leave him any pizza or when he really wanted to slice his own pizza but someone else would do it for him.
One day the Baller went to the zoo because it was known for its delicious pizza. They used a secret ingredient: bright blue cheese!
Muell, the half lion, half dog, saw the bright blue cheese and ripped it from the Baller’s hands. The Baller exclaimed, “Hey! Don’t steal my pizza!”
Once Muell ate the Baller’s pizza he remembered that the pizza had a spell on it. Muell said,“I can’t stop eating this pizza because it has a spell on it.”
Although the Baller got angry at Muell when his pizza was stolen, as soon as he learned about the spell he calmed down and didn’t unleash his fiery powers.
The Baller went up to Muell and asked him, “Do you want to be my sidekick? We need to make sure the Wizard does not put a spell on any more pizza.” 
Muell replied,“Yes, I want to be your sidekick because I want to do anything I can to stop this spell.”
Baller told Muell, “Maybe the Wizard is at the pizza place.” Muell informed the Baller that the Wizard only went to the pizza place at night.
Later that night, the Baller and Muell hid inside the pizza place, waiting for the Wizard to show up. All of a sudden, the pizza guy walked in and took off his mask, revealing his secret identity as the Wizard. His long, shimmery, golden, and silver beard dropped all the way to the ground.
The Wizard began to make a rainbow-colored potion and poured his potion all over the pizza.
As he put a spell on the pizza, Muell and the Baller began to tiptoe toward the Wizard
.
Dun dun dun…
And that’s their cliffhanger! Students took over from there and wrote their own endings.
Here is Joshua’s tasty and unifying version: “They scared the wizard and he went running away. Then they got the wizard and they all ate pizza.
Dayami wrote this clean shaven ending: “They were at the pizza place and then the wizard’s beard fell off. Muell found the beard and the wizard didn’t know, so he put the potion in the blue pizza.”
Student Angel added: “They take the wizard to jail.”
How would you end this story?
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 to 826LA are all about, email Kenny (at our Echo Park location) or email Mike (at our Mar Vista location) and read more about our Field Trip Program 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 about our lessons here.