Recently, Claris Chiang, one of our Year 4 students at the Wilson Campus, placed second in the Make Your Own Storybook writing competition organised by the Children’s Book Council of Australia.
Claris’ Mum explains: “When Claris first told us that she would like to enter the MYOSB (Make Your Own Story Book) competition, we were very supportive as we saw that she truly enjoys writing. She had so many ideas what she wanted to write, and to watch her put all those ideas into words was just an eye-opener. It wasn’t easy. She was so close to giving up at times when she didn’t know how to continue or end the story. We thank God that she chose to keep going and finished the story eventually. Her perseverance paid off when the story was finally compiled and bound into a book. To then receive news that she had won the second prize out of over 200 contestants is very rewarding. We are very proud of Claris’ achievement, but most of all we are thankful that God has given her the strength to keep going. That to us is an important lesson in life.”
When asked about her experience developing her book, Claris said: “I like writing stories. I went to a workshop in a local library that taught us how to write stories. They gave me a flyer about how to enter the MYOSB competition. It took me a while to write the story and the hardest part was how to end it. As you can see from the blurb, the story is about a man who stole the Crown Jewels and and hid for one hundred years.”
Here is the blurb Claris wrote to her story, “The Theft of the Century”:
It’s been years since the theft of the Crown Jewels and no police or detective has solved it. A boy called Billy found the thief who committed the crime and has the precious jewels. Billy soon becomes good friend with him. One night… someone stole the jewels! Who could it be? Billy and his friend try to avoid those people, but they are still after them. Will Billy and his friend get the jewels back? Or… will they be sent to prison for the rest of their lives?
We value reading and literacy highly at Rehoboth and are very excited to see students putting their knowledge and creativity into practice in real-life situations like the MYOSB competition. In the tradition of great writers like C. S. Lewis, who wrote the Narnia Chronicles, how great would it be to have graduates from Rehoboth using their gifts for storytelling to tell stories that touch the heart and mind like Claris has done. Well done Claris, and congratulations on this great achievement.
