All year long, the library bulletin board will feature an ongoing story created by: Mrs. Belsher and the students of Holy Cross Elementary. Characters were created by: Nicolas. Main character super hero design by: Daniel. Main character name “The E-Racer” provided by: Jonah. Sidekick name “Smudge” provided by: Mrs. Thompson. Villain name “The Mistaker Maker” provided by: Alexander. Diary of a Rubbery Kid is a story told through monthly segments. The students of HCE decide on the plot via popular vote.

Click HERE to view flip book version of the completed story.

Comments on the ending are more than welcome. As are suggestions for next year's tale.

Here is the first segment (as well as a picture of the bulletin board):

September:

PART 1: THE DIRE BEGINNING

They say you can learn from your mistakes. By the start of 6th grade kids called me, "Do Over". This year was supposed to be different. The last day of summer vacation I made a wish in the mall's water fountain. "I wish I could make all my problems disappear." The next morning I woke up like this. I'm two inches tall. I'm rubber. Learn from your mistakes? I don't think so.

TO BE CONTINUED...

READ AND LISTEN! FOLLOW ALONG TO THE FIRST EPISODE. (READ BY TYSON M FROM HOLY CROSS ELEMENTARY.)

October:

The Dire Beginning (cont.)

The 1st day of school as my new, rubbery self made house league hockey tryouts seem caring and sharing. By the time I learned how to control my trajectory* and dodge curious alley cats, winter hoarding chipmunks, and the cars on our town’s busy streets, to bound into my classroom, Mrs. Overkill was already doling out homework. Ugh!

The last bell shrieked. Kids and teachers fled the building. I leaped, back-flipped, and I-karumbaaaaed down the hall – young Yoda style, ricocheting off walls, shoes, and backpacks. But my efforts were useless.

From the darkened foyer I stared out at the empty parking lot. My worst nightmare had come true (well, besides the one where I wake up as a rubbery kid). I was locked inside the school. All by my lonesome. Or was I?

Behind me, an evil laugh (the creepy, bwah-ha-haaa kind) echoed through the hall.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Notes:

*tra.jec.tory – the path of a projectile* object

*pro-ject-ile – moving with great force (like when you puke ‘cause you have the flu)

What happens next? Vote for 1 or 2.

1. Rubbery Kid spins around to face an unexpected attack.

2. Rubbery Kid spins around, but the hall is dark and empty.

- students and staff voted the most for #2!

READ AND LISTEN! FOLLOW ALONG TO THE SECOND EPISODE. (READ BY TYSON M FROM HOLY CROSS ELEMENTARY.)

NOVEMBER

PART 2: ARCH-NEMESIS CITY

I spun around, expecting to face a fearsome creature (or Mrs. Overkill in that weird leopard print coat she wears), but the hall was dark and empty. Yikes, this wasn’t good! A chill scraped down my rubbery spine.

"Who…oo’s there?” I stuttered in my Alvin and the Chipmunks voice. The glowing red exit sign above the doors flickered back at me, snapping and hissing. Freaked, I sprung two feet in the air, getting a vertical that would do *Jordan proud.

The evil laugh returned, but this time it ended on a snicker and a snort. I’d know that snicker-snort anywhere. It belonged to my arch-nemesis - the biggest bully in the school. GACK!

The hall lights flashed back to life for a second, outlining a dark figure in the distance. It darted around the corner and disappeared.

TO BE CONTINUED…

NOTES:

*ver.ti.cal - using force from your legs to jump into the air

*Jordan – That’s Michael Jordan, only the greatest basketball player EVER – where have you been?!

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Vote for 1 or 2 (cast your vote at the library)

1. Rubbery Kid runs after the dark figure.

2. Rubbery Kid investigates the school office for a way out.

READ AND LISTEN! FOLLOW ALONG TO THE THIRD EPISODE. (READ BY TYSON M FROM HOLY CROSS ELEMENTARY.)

JANUARY

Part 3: Between a Mark and a Hard Place

The door drifted shut behind Mistaker Maker. Now was my chance to run far away, but my rubbery form refused to move. I wanted to see what MM was up to and the only way to do that was to follow him inside. I leaned on the door, but it didn’t budge. I surged into the air, bouncing higher and higher until I perched on the door handle, but I still couldn’t get it open. I dropped back down to the tile floor. I noticed a gap under the door, just wide enough for me wriggle under.

