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1.
EARLY READER GRAPHIC NOVEL
Grades K-3, Ages 5-8
80 pages
[work-in-progress: considering a story collection vs a one-narrative story]
MOOSE & SLUSHIE SOLVE A THING. Slushie is a banana slug. And no- he’s not always banana colored. He doesn’t even like bananas! Good thing he’s got Moose (she’s a mouse) by his side. She’s always ready to help him navigate life’s little confusions. In this set of interconnected stories, we follow practical Moose & super extra Slushie as they take turns misunderstanding—and understanding!—each other and the world around them.
Most recent version:
Previous version:
MOOSE & SLUSHIE SOLVE A THING. Slushie is a banana slug. And no—he doesn't like bananas.
What he likes are things that make sense, but he sees mysteries everywhere he goes. His friend Moose (she's a mouse) wants to be there for him, so when Slushie is startled by a something strange in his backyard, she changes her plans so she can help out. Slushie says this could be the proof he needs: Hoomans aren't mythical. They did exist a really long time ago!
Now on the verge of solving the biggest mystery of all time, Slushie must decide between chasing the answers he craves or joining his best friend Moose at the car show she's been looking forward to - the one she'd been hoping they'd enjoy together.
Readers will follow practical Moose & super-extra Slushie as they navigate an all-animal world on a quest to sort out what puzzles Slushie most.
Sample “Meet Cute” Chapter
2.
THE BIGGEST TINY
Manuscript
Illustration notes
“Let’s start by reading a book.” says Mama.
“Look!” says Millie.
Millie runs and digs and spins.
She comes in for a rest.
Mama has pictures, and Millie wants to see them.
“I see!” says Millie.
Millie sees a baby.
“Millie!” says Mama.
Mama sees Millie.
“Now look at you! So big!”
“Me!” says Millie.
Millie says “Up!”
“Mama!”
“Go! Up!”
Is Millie so big?
Millie says “Jump!”
But Millie only sees Small.
Millie asks “Big?”
Oomph! Aaagh! Rrrrr!!
Millie wants to Reach!
but she only sees Little.
STOMP!
“Mama!”
Millie can’t! Millie can’t go up!
Millie falls.
Falls down.
Falls down on the ground.
“Big?!?” Millie cries.
KICK!
Millie feels Small.
“Help!”
“Mama!”
“Up?” Mama asks.
High up?
And Millie goes, she goes and goes, she goes so fast!
“Again!”
“Up Up Up!”
More and more and more!
Then Millie goes down.
She goes really really down.
Millie is down, far down on the ground.
Looking, feeling
Hearing, listening
Birdy calling
Hi hi hi?
Stretching, reaching
Watching, waiting
Leafy drifting
by by by.
Flower, bendy
Grassy, crawly
Wormy, wiggly
Down down down.
Pebbly, rocky
Squirmy, mooshy
Fuzzy, mossy
Ground ground ground.
Itsy bitsy ants.
Teeny tiny littlest ants.
Marchy marching busiest ants.
Littlest Big.
Eensiest Small.
Millie sees the puddle ocean. She sails the drip drop sea!
Millie, she’s The Biggest Tiny Ever.
She stands:
“Look at me!”
Mama & Millie have just arrived at the park.
Millie wrestles out of lap to run after a duck, Falls on way to see duck, duck flies away, she explores.
Millie wanders back to where Mama sits, goes into Mama’s purse, looking for something.
Millie finds family photos, of before Millie, baby Millie, recent Millie. (Why is mama carrying this small photo album? Maybe mama is pregnant.)
Mama is looking at Millie, but Millie is looking at the big kids in the park.
Millie sees the big kids on the big slide. Millie has bigger plans than just looking at pictures. She wants to do big things! Things that are beyond her, too big for her! She wants to go on the big slide.
She looks up at a passing bird as she runs towards the slide ladder. She trips, and mama goes tp to her because there’s a scrape. Now Millie sees the scrape too, tears and Owww!! Millie does not want Mama to clean the scrape, she does not want to stop for a bandaid. Mama brings her under the tree to put the bandaid on.
More birds fly high overhead. Millie wants to reach them; she can’t. Millie wants to jump back up, run again, mama slows her, Millie does not like it. Millie is supposed to be Big, mama said she is Big, but she isn’t! Mama was wrong!
Everything is so big but she is not!
Millie gets to the big slide and tries to go up. Mama starts to help. Millie doesn’t want help, but she can’t get very high; the higher she goes the scarier it is.
Millie is sad and frustrated.
Millie wants to try again. She starts up the slide ladder.
Mama is sneaky helping Millie. Millie doesn’t see Mama helping. Millie thinks to herself: I’m doing it! Mama smiles at Millie; Mama holds her hand on the way down. Millie slides down from way up high.
When she’s done, Millie sees how high up she was on the big slide. She decides: Again! Millie wants to again, by herself this time.
Then after asking for up the slide again, she sees the big kids on the swing. She wants to swing!
But mama says it’s water time & snack time. No!!!!
Big fit. Mad mad mad. Millie wants to run and slide and swing high up like the big kids! But she’s low down.
Millie watches the big kids swing back and forth. It’s almost soothing but she’s very upset.
Millie is so sad and she stays on the ground. She hears the birds.
Millie takes big in and out breaths.
Millie sees small bugs, a beautiful; small world. Feels cool grass on her cheek.
The
small
insect
world
and
she
is
Big.
Millie looks up and down, sees a leaf fall down from the tree into a puddle.
