In every My Life book I include a story that I’ve brainstormed with kids as I travel around to schools and festivals. I thank all the brainstormers in the back of the book. I love the idea that kids can influence the course of a story before it’s published. In the new book, My Life & Other Weaponised Muffins, kids helped brainstorm the story ‘Runaway Car’.
In the next book, which I’m writing now, I want you to help me with a chilling guinea pig kidnap story called ‘Hostage’. Here’s the setup…
Tom Weekly comes home from school one day to find his evil sister Tanya (who is definitely not based on my sister, pictured with me, above) in his bedroom holding Gus, his pet guinea pig, out the window. She says, ‘Give me all your money or the guinea pig gets it!’
‘What?’ Tom asks.
‘Give me all your money or I drop your guinea pig out the window onto the concrete.’
‘But… I don’t have any money.’
‘LIAR!’ she screams. ‘What about your birthday money?’
‘Okay, settle down.’
Tom puts down his school bag and rolls back the rug in the middle of his bedroom floor, revealing the trapdoor where he hides his lollies, comics and cash. As he unlocks the padlock Tom looks up at Gus who stares back at him with eyes like small black marbles, pleading with Tom to follow her instructions. A couple of little round poop nuggets fall from the guinea pig’s bottom.
Tom needs to hold onto his money while saving the guinea pig’s life. How does he do it?
Leave a comment at the bottom of this blog post with your first name and your idea and I will thank you in the back of the next book, out March 2018. I’ll try to include as many ideas as I can!
Hi Tristan,
We just loved meeting you the other day at Launceston Church Grammar School and listening to all your wonderful stories about being an author! We are aspiring to be better writers and some of your tips will be great to help us with this!
We have just spent a lesson brainstorming fabulous ideas for the guinea pig story!
Here they are:
Bryce: Tom tricks her :" Wow, mum is home and she has your favourite foooooood: sushi" Tanya drops guinea pig and runs to the kitchen!
Isaac: Tom locks trapdoor and runs outside just in time to catch guinea pig but then drops it on the grass.
Georgie: Just as Tom went to part with his money, Tanya screamed…..and looked down as the guinea pig did a wee on her arm!
Harry: Squirts sunscreen in her eyes, gets the guinea pig and locks it in the trapdoor and then shoots her with a Nerf gun and ties her to a tree upside down.
Abbie: Tom gives his sister fake money.
Daisy: "Come and look in my trapdoor" Tanya peers into the dark hole and Tom takes out the money and then pushes her in and grabs the guinea pig and locks her in there!
Liadan: Tom puts the money next to his foot and says come get it and then when she reaches for it, grabs the guinea pig and locks her in his room and goes and eats all her favourite jelly beans!
Charlotte: Tom says "Oh what's that on the guinea pig's back?? Oh it's a spider!!" Tanys who is scared of spiders drops it and Tom grabs it and runs away!
Max: "Give me half hour and I'll get your money" He uses walkie talkie to talk to his neighbour to call his sister to distract her.
Olivia: Tom made some cardboard money for Tanya and then distracts her while he grabs it.
Tigist: Tom saw a box so he put the money inside then he drags it into her room (the box is filled with toys instead) and sister gives back guinea pig.
Mercedes: Locks trap door and dashes out of the secret door in his room just in time to catch guinea pig.
Tabitha: Tom gets his bag of lollies and trades that for the guinea pig instead!
Cameron: When Tom opens the trap door he does give her the money for the guinea pig but then know she i going to her piano lesson soon and while she is out he takes the money back!
Edward: Tom gives Tanya the money and shoots the guinea pig with the bow and arrow (which has a blunt end and is only a suction one) and then grabs the guinea pig and karate chops the sister!
Cameron: Pushes sister out the window and holds onto her ankles and then grabs the guinea pig.
Kind regards,
3 Coombe
jcoombe@lcgs.tas.edu.au
Hi Tristan u came to our school . U r the best
Make more books !!!!!!!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Author
Cheer again, Jarley. I’m working on one right now. And the new Tom Weekly is out in July! ‘My Life & Other Failed Experiments’. Hope you get to read it. 😉
Riverbank PS
‘Give me guinea pig first!’
Snatch and run.
Fake money. Push her out door.
Throw money, snatch pig and run.
Gives money, take back in midnight raid.
Try $2
Distraction
Leaves money in hall
Water balloon in face
Let it go!
Give box of lollies, keep cash.
