Artist Inspires Riverside Reads Stories
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Posted on April 25, 2008

The Riverside Reads staff has used four paintings by artist, Mike R. Baker as inspiration for the following stories.  The R.R. Editor in Chief (EiC: Mr. Tingley) found the pictures online and he contacted the artist.  Mr. Baker has granted us permission to put his artwork up here so that you, the reader, can see what the students saw when creating their stories.

Teachers: If you would like to know where to find Mr. Baker and his art website, please contact us at Riverside.Reads@nbed.nb.ca

Amanda: One day, me and Erica were at our Nanas house. Our Nana told us to come down stairs, that she had found something very cool that we might like. So we went down stairs.

We looked all around, but there was nothing there. Nana told us to come in the pole room. When we went in the pole room there was a big machine that Nana said was a shrink ray. Then, by accident Nana pressed the shrink button and shrink Erica and I. But Erica was not only shrunk, she was cloned to make another life-sized, but brainless Erica. So Erica and I climbed up Erica’s body and into her head to control it.  Nana said she would have it fixed in 3 weeks. We said “Ok,” and tried to drive it away but we ran into a lot of stuff.

That night, little Erica was up all night making big Erica say stuff, spell stuff and doing math stuff. At last I got up and asked her what she was doing; she never studies. She said she had a big test tomorrow. The next day we got up and got dressed and we waited at the bus stop in the cold. Finally, the bus came and it was time to go to school.

When we got to school the whole day was the test she was talking about, so I was stuck in her head while little Erica made big Erica take the test. Finally, when we got to go home Nana said she could fix us so we jumped out of the robot and Nana put everything back to normal.   

Ryan: One day, Tom went to school to meet up with his friend Jerry, not to go to class. When they got to school they snuck out by climbing through a vent in the bathroom.  Tom went to his house and Jerry went to his house and they got their cars. 

They met back at the school and they raced around the place. Then they street raced home. 

When they got home their moms and dads were standing at the door.  They got suspended from school and at home Tom was grounded for two months and Jerry was grounded for one month.  They got their cars taken away until they weren’t grounded any more.

When they got their cars back they did not touch their cars again and they always walked or biked.   But now they race on bikes and race by running.

Emma:Once upon a time there were two girls. Their names were Isabella and Breanna. There’s a hamster named Bart too. Isabella invented two machines. One machine can take out and put back brains. The other machine can shrink and unshrink people. Isabella grabs the shrink ray machine and shrinks Breanna and Bart. Then she takes out her brain with the machine and stuffs Breanna and Bart into her head. She also shrinks a filing cabinet and some other stuff full of her memories for them to use.

Breanna and Bart searched and searched for her memories but they couldn’t find them. “Uh I think we have a problem,” said Breanna.
“I can’t find your memories,” squeaked Bart. “We have to find them!” yelled Isabella.
“Go to the park. I’m sure we’ll find some memories there.”
“Let’s go.” squeaked Bart.

So they got into Isabella’s dads car and drove off. They finally got there and started the search. They looked under the bench.
“There’s one!” yelled Isabella.
“There’s another one,” said Breanna. “And another,” squeaked Bart.
“And one in the tree,” said Isabella.
“There’s another right here,” said Isabella.
“And another right here!” squeaked Bart.
“I think that’s all of the memories,” said Isabella.

They all got in the car and they drove to the pond and parked. She saw a memory in the pond. They looked for a bathing suit and Isabella found it. She grabbed her mask. She had to change in the outhouse. She thought it stunk a lot. She burst out and jumped into the water and she dove down to get the memory. She grabbed it but her foot got stuck in a piece of seaweed and she started to drown! She just managed to get to the top for a few seconds. She screams and hollers. Somebody just happened to be walking by. It was her dad! He dove down and tried to get her foot unstuck but he couldn’t. He got his knife out of his pocket and cut the seaweed. Isabella swam to the top. She was breathing very hard and so was her dad. “Are you alright?” said Isabella’s dad.

“Yeah." said Isabella, “But I need to find my memories. “Hey there’s one.” said Isabella.
“And another one.” said Breanna.
“But what about Christmas and stuff?” said Breanna.
“Who said that?” asked Isabella’s dad.
“It’s me. Breanna Montez. I’m inside Isabella’s head.” said Breanna.
“Oh my gosh!” yelled Isabella’s dad.
“There’s one,” said Bart.
‘Don’t tell me who that is,” said Isabella’s dad.
“There’s one,” said Isabella.
“Well that’s all of the memories,” said Isabella’s dad.
“Every memory stands for a year. And I’m ten,” said Isabella.
“Get in the car everyone,.” said Isabella’s dad.

So they all went home and took Brianna and Bart out of Isabella’s head and unshrunk them. She put back her brain and they all lived happily ever after.

Danny: Once upon a time there lived a giant, a police man and a robber. The giant was sleeping under his 3D farm blanket when the police started chasing the robber around his blanket. The police was trying his best to beat the robber, he was driving like he was in the DAYTONA 500!!!

The police and the robber chased each other for a day and a night. When the police caught the robber the giant woke up and the giant ate the police and the robber. No body knows what happed to the police and the robber after that day!!  

Dum, Dum, Dum!!!!

Brandon: Brian was going to enter a street race. He got to the starting line but a cop was in the alley next door. When Brian saw the cop he took off, but the cop was hot on his tail. Brian went to his garage and said to his car workers, “Paint my car and quick.” Brian spun out of the garage and he got away. 

