(light piano music)
- Lemonade.
“- Hey story pirates, podcast listeners, Lee here.”
Today we have a very special bonus episode for you. Featuring another new story written by not one, not two, but over a hundred different kids in our Creator Club. This time, an anime beaver leads a cross-country road
trip to California with side trips to Iowa Mount Everest and a bunker below a gas station. And oh, don't forget the story pirates just announced live shows for the spring. Take it's our on sale right now at storypires.com/live.
A brand new Creator Club story and story love with Lee and Peter coming up right after a few words for the grownups. (light piano music) Hey grownups, Lee here.
See story pirates live, our amazing touring cast, including Eric, will be visiting some East Coast cities this spring to perform some of your favorite songs from the podcast. And they'll take suggestions from kids in the audience
to create a brand new story that will only be seen once.
“Best of all, all of our upcoming shows are on weekend,”
so no need to worry about school nights or bedtime routines. We'll see you soon in Munhall, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Ohio, port Smith, New Hampshire, Medford, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston and Richfield, Connecticut.
Take it's to all of the shows are on sale now at storypires.com/live. (upbeat music) - It just filled me up with joy. - My mom loves the joke.
- Yo, yo, my joke. - It's maybe very proud of my fighting. Yeah, we're just getting like really deep into like, I want to say philosophies. - I definitely think I can be more creative now.
I'm the champion. - Just solely pilots.
- Okay everybody, here's what's up, as you may know.
Every once in a while, we invite all our Creator Club members to join me and Peter on a Zoom to write a story together. This time, over 100 different kids from all over the world showed up,
“and together, we wrote an incredible story”
about an anime beaver, a car name, hunks, a chickpea named Goucombrei, and volcano, the god pan, and the wonderful people of the state of Iowa. And yes, the god pan is played by Peter,
which you are not going to want to miss. And PS, grownups, we're doing this whole thing again on Zoom with me and Peter in April, and it's not too late to get your kids involved. We're going to write a brand new story together
and then adapt it for the podcast, just like in today's episode. So information on how to join us is in the episode description for today's episode. So go and up, check it out, and please join us.
And now, without further ado, we present to you a story by the story pirates creator club, the great California adventure that could have been so much better than it was. - All right, car sales people.
- Hmm, sales people? - Right, sorry, ruffle. Sales people and sales anime beaver. - Thank you. - As you all know, today's our biggest car sales event
of the year. - Don't worry, boss.
I know I've literally never sold a single car,
but today's the day. Anyway, team, it may be ice cold outside because we live in Arctic temperatures, but today, in here, our sales, I gotta be hot, hot, hot, hot. - Yeah, I'm motivated.
- Okay, ruffle, you got this. - Open the doors. (bell ringing) - Excuse me, did you? - Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me,
excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me, excuse me. - I noticed you. - Sorry, are you? - Three, I had to trick me looking to buy a car.
- Hi, my name is cucumber. - The name's ruffle. - You got any cars? - Let me just look around and see what we have left. - Oh no.
- Did you just look around and notice that there's only one car left, but when you saw which one it was, you pretended like it wasn't there because there's some sort of personal tension
between you and that specific car? - Good read. - Show me the car. - All right, follow me. - Well, well, well, look who it is, ruffle,
the anime beaver. - Hello, hunks, the car.
- Well, I've never seen a car with such long curly hair.
- Hunks is the name going fast as my game. Well, that, and not liking this beaver.
- What did I ever do to you?
- You know what you did. - And if you didn't agree with me, I said you were angry. - Huh? - I didn't come here to watch you bicker.
- You know how hard it is being a chickpea in these temperatures, so I'm getting out of here. I'm hitting the road and moving to the land of sunshine. - California. - I also feel trapped here at this car dealership.
We're no one respects me. - Do you want to come with me? - A million times, yes. - I'm in too, but this doesn't mean we're friends, beaver.
- And you're stupid. - Hop on in. - Ruffle, what are you doing inside Hawks with that chickpea?
