Writing Contest - Habitat for Humanity

http://meaningofhome.ca/students/

Open the above link and read about an upcoming contest.  Contest submission dates are from Oct. 1st to Nov. 10th....lots of time to plan and prepare an amazing contest entry.

Shelter.Comfort.Family.

2014 Contest Dates: October 1 to November 10, 2014.

Habitat for Humanity Canada (Habitat) and Genworth Canada are asking students in grade 4, 5 and 6 across Canada to tell us what “home” means to them by entering the Meaning of Home Contest.
By entering, students have the chance to make a difference in their community. Genworth Canada will donate $5.00 CAD to the Habitat affiliate closest to the entrant’s city of residence. Every participant also has a chance to win the top prize which consists of a $60,000 donation from Genworth Canada to the Habitat affiliate of their choice, as well as 5 runner-up prizes of $5000 donations to Habitat affiliates.

That’s not all! The winner also gets to host a pizza party for their entire school, and runners-up get a pizza party for their classroom, in addition to other great prizes.

Open the link below to check out previous winning submissions.  Which one do you like the best?  Explain why?
http://meaningofhome.ca/winners-2013/

PRIZES - http://meaningofhome.ca/prizes/

Sentence Imitation

She sighed and continued to walk.  Most of the houses were set close together as if huddled for safety, and on either side of the houses the West Virginia hills rose, black now in the early evening shadows.
                                   (The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars -  p. 23)

Mind Muser - by Daniel

Mind Muser – Your task is to imagine you have the ability to appear as a character in your book. For example, you might be Kino’s brother from The Pearl, charged with helping Kino make it to the city to sell his treasure. Or maybe you’re Juliet’s sister from Romeo & Juliet, providing her with advice and solace. The idea for this activity is to allow yourself to get lost and absorbed in the world of your story and interact with its characters. You will appear as yourself, yet will be linked to a character(s) in a manner in which you see fit. You may also acquire skills or abilities based on the events in the text.

Task: Write a creative vignette (a short, descriptive literary text) using present-action language, engaging description, and lively dialogue where you’re experiencing the events of the reading alongside a character or characters. Flex your creative muscle and have fun. Your literary sketch should be at least 150 words.

(Post your response on Writer's Forum and add a graphic.)

“Ladies and gentleman, let the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!" I can't think straight. The image of Cinna, beaten and bloody, consumes me. Where is he now?

What are they doing to him? Torturing him? Killing him? Turning him into an Avox? But for some odd reason, I hear his voice telling me: “Katniss, It’s okay.” Obviously his assault was staged to unhinge me, the same way Darius's presence in my quarters was. And it has unhinged me. All I want to do is collapse on my metal plate. But I can hardly do that after what I just witnessed. I must be strong. I owe it to Cinna, who risked everything by undermining President Snow and turning my bridal silk into mockingjay plumage. And I owe it to the rebels who, emboldened by Cinna's example, might be fighting to bring down the Capitol at this moment. My refusal to play the Games on the Capitol's terms is to be my last act of rebellion. So I grit my teeth and will myself to be a player.

Where are you? I can still make no sense of my surroundings. Where are you?! I demand an answer from myself and slowly the world comes into focus. Blue water. Pink sky. White-hot sun beating down. All right, there's the Cornucopia, the shining gold metal horn, about forty yards away. At first, it appears to be sitting on a circular island. But on closer examination, I see the thin strips of land radiating from the circle like the spokes on a wheel. I think there are ten to twelve, and they seem equidistant from one another. Between the spokes, all is water. Water and a pair of tributes.

That's it, then. There are twelve spokes, each with two tributes balanced on metal plates between them. The other tribute in my watery wedge is old Woof from District 8. He's about as far to my right as the land strip on my left. Beyond the water, wherever you look, a narrow beach and then dense greenery. I scan the circle of tributes, looking for Peeta, but he must be blocked from my view by the Cornucopia. Another tribute comes over and I just dodge his sword, then Daniel, the boy from District 1 surprisingly not a career, kicked the woman into the water. I was debating to shoot him, but thought he could be useful. Also I think to myself what if Daniel is part of the rebellion. That would make sense if he’s sparing me.   

