As part of Lorraine Marwood’s blog tour launching Celebrating Australia: A Year in Poetry — we have one copy of the book to give away!

Want to win it? Here’s what you need to do:
[THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED. THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED.]
As part of Lorraine Marwood’s blog tour launching Celebrating Australia: A Year in Poetry — we have one copy of the book to give away!

Want to win it? Here’s what you need to do:
[THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED. THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED.]
Think of something that scares you … or something that scared you when you were younger. (Sometimes ordinary things can seem very scary to someone small.) Write a poem about it. Your poem should be no longer than 20 lines (shorter is fine!).
You must include an official cover sheet with your entry:
Your poem can be handwritten or typed.
The winning poem will be published on Alphabet Soup’s blog and the winner will receive one $30 bookstore voucher (posted to the address provided on the entry).
Entries (poem + cover sheet) may be posted to Alphabet Soup, PO Box 3099, Broadway Nedlands WA 6009. (Entries must be posted in time to reach us by the closing date.)
OR
Entries (poem + cover sheet) can be scanned and emailed as PDFs or .docx documents only to editor@alphabetsoup.net.au. Entries must be emailed in time to reach us by the closing date.
KEEP A COPY OF YOUR POEM because all entries and contact information will be destroyed after the winner is announced.
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Some fine print:
Privacy statement:
Alphabet Soup will never pass your information on to anyone else, except where required by law. All entries and personal information will be destroyed at the end of the competition.
Happy writing!
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We had a brilliant time reading all your entries in the An Aussie Year writing competition. (So many of you love December — December definitely wins ‘the most popular month’ award!)
The winner is being announced on the Kids Book Review site today. See you over there!
An Aussie Year is a new picture book (out this month!) about what Australian children love to do each month of the year. There’s a Blog Tour to celebrate (we’ll be featuring a book review of the book on our stop of the tour).
Would you like to see one of your stories published? Then DON’T FORGET to enter the ‘An Aussie Year writing competition‘. The winning entry will be published on the Kids’ Book Review site as part of the book launch celebrations! (Entries close 27 October, so get those entries in!)
We’re so excited to be running a writing competition (in conjunction with Kids’ Book Review) to help launch a new book! An Aussie Year will be launched in October 2013 — and YOUR story can be part of the celebrations!
Check out the competition details here. (Good luck!)
We had so much fun reading through all your entries about superpowered mums. Congratulations to these three winners (and their super amazing mums!).
Under 7s winner — Genevieve C, QLD
Mum’s Magic Red Rocket Shoes
My mum can fly. Yes that’s right she can fly because she has red high heeled rocket shoes!
Mum flies to help people.
When there were bushfires, mum helped the firemen and flew in the air with buckets of water to put out the fires.
But Mum had an accident last month and her heel broke walking down the stairs at school. All the rocket fuel leaked out. Her rocket shoes stopped working.
Mum needed to get her rocket fuel shoes fixed. The rocket shoes were made in China.
Mum could drive to China but it is a long way and there are no bridges.
Mum could go on a plane but that would take a long time.
Because I am only small I told Mum I could wear one of the rocket shoes and fly to China to get it fixed.
But I have never been to China and don’t know how to speak Chinese. How would I know where to go or what to do?
I called my best friend Holly because she lived in China before she moved to Brisbane. I asked her to come with me.
Holly and I flew to China that afternoon.
We saw the Great Wall of China.
We saw the factory where they make Apple iPads.
We saw a jewellery shop and then we saw the shop that sells rocket shoes. They told us where to find the shop where they fix rocket shoes.
Holly and I flew back home with Mum’s rocket shoe fixed.
Now that Mum has her red rocket shoes fixed she helps people in trouble again.
She flew a little girl who broke her arm at gym straight to hospital.
Mum moved the boats in the Brisbane river when the big floods came.
And Mum was flying over Stradbroke Island and saw a dolphin washed up on the beach. Mum flew down and flew it back to its mother. Everyone on the beach clapped and cheered when they saw Mum do this. I am so proud of my mum and her amazing red rocket shoes.
If you are ever in trouble, don’t worry because my mum will fly and help you!
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Under 9s winner — Isabella L, NSW
Maid Mum
I’ve got a mum with super powers and they are … to clean the house really quickly! And this is how I know:
One day I was on my way out of the house. The house was a pig-sty. You see my dad’s job is a shop keeper at an antique shop and nearly nobody goes there so dad brings back stuff that has been there ‘forever’. So, our house is basically full of old bits and pieces.
Anyway, so I’m going out to Jessica’s house (my best friend) for about an hour or two when I see Mum writing down today’s list, my gosh it was long! There were jobs like hanging up 11 rounds of washing, putting on the dishwasher 6 times and other crazy things. I thought she was writing a list for the whole year.
So very amazed I walked out of the house. I told Jessica about the list, she was as surprised as I was. After all the gossip we played Wii sports for an hour and soon enough Jess’s mum got a call for me to go home. I said goodbye and started my journey home.
On the way I remembered the list and power walked the rest of the way home. When I got home I realised the house was all tidy. After a while I told Mum I needed a shower because I was all sweaty from playing Wii. On my way down to the bathroom I quickly ran into Mum and Dad’s room. On Mum’s bedside table I saw her list all ticked off.
After dinner I went to bed. When Mum came in to say goodnight I asked her about the list.
‘I’ve had super powers since you were born,’ she said. ‘You gave them to me!’
‘That’s good,’ I said. ‘Now I don’t have to tidy up!’
