7/21/26 (1)What I like and why: This story is similar to the previous story and has a common theme: Be considerate of others, life is not about you, learn about others and connect with them. The illustrations are incredibly beautiful, spectacular. My favorite part of this story is when Christopher Robin explains the game hide and seek and everyone is so excited. We all love GAMES! I like it because they look so excited and happy and the game brings them so much joy and fun.
(2) Techniques: The game was fun. The coziness and what makes it good is a game/activity that they do together and have fun together.
(3) My story: Instead of a game, what else or what other activities can they do together that allows them to spend time together, learn about each other and bond. Work together but from their own different perspective:
-A quest
-A hunt for treasure or a mysterious item/person/animal/unicorn/flower
-To solve a puzzle
-A project like building a house together, clean up the meadow
One day Skunk found a map that belonged to his grandfather. On this map, there was a compass, directions, names of places, and an x mark next to a drawing of a treasure chest. (Maybe don’t mention this in the beginning)
Skunk was so excited, he decided to invite all his friends to go on a search for the treasure together. He went to Fox’s house first.
“Fox, come with me quick. I have something really special I want to share with you.”
Fox dropped everything and went with Skunk. Soon after, he and all his friends gathered together at their favorite spot in the meadow.
“Everyone find a seat.”
Some sat on logs while others sat on the green grass on the ground. Skunk remained standing with one hand holding his grandfather’s map.
“So I just found this in a box that was passed down to me from my grandpa.”
He proceeds to show everyone the map.
“What is it?”
“Wow that’s a map.”
“Yes, a very old map.”
“What kind of map is it?”
Skunk cleared his throat.
“I believe this is a treasure map.”
Almost everyone stood up immediately. They all wanted to get closer to have a better look at the map.
“Treasure? Like gold and diamonds?”
“Yes, they would be in this treasure chest here,” said Skunk, pointing at the drawing of the chest on the map.”
“OOOH, I wonder what else is in there besides gold and diamonds?”
“Gems and emeralds.”
“I bet there are gold swords and armories in there too.”
“Skunk do you think there will be magic books in there?”
“Maybe. My grandpa was known for believing in magic.”
“Ooooh!” said Rabbit dreamily.
(They got lost in the wood at night. there are marks on the trees, certain geographical marks like a cave, hill, river, a big rock. they need a shovel, build a fire at night, bring food with them, prepare for a long journey. every time they got discouraged they found a marked item and that keeps them going. Every time they got lost, one of them found a marked item.
Work together. They were so dreamy and excited. They help each other out. when someone’s tired they find a marked item. Someone’s good at making fire, someone’s good at cooking, singing songs to cheer others up.
they finally found the chest at the end but no key so they carry the chest home. that was enough for them to be happy.
(The next step is the key to open the chest)
To give this more tension/depth, a few things I am going to try:
1)Disagreement
2)Obsession with a goal
3)It makes the character scared
4)It means something to the character
For example:
-The map/finding the treasure means a lot to Skunk because he loves his grandpa and wants grandpa to be proud of him. How to SHOW that he loves his grandpa:
a> he dreams about him
b> he fondly talks about his pleasant experiences with grandpa. One time he fell into the water and grandpa jumped in and rescued him. He gave him toys every time he came back from a trip.
c> One day his grandpa just disappeared and nobody knows where he was. This is the only thing that grandpa left for him.
d> he wants to be adventurous, brave, Grandpa told him “never give up” but he gives up a lot and only when his friends help him that he keeps on going. We all need someone to lean on.
So if he fails to find the treasure, it means he will disappoint his grandpa. He wants closure, his grandpa just disappeared and he misses him very much. He thinks maybe this treasure gives him some information about his grandpa.
***Readers want to know when they are lost and some wants to abandon the quest but he never gives up. “I will never go back until I find the treasure.”
***Readers wonder how he feels when his friends want to go back or a challenge is insurmountable.
A new friend Chicken doesn’t talk a lot. He just wants to tag along without talking/communicating because he doesn’t know how. Going on this treasure hunt means a lot to him bc he has something to do with his mind. He’s new to the community and he is having trouble sleeping at night, having nightmares from previous life before moving here. He’s struggling to get along with others. He enjoys this quest a lot because it gives him a purpose, something fun to do.
