I provided a sign up sheet for each
page of the story. One child began the story, writing one word-processed
page and then reading it aloud to the class. The child who signed
up for page two provided the next "chapter" in the story
and then read it aloud and then passed it on to the third student.
Each time the new page was read aloud. When the project is finished,
we have a 19 page short story (18 students and myself) with cover
and illustrations by my students. The animal characters the children
include are our quail, guinea pigs, gerbil, fish, and chickens.
We really loved hearing each page every day. Each child got a
copy of the original book written with his or her classmates;
it's kind of a literary yearbook!
It all started one damp and dark afternoon.
It was a normal day just like any other, except that it was all
too quiet. Not even the blurb, blurb of the fish could be heard
at the surface of the perfectly clear yet rock hard glass of the
aquarium. No matter how much you flattened and squished your face
to the surface of it, nothing could be heard.
No one had come in the office yet. Oh yeah, we are quail detectives.
Our names are Sally, Sandra, Spark, Max ,Fezzy ,Fuzzy, and so
many more I'm not sure I can name us all. We work together to
solve the classroom mysteries such as The Missing Shoe, and several
cases of, They're In The Bathroom, Right? Later that day Miss
Maisy came in with some quite disturbing news. "The 
Chicken eggs are gone. 4B was just going to put
them in the incubator," said the gerbil. She was dressed
in a red polka dotted dress with red lipstick and pearls around
her neck (Though she was a little over weight).
"No!" Sally said with a piercing scream. I was just
as upset as she was about the missing chickens, but since I am
oldest, I had to be strong for the younger quails. We told Miss
Maisy that it would be all right. She fainted when she saw something
I'm guessing to horrifying for her to take in. We sent her directly
to Dr. Happy. The oddest thing is that right before she fainted,
she said three letters. I'm guessing that this could be a clue
to what she saw. "P I G," she had said in a faint voice.
We got right on the case. First we asked Mrs. B if she had seen
the eggs, but she doesn't understand our language. She gave us
some worms and said, "BLAHREWNDOIAFHEB".
Page Two of the Missing Eggs by Julie
We started to think hard about this clue
Miss Maisy gave us before she fainted. Did she mean a pig or a
guinea pig? We didn't know any real pigs so we went to see Buttons,
the Guinea pig. We told him what happened. " What were you
doing the day the eggs were missing?"
"Eating", said Buttons, with a mouth full of lettuce.
"What were you doing the day before the eggs were missing?"
"Eating", said Buttons, now munching on a carrot.
"What were you doing after the eggs were missing?"
"Eating", said Buttons, now wobbling
over to a carrot. It was obvious we weren't getting anywhere.
"Well tell us if you see anything strange", I said.
This Buttons is sure a suspicious character. We were on our way
to the other guinea pigs, but they were out of town. How strange.
Then we decided to see if Miss Maisy was okay. She was just leaving.
"Miss Maisy, do you remember what you saw before you fainted?"
"Hmmmno.." Hey but wait. Isn't Dr. Happy a guinea pig,
and he wasn't in his office when the eggs were gone. Just then
we heard a snort, or was it a squeak, coming from the closet.
"Do you here that noise... that
squeaky noise?" said Maisy. "It sounds like we should
investigate," said Sally and Sandra. "After all,, we
are detectives".
So they went to the closet to see what is was. It was
a..."MAISY,, BUTTONS,, COME QUCKLY! I FOUND
IT! IFOUND IT!" said Sally and Sandra. "It kind of looks
like a field mouse," said the quails. "A field mouse!?"
said
Maisy."How did he get in here? "There is noooooo
way," saidButtons.
Maisywas a little afraid of this intruder and decided to
go back to her cage and rest. Buttons thought it was great to
have a guest and wanted to play.
The quail detectives decided to walk over to the field mouse and
ask him some important questions. "Hey, what's your name?
How did you get in here9 Is there anyone else with you?"
"Wow, y
ou
guys sure ask a lot of questions around here!" said the field
mouse. "My name is Rascal and I came in through the trap
door." "What? There is no trap door," said the
quails. "Sure there is. It is known as the Passage Into Germantown
Academy," said Rascal.