He didn’t think that was any fun though so he found the cop again and said, “Do you want to have a race? If I win I get your car but if you win I will go to jail.” They went to the starting line and Brian said “Go!” Brian had his car in first gear and the cop had his car in neutral. Brian was at end of the race track when the cop was still at the start; his engine broke down at the first of the race. Brian said “Give me my car.” “Ok here you go.”

Brian got a tow truck to pick up his car. The cop said “Let me take a look at your engine.” He was looking at the engine,  and when Brian wasn’t looking closed the hood and jumped into Brian’s car and flew away.  Brian never saw the cop or his car again.

Zackery: One day my friend Kyle, my dad and I were building an invention.  It was called the SHRINK RAY.  We just got finished when it went terribly wrong.  It blew up, and Kyle and I shrunk!  We were one inch tall!

Luckily, dad had already made a robot Kyle to do all the work around the house.  Kyle and I got in the robot, but dad told us there was a glitch in it. I was wondering what it was, but just then the robot’s head jerked which threw me into the wall and I hit a button that said do not press. Then it popped Kyle and me out the robots eye hole and into the tall grass.

It was like we were in the jungle!  We saw something in the distance and the ground shook like a 1000 elephants. We were wondering what was going on … and then we saw them. The ants! There were 100000000 of them. They got closer and closer. They all surrounded us!  The ants took me and Kyle over and brought us to their ant hill. An ant tried to eat us but we refused and I said, “I will stomp on you when I am big!” But he ate us anyway.

The  end. 

NOT. 

We were too much and the ant blew up, which made us pop out of the ant hill.  Dad was looking for us with a magnifying glass AND HE FOUND US!  He got the shrink ray and turned us back to normal.  Then I stomped on the whole ant hill.  

Now, it’s the end.

Darren:       The Surprise Race
One day, mom and dad were thinking about putting their little boy in a big race. While their little boy was in his room his mom and dad signed the little boy up for a car race. When the little boy found out he got mad .The bad news was that the race was on Friday and it was already Wednesday!

The little boy and his dad went and bought a race car for the boy. It was black with yellow thunder stickers on the door and with red and black tires. When it was Friday they took the race car to the race track. When the race stared they all raced around and around and around. On the final lap the little boy was in 2nd, but then he passed another little guy, so the little boy came in first and got the little trophy.

On the way home the little boy said to his mom and dad I want to go in the race next year and he did.

Breanna:          Mimi’s  Adventure

One day Mimi got home from school and her mom said that Mimi’s dad had signed her up for swimming lessons on Friday, and Friday was tomorrow! When Mimi went to bed she wished it wasn’t Friday because she didn’t like the cold water.

When it was the morning Mimi got dressed and hid. But her mother found Mimi and said, “You are going to swimming lessons in ten minutes.” So Mimi got her swimming suit and they drove to the swimming lesson.

When they got to the swimming pool Mimi put her swimming suit on. It took Mimi a minute to get in the water but she got in the water anyway. The teacher showed Mimi how to swim and how to glide too. But when Mimi tried to swim Mimi got stuck in the drain. Then Mimi got sucked down the drain to a river. 

When it was done Mimi felt cold. So Mimi got out of the cold water and went to a little piece of land. Mimi saw that the water was a river that led to her house. Mimi climbed a tree and she could see the town. So Mimi climbed down the tree and looked behind her and she saw a flying squirrel.

The flying squirrel said that his name was Tom, and Mimi told him her name. Mimi asked if Tom could take her home? Tom said yes and he took Mimi home in time for dinner. Then Mimi invited Tom for dinner with her family.

THE END

Haley:

Courtney is sleeping under a blanket.  Courtney wishes for her and her mom and dad to go to Disney Land. While they are sleeping her wish comes true and they wake up in Disney Land.  Then Courtney says, “My wish came true!”  They stayed for three weeks. 

Sam, the dog, missed Courtney and her mom and dad.  Can Sam wish hard enough to wish them back?  YES!  Sam’s wish comes true.  Courtney’s mom and dad are back.  Hurray they are back!

Fred: Kyle was a bad guy; he was a bank robber.
He robbed banks, offices and more.  One day after he robbed a bank he made his get away, but he hit a car in the Street.

He robbed a bake shop and he drove away from the police cars in the baker van because his car was on fire. Kyle jumped out of the van when it ran out of gas, and he got caught. 

Kyle was sent to jail for 17 years.  But Kyle broke out of jail.  Kyle set a fire and 15 stores burnt down.  Kyle was mad because the cops watched Kyle rob a pizza place and he was sent to jail again for 19 years, but Kyle broke out of jail again and burned down a candy shop. 

The cops caught him again and put him in the police car. He drove a way from the police in their own car!  His car broke down again. The cops took Kyle to jail for good this time.

Taylor: One day Estelle was brushing her teeth when the bus made that sound…”Be-beep!!!!”  Estelle was so late for School that she forgot and left the bathroom water going and the house flooded and over flowed .When Estelle got home she climbed downstairs to her secret lab and it was filled with water!  Estelle wondered who did this. “Mom, you left the tap going!!” 

Mom yelled “NO I DIDN’T!”

“Then who did it?” Estelle wondered?

Estelle went out her bedroom door. “MOM THE STAIRS ARE COVERED WITH WATER!!”

Estelle went down stairs and opened the front door. So much water flowed out of the house that it washed the car. My mom got the vacuum cleaner from up stairs (so it was still dry and working). So mom started to vacuum. It took all day to vacuum the water out of whole house, but by 6:00 the house was dry and clean.

Don’t try this at home.