Sampler Saturday

Sampler Saturday: The Library, The Parlor, The Laboratory, and The Garden

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Debora

CHAPTER 6
The Library, The Parlor, The Laboratory, and The Garden
by Elizabeth, age 12

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“Which way shall we go?” Elizabeth asked.

“First door to the left.” Roxie said.

The first door to the left led into a library. It was a small library, but it was a library. Instead of books as far as the eye could see, there were only two small bookcases.

There was a hole in the wall, small enough for a gem. Elizabeth reached into her bag and pulled out a ruby, and stuck it into the hole. One of the bookcases slid to the side, revealing a secret passageway. The three all walked through.

The passageway led into a small room, complete with a fireplace, a globe, and a rug to sprawl out upon. (Which was just what Espio did.) There was no fire going, but Elizabeth took her torch and cast it into the fireplace. Moments later a warm and cheery fire crackled merrily, applying warmth to the room.

“How would you two like some hot cocoa?” Elizabeth asked, pulling the mugs, hot cocoa mix, thermos, and marshmallows from the supply bag. “I’m making myself some, but I can also make you some if you like. Oh Roxie! I’m so sorry! I brought enough mugs for me and Espio! I didn’t know you’d be joining! I’m so sorry!”

“That’s alright.” Roxie said. “I can share with Espio.” She turned towards Espio, who wasn’t so sure, but he said she could have her share. Continue reading →

Categories: Animals, books, Dragons, Fiction, Friends, Gaming, Humor, kids, Life, Love, Sampler Saturday | Leave a comment

Sampler Saturday: The T(r)oll Bridge

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Debora

CHAPTER 5

The T(r)oll Bridge
by Elizabeth, age 12

************************************

“Hello!” said a voice.

Elizabeth, Espio and Roxie looked up into the face of a troll.

“It’ll cost one gold coin to cross my bridge,” the troll said.

Roxie pulled out the bag of copper coins that she found in the coffin room. “Here,” she said. “It’s not gold, but it should do.”

“Two gold coins,” said the troll, smacking the coin out of Roxie’s hand.

Roxie’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“Let me handle this one,” said Espio.

He began to vanish before Elizabeth, Roxie, and the troll’s eyes! Very quickly, Espio dashed across the bridge.

Hearing his footsteps, the troll lifted the bridge, thinking Espio was still on it. But Espio had run so fast, that he was already safe on the other side!

Roxie jumped up, kicking the troll in the face, causing him to drop the bridge.

“Nice kicks, girl!” Espio said, turning visible on the other side of the chasm.

“Thanks!” Roxie replied, smacking the troll with her long tail.

Espio threw an explosive shuriken star at the troll, and the troll fell down during the explosion.

“Now how are we gonna get across?” asked Roxie.

She and Elizabeth looked down. The bridge was nothing more than a tiny dust speck in the distance.

But… they had forgotten about…

THE SLIME!!!
Continue reading →

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Sampler Saturday: Roxie

Posted on March 6, 2010 by Debora

CHAPTER 3: Roxie
by Elizabeth, age 11

**************

“Who’s there?” A voice asked.

“The dragon must’ve held someone prisoner!” Espio exclaimed.

There in a corner, curled up like a ball, sat a form of reptile! She was green, with two yellow horns on her forehead. Her tail, which was longer than the rest of her body, had ring marks around it like those of a raccoon. Unlike Espio, her tail wasn’t coiled as much as his was – She seemed to be an iguana… or a basilisk…or something! There were yellow spikes running down her back…and tail! Her eyes were as purple as Espio’s shoes.

“My name is Roxie and OHMYGOODNESS! IS THAT A CHAMELEON?!?!?”

Espio swallowed hard and backed away.

“OHMYGOODNESS! IT IS A CHAMELEON!!!” Roxie pounced on Espio and hugged him very tightly.

Espio could barely keep his balance! “YIKES, LADY! ARE YOU MAD!?” he hollered. Continue reading →

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Sampler Saturday: Shadowgate

Posted on February 27, 2010 by Debora

CHAPTER 2: Shadowgate
by Elizabeth, age 11

Elizabeth and Espio exited their safe little hideout and set out for a new adventure. The two had had so many adventures already! From traffic jams (Elizabeth brought some bread and peanut butter, just to be funny), to desert struggles, to quicksand encounters, to the beach.

