This is a guest post by Marley Halter, student at Central High School. Special thanks to Field Correspondent Faith Mullins.

We challenged students to re-write the ending of The Lorax. Little did we know that a high school class had the same exact project. Check out this version of the alternative ending to the book we all know and love.

Once when I was a child, a long time ago, the Once-ler gave me a seed and told me to grow all the Truffula trees that his axes had hacked and maybe the Lorax and his friends would come back. Well now I’m all grown (and it took a long time!)But all of the Truffula trees are just fine. My friends and I grew them all back just as tall as you please. We grew back the hundreds of Truffula trees!

We cleaned up the Gluppity-Glupp from the pond. We took out all the Schloppity-Schlopp: it’s all gone!

The grass was so yucky we tore it all up. And didn’t we plant new, green grass? Yup! We sucked all the smoky smog out of the sky. The clouds are all white; the sun, it now shines.

So where are the Lorax and all of his friends? We made the Truffula forest perfect again! We cleaned it all up just for them! But we’ve waited so long I’m afraid they’ll never come back… Maybe something happened to the Lorax and his friends on their way to find a cleaner place to stay…

 What if the Bar-ba-loots starved on their way to find fruits? What if some hunters wanted their soft furry suits?

And the Swomee-Swans, with voices like bells; what if they didn’t find air without smoggy-smoke smells? The Humming-Fish may never have hummed again. Oh! I am so worried for the Lorax’s friends!

Then one day, HORRAY!, the Lorax appeared! I could tell because he was mossy and brown and shortish and old and made grunting sounds. “Harrumph,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Mr. Lorax!” I cried, “I’m so glad you’ve returned! I’ve waited for years to show you what I’ve learned! We grew back the Truffula trees, fluffy and tall. We cleaned up the sky and the pond. We cleaned it all!” The Lorax, with one furry eyebrow still raised, ignored me and inspected the trees with his gaze.

Finally, he looked up in a squint. “The tufts are not softer than any silk and they do not smell like fresh buttery milk. The Trufulla fruits are a little bit small and I can still see in the clouds tiny traces of smog.”

I felt my smile falter, my feelings were hurt. But the Lorax wasn’t done he reached up to tug on my shirt. “But you’ve done a good job, the best you could do. It could never be perfect or as good as new. It’s better than the new places my friends found to live. I’ll call them all back and show them what you have to give.”

Slowly one by one, the Bar-ba-loots arrived. There were not many and they had a sad look in their eyes. But as soon as the saw the Truffula fruits, they wiggled with joy in their Bar-ba-loot suits.

The Swomee-Swans flew in overhead through the skies, singing their songs as they arrived. They were too skinny and tired and had a funny color, but at least they were home as they flew and they fluttered.

Last, the Humming-Fish hopped in by themselves. They looked so weary and sick I wanted to help. They looked better as soon as they got in the water and they all hummed with a voice as deep as my father’s.

The Lorax stood watching with a smile on his face as each animal returned and found their place. He turned to me with a shake of his head “Thank you for all that you’ve done,” he said. “But there are many more forests in danger out there, that need a loving heart and careful care.

He opened his furry fingers to hand me many seeds. “Give these to your children to plant if they please. For I speak for the forests, I speak for the trees. All over the world forests like this, you can guess, are being destroyed,” he looked up, “UNLESS…”