Writing+Collaboratively

All of the students working on the Coast to Coast Chronicles were invited to particpate in some collaborative writing. All writing was hosted on Moodle where it was created, edited and then published here. We hope you enjoy reading our collaborative work created by students from across the country.

= Book Review of __Because of Winn Dixie__ = =by: Kate DiCamillo= In this book, a girl named Opal moved to Naomi, Florida. They moved because her dad, a preacher, wanted to preach in another church. The church was in a adult park, like a trailor park, but no kids her age lived there. Opal did not have a mother because when Opal was three, she left. Her dad does not talk about her, but Opal knew he still loved her. One day Opal's father asked Opal to go to the store. When she came back, she brought a dog. Opal asked to keep him because if she did not, he would have to go to the pound. Her father said it would be okay, only if she fed, bathed, and cared for him. Opal called the dog Winn-Dixie because she found him at the Winn Dixie store. Because of Winn-Dixie she got a job at the petstore. She knew Winn-Dixie needed a collar because if he got lost, she wanted to be able to get him back. Opal got paid every week just to sweep the floor. On the way home from teh pet store, they went to the library and Miss Franny read them a true story about the war. Then Amanda Wilkinson walked in. She turned in a huge book and listened to the story also. Miss.Franny gave them some old candy, called "Littmus Lozenges." They had a sad taste to it, so it reminded Opal about her mom. When walking home after her first job at the petstore, Winn-Dixie ran into the witch's gate, which is what the Dewberry boys called it. While running after Winn-Dixie, Sweetie Pie came out to ask Opal and if she would go to her birthday party with Winn-Dixie. Opal said she would go, and stepped inside the gate. Opal saw Winn-Dixie eating a Peanut butter sandwich. Opal became friends with the witch, though she was not a witch. Opal and the witch planned a party for everyone to come that night. They invited the preacher, Otis, Sweetie Pie, Miss Franny, Amanda, and the Dewberry boys. When everyone came, the party got started. Even though she did not have her friends back home, she had friends who will stay with her forever because of Winn Dixie!