Muffins from LCGS said on post 'Create'…
Hi Tristan I'm so glad you came to lcgs yesterday and my idea for the guinea pig hostage is this:
Tom says to sister"before i save the day I'm going to the bathroom" he runs to the bathroom and get out onto the windowsill and starts walking along until he gets to the guinea pig, grabs it and runs 🐹
Thanks Launceston Grammar class 3 Coombe. So many good ideas. You guys are quite devious. Your teacher should keep a serious eye on you. To make sure you don't steal her / his guinea pig and hang her / him out the window.
Keep on writing. A little bit each day is what makes you a writer. 😉
Tristan.
Five Dock PS (during my visit)
Give her the money and then steal it back.
A giant muffin with arms and legs comes and saves the guinea pig.
Pushes her out window.
Revenge
Snatch and run
Fake money
Something in the bag to nip her.
Tell Mum and Dad.
Distract her and then snatch pig.
Orange Grove PS
Fake money. Lock her in
Pull rug out from under her.
Choc money
Guess which hand!
Super Pig!
Black ops
Cut off her doll’s head.
Switcheroo
Snatch and run
Friend catches pig
She throws pig out window – but onto trampoline.
Tom: since Tom has to pick up the guinea pigs poo he gives his sister the bag of poo then Toms sister puts her hand in the bag because she thinks it's �� money
Hi Tristan
My name is Hugo Adlington (my school is Holy Family) and this is my idea:
Tom asks if he can have the guinea pig for a second then he gets all his money for the guinea pig to swallow. Tom's sister drops the guinea pig onto Toms's emergency brick pillow and the money comes out in a rather disgusting way.
HA, that idea is a winner for several reasons. It is a) Devious b) Original and D) Disgusting. Congratulations. Your name will be in the back of the next My Life book out next March. (I usually thank kids just by their first names.) Cheers! I'll try to work something like this into the story if I can. Tristan
Grand Avenue SS
Unicorn Rescuer
Catches downstairs
Soft pillow
Fake money
Flying pigs
Storm
Empty wallet
Slips out window
ben
The guinea pig manages to fly (If it is flying
From Alyssa tran
Tom decided not to do it and put down the rug.As he looked at his sister,his legs were trembling so much that he nearly fell over but then something strange was happening.As the sister screamed at him one more time,a gem was floating above his head then with a big DING!
He suddenly got super power but he realised when he put his fist at his sister,his feet lifted in the air and zoomed at his sisters face then knocked her out and catcher the guiding pig but she wasn't unconsciouse for long. That's the idea you can use!
corey
you should pull your sister and catch the guinea pig and run
Grand Ave State School
Nimna{the person that was in the front of crowd}Hi Tristan. i wanted to tell you how it would work out in your new book so either a unicorn comes in out of no where and he's amazed oooorrrrrr Jack is going past his house under the window and then Tom decides to not give all his money because the Guinea Pig was 5$ not that much and so the sister counts down from 5 to see if he will make her stop and give her the money but he didn't so the sister drops the Guinea Pig down but Jack is there walking and then Jack catches the guinea pig thats falling out of the sky and in his mind is like WHAAAAA but he knows that it is toms guinea pig so returns it after sister has left room
please use my idea and please if you do use my name and the school you do not have to but please do.
YOUR MY FAVOURITE ATHOUR
love Nimna
Grand avenue state school.
How about when the unicorn comes some non hairy hairy guinea pigs ride on the back and then when it comes the unicorn just stands there poseing while the g pigs go in slow motion to save the hairy g pig and the idea is to make a soft landing with them joining together so the backs of them will catch the hairy g pig but then instead he land carefully in the mud but doesn't get dirty but the other g pigs do.
BIG thanks to all the kids at Grand Avenue SS who have left comments in the past few days. I had a great visit and, when I'm redrafting 'Hostage' I'll be re-reading these ideas and trying to include as many as I can and I'll thank you in the back of the book. 😉 Keep on creating.
Our Lady Help of Christians Parish School
Fake Money – Monopoly
Pretend to have the money then snatch the pig
Try to trick sister
Take something from her room. Her phone.
Tie money to string and yank it back.
Push sis and pig flies out window and lands on trampoline or leaves or in a tree or on cushions or in swimming pool or
Race downstairs and put something soft below for gp to land on.
