WELL, THE
SPELLING BLOCKS
PROVED USEFUL...
SAVED OUR LIVES,
REALLY.TOO BAD THE
READING LESSONS
WERE A FLOP...MAYBE N
PUSS, AR
YOU SPELLI
SOMETHILOOK AT
THAT! PUSS
LEARNED
TO READ.GO, PUSS!
MY SWEET
ND SMART
MAGIC
KITTY...HUFF-
PUFF! AND IIIOF COURSE SHE
DID! BECAUSE
SHE’S BRILLIANT!
(SHE GETS IT
FROM ME.)HEE
HEE!happy. In fact, even though the bangs now covered part
of my eyes, I loved them!
“Thank you!” I told the hairdresser, smiling. My mom,
who had been waiting in the waiting room, came over to
see how I looked. She liked my new style as well.
When I got home, my brother and my dad both said
they liked my new bangs. “You look cute!” my dad said,
which made me feel more confident. I couldn’t wait to
show my friends.
Second prize 11 and up
Clover Dietzen, age 11
Los Angeles, CA
Matter Benders
It was nearing midnight as Lyani stretched herself
across the cool grass. How she wished she could just be
normal! She fought back tears, remembering the incident
today in phys ed, when she won a footrace by transform-
ing into a coyote.
Their teacher had simply pulled her aside and
warned her never to do it again, which she didn’t
understand. There was nothing in the rules that said she
couldn’t, but the other students were livid. They’d yelled
at her and called her horrible names.
“Rough day?” someone asked.
She turned to see her brother Ronn behind her. She
nodded.“Kids can be mean. I get it! But different isn’t always
bad!” he said.
She nodded. She and her family were matter benders,
which meant they could bend the matter around them to
alter themselves. They used to live with the Lakashmi, an
entire tribe of matter benders, but a plague had chased
them away from their mountain home and into the city of
Philadelphia. It was a hard life for a matter bender in the
modern world.
She plucked a mushroom out of the ground and
twirled it between her f ingers.
“I just want to be NORMAL!” she confessed.
“Yeah,” he said, “we all feel that way at some point,
but... how would you feel if you were normal?”
The question shocked her at f irst, but then she
thought, How would I feel if I were normal? Being able to
shape shift had always felt like a talent or gift. Who would
she be without it?
“You’re right,” she said, “we’re all different, but we are
all special!”
“Darn right I’m right!” he boasted.
She smiled and shook her head at her silly older brother.
“Fly with me?” he asked.
“Anytime!” she responded.
They spread their arms wide. She could feel her arms
growing larger, sprouting feathers, her face elongating into
a sharp beak. And as two hawks, they soared together into
the night sky.Third prize 10 and under
Ella Schneider, age 10
Silver Spring, MD
Transformation Candy
“Give me some of your candy,” Susie told her little
brother, Roy, who was stuff ing his face with his leftover
Halloween sweets, “and I’ll transform into a three-
headed alien.”
Roy thought for a minute. He didn’t have much
candy left, having made it last all the way from
November to late March.
“Okay,” he concluded and set down his candy on the
table for her to take. She took a piece, chewed, and swal-
lowed. Nothing happened.
“Maybe I need to eat another piece,” she suggested.
She took another piece of candy. Roy was getting
increasingly suspicious, but he kept his mouth shut.
Finally, when Susie was chomping on a f ifth piece of
his candy, he asked, “Are you sure you’re going to turn
into an alien? This isn’t just a way to eat all my candy,
right?” Susie swallowed her piece.
“Roy, my dear brother, why on earth would I do that
to you?” she exclaimed innocently. “I’m not the type of
nasty person who might do that. I’m a good person. Also
really humble. But I’m telling the truth. I’ll turn into a three-
headed alien!” And with that, she popped another piece
into her mouth. Then she ate another piece. And another!46