After reading The Last Cuentista, my Language Arts class decided to do a project with local artist Peg Gignoux designing a book about our ideal world using Akua ink and botanical plants to decorate the cover, back, and pages that represents our ideal world.
Here is my story down below . . .
My Ideal World is called Planet Pulchra. Planet Pulchra is in Galaxy Hawalez. Pulchra means beautiful in Latin. Planet Pulchra was created 1,350 years before Earth was created. Planet Pulchra smells like sharp-edged pages, lilies, and the smell of sand on the beach. This Planet has a variety of flowers, including lilies, irises, dahlias, tulips, and orchids. Each flower is unique in shape, color, and size. These flowers grow in front and back yards, gardens, and parks, which is not intentional. On Planet Pulchra, there are trees everywhere—trees like oak trees, willows, magnolias, and many more. On Planet Pulchra, cutting down trees is prohibited. The temperature on Planet Pulchra is around 73 degrees so it is at a comfortable temperature. This temperature changes when it rains, snows, and when there is wind. It snows 3 inches once a month, the wind gets up to 4 – 7 mph, and it drizzles from 0.008 – 0.02 inches on some nights. The weather is not tracked on this planet, so you find the temperature as soon as you go outside.
Along with nature, there are many different animals on Planet Pulchra, including the most common animal, a Belephant. A Belephant is a mix between an elephant and a bee. Each animal (an elephant and a bee) helps the environment. For example, bees pollinate flowers, plants, and trees, which is an important part of Planet Pulchra. Elephants make pathways in the dense forest habitat that allow easy pathways for other animals. The Belephant has both of these characteristics. The Belephant is 3.5 to 4.5 pounds and the size of a basketball. The Belephants body is an elephant, and the color is the stripes of yellow and black on a bee.
Along with the Belaphant, another unique and common animal is the Howala. The Howala is a mix between a koala and a horse, with a koala’s body and a horse’s tail and ears.
On Planet Pulchra, everyone has a unique house. Each house’s price is due to the components, the size, and the location. If you want a house close to the grocery store and shopping center, the price would be around $400,000. A house for one person would cost $250,000, a house for two would cost $300,000, and a house for a family would cost around $450,000. You can hire a real estate agent to help you find your perfect home in your price range.
Every neighborhood has a small local grocery store so that people can shop quickly and efficiently with the store nearby. This is also an advantage for the owners of the stores, so there is always somewhere they can sell their products. Each grocery store has a fresh produce aisle, dairy, meat, bakery, canned goods, snacks, an aisle for household items, and a section for personal care. There are other stores like bookstores, clothing stores, and restaurants. In all, each neighborhood has one grocery store, one bookstore, one pet supply store, two restaurants, and one doctor’s office. Along with bookstores, libraries are 15 minutes away from each neighborhood.
Animals are a big part of Planet Pulchra, so each bookstore has up to 3 dogs and three cats from a shelter, so each one has a better chance of getting adopted. When you adopt a dog or cat from a shelter on Planet Pulchra, each shelter gives you free supplies to take care of him or her, including dog or cat food and treats, dog leashes, blankets, and toys. Each house has a shelter at least 10 minutes away from them, so the drive time will encourage them to go. If you are looking for another type of animal, including rodents or reptiles you can find them in shelters nearby and post offices. Along with dogs and cats, if you adopt a rodent or reptile from a shelter, you get free supplies for them. Before you adopt any animal, you have to fill out a survey. This survey aims to ensure the person adopting the animal will take care of it well. There will be questions like “Have you had a pet before?”, “Why did you decide to adopt one?” and “What sort of environment will your new pet live in?” You will definitely need more food and most likely need more blankets, beds, and toys for your pet or pets in the future. You can get these supplies at local pet stores in each neighborhood. These pet stores only have supplies and no animals.
There are many different jobs, and each one pays a living wage. Here is a list of important jobs and their monthly and yearly salaries.
Doctors & dentists- $30,545 as their monthly salary $360,000 a year
Vets – $20,000 as their monthly salary – $240,000 a year
Police & firefighters – $20,000 as their monthly salary – $240,000 a year
Teachers – $25,000 as their monthly salary – $300,000 a year
Store clerks & owners – $11,478 as their monthly salary – $137,736 a year
Carpenters & Construction workers – $29,016 – $35,000 a year
On Planet Pulchra, there is one elementary school in each neighborhood. The community school system goes from kindergarten through high school. Children in kindergarten learn to pronounce and write each letter of the alphabet. Along with these necessary subjects, there are fun subjects, including art, cooking, music, and storytime. You take science, math, social studies, and Language Arts in elementary school. In addition to those, you also get to pick Spanish or Chinese to take as your last class. In elementary school, you stay with your class the whole day for all the other subjects and the last hour is when students split into two groups determined by what language you picked to start learning. When you get to middle school, you take the same classes as in elementary school at higher levels. You also get to pick a language in middle school. You can either pick the language you chose in elementary school or a different language to try. Middle school has more choices for languages, including Spanish, Chinese, French, and Latin (which you can start in 7th grade). Elementary school is from ages 4 to 6 (for kindergarten) to ages 10 to 11 (5th grade). Middle school starts in 6th grade to 8th, and high school is from 9th grade to a senior. In middle school, you get to pick a sport after school, starting in 7th grade. Some sports include tennis, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, soccer, and volleyball.
Planet Pulchra has playgrounds, parks, pools, tennis and basketball courts, and beaches nearby. Each playground has four swings, one open slide and one tube slide, one tall rock climbing wall connected to the structure, one set of monkey bars with ten bars, and many ladders going up and down the structure. The tennis, basketball, and pool are all in the same area. There are six tennis courts, one basketball court, and one pool. In the middle of the basketball and tennis courts there is a gazebo with a cooler with ice water and reusable cups next to it, so you are never dehydrated. There are a total of four of these around this area. The pool is also right next to the tennis courts. This pool is gated with two diving boards. One is six feet high, and the other is eight feet. There are diving boards, one tube slide, and two mushroom shaped fountains you can play under. Along with the pool are beaches near each neighborhood at least 25 minutes away. There are no sharks at the beach, so you don’t have to be concerned about your safety in the water. There is a jetty at each beach that kids can play on and jump into the water safely because it is deep around it. You can also try to catch crabs with turkey in a clementine-netted bag, but you must release them before leaving the beach. Visit Planet Pulchra!