Short Stories School Years 4 to 5 Winner Maddison Dellipiani with ‘Ben and the Magic Forest’

Once there was a boy named Ben, he lived with his dad. His dad was never at home because of work, this made Ben unhappy and bored out of his mind. Luckily Ben liked exploring, so that took his mind off his dad. One day Ben went out to explore, hoping to find a forest. Behind his house there were loads of trees and plants. He followed a path of beautiful pink and purple sunflowers that led to a forest. Ben thought to himself, aren’t sunflowers meant to be yellow? How strange!

Inside it was dark, Ben wanted to explore to see if he could find anything interesting, were there more unusual coloured flowers to be found? After walking for so long he came to an opening where a giant tree stood in the centre. It was covered with pink, blue and turquoise flowers, the leaves a majestic yellow fanned around it like hair. Ben saw that the giant tree had markings on it, which looked like a face. He saw all the other trees had faces. Suddenly Ben heard a voice
“Hello Ben” said the voice

“Who’s there and how do you know my name?” answered Ben

“I know because I am the Wise, Wonderful and All-Knowing Tree”

Then Ben realized it was the giant tree talking. “I followed these beautiful flowers into the forest and now I’m lost, can you please help me home?”

“Yes” said the giant tree as all the others trees pointed in one direction “Follow them, they will lead you home”.
Ben did as she said “Thank you ” and soon he saw ……home!

The next morning he told his dad everything. Ben’s dad looked puzzled, he said “Ben we live in the city”. Ben looked out of the living room window and saw the train station. He realized it had all been a dream.

Adjudicators Comments:
‘Ben and the Magic Forest’ is testament to the powers of the imagination. The story is infused with detail and creates a scene where sunflowers are pink, trees speak to children and nature provides respite from a lonely child’s reality. In an age where we often turn to technology for distraction, this story was a breath of fresh air and a reminder of simpler times.’