A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Kate had butterflies in her stomach. Tonight was the nativity play; everything they'd rehearsed for the last month. Kate knew her lines and her song. She was fine with that. The problem was, they ... [+]

It was a wonderfully quiet day at the art gallery. Paintings that were hundreds of years old lined the walls for all to enjoy. It was a wonderfully quiet day until . . . Honk! Everyone in the art ... [+]

I find Jackie in the garden, digging holes with a stick in a section of the flowerbed that's gone to weeds. "Whatcha doing, kiddo?""Planting dinosaur seeds," she says, beaming up at me. She uncurls ... [+]

It was dressing-up day in school soon, and Daisy and Mummy were talking about Daisy's costume."What would you like to go as?" asked Mummy. She held up a beautiful dress. "A princess?"Daisy shook he ... [+]

Three little witches were heading off to the Great Grand Ball. They were called Mary, Maggy and Molly. They were poor witches and they had used all their money to buy tickets, so they had none left ... [+]

It never would have happened if Jakub hadn't suggested that they take a short cut home.Lincoln, Jakub and their friend Biggie Dean were walking back to the village after football practice when Jaku ... [+]

When the first snow fell, Alfie and his little brother Ike quickly dug out their warmest clothes, pulled on their gloves, and got down to the important businessof having a snowball fight! The ... [+]

Sami was awoken by the buzzing of his third alarm. Was it 8.30 already? He would be late for school! He swung down from his hammock and into his wheelchair. Its shock absorbers cushioned the impact ... [+]

When Isaac's parents told him that they were moving again, he was unhappy – but he was also not surprised. He and his family had already moved from Birmingham to Kazakhstan to Florida and then to ... [+]

Olivia and her mum are superheroes. Last month, they battled the scary sea witch's gigantic jellyfish down at the beach. Last week, they protected the world from Martian attack. Yesterday, they ... [+]

My name is Zach, and I don't have a treehouse.
My new neighbor, Oliver, has an amazing treehouse built just for him. He's so lucky.
What I have is a stack of unread library books and a LOUD ... [+]

Elephants use their ears as fans;they're so much bigger than a man's.They scatter pesky flies with ease,and really stir up quite a breeze.This dog is called a Basset Hound.His tummy almost skims the ... [+]

Jai placed the newspapers he'd rolled and wrapped in plastic into a trailer attached to his bike. He put more papers in a canvas shoulder bag. It was early morning as he set off on his paper run. Most ... [+]

Ice cream at bedtime,
Aunt Betty's the best!
She knows in the summer
it's hard to find rest
when faced with hot sheets,
hot pillows, hot bed,
no place cool enough
to lay a hot ... [+]

Kitsy Boo hated his name.
"Kitsyyyyyyyyyyy," his owner, Marguerite, would call. "Boooooooooooooo!"
Every time the shaky old voice called for him, the other neighborhood animals would laugh. ... [+]

Phineas wished, for the two-thousand-three-hundred-and-twenty-third time, that he had a different name. His father was in the army, and the family moved fairly often. No, unfairly often. There was ... [+]

Bronagh's mother watched her toying with her food.
"Sit up straight, Bronnie," she chided, "and finish your dinner. Your father's ready to read you a story."
"I don't want to."
"Well, if you'd ... [+]

Vicky was a Viking,
one as brave as brave could be.
On land she was a legend,
but she didn't like the sea.
Boats made Vicky queasy
and the waves made her feel yuck.
She'd rather not go ... [+]

Sarah bounced as the SUV hit another rough patch on the dirt road into Silver City.
"Just look at this place!" her dad exclaimed, taking photos of one rundown building after another.
"You wanted ... [+]

Theofina's class had won a contest. The contest was for a special trip. They were going to go back to the time of the dinosaurs!
Theo was happy, excited, and worried. She wanted to be brave, but ... [+]