Jason Parmele’s classroom at Sunset Elementary hums with focused energy. His fifth grade students are huddled together sharing ideas, debating plot points, writing story drafts, and editing each other’s work. Students are creating illustrations that will bring their ideas to life. 

Working together, they are creating a book, Dog Land, a story the students originated and plan to publish.

Dog Land is an imaginative tale of humans who pass through a portal and enter a world ruled by dogs. Houses are dog houses; there are canine versions of Oracle Park and Pier 39. Humans are kept on a leash, with strays rounded up by human-catchers.

The dogs communicate in their own language, laboriously developed by student Jayden Ho. Fortunately, there is a bilingual puppy that speaks both human and dog language, explains Isabella Wong, who is working on that chapter.

“This is the first year we’ve done this,” says Mr. Parmele.

He was inspired by the work of 826 Valencia, a local nonprofit dedicated to helping under-resourced kids develop their writing skills. He thought the collaborative challenge of producing their own book would intrigue his English Language Arts students. He was right.

The students created a story arc, posted on a classroom wall so all their efforts remain focused on the plot. Two students are assigned to draft each of the 12 1000-word chapters. Four student editors provide feedback to their assigned writers, either one-on-one or through Google Docs. Four students decide what is most important in each chapter and create the illustrations.

Mr. Parmele provides overall guidance, including explaining the importance of foreshadowing events and ensuring continuity from chapter to chapter, but otherwise says, “This will be their book. I have not changed anything.”

Students are adhering to a timeline that will guide them to a final draft by mid-April. Dog Land will be printed by Norfolk Press in the Bayview. Students will make a field trip to the printer to see the production process.

Green Apple Books will stock the book, with the expectation that parents and other school supporters will be lining up at the cash register. Ten percent of the proceeds beyond expenses will support a local animal shelter.

“This is going to be so cool,” says Gia Benedetti. “I’ve never done anything like this before.” Jacob Fong adds, “This is making me feel like a better writer.”

UPDATE
Mr. Parmele reports: “The book was a terrific success! We sold out 225 copies and will likely do a second print run as more requests come in.”

Dog Land was on display and for sale at Black Bird Bookstore in the outer Sunset. Proceeds of $1,000 went to the school’s PTA and $200 was given to Muttville, a senior dog rescue in San Francisco.

Black Bird Bookstore hosted the book’s launch event where students spoke, read chapters, and celebrated their work.

Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Jan Cook. We encourage retired journalists and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.