Hi Tristan Bancks
thank you for coming to our lady help of Christians i have an idea
sam says he'll go and get the money he runs and gets a jar puts fake money
in it farts in it puts the lid on when he gives it to his sister she hands him
his guinea pig then she opens it ans smells the fart and throws up from how
smelly it is then sam runs away with his guinea pig
Ashley, it's like we are one brain in two bodies. How did you come up with such a disgustingly evil way to simultaneously save a poor creature from certain death AND take revenge on his sister. I'll thank you in the book and try to work this idea into the story. 😉
Tristan.
hi i forgot a bit in my idea
the evil sister goes to run ather sam ather she throwed up
but slips in it!
(sorry i only came up with that bit now to go with my
idea sorry)
call friend and he rushes over and brings a pillow and as Tom refuses his sister drops the guinea pig on to the cushion.
LOVE: Jayden from Alstonville Public School
P.S I'm your BIGGEST FAN!!!!!!!
hi tristen thanks for today at alstonvillepublic school ,
i was thinking of an idea for your new kids book,
when tom gets home from school he goes strat into his room, after seeing his siter holding his guinea pig he starts to think of a way he can get it back without giving her what she wants which is all my money which i have been saving for months now.
He texts his friend asking if he can bring either a trampoline or big cushion over to his house.
A few moments later his friend arives, so tom runs over to the window, as he is about to pretend to jump out the window he remembers that her has a chocolate bar in his pocket from school. He runs to his siter and shoves the chocolate bar into her mouth knowing that she doesnt like chocolate. She tries to get chocolate bar out of her mouth she lets go of the guinea pig and he falls, luckily it lands on the window cill but it starts to fall. Tom quickly runs down the staris and out the back door, just in time to see his friend catch the pig on the cushion. Tom and his friend are very happy and decide to have a victory dance, in the middle of the dance toms sister screams out at the top of her lungs " NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR THIS ONE DAY TOM WEEKLY!"
Alice Hornby – Alstonville Public School NSW
Hi
my idea is that…
Tom tells his sister the only way you can really make an exchange for money is in the blah blah blah room but what his sister doesn't now is that the room that Tom takes his sister into under the window outside the trampoline sits deserted Tom tells his sister that his sorry and cannot follow her instructions of giving her all his money outraged Tanya releases the guinea pig just a little bit stares at Tom and says are you sure Tom nods and Tanya his EVIL SISTER drops the guinea pig out the window as he falls you can hear the small fake cry just to try and make the moment feel real.
Later Tom runs downstairs outside and over to the Trampoline to were his furry little guinea pig lays safe and sound.
Thank You
FROM Eliza Polak Alstonvile public school
Thanks Eliza, Alice and Jayden from Alstonville PS for your crazy ideas. 🙂 Will try to work them into the next draft.
Keep dreaming.
T.
Ambrose Treacy College
Give her just a little bit of money. She drops it and a bird catches it.
Nan comes and catches the pig or runs it over.
Threaten to drop something valuable to her – Phone?
Something takes both phone and money
He throws cash box at sis and she falls out window.
Snatch and run.
Guinea pig karate chops and flips back into window.
Lands on trampoline.
Calls out Mum
Hi Tristan,
this is an idea of what could happen: Tom could search through a pile of old things that is in the trap door and finds a hypnotism watch and tries to hypnotise Tanya. It does not work successfully the first time but after a few tries it works, and he makes Tanya hand back the guinea pig and Tom keeps his money. and when Tanya snaps out of it she gets extremely mad but the mum of Tom and Tanya is already upstairs.
Thanks,
Noah
Nice, Noah. I reckon Tom would be into hypnotism. Thanks!
Hi Tristan,
this is an idea of what could happen: Tom could search through a pile of old things that is in the trap door and finds a hypnotism watch and tries to hypnotise Tanya. It does not work successfully the first time but after a few tries it works, and he makes Tanya hand back the guinea pig and Tom keeps his money. and when Tanya snaps out of it she gets extremely mad but the mum of Tom and Tanya is already upstairs.
Thanks,
Noah
For the guinea pig hostage idea, I would like to mention that when the sister is holding the guinea pig over the window and then the brother it about to throw the phone over the edge of his bedroom window. When the sister throws the guinea pig out the window, the guinea pig hits the ground but since he/she has so much fur, when he hits the ground it is like a soft cushion. But when the brother throws the phone out the window the phone breaks and the guinea pig is still safe.
From Oscar, from Saint Joan of Arc Catholic PS
Cheers, Oscar. Everybody wants Tom to win. I might have to change my current ending! T
Hi Tristan Bancks,
I go to St Joan of Arc Catholic Primary School.
