Molly Leece - Aged 11
This is a charming fairy-tale woodland, replete with talking animals, sinister wizard-scientists, surprise magical curses, and a sombre displaced polar bear – everything the reader needs to promise an engaging, fantastic adventure! We loved the humorous style of this story; it tickles the reader’s funny bone in a fantastic way. The first sentence made us wonder what ‘might’ be about to happen and the character description was really helpful in establishing how Ish would react to it. The dialogue was really well written and believable also. Dr Gregory must be brought to justice! A modern-day fairy tale that reminded us of Alice in Wonderland. Well done!
All Ish wanted to do was take a nice stroll in the forest, but of course something weird just had to happen.
Ish was just a normal 12 year old girl. She wore jeans and t-shirts like any other kid. Wore trainers like any other kid. Even brushed her teeth twice a day like any other kid. But weird things kept happening to her. Like when she woke up with a snake on her window ledge or saw a man with only one eye or that time when……well you get the idea.
Anyway, she set off for a walk in the forest. She loved walks in the forest. So far nothing weird had happened. It was a vast, open space with green trees and a large waterfall. Her cottage sat in the middle of it, a small house where her and her mother had lived for years.
After she passed the waterfall, she saw something at the end of the lake. Something gleaming white. Ish was stunned. It was a polar bear. Stood there. In the middle of the forest.
There was something sat on the polar bears back. It was a small dutch rabbit. Ish thought that that was it. Enough weird for one day. But no. Something else had to happen. The rabbit started talking.
“Hello”, it spoke,” My name is Sparky, and this is Pole. He’s from Antarctica but, due to Global warming, his home sadly melted”.
A tear trickled down Pole’s cheek and Sparky gave him a (very small) hug around his neck.
The small girl almost fainted. Suddenly, she found the urge to speak back to it.
“Oh hi. I’m Ish.” said the young girl,” Have there always been talking rabbits living in this forest?
“I’m from Germany really. But I hopped on a boat, fell asleep and somehow woke up over here” spoke the rabbit with a slight accent.
Sparky sat in between Pole’s ears, looking very comfortable. Pole, on the other hand, did not.
“How did you two meet?”
“Well, I was raiding a nearby farm searching for carrots and I saw some ice on the road, so I just followed it,” answered Sparky, jumping off Pole’s head onto the floor,” And I found Pole. He was just sat there, staring out into the trees.” Sparky gestured to a group of trees to their left.
“Okay.” Ish’s mind was truly blown. A polar bear was stood in front of her and there was a black and white rabbit talking to her. Could this day get any crazier. Turns out it could.
“How can you speak to me,” inquired Ish, staring at the little bunny, “I mean I’m a human and you’re a bunny.”
“What do you mean you’re human?” asked Sparky.
Sure enough, Ish looked down and saw she had paws and a big fluffy tail.
“AHHHHHHHH,” screamed the young girl,” IM A RABBIT!”
“Calm down!” exclaimed the small rabbit.
“But I’m a rabbit. I’m meant to be a human, not a rabbit!”
Ish sat down on a rock and a flood of tears erupted from her eyes.
Sparky stared at her for a minute. Then he tried to comfort her. “It’s okay Ish. If you’re really a human, I know a way to turn you back into one.”
Ish took her head out of her hands “Really,” she croaked” I can be human again?”
“Yes. All we need to do is find out who turned you into a rabbit. I suspect it was the evil……. Dr Gregory” Sparky stated, shivering so much he almost fell off the damp rock he was sat on.
“Who is Dr Gregory?” inquired Ish,” He sounds like a fairy tale villain.”
Sparky took a moment and then began to speak” He is an evil scientist who lives in the dark of the wood. The old woodpecker says that his brother knew the daughter of the Dr until one day,” Sparky stopped for a second, as if thinking about how he was going to word the next part, “she disappeared completely.”
Ish took a moment to process this. She was also thinking about how her mother would react if she went home a bunny, but she tried to think that she would be human before tea. It was carrot stew night and Ish loved carrot stew.
“So, how can I turn myself back into a human?” Ish asked.
“You must find the secret potion in the doctor’s lair and drink it. That should turn you back into a human. If it doesn’t, you will remain a creature of the forest forever.”