I catch a handful of water as it washes in and smell it. Then I touch the tip of my wet finger to my tongue. As I suspected, it's saltwater. Just like the waves Peeta and I encountered on our brief tour of the beach in District 4. But at least it seems clean. There are no boats, no ropes, not even a bit of driftwood to cling to. No, there's only one way to get to the Cornucopia. When the gong sounds, I don't even hesitate before I dive to my left. It's a longer distance than I'm used to, and navigating the waves takes a little more skill than swimming across my quiet lake at home, but my body seems oddly light and I cut through the water effortlessly. Maybe it's the salt. I pull myself, dripping, onto the land strip and sprint down the sandy stretch for the Cornucopia. I see another tribute and he dives into the water and tries to catch up. I can see no one else converging from my side, but the tribute behind me, although the gold horn blocks a good portion of my view. I don't let the thought of adversaries slow me down, though. I'm thinking like a Career now, and the first thing I want is to get my hands on a weapon. Last year, the supplies were spread out quite a distance around the Cornucopia, with the most valuable closest to the horn. But this year, the booty seems to be piled at the twenty-foot-high mouth.  My eyes instantly home in on a golden bow just in arm's reach and I yank it free. Daniel takes another one to my left, but it’s a silver bow. He shoves me into the water and punched a man who was going to stab me. There's someone behind me. I'm alerted by, I don't know, a soft shift of sand or maybe just a change in the air currents. I pull an arrow from the sheath that's still wedged in the pile and arm my bow as I turn.

Daniel comes over “Move Katniss!” and he shoots an arrow over my head into a tribute chasing me. Daniel went around looking for more useful items. Well if it wasn’t him that made the noise I heard, who was it? Then I see Finnick, glistening and gorgeous, stands a few yards away, with a trident poised to attack. A net dangles from his other hand, Daniel jumps to his right into the water, thinking Finnick is aiming at him.

Sentence Imitation

Trees flew through the air like laundry from a clothes line.  Other stuff too - rocks, branches, an old rowboat. A flurry of pink flags whipped past my eyes.
                                                                       (Ultra by David Carroll p. 159)

Hello Mackenzie & Amanda,

I really enjoyed reading the first 14 pages of your book.  I hope you continue because I want to find out what happens next.  You make quite a team!

Xavier's Mind Muser!

“Hello?” said Norman.

“Bad Idea” said Xavier. They were both thinking the same thing: They did not want to attract the bad  kind of attention.

A voice erupted around them, seeming to come every direction at

once - coming as much from the inside of their heads as the outside.

You are not welcome here. Leave this place.

The wind howled even harder, and the trees seemed to shake and bow with terror.

“We need to speak to you” Norman called.

“Please just let us talk to you” Xavier said.

Leave this place, they both heard again. The  sound of the voice seemed to rush right through them, leaving them shaking and out of breath.

“We won’t leave until we’ve spoken with you,” Norman said. With each step they took toward the tree, a voice inside both of them shout No! Turn and run! as if their brains were in the audience and they were nothing more the characters in a movie. A very scary movie.

Who are you?

“My name is Norman Babcock” said Norman

“And I’m his brother, Xavier.” said Xavier

“You don’t know us, but we know you. We’re your great-great-great… well, we’re  related. We’re kind of the same, you and us.”

They advanced two more steps as they spoke, but they still could not make out any details of the figure crouched in the roots of the tree. Light streamed from behind it, and jagged tendrils of liquid fire snaked from its head.

You are not dead.

“Well, no,” Norman said. They took a step.

You are a boy.

“That’s right.” said Xavier. They took another small step. At least she was talking now.

You are not like me at all.

Xavier was trying to come closer to see more of her features, but he wasn’t close enough.

Norman thought carefully before speaking This could go either way now. He could reach her in some way, human to human, or he could return her to the cataclysmic tantrum she had been having.

“I know what you’re feeling,” Norman said, taking another step.

“Both of us have felt it many times,” Xavier said, also taking a step.

No. No one knows that. No one knows anything about me.

“Your name is Agatha Prenderghast.” said Norman

“And we both know what happened, and we know that it was terrible.” said Xavier.

“We also know that you're tired, and we’re tired too.” said Norman

“We are just kids, and you are one too, so just calm down and sleep.”

A crack of lightning shot skyward, silencing the two.

I will not sleep! You cannot make me sleep! I burned your book to dust  so I will never have to hear your stupid stories, Now LEAVE ME ALONE!

“None of us are going to leave! Not yet!” said Xavier

“Not until you listen to us,” said Norman.

“She’s right,” said Xavier.”She destroyed the book. What are we suppose to do now?” Said Xavier.
“Um…” Said Norman.

Sentence Imitation - Submitted by Amanda

We followed the drunken sound of the carnival through a snarl of cramped lanes, where from wooden carts vendors hawked vegetables and dusty sacks of grain and freshly killed rabbits; where children and small cats skulked and prowled with hungry eyes, and women with proud, dirty faces squatted in the gutter peeling potatoes, building little mountains with tossed-away skins.

                                                                               Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (p. 303)