Enhancing Book Reading – Creative writing

 ” The magic blue diamond “

KEYWORDS: Friends/Internet/Superhero/Hug/River/Health

Task: 150/200 words.

ITALY

Students/writers: Ernesto Distefano, Elide Fiorile, Lucrezia Micieli, Benedetta Spagnuolo and Giorgio Tummino.

Era il 24 gennaio 2120 a Manhattan. Faceva molto freddo e in quel tempo circolava un terribile virus. 

Tom, Sam, Bridget e Liam, dopo un pomeriggio di intenso studio, decisero di giocare un po’ online, dato che non si poteva fare altro. “Rivergame” prevedeva quattro giocatori e quattro personaggi: un coccodrillo, un lottatore di judo, un’archeologa e una pianta carnivora. Rimasti intrappolati in una jungla, devono riuscire a raggiungere il fiume e attivare il teletrasporto  che li ricondurrà a casa. All’interno di questo gioco incontrano il prof. Charl, una guida che è a disposizione dei personaggi. Il lottatore di judo, ovvero Tom, aveva gli occhi a mandorla e un kimono nero con la cintura rossa. Metteva la sua forza e la sua abilità al servizio degli altri. Bridget era bella e simpatica, ma lo studio non era il suo forte. Nel gioco rivestiva il ruolo dell’archeologa, brutta ma molto intelligente e astuta. Aveva una mappa magica che solo lei poteva leggere, purchè ci fosse la luce del sole. Il gioco inizia con un bivio, i giocatori devono scegliere quale strada intraprendere; il percorso di destra era buio , invece quello di sinistra sembrava più semplice. Alla fine decisero…

It was January 24th,2120 in Manhattan. It was very cold and a terrible virus circulated at that time.After having studied very hard all the afternoon Tom, Sam, Bridget and Liam decided to play an online game, since there was nothing else to be done.“Rivergame” had four players and four characters: a crocodile, a judo fighter, an archaeologist and a carnivorous plant.Trapped in a jungle, they had to reach the river and be able to activate the transporter to come back home.In the game they can meet professor Charl, a helpful guide for the characters.Tom, the judo fighter, had got almond-shaped eyes and was wearing a black kimono with a red belt.His strenght and ability were for others. Bridget was a pretty nice girl but she didn’t like studying very much. In that game she was the archaeologist, who was an ugly girl, but she was really clever and smart too. She had a magic map and was the only one able to read it but only in the sunlight.The game starts with a crossroads; the players must choose which path to take; the way to the right was dark, instead the left one  seemed easier. At last they decided…

  POLAND

... aby obrać z pozoru łatwiejszą ścieżkę. Żeby wybór był sprawiedliwy, wszyscy zagłosowali. Jedynie Bridget była przeciwna temu pomysłowi- od razu wydało jej się to niesamowicie podejrzane. Tak więc kiedy wyruszyli w stronę łatwiejszej ścieżki, każdy krok zdawał się jej przybywać z coraz to większym trudem. Starała sobie w myślach wmawiać, aby zaufać swoim przyjaciołom, jednak jej instynkt wciąż podpowiadał jej, że obrali zły wybór. Nie odezwała się jednak ani słowem, nie chcąc niszczyć zapału towarzyszy, chcących jak najszybciej zrealizować wszystkie misje. Przecież mieli pełne paski życia, więc jakieś pomniejsze obrażenia żadnej różnicy im nie zrobią. Przynajmniej tak myślała.

Później dziewczyna jednak ogromnie pożałowała swojego wcześniejszego milczenia.

Kiedy zobaczyli w oddali pomniejszą rzekę, która miała być ich punktem zapisu gry, wszyscy się rozluźnili, a niektórzy poczuli się nawet jak jacyś bohaterowie. A co za tym szło- stracili czujność. Liam- który grał postacią krokodyla- szedł jako pierwszy. I chwila nieuwagi wystarczyła, aby nagle załamała się pod nim ziemia. To był jego koniec.

Przyjaciele tylko spojrzeli za siebie z żalem, przytulili się pocieszająco i powoli ruszyli z powrotem przed siebie.

Może to i była internetowa gra, ale przez jej zbyt duży realizm, przyjaciele traktowali rozgrywkę poważnie. Aż zbyt poważnie.

…to take seemingly easier path. To make a fair choice, everyone voted. Only Bridget was against this idea- immediately it seemed really suspicious for her. So when they departed towards the easier path, every step seemed to be difficult for her. She tried to tell herself to trust her friends, but her instinct still was saying, that they did a wrong choice. But she didn’t say any word, not wanting to destroy friends’ enthusiasm, who wanted to do all missions as soon as possible. After all they had full health bars, so some little damages won’t make any difference. At least she thought so.

However, later girl really regretted her previous silence.

