KidZine

KidZine is proof that good things can take time, but that it’s worth it when they come together.

Years ago, Anne Keenan, the Executive Director of Philadelphia nonprofit Reading Recycled, had the idea for this publication. Reading Recycled’s mission is to ensure all children grow up with books to call their own. The nonprofit carries out this mission through a number of different programs, ranging from their longstanding Philly Book Bank, which supplies local teachers with books for their classrooms, to their recent Putting Books Back in Philly Schools campaign. KidZine would continue to fulfill this mission: it would be written and illustrated by kids and for kids to provide youth with reading opportunities wherever they go. But Anne had a problem in bringing KidZine to fruition. She knew young readers, but she didn’t know young writers.

So Anne searched for kids whose writing she could publish. She scoured Philadelphia — for months, and then for years. And as time passed, Anne began to grow disheartened.

That’s when Cosmic Writers emerged. Cosmic Writers is a nonprofit that runs creative writing workshops for K–12 students in Philadelphia and beyond. And when Philadelphia Reading Captain Patrick Manning connected Anne with the then-fledgling Cosmic Writers, something incredible happened: KidZine came alive.

This is our third issue of KidZine, published by Reading Recycled and featuring the fantastic writing produced during Cosmic Writers workshops. Today, kids throughout Philly and beyond can read KidZine and see their imaginations reflected in the artistry of their peers. And that’s pretty amazing.

Once Yuki destroyed the giant mosquito last time, he still was not done yet. He still has his warriors, there were 197,613,467,765 of them. Their planet is called: the mosquito of the dark shadow.

So Yuki put the “Shaina Haqoia” away and found an even stronger weapon. This time it was called “Tosta Kowasta.” It is stronger than the other one. So he attacked 1,397,567 so far, but there were still more to go. So other people got their own. Now they killed 1,000 more of them, but still not enough. Now finally all of them are killed and everyone is safe again. The end!

A Box showed up at someone’s house. His name is Ahmad. “What’s that,” he said, “Hmm.” He did not buy anything. He opened the box and it took him to Sudan. He did not know how to speak Arabic, but when he talked, he spoke Arabic. He gasped. He ate a lot of food in the box and he was in Mexico! The end.

As Chase Garrel was coming home from his science lab in Austin, Texas, he realized how hot his city really was and he saw people holding popsicles. When he went inside his house, he sat down on the couch and turned on the news. The top headline was that factories all around the world were producing lots of pollution and some people were getting sick from it. After all, he thought that Austin's factories were bad, but when he saw these he said that this needed to change. After a set of advertisements, they were talking about the same topic so Chase had to watch. They were saying not only that but glaciers were melting and the polar bears were in extreme danger. Finally, after a while of watching the news, he skipped reading the newspaper and started to make his dinner.

While he was making tacos, climate change and global warming was still lingering in his head. When he went to sleep that day he couldn’t fall asleep. When he was going to work that day he realized why it was so hot. When Chase got to his science lab he asked his colleague Jake if he saw what happened on the news last night. Jake said, “Yes it is bad and if we don’t do anything it will get worse.” Chase knew they had to do something so he and Jake started to research what was causing this pollution and how to stop it. Now they knew it had something to do with carbon dioxide and they had to reduce it.

The question was, how would they do it?

As the two of them were finding ways to reduce carbon dioxide they had to find a way it also was good for the environment. Also, if they wanted this to be real and work they needed support and people to agree with them. Now there were a lot of things to do and they thought that they should find a way to reduce carbon dioxide first, then release the idea to the public. As they were finding ways to reduce carbon dioxide they came upon many simple ways that they could help save the world. One way is that people all drive electric cars and don’t throw out plastic. Finally, after hours of searching, they found a way that may work. It is putting a couple of substances in a bottle mixing them and leaving it in the ground for 3 months. It will let out fumes all the time that do not harm the earth but reduce carbon. and after it reduces all the carbon in the area the fumes mix in with the air. Also, this substance works all the time, and you have to plant them 20 miles apart from each other.

First, they had to test it out so they made the bottle and put it aside. Next, they filled this testing room with carbon dioxide and after that, they put the bottle inside and had to wait three months. Now, this could go either way and work or not work so they had to keep their hopes high. Chase wanted this to work because he cared about the environment a lot and wanted to give back to the world. He wanted to be kind and nice and also be proud of himself. After three months they look back in the room with the carbon dioxide meter and it reads zero. Chase and Jake were so happy. However, the next step was super hard and that was to have people know what they were doing.

