15: Night at the Zoo

I’ve taken a little bit of time off “Jamie,” my middle grade manuscript, to focus on my 2025 end of year story for my students. This year I am back at writing a middle grade chapter book with every student as a character. Yes, I teach first graders whose favorite series inclue Mo’s Elephant and Piggie books or Dav’s Dog Man. Middle grade chapter books aren’t in most of their reading wheelhouses. Plus, first graders are young! Heck, I still have six year olds in my room.

It’s no biggie—most of my students read above grade level, and those that don’t will have a momento to read soon. Plus, this story will probably clock in at around 15,000 words—not exactly Rick Riordan levels.

The premise is simple: what if the kids are turned into zoo animals while on a field trip? From there things get pretty zany. I had the kids fill out a quick survey of their favorite zoo animals. Once I was able to semi-decifer their responses, I then clustered my students, turned animal characters, into groups according to the areas of the Indianapolis Zoo. The protagonists needed to have a vast skillset as animals. Luckily, two of my boys chose orangutans as their favorite animals. Next came the antagoist. That one is easy—it’s me. I’m not going to make a first grader play the bad guy. I’m a crocodile. In the story I want the kids to stay as animals so I can drink coffee all day every day at Starbucks.

From there the story blossomed from the wacky recesses of my mind. Lightning hits the orangutan exhibit, the boys-turned-orangutans wake up in the dead of night, and then they must find a magic object in order to turn back into kids. Two problems arise. Where is the magic globe? Why is a crocodile also trying to find it? The protagonists must travel from spot to spot in the zoo looking for clues, where they meet their classmates as other animals. Will the boys find the globe before Mr. Byers the crocodile? Ooh! The tension is overwhelming!

I enjoy writing each child’s part because I can soak in parts of their personality to the dialogue and actions. Will the story be perfect? Oh, heavens no. I’ll probably only get one or two revisions in before I send it off to press, aka the copier down the hall. But perfection isn’t my goal. I want my kids to love reading and to see they are loved enough to be put into a chapter book.

I have four weeks to finish before print time. Wish me luck.