"Listen, I'm starved!" said Rascal. "Any chance
you might have some extra crumbs or carrots to nibble on?"
Buttons was happy to find something for Rascal to eat. After all,
it had been at least 15 minutes since Buttons had eaten last.
For the rest of the day, Buttons was doing the thing that he is
famous for "eating."
The quail detectives were very suspicious of Rascal. They wondered...
Who else may have entered through the Passage? And, did Rascal
know anything about the missing eggs??999
Sally and Sandra looked at Rascal, and asked him if he saw anybody go through this secret passage.
"Well, I saw two Guinea Piqs, an elephant who told me that he was visiting G.A.to be the next Principal of the Lower School, some mice, and many other animals."
"Sally, it's got to be one of those animals," said Sandra.
"Rascal, did you see any animals with eggs? Rascal, Rascal, Rascal," shouted Sandra."
"What, I was just having
a nap. You know I need a lot of rest for I am a field mouse."
"Well, first you
have to answer this question," Sally said.
"O.K., what's your question?"
"Did you see an animal with some eggs?" asked Sandra.
"Why didn't you ask me that before, I could have answered that for you a while ago," explained Rascal.
"Well if you weren't
asleep, I could have asked you that," said Sally.
"Would you stop arguing, and answer the question," yelled
Sandra.
"Well, I saw a man actually, with a bag. He had a black outfit on, like robbers wear. All I saw was a lot of people there, so I couldn't figure out what was going on. Now could I have a nap?" whined Rascal.
"Go ahead, Rascal," the detectives said.
"Thanks, finally I get to get some shut eye. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, good night."
"He was a lot of help," exclaimed Sandra.
"Now we have to
go look for that man," stated Sally.
"But where should we start?" they both said at once.
Well there are a lot of
people around so it could be anybody " said Sally. "Why
don't we start with the man Rascal was talking about .Why would
a 
man in a black outfit carrying a
bag want some chicken eggs in the first place? We better start
looking for some clues, anyone could be carrying those eggs around
here. Let's look around near these light bulbs. They might be
here since they need heat to hatch."
"Oh no! There is a piece of an egg someone must have broken!"
We took our magnifying glasses and searched around where we found
the piece of the egg. We were so worried about the eggs and how
they were not in the incubator yet. Maybe it's not broken said
Sandra. Since we found it near the light bulb it might have hatched
already. Well the question is did it hatch already or was it broken
all along. We did not have a clue to help us with this question.
How will we know? We were very hungry, so we went home and had
some worms and went to bed. The next day was a whole different
story. We had a couple worms, said hi to everyone, and we left
looking everywhere step by step all morning. Still no sign of
them. We were still thinking if the egg hatched or if it was broken.
Hello again it's me fuzzy, and I am
going to be telling you a little bit about what's been going on,
because everything is changing. And now we have a new idea of
who took the eggs. Well, get ready 
to hear what Sandra came up with, it is quite
interesting. We began to give up on finding out whether the eggs
were broken or had just hatched. Instead we started to talk about
the Duck Mafia. Sandra was the one who brought it up in fact she
reminded us that one or two years ago Mrs.B had tried to hatch
duck egg` s and it didn't work. Sandra said that maybe they were
mad that Mrs.B didn't try to hatch them again, and tried to get
revenge when they heard about us, the quails, and the chicken
eggs. They couldn't do anything to us because we were already
born so they decided to take the chicken eggs. They couldn't have
taken the eggs themselves because they don't have hands. It was
probably the head if the duck Mafia "Rolling In Doe Moe",
that's what they call him though his real name is Moe Italiano.
He was the only person who understood the duck language. That's
why they picked him. He was a very dangerous person with a bad
record. He had stolen other things before. Sandra also reminded
us that he would always wear black when he would commit a crime.
