The Day of the Trees

Here's my request. I wrote this in response to a challenge at Bewilderingstories.com. Got some interesting reactions. The editor who issued the challenge thought this showed a future for me in Young Adult lit., which she said desperately needed new writers. Another editor thought it showed rage at unfair treatment and may have taken it personally. The challenge: "Write a story about a school of zoologists. Takes place in a jungle world artifically created by magic; the story starts atop a tree; during the story, a character is in a vehicular accident; the story must involve an atlas at the end." Feedback desired: with slight modifications (e.g., age of the students) could this be a good YA story? I know there is brief nudity, but in Animorphs one character ends up in the bedroom of another naked--he had been a fly or something. I just finished a story where two girls accidentally teleport themselves into the boy's locker room. Clark Kent's first X-ray vision experience is of Lana Lang's bare backside in the locker room in Smalleville. And Buffy, after changing back from a rat ends up stuck naked, waiting for Oz to get her clothes. It's tame compared to that, but shows the audience--high school kids. Does it show that I might have a future writing in that genre? Or is it simply a way for an editor to deflect my future efforts into that genre, as she is tired of having to read and evaluate Rhiannon stories. At any rate, have fun with it and be gentle; it's my first time (in YA).

• Page 1 - The Day of the Trees"Here's my request. I wrote..."