Here are the three stories that merited an honorable mention in the Grandview Hills third-grade tall tale and fable writing contest. Each one of them had something special about it that made it stand out, so here they are! I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I did.
Honorable Mention for Use of Similes: Even Deeny for “The Final Race.” Even, I chose your story for honorable mention because you did a great job using similes in your story. I really enjoyed them. My favorite one is about how his shoes were like “light at daybreak.” Those are some fast shoes.
The Final Race
Have you heard of a great running race? Well I know the greatest running race ever ran!
It was a hard day but a happy day on Mars, a.k.a. the rusty planet. Young Adrian Person was at Marinas Trench, Mars. Adrian is American and has black skin and he is very fast. He was here to race Asan Bolt a.k.a. The Fastest Man in the World! Bolt is Jamaican and has black skin. The race would start here and they would run around Mars once. Then they would take a space tunnel to Earth and run around Earth once. Then they would end at Mount Everest.
Adrian lined up at the start. He was wearing his fast shoes. His shoes were like light at daybreak! Then he saw Bolt line up at the start. When he lined up at the start the announcer said to get so the race could begin! “Ready, set, GO!” the announcer said.
Bolt and Adrian Peterson took off and they ran so fast people thought they were a bonfire! They went around the planet Mars once and they were heading to the space tunnel when BANG! They were teleported to Earth because the space tunnel was broken. When they stopped teleporting they hit a mountain so hard it made Mount St. Helen’s! Their shoes were hotter than the sun because they were running for a whole day!
At last Adrian and Bolt stopped for water. But when they did Bolt and Adrian drank a whole gallon of water! When they finished drinking they found that the space tunnel was fixed. When they started to run again they couldn’t stop! So when they crossed the finish they still couldn’t stop! But they still run because when you go to Mount St. Helen’s you can hear Adrian’s and Bolt’s shoes against the concrete. The end.
Honorable Mention for a Great Ending: Saxon Fryar for “Dr. Seuss and the Big Laugh.” I really liked this story. It’s a tall tale with an unusual combination of characters. I especially liked the end. In fact, I liked it so much, I decided it needed to be honorably mentioned.
Dr. Seuss and the Big Laugh
One day I met Dr. Seuss at a hotel in Utah. I was happy because I just made a book about being a train conductor and about my life. I wanted Dr. Seuss to publish it for me. I walked up to him and said, “Hi, I’m Casey Jones.” Then he said to me, “Hello, I’m Theodore, but you can call me Dr. Seuss.” I asked him if he was working on any new book and he said “no.” He asked me if I could spend the night with him so I could give him some ideas about a new book and I said “yes.” So we went up to the room and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning he was already downstairs eating waffles. “I never thought that he would eat waffles.” I just made myself some cereal. When I sat I told him, “whenever I read one of your books all the characters come to life.” After that I asked him, “how long can you write for?” he said “for hours without getting tired.” Then he asked me “what I was doing in Utah” I said “just came for fun.” Then for some strange reason I asked him if he wrote the first children’s book and he said “yes.” Then I asked him if he wanted to go to Arizona and see the wildlife and he said “yes.” We left at 6:00 pm. We got there at 9:00 so we went to the nearest hotel and waited (?) for an hour then went to bed. We got up at 9:00am then went downstairs for some breakfast then we went swimming for 30 minutes then got back in the car and went to see some wildlife. When we got there I decided to show Dr. Seuss my book. He looked over it for a long time then he started laughing and it started an earthquake then the earth cracked open and in the crack was water so Dr. Seuss must have cried a bit. Then everybody called it The Laughing Hole of Dr. Seuss but then some time in history they changed the name to the Grand Canyon and made a gift shop. And by the way I’m Casey Jones. Bye!
Honorable Mention for Creativity: Mackenzie Murray for “Bunny and Dodo.” This story isn’t exactly a fable or a tall tale, so I couldn’t give it one of the prizes, but I liked the characterization and the way Mackenzie showed the interactions between the characters. So I thought it was very creative and deserved to be mentioned with honor. I think this could be the story of how the bunny got its short tail…or maybe the story of how the dodo became extinct.
Bunny and Dodo
One day Dodo was walking up the stairs to Bunny’s bed. When he got to the top he was so tired he plopped down right in the center of the bed.
Then Bunny came in and started yelling, “Bed time! Bed time!” as he bounced on his bed. After he got that out of his system he started to fall asleep.
“Ow!” said Dodo.
The next day when Bunny woke up, he sat up and scratched his back.
Then Bunny grabbed Dodo and put him in his bed.
“Time to get dressed,” yelled Bunny an hour later.
So they went to their dressers and Dodo started to think about what to wear.
Dodo was deciding which pretty outfit to wear when Bunny’s dresser tumbled over!
Bunny tried to pick it up but it slipped out of his hands on to Dodo again.
Dodo crawled out and said, “I’ll sleep on the floor, Bunny.”
“Suit yourself,” said Bunny.
Just as Bunny fell asleep, Dodo began gnawing on Bunny’s long tail.
When Bunny woke up, he scratched his tail and let out a scream, “Eeeek!”
“Do you know what happened to my tail?” Bunny asked.
“I ate it,” said Dodo, quite impressed with himself.
Then, without warning, Bunny grabbed Dodo in his hand and ate him in one big gobble.
A few weeks later, Bunny’s family came for a visit. They asked, “How was Dodo?”
“He was delicious,” responded Bunny.
