ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605070081
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NANCY GLEINER STAFF WRITER
When you think about competition, you probably think about sports or a spelling bee or getting a part in the school play. Competition also can include people who write stories - even people as young as you.
More than 600 pupils in kindergarten through third grade in Southwest Virginia wrote and illustrated their own books to enter Reading Rainbow's Young Writers and Illustrators Awards Contest. The public television station in Roanoke, WBRA-TV, selected judges who chose one first-place winner and one honorable mention from each grade. Now, that's tough competition - eight out of 600!
The first-place winners' books were sent to the national contest, which will be decided in June. All the winners were honored at an awards ceremony last week at the TV station, and their books will be read and shown on WBRA-TV several times during the summer.
Honorable mentions went to: Chelsea Anne Sisson, Forest (kindergarten), Nash Pleasant, Blacksburg (first grade), Steven Massie, Lynchburg (second grade), Maggie Brown, Floyd (third grade).
Ryan Tenny from Forest won first place for his book, ``How the Rattlesnake Got Its Name.'' The third-grader wrote:
``Long, long ago, there was an Indian tribe named the Iroquois. Every year they would have good crops, good hunting, and good fish to fish for. One day the hunting men and the fishing men didn't have much luck. The crops were dying too. The next day the hunting men saw dead animals in the woods where they were hunting. Day after day the same thing happened. The Indian tribe was getting worried because their food supply was getting low.''
In Ryan's story, three Indian boys decided to find out what was killing the animals. Not only did they discover what it was, but they captured it and brought it back to their village.
``Proudly, the boys showed the chief the great thing they had captured. That night a ceremony took place to honor the boys. Just before the ceremony, the boys stunned the snake. As it lay still, the boys painted diamond shapes on its back and attached a gourd rattle to its tail. Over the years the snake's skin grew over the rattle so that as each new brood of snakes were hatched they all had rattles on their tails. They also kept the diamond shape pattern on their back. That is how the rattlesnake got its name.''
Tanner the dog, who lives with Rachel Sergent and her family in Wise, was the inspiration for Rachel's story, ``Tanner's First Walk,'' which won the second-grade category.
Tanner has a twin sister in the story, but ``Tanner is different than his sister because he can't see. He is blind.''
Tanner needed a lot of explanation during his walk. ``He stepped in something wet.
`What is it?' he asked his mommy.
```It is brown, and slippery and splashes,' she said.
```I know,'' said Tanner. `It's a mud puddle.
``They walked on and Tanner smelled something good.
```What is it?' asked Tanner.
```It is hot and in a pan,' said Mommy Janner. `The outside is crusty and the inside is sweet apples.'
```I know,'' he said. `It is an apple pie. Yum! Yum!'
Tanner's walk finally led him home.
First-grader Stephanie Shields of Blue Ridge likes to draw horses but wrote about other animals in her story, ``The Bee Who Ate an Elephant,'' which won her a first prize.
``There was a bee who wanted to show off for his queen,'' she wrote. "Seeing an elephant he said, `I am going to eat you up!' The elephant laughed!
``So the bee said, `I will get blown up!' He blew himself up then flew back.
``The elephant popped into the bee's mouth.
``Off he flew to show the queen. The queen was not impressed.''
The bee kept increasing his size and eating more and more elephants until he got up to 20! ``That was not enough,'' Stephanie wrote, ``he had to have just ONE more.
``Then he could not fly, so he walked back to the station and had his wings blown up. On the way home to show the queen he heard POP! POP! POP! All of his elephants came tumbling out! So the bee could only show his giant wings and tell a BIG story!''
``Tiffany the Toothfairy, A True Fairy Tale'' by Jessie Bailey of Salem, won first prize for this kindergartner. ``This story really happened,'' Jessie said, ``but I changed some things.''
The story is about a girl named Jessie who was visited by the tooth fairy when Jessie had lost her first tooth. ``When Jessie woke up in the morning, she found a one- dollar bill and some fairy dust sprinkled under her pillow. She was so happy!
``A few days later, Jessie was playing with her brothers. She was walking around when she spotted a little white tooth on the rug in front on the fireplace. It was her very own tooth!
``Tiffany, the toothfairy, must have accidentally dropped it on her way out!
``Jessie and her mom decided to put her tooth back under her pillow with a note to Tiffany.
``Their plan worked because the next morning, the only thing under Jessie's pillow was a shiny new quarter.''
Here's help in writing short story
Stories can come from real life or from your imagination or a combination of both. A story can be as simple as losing a tooth or walking a dog. It's how the story is told that makes it come alive. And that's up to you. Here are some ideas to think about when writing a short story:
Jump right in. Don't explain what the story is about in the first paragraph. Start the action right away to make the reader interested and want to continue.
Include conversation. It keeps the story moving.
Describe the characters through actions, words, clothing and how they fit into their surroundings.
Give your ending a twist, a surprise. Try writing the whole story first, then change the ending to something unexpected.
Give specific details.
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: First-place and honorable-mention winners in Readingby CNBRainbow's Young Writers and Illustrators Awards Contest include
(kneeling, from left) Chelsea Anne Sisson and Ryan Tenny; (standing,
from left) Stephanie Shields, Rachel Sergent, Jessie Bailey, Maggie
Brown, Steven Massie and Nash Pleasant. color.