Children's City of Literature Anthology 2018 by National Centre for Writing

CHILDRENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CITY OF LITERATURE

ANTHOLOGY 2018

INTRODUCTION The Children’s City of Literature is a joint programme between Writers’ Centre Norwich and Norwich Lower School, which brings together pupils from Avenue Junior School, Cringleford Primary School, Magdalen Gates Primary School, Sprowston Junior School and St. William’s Primary School. Inspired by Norwich’s status as England’s first UNESCO City of Literature, the children took part in weekly creative writing classes. In its second year, the project challenged the students to respond to a number of different creative prompts – some of which were set by award-winning authors including Tanya Landman, Julian Sedgwick and Hayley Long. Norwich has been a literary city for almost 1,000 years and is home to some of the most revolutionary writers in history, including Julian of Norwich, Harriet Martineau and Thomas Paine. It is also the location of the National Centre for Writing at Dragon Hall, due to open in summer 2018. The National Centre for Writing (formerly Writers’ Centre Norwich) will promote great literature, inspire communities through the power of writing, reading and literary translation, nurture literary talent and host world-class events. In keeping with this tradition, the children were guided by University of East Anglia alumna Nicholl Hardwick to form creative responses to our writing prompts. This anthology contains excerpts of work from the students involved in the project – you can find their full texts online at writerscentrenorwich.org.uk

LILY Cringleford Primary School “Now listen, I’m sorry I’ve been gone for these past couple of weeks, you probably thought I was dead from the news. You should have known a long time ago, but as a child I had a lovely mother and a great father who turned out to be a criminal. He got caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed my mum and I. We only realised he stole it when the cops pulled up outside our house. He had an interview and explained he stole it to feed us. That made the cop angry so he shot him. He shot my beloved father for saving us. Saving us. That’s why I’ve been hiding. Because I’m afraid it’s going to happen to me when I would’ve had an interview about how the car crash had happened. How could I have known, I knew if I was shot, it would hurt you too. So now’s the question. Do you believe me or not?”

LILY Avenue Junior School “People say slaves are illegal and it never should’ve happened, but does anyone mean it… I was a slave once – a nursery maid age 15, wishing I could supply for my loving, poor family. I didn’t want to be. All I did was work. Earth was created by The Big Bang, but to be destroyed by inequality. Everyone with different rights. I would work hard every day… and for what? A few pennies? You can’t change the past except you can live in the present. Why even put on a war – just rating, judging each character? How… how can anyone still imagine the idea, the thought, the action?

MONOLOGUES What makes a powerful monologue? We looked at how monologues are used across storytelling, from books to films. The work you’re about to read spans a whole variety of topics – from a WW2 colonel trying to inspire troops on the battlefield to impassioned speeches on slavery and inequality. 4

It still happens – slavery. It still happens – judgement, but why do it? For a reason that 1 or 2 people think something different to the rest. How dare somebody force anybody to do that? PURE TORTURE. Charities were used… I guess? But for what to happen? 1 family get a little cash. Does that even compare? ‘What can we do?’ you’ll say… have a THINK! Perhaps, even just a compliment or… a donation. I mean; look what we’ve done to this world: it just shows that maybe the world wasn’t ever a nice place.”

ROSE & GEORGIA

ADAM

Norwich Lower School

“Listen to me! I may be younger, I may be smaller, but I don’t care. I believe that I can make a change to this world. We all fight for things we believe but people believe the wrong things! I believe there should be peace in this world; nobody can fight and nobody can kill. The human race will perish! Stop doing wrong! Stop watching other people’s pain and not taking action! Stop bullying! It is vile and disgusting. If you see an adult fighting or hear that they’ve murdered, tell me and I will speak to them. I know that they are in the wrong. You yourself can make a difference. The world will never be perfect, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be better, work up to it bit by bit, improve yourselves, and maybe, just maybe, we could build up to that. You may think that I don’t mean this stuff. If you don’t, you can go. If you are still here, believe in yourself. We can make a difference, and a difference we will make. We can help the hungry and give the homeless homes! We will make a difference!”