Millie imagines the leaf become a leaf boat, and she sees herself on it.
Millie sees herself sailing away on the leaf boat.
Millie looks up and sees Mama watching her with a warm Mama smile.
Millie stands up tall on her sailboat, strong & happy.
Millie is proud, Mama is proud.
3.
THE TREASURE COLLECTORS
Manuscript
Illustration notes
Morning before school.
Puts special star tricket into backpack.
Dog stays at home while she goes to school.
Finds a rock that is in the shape of a crescent moon. At the same time the star trinket falls out.
Ms. G is a neighbor who is helping out Elisa’s mom by riding the bus as a companion for Elisa during her commute to & from school.
Elisa sees a star on the bus stop poster and it reminds her of the star tricket she put in her backpack. She looks for it, but it’s gone.
The bus comes.
This house isn’t the same anymore.
There’s a new baby inside.
And there’s me: Elisa.
Sometimes babies aren’t small.
Sometimes, they are bigger than they look.
Cries fill the room. I just want quiet.
But when I have to be quiet, I want to play.
“It’s OK, baby.”
I hold on to special things for brightness on impossible gloomy days. It helps.
I hear Mama call out:
“Almost ready? Ms. Georgina is waiting at the bus stop.”
And now it’s time to go to school.
I pack up everything I need.
(Well, not everything.)
“See you after school!”
Mornings are foggy.
I want it sunny, always golden and warm.
Then again, I want the moon too.
Sometimes I find special things I’m not looking for.
I want to see all the stars in the deepest dark,
but city lights and fog wash them all away.
I want impossible things.
“Good morning!” says Mrs. G.
“Your Mama tells me the house isn’t as quiet as it used to be.”
I don’t know what to say.
All babies cry, it’s not their fault. I cry sometimes too.
But I still wish his crying would stop.
“Did you lose something?”
I shrug.
The house looks quiet from here.
They are on the bus on the way to school.
Mrs G. offers the bracelet to Elisa.
Elisa arrives at school.
At recess, she shows friends her moon shaped rock. Another kid overhears and criticizes her rock.
Back in class, Elisa’s deskmate is distracted by the sparkly bracelet.
Mrs G. sees Elisa again. (On bus ride home or meets at home bus stop?)
Elisa stays very quiet.
Back at home, mom says it was a hard day for her and the baby too.
Elisa goes up to her room to put the moon shaped rock in her box. She misses her star trinket. She almost puts the sparkly bracelet in, but hesitates.
She makes new wishes.
She goes back downstairs, bringing the sparkly bracelet with her.
She tells her mom one of her wishes.
She shares the bracelet with the baby, and they cuddle together. `
“Are you wondering what this is? I made it!”
“Sparkly things made my baby smile a long time ago.”
“Want to see if the baby likes it?”
In science, we learn how the moon waxes and wanes.
Later I show what I found.
“That looks like a moon!”
“That’s not a moon rock! Moon rocks aren’t real!”
My desk partner likes sparkly stuff so much, he makes a lot of noise.
Ms. Rodriguez says it’s a distraction,
I don’t get it back until the day ends.
“Are you OK, Elisa?”
Sometimes talking feels impossible. I try to smile.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Hi Sweetie! Long day, can you tell?
Moon rocks ARE real. On the MOON.
Even though I lost my star, I can still make wishes.
I wish we could play together, cuddle together.
I wish we could be quiet and loud together.
I wish we could have everything we want, everything we need.
I say: “I wish we all felt better.”
“Me too” says Mama.
Sometimes treasures aren’t small.
Sometimes, they’re so big, they’re really hard to see.
4.
SUNSET ON A DESERT DRIVE
I watch the sun disappear.
Papa says, "We're leaving in a minute, Lulu."
Shadows gather at the mountains.
We're going to see Papa's friends.
He says it will be fun and there's a girl my age.
It’ll be dark soon.
I just want to stay home.
I make a cave.
"I don't know those people, Jojo."
"I wish I could stay with you.”
But I can’t.
It’s time to go.
The car roars awake.
I don’t want to go,
but we’re still going.
Papa buckles me in.
The gravel crunches.
Mama turns on some music.
"Too loud!"
-
“It smells so good,” Mama tells Papa.
The rain passes us by.
I stretch and breathe in, so fresh.
I see Mama’s eyes.
I look next to me and see
another Lulu.
“Let’s play a game,” I tell Other Lulu.
We skate in loops on the cold glass.
Spiky trees turn black against the sky.
Up high, red and green lights flash.
Old stars and darkness blanket the land.
Down the road, lights glow
from a factory of twisting pipes
and metal boxes.
I start to fade.
I’m a whistling hawk.
I soar high and far.
I take a deep breath
and think about
Jojo comfy in my arms.
Getting to pick persimmons at Halmeoni's house.
The first time Abuelita made me arroz con leche.
How sometimes new things are good things.
“Papa, when will we get there?”
He hands me an apple.
I didn’t ask for an apple.
Chomp!
It’s sweet and sour.
Papa says “This is the turn.”
“It’s the next one,” says Mama.
A lone house rests at the end of the road.
We slow to a stop and
the car quiets to sleep.
We’re here.
"How long are we staying?”
-
A little hawk glides up.
She smiles.
I smile, too.
We eat.
Then we run. We fly
We laugh.
The sun goes down.
The night is new.
The desert cools.
We rest on the edge of tomorrow.
-
Then away we go.
