I’m happy to announce the winners from the CBA writing contest for third-grade students from Grandview Hills Elementary School. Students submitted either an animal fable or a tall tale, and I have to tell you, there were some really good ones. It was hard to choose the winners, but I will be posting the ones that I thought were the best examples of either tall tales or fables. I’ll post them in a series. Today will be the first and second prize winners. Next time I’ll post the stories of the winners who tied for third place, and finally I will post all the stories that earned an honorable mention. Please feel free to leave a nice comment for any of these student authors, because they and their families will be checking this blog to see their published stories. School’s almost out for the summer, and this is a great end to a good year! Congratulations to all of you! I really liked your stories. Thank you for sharing them with me.

First Place Winner: Erin Houchins for her very tall tale, “Abraham Lincoln and Selena Gomez.” Great job, Erin, for having all the classic elements of a tall tale in your story along with a modern twist and lots of fun exaggeration.

Abraham Lincoln and Selena Gomez

I bet you’ve heard of Selena Gomez or Abraham Lincoln, sure they’re in stories, well have you heard one with both?
When Selena Gomez was born the world had an earthquake on all seven of the continents like North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Antarctica, Australia, and Africa!
After Selena was born she started walking! Her parents were so surprised they said, “She’s the only baby I know of that got up and started walking right after they were born!”
Astonished, Selena’s parents called the doctor (who was over in a flash) and said, “Nothing is wrong with her but it’s odd for her to be walking at this age and her pace.”
When Selena turned one she could speak full sentences and could sing an entire song! Her parents, again surprised, said “Should we call the doctor?” but before they could even pick up the phone Selena said, “You better not call him because he has to do all the tests on me.” After that Selena’s parents always spoke to each other in a whisper but every once in a while she would hear them whispering behind her back.
By the time Selena was two she could sing Fifty Nifty as well as a fifth-grader and her parents didn’t even know it! When little Selena was six years old she could sing a trillion songs and sounded as good as the writer who wrote the song and sung it! Selena’s parents were so shocked but surprised at the same time! But next they called American Idol and they thought she was twelve but when she showed up the judges thought she was so tiny and helpless she didn’t stand a chance, but when it came to be her turn she won first place, “WOW,” said the judges, “We thought she was so helpless but she is the most talented girl we’ve ever seen or heard!”
When Selena did turn twelve, her favorite subject was music and she was the music teacher’s favorite student out of the entire school and we’re talking middle school!
One day Selena was visiting the Museum of Natural History and stumbled upon a wax sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and accidentally went back in time and no time machine just her mind!
When she reached the time she accidentally went to, she was in the White House! With Abraham Lincoln! When Selena was wandering around when she stumbled across his office and Abraham was in it! “I’m so sorry, Mr. Lincoln, I should leave,” said Selena. “No, stay to have some tea,” Abraham said. “No thanks, I’m not a big tea fan.”
After that Selena went back to the room she appeared in and teleported back to her normal life but what she didn’t know is that Abraham teleported back with her! In the morning she was making breakfast and Abraham came down! “Could you make some tea for me?” he said. “How did you get here?” Selena said. “I went to follow you and you teleported with me back to the museum.” Abraham replied.
After they worked everything out, Selena Gomez went to her concert but Abraham came too! “Yes, he’s a relative that looks like Abraham Lincoln,” said Selena. “Go in, and hurry!” said the security guard. “Thanks, I gotta go!” said Selena.
When she got on stage she started singing so the crowd started screaming like crazy! The singing was so loud it traveled all the way to Mars and pushed a big crater into it but near it a huge mound of Mars was pushed up and magma spewed out the top!

Second Place Winner: Landen Kerns for another great tall tale, “Bombs Away.” Great job, Landen, for having lots of the elements of a classsic tall tale and for the unique way you chose to narrate the story.

Bombs Away

February 23, 1836. In the Alamo. Hi. I’m Davy Crockett. A little bit about myself. I wear a raccoon-skin cap, I’m tall, I’m thin, and I have brown hair. The Alamo is an old church. It’s dark, dusty, but could stand against a good fight. The Alamo was recently layed to siege by the Mexican army, led by Santa Anna. We’re fighting well, but we are wearing down. This might get ugly for us.
February 24, 1836. The Alamo. We recently discovered a cavern full of boiling hot lava underneath the Alamo. We are holding a council to decide what to do.
February 25, 1836. The Alamo. We have decided that to move the lava Sam Houston would dig miles of tunnel and I would shoot the lava to make it move.
February 26, 1836. Under the Alamo. We started digging today. I thought we were pointing in the wrong direction. Sam said no. Let me tell you about Sam. He is tall, white skin, white hair, and wears a suit like George Washington’s.
February 27, 1836. Middle of Nowhere. We dug in the wrong direction. We dug through Arizona and later a section collapsed, forming the Grand Canyon. We finally got going right.
February 28, 1836. Who knows where now. Still digging.
February 29, 1836. Mexico. We finally got the lava moved. We walked back to the Alamo. But when we got there, everyone was dead. We knew we had lost. We didn’t know it, but later the lava we moved erupted, forming the Paritucan volcano. Serves them right!

Stay tuned for the tied third-place winners…their stories will be posted soon, along with some illustrations.