THE MAGICAL NOTEBOOK

• Joyce Ho, Grade 2, Robertson State School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Summertime Fun ONLINE' competition

“Mum, Help me!” shouted the kids. ”Oh no, the kids are on the tree.” Mum thought. Mum quickly ran to the tree, but in the middle of the run, mum stepped on a notebook. The paper-based notebook was magical, whenever you do or write anything to it, it happens. So mum accidentally made a footprint on the notebook. In an instant, it made deep footprints on the tree leading down to the ground. Using that, the kids climbed down.

Once they cycled home, they were snatching the notebook to write stories with. Suddenly, it broke! The moment the 100% recycled notebook ripped in half, the whole bedroom broke in half. There was now a deep hole in the middle of the room separating them. The kids just noticed whenever you do or write anything to it, it happens.

So they tried to write mermaid (because they love mermaids), but they had the wrong spelling. They accidentally spelt monster, so a monster popped up from the hole. The kids screamed. Then, after the second of terror, it fell back down the deep hole.

They tried again, but had the wrong spelling again. Randomly a Mos burger shop popped up. The Mos burger shop threw extra cheesy cheeseburgers at the kids before plummeting back down the deep hole. The kids were hoping that the shop was okay.

Then they tried one last time. They wrote like they never wrote before; M-E-R-M-A-I-D . Suddenly, a beautiful mermaid soared up. They only had a second to enjoy before she zoomed back down the what-was-looking-like-a-deep-deep-gorge-thingamajig.

They were wishing the hole will disappear now. They wrote the bedroom will be fixed. It got fixed! Not expected at all, Mum rushed in and snatched the paper from the mythical notebook and surprisingly used it for a shopping list.

Mum wrote down all the grocery items she needed. Mum was surprised when all the groceries on the list just instantly appeared. The children chuckled. Mum curiously thought: “How did the children make the paper magical?”