REUBEN Norwich Lower School “I wonder what it is like to be a king. You could order a decree that homework is illegal. You could order new clothes every day. I would wear hiking boots, jeans and a nice flannel shirt. I’m planning to start the day with a bacon baguette. My day would go like this: I’d get out of bed and read Rick Riordan all morning, have lunch (sushi from Sushi Express and a chilled Dr Pepper), play a good long game of cricket and, after that, I would cook for the rest of the day. I would finish in a four poster bed with several French bulldogs with me, snoring away. But then again, I could be jetting around the world, a different country each day! Sadly I couldn’t do that; Reubenland would need a king… actually, that’s a point. If anything went wrong then I would be responsible. Mmm, actually, I’ve decided the king-thing isn’t for me…”

The Gift “The world is a gift. Every breath we take is a gift of the purest oxygen. But now, the sweet air is turning. The power of hate and greed is destroying the sweet paradise that the earth once was. Now we, the gifted and sheltered, make our living from the unfortunate and homeless. Those people on a wage we would consider ‘loose change’. The people who suffer and die to try and survive. While we sit around and relax, they work and slave to help us. So return the favour. Give what you have to them to try and make earth the place of freedom it once was. So don’t waste your use with distractions and idleness. Use your life to give children a glimmer of hope in the future. Work for those enslaved millions not for your own money and good. They are the ones in real need and help. You can’t waste your own freedom not helping those with none. Wasting your life is wasting theirs. So, I ask, give future generations freedom from slavery and war. Stop their conflicts for the prize of knowing you helped those who have suffered. So, why waste your life when others would give anything to have yours. So, next time you pray, pray for enslaved men and women. Pray for those with no hope. Pray for the gift of life to last forever.”

MABEL Sprowston Junior School Dunkirk War “Soldiers! Give me one reason for me not to tell you better. Because you’re saying we should turn around and give up, you’re saying we should go get help, you’re saying to leave men to die, and you are leading us to failure. WE have to keep going. Look around. We are in war here. There is NO help. There is NO backup. It’s just us. So stop acting like babies and start acting like soldiers in a war. A war that we are going to win. Because we have something the no other people have, we have determination. And with that we will succeed. Stand down men.”

COLIN Magdalen Gates Primary School Ronald MacDonald Creates the Best Food Known to Man (Excuse the Orangutans) He could now see a flock of killer orangutans with rainbow feathers, nothing else. Just space ahead. The reason for this is because Ronald MacDonald created the McTaco, it was so good the world evaporated. Everything was gone, apart from Charlie and the orangutans. Luckily, the orangutans were heading for a collision with Earth. Unluckily, some button was flashing. It read “low oxygen”. Charlie was pretty sure that hadn’t been there before.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT PART 1 We were given the start of a story by Hayley Long, a children’s author and winner of the 2017 Mal Peet Children’s Award at the East Anglian Book Awards. All of the stories you read below were prompted by the following piece of writing: It was rush hour and the train was so busy that everyone was packed in like baked beans. [Insert name of character] was wedged in right next to the window.

“Oh great,” Charlie thought. “Hello. I am your personal assistant when in danger. Call me Tristan.” “Bit of a wild name for another mind” Charlie theoretically observed. There was a bang, and two fire extinguishers protruded from the seats opposite. “Join them together you doughnut! This is a time of crisis!” Tristan yelled dramatically. “Yeah, right, ‘Tristan’, I will.” Charlie shot back. He hooked the handles together and strung them onto his back.

[S/he] gazed outside at the flat and endless landscape which was whizzing past and wondered ‘are we nearly there yet?’

“And grab that handy space suit over there, you’ll need it!” Tristan advised.

Suddenly, the train entered a tunnel and the flat world outside was replaced by total darkness.

“I knew that, sorry,” Charlie called as he took off the extinguishers and strapped on the suit. He then put the backpack thing on again. It weighed a ton. He opened the train door and stepped out. He floated unexpectedly towards the planet’s remains.

Inside the train, the lights flickered. Once... twice... and then they went out completely. People on the train muttered and grumbled. Someone shouted, ‘Oi, who’s turned the lights off?’ [S/he] was just about to panic when the train was suddenly flooded with light again. They had reached the other side of the tunnel at exactly the same time that the lights in the carriage had come back on. But... but... [S/he] looked around the carriage, speechless with shock. Everyone had gone. All the mumbling, grumbling passengers were nowhere to be seen. [S/he] was totally and utterly and absolutely alone. And... and... outside, on the other side of the window, instead of flat fields, [s/he] could now see.... 8

GRACE

Cringleford Primary School

Magdalen Gates Primary School

Nothing, absolutely nothing. Pure blank space. It was if the whole world had disappeared. Holly stepped out of the train, but after she did she was frozen with fear. The train was gone and she could see thousands if not millions of evil faces staring down at her. What was happening? What were these things or people? After Holly had adjusted her eyes to whoever-knows-what was staring down at her, she noticed these faces were not human. They started to slowly approach her. She was so petrified, she realised she couldn’t move. The weird creatures suddenly stopped. Not long after they had stopped, they started again. They were like demons creeping up on some sort of prey. Holly knew she had to do something, but she didn’t know what to do. She ran. The weird thing was that every time she did run the creature seemed to get closer. Holly stopped, but by now they were only a few meters away. “You will join us!”These words were being repeatedly said until they were inches away from Holly. She would never be herself again. “You’re ours!”

