Chapter One

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Chapter Five
 
TO THE TOP
 
by June Vernau
 

 
Chapter Two
 
Meet legendworld.co.uk
 

"We won!" Jamie ran into the school playground and grabbed Louise's arm. "We won on Saturday!"
   "What was the score?"
   "Two - nil, it was a great game. Two goals in the second half!"
   "Jamie, can we forget about Saturday, please." Miss Foster appeared at the classroom door. "Today is Monday. I think you can save the football commentary for playtime. It's time to go in now. I want you all in quickly so that we can go down to the computer room."
   "Are we going on the Internet?" Jack rushed to the door to be first in the queue.
   "If you can all manage to walk down the corridor in a civilised fashion," said Miss Foster.
  
  
After registration the class lined up at the door, ready to file down the corridor. "Don't run," Louise whispered to Caroline. "If you do we'll have to go back to the classroom."
   The journey complete, the class quietly took up their positions at the computer screens.
   "I'd like you to log on then go on to the Internet," said Miss Foster.
   "Can we go to a football website?" asked Kevin.
   "You can do that at home," said Miss Foster, "This morning we're visiting a new site. It's linked to a series of children's books. You can start typing in the website address from the board, or put your hand up if you have difficulties. Read it out to me please, Jamie."
   Jamie read the words on the white-board, "legendworld.co.uk"
   "Hey, this looks good," said Louise as a castle appeared on the computer screen, floating in a dark sky, and a pumpkin glowed in one window. She read the words on the screen aloud, "A World of Fairy Tale and Fantasy, Click on the door to enter." Louise clicked the mouse.
   "There's a walking dragon," said Jamie when the image on the screen changed.
   "Now, once you're on the site take a look around," said Miss Foster. "Be sure to read the latest news".
   "Dragon, trolls. Lets look at Lost Dragons." Louise clicked on the box. "Look there's pictures of funny dragons - Dective!" Louise scrolled down the page. "Wilber!" She laughed out loud at the picture of the overweight dragon.
   "Now, if you go to Lost Dragons," said Miss Foster, "you'll find out how to return dragons to Legendworld - very important."
   Active fingers clicked. The information appeared on the screen.
   "It says if you want to return a dragon to Legendworld you simply take a photo of it and email the photo to the website," said Miss Foster.
   "Why would you want to send a dragon?" asked Sylvie. "They don't exist. It's silly. I've never seen a dragon in Nottingham. Dragons are only in Fairy Stories."
   "This website carries extracts from stories about trolls, dragons and mythical creatures," Miss Foster explained. "It's a world of fairytale and fantasy, like it says on the first page. Now, if you go to the page called Latest News you'll find lots of pictures of dragons that children have sent in. You could send a picture to the website and have it displayed. You could even send one of your own stories."
   "Miss Foster, I've lost the picture of the trolls," Sarah called out. Miss Foster went to her aid, leaving the class to explore the website.
   "I hope we get to write stories about dragon catching," said Louise. "I'd find a dragon in my wardrobe and feed it on cornflakes. It would grow bigger and bigger, then I wouldn't be able to get in my bed."
   "That's silly," said Tim. "The flames would scorch your duvet and the house would be on fire."
   "It's my story," said Louise. "I can make anything happen in my story."
   "Ideas then, let's get some ideas for stories," said Miss Foster, returning to the whole class.
   "The Dragon in the Wardrobe," said Louise.
   "Toasted Castle," shouted Tim.
   "Dragon Plays for Nottingham Forest," said Anthea.
   "The pitch is scorched by a torrent of flames - Manager says this player will" shouted Tim.
   "A little less noise please, Tim," said Miss Foster. "Now, let's get down some starter ideas before we leave the computer suite." She began to circulate amongst the children.
   "Have you got any ideas Jamie?" she peered over his shoulder at the blank page. "I'm sure you can think of something." She ruffled his hair.
   " I've got one," Nicholas called out. "Darin was in trouble. He'd robbed a bank and the police were after him. He wanted to hide so he emailed himself to Legendworld."
   Miss Foster laughed. "Now that is using your imagination - emailing people to Legendworld. A good job it's only a fantasy idea. If it really worked I'd be emailing a few people to Legendworld." She looked round the room.
   "Miss Foster!" Josh shot up his hand. "Can someone email me to Legendworld?"
   "I'm only joking, Josh. You can't email people across the Internet."
   "Miss Foster," Marie asked politely. "Why aren't there any pictures of people on the website?"
   "Well.." Miss Foster began.
   "You could have pictures of football players!" Tim called out. "That would be worth looking at."
   "As I was beginning to say," Miss Foster took control again. "The stories on the website are about fairytale creatures so that's why the pictures are of dragons and trolls."
   "Why aren't there any football stories?" Tim called out.
   "Tim, if you want to write a story about football no one will stop you," said Miss Foster.
   "And send it to Legendworld?" asked Tim.
   "Well, no one can stop you emailing any story or picture to Legendworld but they might not publish it on the website."
   "I'm going to try," said Tim.
   "You do that," said Miss Foster. "Now, let's get some stories going."
   "He won't do it," Louise whispered to Jamie. "When he gets home he'll rush out to play football and forget all about it."
   "Miss Foster." Marie put her hand up again. "If you could email people to Legendworld how would you get them back?"
   "I wouldn't want you to come back," said Daniel.
   "All right, that's quite enough," said Miss Foster. "Exciting though it may be, I want to see you all working before lunch or I may be tempted to put the emailing to the test."