When they saw a minor river in the distance that was supposed to be their save point, everyone relaxed, and some of them even felt like some kind of superheroes. And what goes with it- they lost their vigilance. Liam- who played by the character of crocodile- walked as the first. And the moment of disappeared attention was enough for the ground to collapse under his feet. It was his end.

The friends just looked at each other with sadness, hugged to comfort themselves and slowly departed again.

Maybe it was an Internet game, but because of its realism, friends treated gameplay seriously. Way too seriously.

Written by Emilia Knapik

 SLOVENIA

Temna pot

Prijatelji se posvetujejo in se odločijo, da so bodo obrnili stran od reke in cilja in ubrali temno pot. Pot je skoraj v popolni temi, obkroža jo gost gozd in visoke, strašljive pečine.

Bridget vzame zemljevid, na katerega se zelo zanašajo, da bi pogledala, ali so še na pravi poti, a ugotovi, da je prazen. Sonca ni. Bridget obupano išče kakršenkoli znak, ki bi jim pokazal, kje so, a vse izgleda enako. »Izgubljeni smo,« reče prijateljema. Preden bi se prijatelja lahko odzvala, od nikoder priletijo ogromne žuželke in jih začnejo napadati. Prijatelji jim ubežijo, a pri tem izgubijo precej svojih življenj.

Lačni in utrujeni se začnejo pričkati o tem, kam naj nadaljujejo. Bridget in Tom hočeta nadaljevati po temni poti, Sam pa se hoče obrniti in piskati drugo pot. Pričkanje se razvname v prepir in Sam se jezno obrne in se začne oddaljevati. Bridget kliče za njim, naj se vrne, a Sam se začne oddaljevati. Preden izgine v temni gozd, Briget in Tom vidita, kako naj pade gromozanska skala. Sam je izločen iz igre … Ostala sta samo še dva igralca.

The Dark Path

After a long discussion the three friends decide to turn back, away from the river and safety. They turn right, into the darker path. The darkness is almost complete, the path is surrounded by a dense old forest and huge and scary overhanging cliffs. Bridget takes her map, on which they highly relate, to see if they are still on the path. But the map is blank. There is no sun.

Bridget looks around for clues panicky, but everything looks the same. »We’re lost« she says to Tom and Sam. Before either of them could respond, giant insects appear out of nowhere and start attacking the three friends. They manage to escape, but their health bar is dangerously low.

Hungry and tired they start bickering about where they should go. Bridget and Tom thought it would be best if they continue on the dark path, but Sam wants to turn around and go elsewhere. The bickering turns into a fight and Sam is so furious he turns around and starts walking the other way. Bridget shouts after him to come back but he keeps on walking. Just before he disappears into the darkness, Tom and Bridget see a giant rock fall down on Sam. He is eliminated from the game. Bridget and Tom are the only players left. 

Written by: Iva Krkoč and Nina Topolovec Fajfarič

   SPAIN

Writers: The 4th Primary group (9/10 years old). 14 students.

Siguen caminando y se encuentran con un árbol de pistachos y se ponen a coger pistachos como locos para saciar su hambre. Lo que no sabían ,era que al comerlos les daba un superpoder a cada uno: a Tom el poder de escalar como Spiderman y a Bridget poder ver el mapa aunque no haya sol. Estaban emocionados y mientras que Tom exploraba la zona escalando por todos sitios, Bridget se quedó mirando el mapa y descubrió con mucha admiración que no estaban solos. Cuando Tom regresa Bridget le dice:

– ¡No estamos solos, Tom! En el mapa he descubierto una ubicación y vamos a ir a explorarla.

Tom sorprendido por la noticia que le acababa de dar Bridget, le dijo: – Ok, pero tendremos que ir con mucho cuidado porque he escuchado ruidos desde los arbustos cuando he estando explorando.

Se ponen de camino a la ubicación del mapa y cuando llegan descubren impresionados una ciudad abandonada. Allí suben a una casa y en ella encuentran una nota que decía: “Este videojuego es muy peligroso; estáis en un punto de control y a partir de ahora, el juego está en modo difícil”.

Al salir de la casa vieron los arbustos moverse como si alguien se hubiera metido en ellos y con mucha sorpresa de repente, aparecieron ante sus ojos aquellos personajes que Bridget había detectado en el mapa:

un mago que si le dabas comida te daba vidas para el juego, un chico invisible que se sabía el mapa de memoria y una loba que tenía diez ojos y seis patas que a cambio de un diamante azul te daba algo muy preciado. Todos ellos vivían en una tribu que estaba asentada en el poblado oscuro.

They continue walking and come across a pistachio tree and start picking pistachios like crazy to satisfy their hunger. What they didn’t know was that eating them gave them each a superpower: Tom the power to climb like Spiderman and Bridget the power to see the map even if there is no sun. They were excited and while Tom explored the area climbing everywhere, Bridget was looking at the map and discovered with great admiration that they were not alone. When Tom returns Bridget says to him:

– We are not alone, Tom! On the map I have discovered a location and we are going to go and explore it.

