Issue 4October 2011

A publication of Silver Pen, Incorporated

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Cover Artist: Richard Fay“Holiday on Phreetum Prime” originally appeared in the on-line version of Abandoned Towers, November 2009.

BIO: Richard H. Fay currently resides in upstate New York with his wife, daughter, two cats, and a rather confused shepherd-chow mix. Formerly a laboratory technician-turned-home school dad, Richard now juggles various art and writing projects. He finds his artistic inspiration in history, myth, folklore, and fantasy and science fiction literature.

Kids'Magination MagazineKids’Magination Magazine is a publication of Silver Pen, Incorporation, which is a non-profit organization focused on quality writing and reading. Kids’Magination Learning Center is a division of Silver Pen dedicated to children who are eager to write stories about the fantastic flights of their imaginations.

Kids’Magination Director and Publisher: Sue Babcock

Kids’Magination Fiction Editor: Kellee Kranendonk

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Contents

sofa Monster 1

written by M. Allman

illustrated by Rosemarie Gillen

Who’s afraid of sea turtles 5

written by Jill Nogales

illustrated by Margaret Dyer

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sofa Monster

written by M. Allman

illustrated by Rosemarie Gillen

At first Sammy didn’t know what it was, or what it wanted from him. He wasn’t the bravest seven-year-old and still slept with a nightlight and teddy bear. But, Sammy had to be brave today, because not even his own parents would believe what he saw. He sat on the floor playing with his match box cars, pushing them around, and making engine sounds with his fluttering lips. That’s when it climbed out of the couch, a hodge-podge of things that were lost in the sofa cushions, deep in the cracks; pencils, crayons, coins, gum, M&M’s, crumbs, all sorts of other odds and ends that get eaten by the sofa.

Sammy watched as it slid off the sofa cushion. He froze as it walked toward him. The strange creature stared at him with its one blue, one green M&M eyes, reached out to touch him with its half tooth pick, half Q-tip arms. Screaming, Sammy bolted out of the living room and headed for the kitchen. He slid under the table to hide from it. Resting between the wooden chair legs, he caught his breath as he watched for the Sofa Monster.

Its eraser feet could be heard squeaking across the linoleum as it ran through the kitchen searching for the boy. “Boy, where are you?” Sofa Monster called through its shoestring lips.

Sammy was quiet and kept his eyes on it, afraid of what the collage might do to him. The Sofa Monster lowered his shiny, quarter head and sat down on the floor. He started sobbing.

Sammy quickly examined it and decided to run while it wasn’t looking. He headed toward the laundry room to find his mother. “Mom there is a Sofa Monster chasing me.” He tugged at her shirt to get her attention.

“That’s nice. Did you put away your toys?”

Okay mom’s busy, he thought, so he raced to the garage to find his father. Sammy made it as far as the kitchen when he noticed it peering around the doorway at him. He skidded to a stop, turned, and he headed the other

direction.

Sammy hid under his bed for what seemed like hours, until he heard a voice calling him.

“Sammy! Where are you? It’s time for supper,” his dad called for him as he went from room to room.

Sammy crawled out from under his bed and into his father’s arms. “Daddy, have you seen the Sofa Monster out there?” He pointed toward the kitchen.

illustration by Rosemarie Gillen

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His father laughed at him and messed his hair. “Don’t you know there isn’t any such thing as monsters?”

“But Dad, it was chasing me and crying.” Sammy’s large, blue eyes were wide with fear.

“If he was crying then he couldn’t be a bad monster,” Dad told him as he carried him into the bathroom to wash up for dinner.

While eating dinner, Sammy thought about what his father said. He was right. A mean monster wouldn’t cry, he thought as he tried to hide the peas on his plate.

“Hey, boy,” the Sofa Monster whispered. “Put them in here, and I’ll take them away.”

Sammy’s mouth hung open at the sight of it under the table holding a napkin, but he didn’t hesitate to give the Sofa Monster his peas. After all, there was chocolate pie for dessert.

After dinner Sammy went to his room and found the Sofa Monster hiding under his bed. “You’re not a bad monster, are you?”

The Sofa Monster shook its quarter head. “Not me.”

“Thanks for helping me hide my peas. Mom always says I can’t have dessert until I eat them.” Sammy took his flashlight and crawled under the bed to chat with his new friend. “Why were you chasing me?” He shined the light on the Sofa Monster as he waited for an answer.

