What a girl!

My amazing daughter Sarah received an envelope at school today regarding School presentation night. When I picked her up we opened it and these are the opening sentences:

Dear Sarah,

I have great pleasure in informing you that you are to receive the following awards on Presentation Night:

Mavis Reath Awards for Literature - Years 4, 5 & 6 Poetry
and
Mavis Reath Awards for Literature - Years 4, 5 & 6 Short Story.

My talented girl has won not only the poetry award, but also the short story award, which had to be 400 words or less (Sarah's was exactly 400 words). She entered her poem 'Circus' and her short story 'The Picture'. These competitions are judged not by the class teachers, but by a recognised poet and writer. So this achievement in winning both categories is even more impressive.

Sarah I am so proud of you. Your creative talent is amazing. Well done! See below for the poem and story.

Circus
by Sarah Adair 6S

Red and white stripes of the Big Top
Jumping, catching, flying, landing
Acrobats on wires, large trampoline
Flexible people want to be seen.

Lion tamers, elephant riders
Little French poodles riding bikes
Candyfloss, popcorn, peanuts and more
Everything you can buy from the stall.

The Ringmaster calls in the clowns
Funny faces, big floppy shoes
Smiles painted on chalky lips
I love the circus and all its tricks.

Droopy eyes in the car
Dreaming of being a circus star.



The Painting.
By Sarah Adair 6S


A light stroke of a paintbrush is all it takes to bring a painting to life. The dots and lines covered the canvas in rich, earthy reds and browns. The people that stood before the famous piece of art in the gallery didn’t understand the new painting.
“I don’t understand why the artist painted such a little kangaroo?”
“It doesn’t even seem to belong in the painting.”
The little kangaroo felt even smaller and sadder as he heard these comments.
“Five minutes to closing time,” the speaker crackled.
The little kangaroo watched the people leave the gallery and the lights slowly dim.

A sigh crept around the gallery as all the figures stretched and groaned.
“I hate posing all day for those art critic snobs” said Lisa Mona.
“That’s not a smile, well what would they know” said The Scream.
“Well at least they don’t call you small” said the tiny kangaroo.
“Hush Junior, don’t talk to strangers” said the sun, peeking from behind Uluru. “We are far from home in this cold, wet land. Don’t annoy the locals.”

“Locals, who are you calling locals?” screeched The Scream.
“I don’t know why they have let dotted riff-raff into the Louvre” whispered Lisa Mona.
Everyone leaned out of their frames to peer at the strange foreign painting that now hung in the gallery. Junior tried to hop behind the big mountain, but fell out of his frame.
“Ha, ha, ha,” laughed The Scream.

Poor Junior felt sadder than ever, he was so far away from Australia and all alone in this new place.
“Don’t listen to them,” said Vinnie Gogh, “I don’t.”
Junior decided explore to escape the comments that made him feel small. Hopping from room to room, he met many famous sculptures and paintings. Some were very friendly and some were just plain rude.
Junior realised that he had been hung with some very special paintings and started to feel a lot bigger and more important.
Junior wandered back to his painting.
“Oh look Spotty’s back,” snickered The Scream and Lisa Mona.
Vinnie Gogh said, “Leave him alone, he is far more important than you think. He represents his whole country. We are all from here.”
Suddenly, Junior felt a whole lot bigger and better. He hopped back into his painting as the sun lit the gallery.
“Thank you,” he whispered before the visitors came to stand before him once more.