Tom, surprised by the news Bridget had just given him, said: – Ok, but we will have to be very careful because I heard noises from the bushes when I was exploring.

They set off to the location on the map and when they arrive they discover an abandoned city in awe. There they go up to a house and in it they find a note that said: “This video game is very dangerous; you are at a checkpoint and from now on, the game is in hard mode”.

As they left the house they saw the bushes moving as if someone had gotten into them and with much surprise suddenly, those characters that Bridget had detected on the map appeared before their eyes:

a wizard who if you gave him food gave you lives for the game, an invisible boy who knew the map by heart and a she-wolf who had ten eyes and six legs who in exchange for a blue diamond gave you something very precious. All of them lived in a tribe that was settled in the dark village.

Author: Daniella Pérez García and Martín Porras Poses

 TURKEY

Students/Writers: Ayşenaz Vural,Defne Naz Parspur, Ece Aşkan,Ceylin Uygun,Rana Nil Şahin, Aslı şaldır,Nail Tarık Akgün,Kaan Karakaya, Yağız Eynur,Deniz Gürbüz,Metehan Şahin

Görünmez çocuğun gücünü duyduklarında Bridget ve Tom kurttan yardım istemeye karar verdiler.  Kurt, Sadece elmas karşılığında yardım edeceğini söyleyince haritaya baktılar ama elmasla ilgili birşey bulamadılar. Büyücü, kabilelerinin pazarında Hammer adında yaşlı bir adam olduğunu ve yardımcı olabileceğini söyleyince, pazara gittiler. Tom: “Hammer sizmisiniz? Bize yardım etmeniz lazım“, dediğinde Adam başını yavaşça kaldırarak onlara dikkatlice baktı ve “Elini uzat genç adam“ dedi. Hammer, Tom’un avcuna tuhaf bir yüzük koydu ve “Posedion çıktığında, anlayacaksın amacını” dedi. Bunun ne anlama geldiğini sorsalarda Hammer sadece karşıdaki yolu gösterdi ve oradan ayrıldı. İki arkadaş, yolu takip ettiklerinde karşılarına okyanus çıktı. Tom, yüzüğü taktığında Posedion belirdi. O anda bilmecenin yaratıkla ilgili olduğunu anladılar. Tom suya girmeye çalıştıysa da yaratık onu engelledi. Bridget su elementine karşı ateş kullanalım dedi. Tom suya girdi yüzüğü taktığında nefes alabildiğini fark eder. Tom, taşların arasına sıkışan elması gördü, etrafına bakındı ve bir deniz kabuğu fark etti, birkaç vuruşuyla elmas kırıldı. Yüzüğün gücü azalmaya başladığında, Tom zorlanarak yüzeye çıktı ve hemen yüzüğü çıkardı. Böylece Posedion kayboldu. Yüzüğün parçalarını bir keseye koyup kabilenin yolunu tuttular. Kurtun yanına geldiklerinde elması ona verdiler. Kurt, ayağını yere vurmasıyla görünmez çocuk belirdi. Bridget koşarak yanına gitti, konuşmalarının ardından Bridget: dönüş yolunu buldum! diye bağırdı. Bridget kurttan elmasın üç parçasını istedi parçaları üçgen şekline getirip ortasına geçtiler ve dönmek istiyorum dediler. Karşılarında “oyun başarıyla tamamladı” yazısı geldi.

Bridget and Tom asked help from the wolf to find invisible boy. But the wolf didn’t help them without giving diamond. When the wizard mentioned about an old man named Hammer in their tribe bazaar, they went there for ask help. As soon as Tom asked: “Are you Hammer?”  Hammer lifted his head slowly and said: “Reach out your hand young man. When the Poseidon comes out, you’ll understand it’s purpose”. Then he put a mysterious ring on Tom’s palm. They asked what that means, but Hammer only pointed the opposite way and left. Two friends followed the road, the river came in front of them. When Tom put on the ring, Poseidon appeared. They realized, Hammer’s words are about this creature. Although Tom tried to enter the water, the Poseidon prevented him. As Bridget stalled Poseidon with fire, Tom dived the river and realized that he could breathe with his ring on. Tom saw the diamond stuck between the stones,looked around and noticed a conch. With a few strokes the diamond broken. As the ring’s strength began to wane, Tom strained to surface and removed the ring thus Poseidon disappeared. They got the four diamond pieces and set off throughout the wolf. When they gave a piece of diamond to him, he stamped his foot on the ground and invisible child appeared. After a short conversation, Bridget yelled: “I found our way back!” Two friends made tree pieces diamonds into a triangle and moved into the middle, hug each other then said we want to return! Finally “Game successfully completed” text came across them.

Thanks to all students and teachers!! It was an amazing adventure…