- I'm selling my first car boss and my last.
- Wow, it was really cool the way you flipped down those sunglasses. - Hit it, honk. - You did great for that. California, here we come.
- We've been driving for so long, honk. You need a break? - You think I can't handle a cross-country drive? - Why do you take everything I say as an insult? - Oh boy, we are rival.
- Oh yes, we are rival.
“- Please, give it a rest, I think we're all hungry.”
- Ooh, a gas station, let's stop for some snacks. - Hey, I just thought of something. Did any of us bring any money? - That's a major oversight. - Hey, look over there behind the gas station.
It's a hatch. - Oh, you think there's food down there? - Only one way to find out. - That's a big hatch. - Let's go.
- My wheel.
Look at the bottom, there's a bunker door.
- Haunts, you think you're strong enough to open? (explosion) - You did it. - Look, it's, it's a coconut in a bunker. - Oh, hi there, we were just hoping that.
- I want, there would be free food down here. - Yeah, actually. - You're able to, I want to try some of my canned hotdogs. (explosion) - Oh, great, okay.
- Thanks, I don't think so. - They are holding one hundred years old. - Wow, you can really taste all one hundred years. - You know, you are probably trying to get to California. - Yeah, how did you know?
- I just did, okay. - Yes, sorry.
“- Well, you might as well take this tunnel.”
It's a shortcut to California. - Do I know what? - Well, that is the right direction. Come on, let's get driving. - Thanks for all your help coconut.
Chey, you didn't tell us your name.
- I sure didn't. (explosion) - No, I'm 40, I hear we call. - And that's when I said, I may be an anime beaver with 65 siblings, but at least I'm not rude.
- Wow, did you really say that? - No. - Hey, we're coming out of the tunnel to Iowa. - So this is Iowa, huh? - I've heard good things that the people are very nice
and nothing weird ever happens. (laughing) (explosion) - Is that-- - Pan, the Greek god of the wild laughing maniacally on top of a megavalcano?
- It sure is. And flute. Pan, did you raise this volcano here in the middle of Iowa? - I sure did.
Pan flute. (laughing) - Why? - I'll tell you why. - Because where will skin-mapped pile?
- My pet's talking mushroom. - And I'm taking it out on Iowa. (laughing) - Pan flute. (laughing)
- But that doesn't make any sense? - I'm a god. I don't have to make sense. Pan flute. - Foo.
- Command fellas, this problem doesn't concern us. - Why? - Please help us out when we need you. - We can't abandon these people. - We don't even know them.
- You didn't know me when we started this journey. Why are they any different? - My God, you're right. Pan, we'll do it. (cheering)
- Come on.
“- Where have the where-waves taken pile, the mushroom?”
- To their secret hide-out on top of Mount Everest, which is currently floating inside another giant volcano. - What? - Goodbye. (laughing)
Pan flute. (dramatic music) - Thank you. Thank you. - I love you guys.
- All right. - Two Mount Everest. (squealing) - Yeah. - Us werewolves have been defeated.
- Cursed you at a baby there. (laughing) - You don't come back. - Wow, Ruffle, those are some sick moves. - You weren't too bad yourself.
- You saved me. - Of course we did pile. - Why would you bother saving a talking mushroom like me? - Because we heard that you were a fungi. (laughing)
- Oh my god. - Oh my god. - Oh my god. - Funny. - Wow, that was good. - Let's get back to Iowa.
Pan, we have returned from Mount Everest.
- So you have failed in your quest, I see. As I knew you would, pan flue. - That's so fast. - Huh? - They didn't fail?
- pile, they saved you. Pan flue. - I guess Iowa is saved. Volcano, be gone. (whoosh)
- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now before I go, is there anything I can do to help you in your quest? - Can you help us get to California? - I'm a god.
I can help you get that using directions. - Oh, well, we sort of already know which we just drive west, say goodbye, pile. - Goodbye, pile. (laughing)
- It was such a fun guy. Magic. (whoosh) - I guess we have no choice but to keep driving. - You know what, that's okay with me.