“This adventure is going to last at least a week, perhaps a month!” Elizabeth said. “So we need to gather four week’s worth of provisions…just in case.”

So the two packed things that they thought they might need — even if they end up not needing it after all — including two swiss army knives (one for dining and one for any-old-time purposes), a flashlight, a bicycle helmet, a roll of scotch tape, some shuriken stars (explosive and non-explosive), a bottle of hand sanitizer, a canteen filled to the brim with water, a sketchpad, a pencil sharpener, five pencils that were so sharp, you could actually bleed if you touched the tips, Elizabeth’s favorite eight-and-a-half-sized sneakers, a pair of boots, an extra pair of Espio’s shoes, Elizabeth’s karaoke machine, a ton of batteries, Elizabeth’s pastel purple bathrobe, a bobby pin, a sleeping bag that could hold up to two people, two pillows, two mugs, some hot cocoa mix, a thermos filled to the brim with hot water, a bag of marshmallows, some kleenex, a matchbox, five emery boards, and a month’s supply of food. Elizabeth’s supplies were put into one bag, Espio’s supplies were put into another bag, supplies that the two would be sharing were put into another bag, food and water were put into another bag.

After Elizabeth and Espio packed their supplies, they headed to the castle Shadowgate, the first stop on their journey.

(This is a very long chapter. Click through to read the whole thing.)

Continue reading →

Categories: books, Dragons, Gaming, kids, Life, Sampler Saturday | Tags: The Adventures Of Elizabeth | Leave a comment

Sampler Saturday: New Format

Posted on February 20, 2010 by Debora

Elizabeth has stopped drawing comics for now, and started writing a chapter book. It’s turning out to be quite the entertaining read. Right now she’s on Part 2, Chapter 18 and still rolling right along, so I thought it might be fun to start posting her story here on Sampler Saturday, a chapter at a time. I think she has a real gift for storytelling; I hope she keeps developing it as she grows.

So here we go:

THE ADVENTURES OF ELIZABETH AND FRIENDS
Chapter 1: Interspecies Friends
By Elizabeth Silkotch, age 11

Once upon a time there was a young chupacabra girl. She looked human except that she had the ears of a rabbit, the tail of a cougar, the wings and claws of a dragon, the horn of a unicorn, and a strange purple marking (the source of her magic) on her nose. Her name was Elizabeth, she was a great artist and a beautiful singer, and she was reading one of her custom-made comic books while listening to her purple iPod.

Meditating in a corner was her friend, Espio. He was a sixteen-year-old ninja humanoid chameleon. His skin was a bright magenta/purple and his eyes were yellow and sometimes looked innocent. In between his eyes was a short yellow horn that stuck straight out. Like all chameleons, he had a coiled tail and a sort of crest on his head. Espio also had a sort of heart shape on his belly. He didn’t know why it had to be a heart shape, but Elizabeth thought Espio had so much love in his heart (he just refused to show it sometimes), that it just had to show on the outside too. Espio wore pure white gloves with purple triangle shapes on the back and gauntlets covering his wrists. He also wore shin guards and purple shoes. There was a single black stripe running across each shoe. And to top that off, there were three black spikes running vertically down his spine.

Espio just woke up from meditation and walked toward Elizabeth.

“Elizabeth,” Espio said.

Elizabeth, who could barely hear him over the sound of her iPod, paused her music and looked up.

“What?” She asked.

“I feel thirsty for adventure right now.” Espio replied.

Elizabeth and Espio had lived together for only a year now, Espio taking care of Elizabeth like a parent, only letting her have some fun when she wanted it*, teaching her some of his ninja skills, going on adventures whenever it seemed necessary. Espio also possessed every single little thing that a ninja possessed, (including shuriken stars and whatnot) and he even gave Elizabeth one fifth of his shuriken collection. Some of Espio’s shuriken stars were explosive and he didn’t give Elizabeth any of those because he said he didn’t trust her with any of his explosive equipment. He let her handle the non-explosives though. Espio had been a good teacher, parent, and friend to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth loved him to pieces.

Together, Elizabeth and Espio had become great friends and gradually, Elizabeth was winning Espio’s trust with his explosives.

**********************

*ED: Hmph!

Categories: Animals, books, Family, Fiction, Friends, Humor, kids, Life, Sampler Saturday | 1 Comment