Alex could now see burning trees and houses but not a single soul in sight. “Where are they?” Alex wondered. He thought they all got captured by aliens but he knew they were not real. Then suddenly he saw a magical tablet and it said “You must find the people in a world called Nayvar’s Realm, you need to succeed challenges to get them back.” Exclaimed the tablet. “How do I get there? What do I have to do?” said Alex. All that Alex knew was that he had to get them back, if he didn’t want to be alone forever. Alex found an abandoned cave to do his first challenge, which he had to get across lava with just rocks and a metal pole. He made it through the first challenge, Alex was on his second and final challenge to get the people back. As he turned, he saw every human in the world. He untied them and they all escaped. They thanked Alex for what he did and gave him riches. (Now that’s a happy ending!)

“HELLLPPP!!”

FINLAY

HARRY

Avenue Junior School

Norwich Lower School

... A white world of nothingness. The only other colour was a few spots of red. Jerry wondered if it was blood – blood from the “passengers”. “No… NO… What, why, NO… NO they can’t be hurt, or dead.” Quoted Jerry. He looked back to see if the tunnel was still there. He didn’t think it would be. Unfortunately Jerry was right. Suddenly, the train stopped. “How? There is no driver. Is there?” Jerry thought. He decided to stand up and go to the front carriage. That was wrong. Jerry only realised that when he opened the door. An elderly woman, dressed in just black, was sitting in the driver seat. Her long frizzy hair, that looked like it exploded out of her head, overflowed down to her broad shoulders. It was as grey as dust.

... a 100 metre wide and 100 metre high bomb! “Aaaahhh” he screamed. He has green hair, red skin, and an orange moustache. He catapulted through the window with shard in his eye. When the glass fell from his eye he noticed a miniscule door in the side of the bomb. Cautiously, he walked up and opened it. As soon as he stepped through the door everything stopped. Sound stopped and time stopped but there were 8 gunmen pointing rifles at him. It was some kind of military base. Then sound was back, there were screams and shouts. “Incoming alien missiles, quick shoot’em down!” “Email all the leaders, everyone else in the world, to get the rockets and supplies and chosen ones to fly up to Mars. I think they’re coming, the you know whats!”

Suddenly Jerry felt like he was about to sneeze. He didn’t want to because he through it would distract the woman. He sneezed. The woman turned and then Jerry realised she wasn’t human. “Was it you who killed the passengers?” Jerry asked. “Yes. It was. And now it will be you.” She replied. Jerry ran. “AAAAAHHHHH!” He screamed. And he ran into the carriage. Then he noticed a train full of people staring at him. Jerry returned to his seat and looked out the window, everything was just as it was before the drama…

LUCA St William’s Primary School Julian’s prompt:What if sheep got fed up and took over and ruled the world? Maybe with the help of other oppressed ruminants... … organic chickens! Combined, the once fighting species team up to enslave the human race, putting them in the shoes of the animals. Forced to eat grass, shaved off all of their hair and sent off to be brutally murdered in slaughter houses. 3 days after the start of the inevitable extinction of the human race, one hero named Shane Dogy steps out of hiding. The moment he set foot outside of this shelter, he knew he was doomed. He lived in the middle of nowhere, so he was sort of right in the middle of their base of operations He went to his living room and pulled the secret book off the shelf. His armoury room opened, guns to the left, explosives to the right and melee weapons in front of him. He reached forward and grabbed his weapon of choice: a razor for shearing sheep. As he opened the door, he felt fresh air on his face for the first time in forever. He stepped out, turning on the razor and catching glances from sheep. Let the madness begin.

ROSIE Sprowston Junior School Julian’s prompt:The rain was so hard now that he wondered for a moment if there must be men on the roof throwing buckets of water at the windows. It wasn’t like raindrops, more like great slooshes of water hitting the glass. And listening hard, pressing his ear into the fireplace, he thought he could hear them. Footsteps on the roof above, echoing down the chimney, and gruff low voices mumbling to each other as they went about their work.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? PART 2 We were given some silly scenario starters by award-winning children’s writer Julian Sedgwick – you’ll see each prompt before the piece of writing. We were asked to end each story with a cliff-hanger, which keeps the reader gripped and asking questions long after the piece of writing has finished. 14

He ran out the door to see what was happening as he got soaked in the pouring rain. He couldn’t see anything! What was happening? Had he gone crazy? Was there something lurking waiting to grab him and take him away? He ran and ran not knowing where to run or where to hide! No-one was around he didn’t have anywhere to go! He was so wet that he found it hard to run because his clothes were so heavy with water! He was missing! Where had he gone…? 15

