After discussing with my group mates, we decided that we should do a children storybook, as it would perhaps be easier than a comic strip. Boy, were we so wrong.
Drawing wise, it might be easier, for the drawings does not have to be so precise, unlike a comic strip. However, language wise, it was painful! The numbers of words which we cannot use as it is deemed to be too difficult for kids. We have to be extra cautious with the message that we are trying to convey too. So as a writer for the storybook. It had been a tough time for us. My friend and I had to travel down to a bookstore, just to research on the English standards of kids between 7 to 9 years old!
In the end, after many many revisions of the original storyline, here is the finalised storyline(the page numbers of the storybook is represented by the numbers on the left):
Story Sequence1. Jerry is a young inventor. Every morning, Jerry rides his space scooter to his school at Schooltopia. Each day after school, Jerry would rush back to home in planet Technoville.
2. Technoville is a small planet which relies heavily on advanced technology. The people in Technoville grew up with many interesting gadgets. Some of these gadgets help them with their work and some provide entertainment for them. The people in Technoville, especially children, keep their gadgets very close by their side.
3. Jerry owns many gadgets. He enjoys playing with them and spends most of his time reading books, trying to invent more interesting gadgets.Xeno, a robot which does his homework for him, is his favourite and proudest invention.
4. Jerry often sleeps late due to his obsession with working on his inventions.
Sometimes, his classmates may not even see him in school for days!
5. Occasionally, Jerry’s classmates would invite Jerry out for lunch.
However, he would always say “No, thank you” and walk away. Whenever his classmates ask him to join them for a game, Jerry would always say “Maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow”.
6. One night, when Jerry was working on his newest invention, all the lights went out suddenly. Jerry panicked. He looked out of this window and the streets were dark. He tried switching on his gadgets and none of them could work. “OH NO! Technoville is experiencing a power failure!” Jerry wailed.
7. Seconds ticked by and it felt like hours to Jerry. He felt lost. “What am I going to do without my gadgets,” Jerry thought out loud. Then he started to cry.
8. Jerry heard a knock on his door. He looked up and saw a stream of light coming from the sides of his door. Jerry was confused. He was sure that none of the lamps were working. There should not be any light.
9. Jerry rushed to open the door. A girl stood at the doorway, holding a strange illuminated object. The girl looked vaguely familiar. “Are you from my class? Li…nux? What is it that you are holding?” Jerry asked timidly
10. “This is a candle,” Linux smiled and said. Linux passed Jerry a candle and asked, “Are you okay?” Jerry tried to hold back his tears, shook his head and sat down in his room. Linux then sat next to Jerry.
11. Both Jerry and Linux had much fun talking about themselves and the night passed in a blink of an eye. The next morning, as a form of thanking Linux, Jerry made her a robot dog.
12. Linux accepted the gift with delight. “Thank you,” she said with a smile.
Linux then introduced her friends to Jerry and invited him to join them in a space scooter race.
13. In the beginning, Jerry was a little nervous and shy around Linux’s friends. But as he had so much fun on his space scooter with them, he began to feel less shy.
After the race, Jerry took some of his inventions and shared it amongst his new friends. They were impressed by Jerry’s inventions and loved his cool gadgets.
14. Jerry soon became good friends with all of them. From then on, Jerry was no longer the lonely boy that he was before. Instead of rushing home after school, Jerry would meet up with his friends to study and play together. Jerry became a happier boy, one with both gadgets and friends.