“I wanted to know if you have any more of this.” It handed Sammy a folded wrapper.

Sammy opened it up and saw that it was a chewing gum wrapper. “Is this what you eat?”

“Yeah, it’s great. I was sent to find more for us.”

“Us? What are you talking about?” Sammy reached out a finger to poke it.

The Sofa Monster jumped back. “Be careful, boy,” it said. “I have family and friends living in the cracks, and I promised to find more.”

Sammy reached into his secret treasure box searching for some gum. “Here, you can have this. It’s not my favorite anyhow.”

“No. It has to be sticky like before.”

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“Like the piece I spit out and hid from my mom? You found that under the couch cushion?” Sammy stuck a piece of gum in his mouth and chewed it until it was wet and sticky. He spit it back into the wrapper and handed it to the Sofa Monster. “I’ll give you more tomorrow if you meet me at dinner time and get rid of my vegetables. Is it a deal?” He stuck out his hand to shake on it.

“It’s a deal, boy.” The Sofa Monster stuck out its Q-tip hand and they shook on it.

From that night on, Sammy never had to eat peas again, but he did chew a lot of gum.

THE END

BIOS

Author Bio: M. Allman is a freelance writer with a BA in professional writing. I write adult fiction as well as children’s fiction. I recently released my first in a series of picture books for children, The Peanut Buttor Tweatment.

Illustrator Bio: Rosemarie Gillen is a professional Children’s Book Illustrator who has won several awards for her illustration work. She enjoys working with authors, taking inspiration from their work and making their stories come to life. She believes in a wonderful partnership between author and illustrator who work together to create something special a child will want to read over and over. Visit her website at www.rosemariegillen.com

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Who’s afraid of sea turtles 1

written by Jill Nogales

illustrated by Margaret Dyer

I know what you’re thinking. What would a kid who doesn’t like the ocean be doing on an island? I mean, islands are surrounded by ocean, right?

It all started when Aunt Jess invited me to visit her. No big deal, except that Aunt Jess lives on an island. Hawaii, to be exact.

And did I mention she loves adventure? Sailing, surfing, bungee jumping. Nothing scares her.

How could I tell her the ocean makes the skin on the back of my neck crawl? All that deep, dark water with who-knows-what lurking below. If she found out, she’d think I was a wimp.

The first day of my visit wasn’t too bad. Aunt Jess and I hiked through a rain forest to see a waterfall. We got rained on the entire time. Pretty awesome, actually.

The real problem didn’t come till the next day.

“Guess what I have planned for us, Mike,” Aunt Jess said. “We’re going snorkeling!”

I almost choked on my scrambled eggs. “You mean in the ocean?” I asked. I don’t know if you’ve been snorkeling before. But let me tell you, it’s really hard to do without water.

Aunt Jess laughed. “Of course,” she said, messing up my hair. “Hurry and put on your swimsuit. We don’t want to miss the boat.”

Missing the boat sounded like a good idea to me. But I couldn’t admit that to Aunt Jess. So I put on my swimsuit. The next thing I knew, we were getting on a boat.

“Aloha,” said the captain. “Welcome aboard.”

I hung onto the railing. Tightly. I almost wished boats made me seasick or

1 “Who’s Afraid of Sea Turtles” was first published in Primary Treasure in 2006

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something. Then I’d have a reason to go back to land.

The breeze smelled like flowers. The boat rolled over the waves like a mom rocking her baby.

“Don’t you love the ocean?” Aunt Jess whispered. The sun made her cheeks glow. For a moment, I wished I could love the ocean like she did.

Then I noticed the sharks. Seven or eight of them, at least. They were chasing our boat.

illustration by Margaret Dyer

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“Look, Aunt Jess, sharks!” I yelped. No wonder I didn’t like the ocean.

One of the sharks jumped out of the water. It was the fattest shark I’d ever seen. I figured we were about to be his lunch.

“They’re dolphins, Mike,” Aunt Jess said. “Aren’t they incredible?”

“Dolphins?” I asked, looking at the fins on their backs. Another one jumped out of the water. I think it was smiling at me.

Just as I was starting to relax, the boat eased to a stop. I flinched at the sound of a sudden splash.

“The captain dropped anchor,” Aunt Jess explained. “Below us is a coral reef.” She opened her giant purse. Out came four flippers, two masks and two snorkels.

I was starting to understand. And it was not good. “You mean we’re going to snorkel here? In the middle of the ocean? Don’t we need a beach or something?”