If he fails, he’s afraid that he would go back to his current situation and nightmares. He’s not having nightmares now.
Chicken makes new friends on this quest. he prefers to play alone.
***readers want to know his reaction when he wakes up after a good night of sleep
***readers want to know his reaction when he’s excited (because he’s always depressed)
***readers want to know his reaction when he’s made new friends, when he believes that he’s capable, and that others will accept him, by helping them and them helping him, to be able to share something with Skunk about his grandpa and that’s how he connects.
***when he was small, Chicken wanted to fly and his grandpa made him a kite and told him to imagine standing on the kite why it was flying in the sky,
Other friends are on this quest to have fun, to have an adventure.
-Rabbit leaves his beloved garden for this quest. He 50% wanted to go with his friends and 50% wanted to stay home to take care of his garden. He’s worried that his garden will not be in good condition if he’s away for too long. He’s the one that wants the group to quit and go back home, but this quest also shows that he values his friends more.
Disagreement: Rabbit disagrees with everyone and wants to go back. He’s grumpy. This is important because two things:
***readers want to know his reaction when they find the treasure
***readers want to know his reaction when they don’t find the treasure
***readers want to know his reaction when he helps the quest succeed
*readers want to know his reaction when he has to choose between his friends 50% and his wants to to home 50%. When he leaves the group to go back, but lost and his friends find him or he comes back to the group to help rescue them.
SO 2 characters with stakes in this quest and 1 disagreement to create tension.
2nd Draft:
The problem they face and the solution:
+Stream: find logs or branches. Work together if too heavy.
+Build a boat: to travel down the river.
+Sleep at night in the meadow under the sky.
+Making a camp, campfire, cooking
+Lost in the wood, using compass, asking for help, huddling….
+Up a steep hill, but find the marked location on the map
+Monster, roaring, chased by monster, DROP some items from backpack, but can survive in nature
+Ghost
+Mysterious creatures
+Rain/Thunderstorm
+Cold night
+Shooting star
+Strong wind
+Swimming, relaxing in the shade
+Exploring new places, flowers, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, fish, beo waterlilies…
+Hungry, find yummy fruit trees (monkey)
Adding the Looking Forwardness from the Pooh’s birthday story. Right now there are too many characters on this quest and it can be overwhelming so I am just focusing on a few characters and add more when needed (I want a big group but let’s start with a small group first)
Skunk, Chicken (new friend, Batula), Bear (lonely), Monkey (OH), Fox, Rabbit, Squirrel
They were all excited, except for Rabbit who was grumpy and loved to complain. 50% of him was also excited at the prospect of finding treasure, but 50% wanted to go back to take care of his garden and his daily routine.
The first challenge was a steep green hill.
“OK, according to the map, we should be approaching a steep hill soon.”
Squirrel ran forward to take a look.
“There it is, Skunk,” Squirrel said excitedly, pointing at a green hill ahead of them and used his hand to signal them to go forward.
The whole group was ecstatic.
“Yay!”
“Treasure here we come”
“Thank the gods,” said Rabbit, feeling less grumpy.
They walked up the hill, singing and whistling. However, they were all out of breath midway up the hill. The stronger ones had to help pull the friends who were exhausted and out of energy.
“Let’s sit down on the rocks and take a quick break.”
“I need a long break”
“Me too.”
When they all found themselves a rock to settle on, Skunk handed each a cup of water.
“I didn’t expect this quest to be so tiring,” said Rabbit.
“Tired but fun,” said Squirrel.
“I agree with you, Squirrel,” said Fox.
The rest nodded their heads in agreement.
“How much longer until we get there, Skunk?” asked Rabbit.
“I am not sure, but I think we still have a long way to go.”
“It’s worth it. Treasure isn’t easy to find,” said Monkey.
“I’m going to find it no matter how far it is,” said Pig.
“I’m glad you feel that way Pig,” said Skunk.
After break, they resumed their quest and continued to walked uphill. The hill seemed to get steep and steeper as they went.
“Can we take another break soon?”
“But we just had a break.”
“I know, but I need another one or I will drop unconscious.”
“Let me go up and talk to Skunk.”
Squirrel walked up to the front of the line.
“Skunk, looks like Rabbit and Bear need a break.”
