Birds of the Season

Crows and Ravens flock cedar trees in the Autumn.

Penguins live in Antarctica and love Winter snow.

Seagulls play on the sunny beaches of Summer.

In Spring sparrows and hummingbirds sniff roses.

A Summer Painting I made with my friend Richard

Here's a painting I worked on this summer with Richard who is one of my favorite people I have ever met. This was painted in his studio at his house in San Miguel de Allende. It was my idea to paint his cello and studio and it was on a canvas looking out the window. This was fun and I painted the date in white so I could remember when we made this.

Haunted Fairy Tales by Santiago

Haunted Fairy Tales

Skelerella

Once upon a time, in haunted kingdom far far away, there was a skeleton named Skelerella. Her father died long ago, and she had to live with her two stepsisters and evil stepmother. Every day they made her ''WORK, WORK, WORK, WORK!''. Poor Skelerella had to work every day. She wore rags, and was forced too sweep the floor, wash the dishes, dust the cobwebs and fireplace, and serve things in their haunted house. Fortunately she did have some friends. Some rats, and crows, and owls, and bats, and spiders, all sorts of animals. Her stepmother had a black cat named Dark Night. Everyone (except the stepmother and stepsisters) hated him. Especially the skeleton dog Boney. All the time Dark Night was determined to catch and eat some mice and rats. So were the owls. One day a message came. It was an invitation to a spooky dance for monsters at Count Dracula's castle, where no humans are allowed. The paper said that every lady in the kingdom should come and dance with Prince Dracula, so he could find which one he loved the most and marry her. ''Then I can come too!'' thought Skelerella. ''You?'' cried the stepsisters. Her stepmother said ''You can not come. Unless you finish all the work and have something more frightening to wear.'' Skelerella went to her room to find a dress to wear. Inside an old trunk she found a spooky black one. ''This belonged to my mother.'' Skelerella said. ''It's a little old fashioned, but I can fix it.'' The mice and rats listened. Skelerella continued ''All it needs is some beads and fabric to make it look creepier.'' ''Skelerella!'' cried her stepmother. Skelerella came running down. ''What is it?'' she asked. ''Clean up the floor. It is dirty from all those bugs and spiders and other creepy critters on it.'' ''I already did my chores.'' said Skelerella. ''DO THEM AGAIN.'' her stepmother told her sharply. Skelerella did what she was told. She worked so hard, that she didn't have time to work on her dress. That evening at 10 o'clock, the ghostly carriage arrived. ''The carriage is here,'' Skelerella told her stepmother and stepsisters. ''You're not ready yet.'' her stepmother said. ''I'm not coming,'' she said sadly. ''Don't worry.'' said her stepmother. ''There will be other spooky dances.'' Then they left her as they went. Skelerella went out into the garden and started to cry. Just then in a flash, someone appeared. Skelerella looked up. I was her fairy ghost mother. ''What is the matter child?'' her fairy ghost mother asked in a witchy voice. ''I can't go to Count Dracula's dance party'' Skelerella said sobbing. ''Don't cry child,'' her fairy ghost mother said. ''I can help you.'' ''You can?!'' asked Skelerella excited. ''Of course. I can change anything with my magic wand.'' ''Show me then!'' cried Skelerella. ''Very well.'' said her fairy ghost mother. She waved her wand and began to sing: Double double, toil and trouble, cauldron boil and cauldron bubble. Double, bubble, toil and trouble. Cauldron boil and cauldron bubble. Some how wicked this day comes. Instantly a jack-o-lantern pumpkin became a haunted coach, the mice became ghostly horses with wings, a rat became a ghostly pirate carriage driver, an owl became a ghoulish footman, and Skelerella's rags turned into witch's clothes with a pointed hat. On her feet were witche's boots. ''Oh thank you so much.'' Skelerella said relieved. ''It's a horrendous dream come true.'' Her fairy ghost mother said that the spell would be broken at midnight. ''I understand.'' Skelerella said. She got in her jack-o-lantern coach and headed off to the spooky dance.At the castle, Count Dracula was upset because his son the prince had tried every girl, and not one was whom he loved. Skelerella finally made it to Dracula's castle. When the prince saw her, he was surely in love. Count Dracula the king was happy at last when he saw his son fall in love with her. Skelerella danced for hours with the prince. She was having such a good time, that she forgot her fairy ghost mother's promise. Suddenly, the clock stroke 12! She finally remembered the promise. It was time for her to go. ''Goodbye'' she said to the prince. ''Wait!'' cried the prince. ''Where are you going? I don't even know your name.'' But he was to late. Skelerella was already running away. As she ran, one of her witch's boots fell off! She did not stop. On she went. When she arrived to her coach, everything changed back. Including her witch's clothes. Then she noticed she'd lost one of her boots. She turned to the sky and said to her fairy ghost mother and said (even though she wasn't there) ''Thank you very much''. The next morning, the prince noticed the witch boot. He told the king to try it on every woman in the spooky kingdom. Whoever fitted it would be his bride. All over the land the king's duke tried every single lady, and not one fitted it! The news had spread all over the kingdom to the house of the stepmother, stepsisters, and Skelerella. When they herd the news, they were all excited and determined to try on the boot. Skelerella remembered that wonderful time she had dancing with the prince. The stepmother however, did not want Skelerella to try it on. So she locked her in the attic room! ''Let me out!'' cried Skelerella, but the stepmother would not let her out. She put the key inside her pocket. Luckily, the mice and rats noticed what had happened. They followed her downstairs. When the stepmother wasn't looking, they slipped in her pocket and took out the key. Then they hurried upstairs with it, and freed Skelerella just as the duke arrived. The duke put the boot on the stepsisters' feet. It did not fit. ''Are there any other ladies of your house?'' he asked to the stepmother. The stepmother shook her head ''There is no one else''. Just as he was about to leave, Skelerella came running down the stairs. ''Your ghost! Please wait!'' she cried. The duke put on the boot, and it fitted perfectly. And Skelerella married the prince. And they both lived horribly ever after