I have to admit, I've enjoyed the journey with you, cucumber, and with you, ruffle. - Me too, honks. Can I tell you something? - Sure.
“- I honestly can't remember why we're enemies.”
- Me too, oh man, I'm so glad you said it. I feel like I've committed to it for so long now. I was afraid to ask. - Friends? - Friends.
- Huh? - Who's that? - Not only have you saved all of Iowa, but you've also saved yourselves. - Are you?
- Yes, the President of Iowa. - Wow. - We owe you much. Please name your reward and we will use our small amount of remaining Iowa magic
to grant your wish. - You have Iowa magic? - Just a little bit. We spent most of it on the Iowa State Fair. If you haven't been, it is spectacular.
- The only thing we really wanted was to get to California. Your wish is granted. - Enjoy California with Iowa magic. - Oh, look, we're in California. - And look, we all have big muscles now.
- And look, we're all best friends. - It looks, I'm here too. - Can't. - California pen float. (triumphant music)
- Ah, see ya. - Oh, bye. - We'll be right back after a few words hit a grown-up. - Hey grown-ups, Lee here. See story pirates live.
Our amazing touring cast, including Eric,
will be visiting some East Coast cities this spring to perform some of your favorite songs from the podcast. And they'll take suggestions from kids in the audience to create a brand new story that will only be seen once.
Best of all, all of our upcoming shows are on weekend, so no need to worry about school nights or bedtime routines. We'll see you soon in Manhall, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Ohio,
Port Smith, New Hampshire, Medford, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, and Richfield, Connecticut. Take it to all of the shows are on sale now at storybuyards.com/live. - Welcome back to Story Love,
where we read stories written by kids, and we talk about them, hello Peter.
“- Hi Lee, would you like to read the first story for today?”
There's nothing I would love to do more, I'm so excited. - Wow, sorry, here we go.
This first story Lee comes to us
from an eight-year-old from Missouri named Eli and Eli's story is called The Dirty Floor. - Hmm, once of on a time, there was a marshmallow in a cabin with hot cocoa. - And then he accidentally spilled his hot cocoa
and he didn't have any rags or anything. So we went to the store to get some dirt, okay? And then he laid it out and then he said, "Ah, how my floor is dirty?" So then he went to the store to get some grass to clean it up.
- Of course. - And then he said, "Ah, how my floor looks like a field." And then he went back to the store again and divided some apple seeds and then he said, "Ah, no, it's more of a farm."
And then he started his own business and he got a lot of money and he used that money to buy some more hot cocoa and some apple cider and then share it with a friend. - The end.
- And that man was Johnny Apocede. It all started with a dirty floor. No, seriously though, I feel like this story
“is sort of showing a key point of an evolution”
which is the development of agriculture.
- Ooh, maybe this is how it actually happened first.
- So it's like way back, there was a hunter-gatherer who's like, "This cave is a mess." - That's right, I'm gonna put dirt on it. - Yeah, I get some dirt because that's dirt, dirty. That was a bad idea.
- Yeah, let's get some grass now. - Yeah, ooh, that's cozy, I don't know. It looks like outside. - Yeah. And then Apocedes in the dark cave grew into apple trees.
- And then people started to go like, "Oh, you know what? "I could really use an apple." "Oh, you know where there's apple." - Grug, that cave man over there.
- Right, yeah, that weird guy.
He's got apples in there.
- Yeah. - Entrepreneur. - Entrepreneur.
Eli, amazing story, my friend.
Let's head on to the next one.
“This is called Percy the Penguin by Yatri,”
a 10-year-old in Canada. (clears throat) Percy the Penguin lived in Antarctica. He was cold. So he moved to Florida, the end.
(laughs) - So the, you know, sometimes this story's like a high coup, where it makes you think about every single word. Can you, can you show me some words that, - Talk to you in that way?
- Yes. Antarctica cold. - Well, was that? - And Antarctica. - Antarctica.
