Did Pirates Rip Her Arms Off?: An Anthology

Middle School Literary Anthology

This is the middle school anothology that makes middle school kids want to get in touch with their inner poet or pirate tale teller.

What do you do when you're the goddess of love, but you don't have arms? That's the trouble with the Venus de Milo, this crazy armless statue some guy found on an island called Milos about two hundred years back. You've probably seen the statue somewhere before... maybe on the cover of this book!

Nobody's quite sure how the Venus de Milo lost her arms. The French sailors who bought her, though, claimed that they battled brigands on a beach to get to her. Apparently, her arms were ripped off during the fight!

That's a pretty cool story.

It might not be true, but, now that you've heard that version of the tale, you'll probably never forget it. It's unique and exciting, and only the Venus's own rescuers could have told it like that.

There are an infinite number of Venus de Milos in the world―objects, people, places, and ideas that are strange, cool, and quite possibly, unique to your life. And, just like those French sailors, you, too, have awesome versions of those Venuses' stories to tell.

Introduction
by Robert Kane

 

 

What do you do when you’re the goddess of love, but you don’t have any arms? That’s the trouble with the Venus de Milo, this crazy statue of a pretty lady some guy found on an island called Milos a few hundred years back. You’ve probably seen the statue somewhere before . . . maybe on the cover of this book!

Nobody’s quite sure of how this Venus lost her arms. The French sailors who bought her, though, claimed that they battled brigands on a beach to get her. Supposedly, her arms were ripped off during the fight!

That’s a pretty cool story.

Yeah, it might not be true, but who cares? Now that you’ve heard that version of the story, you’ll never forget it.

There are an infinite number of Venus de Milos in the world—objects, people, places, and ideas that are totally awesome. What happens after you die? There’s a story. What does it feel like to fall in love? Ah! There’s another story. How do you bake a cake? Oh, you bet there’s a story.

Take a look at the stuff the following authors have written. Each author saw a Venus de Milo in the world—something that inspired their work of art—and told its story like no one ever had before. The sources of the authors’ inspirations range from the mundane to the insane, as you’ll find out in the comments and questions the authors wrote to accompany their work. Check ‘em out! They’ll show you just how many cool things there are to write about in the world (and how many cool ways there are to write about them)!

Then, it’ll be your turn to give it a shot—to find a Venus de Milo in your life and tell your version of its story. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, if it’s crazy, or even if it’s been told a thousand times before. No one will tell it like you . . .

. . . and, if you tell it right, no one will ever forget it.