MUSTAFA

BEATRICE

Cringleford Primary School

Norwich Lower School

Julian’s prompt:What if sheep got fed up and took over and ruled the world? Maybe with the help of other oppressed ruminants... It is 9:56pm and I am currently vlogging on behalf of the world. We cannot go and fight the cows. Just stay calm and… yeah. Bye. (He ends the vlog.) Can we go to the countryside? “No!” says Mayor with Swag. “They have created a society and they have HACKED the laptops!” Ok. I guess I am off to the lab. “Why!? There are cows everywhere” We need to dash. NOW. “Well, what will happen next? Who knows?” What are those? Those are… erm… mutated frogs! Ok. We can take this very coolly. RUN! Mayor with Swag was struggling to keep up. Now, I said in-between breaths, time for some quick maths. So, there are 6 million cows times by the amount of nuclear per cow, which is 50cl… Ok. It is 30 million in total. Let’s wear the Super Dooper Jooce Powered Thingy Boots ©™ and get the heck out of here! We have to cross the circumference of Mars. Twice. I think that my dream of emigrating to Mars is coming true (he takes a look into the telescope of the Ting Machine 2000 © ™). Hold up… Are those cows flying? Come on, they’re better than this. We got a messages from Protocol saying that… well, they are demolished and the cows were finished off, except that there are more cows than before, because, erm… let’s say the details are gory. We need to start a war. Let’s spray the memes, shower the Trademarks ™ and let’s dry their chips and flip their burgers. LET’S CHARGE!!! Just as we finished the cows off, we came back to Earth. Well, it was a heap, but something new emerged…

Julian’s Prompt:They had been climbing the mountain for four days. Still its snowclad flanks stretched up into the swirling clouds above them. And still from somewhere about those clouds came that strange, unearthly music… Climbing Katie was awfully nervous when the unusual music suddenly started and Kevin was very flabbergasted at the sound coming from the sky. “What is the matter with you?” asked Kevin. “I’m just utterly petrified of mysterious noises and sights. I’m certainly not as confident as you.” Katie admitted. “Well you will learn. Anyway, let’s keep climbing. I am desperately eager to find out what that strange noise was.” Said Kevin. So they kept on climbing up the glossy White Mountain until their shoes were rubbing. But the strong team pushed through and kept climbing, then they eventually reached the top of the mountain. Surprisingly, there was nothing at the top. Then something or someone gently but noticeably tapped Kevin on his bony shoulder.

SAM Sprowston Junior School It was a mid-summer day, Diamond was walking down streets when a strange light came from round the corner so she decided to investigate. When she went round the corner, Diamond was sucked into a giant vortex and was going 20mph. After 18 hours she came across another dimension which was all gooey brown and mushy. She tried walking around. Suddenly, she realised she was lost…

KATY

ISOBEL

Cringleford Primary School

Avenue Junior School

Julian’s prompt:What if sheep got fed up and took over and ruled the world? Maybe with the help of other oppressed ruminants... Sheep are stupid, sheep are mad, sheep are so unlike man, Cealine sang to herself while she passed an open gate leading into a muddy field, which was mostly water. Click-clop, click-clop went her Dr Martens boots against the cobbles. Suddenly she fell face first into a cow dung. “Ewwww!” came her muffled voice from the manure. Click-clop, click-clop went her boots, no, sorry, went the hooves behind her. Cealine heaved herself up and… fell back into the poo. “Mmmff!” she spluttered. “Hahaha” giggled someone or something. “Hey!” Cealine shouted at the thing behind her and then stared at the sheep smiling behind her. And our dear friend Cealine topped over once again into the brown slobber. “Hahaha!” came a baaah-ing noise. Cealine turned around. “Die sheep die!” she screamed as she rampaged towards the fluffy freaks. “What is wrong with this person?” baah-ed one of them. “I know,” said another. Cealine stopped in her tracks. “You can talk!” she yelped. “Well, duh!” “Aaaahhhh!” Cealine was already halfway down the hill by the time the sheep got to her and after that she was gone.