Aunt Jess shook her head. “We can jump right off the back of the boat, Mike.” She handed me my gear and smiled. “You’re going to love it.”

I was pretty sure I was not going to love it. But I put on my flippers and mask. Then I shoved the snorkel in my mouth and jumped overboard.

At first all I could see were bubbles. Then I saw Aunt Jess. Her neon orange swimsuit was easy to spot.

We swam along the surface of the water. It looked like a rainbow had exploded on the ocean floor. Bunches of coral grew everywhere. Some were spiny. Others looked like huge cauliflowers.

Fish swam near the reef. Schools of them, color-coded to match the coral. And for awhile, I forgot I didn’t like the ocean.

Then I came nose to nose with a monster sea turtle. His legs moved in slow-motion as he checked me out.

This was my chance to show Aunt Jess that I wasn’t a complete wimp. Holding still, I let the turtle brush past me.

I thought Aunt Jess might give me a thumbs-up since I was being so brave and all. Boy, was I wrong. She started splashing and kicking like crazy.

I put my head above water and spit out my snorkel. “Aunt Jess!” I yelled as

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she swam away.

But she couldn’t hear me. She was climbing back onto the boat by the time I caught up with her.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying to catch my breath.

“Nothing, really,” she said, taking off her flippers and mask. “I guess that sea turtle took me by surprise.”

“Wasn’t it cool?” I reached for a beach towel. “It was like an underwater dinosaur!”

“I was hoping it wouldn’t get so close to us,” she said, looking away.

And then it hit me. “Aunt Jess, are you afraid of sea turtles?” I asked.

She nodded. “I know it’s silly. They just sort of give me the creeps.”

I couldn’t believe it. My adventure-loving aunt was afraid of something too. Maybe I wasn’t such a wimp after all.

“Did you know sea turtles are an endangered species?” Aunt Jess asked.

I shrugged. “What does that mean?”

“Lots of sea turtles have died from getting trapped in fishing nets. Or from eating trash like plastic bags. Or from being hunted by people,” Aunt Jess explained. “Now there are laws to protect the sea turtles that are left.”

I hoped the friendly turtle I met would keep safe.

“If we see them in the water or on the beach, we’re never allowed to touch or tease them,” Aunt Jess said. She shoved her gear back into her big purse.

“So sea turtles aren’t as tough as they look?” I asked.

Aunt Jess smiled. “I suppose not. But they still scare me. Hey, the captain is going to take us back to shore soon. Would you be disappointed if we spent the rest of the day playing volleyball on the beach?”

“Volleyball sounds fine,” I said. Although, part of me did feel disappointed. Playing volleyball on the beach didn’t sound nearly as exciting as swimming with sea turtles.

THE END

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About Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles

• Arereptiles.

• Breatheair–buttheycanholdtheirbreathunderwaterforabout5hours!

• Arestrongswimmersandexcellentdivers.

• Canweighupto400pounds.

• Arearound3to4feetlong.

• Eatseaweedandseagrasses.

• Cannotpullheadorlegsintoshell.

• Areshyandsomewhatcurious.

• Laytheireggsontheexactsamebeachonwhichtheyhatched.

• Canliveupto60or70years.

• Areanendangeredspecies.Lawsnowprotectthemandtheireggsfromdangers.

Author Bio: Jill Nogales enjoys writing stories for children. Her stories have been published in several children’s magazines, including the popular Highlights for Children. She and her husband, along with their three children and one funny dog named Ranger, live in beautiful Idaho. They all love to visit Hawaii and swim in the ocean. Especially Ranger.

Illustrator Bio:

Margaret Dyer is a fine-artist, having made her living for over 20 years selling her pastel paintings and teaching. She is a Master Pastelist with the Pastel Society of America and an award-winning member of the American Impressionist Society.Since childhood, however, illustrating for children has been one of her goals.

PUBLICATIONSThe Pastel Journal (Feb. 2011, Dec. 2005, Mar. 2002, Mar. 2001, Mar. 2000, May 1999)American Artist Magazine (2010 Cover Competition, Jun. 2001)International Artist Magazine (Jun. 2005, Aug. 2003, Sep. 2002)The Artist’s Magazine (June 2002)Pastel Artist International (Jan. 2001)“How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Figures” (2005 and 2004)“Pastel Highlights 2” (2004)“Pure Color: The Best of Pastels,” (2006).

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