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16 S T O R Y W O R K S

LOOK FOR WORD NERD’S 4 WORDS IN BOLD

Paired Texts

The Luke Skywalker action figure started its life like most other toys. It sat in a toy store wrapped in plastic and cardboard. In 1978, a Star Wars

fan bought it for $2.49. For almost 40 years, no one played with the toy. No one even opened the package. Then, in 2015, someone

Some toys get more valuable as they get older. Does this mean your old stuffed animals

are worth thousands of dollars? BY TOD OLSON

bought it—for $25,000.That’s right. A 37-year-old plastic toy

sold for more money than a big diamond ring. Welcome to the wacky world of toy collecting.

Treasure HuntMost people buy toys to play with them.

They buy Nerf guns for backyard wars. They buy Barbies to dress them up. They buy LEGO® sets for hours of building.

But toy collectors don’t buy toys for fun. They buy them and set them safely on a

Synthesizing As you read this article and its pairing, think about what makes an object valuable.

UPCLOSE

Toys orTreasures?

S T O R Y W O R K S . S C H O L A S T I C . C O M • M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 8 17

shelf, still in their original packages. They hope the toys will be worth more money one day. Action figures, LEGO sets, and stuffed animals are some of the toys that can become more costly as time goes by.

Now and ThenToday many toys are made just to be

collected. Big-headed Funko Pop dolls spend their lives sitting on shelves. And there are collector’s editions of LEGO sets that sell for as much as $799. Toys like this are known as

collectibles. In 2016, Americans spent nearly $2 billion on them.

But the real fun of toy collecting is buying regular toys with the hope that their worth will grow over time.

So what’s the secret? How can you know whether a train set or a teddy bear will make you a fortune?

Sorry, but you can’t. It’s hard to tell which toys might make you rich. Often, the toys that gain value are the ones no one wanted when they were new.

Remember that Luke Skywalker toy that sold for $25,000? It came with a lightsaber—a sword—that broke easily. The company stopped making the toy, so not many of them

Toys orTreasures?

exist. Today they’re rare. That’s why people will pay so much money to own one.

Then there’s the Roller Beach Bomb. In 1969, the toy company Mattel created this Hot Wheels van. But there was a problem: The van kept falling off of the Hot Wheels racetrack.

Most people who bought these toys returned them or threw them out. Hot Wheels quickly stopped making them. If you have one still in its packaging, you might be able to sell it for $150,000. That’s enough to buy five real cars!

Why would anyone spend $150,000 on an old toy car? We could ask the same question

18 S T O R Y W O R K S

WHAT’S IT WORTH? From left to right: A collector’s edition LEGO set, the Hot Wheels Roller Beach Bomb, and the original Barbie doll

about a person who paid $500,000 for a letter signed by George Washington. Or $5 million for a painting by a famous artist.

People collect for many different reasons. Sometimes they hope an object will gain value. In some cases, they want to feel connected to history. Some people are inspired by a work of art. Some love the thrill of finding a rare toy.

But there’s another reason to collect old toys. They can remind you of happy moments in your life. Your old LEGO bricks might never be worth a fortune. But years from now, they might remind you of your best friend. And that’s worth something, isn’t it? n

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Think about the ideas presented in these two texts. Then write a personal narrative about an object that is very valuable to you. Describe the object, how you got it, and what makes it worth a lot to you.

WHAT’S THE CONNECTION?FIND AN ACTIVITY ONLINE!

PAIRED TEXT

My Priceless

S T O R Y W O R K S . S C H O L A S T I C . C O M • M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 8 19

W hen I was 12, my grandmother Jennie—my loving, bright-smiling, hug-giving, cake-baking

nana—gave me a present. It was a gold heart necklace.

It was very valuable, I was sure—solid gold. I wore it only on special occasions. Otherwise I kept it hidden in my sock drawer with my other treasures, like the rattlesnake rattle my uncle gave me.

As I got older, I wore the necklace more and more. I always wore it when I was with my grandmother.

“Oh!” she’d exclaim. “It looks beautiful on you!”

Shocking NewsYears went by, and my collection of

jewelry grew. But that necklace remained my prized possession.

Five years ago, my grandmother died at the age of 92. I wore the gold heart to her funeral. And then, a few months later, the chain broke.

I brought the heart to the jewelry store to buy a new chain.

“You sure you want a real gold

chain for this heart?” the man asked me.

“Of course,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well . . .” the man said. Then he told me the shocking news: that my precious heart was a mix of brass and copper—fake gold. If I were to buy one like it today, it might cost $10, or $20 tops.

The family treasure was pretty much worthless.

Except, of course, it wasn’t.I bought a new chain, a real gold one.

I wear the heart on special occasions. To me, its value is not in the gold. It’s in

the memories that flood back when I wear it: my grandmother’s huge

smile, how her eyes would light up when she saw me, how she made me feel like I was the most special person in the world.

That heart might not be worth much money.

But to me, it’s priceless. n

The author wearing her

beloved necklace

TreasureBy Lauren Tarshis

Lauren (right) with her grandmother