The Kindergarten Loop
Another series where there will be plenty of novels in this one whole saga. "The Kindergarten Loop" is the title of the first novel of the saga. Many more "loops" follow...
What happens when an unseen power experiments on a random boy to see how far he can potentially develop himself?
Plot Summary
Kyubok starts Kindergarten in 2005, and is the typical fun-loving 5-6-year-old. He goofs off a lot, is frequently inattentive, gets poor marks on his schoolwork, and by summer, the parents and his teacher(s) decide that he needs to be a "transition student" who goes to Kindergarten half the time while in 1st Grade, and gets held back.
But when he wakes up on what he thinks is his 1st day of 1st Grade, his mother tells him something like, "It's time to get ready for your 1st day of Kindergarten!" Kyubok is confused and asks, "Again??? I thought I was a 1st Grader now, even though I'm a "twanzishin student."" She says, "What do you mean, "again?" This is your first day ever. Maybe you had a dream about going to 1st Grade?"
He eventually finds a calendar and sees that it's August 2005, not 2006. Not believing it at first, he asks if it's still 2005 because he thought it was already 2006, and other people call him silly and say "Yes, of course it's still 2005." Other calendars confirm it all the more.
He knows a little more from "last year" and does a bit better in his class. He still goofs off a lot. The end of the following summer comes again and he hopes he'll be in 1st Grade this time, but NOPE! He's back to 2005 once again!
He ends up going through this loop many times (at least 87, but probably hundreds.) He surmises (correctly) that he needs to get every last assignment perfect. He can't miss one on anything- homework, tests, pop quizzes, book reports, anything at all. Even the extra practice assignments his parents give him at home have to all be correct before he leaves the loop!
After accumulating more and more knowledge and maturity after every loop, he eventually leaves it, starting 3rd Grade at age 6.
But guess what? He is nowhere near out of the woods yet! He has entered ANOTHER loop! He keeps looping countless thousands of times (hundreds of times per grade level, but takes less loops than expected thanks to his grade-skipping) all the way to the day he receives his post-doctorate degree in 2017.
A BIG Predicament: Karolynne Ruselle never marks a paper perfect!
(I once had an English Expository Writing teacher named Carol Russell. The highest POSSIBLE grade she would give to anybody's paper was a 98%. Her rationale was that "There is always room for improvement." She directly inspired Karolynne; she would never bode well for any student stuck in a yearly time loop.)
Far along in the novel series, Kyubok enrolls in a university (at age 9, 10, or 11) and takes an English class instructed by a Karolynne Ruselle. Having gotten long used to the time loop routine, Kyubok goes through a whole lot more trouble to move on to the next loop as quickly as possible.
(He does, unless he gets in trouble with the law, or encounters any other kind of a huge life dilemma, in which case he bombs one assignment on purpose in order to loop again and avoid these predicaments next time.)
He turns in a masterfully crafted paper that impresses Karolynne so thoroughly she even reads it to the class and earns Kyubok a standing ovation from his classmates. Alas, she only gives him a 98% because "there is always room for improvement."
Furious, Kyubok storms into her office later that day when she proofreads the class's papers and asks her why she has to ruin his year. Kyubok also asks whether anything meriting a STANDING OVATION would truly deserve an extra 2%, and tells her with conviction that the other professors would think so, AT LEAST, and probably throw in a few extra credit points for its overall impressiveness.
(As much as he wants to, he knows deep down that he cannot reveal his being in a time loop, at least not to Karolynne. Because you see, this is his first loop in his first year at college. He does not know what events will happen in the future. If he had looped numerous times already that year, he would tell Karolynne what will happen later that day, week, month, and year, and have her become an objective witness. That may sympathize her into giving him the first 100% she'll have given to anybody in any of her classes. But this far along, Kyubok's patience for time-looping has since dwindled, so he tries his best to form a different plan.)
She stands firm to her grading policy and Kyu's life just breaks down that year. He goes on to do riskier things and doesn't care much about his other college assignments. When Looping Day comes, he dreads being stuck in the first year of college forever, all thanks to the infernal Karolynne Ruselle. He attempts to brainstorm a plan - do you know what that is???
No comments:
Post a Comment