the Key to Cooperation!

Synopsis

The Arry girls are facing their first dilemma – finding the Key to Cooperation.

In this journey of discovery the girls ‘time leap’ into another world filled with strange and magical creatures. Time leaps are common place for this trio of extraordinary sisters. They use their special chants and toe tingling escapes through portals to many strange literary worlds.  Each familiar literary character they meet provides them with important lessons!

The Arry residence, Friday 10th October 2014, is filled with the noise of singing, arguing and shouting. It’s a typical morning as the Arry girls get ready for a special dress-up day at Arryville Primary school. Mrs. Arry has made them each a colorful costume to their specifications. Pandemonium has broken out again as they argue in the kitchen at Banyalla Place about who will do the buttering of toast for breakfast. In the melee that follows, their beautiful dress up costumes are badly torn and soiled with peanut butter. In this time leap adventure, they escape through the purple portal to find help. Bending time is a special skill bestowed on the Arry girls – and only time will tell if they can use it wisely.

Harry, Larry and Barry Arry travel in time and space, through weird and wonderful literary places and strangely familiar terrain to the Literal Literary Lands.  They must find the giant glass mirror in Glassland and step through to reach the castle of the Giant Ogre, Ogra. Helga the magical Singing Harp is held captive there. Only she, the oracle of all wisdom in Literal Literary Land, can answer their questions and help them find a solution to the current predicament they are in! Things get ugly when the one-eyed Ogre wakes up and danger looms as he wields his studded club. The girls are surprised at the musical answers from the Harp – black notes alive and dancing on spindly legs – giving them the clue to the next part of their journey. The girls call out for help from the great sea eagle, SkyBastian, and fly on his back to the Sea of Tranquillity.

SkyBastian is an obsessive compulsive bird who demonstrates his superb flying, diving and landing techniques even in the face of great danger. And there is plenty of that happening in the castle at Glassland. During their flight, the girls glimpse familiar places in Literal Literary Land and argue about which ones the like best. Harry loves the Mountains of Mystery; Larry loves the Sea of Tranquility and Barry loves the Fantasy Forest.

Harry, Larry and Barry Arry continue to argue and fight as the plot unfolds, only to find that they are not the only ones lacking cooperation skills in the Bay of Blabbery at the Sea of Tranquility. The silvery fish people are losing sleep due to their constant bickering and talking over one another – underwater blabbery. Hans, the Swedish Merman, tells the girls the sad story of losing the Key to Cooperation and how the fish people are now in a terrible muddle.

Close by, the claustrophobic hermit crabs, are getting ready for the annual hermit migration. They are learning to work as a team to find larger shells for their homes. Finklebloom, the leader crab has the key in his claw and is snapping out instructions to the band of scurrying hermit crabs. The Arry girls devise a cunning plan to distract the crabs and snatch the key.

They learn the simple art of cooperation and teamwork to win back The Key to Cooperation before flying back through the Literal Literary lands and time leaping in to their kitchen at Banyalla Place, at the end of Arry Lane in Arryville.

Scene Opens:

It was early morning in the Arry household at Banyalla Place, at the end of Arry Lane in downtown Arryville.

Mr Arry had left early for work that morning, cautioning his tribe of daughters as he left.

“Go outside and play together, and can you please try to get along today!” Mr Arry had pleaded.

Harry, Larry and Barry rushed out to the backyard in their pajamas, falling over themselves in their rush to be first.

On his way to the office he thought about his girls! He had nicknamed them :

Harry (Harry Helpful NOT – his high hopes for his eldest to lead the way)

Larry (Literal Larry, for whom everything was either black or white)

Barry (Big Bad Barry, who was always angry, woke up angry and spent the day being angry.)

The Story:

Click the links below to read the chapters of Book One: the Key to Cooperation!

chapter one   chapter two   chapter three   chapter four   chapter five   chapter six