Everybody agreed with what she said, and thought that there was
a strong possibility that he stole them. Suddenly Dr.Happy came
into our office, and told us that Rascal was gone, and that he
left a note saying "Beware of the ducks". They know
were you are, I told you too much, they are coming soon and they
are not far"! "What does that mean?" asked Fezzy
(the youngest of all of us.) "I don't know," said Sandra
but I have a feeling danger is near. "Do you think it was
all a trick and Rascal really worked for them?" exclaimed
Max. "Is this some kind of trap or was he trying to help
us" asked Spark. "I don't know that but I do know no
matter what, we have to find Rascal so he can tell more"
said Sandra. "I don't think we should find him because he
could be dangerous,"said Fuzzy. "We will have to take
chances or else we will never solve this"! Said Sandra. "Ok,
Ok " we all sighed. "Well everybody, we should go home,
and get some sleep"said Sandra, "tomorrow is a big day!
and remember be very careful, the duck Mafia, and Rolling In Doe
Moe could come at anytime!" Now back to me Fuzzy. Well I
am going to be very careful tonight because when Sandra says we
have to be careful it means we are in great danger. Tomorrow you
will hear more about our latest discovery but for now have to
go home because it's better to be out on the streets while it's
still light out when you are being followed by the Duck Mafia!
"Wake up! Wake
Up!" I heard a faint voice as I struggled to shake off the
deep sleep I was in.
"Please, Max. We're trying to sleep," Fuzzy moaned.
"Just listen. I've got a big lead on our mystery! Max exclaimed.
" I was up late thinking last night and I think we're way
off track."
"What are you talking about? I asked, confused.
"Well, remember when Miss Maisy fainted and murmured those
three letters, 'P-I-G,' we went looking for guinea pigs, but maybe
she wasn't talking about a pig at all. What if we 
asked Dr. Happy to try jogging
Happy's memory with hypnosis?
I thought about this theory for a moment. If it was a wild goose
chase, or should I say a wild chicken chase, it would be a waste
of time and time was precious right now, especially if the duck
Mafia was after us. We agreed, however, to take our chances, since
Maisy seemed to be our only lead at the moment.
Dr. Happy was more than glad to assist us in unraveling our mystery.
Miss Maisy, however, was somewhat reluctant to be hypnotized at
first. But as soon as she lay down on Dr. Happy's comfortable
couch, and listened to his soothing voice, she relaxed. After
a few suggestions from the doctor, Maisy fell into a trance-like
sleep.
"Now, try to remember why you fainted. Why did you say the
letters 'P-I-G'? Happy asked.
Maisy mumbled a few inaudible words, and then said slowly and
distinctly, "I remember being terrified."
"Why were you terrified, Miss Maisy?" Dr. Happy asked
calmly.
Now I could tell we were getting somewhere.
"A small furry creature with a hideous mask, a hockey mask!"
Her breaths came in short gasps now, and her bottom lip was quivering.
"He demanded to know when the eggs would be placed into the
incubator. He was agitated and kept mumbling something about the
food he was bringing to a family reunion and how impressed everyone
would be with it this year. And how the party was to be held in
his hometown of Guatemala."
"P-I-G!" Spark shouted. "Party in Guatemala? And
that hockey-masked villain must be Rascal."
"Remember how he liked to eat so much." Sally exclaimed.
"Maybe he left that note just to throw us off," I suggested.
Whether Miss Maisy actually remembered something from real life
or the memory was from a late night horror flick, our next stop
was Guatemala, South America.
" Off to
Sammy's walking business we go!" said Sally." Sammy
can give us a ride to Mexico City and we can fly the rest of the
way to Guatemala."
"If only I could remember where Sammy's business was. Hmm,
Hmm ,Hmm. I've got it!" said Sandra. " Call Daisy!"
"Good idea Sandra" said Sally. Daisy was one of "Fummays"
class guinea pigs. She was a smart girl. Right after we asked
her the question she said Lower Gwinedd. We hoped she was right.
She was. When we got there, and we were ready to go , we slipped
out Sammy's doggie door. (Which was hard for Sammy with 14 quails
on her back). We started right away and got very 
far, but then Sammy got
so hot and fainted. Half of us stayed with Sammy while the rest
of us went to get the closest help . (Which was a big rooster.)
We waited a half-hour and Mr.Rick told us Sammy would be fine
but she shouldn't walk for at least a day. When we were alone
Tammy said "Oh no! If the chicken eggs don't get into the
incubator soon they will di"
"Don't say it! I have a plan." She whispered something
to everyone. Then we started her plan. " I guess the chickens
will die in their eggs" Tammy faked glancing at Mr. R's plane.
