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Saturday, May 19, 2012

Birthday Story Contest

After some encouragement from family and friends, I've decided to enter Susanna Leonard Hill's Birthday Story Contest.  It takes a lot of guts to enter a writing contest for all the world to read, but I decided that this was another stepping stone on my way to attaining my goal of publication.  While this one may never make it into print, it was fun to try out the birthday theme.  Enjoy!

BAILEY BEAR’S BIRTHDAY BAND
By Laura Renauld
250 words
 

“A bugle, please, Mommy?”
Bailey Bear pleaded.
For his birthday,
It was all that he needed.

All day he marched,
Beating a drum.
He grabbed his guitar
And started to strum.
 
Bailey loved music.
He knew in his soul
That learning the bugle
Would be his next goal.
 
His birthday arrived.
The gift on the floor
Was much too big
To fit through the door!

He was disappointed.
It looked out of place.
A bugle would fit
In a small-ish case.
 
Bailey tried to smile
As he lifted the top.
When he got it open,
He was in for a shock!
 
Out danced many instruments,
From A to Z.
A symphony of notes
In perfect harmony.
 
An Atoke,
A Bugle,
Chimes, and
A Drum.
 
An Erhu,
A Flute,
A Guitar,
Harmonium.
 
Iya,
Jembe,
Kidi, and
Lute.

Maracas,
A Ney,
An Oboe,
Pan flute.
 
A Qanun,
Recorder,
Saxophone, and
Trombone.
 
Ukulele,
Violin,
Washboard,
Xylophone.
 
The last two instruments
Didn’t dally or dither:
A drum called a Yonggo,
And, of course, a Zither.
 
The instruments lined up
In alphabetical order.
They all took their cue
From an invisible conductor. 
 
“Happy Birthday to You”
Played so loud and so clear,
Bailey basked in the music
And grinned ear-to-ear.
 
THE END
 
Glossary:
Atoke: African boat-shaped, metal bell
Erhu: Chinese fiddle
Iya: Cuban drum
Jembe: African drum
Kidi: African drum
Ney: Asian flute
Qanun: West Asian zither
Yonggo: East Asian drum

16 comments:

  1. What a wonderful story! And with an alphabet theme! And educational! Very cool! Well done :)

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  2. Yes, very cool, indeed!
    Visions of illustrations popped up in my brain.

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  3. Very clever,fun and musical. I love this!

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  4. Cool. I love alphabet stories. I'm impressed you were able to get them all in there and maintain the flow.

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  5. So clever Laura! I'll have to head off to Google images and find out what these are! Sounds like Bailey's gift hit just the right note!

    - Cathy

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  6. Love this, Laura! So clever and educational with all of the instruments in alphabetical order. :) And my poem is about a drumming brother...we must have been on a similar wave length. :)
    Your art is fantastic!

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    2. Thanks, Vivian. I loved your story! I can't take credit for the art, though. It was just a serendipitous clipart moment :)

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  7. I Loved your poem, Laura. So imaginative using all those instruments. Who would have thought? I wonder if you had to look some up? some I never heard of before. Thanks for submitting this to the contest. I'm glad you had the courage to go ahead a submit this. I know what you mean about being brave enough to show your writing to the world so I'm glad you did. :)

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    1. Thanks, Clar. There was definitely research involved! I was curious, at first, if I could even find an instrument for every letter. Then I tried to fit them into the story.

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  8. I'm impressed you found an instrument for each letter and stayed in rhyme! Wow!

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  9. Wow. That's a lot of instruments. *points to the long list*

    Great poem! That is so, so, SO creative! It must've been pretty hard to find instruments from A-Z! Great job! :)

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  10. Great entry! I love that it's an alphabet book, but completely different and unique. Nicely done and thank you for sharing!

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  11. This is incredible. I absolutely, completely LOVE it!

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  12. Way to put yourself out there, Laura! I love the list of instruments and great job finding ones that rhymed! Well done!

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  13. Glad your family encouraged you to share. A story, rhyme and the alphabet - great job.

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