The End

The Spider Web Man

Once upon a warehouse, there lived a wicked old woman and an old ghoulish man. One day the man a man made of spider webs and named him ''The Spider Web Man''. Suddenly he came to life! They both ran after him, but he just said ''Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Spider Web Man.''  

                

Portrait

Today I went on a photo expedition with my mom and took this photo of her in San Miguel de Allende.

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl

On July 16, 2013, me and mom finished reading the book that my teacher Ms. Lau gave to me. It's called Esio Trot by: Roald Dahl, Danny's favorite author. Mr. Renner has never read that book, so we decided to let him read it. Esio Trot means tortoise backwards. The story was fabulous. It's about a man named Mr. Hoppy who lives alone on his balcony with his plants. He is in love with his neighbor Mrs. Silver, who lives on the balcony below his. But she is in love with her pet tortoise Alfie. With all her attention focused on Alfie, Mr. Hoppy wishes she'd marry him, but he is to shy to even ask her over for tea. So he comes up with an idea to get Mrs. Silver's attention on him. If his plan works, then she'll fall in love with him and they'll both live together.

New Bookjacket design for The Twits

Mr. Twit...oops where is Mrs Twit, Mr Twit?

Mr and Mrs. Twit

Letter to Tim Burton

Dear Tim Burton,

I really like your movies. What I want to tell you is that your movie James and the Giant Peach is kind of different than the book by Roald Dahl. One thing you should do is add deleted scenes of some parts that are in the book but not in the movie.

Examples for deleted scenes: James and the bugs eating the peach before the shark comes. Seeing a ship after they escape from the shark. The lady-bug talking about the number of spots. The centipede singing a song about aunt Sponge and Spiker, till he loses his footing and falls into the cold Arctic water (which is when he comes to the ship-wreck and tries to get the compass). The centipede getting covered in paint, and having it washed off in the rain. Cloud-Men making hail stones, painting rainbows, making waterfalls, and doing all that Cloud-Man stuff. A plane breaking the seagulls free instead of the rhino. James' aunts not coming to New York.

As a special deleted scene for the very end: The old man grabs the last green thing and throws it into the peach-pit house, so it grows back to a Peach again.

What you can keep in the movie: The songs. Jack Skelington in the Pirate ship-wreck. James going to bed and having a dream. The grasshopper playing his violin. James and the spider looking for the centipede. James turning into an animated character as he goes into the peach. James turing back to his normal self as he lands on top of the Empire State Building. Thank you for listening to my ideas. Keep making great movies!

Best,

Santiago Lopez