What a week. In the company of twelve brave writers aged 5 to 9, we embarked on a publishing experiment. “Is it possible to create five published pieces in five days?” we asked ourselves. The answer is a resounding “Yes!”

We began the week by decorating wooden boxes with images that we felt represented our writerly selves. Bright colours, pink people and butterflies abounded. Over the course of the week we filled our boxes with incredible words. Delicate. Delicious. Viking. Rolls Royce. Each day we added to our stash.

During the first and second day we created summer word necklaces out of shrink art. Amid popsicles and swimming, the word dehydrated appeared more than once.

On the third day we began painted paper lanterns filled with wishes. From a wish for less pollution to a wish for a billion more legs, the writing was by turns inspiring and hilarious.

On the fourth day we finished our lanterns and began creating tote bags sporting messages to make people smile, or make the world a better place.

On the final day we finished up our tote bags, and used all the words we’d collected over the week to write a celebration of summer.

Five projects! Five days! Amazing!

Here’s their incredible poem.

Summer

Summer looks like apprehensive. It looks like flowers. It looks like an original watercolour of hot weather. It looks like love, lemon and lace.

Summer sounds like birds chirping over the ocean. It sounds like swimming. It sounds like exhaust coming out of the tail of a car.

Summer smells like termites. It smells like the ocean. It smells like the world. Like a rose. It smells like gravel on a dirt road leading to a manicure. Summer smells like politics.

Summer tastes like fresh fruit. It tastes like scrumptious culinary arts. It tastes like delicious. Summer tastes like popsicles. Like lemon sorbet. Like elephants.

Summer feels like hot. It feels like spiders crawling all over your body. Summer feels like a fat ant. Summer feels like water. Summer feels like twitching long hair. Summer feels like lemonade in the sun.

If it were always summer, I would sing while I was dancing. I would shower in sunscreen. I would do all my activities outside. I would go to the beach. I would ride in the cash cab. I would go canoeing. I would discover buried power.

In the year 3000, summer will be different. Summer will be crisp. It won’t be. The world will have exploded. The world will be graphite.

Summer is called Cool Monkey when it is in Canada. Summer is called Swimming, is called Perfection. Summer is called Flowers. Summer is called Animals when it is sunny. Summer is called Beautiful all the time.

Summer drives a Rolls Royce Phantom to the supermarket on Mercury. Summer dresses in the hottest sun when it goes on a hike. It puts flowers on its dress when it goes to the bank.

I didn’t know that summer is a girl. Winter is a boy.

Summer wants clean air. It wants rain over Vancouver. Summer wants a playground. It wants more trees. It wants a lower temperature. Summer wants to be unending.