I mentioned on Twitter a few weeks ago that my son had written a story for his sixth grade science class.  The assignment was to write a narrative and do character sketches to illustrate the rock cycle.  You know, when an igneous rock becomes a sedimentary rock, etc.  Some readers expressed an interest in seeing his story, so here it is.

This tale is my son’s, but I might have helped with sentence structure and punctuation. 😉  Also, if you enjoyed the story, please leave a comment.  He’ll be thrilled.

(The picture of “Maggie” was done by my daughter.  Both kids really got into this assignment.  We had a blast!)

The Rock Cycle

Iggy Obsidian was president of the Extrusive Igneous Rock Club. He’d been president for tens of thousands of years, and to be honest, he was tired of it. His fellow rock club members were so smooth and polished. Never a mineral out of place. They sat on their mountain and watched the world change around them.

“I’m bored,” Iggy complained to Grandpa Granite one day. Grandpa Grant was president of the Intrusive Igneous Rock Club. He’d been around so long that he now lived on the surface instead of where he was born inside the mountain.

“You need to go on a rock cycle,” Grandpa Grant said.

“What’s a rock cycle?” Iggy asked.

“It’s like a tour of the rock world. You see how the other rocks live.”

“Sound like fun!”

“Start at Cousin Bobby Sandstone’s. He runs the Country Brothers’ Sedimentary Rock Spa.”

So Iggy went to visit Cousin Bobby. “Hi, Cousin Bobby. I want to see how sedimentary rocks live.”

“It’s all about spa treatment, little bro. Erosion, deposition, compaction and cementation.”

“Sounds complicated.”

“Not at all, little bro.”

So Iggy hung out at the spa for tens of thousands of years. His hard edges wore away and he relaxed in the riverbed, his minerals settling into layers. It was relaxing, but nothing ever happened.

“I’m bored,” Iggy complained.

“Have you tried the glacier rub?” Cousin Bobby asked. “It’s a great way to chill, little bro.”

“I’m tired of just laying around. I want change.”

“Change?” a new voice asked.

Iggy turned around and saw a dark gray rock in a military uniform standing at attention.

“What’s up, bigger bro?” Cousin Bobby said.

“Commander Slate,” the dark gray rock said. He ignored Cousin Bobby and looked at Iggy. “If you want change, come to the Metamorphic Rock Camp. We’ll change you.”

“How?” Iggy asked.

“It’s intense. The pressure, the heat. But so worth it.” Commander Slate saluted him. His minerals were packed tight.

That’s what I want, Iggy thought. He enrolled in Metamorphic Rock Boot Camp and for the next tens of thousands of years, he transformed his image. He went through a metamorphosis. Commander Slate led the non-foliated platoon, and Iggy worked his way into the foliated platoon.

“You could be more,” Commander Slate said to Iggy one day. “Push yourself, apply more pressure, and—”

“No. I’m tired of all the pressure. I’ve had all the heat I can take. It’s too intense,” Iggy said.

Iggy wanted to be more like his friends Magma and Lava. They looked like they were having so much fun flowing along the edges and beneath the Metamorphic Rock Camp.

“What are you girls doing?” Iggy asked.

“Going with the flow,” Lav said.

“Want to join us?” Maggie called from below.

“It’ll melt all that tension,” Lav said.

“My minerals are pretty tight,” Iggy said.

So he jumped in the lava flow and for the next thousand years, he flowed everywhere. Over land with Lav and beneath the ground with Maggie. He travelled a lot, but it made him unhappy to have no place to call home.

One day, he was flowing past a familiar mountain and heard a voice.

“Iggy! Where have you been?” Grandpa Grant sat in his usual place on the side of the mountain, his course-grained surface glittering in the sun. “The Igneous Rock Club hasn’t been the same without you.”

“I do miss the mountain and my friends.”

“Then join us.”

So Iggy flowed back into his old place at Grandpa Grant’s side. He sat there until he cooled into the smooth-grained, black stone once more.

“I’ve missed this,” Iggy said. He settled in beside Grandpa Grant and watched the world change around them.