Kids winners

First place

The Never Wanter

A never wanter never wants what you give them. I’ve met a never wanter. I gave it everything I had. I gave it toys like teddy bears, dolls, balls. It didn’t want any toys. It didn’t want breakfast, didn’t want lunch, didn’t want dinner. Didn’t want anything I gave it, never will. Have you ever met a never wanter?

Madeline Galloway

Chico

9

With a musician father and artist mother, it’s no surprise that Blue Oak Charter student Madeline Galloway enjoys being creative. In addition to writing, she likes to paint, cook, play with her cats (Eloise and Harlowe) and bunnies, and as a third-grader she is already reading at a fifth-grade level.

Second place

Different But Happy

I am Nut the narwhal. I live with with an intelligent fish. I have overdue taxes, but fishy does not. Fishy is too intelligent for that. Together we live in a shell house under the sea. We are different, but it is OK because we still like to eat waffles and drink coffee with extra sugar and cream. Yum!

Josephine Anderson

Chico

11

Though she says she’s not very fond of the act of writing, Josephine Anderson is always creating stories and writing her ideas on scraps of paper around the house. The Blue Oak Charter student also sings and acts and performs often with Chico Theater Company.

Third place

My Little Levatutionist

My dog is excellent. He does everything a normal dog does, but with a surprise. He is a levatutionist! Levatutionists are very skilled levitators. He used this power for good. He delighted farmers with juicy apples that were freshly picked. They tasted great. His work paid off as he was awarded the nicest-dog award. He’s my little levatutionist.

Charlie Manning

Chico

10

One of Charlie Manning’s favorite places to go is the Maker Lab inside Butte County Libary’s Chico branch. The Hooker Oak Elementary student enjoys using the 3-D printers and operating the remote-control robots. And, yes, he assures us the word is “levatutionist.” What, you’ve never heard of it? Like it says in the story, they are “very skilled levitators.”

Honorable mentions

Violet

Violet was a normal child and had a normal family. One day she saw people falling down. Black smoke wrapping around them, throwing them to the ground. Violet saw a giant dog drooling a green liquid. Two dogs jumped at her. She tried to move, but one dog’s claw scraped her cheek. She reached up and felt nothing there.

Colter Machek

Chico

8

I’m Bored

I’m bored. It’s a very boring day. A spaceship landed on my roof. I’m going back to bed. It’s raining fish. It’s hard to stay awake. A taco landed on City Hall. A fire hydrant is 200 feet tall. There’s a twister coming this way. There’s a tree made of macaroni with taco leaves. It’s a very boring day.

Zion Brown

Chico

9