Julian’s prompt: A pulsating yellow fog rolls into an English seaside town. It changes the way people think and feel, makes them take the opposite view to normal. Shy people become bold, angry people become kind, optimists become pessimists... it only lasts a day. But what are the results? Crashing waves rolled onto the sandy beaches, as the people of Yarmouth started to wake. The sun was beating down; but due to English weather, a gentle breeze swirled around, unseen… unnoticed. Amongst that sweet, refreshing air, crawled a deadly yellow fog. Still to this day, the unnatural activity of this substance is infuriatingly unknown. Annalise Liberty was an ordinary girl, well almost. She loved swimming and dogs, but unlike other people she knew – she had a breathing problem. Every day, she put on her breathing mask – that helped her with her problem – so her parents didn’t have to worry about anything happening. It covered her mouth, and she had to wear a little device that cleaned the air, that was safe for her to consume. She got ready quickly, and rushed out to the bakery to grab some fresh bread for breakfast. Her heart dropped as she saw Mr Mandy (the horribly mean entrepreneur, who built an empire from making chips shaped as crazy cartoon characters for kids). She rushed into the shadows hoping to go unseen, but… “Annalise Liberty?” he called. She froze. Does she turn around and talk or carry on walking and pretend she didn’t hear anything? “Annalise Liberty, is that you? I have a present for your lovely mother.” She turned before she could think. “Yes,” she trembled. “Here you go,” he handed her a parcel wrapped in pink glittery paper. And then he kind of slipped off. “That was weird” Annalise thought to herself…

RUBY

ELEANOR

Sprowston Junior School

Norwich Lower School

Julian’s prompt: Aliens have been monitoring the earth for a while. And now they have hacked social media and are creating chaos with posts of Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook... Suddenly, he heard a ping after a ping after a ping he wondered “what is that sound?” Then he looked at his phone and said to himself “why is my phone pinging?” It was the first time in his life that his phone was pinging so many times. These questions went through his mind: - Why is this happening? - What is happening? - What is going on? - Is this happening to just him? Then suddenly he remembered that water was hitting the glass too violently to be just rain. The ceiling was vibrating and it felt like he was in space because he was really dizzy. The next day, he heard the news and it was the old man news presenter, the same one as yesterday. He waited in fear. He was panic-stricken. He shivered like mad. Then, the news presenter said “the people involved in this were…”

Julian’s Prompt:They had been climbing the mountain for four days. Still its snowclad flanks stretched up into the swirling clouds above them. And still from somewhere about those clouds came that strange, unearthly music… It had all started when the small village at the bottom of the mountain had heard that eerie sound. They had immediately contacted the closest city and they sent up six climbers to investigate. Now those six people were much further up the mountain and they were closer to the music than they had even been before. Suddenly, the climbers reached the peak of the mountain and the strangest, yet most beautiful, creature was standing there singing. More creatures like her were standing behind her and there were all singing in lilting, melodious voices. They had chains tied to their legs and they looked up at the six climbers as they opened their mouths to speak. “Let us free, we have been stuck here for ages. A wicked witch trapped us here and we cannot escape.” As the climbers exchanged blank expressions, a high-pitched scream of rage rang out over the mountain. A witch with a large wart on her nose revealed herself from behind a large rock. “How dare you find my creatures!” She screamed, “People who see them have to forget them, and the only way to forget is death.”

JASMINE

SARAH

Avenue Junior School

Julian’s prompt:What if sheep got fed up and took over and ruled the world? Maybe with the help of other oppressed ruminants... Switch Shaun worked at McScareral. He would slowly cut up Namuh’s fingers and sometimes toes. Once the fingers had been taken, the hands would be sliced and carved according to size, then the toes would be mushed for Toegets. The foot would then be removed into Footsteak. Once the Numah’s skin had grown over the limbs, the eyes would be gouged and replaces with mechanical ones, which only allowed a field of view straight in front of them. The eyes would be re-flavoured and mashed into EyeShakes. The ear would be taken and placed onto the meal decoratively. But that’s the most Shaun had ever done. He had a new ‘client’ today. A blonde female with no eyes. He looked at the list of things to do. Shaun slowly sprayed the wew with water and cleaned it before shaving its hair. The Namuh’s whimpers were music to his ears! Two hours later he studied his work. It had a square head; no nose or ears and its eyes were dull machines. Its limbs flat like hooves. Suddenly his boss walked in. “Show ‘em how it’s done!” She grinned. Shaun frowned and nodded. Shaun pressed a knife to the Namuh’s throat. Then a bolt of movement from outside the Scar-house. Screams. Sheep screams.

Julian’s prompt: “They had been climbing the mountain for four days. Still its snowclad flanks stretched up into the swirling clouds above them. And still from somewhere above those clouds came that strange, unearthly music...” Compass The strain of supporting Alexa as she limped beside Marcy stretched her aching muscles to breaking point. The sky was painted a soft cyan as dusk approached, and if Alexa, Marcy, and Clove didn’t make it to the next post by nightfall, the mutts would track them down with pleasure and tear them to shreds. Clove scouted ahead, clearing away rocks and debris so Alexa and Marcy could pass. East was what Marcy’s instincts told her. But EAST meant death. Death for running away. For succeeding in escape. South. She made herself listen. She pressed her instincts to the back of her untidy mind and carried on. South. Finally, walking became too much. She collapsed, Alexa falling with her. Clove might make it now. She thought. It comforted her in her pain… grief and loss.