“But we just had a break.”
“I know but looks like they are exhausted.”
“Let’s take another break when we get to the top of the hill,” said Monkey.
“How do we know if we are on top of the hill?” asked Skunk.
“When the ground either gets flatter or go downwards,” said Monkey, “I expect we should get there soon.”
“How do you know?”
“Just look ahead. I can see the top from here.”
“Everyone, listen. We will take another break when we get to the top of the hill.”
Looking forwardness and cozyness:
That night at the bottom of the steep green hill, they settled down and set up camp. (New friend Chicken, Skunk (grandpa), Bear, Rabbit)
They set up one big camp, built a campfire, and cooked food.
(3 opportunities for them to connect: sitting around campfire, laying on the grassy ground to look at the stars, sleeping inside the tent with monster outside.
*** “Look at all the beautiful sparkling stars”
“Stars are so beautiful!”
“There are so many of them.”
“Looking at the night sky makes me feel small.”
“The good kind of small or the bad kind of small?”
“Maybe both. It makes me feel lost because the universe is so big, with so so many mysteries.”
“Yeah like where do stars come from?”
“And who lives there?”
“And do they have watermelon there?”
“But I also feel happy because I am with my friends. And when I’m with friends, I am never truly lost.”
“Or it’s nice to get lost together.”
“Or feel overwhelmed together.”
“What do you think, Chicken?”
“Oh I don’t know.”
“It’s ok to share, Chicken,” said Skunk, “you are our friend and we are your friends.”
“Yeah, you are a friend and it doesn’t matter if you share or not, you are still a friend.”
“I don’t know what I am thinking. I had never looked closely at the stars before.”
“Really?”
“Why?”
“When it gets dark, my parents always closed the door shut and never let us outside.”
“Because it’s dangerous at night?”
“Yeah, my dad said monsters like to come out at night and eat us.”
“Haha, my pa said the same thing but I didn’t believe him so I went outside one night to him wrong.”
“And what did you see?”
“Beautiful yellow moon and sparkling stars and there were no monsters to be seen anywhere.”
“Maybe there were monsters but you scared them away.”
“Haha, that’s a real possibility haha. I am a monster slayer” (More to come)
Three characters to focus on for now. Skunk, Chicken, Rabbit (Rabbit is less of a major character compared to Skunk, and Chicken)
Chicken and Rabbit are frenemies.
For the first time in a very very long time, or even in forever, Chicken felt energized, excited for what to come, a sense of belonging, connected with others, felt loved.
+by the campfire
+looking up at the stars
+under the blanket inside the tent
To make these events mean a lot to him. Before the quest, he couldn’t sleep at night, and kept having nightmares. This is important because it makes readers wonder how he felt when having a good night of sleep, filled with pleasant dreams and hope instead of nightmares.
To make sitting around campfire mean a lot to him and make readers wonder what he was thinking. Before the camp, he wanted to be off by himself, quiet, just listen to other talk, wanting to be invisible. He was sitting there quietly, looking at the fire, listening to others talking, wanting to be invisible. A friend came sit next to him, at first he didn’t like it but then appreciated it. Sitting quietly together.
To make sleeping under the blanket inside the tent mean a lot to him, the coziness, the connection. When there was a monster outside, and everyone inside the tent was scared. It was good for Bear because it was nice to feel scared together, not feeling scared alone when having nightmares.
Also another thing, he’d never had fun. This quest meant so much to him because it was so much fun and so much excitement.
Now that everyone knows his story, what can his friends do that means a lot to him OR make readers wonder what he’s thinking? Or not just what his friends do, but what can happen that makes us wonder what he’s thinking because it means so much to him:
-They give up the quest and decide to go back home, this would crush him. He’s thinking maybe he will go on this quest alone.
-Someone gave him a warm blanket because even though he was cold, he didn’t want to say anything in fear of bringing attention on himself. He wanted to be invisible, but his friends refused to let him be invisible.
-Having a good night of sleep and no nightmares means a lot to him.
-Contributing to the group or help the group find treasure means a lot to him because sense of belonging is extremely important to him. But to make this mean a lot to him, something had to happen before that contribution. What is it? He had never been a part of a group before. His friends complimented him. “Wow, I’ve never
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WFFF 
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