Young Readers League 2018 Writing Contest

Honorable Mention

Category 1 (ages 8-11)

 

Emily Downs

Age 8 (Grade 3), San Rafael Elementary School

“Pencil”

 

Once upon a classroom, there was a pencil named Dixon. Now Dixon was stuck in a classroom he didn’t like. Dixon had one friend: Papermate. Papermate was a plastic pencil actually called a led pencil. There were also other pencils in the classroom, too. Like China, who was proud of coming from Beijing, China, and also spoke Chinese. Another pencil in the classroom was Lovett who was always kind hearted and liked being a pencil. There were other writing and drawing materials like crayons, colored pencils, paints, markers, and erasers. (Erasers aren’t really drawing materials, but they help drawing materials.) There was one particular bossy crayon named Crayola who always thought she was queen over all the other crayons. Crayola also thought she was the most beautiful in the classroom.

Now we must get back to Dixon. Dixon was the unluckiest in the class. The teacher seemed to like Dixon’s owner, but Dixon did not like his owner because she drew Dixon almost to death and him lots of painful hair cuts. So one day, Dixon and Papermate decided to escape the school. They prepared all their supplies and just before the students arrived, Dixon and Papermate hopped out of the classroom. (Pencils can’t walk; they have to hop because of their erasers.) Papermate got longer and longer whenever he hopped. Just as they reached the front gate, Papermate could not jump anymore. All of his lead was at the top of his head. Dixon fixed Papermate and they wandered off to a house and laid there. Suddenly, a girl came out and took Dixon and Papermate inside. She was nice to them because the girl didn’t use Dixon and Papermate as much as their owners before did. She also set them in a nice cozy bag that Dixon and Papermate had never been before. They always heard her tell her friends it was a pencil case. Anyway, the “pencil case” had cute cats on it. Dixon and Papermate had a happier life.


Click here for the list of the winners