For one of my education classes in college, I had to write a children’s book based on one of my own memories of literacy (reading, writing, language arts, etc.) during my childhood. I chose to write about the annual Young Authors competitions my elementary school held, which is what got me started writing fiction, way before the Bsb fanfic thing came about. Here are the text and illustrations I did for my story.

Disclaimer: Although this is a true story, all names have been changed to protect the innocent… or something like that. :)

Meggie Writes a Story

There once was a little girl named Meggie. Like other seven-year-olds, she liked to watch cartoons, play hide-and-go-seek outside, and swing on the playground at recess. She could ride a two-wheeler, climb trees like a little monkey, and do a cartwheel with her legs straight. In school, she got all As and was the only girl in her class who could spell the word “encyclopedia.”

Despite all this, Meggie considered herself very ordinary. Her second-grade teacher, Mrs. Maple, always had her class sing a song called “You Are Special.” Meggie did not feel very special though. She almost always struck out when she played softball with her class in gym. She could not do a back handspring like the big girls in her tumbling class. She did not even get to wear earrings like her best friend Holly because no matter how much she begged, her mom would not let her get her ears pierced. Meggie wished she had something to make her feel special.

Then one day, Mrs. Maple made an announcement. “Boys and girls,” she said to the class, “Our school is going to have a contest. It is called Young Authors. You are each going to become an author. You will write a story and draw pictures to go along with it. Then one story from our class will be chosen to compete with the other classrooms’ winners for first place in our school.”

Meggie listened to every word her teacher said. A contest! she thought in excitement. She liked contests, even if she never won. Writing her own story sounded like fun! But what would she write about? She thought and thought. Then she remembered a story she had learned in first grade. It was called “The Lion and the Mouse,” and it was a fable about a tiny mouse helping a giant lion out of a trap. Meggie had liked that story. She decided to write her own version of it.

Meggie liked dinosaurs, so she decided to make her story about a dinosaur, instead of a lion. She changed the mouse into a fly named Teddy and called her story “The Dinosaur and the Fly.” At home, she told her story to Mommy, who typed it on the computer so that it would look like a real book. After Mommy printed out the pages, Meggie sat at the kitchen table and colored pictures at the top of each of them.

By the time she turned her story in at school, Meggie felt very proud of herself. She thought for sure that her story would be the best in the class. She had to win! When it came time for Mrs. Maple to announce which story had been picked to try for first place in their school, Meggie waited nervously to hear her name. “You all did a very nice job on your stories,” said Mrs. Maple. “The winner for our classroom is… Tyler.”

Meggie could not believe her ears! Tyler had won? She looked over at Tyler, another boy in her class. He was smiling proudly. She just glared at him. How could his story have been better than hers? She had worked so hard on it! When Mrs. Maple passed back her story, she found a sticker that said “Good Work” on it. She usually liked stickers, but this one did not make her smile. If her teacher had seen what good work she had done, why had her story not won?

Meggie was disappointed, but she soon got over it. Second grade ended, and she moved on to third grade. She quickly found that she did not like third grade. Her teacher, Mrs. Clarence, was a mean old lady who smelled funny and had strange rules. Meggie hated coming to school. Then, halfway through the school year, Mrs. Clarence announced something that made school exciting again. It was once again time for the Young Authors contest, and everyone in Meggie’s class would be writing a story for the competition.

Meggie could not wait to start writing her story. She knew this year would be different. She would write an even better story than she had last year, and she would win for sure! She already had a great idea. It was about three children who go camping with their parents and get lost in the woods. The idea came from a game she had played with her friend Michael, and she knew it would make a very exciting story.

Mrs. Clarence had different rules for the Young Authors contest than Mrs. Maple had last year. She gave every student a little white book with blank pages. “You will write your stories in these books,” she said. “I will give you time to do your writing and illustrating here at school. You will not be able to take these books home to work on them.”

Meggie was mad. She did not want to write her book here at school! She wanted to type it on the computer at home, the way Mommy had last year, so that it would look nice. It would never look like a real book if it was written in her lopsided printing. She tried to tell Mrs. Clarence this, but her teacher would not change her mind. Meggie would have to do all of the work at school.

Meggie set to work writing her adventure. Mrs. Clarence gave her class time to work on their books at school, but it was not enough. Meggie’s story was long; she could barely squeeze it into the pages of the book in which her teacher made her write it. By the time she finished writing the words, she barely had time to draw the pictures. Her illustrations got worse and worse with every page because she had to rush. Soon, she was only drawing stick people!

Meggie handed her story in with disappointment. She knew she could have done a much better job on her book, if only her teacher had given her the chance. Still, she thought the tale she had written was good. She only hoped it would be good enough to win for her classroom.

Sadly, it was not, at least in Mrs. Clarence’s mind. She chose a girl named Morgan as the winner. Morgan’s story was about kittens. Meggie could not understand how a story about kittens had beaten the adventure tale she had written. Her story had even included a scary grizzly bear!

Meggie was disappointed yet again, but just like before, she got over it. Third grade ended, and fourth grade began. Meggie liked fourth grade much better than she had third grade. Her teacher, Mrs. Irons, was funny and much less strict than Mrs. Clarence. When the Young Authors contest rolled around again, Mrs. Irons let the students write their stories however they wanted.

Meggie was determined to win this year. She wrote a story about something she knew well: gymnastics. She had been taking tumbling classes since first grade and was in her first year of gymnastics, which she loved, even if she was not very good at it. Her story was about two girls who were getting ready for a gymnastics competition. She took her time writing it and drew the illustrations as neatly as she could. When she was ready, she typed the story up on her mom’s computer and printed it out. As she handed the finished book in to her teacher, Meggie crossed her fingers hopefully. Maybe this would be her year to win!

The day Mrs. Irons announced her classroom’s winner, Meggie tried not to get her hopes up. She had lost twice before. “I am happy to announce that our class has a winner for the Young Authors contest,” said Mrs. Irons. Meggie almost did not believe her when she smiled and added, “Congratulations, Meggie.”

I won? thought Meggie. I won! She was so happy! She had been trying to win this for three years, and finally, she had.

As the winner for Mrs. Irons’ class, Meggie got to have her picture taken with the other winners in her school. Then she was invited to a special awards banquet, where she received a plaque with her name on it! She got to stand at a table with her story while people came up to read it and compliment her on it. The best part was that after the banquet, her story was copied and made into a book that kids could check out from the library! She was a real author!

Meggie did not win first place for her school that year, but she did not mind. She was very proud of herself anyway. She entered the Young Authors contest again the next year and the year after that, and every year from then on, her story won an award. In eighth grade, she took home the first place award for her story, and she could not have been prouder.

Meggie still almost always struck out when she played softball, and she never did learn how to do a back handspring, but that did not matter anymore. She had finally found something she was good at, something that made her feel special. She was a writer.

The End

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