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Once upon a time, three friends – a panda, a butterfly and an amalgam of the two, a pandafly – lived on three neighboring planets connected by bridges.

In the story “Cosmic Friends” by the 10-year-old author and illustrator Lizzy Thomas, the three best friends must save the world.

“She’s definitely a little panda obsessed,” said Yvonne Thomas, Lizzy’s mother.

“They’re fluffy and they’re cute,” Lizzy said, surrounded by a menagerie of stuffed pandas at her home in Perkasie, Pennsylvania.

The three fantasy friends discover that their world’s power source, a megastar, is fading out and only they can solve a heart-shaped puzzle that will save it. But first they must drink a magic smoothie that will allow them to leave their home planets.

Lizzy’s sci-fi adventure story has now been set to music. “Three Cosmic Friends” premieres this Friday as a choral work performed at Temple University by the Pennsylvania Youth Choral Ensembles. About 50 young girls around the same age as the author will sing an original composition by Caleb Etchison, a composer studying for his master’s degree at Temple University.

“It’s not often I get to write about magic smoothies and pandaflies,” Etchison said.

This fantasy story involving glitter, stars and flowers went from Lizzy’s head to the Temple Performing Arts Center thanks to Sing Me a Story, a Minnesota-based foundation that supports children in need by giving their imaginations the opportunity to be taken seriously by songwriters and composers.

Lizzy was identified as a candidate for Sing Me a Story by the Cancer Support Community Greater Philadelphia, where her mother is a client. Yvonne has been battling breast cancer since 2020.

“Stage 4 metastatic,” Yvonne explained. “We’re still fighting though. I got two kids to fight for.”

Yvonne said her cancer journey has taken a toll on Lizzy and her older brother. Sing Me a Story has allowed her daughter’s imagination to take flight.

“She took it and ran with it. It was awesome to see her in her creative element,” she said. “The last six years, a lot of it has been focused on cancer. Let her shine without it.”

Music projects spearheaded by Sing Me a Story have resulted in tunes mostly by singer-songwriters and folk bands. This is the first time the program has commissioned a full choral work accompanied by strings. “Three Cosmic Friends” will premiere with three violins, clarinet, piano and vibraphone.

Etchison focused on an element that Lizzy repeated several times in her story: the three friends are misfits who found each other. Each individual has a physical characteristic that alienated them on their respective planets: The panda has a floral pattern on her fur, the butterfly has wings “glittered with stars” and the pandafly is a sparkly gold color.

Etchison composed the pieces with a repeated refrain: “Three girls. Three misfits. Three friends.”

“These three things are recurring throughout the little story,” he said. “In the end, they become princesses and heroes. So I want to make sure that came through.”

Etchison composed the piece with relatively simple parts that could be taken on by young choirs, so that girls could be the voices of Lizzy’s fantasy world.

Lizzy said she has been kicking around story ideas with a friend, but it took Sing Me a Story to nudge her into completing her first tale. Although she was brought into the program because she has been coping with her mother’s cancer fight for years, Lizzy’s story, on the face of it, has nothing to do with her family’s struggle.

Yvonne said that’s the way it should be.

“It’s amazing to see her flourish, to see her in her element and have the attention be on her,” she said. “My kids have had to be resilient, more resilient than any kids should ever have to be for almost six years. To see her accomplish something like this is amazing.”

“Three Cosmic Friends” premieres as part of the Pennsylvania Youth Choral Ensemble’s “Sounds of the Season” holiday concert Friday, Dec. 19 at Temple Performing Arts Center.