"Yeah. I guess so." Replied Sandra, pretending to wipe
tears away. "Wait!" said Mr. R. "What about my
plane?" Tammy smiled. Her plan had worked.
"Well" said Sandra "We could ride in it if you
insist."
" Oh Yes!" said Mr.R, being happy to help make his population
grow.
again by the same person
too. He would not give the eggs back and it is going to be hard
to get them back.duck fell on our heads and next thing we know tons of ducks are falling on our heads. It was the Duck Mafia. They chased us past the guards. We were running so fast I don't even think they saw us. Anyway we ended up in this small tunnel, and lost the Duck Mafia. This is creepy, said Spark. I have the goose bumps, said Fuzzy. Where are we? asked Max. I don't know! said Sally. They kept walking and all of a sudden there was a dead end, but there was one door at the end that said, DO NOT ENTER.
We thought this had to be it. We went up to the door. It was a little bit opened. We guessed the person who was in there last forgot to lock the door so we tried to open it. It creaked open as we shoved it with all of our might. We looked inside it. It looked like a very clean office with tons of boxes but mostly books, big books. So we decided to look in the boxes. It took about a half an hour. When we finished looking in all of the boxes we decided to give up. We all started walking out when Sally said, I found it! We all looked sat where she was pointing. There it was. A box with the word EGG on the front of it. We walked over and looked into the box. No eggs at all but a piece of paper torn in half.
We took
the pieces of paper with us. All of a sudden fuzzy screams "get
to the side of the tunnel!" Nobody did what Fuzzy said because
they were all having some lunch. EEE OOO OUCH BANG. An animal
Mafia came and took the clues and dropped a box. It landed on
Buttons but of course he did not even notice because he was still
eating. Everybody was knocked out except for Buttons because he
was eating. Dr. Happy was stupefied when he noticed that an elephant
was running straight at him. Buttons got up and looked in the
box. It was a
"What did you say Fuzzy?" Fuzzy just got up from being
Knocked out and said "Buttons did you eat my food?"
"No just the lettuce". Everyone was awoken by the sounds
of someone. "No I want the scrambled eggs. Give me them".
That is what everyone heard. Fuzzy was looking at the path and
saw people with a bag. Fuzzy started running and so did everyone
else. The people with the bag were the ducks 
from duck mafia. Buttons
carried the box. Spark looked back at Buttons. He looked at the
box and noticed a map on the box. Everyone stopped to study the
map. It was a map that shows where the ducks from the duck mofia
live. Everyone remembered it was dropped from the animals in the
animal mafia. The box must have been dropped on purpose because
every creature in this world is against "The Ducks"
from the duck mafia
Said Spark. After everybody including Buttons discussed if they should follow the map they decided that they were going to. So they started of on their journey , up Eagle Cliff,around Black Gorge, and finally to Duck River, where all of the Duck Mafia lived. "How are we going to cross this yellow polluted river." suggested Max. "I know." replied fuzzy. We can all hop on Sparks back and fly across they river." What a great idea everybody shouted. So one by one they all hopped on Sparks back and flew across the river. Now there is a even bigger problem that they all have to solve that problem is how to break into the castle of the duck mafia. Unlike the problem of how to cross duck river this problem took a while to figure out. But finally waddles said Why don't we tie a bunch of helium filled balloons to our wings and float up to the open window in the attic...............................
"Good idea but where are we going to find enough balloons
to carry all of us?" Asked Sandra.
" You're right. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea, but I have an other one, since Spark flew us over duck river he can fly us up to the window if Spark is up to it. Are you Spark?"
" Of course I can do
it." Said Spark " I'm Super Man or should I say Super
Quail!"
So one by one he flew everyone up to the attic.
"Okay now that we're up here we need to find those eggs." Said Dr. Happy."
"I know where they are, but you'll have to escape my castle to find out!"
" OH NO IT'S DOE MOE JOE WHAT DO WE DO!?" Screamed Dr. Happy.
"You can have the eggs
back under one circumstance. You have to have something to replace
the eggs with something I can eat at my party in Guatemala ,and
since the 
party is tonight you must make up
your minds now! I will be back in 1 hour!"