One day I woke up, and I couldn't remember who I was. I saw someone standing close to me and she asked me, "Don't you have any friends who could help you?" I didn't know what they meant. What's a friend? She announced, " A friend is a person who cares for you and wants to help you in every way." "Where am I and why are you here?" "You are deep in the forest, and I was going for a walk. At the age 7, I always came out here to be alone and smell the fresh air," the girl explained. The girl took me to her house. When we both walked in her mother asked, "Elizabeth who is our guest?" Elizabeth answered, " This is a girl I discovered in the woods, she has no clue who she is and she doesn't know her own name." Elizabeth's mother was so nice that she let me stay in the guest room for a while until I regained my memory. When I took one quick glance at the guest bedroom, I assumed it was fit for a king. They let me have some clean clothes and a new toothbrush. Elizabeth and I played tons of games and put on make-up and nail polish. One thing I knew for sure is that Elizabeth and I would be best friends forever! Soon it was time to go to bed, so we leaped in bed, and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow! The next morning Elizabeth peeked into the guest bedroom. "Hey, I didn't think you would be awake yet," she whispered with a smile. " I am an early riser," I replied. "How about we go grab some breakfast? Then we can go to the woods and see if you have made a remarkable recovery!" "Okay!" I said with a little laughter. After a delightful breakfast, I thanked her mom and we headed out the door. After we reached the woods, Elizabeth started, "So do you remember your name?" "Actually yes I do, but that is the only thing I remember. My name is Kaylee." As Elizabeth and Kaylee were wondering about the woods, Elizabeth went to find her brother. So then she introduced her brother, Danny, to Kaylee. "This is my friend Kaylee," Elizabeth announced. "Hey Kaylee!" Danny greeted. After there awkward conversation, they played ball together. After that the three friends had a wondrous time playing ball three times. They decided to play another game. Danny was the batter and Elizabeth and Kaylee were infielders. Danny had a very difficult time hitting the ball. While they were playing, they had an awesome time. Kaylee was absoloutley awesome at ball. "**So do you want to make new friends?" asked Danny. "Sure!" Kaylee replied. //All the sudden a boy appeared out of no where//. //"Who are you?"// Kaylee asked in a startled voice.The boy replied, " //I 'm George.// //I just moved here and wanted to make some new friends." H//e asked, "//Will you be my new friends?" "Sure!" they all agreed.//** **When they went to Elizabeth's house,** they ate dinner. They ate sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese,and chicken. When they started to chow down their food, George dropped his fork. So Kaylee gave him her fork."Thanks Kaylee," replied George. "I'll get another one," she said. After dinner, they went to play games on the floor. Elizabeth will play with me?" //Kaylee// asked, "So how do you like the game //Find your Friend//?" Kaylee wants to know if they want to play ball? Elizabeth said sure. What kind of ball do you want to play? Kaylee said that she loves softball. Then Elizabeth said that she loves softball too. So then they found out that they have at least one thing in common. Well there they go talking about some more stuff in common. I think that they were really ment to be best friends forever. They already know so much about each other. Well Kaylee also knows alot about Elizabeths"s brother Danny. I really think that they were meant to be be best friends forever. Later, they decided to go visit George's house to meet his parents. They arrived at the house and stepped into the large, magnificent living room. His parents greeted everyone kindly. His parents had a funny look on their faces as if they thought Kaylee was familiar. Next George showed them around the house. "You know what is weird?" Kaylee whispered to George. "This looks exactly like my house! Are you my brother? Is this my house? Are those my parents????!!!" They went to bed at George's house that night.Then in the morning ,they ate breakfast. They talked some more about themselves. Later that day they went to play. Then they went back to the house for some snacks. All four of them had a game of hide an seek to discover different parts of the house. There was a girl room, a boy room, and a parents' room. Kaylee asked, " George do you have a sister"? George said, "My sister got lost a month ago when we moved here." " So, what about your sister? How did she get lost in the forest?" "Well, she was running around in the forest and we saw these amazing water falls. All of a sudden she jumped in to the water fall into the water and got hurt so, I did the same to save her. By the time I got down there, she had disappeared deep in the forest. " "So what happend to your sister ,what did she jump into"? George said, "The water fall."."How did she get lost how did she hurt her self jumping into the water?I am prety sure she was hurt bad. Why did she leave you when she left and got lost? Kaylee looks just like you everything about you is the same thing she had.Really I didn't know she looked like me ."Maybe we can find her".While walking into the deep forest,they found a+ bracelet that was blue and it said Kaylee.So next George "says thats my sisters bracelet this must be a sign"!  "Your sister's bracelet!No way it's mine. Maybe your sister and I have the same bracelets." Kaylee explained. "Maybe but where did you get that bracelet?" asked George. " I had it on when I woke up. " annouced Kaylee. " Where did you wake up?" asked George. Kaylee didn't answer his question for a brief moment and she whispered slowly,"In th-e th-e forest!" "Okay but if it was laying beside me when i woke-up and it had my name on it, it has to be mine!" said Kaylee. " How do you know that someone didn't come up to you and check on you because they could have and maybe dropped it and there name was Kaylee to?" Exclaimed George. "What if they didn't and it really is mine." Kaylee said. " But they didn't! Because it was me I checked on you in the woods and I dropped it." George said. " But why would you do that?" asked Kaylee.   Kaylee and George found out they were brother and sister so they went home and tould their parents and they both screamed because they were freaked out! And they celebrated and had a party because of their wonderful discoverment their parents still couldn't believe it. It was all so weird to Kaylee. It was so weird because she never really know the family. So kaylee deciced to go tell Elizabeth that George was her brother then .Then when she got to Elizabeth house and told Elizabeth she was freak out as well as my family. Though she was glad that we could always see each other in the woods because we lived close by.Elizabeth went to go tell her brother he was glad that Kaylee had a brother though so they could play together sometimes.That night Kaylee's and Elizabeth's family had a feast at the all you can eat buffet. Also I looked in my house and was crying happy tears. Though Elizabeth and I slept on the floor in my room with a huge flat screen tv. We watch all our favorite movies in one whole night.In the morning my dad made chocolate biscuits, they were so good we ate lots of it. After breakfast we went to go get dressed and went in the forest with Danny and George. We saw a small dog and took it over to my house. Mom said we could keep it if we washed first. Danny found out it was a boy so we named it Spots because it was white with black spots. After we washed Spots we played with the water hose Danny and George joined us and they found waterballons and threw them at us. When we were through we went in my house to dry off ,and get some snacks. We went to my room and watched tv with Spots. After the movie we ate last nights left overs. Then we went down stairs and played with Spots. After that we took Spots for a walk. When we got home Spots went to sleep on my bed. It was a long day so Spots went to bed fast. The next morning Spots woke me up by liking on my face. When we went to the woods Spots sniffed something and ran even farther into the woods. "Spot! Come back! " I said, but it was too late he was gone. I ran back too Elizabeth, "he's gone he's gone!" I shouted. "what?!" she said. We were so sad, so we put up lost signs all over but still could't find him, then one day went into the woods and saw a magic well and in that well there was a... "ELF?!"There was a magic elf in the well.I looked further down to see if it was really true and Spots came running back.He ran over and jumped on my back,pushing me into the well "AGHHH!" I screamed and landed on my face though i landed in water not a hard concrete well. "Why are you here?" Kaylee asked. "I'm here because I need your help to get back to the North Pole, " said the elf. "Why do you need my help?" said Kaylee. "I need you because you and your friends will only believe me." "Why because you can see me and thats a sign you believe in a North Pole!!!" Kaylee goes to get Danny, Elizabeth, George, and grabs spots. When the four kids, a dog, and Magic Elf all got into this cool car. When they got at the North Pole Kaylee and Elizabeth said, " This is what true friends do!" Then the two boys agreed!