Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the Friday Mashup! Who is ready to mash?

On Saturday, we asked you “If you could build a castle, where would you put it, and who would you be trying to keep out? Or who would you be trying to keep safe inside?” Here’s what you had to say:

Abigail says she would put her castle right next to her house where her teachers can stay so she can have a sleepover party with ms. Diana and ms. Becky. Her castle would be made of sparkles and painted blue and called ala. Only friends from school can get on and the password to get in is “open”. Clever.

Abigail, you are good to include your teachers in your castle plans. Usually teachers only get to hang out in the teacher’s lounge, and I’m sure Ms. Diana and Ms. Becky will be extremely grateful. And maybe they’ll bring some apples. One tip, though, if you want to keep undesirables out of your castle, you probably shouldn’t publish the secret password on blogs.

Phoebe wants to build her castle right here and it is going to look like Elsa’s ice castle. Elsa can come in the castle but Sleeping Beauty may not.

Phoebe! I am familiar with the castle of which you speak, being the father of small children and being forced, I mean lucky enough, to see Frozen five times in the theater plus six more times on the iPad. Also: I totally respect you drawing a line between hip and contemporary princesses and old school (and not quite as awesome) princesses. I mean, all Sleeping Beauty did was sleep. What’s up with that? Elsa can freeze anything. Even her sister’s heart! Can anyone give me an A-W-E-S-O-M-E?

Harry says: If I could build a castle, I would keep my family and my dinosaurs safe inside. I would be Knight Harry riding on a horse. My Research Dinosaur would be the dragon that protects the castle. We will keep out Slagal, the car stealer from the Hardy Boys. My “dragon” will cast a spill and make the castle invisible and sound-proof whenever Slagal comes around so my dinosaurs can stump as loud as they want. And the gong farmer will take care of all the dinosaur poo-poo.

Harry! Your approach is so well thought out. I’m jealous of the resources at your disposal. I lack, for example, a Research Dinosaur, and therefore all I have to protect my castle/barn is a neurotic Weimaraner and a blind, incontinent cat. But what I really want is a gong farmer, because (dog, cat, toddler) boy oh boy is there a lot of poo around here. Not dinosaur poo, mind you, but when it comes down to it, poo is poo and I’d love to outsource its removal.

And here, my friends, is Harry’s castle and Research Dinosaur. The identity of other figures is less clear to me. Which, for example, is Slagal and which is the gong farmer? Some mysteries are better left preserved.

 

On Tuesday, we asked for pictures of castles. Here’s what you sent us!

Huck built a castle from legos!

Huck! A treacherous moat! A terrifying black tower! A working drawbridge! A cleverly hidden treasure chest! A dude in a baseball cap sneaking in when no one is looking (except for those two people right behind him, I mean)! This castle is amazing! It’s as if you have imagination, vision, intelligence, and mechanical aptitude all rolled up in one. You must have exceptional parents. What’s that you say? Your dad ALSO builds incredible things out of Legos?

Let’s have a look.

Steve (dad of Huck)! It’s almost unfair that so much Lego-building prowess be devoted to one family. Are you guys Master Builders? Do you know Wildstyle? Is Emmet really as boring-yet-AWESOME as he seems? Steve, I love your flying castle with tubes, flags, and cannons. And I love that you guys spent time building castles together this week.

Here is a castle from Phoebe:

Phoebe, I love your drawing. The dark black lines, the rich and saturated colors. The birds (or are they bats?) flying in the sky above the towers, a kind of warning to those who might attempt invasion. This is really lovely work. Thank you for sending it to us.

Here is a castle from Harry with dragons added:

Harry, thanks so much for adding these dragons. When Robbi finished her drawing, I knew it needed dragons, and I wanted to tell her, but I also didn’t want to hurt her feelings because she was so (mistakenly) convinced that the drawing was complete without dragons. But you have so thoroughly made my point for me that I don’t have to tell her now (though I secretly hope she sees your drawing and is like, “Dangola, I secretly knew there was something missing and that something was dragons, and gosh, I should probably hire Harry to sit next to my desk all day long and point out all the stuff it doesn’t occur to me to put in my drawings”).

