Over a ten-week period, each sixth-grade writer shepherded a germ of an idea through multiple revisions. The ultimate paths of these stories and the improvement in quality from start to finish sometimes surprised even the authors.

"Tall Tales Gone Short"-one of many titles suggested and voted upon by the authors-fittingly conveys both the size and the fictional nature of all fifty-seven entries. But if you pay attention to the reactions of characters to their respective situations, you will get a peek into the beliefs and concerns of these authors regarding such issues as response to authority, friendship, right, wrong, evil, good, commitment, adversity, courage, perseverance, and more. You will also experience humor, mystery, adventure, science fiction, historical fiction, horror, and fantasy.

Kids have a lot to say, but we don't always hear it. Here are samples of their voices:

From "Middle":
I'm writing this autobiography from a place that is neither heaven nor hell. I'm writing this from a place called Middle. For a place that not many people have heard of, this place is pretty crowded. This place is just like earth, but nothing bad happens here because the ruler controls your mind. So in that case, you might believe that everyone is pretty much the same. Wrong. Everybody is different. Things may look the same, but nothing and no one truly is. All right, you get the picture. Being dead isn't really so awfully bad, but sometimes I wish that I were alive....

From "Rion":
Amon set off for Farlin with 10,000 infantry, 700 centaur cavalry and 500 archers. At dawn they made their stand against Farlin. The 10,000 infantry emerged from the shadows of Zardong Forest and approached the hill that lay between them and the northern gates of the castle. They were led by Amon, and they were lined up farther than the eye could see. The archers were dispatched to the east and west to attack both sides of the fortress. The centaurs looped around south to attack the southern gates.

From "The Golden Treasure Room":
Excitedly, he ran over to John, and explained to him about what he had found. Then, they both raced over to the soft spot, and David grabbed his pick. He hit the pick on the soft spot, and the ground beneath them trembled and gave way. The last thing he remembered was his and John's screaming as they both fell into the darkness below.

From "Pig Pal":
On his way to the air tube stop, he heard a gun shot. Suddenly he felt his hair spilt into two and he dove to the ground.

"Sorry, partner," said a booming voice from the woods. A hunter came striding from the woods with a shotgun in his hands. "Thought you were a pig and I had a hankerin' for bacon," said the hunter. "Did you know that your hair is as pink as a piglet?" said the hunter as he laughed heartily.

From "A Bus Ride to Remember":
Then, out of all the lights and instruments, I finally noticed the nurse's clothes. Everything was so old fashioned. Then I looked up and saw the calendar. It read... 1955! Oh, no! I thought, I must be hallucinating. But somehow I knew I wasn't, and I ran out of the hospital at record speed before some other bad thing happened.

It couldn't really be 1955. Time travel isn't possible. As I walked down the unfamiliar streets, I tried to convince myself this was a dream. But no matter how many times I pinched myself, I didn't wake up....

From "Going Home":
I moaned, trying to shield my eyes from the burning African sun. The darkness of my dream was gone. Even in the sweltering heat, my heart was an unearthly cold. The fire in my stomach burned with the same heat.

In that moment, it all came back, leaving me as weak and feeble as a blade of grass faced with the wind. My life in England, my parents' death, the ship ... the shipwreck.

From "Slaves":
The Brayshaw Nebula is remarkably beautiful with its swirling clouds and spectacular storms. When we landed on one of Master's many spaceports we saw the planet was also good-looking and the bountiful wildlife and plants that inhabited it were, too. We got on a transportation vehicle that rumbled across the rough terrain. Master's plantation was very large and supported a vast array of plants with water through irrigation ditches. Behind the plantation were the slaves' quarters, which were our destination. The minute I got there, I dropped on a filthy mattress and fell asleep.

From "Martian Chase":
The name's Shoo Tagui, but everybody calls me Shoot. I'm a private eye, if there ever was one. That's right, I said eye. I got eight good eyes, and an extra one, just in case. But anyway, it was a dull day over in the Cognacious region, so I decided to stay indoors. That's when I got a call from the chief of police, and he was baffled. He didn't know what to do. "I'm baffled," he said. "I don't know what to do."

From "The Uncharted":
Joe flinched, expecting to hear a thud hitting a wall, but did not. He did not hear a anything like "Sweet!" either. What he did hear was absolutely nothing, but that can only last so long. Eventually there came an echoing roar, a terrified scream, and a quick shuffle of feet. Then the most terrible thing that Joe had experienced in The Uncharted: another scream, but this time out of pain.