- Thank you. - That's the sea in there. - Antarctica. - Antarctica Antarctica. - Antarctica.
You know, it took me a long time to realize that Antarctica, Arctic, Arctic, Arctic. - Are the opposite of the Arctic. - Arctic, Antarctica. - Antarctica, Arctic.
- The Arctic is the North Pole. Antarctica is the South Pole. - Correct. - Right. - Anyway, I interrupted you.
- That was the first big word.
- Okay. - Cold. - He was cold. - Yeah. - I felt that.
- I felt that. - I felt that. - That word is cold. And the final word, Florida. - Yeah, I thought a lot about Florida with this,
because there are so many advantages to Florida. This is why so many people go there, right? You are warm, you're around. There's a lot of beaches on both sides. Right, most places only have a beach on one side.
- It's a peninsula. - That's right. - Now, I was recently made fun of for how I say the name of this state. I just said it in the way I don't naturally say it.
- Say Florida? - No, I say, I have so many points, that's me. I say it only two syllables. - Florida. - Florida.
- Florida. - Florida. - Florida. - You don't really say like that though, that's different.
- If I'm like, oh, let's go to Florida. - You don't really say like that. - I say Florida. - Florida, I say forest, Florida, horrible.
“- If you were to launch on camera, how do you say it though?”
- I'd say Florida. - You say Florida? - I don't know how to say it, but as I'd be actively working against the way I say it. - I think probably people in Florida say Florida.
- Florida? - It's like, what's another state of Florida? - Well, East Coast, they say Florida. They say, "Farist, horrible, Florida." - The winner was horrible, I went to Florida.
- Yeah, exactly. - I say, cool, I wanted to get some orange juice in Florida. - It's cool to want you to orange juice in Florida. - I say it with no vows at all. - Florida.
- Florida, wow. - Yeah, it's getting weirder as you say that. I feel like there might be another physical condition going on here besides orange. - Let's see.
- I don't eat enough orange juice. - Do you feel okay right now? - Whoa, okay. - Okay. - Let's check it out.
- Yachtry incredible story.
Thank you so much for sending it in. I wanna go to Florida now. - Yeah, let's go. You know, let's go right now. - The Florida.
We have one more story.
“This one comes to us from a six year old”
from New York named Leo. And Leo's story is called "The Gardening Competition." Nobody owned the aquarium. (laughing) So they had a competition to see who would get us a phone it.
(laughing) Had a competition to see who could grow the biggest tree and the fastest. It was between a farmer and a baby. The baby's name was Google Gaga.
And the farmer's name was Sharky Barkey. Because one time he was in a boat and he saw a shark who helped him because whales were trying to eat him. So multiple sharks attacked the whales. Hence, well, he was named Sharky Barkey.
Sharky Barkey! They both went at the same time. They each had a shovel, a bucket of seeds, and two buckets of dirt. There were 500 judges.
- Okay, that just feels like it's gonna be really hard. - Whoo. - It's like they can't even words. Maybe it's just up down, in which case it's fine. 500 is great.
- They started when the 500th judge, a special judge, the president in the United States told them to start. They planted all the seeds at once. They made a hole, dropped in the seed, covered it with dirt, watered it,
and moved on to the next one. It only took 15 seconds to plant all the seeds and for them to grow interesting. - But there were bulls on the farm who came to eat the leaves.
The baby had a nerf gun that he used to shoot at the bulls. They ran away from the trees, but charged at the baby. - Uh-oh. - The baby ran away and was a good digger. So he dug a hole and went in.
The bulls dug with her horns, but they couldn't catch the baby. The baby ran away and the bulls ran home. The farmer lost the competition and got dunked in an ice pool. He said it was refreshing, but what he got out,
he was an ice block and they had to nail him out. The baby won and got to own the aquarium. The baby was very smart. - The end! - Fantastic story, Leo.
I love the backstory for the farmer.
- Yeah. - I'm obsessed with his name, Sharkey Barkey. - Mm-hmm. - And this anecdote from his past about the whales and attacking him
and multiple sharks attacked the whales. - You know, it's so good. I feel like we're used to the whales being friendly. - Right. - And we got to be protected by from the sharks.