SEAN

BERRY

Norwich Lower School

Julian’s Prompt: Aliens have been monitoring the earth for a while. And now they have hacked social media and are creating chaos with posts of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook... “Siri, open Twitter for me” ordered Mike. “My apologies, Twitter doesn’t exist” replied Siri. “Okay, open Facebook” said Mike impatiently. “I’m sorry, Facebook doesn’t exist” droned Siri. “You’ve got to be joking!” thought Mike, “I’ve spent 3 hours of studying just to get 5 minutes online! Ughh” moaned Mike “I’ll just have to go and watch TV.” He slumped downstairs, snatched the remote off the table and turned on the TV. He flicked through the channels and then suddenly something caught his eye. “Breaking news!” boomed the news correspondent “Online sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been deleted leaving millions of people confused and bewildered. Officials say that these websites have been shut down by a source so complicated it couldn’t have been a hacker. This has been your top story from Wendy Ma –“

Julian’s Prompt:They had been climbing the mountain for four days. Still its snowclad flanks stretched up into the swirling clouds above them. And still from somewhere about those clouds came that strange, unearthly music… As they climbed up the mountain, shivering they came to a halt. In front of them was a large, damp, dark, eerie cave. The music seemed to be coming from there. James took a step in. The music stopped. Cara followed James into the cave. Cara switched on her glowing flashlight. There was a trumpet on a rock. Next to that there was a guitar, next to that three violins and a French horn. James and Cara tip-toed further into the cave. They stopped. In front of them was something tall, it was bony, it was hard, it was smooth, it was sickly… It was a skeleton! James touched the skeleton. It fell to the ground. Behind the skeleton was a rock, on the rock was a box, on the box was an old mysterious but fancy record player? James gasped, Cara almost fainted! The record player started playing. Behind them echoed a voice…. “Half a pound of tuppenny rice, half a pound of treacle…”

The screen went blank. Then a chrome colour filled the screen. Mike felt for his phone in his pocket and called his best friend Max. He tried to move his head downwards but he was stuck. He tried to look around but his eyes were fixed to the screen. He raised his phone up and called Max. “Hi Max, have your eyes been glued to a screen of any kind?” “Yeah, how did you kno –“ There was a sudden blinding flash of light and he found himself in a laser walled cell. “This seems familiar” thought Mike, not at all scared until a voice shouted. “Foolish Earthlings! You have been chosen to play this free-for-all battle. You may choose your weapons…”

MABEL Avenue Junior School

& FINLAY Sprowston Junior School Rachel (R): AHHH! Jerry (J): AHHHH R: Who are you? J: None of your business. And what are you doing here? R: I’m only locked in because I have to find out what my greatest enemy is hiding! What are you doing here? J: I’m not here on purpose, I was studying in the library and may have fallen asleep.

J: Oh… I didn’t hear a word you said because you are so beaut…. I mean, umm… R: Wait, WHAT? J: Urmm... well... R: Oh my gosh, boys are stupid. Just spit it out. J: Oh, um, it’s nothing. I meant… that… picture on the wall is beautiful! R: Oh… okay then. Let’s carry on. J: Wait! What was that? R: Uhh, that was me you nincompoop. J: Oh right, what are you doing? R: Picking Hannah’s lock.

R: How idiotic!

J: Wait! You can’t do that!

J: A perfect description of you. Anyway, if we are gonna get out we’ll have to think of a plan.

R: Urm, yes I can. Because I am.

R: Oh, don’t worry about that. I have the whole thing planned out but one stop first…

J: No! What was THAT? R: Oh no! That’s the caretaker! RU/N!

J: (Sarcastic) Uh, girls! R: Thanks. Now, to Hannah’s locker. J: Who’s Hannah? R: My enemy. Keep up. J: Why is she your enemy? R: Do you really want to know?

DIALOGUES We were asked to think of a situation in which two people who didn’t know each other would be forced to have a conversation. We had to think about what they would say and how that would reveal things about their characters, how it would show their relationship, and how it would move the plot along. We worked in pairs to create our scenes of dialogue. 26

J: Course, that’s why I asked. R: I started (and finished) this project and it was amazing, I would have got full grades for it! Hannah stole it from me so I need to get it back.