Inside the class I spotted MM at the teacher’s desk standing on a pile of test papers. I bounded across the room and with one mighty spring, I landed beside him. I stared at the fresh ink being etched on each page.

I gasped. MM was changing students’ answers. Making it look like they had made big, silly mistakes. MM laughed like a madman the whole time.

“Come on, Do Over,” he jeered. “Why don’t you erase some answers? Let’s make this guy look like a real no brainer.”

My rubber eyes narrowed on the name at the top of the next paper on the pile. Kyle Bracken. If anyone needed a good mark on this test it was Kyle. The last time he got an 80% on a social project, his dad just growled, “Where’s the other twenty percent?”

Great. My best friend was about to be grounded for life.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Vote for 1 or 2 (Cast your vote at the library or comment on the blog!)

1. Rubbery Kid feels bad but helps Mistaker Maker change and erase Kyle’s answers.

2. Rubbery Kid stands up to Mistaker Maker and tells him he’s wrong to change answers.

FEBRUARY

Part 3: Between a Mark and a Hard Place (cont.)

I thought about standing up to MM, I really did, but then I remembered all the kids he’d pummeled and I didn’t want to be another medical statistic. Before my disbelieving rubbery eyes, MM began to change Kyle’s answers. “c”s soon became “d”s with the addition of one little line of ink.

“Get to work on these ,” MM ordered, hovering over the short answer section. Daring me to resist.

I caved to the pressure. I erased most of Kyle’s answers. Not a trace of pencil lead remained. Poor Kyle would be grounded for life. What kind of friend was I?

MM beamed as if he’d won the lottery. “Let’s see what other damage we can do.” He drifted into the next classroom.

I trailed behind him, not a spring to my step. The betrayal of my best friend weighed me down like a concrete brick.

“Psst…” a voice whispered.

I whirled around to face a tiny pink eraser, half used up and blackened with pencil lead.

“Don’t be MM’s fallguy,” the eraser said. “Together we can put an end to his mayhem!”

Oh boy, if I wasn’t mistaken that pink eraser was a girl. And not just any girl. It was Emily Schnitzer.

The girl I’d been gobsmacked over since second grade.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Vote for 1 or 2 (Cast your vote at the library or comment on the blog!)

#1: Rubbery Kid joins forces with Emily, aka, Smudge, to stop MM’s evil ways.

#2: Rubbery Kid ignores Emily, aka, Smudge, and continues to destroy tests with MM.

MARCH/APRIL

Part 4: Careful What You Wish For

“Mistaker Maker,” I cried in a booming voice. “You will cease and desist your mistaking mayhem this minute.”

MM paused in the middle of his dastardly work.

“Oh yeah,” he drawled. “Says who?”

“Says I, the E-Racer, protector of test papers across the world.” And with that, I bounded onto the teacher’s desk, wearing my spiffy new costume, for I had become a superhero…it was all a part of Emily’s plan to defeat MM. And it just might work. “I tell you your mistaking days are over.”

Emily, aka the eraser known as Smudge sprung from a student’s desk to join us. “What he said.”

MM laughed his evil laugh. His beady eyes narrowed. He charged at us with a thunderous, “Highhhhhhyaaaahhhh…..”

We dodged out of the way. MM etched across the desk, flew over the edge and dropped down into the pencil case we’d strategically left open on the floor.

Bounding after him, Smudge and I zipped the case shut, trapping MM inside.

“Let me outta here,” he raged, slicing at the pleather case. But his efforts were futile.

“Not yet,” I told him. “It’s time for a trip to the mall for a little back-to-our-real-lives wishing.”

Smudge grinned, the custodian’s master key wrapped around her metal waist.

“Noooooo…..” MM wailed.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: Vote for 1 or 2 (Cast your vote at the library or comment on the blog!)

#1: At the mall, MM escapes from E-Racer and Smudge.

#2: At the mall, MM tells E-Racer and Smudge that he wants to be normal again.

_______

DISCLAIMER

Yes, our Diary of a Rubbery Kid title is a play on the very popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, however, our story is completely different and doesn't copy Mr. Kinney's ideas in any way.