Now to have a way for people to support them they needed to find a way for people to figure out what they were doing. The first idea was to post their idea on social media and have people do what they were. State the steps to make the bottle, then place it in the ground. Finally, it told them to wait three months and the carbon dioxide in a 20-mile radius would be no carbon and it will stay that way. After a day or two, 7,000 people posted themselves doing it as well. Chase and Jake thought if they wanted the whole world to do it they thought that people from all over the world needed to do it. First, Chase and Jake went around Austin and other nearby cities to plant the bottles themselves. After a while of what felt like putting bottles all around Texas, when they only did half of it, another 15,000 people joined and they were so happy.

In the USA someone picked a state and filled that state with the bottles. Chase and Jake laughed as they saw that comment. As people started to pick states they decided to do Texas so they filled Texas with bottles. When they were done they went back to the lab. Chase and Jake's phones beeped with comments. They thought, ``Why don’t we have a world map so we can see what countries are filled with bottles and the countries that are not filled? As they were setting up the map their phone kept on beeping so after the world map was they had to check it. People from all over the world were saying which state in their country they would do.

So Chase and Jake decided that they would mark the countries without the bottles red and the ones with the bottles red. After they filled in 100 countries they couldn’t take a break because the comments kept on going and going. Finally, all the countries were done and the world was filled with bottles. Now, all they had to do was wait three months and see if it was successful. After three months, Jake and Chase felt like it was a year. They drove to a remote part in Texas and it read 0 carbon. They were happy, but the real test was in the city where most of the pollution is. It also read 0 carbon. Chase and Jake felt extremely happy. People were testing it out and they said it read 0 carbon as well. Finally, the world would be cleaner.

As Chase was falling asleep that day he thought that he didn’t do this for fame, but he did this to be kind to people and to change the world in a good way.

Someone tried to kill me. No one believes me though. No one ever believes me. I told them the whole story too. I snuck out to meet my friends at the beach. We were all swimming but this weird current started pushing me gradually away. Next thing I knew, I was being pushed underwater.

No one saw anyone else out there. Not even my mom. I’m angry. I’m angry that they won’t believe me. They should have seen something... right?

===

“Jessie, I’m taking Benny to school,” Mom called from downstairs. Right. Benjamin Elliot Davis, the perfect child. Not like Liar Jessica Mylie Davis.

“Alright, Mom,” I answered back, rolling my eyes as I flopped back onto the bed. It had been three weeks since the accident. I was released from the hospital two days ago. My parents are fussing over me like a baby chick and tell me every single move they do.

I heard the door close and that was my time to act. I ran downstairs and to Mom’s office. It was locked — but I knew the combination. I was that smart. It was Mom’s birthday — typical.

3-12-77 beep, beep

I swung the door open and it thumped, hard, against the wall. I grabbed my phone from Mom’s desk and swiped it, unlocking it.

I had missed 152 calls. 152. Calls.

I dialed Jiya’s number and she quickly picked up. “Jess!” Her high voice squeaked through the receiver. “You’re okay! You haven’t called in weeks, hon.”

“I’m sorry,” I sighed. “Mom took my phone away.”

Jiya laughed, heartily. “Yeah, your aunt is like that too.” I could literally see her eyes rolling at that. There was a moment of silence over the phone but Jiya finally said, “Oh. I have to go. Call you later.” And clicked off.

I stood there. Stunned. Why did Jiya leave so abruptly? I shrugged it off and called Maye. This conversation seemed more heartfelt. Then, finally, I called Alexander. The one who called my mom at the accident.

Aeron was the one to pick up, his older brother. “Oh, hey, Jessie. Glad to see your okay. I’ll get Alex, hang on.” The other end was silent for a moment and then I heard soft footsteps. “Jessie?” Alex’s soft voice echoed through the phone. “Are you okay?”

I smiled in relief and began rushing my story on what happened in the last couple of weeks. He seemed to understand, mumbling “mhm”s every once in a while. I ended with, “Thanks, Alex, without you I would probably be dead.”

“You have to learn to swim in deep water,” Alex urged. “I know it can be scary sometimes, but it’ll help, you’ll see.” A flash of annoyance swept through me. Even he didn’t believe my story.

I sighed and said, “Okay. I will.” I didn’t want him to think I was crazy too. Which he already thought, probably. “Well, I have to go Alex. Um, talk to you later.” I heard Mom’s car rolling into the driveway. I shut my phone, placing it back on her desk before whisking out, relocking the door.