EMMA Magdalen Gates Primary School Dear Diary, I was walking home from school when I noticed a black box with my name engraved. I picked it up, thinking it was a prank, I opened it, expecting something to jump out. But there was a note, it was gibberish. There was also a bloody knife… it was fresh blood. I quickly grabbed the tape from the drawer and put it on the handle of the knife to scan for fingerprints… there were none. I scraped the blood into a test tube and looked at it under a microscope and it appeared to be human. I put it into a machine and looked on the database. No-one appeared. I was confused but I tried to forget about it and go to sleep since it was late. The next day I decided to skip school since this was more important. I tried to decrypt the note, but I couldn’t. I asked my friend to decrypt it. He said it said… you’re next… and the date was 8.3.18 which was tomorrow…

TOBY & NASCO Magdalen Gates Primary School Dear Diary,

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT PART 3 We were given a writing prompt by Tanya Landman, the Carnegie award-winning author of Buffalo Soldier. Her prompt was: The parcel was for him/her. Her/His name was scrawled in black letters across the top. There was nothing else, though – no address, no stamps, no postmark. Someone had walked up the path while s/he'd been at school and left it there for her/him to find. S/He had no idea who. 28

I am writing to tell you about my unfortunate destiny and yours too. In the year 1954 I came home to discover a box with my name scratched upon it but it was written in red, a blood red… my emotions swirled in a hurricane of dread. I was scared, nervous and my bones were shaking in fear. I opened the box and found a mysterious object with a handle on the side. I slowly spun it to hear the Jack-in-the-box song. It popped out surprising me. Its face was indescribable, it looked like it had been thrown in a fire it was melted away. As soon as I saw its face I put it outside and tried to forget about it by watching TV. On the news was an article about a box identical to the one I found. I turned off the TV and went up to bed, forgetting, but that was the worst idea I had. I woke up at 12:00 feeling disorientated. I walked downstairs. I saw something fly across the landing, blurry, but something was there…

TILLY

TALIESIN

St. William’s Primary School

Avenue Junior School

I opened the box. Inside was a letter that read “GO TO SCHOOL YOU…” and then there was a word that shouldn’t be said out-loud. O.M.G. I was late for school! I packed my bag and sprinted out of the door. I packed my untouched homework sheet, my water bottle and my pack of homework excuses! I’ll be needing that! ANYWAY… As I ran, I saw a bright coral light fall down from the cerulean sky. It was right in front of me and gave off a soft of radio-active glow which send me flying into the mud. “Hey!” I shouted trying to wipe the mud off my back. Unexpectedly, a small green alien with 3 legs and 1 black eye like a bubble hopped out, “Bring me to your brother!” it declared, “he will help us destroy the world!” I thought of a plan, my homework would come in handy, “I actually have a document here with the way to do exactly that – right here!” I handed it my homework. “Hmm, ok! But give us something else!” It through the sheet into the beam and that’s when I had the idea, “Here’s a Mars bar! Humans love them!” I explained. “Yes! Food!” It screamed as it popped up into the beam. I was now really late for school but I did have an excuse for my homework!

Rather curious, he decided to carry it upstairs. At the top, the ink on the parcel shifted, at first it was only gradual but the further it moved the faster it got. When he reached his bedroom it now read RAI, OPEN ME NOW in straggly dark lettering. Wondering why he was taking orders from a parcel, he locked the door and tore off the wrapping. Inside was a box. Inside was a letter. Inside was some writing. It read – in the same straggly handwriting: LOOK IN THE BOX. MEET ME BY THE BROKEN DOWN CHURCH TONIGHT. BRING THE BOX. TELL NO-ONE. Somewhat intrigued by all this, he looked in the box. Inside was a pair of black, shining nunchucks. Not doubting his trust in the parcel and its letter he left. In the gloomy street, night had already fallen. Still confused but it all, he reached the church – box in hand. Terrible things were happening, and all right behind his back. Everything was about to come forwards and change his life. Rai waited. After five minutes, a black clad figure emerged from the shadows and strode over “Who are you,” Rai demanded. “I thought you would know by now, I sent you the parcel.” “But why black nunchucks, I prefer brown!” “Give them a go and you will find that there’s something special about these ones.” Carefully, Rai prized them from the box. As they came out into the open area, shadows seemed to cluster around them. He span them. A knife-life wisp of shadow went slicing through the night.

