Children's Almanac
Students in Mrs. Bryant’s Grade 6 English class,
Hoover Middle School
Emotions
Name: Imir Ruka
Age: 12
The good news reaches your ears.
Happiness
Rejoicing
And yet,
Crying
Weeping
Sobbing.
Anger fills the heart.
They ask, “To whom thy anger?”
To which you respond, “To life, to life I anger.”
Happiness,
Fun,
Yet distraught.
Torn
Scarred.
Emotions
Thou shall feel, yet not.
Numbness, coldness,
And yet,
Warmness, peacefulness
Comforting yet uncomfortable.
And then, life wins the battle.
And thou cry
But thou art relieved,
You do not have to fight in thine battle
Anger
And sadness
And dread
And yet not all shall be sad
And disgraced
But thou shalt be
Happy
Beautiful
Congratulated
Not alone
Life usually wins
But that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.
“A Relationship Between Two”
Name: Layla Greene
Age: 11
A good friend you say,
Well each person has another way
To describe the person fit for them
But there are qualities you need to not condemn.
Looks might matter to some, but it’s from within
What really matters is under the skin.
Your heart, your brain, should have more to give
When mistakes are made they can forgive.
When you are down, not feeling ok,
They help you find the right roadway
To keep you on the path, not holding back
On your full potential making sure you don’t lack
What you need to do to keep them too
This relationship between you two.
Devices
Name: Rehan Van Dam
Age: 12
Devices control humanity
Work, school, and video games
Going outside
Devices waste time
Time lost, forever
Hours pass fast
Years pass faster
Devices
Endless scrolling
It never ends
Devices
Working all day on a screen
Stress
Eye strain and back pain
Devices
Video games
Addiction
Devices
At home
At school
By day; by night
Devices
Social media
Likes and follows
Approval seeking
Devices
Mental health crashing,
Missing out
Addiction
Anxiety
Depression
Devices
Lad: A Dog
Name: Joanna Wang
Age: 11
That stubbornly sweet Lad,
So brave and enduring.
He rescued many, making them glad,
Willing to get hurt, even die securing.
So brave and enduring;
He’s sincere and wants sincerity.
Willing to hurt, even die securing,
He saved and loved Lady sincerely.
He’s sincere and wants sincerity,
Affectionate and friendly to Lady.
He saved and loved Lady sincerely;
Devoted to his Master and Mistress, and loyal? Completely
Affectionate and friendly to Lady;
He rescued many, making them glad.
Devoted to his Master and Mistress, and loyal? Completely,
That stubbornly sweet Lad.
“Making Mom’s Favorite Food”
Name: Annika Sebastine
Age: 12
Every year
(Although there’s no exact day)
My family gathers
Around the marbled kitchen counter
To make pani puri,
My mom’s favorite food.
We start with her describing to us about
What life was like
“Back in my day”
She chatters away about how she
Would always get pani puri
From one of the vendors
Lining the streets of Mumbai.
She tells us how much she loved
One of the vendors pani puris
And how it’s now her favorite food
Blah, blah, blah
I think,
Great story!
When can we start eating?
Finally, she stops
And we can finally start making
The food.
I snatch one of the shells
Out of the plastic carton.
Crack! Pop!
Goes the spherical shell
When we crack a little hole
In it
With our fingers.
As I grasp the pale yellow oval
With two fingers.
Then, I spoon in some
Potatoes
All mashed up
As a base
So the liquid doesn’t leak out.
The pani puri water
Green, black, or red
Gets poured into the hole of our shell.
A little bit of yogurt is added to cut
Back on the spice
And it is topped with aloo bhujia,
Crispy pieces of fried potato.
We mix and match the different
Liquids
Trying to find out our favorite combo.
A little bit of potato goes in
Then some red sauce with yogurt and
Aloo bhujia
The first time
And maybe just
Black liquid and potato
The next.
The first bite
Is the most special.
Crunch!
Goes the shell when
It snaps between my teeth
And the spicy sauce soaks
Into my tongue
As I grab a glass of water.
I take another
Shell
Out of the box
For my brother.
He hates spice
So I make sure
To make it extra spicy
Just for him.
I fill up a plate
With three
Or four puris
And sit down
At the dining table
Crunching away
Happily.
One more through the lips
My mouth overwhelmed by a wave of sauce
Rushing down my throat
I guess that one had
Too much liquid
I think
So I get up
To make another one
Once again I taste it
This time it’s too spicy
Standing up again
And again
And again
As I cram
More
And more
And more
Down my throat
Critiquing myself on each one I make.
I race
With my family
To see who can eat
The most puris
My mom says
Her friend has eaten
Sixty at once.
The most I can eat
Is thirty.
Then
My mom tells me
That that was just an appetizer
As she brings out more food to eat.
But after all that
I can’t eat any more.
So I collapse on the sofa
With a full belly
And a wide grin on my face.
Hope Within The Air…
Name: Ashra Siddiqui
Age: 12
The flowers blooming slowly
The sun giving life to all,
Shining through my room
Not a single cloud in the sky
I smile, a big wide smile
The birds dance in the sky gliding with the soft wind
The bees were buzzing along hovering above the flowers
The air is crisp, with the smell of flowers blooming all around
The grass is verdant full of little insects hopping joyfully
A little boy plays in the fields,
Giggles merrily
The sun’s beams brushed my face to feel warm all over
I take a deep breath,
Taking in all of the beauty
As the day goes on,
The sun rises within the sky
More beauty and life emerge
The senses of nature pleased my eyes,
And tears formed in the corners
A small Blue Bird perches on my windowsill
It sings it’s heart out, whistles flowing gracefully
Until it’s voice cracks to a piercing screech
The clouds darken
Flames emerge gradually
The grass loses its verdant color
The flowers sink down into dust
Branches falling with might
Everything turns gray
And the whole world bursts into chaos right in front of my eyes
Loud noises coming from every which way
Glass breaking
Scarring into my skin
It cuts deep,
Blood drips out
Just like the color drained out of the world.
As the night emerged things only got worse
The wolves woke up from their sleep and moaned through the night
The last leaf falls on a dead tree,
Slowly drifting down to the ground
I crawl on the creaky floor,
And I find a small puzzle piece
It’s full of vibrant colors
It felt strange,
Something was not right
The piece glowed with a golden hue
I placed it on my palm
It grew brighter by the second
As the hours went on
For what seemed like eternity
I was filled with glowing puzzle pieces
Bundled up in my hands
With my scarred body,
I scrambled every nook and corner
To find more
Of these mysterious pieces
As I put the pieces together one by one,
They grew even brighter all together
The shine blinded my eyes
Piece by piece,
The world trickled back with color
I could sense it,
There was HOPE in the air
I could smell it
Tickling the hairs in my nose
I could hear it
Soft, joyful noises filling my ears
I could taste it
Tingling my taste buds with its sweet flavor
I could feel it
Brushing my face and goosebumps all over
I could see it
There was HOPE in the air