I had just passed back into the kitchen when Mom came in. “Hey, Jessie, do you want to help me with the garden? You don’t have to if you need your rest.” I had enough rest. I was ready to do anything. I stared at my mom, many things whirling around my head. All of a sudden, at the corner of my eye a dark shadow rushed past the window. Its dark eyes bore into mine for a second before it disappeared.

And then I pushed back into the past.

“Come on, hurry!” Alex whispered, urgently. I laughed quietly and packed my towel and swim suit in my bag.

“Okay, I’m coming.” I rolled my eyes and followed him, Maye, and Jiya out the door. “Alright let’s go have some fun!” I lifted my head and the four of us ran down towards the end of the street. The beach was only four blocks away, so we wouldn’t be going too far.

I was running, my bare feet getting cut, but I barely noticed. And I barely noticed the dark-eyed shape following me.

I gasped, blinking my blurred eyes. My ears rang and I felt arms around me. I flinched and let out a scream but a hand covered my mouth.

“Jessie!” Mom’s voice echoed through my panic. “It’s okay, it’s okay honey. You’re home. You’re safe.”

December 7th, 1941, 0645

Dave didn’t think that mopping the floor of the USS Arizona with a sea green broom wasn’t hard. He swept from side to side, making the deck shiny.

Then, he heard planes. He looked up and saw the planes - the hundreds of planes, almost touching wingtip to wingtip, hundreds of feet in the sky.

“What's that?” asked his new friend Pete.

“Beats the heck out of me,” replied Dave, and then, “Big deal,” he thought. “Probably another squad of planes returning from a mission.”

Any day this sight would have been amazing, but there was something wrong. Very wrong. If this was an American squad, wouldn’t they be heading out to Hickman field, the nearest airfield? Instead, they were heading dead ahead at the battleship row. But no. The planes started diving and dropping their filthy bombs onto the helpless ships.

Suddenly, he noticed the blood red zero on one of the ghostly white planes.

“Get down!” yelled Pete. Instinctively, Dave got down, just as one of the white zeros let out a volley of bullets.

A millisecond later, the bomb exploded, sending thousands of pounds of debris into the air. Then, a wave of heat engulfed Dave's lungs, and he could barely breathe.

Dave put his hands on the railing but instantly screamed in blinding pain as his hands burned against the red hot metal, and fell back on his back. Peeling his eyes from his hands and, looking over the side he saw the middle of the ship engulf with flames, dead bodies burning.

He felt a jolt, and the ship started to sink! More bombs started to drop, and Dave jumped out just in time before he was crushed by one of the explosions. A second before he started to fall, he saw his friend get gunned down by the zero. When he hit the water, everything was black.

Once upon a time, a kid named Ben went to middle school with his friends Josh and Lilly. They were in Seventh Grade. Their math teacher’s name was Ms. R. She was a very nice teacher unlike their science teacher, Mrs. Haily. She would always find a way to get Ben, Josh and Lilly in trouble. In the morning, they always had science class.

As they walked into science class, Mrs. Haily said, “Good morning everybody,” and glanced at Ben with an evil look in her eyes. “Today we will be learning about cactuses,” she said. “Cactuses are plants with prickly things all over them,” she said, and drew a terrible picture of a cactus on the board. She kept listing a million facts about cactuses. The other thing you should know about Mrs. Haily is that she doesn’t really know anything. She just makes up things and watches YouTube videos.

When science class was over, they had math, their favorite subject. They learned about fractions and adding them together. Then they had writing. Their teacher’s name was Mr. Lenerd. Today they were told to write stories about animals. Ben picked the lucky pencil, although this time it wasn’t so lucky. Ben decided to write about dogs, they were his favorite animal. When they walked out of writing class, Ben rubbed his story admiring it.

But just then POOF!

And instead of Ben standing there, there was a big, brown dog!

9

DOG BOY

By Tilde Goldenberg

Once upon a time, a kid named Ben went to middle school with his friends Josh and Lilly. They were in Seventh Grade. Their math teacher’s name was Ms. R. She was a very nice teacher unlike their science teacher, Mrs. Haily. She would always find a way to get Ben, Josh and Lilly in trouble. In the morning, they always had science class.

