Who is the story about? Tangen, the mayor of Cityopolis
Description Tangen and her family restore order to a damaged city and meet new friends in the process.
Who else is in the story? Colen, Tangen's husband. Blungo, the doctor. Hazy, the baby. Ham, Ken, and Konnie, their older children. The friendly garbage truck drivers of the city of Trash Can.
Where are they? Cityopolis is a lovely place where it only rains once a year, in the month of Octember. The rain that comes is not water, but colorful cubes.
What are they doing? One fateful Octember, the rain came down harder than usual. Mayor Tangen was awakened one night from a deep sleep in her comfortable chair when her house was hit by a large blue cube of rain. She went out to find that the churches, hospitals, and houses had all been badly damaged by the storm, and the city was littered with more rain cubes than the people could handle.
Why are they doing that? "We must rebuild the city," said Tangen to her husband. "Colen, please rebuild the train first so that we can load the rain cubes onto it to haul them to Trash Can." "I have never been to Trash Can," answered Colen. "Why do we bring the rain there?" "In Trash Can, the cubes are put into a compost heap or a recycling bin by the garbage truck drivers," explained Tangen. Colen repaired the train and the two of them left for Trash Can after they had loaded the cubes. There they met the garbage truck drivers, who work very hard, except when they are hungry, tired, or playful and need to take a break to eat, sleep, or play. Back in Cityopolis, Tangen rebuilt the churches first, then the houses. Finally finished, she went to sleep again in her comfortable chair.
What happens to everyone? Later, in the month of Dyember, Tangen went to see Dr. Blungo at the newly repaired hospital. There she had a healthy baby boy. "Let's call him Hazy," suggested Colen. A few months later, Hazy traveled with his mommy and daddy and big brothers Ham and Ken and big sister Konnie to visit their friends the garbage truck drivers in the faraway land of Trash Can, where it rains in most of the months of the year and the people know what to do with all that rain. Every kind of plant grows there because the compost makes the soil rich. Tangen and her family learned that their rain was recycled to make new garbage trucks and hospitals so that they can have more garbage trucks when the old ones break and so that more babies can be born. They are also used to make playgrounds and churches. When Hazy heard this he clapped his hands and smiled.
What's your favorite part of the story? "My favorite part of the story was when Connie held on to the garbage." --Holden
What would you build out of LEGO® DUPLO® blocks to bring your story to life? Holden built a Duplo city using trainloads of Duplos he carried from one side of the room to the other. It had small houses and tall churches and hospitals. He then created a Duplo rain, and dutifully hauled it off on the train with the help of the lady in red (mayor Tangen).
