Dr Simon Reads...BBC 500 Words (2019) Part 1: Finalists ages 5 to 9 (Children's Writing Contest)

Dr Simon Reads… 500 Words 2019

The final 50 stories are now up for the 2019 run of the BBC 500 Words Competition.

For more information on the 500 Words competition see my post on the 2017 awards; but in brief it’s a creative writing competition run by the BBC for children aged 5-13, who can any kind of story they like, as long as it is within 500 words. Three winners from each of the two age categories (5-9 and 10-13) get their stories read out by a famous actor in a live final, plus win a big stack of books.  The prizes have grown in recent years; now each winner gets a hard-bound copy of their story illustrated by a famous children’s illustrator (e.g. Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury etc.), and first prize not only wins books for their school but now gets a personal tour of a famous landmark.

Since its inception in 2011 it’s grown massively with tens of thousands of entries each year. 

I’m going to do what I did in 2018 – give a brief description and discussion of each of the finalists and at the end make my predictions for winning stories, who will be announced on the 14^th of June. After, I’ll do something similar to the previous years and discuss the winners and their celebrity readers in a little more depth, plus I’ll be able to see how good (or more likely not) my predictions were.

See the originals here https://bbc.in/2Htz8Wl

Ages 5-9

A Life Sentence by Thea Best – There are always some good stories every year told from the point of view of an unusual narrator. In this case, the point of view is an unborn baby experiencing life in the womb, very sophisticated language on display.

The Ball and the Beast by James Craven – I wondered if this was going to be a reference to the new custodian of 500 Words, Zoe Ball, but it isn’t. It’s a comic adventure story of a football match interrupted by a monster that sleeps beneath the pitch. Funny and imaginative, with an amusing dig at cricket at the end.

 The Boy Who Ate the Dictionary by Sophia Savkovic – The first of the scatological stories on display, another comic tale of a boy who increases his intelligence and vocabulary by eating the dictionary. However, nature takes its course at the most inopportune moment….

The Colour of Temper by Anna Handry – A fine insightful story about how perceptions change according to mood; the protagonist finds that the world becomes monotone when her temper strikes.

The Day My Pet Saved the World by Freddy Narcisi – A comic poem about a tortoise with super powers, funny and inventive. Maybe this is the year when a poem makes it to the finals?

The Dream by Zarah Goff – A somewhat Midas-esque story where the protagonist dreams (or travels for real?) to a land where everything is made of gold, but soon learns that this is not all it’s cracked up to be when they get hungry.

Dresses by Drizella by Hettie Denton – a comic take on the Cinderella story and a funny satire on followers of fashion. The Ugly Sisters run a clothing boutique and hoodwink their rival suitors into wearing all sorts of ridiculous outfits. Wry and witty.

Fragile Freya by Rosa Moody – a lovely little finely wrought story based around a metaphor for friendship, where people literally fall to pieces sometimes but equally literally have friends who can put them back together. Some beautiful imagery and very tenderly told.

The Great British Marble Run by Gabriela Chimonides – A fine call for national unity wherein the people of the UK find common ground in constructing an eco-friendly marble run from John O Groats to Lands end, rather than arguing over Brexit. I think that’s a great idea, would be a better use of time and resources.

Kindness Never Dies by Julia Bakeeva – There aren’t many futuristic or SF stories in the younger category. This one is a poignant tale of a future where emotions are a strange concept (at least the kinder ones), except for those shown by an old teaching robot to its pupil. I like it, it’s one of those stories that feels like it could be part of a larger story.

The Knight Who Loved to Knit by Siya Kantaria – Not dissimilar to the winning story Stone-Age Steve and the Dragon, this one too features a hero and a dragon who both share social rejection for not fitting the accepted norms. In this case, though, the knitting knight is not quite such a reject, and the dragon simply wants to get warm. It’s a fun little story, with some great characterisation through unique voices, especially for the supporting cast.

Mind the Gap by Eddie Firman – It turns out that when Underground announcements tells passengers to “Mind the Gap”, they’re actually referring to a small furry creature called The Gap that lives in the dark corners of the underground. Luckily for the protagonist, however, The Gap is friendly and looking for a fun day out.

Monopoly by Niamh Kathleen Gorham – This is a very good atmospheric story about the game being played between Fate and Death, two figures that manipulate human life. Some really good turns of phrase, like a girls face “splattered with freckles”, evoking ghoulish images of blood and injury, and other sinister imagery. And a fun little barb in the tail. Judging by the name, yet another member of the fine Irish literary tradition?

My Dysgraphic Word Zoo by Freya Siddiqui – Remember The Word That Wouldn’t Come Out? This is similar to that but rather that a stammer, the narrator describes how words behave when a person with dysgraphia tries to tame them and get them onto paper. And “Zoo” is correct, with lots of clever animal metaphors, and an ending that reminds the reader that this condition doesn’t mean that the person isn’t clever.

The Old Guitarist by Jasper Tait - A heart-warming tale of a down-on-his-luck musician reduced to busking for food, getting a second chance at life. I oddly don’t have much more to say about this, but that’s no reflection on its quality.