So that’s how I know my mum has superpowers and why our house is usually neat and tidy.
Thank you for reading my true story about my mum!
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Under 12s winner — Daisy M, NSW
My Mum’s Super Power!
It can be frightening at the top of The Great Dividing Range. The weather can change quickly; one minute a glorious day and within an hour the weather can close-in with black clouds engulfing our farm. When this change occurs we head home to be safe.
We have warning if we listen and watch the animals. The cows huddle together voting on what the lead cow is saying. The horses also gather for safety, neighing to discuss the weather change.
While riding with Jack, the sky was getting darker. The horses were scared, wild eyed and galloping home. No time to take the horses to the shed, it was important to be indoors before lightning strikes.
Our parents, on the verandah, helped us inside then freed the horses. I shuddered; the lightning was striking the earth. Our farm in drought; dry grass, thirsty lifeless trees, hungry thin animals, all praying for rain not fire from lightning.
We prayed too hard, the rain wouldn’t stop! The river rising rapidly, the island now inaccessible.
Our foal was shivering and alone on the island. How could this have happened? I suddenly remembered I had been riding the mare, of course she was not with her foal! I ran to every window searching for the mare. She was neighing and searching frantically for her foal.
My mother wondered what was wrong. She assured me that animals have a way of finding each other. I knew she was right but how could the mare save her foal from drowning in the flooded river. The water, swirling around dead debris creating strong currents impossible for a new foal to swim in.
I feared the worst. Then saw a Pegasus in the stormy sky travelling towards the shrinking island where the foal stood still, too scared to move. The foal suddenly lay down! I thought she must be dying. Her eyes flickering, she seemed to understand what was happening. The Pegasus flew down onto the foal and amazingly picked up the foal and cradled her in her four strong legs soaring towards the shed and our herd of horses.
The Pegasus gently laid the foal on the ground. The foal quickly rose on its four legs and cantered towards its mother. The mother ran her nose over her foal, it was now safe.
I wondered for years about this strange event, wondering if I dreamt the happening and many other events where our farm animals were in trouble. After my mother died, she left me a beautiful wooden box in her will. Inside the box was a large white feather … I knew now the meaning of the Pegasus and how it always appeared in times of trouble. I thought, I wished I had known of my mum’s super power. Then, I sighed and whispered to myself, WOW! AWESOME! It was my mum who fixed what seemed impossible! I closed my eyes and wondered if I too might have a super power!
We’re still on school holidays here in WA (we seemed to start our holidays later than the rest of you this time around) and we still have one more week to go! One of the best things about school holidays for me (apart from not having to make school lunches) is being able to read lots more books. I usually try to fit in a bit of extra writing, too. When my brain isn’t so busy it’s often easier to come up with new ideas …
If you’re on holidays and you need some motivation to get your pen (or keyboard) out, don’t forget to check out our Comps for Kids page for a list of current competitions open to primary-school aged kids.
And don’t forget! Entries for Alphabet Soup’s story-writing comp close on 1 May 2013 (you can email your entry, so there’s still time to get writing about your Mum’s secret super power. Check out all the details here.).
Make sure you visit us again on Wednesday — we’ll have James Foley visiting to talk about his work as a writer and illustrator.
And for the rest of 2013 we’ll be sharing lots of our favourite classic poems (my friend calls them ‘oldies but goodies’) — along with all the usual book reviews, author and illustrator interviews and YOUR fabulous stories, poems, book reviews and artwork.
Did you read any books over the holidays? What would you recommend? Do you have a favourite poem? Let us know in the comments!
~ Rebecca
WIN A $20 BOOK VOUCHER!
Entries close 12 April 2013 1 May 2013 (deadline extended)
Write a story about your mum’s secret superpower. It might be an imaginary superpower, like flying. Perhaps her secret superpower is that she can grow the biggest tomatoes, can kick a football further than anyone in the world or always knows the time without looking at a clock. What’s YOUR mum’s secret superpower? Word limit: 500 words. (It’s OK if your story is shorter than this but don’t go over the word limit!)
Download an entry form from the magazine’s website (and you can read the terms and conditions there, too).
[update: Please note that this competition is still running, even though the print magazine has closed]
Thank you to all the writers who sent us an intriguing first line for a mystery story. Some of you sent a whole list of first lines! With such great openings, we really hope you go on to write the rest of the story …
Here are the winning first lines:
Under 12s—Ethan, WA
There was a blinding light followed by a bang, then silence.
Under 9s—Julia, QLD
Ni … Nor … Ni … Nor … Ni … Nor … screeched the police car as it sped around the corner, at top speed.
Under 7s—Jordyne, NSW
I was watering the flowers when I saw something glowing in the soil.
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If you’d like to enter our autumn 2013 writing comp, keep an eye on the competitions page of the magazine’s website or check out the Kids Comps page on this blog. Good luck!
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If you were about to write a mystery story, what would your first line be? Send us only the first line of your story—make it irresistible!
You can send us as many first lines as you like. You can write your first line(s) on the back of your entry form. An entry form may be printed from the website (see competition rules), photocopied, or contact us to have one emailed or posted to you. (If you send us an entry and a few days later you send us some more first lines, you will need to include another entry form to go with your extra lines. We get quite a few entries and we can’t always match up stray writings with their entry forms!)
Your entry can be handwritten or typed. Make a copy of your entry as we cannot return entries.
A $20 book voucher is awarded to the winner in three age categories: Under 7s, Under 9s, and Under 12s.
Find more writing and art comps on the Comps for Kids page.