- Last I checked, there's no shark with killer in its name. - Yes. - By the way, there's a killer one. - Uh-huh. - So that tells me, watch out for whales.
- Absolutely, my favorite part of this story.
It's the very, the first four words.
- Yeah, so good. - Nobody owned the aquarium with the story on that. - Why? - Who built it? - Oh, good though.
I mean, are they saying it was built by the city or the state? - Or it was abandoned? - Or is abandoned?
“I think it just sort of exists, you know?”
Like you show up at the aquarium and you're like, who owns this place? - You're like, nobody. - Actually, we, weirdly, we don't know. - No.
- We don't know. - We lost all the records and our shed with all the files burned up. - I mean, maybe it's a fundraising vehicle, this thing. 'Cause, you know, be careful what you wish to own.
- Yeah.
- Once you own an aquarium,
do you know how to have to clean those things? - Like every single day, frequently. If you've ever had a fish tank, you know. - Aquariums, they're even worse. - There's no such thing as a free aquarium.
(laughing) - That's true. I love, so I said, I love the backstory of the farmer, but we don't know much about the baby. I guess babies might have an issue
and don't have much better. - Yeah, there's not a ton of backstory. - Except the hospital they were born in?
“- Yeah, well, maybe some babies were born in cars.”
That's true, I've heard that. - Also, I liked that the ice dunk was refreshing. - Yeah. - Do you think that he's just saying it was refreshing, so it doesn't feel as much as like a punishment?
- Oh, oh, he said it was refreshing. - He said it was refreshing. - He said, oh, this is refreshing. - Well, he said it also while he was in an ice block. - Not yet, when he comes out, they put him in and he's like,
"I actually love this." - Yeah. - You guys, that this would be bad by loving. - You thought I lost to a baby? (laughing)
- I'm doing great. I should love it in the air. - I'm a winner here. (laughing) - The baby was very smart.
(laughing) - Incredible. Amazing story Leo. Thank you so much for sending it in. To read all of today's story love stories,
just head to storypirates.com. - And grown up, guess what?
“You can find an even longer version of today's”
story love on YouTube and CR beautiful faces. We drop a new video every week and here's something. Did you know that YouTube will show it to more people and help storypirates grow if we get more views right away, it's weird, it's true.
So by watching these videos, as soon as you can, you're not only hearing the hilarious stories from kids, but you're helping each kid's story be celebrated by more people and you're contributing to our channel's growth, which means we can create more videos
and help fund our podcast. You've heard us talking about how severely impacted free forms of educational media like us have been. And this is one free step you can take to help. So, find the link to today's video in the show notes.
And while you're there, subscribe to our channel and make sure to watch the new videos each week. And growing up story love isn't just the name of a segment on our show, it's also the name
of our incredible corporate volunteer program.
To find out more about story love, our digital creative writing program story quest, and our nonprofit arm story pirates change makers, check out the show notes for links. That's it for today's episode.
Growing up, don't forget to check out the show notes to find out how your kids can join us for the next creative story session in April. We'll be back next week with another new episode until then, stay creative and stay kind.
Bye! The story pirates podcast is a production of story pirates studios, executive produced by Lee Overtrie and Benjamin Salka. This episode was produced by Sam Bear, Peter McNurney,
Lee Overtrie and Brittany Stahl. Recording sound design and mixing by Sam Bear at the relic room in New York City. Additional production by Brett Toven, theme song by Bobby Lord, musical scoring by Jack Mitchell.
Our head writer is Peter McNurney. Staff writers are Megan O'Neill and Alexis Simpson. The great California adventure that could have been so much better than it was, was adapted by Peter McNurney.
Episode Art worked by Camilla Franklin. This episode features performances by Max Bank, Christina Gross Beach, Tara Halpern, Sebastian Martinez, Peter McNurney, Megan O'Neill and Chris Simpson. California Panflute!