As they walked into science class, Mrs. Haily said, “Good morning everybody,” and glanced at Ben with an evil look in her eyes. “Today we will be learning about cactuses,” she said. “Cactuses are plants with prickly things all over them,” she said, and drew a terrible picture of a cactus on the board. She kept listing a million facts about cactuses. The other thing you should know about Mrs. Haily is that she doesn’t really know anything. She just makes up things and watches YouTube videos.

When science class was over, they had math, their favorite subject. They learned about fractions and adding them together. Then they had writing. Their teacher’s name was Mr. Lenerd. Today they were told to write stories about animals. Ben picked the lucky pencil, although this time it wasn’t so lucky. Ben decided to write about dogs, they were his favorite animal. When they walked out of writing class, Ben rubbed his story admiring it.

But just then POOF!

And instead of Ben standing there, there was a big, brown dog!

He ran out of school as fast as his doggy legs could carry him, then he ran home and locked himself in his room. For the first couple of days, it was fun to be a dog, but then Ben started worrying about what his parents and friends were thinking about him being missing for three days. He had to change back and fast. He kept trying to think of ways to do it, like in books he’d read, like potions, but he had no idea how to make them.

When he woke up in the morning, he decided he couldn’t take it any longer. Then he realized that if he had written a story to turn into a dog, then maybe he could write a story to turn back! So he stayed up all night writing a story about a boy and then he rubbed his paw against the front cover and POOF! He turned back into a boy! He ran into his parents’ room and they asked where he’d been. He told them the whole story and when he went to school the next day, he told his friends everything. Mrs. Haily was nicer to everyone although she was still pretty mad at Ben for being missing for three days.

She

They paid her compliments by the mile,

In a scathing tone,

Each implying they did not expect

Her to be any more than respectable yet inept,

Amusing, but unintelligent to the core.

Just to spite them, she put on a smile

And just to prove them wrong, succeeded,

And then proceeded,

To be known for her own work, her deeds,

And made sure they heeded

That they should then

Never underestimate her again.

===

After

When the pandemic initiated,

We waited — and waited!

For the calm after the storm.

But soon enough fate did

Show us we were misinformed.

‘After’ was long away.

Many plans would go astray,

Many trips completely canceled.

And those were only examples,

Of the changes the pandemic conveyed.

Visits switched to Zoom,

And silence began to boom.

‘After’ would not appear all at once.

It would take many months

For ‘after’ to truly come.

Is it even here?

It has been three years,

The clock is ticking faster,

Yet I still don’t think now’s ‘after’.

===

Lazy Summer

The rays of the sun stretched out sleepily

Over the rows of uniform trees,

Each one carefully numbered.

The whole world slumbered.

The shades of green and brown felt safe.

The wind yawned,

Causing the leaves to rustle in response,

Softly snoring in the midsummer day

I absolutely hate cardio. Confronting extensive periods of a high heart rate, panting, and sweating is daunting. If you don’t have to go through that pain, why would you? From 2020-2021, I never exercised. The reason being is that I became extremely ill, dealing with a series of immune system and mental health issues.

My girlfriend, at the time, and I had grown dependent on each other, unhealthily so. While I slowly recovered from my physical ailment, I continued to rely on her as my emotional crutch, my one singular support, because I lost the desire to reach out to other loved ones. Then, we broke up. We both agreed that we were not in a good place, and only residing in each other exacerbated that. I fell into a deeper spiral, losing my sense of self.

One day, feeling motivated, I borrowed a bike from a friend and biked from my hometown to DC. It was mid-December; the air was crisp, the sky clear, and the trails empty. During those twenty-six miles, I was light, free, and most of all, happy. Although strenuous, the bike ride felt euphoric.

My friend ended up selling me that bike. From then on, I rode nearly every day, and still do. Every morning, I feel excited to hop on my two-wheeled Trek and discover new trails. I get butterflies thinking about speeding along paths to reach a destination, then riding back home, and then doing it again.

I’ve learned that cardio doesn’t have to be painful. Neither does self-improvement nor self-love. Mental health doesn’t always look like waking up early, drinking tea, and doing yoga. For me, it looked like a slow progression of getting outside and biking. I gradually regained my physical strength while using a healthy outlet to deal with my emotional restlessness. When I first started biking, I wasn’t “good” at it. During that first ride, I pulled my groin and couldn’t walk properly for days. But the thing about having your “why,” your motivating force, is that you don’t have to be good at it. You just enjoy it.

Biking was my savior and still is. This isn’t to say biking will cure your anxieties and take you out of a depression. But having something to look forward to every day will help. To those who are struggling, your bike can be anything. Just trust that you’ll find it.