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Description

Considering the date, now is as good a time to talk about coping with challenging situations. This story not only helps children cope with the traumatizing experience that was 9/11, but also talks about fire safety. My character, Matt is psychologically characterized as an eight-year-old. This is appropriate to do, as 9 years old is on the older end of Allanapolis's age demographic, and Matt, along with his twin Lucy and his best friend Holly, serve as both role models and peers to their audience. Matt's comparative maturity also means that he can project a variety of emotions—he always vocally expresses his concerns over challenging topics.

In Allanapolis, the smoke detectors go off while Billy is cooking barbecue lunch. As the family evacuates their home, a brave Lucy learns about fire safety. She and Matt leads the family where the meeting place is in the yard, which is near the tree where Sherman was barking at. When the firefighters arrive, they discover that the fire is coming from the family kitchen where Billy is baking some cookies. However, everything in the house is still intact.

Story
  During the weekend, Matt and Lucy were playing basketball outside with Tommy, and Angie was playing with blocks with Charles and Marisa. "I wonder what do I smell," said Lucy. They all went to the kitchen to find out. It was their dad Billy having a barbecue. He had a special stove in the kitchen in which he could use it to cook many meals. Today, Billy was making barbecue chicken, green beans, corn, and carrots for the whole family. Just then, the fire went out of control. "I wonder what was that," wondered Billy. "Maybe I accidentally put too much grease in the oven when baking cookies." The whole family heard the smoke detectors going off. Angie rushed to call the fire department and Billy stopped cooking immediately.
  Jessie saw what was going on. "I think I smell smoke," he said. "I must've known that there is a fire in our house." He guided her parents outside before the fire went out. "I'm scared," complained Charles. Lucy led everyone outside the house. She told Charles that there was nothing to be scared of, and Matt showed him the meeting place in the yard. Lucy and Matt instructed the family to follow the safety steps.
"Step 1," said Lucy. "Don't be scared of fire. I'm not scared of anything." "Neither am I," said Matt. Everyone quickly went outside in less than a minute.
Meanwhile, Marisa, still looking scared, hid underneath her covers of the bed. Lucy showed up and said, "Marisa, step 2, never hide when there's a fire. You must go outside quickly!" Marisa did as she was told and Lucy held her hand downstairs.
"Step 3: we need to have a plan," said Lucy. Referring to the plan made, Matt and Lucy followed Marisa the fastest way to get to the meeting place without being caught by fire. "To get to our meeting place," said Lucy. "We need to go through the kitchen and out the door to the yard." Marisa followed along.
As they quickly went through the kitchen, there was smoke. "Step 4," said Lucy. "We have to crawl on our knees since there's smoke." The family crawled down on their knees. Marisa had the best crawl.
  Charles tried to take his plush chicken with him, but Lucy instructed him to not stop for anything along the way. "Charles, step 5, never stop, go outside quickly," she said. "You don't want your clothes to catch on fire." Charles left his chicken toy in the living room and followed the rest of the family.
Everyone made it to the meeting place in time. "Finally, step 6," said Lucy. "We'll sit and wait." Ulysses flew out of the window to join the family. While waiting for the firefighters to investigate, Matt looked a bit worried. "Dad?” asked Matt. “One moment,” said Billy. “Yes, I’d like to report a fire. My name is Billy Thornall. I’m calling to report that there's a fire in the kitchen. Oh, somebody called it in, already? Oh, I hear the sirens, thank you.” Then he silenced his cell phone.
The firefighters noticed that the fire was in the oven where Billy was baking cookies for Matt's cousin Christian's piano recital that afternoon. Most of them were burned, though some were baked just right. Luckily, there was only grease. "It's all good," said the firefighter. "We checked everything and I hope your family is safe."
Outside, Matt tried his best to have courage with help from Lucy. He wasn't too scared of the fire, and told Charles that there was nothing to be scared after all. "Is it safe to go back home?" asked Jessie. "When the fire is cleared," answered Billy.
Once everything was cleared, the whole family went back home safely. Billy, along with Matt and Lucy made new chocolate chip cookies and gave them to Christian. Everyone at the meeting place convened, and Lucy and Matt held up a sign that said "Hooray for the Firefighters!"