Time passed very quickly know one said a word they were to terrified
about what was going to happen.
Finally 1 hour later he came back he asked, "What is your
decision?"
Dead silence.
"Well I'm waiting"
Suddenly Sandra screams "TAKE ME INSTED!"
You! "I rather have a duck," said Moe. All of a sudden, the window slammed opened and a group of ducks were coming in. All you can see on their jackets was a little symbol saying the "Duck Mafia." The leader came up to Moe and said, "Where were you, Rascal, yesterday?" My name is not Rascal, he replied. "Yes, it is," said the leader. "You are mistaking me for someone else," said Rascal. "No, I am not," said the leader. All of a sudden, the leader comes up to Moe and pulls off his mask to show it was really Rascal all this time. "Do you have a problem, Tony?" "Yes, I have a problem with you." Yesterday, you said you will meet me in G.A., said Tony. "I was at GA," said Rascal. "I looked all over Georgia for you. No wonder I couldn't find you." GA to me meant, Germantown Academy. "You will pay for this mistake, Rascal," said Tony. "Boys, take him away!"
Before Rascal was taken away, Tony took the eggs from him. Everybody in 4-B said thank you. "Why are you thanking me," said Tony. "Aren't you going to give them back to us?" said Sandra. "You think I was going to give you these eggs. Not in a million years. These eggs will hatch soon and the quail will become my slaves. My man will be watching them all this time to make sure that my bubble gum will be going through out the world," said Tony. "But these eggs were raised by us," said Max. "Well, maybe they don't call me fat Tony for one reason. What I steal, I keep. I will take care of your eggs now. "Finish the rest of your boring speeches quick," said fat Tony in a snobby way. I have a party to go to in Guatemala.
All the kids were silent after Tony jump out of the window to fly to Guatemala. After he disappered in the sky, the kids gathered around in a circle, all of them with worried faces. "I can't believe he is doing it, said Spark. "How are we ever going to get to Guatemala?" said Fuzzy. We better think of something quick before one of our eggs hatches and becomes Harriet Tubman.
"I have an idea," said Max. But before he said it, Tony's men were right behind them and were ready to capture them. "We got to get out of here!" screamed Sandra. They were all heading for the door but one of the man stopped them. They looked for the window and decided to jump out. The reason being is because the mote was under them and it looked deep enough for a safe jump. Everybody got out except Mazy who waited down a little which pulled the group back. Now the question was how they ever going to get to Guatemala.
Yes
that was a good question indeed. "Spark is not big enough
or strong enough to carry us all said Max." "And we
cant afford to by a first class ticket said Mrs. Maisy"
"I know. We could sneak on the plane said spark." "NO
screeched Miss Maisy. What if we get caught; we'll be put in prison
with all those nasty men. "The only problem that we could
possibly have is if someone sits on us we'll be in a most uncomfortable
position said Dr Happy."
They all agreed that a plain was out of the question. And so they
thought. " I've got it said Dr Happy! We'll get on a boat."
"Out of the question said Miss Maisy. I get sea sick and
the ocean air makes my delicate fur curl up and it takes days
at the salon to get it done."
"Is it your birthday tomorrow Miss Maisy said Sandra"
"Why yes it is" " We have a surprise for you don't
we guys" " huh, Oh ya that surprise." "We'll
have to blindfold you said Fuzzy"
"Ok said Miss Maisy. But no big bang, no party poppers, and
no water!!" "Great whispered Sandra know we can get
on the boat" And so they were off to Guatemala and the chicken
eggs.
Not if I can help it sneered a voice from the corner of the boat.
Spark, being the biggest and strongest,
went first. There in the corner of the boat was a mole rat. "It's
an inconspicuous vermin!" cried Max.
"You think that one mole rat is bad? Well, turn around!"
said Happy.
"I don't think I want to," replied Max.
"Just go ahead there are only thirty more."
"Only thirty more!" cried Max.
"What are we going to do?" asked Sandra, her knees shaking uncontrollably.
"I think I've got an idea," replied Spark. "Everyone run over to the mast and try to climb it."
"I hate climbing," said
Sandra, remembering the time she had tried to climb out of her
cage back in 4B's room and almost broke a nail.
"Well, you're going to have to, if you want to survive,"
replied Max.
