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Smoke City Princess

Author: Lamis Asali

Illustrator: Mina Suleiman

The original work of this book was made possible through the generous support of the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) Partners (the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Government). It was prepared by Asafeer Education Technologies FZ LLC and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ACR GCD Partners. Any adaptation or translation of this work should not be considered an official ACR GCD translation and ACR GCD shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation.

Wandering to and fro long before dawn, Raymie walked around the lake from east to west.

All she could think of was how she could find a way to talk with the aerospotics. The aerospotics lived on a moon within the solar system. Everyone told her that they would have the solution to her problem.

She was told that she could reach their moon, the Bubble Moon, through a tunnel. But how could she ever find such a tunnel?

As she looked for the tunnel, Raymie walked through some spiky purple plants. When she moved them...

...she slipped and fell down a huge hole.

When she reached the bottom, she fell onto a rough sandy surface that scratched her knee. A million eyes peered at her from behind the bushy trees.

One of the creatures came closer and said, “Di Di aka buaz cremo?”

The auto-translator on her wrist translated, “Who are you and what do you want?”

Raymie said, “I am the princess of Smoke City. Our air is filled with carbon dioxide and pollution. People cough all day and night. Emergeny sirens constantly sound and I’ve been told that you can help us.”

The creature said, “I am Bubloosh, leader of the aerospotics of Bubble moon. As a matter of fact, I’ve been planning to go through the tunnel to visit your city and help you.”

“I will give you these magic beans. They will help to purify your air. The beans shall grow as soon as you sprinkle them with water.”

Then he spun his head around three times and said, “Trees shall grow and they’ll consume the carbon dioxide. All you must do is supply us with the carbon dioxide the trees consume through this tunnel to our moon. We don’t have the right amount of carbon dioxide here for us to breathe, which puts us in grave danger as well.”

Raymie was so happy but Bubblosh said, “But remember, the beans I gave you are not enough to purify the air. You will also have to stop using things in your city that emit too much carbon dioxide.”

Raymie took the beans and hurried towards the tunnel. She had lots of work to do!

When she returned, she called everyone together.

Everyone in Smoke City came. They looked around and wondered what this could be about.

Raymie said, “I have a plan to purify our air and to save our city. We’re tired of being sick and coughing. But everyone protested and Mr. Noam said, “That’s impossible, this is the way it has always been.” The crowd all nodded in agreement with him. Raymie said, “Together we can do something about it. I promise you it will work. You’ll see!”

Raymie gave the beans to the children. They all ran to the lakes and wells near their homes and watered the beans.

But the grown-ups were grumpy. They kept complaining, “Trees next to houses, yards and around our buildings? No way! We’re not used to that.”

Next, Raymie re-programmed the robots to dismantle and relocate all the factories outside the city. The robots moved them on huge trucks and rebuilt them there.

But the factory owners objected and said, “Why do we have to go that far to our factories? We’re not used to this.”

But Raymie said, “This change is for our own good.”

Then Raymie replaced the old gas guzzling cars with electric cars.

Then the owners said, “No! These electric cars are too slow. We’re not used to this. We don’t like all these changes.”

But Raymie said, “This change is for our own good.”

Moving the factories outide the city and using electric cars cut down on the carbon dioxide in the city. But this was still not enough to purify the air. The emergency sirens kept going off all around the city and many people were still coughing.

The trees had to grow quickly to help absorb the carbon dioxide in the air. But why haven’t the trees grown yet? Everyone in Smoke City kept waiting for the trees to grow. They wanted to breathe the fresh air they were promised. “Were the seeds rotten? Did the aerospotics trick me?” wondered Raymie.

Then she realized that sirens were less frequently heard in the streets. Raymie wasn’t used to this change. She said to herself, “I don’t hear the sirens anymore, I’m not used to this change.”

And just then everyone in Smoke City said, “We never hear the sirens anymore. The carbon dioxide level has gone down! Now it’s just four percent of the atmosphere! The level of oxygen in our air is back at twenty one percent, just what it must be! The trees have even starting growing and they’re consuming the carbon dioxide and releasing the oxygen…Yay!!!”

The smoke disappeared and the air became clear and pure. Now everyone can enjoy sunsets again. The sirens stopped once and for all. Raymie got used to the change. In fact, she was very happy with the change.

She fulfilled her promise to the aerospotics and the carbon dioxide from Smoke City was sent to them and their balance was restored. The sirens even stopped on Bubble moon.

THE END