Read All About It!

Thanks so much to the many new folks who tried field trip volunteering with Open Books this week — and to those experienced folks who led the way! We have always dreamed of having a 1-2 or even 1-1 volunteer-student ratio, and we hit it for the first time recently. Woohoo!

Here are the fabulous folks who volunteered today:

Come back and volunteer again soon! – Erin

Twice a week, a class comes to Open Books for an Adventures in Creative Writing field trip — and we are always blown away by the inspiring stories students write. Today we’d like to highlight a Student All-Star from a fall field trip.

Name: Daphne Sosa
School: Goethe Elementary
Grade: 8th
Age: 13

10 Questions We Always Ask:
1) How would you spend your last 24 hours if you knew the world would end in the morning? Pray and worship God so that I will go to Heaven.

2) What is your dream job(s)? FBI, A Christian singer and an X-Ray technician

3) If you could have dinner with 3 people (real or fictional), who would you invite and what would you eat? Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit. Rice and beans with pork chops.

4) What was your favorite toy or game when you were little? I used to play the game “doctor” with my grandma and mom because my mom wants to be a nurse. So my mom would be the nurse and I would be the doctor and my grandma would be the patient. I miss that game a lot. LOL.

5) If you had one superpower, what would it be? Looking at people’s futures and my own.

6) What secret obsession do you have that no one knew about before this interview? That I like this boy. [Aw! Good luck, Daphne! - Erin]

7) What makes you laugh uncontrollably? When my brother Georgie laughs he laughs funny and when he makes jokes.

What book are you reading right now? Bud not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

9) What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla with peanuts

10) What is playing on your iPod/radio these days? Christian music

Here’s the story Daphne wrote when she (and her grandmother, a field trip chaperone, came to Open Books):

A Good Day with a Special Person

Vroom vroom! the bus went. “Thank you Grandma for coming”, I said.
“You’re welcome, mija. Don’t worry, I will always be there for you,” she said.
She is so happy to be with me, I told myself, because I remind her of when my mommy was my age. We started to laugh because she called me my mom’s name.
“Grandma, I’m not Tuty, I’m Daphne!”
“OHH I’m sorry!”
I look just like my mom. We started cracking up. That’s why I love my grandma, because always she makes me laugh. I told her, “Oh Grandma, we are going to go to a Chicago trip. And we are going to go to the John hancock and then to the ESPN Zone, and more!”
Well, she said “Oh Daphne, I want to come, I never went there.”
I love to see my Grandma happy, and I love to see her smile.
So we are on our way to the Open Books. I love to write and read. I love school. I mean come on, school is going to get you a good job. This day I will remember because I’m with my grandma. And when she leaves and goes to heaven I am going to remember this beautiful day with my grandma in 8th grade. And I will tell my children that I had a special moment with my grandma at Open Books, 213 West Institute Place.

Keep writing, Daphne, and come back next year!

Today we had a wonderful group of students at our field trip. They were enthusiastic and very creative! Here are a couple of the great stories produced and read aloud today:

My Good/Bad/Funny Day

By Aris Cucic

One day, I woke up and it was a normal day. When it became nighttime I went to the step in front of my apartment. There was a gray car with three people in it and one dog that had rabies.

The car came up to me and the guy in the car asked me if I wanted a piece of candy and to come in his car. I said no and then the car left. That same night my mom came home with my sister. I told her that the car asked for me to come in.

The next day I was sitting in front of my porch and the same gray car with three people inside and one dog with rabies asked me again if I wanted a piece of candy. I said no, so I went and told my mom that the same car came up front and asked me if I wanted a piece of candy.

My mom went outside and she got a chair and ran toward the car and cursed at the three people inside the car and the one dog that had rabies. She hit the window of the car.

His window broke and the glass was all over the floor. Then my mom attempted to hit the car again, but it left. My mom memorized the first three numbers in its license plate.

My mom called the police and told them that she broke the window of the car. Then the police officer asked for the whole license plate, and she told him the first three numbers.

The police officer went out and two or three hours later, the police officer said that they found them. From that day on, that gray car never came again!

A Bad Day

By Anna Oehlberg

I woke in the middle of the night to screaming, yelling and things breaking. I was in my bed hugging my stuffed cat. I had no idea what was going on. I slowly went back to sleep with a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.

This time when my eyes opened light was shining through. For a few days it wasn’t the same. There wasn’t any talking. One day, my dad was gone. I was only 8 at the time. I had no idea what was going on. I was confused.

I asked my mom where he was. She didn’t tell me for a few days. At last, I knew he was in a mental hospital. I had no one to talk to, no one to comfort me when I was crying.

I did visit sometimes, but it was never the same. I was always his little angel, but now my sister is. At summer camp I had a teacher who went through the same thing. He was the only one who understood me.

My dad did come home, but it was never the same. I couldn’t call him Dad. It’s still hard for me. This experience forever changed me.

Through my experience there were so many feelings, like I was confused, scared and upset. I always felt different. No one my age could relate. I always felt I had to be the extra mom. I was no longer a kid.

No one told me to grow up. I just felt it: the pressure to be more responsible, to not play with toys and to have to watch a little sister—to no longer be a kid was hard.

I know I’m not the only kid who went through this and I’m not the last. Though I wish I had someone to talk to about this, I hope soon enough I’ll find someone to talk to. It’ll be good to have a long talk with someone with the same experience.

What is a spoonerism?

Spoonerism: (noun) the transposition of usually initial sounds in a pair of words.

Examples of Spoonerism:

It is kisstomary to cuss the bride. [customary to kiss]

Is the bean dizzy? [dean busy]

A lack of pies [pack of lies]

As found at dictionary.com and fun-with-words.com

Now you try!

“…I’m the only one who turns it on.”

Do you hate Hallmark cards?

Looking for something a little less sappy and a lot more witty for your
special someone?

Look no further…

For a LIMITED TIME Open Books is selling one of a kind Valentines cards
with original poems from the creative minds of our students.

Don’t let anyone miss out on these hilarious and poignant cards: family members, significant others, Valentines-embittered singles, teachers, coworkers, or that secret crush you are desperately trying to impress.

Here’s how it works:

1. Click here: http://openbooks.myshopify.com/
2. Pick out the awesome Valentine of your choice.

3. Pay us $10  and we’ll make the Valentine AND send it out to your special someone.

More info on us and this project!

Open Books enriches lives through reading, writing, and the
limitless, love-inducing power of used books. Our Creative Writing Field
Trip program offers 5th-12th graders from Chicago schools the opportunity
to flex their creative muscles, find their voices, and write from their
hearts. A recent Open Books Field Trip provoked a class of 8th-grades to
wax poetic on the topic of love, and now we’re crafting these sentiments
into beautiful, handmade Valentines for you to purchase for your loved
ones, with all proceeds going to fund further Field Trips and other Open
Books initiatives. For more information about Open Books, visit:

www.open-books.org