"Ok, ok, I'll do it."
They all ran over to the mast and started climbing. Suddenly they heard a quacking sound. It was the Duck Mafia!! The mole rats ran away because, believe it or not, they'd had some fatal accidents before with the Duck Mafia.
"Oh no! The Duck mafia must be taking this boat to Guatemala too," whispered Max.
All the quail and Happy heard the Grand Master of the Duck Mafia say, "Put these eggs in a safe place and check the ship for any" Before he finished his sentence, Happy sneezed
All the Duck Mafia came over and the
head duck said, "What are you doing on my ship." Max
replied "We are going to crash your party in Guatemala."
"Guess what you will never get there." said the duck,
"o yeah." said Spark, "yeah Johnny through them
over board." "Not if I can help It.," said the
mysterious something. And instead the duck Mafia run to the bottom
of the boat. Finally they got to Guatemala but nothing was going
on when they got there. O no the party has crashed and the Duck
Mafia has away. Said the mysterious man.
On their way they were trapped by some kind of
Ant. But not any ant it was a fire ant that had big horns and was all red with some sort of a spear in his hand. Then he put all of his hostages in some sort of anthill. In that hill Max said, "how are we ever going to get out?" "I think I have a plan," said Sandra. Then she yelled out to every one" Get me my cell phone!" said Sandra "okay" said Max. Then Sandra started to dial"215-646-5486" she dialed. RING RING, but no one answered the phone. The message machine started to go and this is what Sandra said "hello Sammy this is Sandra from GA. The one that went on the rug I need your help with this thing. If you would call up the SWAT team and tell them that there are wild ants that are out of control. And need to be killed in Guatemala, South America. " Sammy hearing this while chewing all over Zach's bran new never touched and only bitten Tennis bag. Picked up the phone and started to call the SWAT team. The SWAT team let all of the quails go out of that aunt hill and get back to work. Once out of the anthill they started to look around for a clue of where the ducks could be. Then they duck prints in the sand. They fowled the duck prints all the way to the ocean where the boat that they took to get to where they are right now. Then they heard someone say, "what are we going to do about that quail clan and this bunch of chicken eggs" Max knew this voice it was Veido of the duck Mafia. They all took a soft gasp and started to sliver onto the boat. The eggs were now in view but there was a duck in a black coat with a cigar sticking out of his beak and a gun in his wing. "I got the plan you guys the plan is this
"I hear that ducks can't resist frosted alpha bit cereal," whispered Sandra.
"'So, neither can I" replied Dr. Happy who had taken the first flight he could fit on to Guatemala City.
"Dr. Happy," exclaimed Max, we knew you couldn't stay away from a challenging problem.
"Where do you think we're going to get this irresistible source of complete vitamins and persuasion for ducks in the next five seconds?" asked Spark.
"I already told you, I have some with me; you don't expect me to come visiting empty-pawed, do you?" Happy replied as he miracuously pulled a family-sized box of alpha-bits seemingly from the air.
"Quick, there's no time to waste! Open the box and let its aroma waft towards Veido." Sandra ordered.
The black-coated members of the duck mafia started waddling, in single file towards the smell-the smell they dreamed about. They stood around the open box taking turns munching, as if they were polite fourth graders, waiting for an ice cream sundae or to take a spelling test.
Meanwhile, the quails saw their chance
to grab the eggs...
"Hurry, Max, there they are over there in that red chicken
basket," called Spark.
The quails and Dr. Happy lifted the basket together. If the duck
mafia had bothered to look up from their alpha bit treat, they
would have noticed a red chicken skimming by like a float in the
Thanksgiving Day parade. But no theywere too busy...
Our heroes caught the next plane back to Fort Washington and with their blessings placed the chicken eggs into the incubator in Mrs. B.'s classroom. 'I'wenty-one days later, eight out of eleven of the eggs hatched, but wait! There's something odd about these chickens ... they're wearing dark sunglasses ... and ... and....bathing suits. It must be summer vacation! But that's a story for another time...
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This project designed and implemented by Julia Blumenreich, for the fourth grade students of Germantown Academy. Page design and technical assistance furnished by Carol Siwinski, Curricular Technology Specialist.
