Froggs and the Case of the Missing Broccoli

Written for a Storytelling & Bookmaking field trip with Ms. Slabic's 3rd-grade class from PS 261

2/16/06

Once there was a crazy chicken named Froggs. Her friends were mostly vegetable, including a carrot, a potato, and a very fat broccoli.

Froggs was a detective and part-time skydiver. She lived in Vegetable Land, inside a fat, juicy pumpkin. The pumpkin was in the middle of a field of giant grass.

Every day, Froggs woke up and jumped out her window. One morning, her cell phone rang. A scary robot voice was on the other end.

"Hello, is this Froggs? I must speak to you about a special delivery you made. I do not eat broccoli, so please, send it back."

Froggs was very confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "I did not send you no broccoli."

The robot replied, "Are you sure? Because I have a piece of broccoli here from North Carolina that specifically says, 'From Froggs.'"

Froggs became excited. "This sounds like a mystery," she said. "I will figure out who send you that piece of broccoli!"

Froggs was a chicken who loved a mystery. She ran back into the pumpkin to tell her vegetable friends.

But one of them was missing a part. Froggs's big fat broccoli friend was missing part of his head.

Froggs gasped. "What happened to your head, Mr. Broccoli?"

"A robot came and took part of it," said the poor Broccolli man, rubbing his broken stalk. Froggs decided to go to Robot city to find the robot and solve the mystery.

Meanwhile, in Robot City, X:elerate, the robot, was in his lair, charging himself. He lived in a house made completely out of cheese. Inside, there were two important things. One was a piece of broccoli (taken from Mr. Broccoli's head). The other important item was a massive machine. The machine was made to pluck chickens!

For X:elerate had an evil plan. He planned to have a chicken dinner, with broccoli on the side. He would serve it to all the most famous people in Robot City. "And if I'm lucky," he thought to himself, "I'll also trap all of Froggs's other vegetable friends when they come to save her."

Froggs went straight to the Empire State Building. She took the elevator to the top and skydived down from the needle, right into the chimney of X:elerate's cheese house. She landed right in X:elerate's trap. She was caged!

The robot was pleased. "I will eat you, and all your little friends, too!" He cackled evilly. "Bwaah-ha-ha-haaaaaa!" he laughed. "You will never stop me!"

But Froggs was not afraid. "Just wait and see," she said. "My friends will defeat you."

X:elerate's eyes glowed. "Well, I have a trap for your friends, too! Bwaah-ha-ha-haaaaaa!"

And then...