You said to comment any ideas for your guinea pig hostage story on your website.
Here is my idea:
So the sister is holding the guinea pig out the window and she says she will give the guinea pig back for his money, the brother refuses to hand over his money so she drops the guinea pig out of the window, turns around and then gives her brother this mean look. Meanwhile, the guinea pig was falling and it didn't know what to do. Suddenly two wings popped out of its back! It flew back up to the window, came in to the brother's bedroom, quietly flew up behind the sister, and… BOOM! it punched her so hard she fell to the ground with a thud. the brother was so happy to have his guinea pig back that he gave him a new name, Flappy (since he can fly now of course). But the brother was still seeking revenge on his sister, so while she was still blacking out, he snuck into her room and took her phone (her most favourite thing in the whole wide world). She just wakes up as he enters the room again. He ran over to the window and loosely held the phone out the window. The sister jumps up off the floor and runs to the window to save her phone. Just as she gets there, he drops her phone. Unexpectedly she dives out the window, grabbing her phone in mid air, but then falls to the ground really hard. The brother calls for mum and explains that she just mindlessly dived out the window without a care in the world and mum cals the ambulance. (The sister had broken just about every bone in her body including her spine and neck.)
Thanks for visiting out school!
Zooey 🙂
Hi Tristan Bancks,
I go to St Joan of Arc Catholic Primary School.
You said to comment any ideas for your guinea pig hostage story on your website.
Here is my idea:
So the sister is holding the guinea pig out the window and she says she will give the guinea pig back for his money, the brother refuses to hand over his money so she drops the guinea pig out of the window, turns around and then gives her brother this mean look. Meanwhile, the guinea pig was falling and it didn't know what to do. Suddenly two wings popped out of its back! It flew back up to the window, came in to the brother's bedroom, quietly flew up behind the sister, and… BOOM! it punched her so hard she fell to the ground with a thud. the brother was so happy to have his guinea pig back that he gave him a new name, Flappy (since he can fly now of course). But the brother was still seeking revenge on his sister, so while she was still blacking out, he snuck into her room and took her phone (her most favourite thing in the whole wide world). She just wakes up as he enters the room again. He ran over to the window and loosely held the phone out the window. The sister jumps up off the floor and runs to the window to save her phone. Just as she gets there, he drops her phone. Unexpectedly she dives out the window, grabbing her phone in mid air, but then falls to the ground really hard. The brother calls for mum and explains that she just mindlessly dived out the window without a care in the world and mum cals the ambulance. (The sister had broken just about every bone in her body including her spine and neck.)
Thanks for visiting out school!
Zooey 🙂
I actually feel sorry for Tanya here. Very violent, Zooey! Funny, yet disturbing.
Tom quickly jumps off and grabs the guinea pig out of Tanya's hand and run's to his room to hide under his covers with the guinea pig and his money. After all Tom was pretty scared.
Andy Noonan aged 7
Genius, Andy. Maybe his doona is a guinea pig invisibility cloak?
I have an idea about the new book. Since Tom hates his sister, Tom grabs the guinea pig and pushes his sister out the window
From Matthew Casey The Gap State School
Violent, yet effective, Matthew. We might have to catch her on something soft?
Hi Tristan .
I have a idea. maybe put a bag on her head and then grab the guinea pig then run 🏃♂️ and then hide with it in a wardrobe and then stay there until she finds u . Hope u like the idea .
Author
😉 Nice one, Dale the Whale. Tristan.
Just get a chili flavored weaponized muffin, say “if you eat this i will hand over the cash,” she eats it then drops the guinea pig, you catch it then finally make a run for it. PS:Thanks for coming to Glenfield Public School! You’re my second favorite author with Ahn Do and Dave Pilkey. My favorite author is J.K Rowling.
Author
Second favourite! What do you mean ‘second favourite’? … Okay, I’ll take it. Only because Anh Do, Dav Pilkey and JK Rowling are very good company to be in. Happy reading! Tristan.
I thought I was funny but your books are hilarious!
Author
Cheers, Ronin!
Hi Tristan . I have a good idea go outside and say “I’m going to get the money ” and then go and get a trampoline and drag it to the window and then push her out and then when she bounces on it then the guinea pig will fly up to the window then Tom will Catch it . 👍👍👍👍
Author
Genius, Jarley. Love flying guinea pigs!