Down with Censorship!
Would you believe my son's school is censoring him? Ridiculous. Every year they put together a book where every kid in the school gets to write something that is published. Very good for getting those inventive, open-ended, unbounded juices flowing, for helping them to develop imagination, insight and the discipline it takes to be creative ('cause no matter your talent, it's damn hard work). Oh, but did I mention you have to be creative within their ideals? You have to stay within the box they want you to, but don't bother to tell you about before you start writing? Before you work very hard to produce something that you're proud of?
Yeah, they didn't tell him either.
So when he submitted the following story, they promptly returned it with "We refuse to print this because it's too violent."
Whatever. Like kindergarteners and above don't see dozens of acts of violence every day in their cartoons? Read it in their books? Hear it on the news?
I promised Connor that his short story would be published, so I'm posting it here. A little bit of background first. Connor grew up listening to stories I'd make up for him. Most of the time they were either Dodo the Dumptruck or The 6-pack vs. some alien/creature/oppressor. Hey, he liked them, what can I say?
For this year's book, he decided to write his own 6-pack story. I'm very proud of it, since I helped not one iota. These are his words, his thoughts and his sentence structure. Scary as it is, the kid has better grammar than I do.
And I'm very, very proud of you, Connor.
The 6-Pack vs. The Evil Robot Ninjas
by Connor McLean
Once upon a time there was a famous superhero group called the 6-pack. There was a mom, a dad, a grandpa, a grandma, an uncle and a kid named Connor. They were relaxing in their Hawaiian headquarters in Florida. All of a sudden, the videophone rang and Connor answered.
It was a girl from Japan. She said that evil robot ninjas were invading Japan. Connor hung up and hit the emergency button. Everybody lined up as Connor gave the briefing. After that, they got their weapons and went to the hangar and took off in their flying aircraft carrier.
When they got to Japan, they took the fighters down to land. When they got down, they encountered a group of robot ninjas. Mom quickly did them in with her boomerang spear. Connor spied archers and quickly destroyed them with his bow. Uncle saved Grandpa and chopped the head off one that was about to hit him.
When Connor checked a commander, he found a scroll that he deciphered and kept. When they reached the village, they split up. Connor stumbled upon the enemies HQ and snuck in. When he found the main computer, he hacked in and stopped the factory from producing any more robot ninjas, then set explosives and ran.
He got out just as the explosives went off, but he found himself surrounded by 10,000 robot ninjas. But Connor used the scroll he had found called Word of Power. As he said the inscription, energy built up around him and when he finished, the energy dispersed in one giant shockwave. Not only did it destroy the evil robot ninja army, but it sent them flying back thirty yards!
After the rest were destroyed, the 6-pack stumbled upon and infiltrated a giant robot ninja where they found the mastermind behind the robots. It was Catamus Maximus! After they captured him, animal control took him away.
The world was safe and Connor had a new weapon.
The end.
Yeah, they didn't tell him either.
So when he submitted the following story, they promptly returned it with "We refuse to print this because it's too violent."
Whatever. Like kindergarteners and above don't see dozens of acts of violence every day in their cartoons? Read it in their books? Hear it on the news?
I promised Connor that his short story would be published, so I'm posting it here. A little bit of background first. Connor grew up listening to stories I'd make up for him. Most of the time they were either Dodo the Dumptruck or The 6-pack vs. some alien/creature/oppressor. Hey, he liked them, what can I say?
For this year's book, he decided to write his own 6-pack story. I'm very proud of it, since I helped not one iota. These are his words, his thoughts and his sentence structure. Scary as it is, the kid has better grammar than I do.
And I'm very, very proud of you, Connor.
The 6-Pack vs. The Evil Robot Ninjas
by Connor McLean
Once upon a time there was a famous superhero group called the 6-pack. There was a mom, a dad, a grandpa, a grandma, an uncle and a kid named Connor. They were relaxing in their Hawaiian headquarters in Florida. All of a sudden, the videophone rang and Connor answered.
It was a girl from Japan. She said that evil robot ninjas were invading Japan. Connor hung up and hit the emergency button. Everybody lined up as Connor gave the briefing. After that, they got their weapons and went to the hangar and took off in their flying aircraft carrier.
When they got to Japan, they took the fighters down to land. When they got down, they encountered a group of robot ninjas. Mom quickly did them in with her boomerang spear. Connor spied archers and quickly destroyed them with his bow. Uncle saved Grandpa and chopped the head off one that was about to hit him.
When Connor checked a commander, he found a scroll that he deciphered and kept. When they reached the village, they split up. Connor stumbled upon the enemies HQ and snuck in. When he found the main computer, he hacked in and stopped the factory from producing any more robot ninjas, then set explosives and ran.
He got out just as the explosives went off, but he found himself surrounded by 10,000 robot ninjas. But Connor used the scroll he had found called Word of Power. As he said the inscription, energy built up around him and when he finished, the energy dispersed in one giant shockwave. Not only did it destroy the evil robot ninja army, but it sent them flying back thirty yards!
After the rest were destroyed, the 6-pack stumbled upon and infiltrated a giant robot ninja where they found the mastermind behind the robots. It was Catamus Maximus! After they captured him, animal control took him away.
The world was safe and Connor had a new weapon.
The end.
posted by Jennifer August @ 7:53 PM
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