Orion Goes on Holiday by Jasper Wrightman – A story in which the stars each watch over people to try to protect them. When Orion decides he needs a break and goes to Earth for a holiday, bad things happen to his young charge and he learns the meaning of responsibility.

PANTS! By Mya Dainty – Another funny and slightly naughty story in which the pants (that’s underpants to any Americans out there) decide to rebel because they’re fed up with being stuck round people’s bottoms. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Made me laugh.

Pumping Princess Pumpletoot by Rowan Golon – And yet more cheekiness, with a young princess with a flatulence problem, so much so that she blows the roof off during a yoga session. What it lacks in sophistication it more than makes up for in sheer bawdy hilarity.

The Pure Shore Retirement Home by Amelia Johnson – This, I think, would be a great conceit for a TV show (do you hear me Netflix?). A retirement home for superheroes, looking for somebody to pass their powers onto. As seen through the eyes of a reluctant work experience teenager who comes to learn friendship and acceptance, and loss. There’s a lot packed into a short space, and it’s pretty good stuff.

Sedwick and the Unicorns by Tabitha Izzard – Sedwick is a dragon that lives among unicorns, and is aware that he is the odd one out. His attempts to become like his unicorn friends suffer a series of setbacks, but in the end true friendship is accepting of difference. A sweet little fable.

Snow Blood Window-Frame by Eve Molloy – A very clever re-telling of Snow White, updated to include lots of references to social media and computing in general. The Wicked Stepmother is annoyed because Snowy gets more likes than her on Instagram; the huntsman doesn’t kill Snowy because he is distracted by Mario Kart and so on. Laugh out loud funny, with some great fourth-wall breaking comments too.

The Three Little Pigs and the What-Wolf – Another retelling of a fairy tale, again using information technology. The What Wolf (a variant, I guess, on a “where” wolf?) demands questions of the Three Little Pigs, safe in their brick house but regularly harassed by wolves of all kinds. Luckily, they have an Alexa…

Thought by Arthur Lee – A story told from the point of view of a thought, living inside the mind of a boy who isn’t very good at ideas. The thought realises that it’s because not enough thoughts can travel freely, and eventually gives the boy the idea to write a story, about thoughts. Very inventive imagination.

Trouble in Hufflefuffle by Jessica Molloy – I love the ideas these kids come up with. Hufflefuffle is a magical world that only newborn babies can see; the ability fades after a few weeks. It’s what they’re looking at when they seem distracted and  unfocussed. The only trouble is, the magic of Hufflefuffle is fading, so one bold Hufflefuffle – ian has to undertake a perilous voyage to capture a baby’s giggle. Again, some wonderful ideas. Expect to see it stolen by Pixar.

When the Soldiers Came by Benjamin Chikola – Compared to the magical whimsy of the previous story, we are back down to earth with a bump, as the Japanese invasion of Singapore is brought to terrifying life in a taught, fraught, story told from the point of view of the son of a Malaysian soldier. Brutal and scary from some fine atmospheric writing.

Ego or Eco by Anoushka Chopra – Even if this doesn’t become a finalist, it’s worth listening to the BBC Drama Company reading for the fine characterisation. It’s a parody of snobbery and a commentary on eco-friendly wrapping. An organic onion, surely channelling The Dude, finds himself snubbed by the fine foods in the fridge who are only interested in impressing The Prawns when they arrive for their fancy party. My only quibble is that the onion kind of disappears from the story part way through, because otherwise it’s a wonderfully barbed and witty satire.

Hollywood’s End by Sam Arnold – A marvellously over the top tour-de-force where marauding robots take over Hollywood and go on the rampage. It’s written in such a style that it recalls to mind the old RKO Saturday morning serials, especially as it begins in media res and ends on a cliffhanger To Be Continued… Good fun.

The Rainbow Alien by Archie Jack Stubbs – A friendly alien from a world where everything is shades of grey travels to Earth and discovers that his species are chameleonic, picking up all the unusual (to him) colours wherever he goes. He absorbs the colours of the rainbow to take back to his home planet. A sweet little bit of whimsy to finish on.

My Predictions

That’s all of the 28 finalists (25 plus three wild cards) for the 5 to 9 age group. There are some really good stories this year, and it’s hard to choose a top three.

Snow Blood Window Frame is very clever and funny, it deserves a win. I loved the atmosphere and drama of Monopoly, and I was moved by the delicately wrought fable of Fragile Freya. At least one of those deserves a win.

Second tier, I think at least one of the comic tales ought to get something. Pumping Princess Pumpletoot made me laugh out loud, and I loved the biting satire in both Ego or Eco? and Dresses by Drizella.

Finally other possibilities would be The Boy Who Ate the Dictionary which is also funny and smutty, The Knight Who Loved to Knit (fun characterisation), My Dysgraphic Word Zoo (clever and inventive) and possibly When the Soldiers Came (tense and dramatic).

That’s ten choices. And I bet I’m wrong about at least one winner and it will come from one of the stories I didn’t mention, but that’s okay. As usual they’re all deserving winners.