Each week I’m sharing a few stories written during our NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program last year in November 2020. We will be doing the program again this year; stay tuned!

This week we’re showcasing stories by Lexi and Meira.

 

Lexi

Lexi’s novel Spirit of a Bird is the first of a series full of mystery, magic and suspense. The main character, Tori Moore, has grown up at an orphanage and is sent to a boarding school – School for Mischievous Girls. Little does she know, it’s actually a school for children with magic powers. But magic isn’t the only surprise in store for Tori Moore: people she thought she trusted may not be so trustworthy, and one of them is trying to kill her… A great read for fans of Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, and Nnedi Okorafor.

 

Excerpt from Spirit of a Bird:

 

It was called S. M. G. “Everyone here has seen these letters. They are the school initials, but they are also the name of this project. School of Magical Girls, please don’t squeal.” Against the teachers request, almost every girl except Tori made some sort of excited noise.

Tori raised her hand, very confused.

“There’s always that one girl who has all the questions, yes?” the teacher muttered.

Tori stood up. “Magical? As in..powers?” Tori had one eyebrow raised and had her arms crossed.

The Teacher seemed bored as if she had heard this question many times before. “Yes, powers. Magical abilities that make you all different from other girls, yada yada yada, you get the point. Can we continue?”

Tori would have complained but she was frozen in shock. She barely sat back down before the teacher continued.

“Every girl in this school has some sort of power. Each one was put into a group of girls with almost or exactly the same power as them. All of you remember picking two stones from a purple desk. Each stone has a certain power connected to it.” The teacher paused for questions that never came. “That’s how we figure out your power. Your group is smaller than the other groups for one key reason. You each chose two power stones, whilst the other girls chose one normal stone and another power stone.”

This time when the teacher paused almost every girl had their hand up. “Here we go,” the teacher sighed. She had obviously done this before.

Check out these readalikes for Lexi’s story!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meira

In Meira’s book Lyla’s Adventure the protagonist Lyla is searching for her missing little sister Abby. She is desperate for help, and goes right away to her best friend Olivia. But Olivia hasn’t been such a great friend lately… Fortunately, with some help from a magical winged hamster, Lyla has a clue to her sister’s whereabouts, if she could just get Olivia to actually help! This is a great read for fans of Adam Rex and Colin Meloy.

Excerpt from Lyla’s Adventure:

It had been a year since Abby was born and she was already getting into trouble.  She threw toys everywhere, knocked pots over, banged pots and pans together, cried at night, and worst of all getting in my business. But then the worst thing ever was today at 9:00 a.m.  Abby ran away.  Of course my parents were worried sick so they went out looking for Abby and left me at home, as always.  I decided I would look too.  But first…

“OLIVIA ARE YOU HOME!?!?  I NEED YOUR HELP!!  ABBY HAS RUN OFF AND I NEED TO FIND HER!!  PLEASE HELP ME!!”

Olivia answered reluctantly, “Your parents can find Abby.  And I can hear you perfectly fine.”

“Oh, sorry I just am so angry and worried at the same time.  Let me try again; Olivia, could you PLEASE help me?” I said frantically.

“Okay fine. I’ll go with you.”  Olivia snapped.

“THANK YOU SO MUCH!” I squealed.

“I’M STILL RIGHT HERE.” Olivia retorted.

 

Check out these readalikes for Meira’s story!