Description

Considering the date, now is as good a time to talk about coping with challenging situations. This story not only helps children cope with the traumatizing experience that was 9/11, but also talks about fire safety. My character, Matt is psychologically characterized as an eight-year-old. This is appropriate to do, as 9 years old is on the older end of Allanapolis's age demographic, and Matt, along with his twin Lucy and his best friend Holly, serve as both role models and peers to their audience. Matt's comparative maturity also means that he can project a variety of emotions—he always vocally expresses his concerns over challenging topics.

In Allanapolis, the smoke detectors go off while Billy is cooking barbecue lunch. As the family evacuates their home, a brave Lucy learns about fire safety. She and Matt leads the family where the meeting place is in the yard, which is near the tree where Sherman was barking at. When the firefighters arrive, they discover that the fire is coming from the family kitchen where Billy is baking some cookies. However, everything in the house is still intact.

Story
  During the weekend, Matt and Lucy were playing basketball outside with Tommy, and Angie was playing with blocks with Charles and Marisa. "I wonder what do I smell," said Lucy. They all went to the kitchen to find out. It was their dad Billy having a barbecue. He had a special stove in the kitchen in which he could use it to cook many meals. Today, Billy was making barbecue chicken, green beans, corn, and carrots for the whole family. Just then, the fire went out of control. "I wonder what was that," wondered Billy. "Maybe I accidentally put too much grease in the oven when baking cookies." The whole family heard the smoke detectors going off. Angie rushed to call the fire department and Billy stopped cooking immediately.
  Jessie saw what was going on. "I think I smell smoke," he said. "I must've known that there is a fire in our house." He guided her parents outside before the fire went out. "I'm scared," complained Charles. Lucy led everyone outside the house. She told Charles that there was nothing to be scared of, and Matt showed him the meeting place in the yard. Lucy and Matt instructed the family to follow the safety steps.
"Step 1," said Lucy. "Don't be scared of fire. I'm not scared of anything." "Neither am I," said Matt. Everyone quickly went outside in less than a minute.
Meanwhile, Marisa, still looking scared, hid underneath her covers of the bed. Lucy showed up and said, "Marisa, step 2, never hide when there's a fire. You must go outside quickly!" Marisa did as she was told and Lucy held her hand downstairs.
"Step 3: we need to have a plan," said Lucy. Referring to the plan made, Matt and Lucy followed Marisa the fastest way to get to the meeting place without being caught by fire. "To get to our meeting place," said Lucy. "We need to go through the kitchen and out the door to the yard." Marisa followed along.
As they quickly went through the kitchen, there was smoke. "Step 4," said Lucy. "We have to crawl on our knees since there's smoke." The family crawled down on their knees. Marisa had the best crawl.
  Charles tried to take his plush chicken with him, but Lucy instructed him to not stop for anything along the way. "Charles, step 5, never stop, go outside quickly," she said. "You don't want your clothes to catch on fire." Charles left his chicken toy in the living room and followed the rest of the family.
Everyone made it to the meeting place in time. "Finally, step 6," said Lucy. "We'll sit and wait." Ulysses flew out of the window to join the family. While waiting for the firefighters to investigate, Matt looked a bit worried. "Dad?” asked Matt. “One moment,” said Billy. “Yes, I’d like to report a fire. My name is Billy Thornall. I’m calling to report that there's a fire in the kitchen. Oh, somebody called it in, already? Oh, I hear the sirens, thank you.” Then he silenced his cell phone.
The firefighters noticed that the fire was in the oven where Billy was baking cookies for Matt's cousin Christian's piano recital that afternoon. Most of them were burned, though some were baked just right. Luckily, there was only grease. "It's all good," said the firefighter. "We checked everything and I hope your family is safe."
Outside, Matt tried his best to have courage with help from Lucy. He wasn't too scared of the fire, and told Charles that there was nothing to be scared after all. "Is it safe to go back home?" asked Jessie. "When the fire is cleared," answered Billy.
Once everything was cleared, the whole family went back home safely. Billy, along with Matt and Lucy made new chocolate chip cookies and gave them to Christian. Everyone at the meeting place convened, and Lucy and Matt held up a sign that said "Hooray for the Firefighters!"