Which leads me to this important question, Harry: What’s your hourly rate?

Here’s what Thalia had to say about her picture:

“I made a castle and everyone wants to play near it because it’s so fun. There’s a little girl with glasses, balloons, a Ferris wheel and a dragon castle, which means that there is a dragon head on top of a castle body. There’s also a chick and the sun is shining. The little girl wants to go on the Ferris wheel and she is almost there even though she can’t see too well. I didn’t want her to have glasses but then I realized her eyes were too big and one was out of the head, so I decided they could be glasses instead. Now I need to go make a tower out of magnets.”

Thalia: Excellent work! And not just your drawing, which I love, but also your writing, which combines several of my favorite literary conventions: free association, meta-awareness and non sequitur. Also: I really hope that little girl gets that eye back in her head. If only so she can admire your magnet tower, which is, I am sure, quite something.

Here’s a story and drawing from Harvey:

A long long time ago there were 2 castles. Their names are Rotter Defeater and Helper Bomb. One castle lives on top of the mountain. The other castle lives on the ocean. Helper Bomb is golden color. And the people who lived in it are helpful. Rotter Defeater has black color. The people who live there act rotten.

Inside Helper Bomb, there are people. Their names are King Harmon, Queen Harmony, Prince Henry, and Princess Holly. There is a golden dragon and robot. The dragon helps by putting fire on logs so the people could roast marshmallows and put fire in the air so people could see in the dark. The robot invents things for the citizens.

Inside Rotter Defeater there are people too. Their names are King Rabadash, Queen Raven, Prince Rafaya, and Princess Roan. There is a dragon and a giant. The dragon destroys by spitting ice to freeze people and squeeze people and throw them to a giant. The giant kills by throwing them out of the castle.

King Rabadash and Queen Raven started the fight. First they sent a big land storm to crush the garden tools. Then they sent a big dragon that spits ice to freeze the plants. And they sent big clouds to block the sun so the plants could not grow. King Harmon did not want to fight; he wanted peace. But he had no choice.

To be continued….

And here are the illustrations that go with Harvey’s story.

Harvey, your story and drawings are really amazing. I hope you realize that what you’re doing is making a book. I hope that you do continue this story and I hope that when you’re done, you’ll send this to us, because the story is interesting, and the illustrations are really excellent.

Here are a few specific things I’d like to say about your work:

The names of your castles delight me.

You’ve set up quite a compelling conflict. Which makes me want to read more and find out what happens next.

This sentence is one of my very favorite “Then they sent a big land storm to crush the garden tools.” I could not imagine a sentence so wonderful on my own. That sentence had to come from your head. I’m so glad I got a chance to read it.

 Here are Harvey, Harry, Melody, Valerie and Paxon coloring in Robbi’s castles:

To which I say, EXCELLENT! Seeing these photos of all you guys coloring her drawings makes Robbi smile. What she probably does not realize is that each and every one of you is adding all the things she forgot to add when she drew that lonely castle all by itself. Whether it’s dragons, or unicorns, or three-legged dinosaurs, or great big piles of chewing gum, or a gong farmer doing his important job. Adults are good for getting things started. But it’s kids and their incredible, boundless, unspoiled minds that make the world extraordinary.

So thanks to all of you.

And now, it is my pleasure to announce this week’s winner of the Bobbledy Theme Week Trophy for castles…

This was SO HARD because SO MANY OF YOU did SUCH AMAZING WORK.

But we are suckers for collaboration (which means to work together with someone else to make something that neither of you could have made by yourself; it’s what Robbi and I do about 99 percent of the time, because without each other, Robbi and I are basically no more capable than a gong farmer), and so, congratulations Huck and Huck’s dad Steve! We can’t wait to see how you collaborate on coloring in this trophy.

Thanks to everyone for sending us your stuff. We remain ever humbled by the chance to put your pictures and stories on our site.

Check back tomorrow for the new theme, which rhymes with “bling.”