Sunday, July 24, 2011

Mouse Clicks: Short Stories by Geof

In 2008 during the summer break, we asked Geof to write short stories as an alternative activity to playing computer games.  Geof was nine years old then and he wrote short stories with a mouse as his main character. He wrote three stories then. And his first story below is my favorite. I named his collections as "Mouse Clicks." 

The Mouse Who Wanted Everything

By Jan Geoffrey S. Oreta

Once upon a time, there lived a mouse who wanted everything. His name is Selfish and he wanted everything in the whole world……..especially cheese and cheese chips so, he went out of his mouse hole to get all of the cheese.

First, he went to the cheese company to get all of the cheese he can find so he asked them where the cheese is. But all the cheese makers screamed because of selfish the mouse. So they ran out the building. Ha! Ha !Ha! laughed Selfish the mouse. Now I can get all the cheese in the company. So he started to get all of the cheese in the factory with a forklift.

He got all of the Swiss cheese then, cheddar chips. After that, Selfish began stealing more cheese and cheese chips. But he wondered how he can bring all of the cheese and cheese chips……….AhA! he cried. I have a brilliant idea! first I will get a truck and put the cheese and cheese chips inside! So that’s what he exactly did. He called all of his friends to the cheese company and drove the truck. When they arrived, one of them asked what to do………finally, he shouted drive the truck you @$$&*%!!!!! So they all ran to the truck to put all the cheese inside the truck. The strongest mouse and then the weakest mouse put the cheese inside the truck. Selfish was pleased with all of the cheese and chips. Faster my dear friends! we have to work faster before the people come here and attack us. So that’s what they did. They worked faster and faster until they heard the car of the chief arriving. They were so scared they hid all around the company. It was Selfish’s turn to hide but he can’t find a place to hide. There where mice everywhere hiding in the machines, tables and chairs. Finally he found a hiding place and it was………….Inside the chief’s car! He hid in the trunk of the chief’s car. Ahhhhhh it felt safe. Inside but not for long………….because the chief is about to get his bag inside the trunk! But Selfish had enough time to escape because the chief had to go to the bathroom to p**p so Selfish opened the zipper of the bag and escaped out of the car. He went back to the cheese company to tell his friends to escape out of the company.

So that’s what he exactly did. He told his friends: let's escape my friends! So all of his friends escaped out of the building before the cheese company’s chief could get out of the bathroom door and scream like a girl. The chief was still p**ping. When Selfish finally made it to his mouse hole, he cannot fit all the cheese in his hole. There was too much cheese wasted. Now he just learned his lesson. Never be “Selfish.”

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

BOOK Kids

Geof (6 yrs old) reads a book to Julia (1 yr old) in 2006

Parents would always complain that kids now are too distracted - and indeed, there are quite a number of gadgets to pass the time -- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, PSP, Nintendo DS, I-pad... and these are over and above the ever reliable idiot box called TV. I would hear Moms complaining that their kids can't even sit still to read.

Modesty aside (and i mean, aside :-) my husband and I don't have that kind of problem. In fact, our problem is how to make our kids prolong the reading of their books. Of course, they are also into Nintendo, and the I-Pod, and the Facebook, and other techie stuff, but they equally enjoy a good read. Geof, my 11 year-old, on the average, reads a 350-page book (average pocketbook size) in 2 to 3 days (i.e., during school days; but he can finish a book of the same length in 1.5 days if there's no school). Sometimes, I would even appeal that he slows down in his reading so that a book would last for at least a week. Julia, my 6 year-old, is also "competing" with her Kuya in terms of the amount of books she 'churns' out.

Some of the books that Geof have finished and would like to recommend to kids 10 to 12 years old are (my husband and I occasionally read also some of these books, so we know these books are good):
- The Percy Jackson series (5 books)
- The Mysterious Benedict Society (3 books)
- The 39 Clues series (11 books)
- Harry Potter (7 books) - all borrowed from the DLSU library
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid (5 books, thus far)
- The Kane Chronicles (2 books - The Red Pyramid and The Throne of Fire)
- The Heroes of Olympus (sequel of the Percy Jackson books; 1st in the series)
- The Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch (4 books)
- Diary of a Wimpy Vampire
- Middle School the Worst Years of my life
- The Artemis Fowl series (7 books)
- Big Nate series (4 books)
- N.E.R.D.S. (2 books)
- The Gods of Manhattan (still reading)
- The Emerald Atlas (in the pipeline)
Julia, on the other hand, recommends these books (to kids 5 to 7 years old):
- The Ivy and Bean series
- Geronimo Stilton series (Geof's favorite books when he was a little kid)
- Thea Stilton series
- Rainbow Magic series
- The Pony Crazed Princess series
- The Magic School Bus series.

While I am seriously thinking of getting (esp. Geof) an e-book, I still enjoy seeing him nestled in the sofa with his feet up, a book in his face, and oblivious to the world. For Julia, on the other hand, book reading is part of her 'sacred' routine with her dad. As soon as they enter the room (she still sleeps in our room, but using her own bed), she'd lie down with Andy and read her book, while her dad reads his Kindle. And this routine for her is inviolable - she won't sleep (or would be all grumpy) if she doesn't get to read even just a page or 2.

So I have true-and-blue book worms in the house. And I enjoy it to the hilt since when everyone's reading, the house is all peace and quiet, just as I like it so I can get down and read mine.

(The only caveat is - you guessed it - books are among the major household expense and space users ..... our bookshelves are all full ... but unlike the other expenses, I am blissfully enjoying spending those bucks for this "indulgence" ;-)
Geof & Dad: Booklovers? Bookworms!