CAELIN & AVA Sprowston Junior School “The parcel must be for me” Jonathan muttered. Jonathan was twelve and really hated school and everything about it. Jonathan opened the parcel. He would have been happier if he received a bomb but no he received any kids’ nightmare… HOMEWORK! He had to find a way to get rid of it, anyway, even if it involved Donald Trump or Jake Paul! “How do I get rid of this?” Jonathan sighed, not meaning to say it out loud. “Meet me at the lunch hall tomorrow at 12.30” the troll snorted pig like. Jonathan laid in bed wondering about the decision he made. Is the troll trustworthy? Sure he is! * The time was 12:30. Jonathan was entering the lunch hall until a young child pulled on his ankle and shouted “NO DON’T GO! IT’S CHAOS IN THERE! A TROLL!” Jonathan felt a rush of worry run through his head. Was this Buddy? Buddy was on the table eating all the paper displays and posters in the lunch hall when Jonathan walked in. Buddy turned around. “Oh Jonathan you came!” Buddy beamed. “H-how do you know my name?” Jonathan stuttered. “Uh… of course I know your name! I’ve lived in your sock that’s in your shoe that’s in your wardrobe that’s in your room that’s in your house that’s in your city that’s in your world that’s in your galaxy since you were born and all I’ve heard is ‘Jonathan get off the PlayStation’ and ‘Jonathan be quiet’ how can’t I know your name?”

Miss Grape rolled her eyes with a look of true evilness “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jonathan pass it here.” Miss Grape sighed. Jonathan gulped. It was at this moment when he knew… he screwed up. You’re lucky you get to read this story because the troll is still on the loose, he’s probably gonna eat this. Oh no! STAY AWAY!

JEMIMA Norwich Lower School Daisy didn’t know whether to touch it or not. She just stood there, staring and staring at it. Eventually, she plucked up the courage to pick it up. She cautiously bent down and ran her fingers along the brown paper. She picked it up and tried to rip open the parcel. Daisy wasn’t the kind of enthusiastic, jolly person who would pick it up and rip it open and start laughing. She was very shy and sensible and didn’t like people looking at her. She had no family. No friends. But that’s how she liked it. Anyway, she was trying to open the parcel and eventually peeped inside. It was a book. An old, tattered, inch-thick book. Daisy was confused, why would someone get her a book? It wasn’t her birthday, or Christmas, so what was so special about this? Daisy looked at the huge book. On the front was entitled “Open this and enter a world of adventure”. What did that mean? She didn’t know but she was about to find out. You see, this was no ordinary book. This book would let you become anything you wanted, let you see anything you wanted, and let you feel anything you wanted. This book had hundreds of thousands of fancy worlds, with lots of strange things hidden in them. Every page was a completely different environment and you could stay there as long as you wanted to.

“Uh okay anyway about the homework, how are you going to get rid of it?” asked Jonathan. “I’m gonna eat it duh, haven’t you seen me eat everyone else’s homework?” * “Jonathan, where is your homework?” “A troll ate it” explained Jonathan 32

GEORGE St William’s Primary School Lucy grabbed the last hairpin from the drawer beside her and poked a hole into the tape sealing the box. As soon as her hairpin pierced the tape, as if it were a steak piercing a vampire’s chest, the noise of a tile moving made Lucy drop her hairpin right through the hole in the tape. She began to think that the box contained a liquid, due to the watery splash sound that followed it. She looked around to find that a part of her wall had changed. She then flicked out her sharpest fingernail and sliced through the tape as if it were a hot knife cutting through some brie. A loud churning noise followed and then that was followed by a completed transformation of her house. What was once a normal average size house was now a beautiful mansion. She flipped open the lid of the box to find no water but just a fancy little chest with an old keyhole. She took it out of the surrounding box. There was a clunk like there was a key inside when she threw it on the floor. She picked up the surrounding box and inspected it. It was absolutely empty. When she shook the box it made the same clunk sound as before. She tore it apart. Then in the remains Lucy found a key…

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to the staff at Norwich School and Writers’ Centre Norwich. Particular thanks due to Ms F Brugger,Victoria Maitland and Nicholl Hardwick.

Avenue Junior School Jasmine Brown Sarah Durban Finlay Eyles-McGlynn Taliesin Howells Lily Johns Isobel Montgomery Cringleford Primary School Lily Bradley Katy Clements Grace Evans Mustafa Faeq Magdalen Gates Primary School Toby Dunseath Emma Gaman Nasko Kyurkchiev Ed Tunba Colin Wilsher Norwich Lower School Rose Brown Jemima Curtis Reuben Francis Georgia Hodgson Adam Kelsall Eleanor McGuire Harry Mitchell Sean O’Malley Berry Ward Bea Wells

Sprowston Junior School Lily-Mai Allen Caelin Dale Mabel Gigg Sam Howlett Ruby Huckle Rosie Scott Ava Tempesta St. William’s Primary School Matilda Anderson Luca Bush George Carter Ruby McCormack