Westerville writing contest 2022: Category grades K-2

First place: "If You Give a Panda Some Dumplings" by Abbie Chui

Second place: "The Best Christmas Ever" by Riley Yocum

Third place: "Celebration of Light" by Mona McKoy

Honorable mention: "Love Can Take You Far" by Lucy Walk

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First place

"If You Give a Panda Some Dumplings"

By Abbie Chui

If you give a panda some dumplings, she’s going to ask for a pair of chopsticks to eat with. Once you give her the chopsticks, she will start taping the chopsticks like rhythm sticks and make a cool beat. That gives her an idea to throw a dumpling party on Chinese New Year Eve to celebrate Chinese New Year because it’s coming soon.

To decorate a party for Chinese New Year, the panda will want the decorations to be red and golden. Some traditional decorations are red paper-cut, Fuzi poster, Chinese knots, red lanterns and Huichun. Since 2022 is the year of Tiger, she’s going to put up some different and cute tiger posters. You’ll have to order ALL the decorations from Amazon online. When the decorations arrive, the panda will be super excited to rip all the packages and hang them up. Hanging up the tiger posters will remind her of her friend Tiger and all the other zodiac animals which are Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, Rat and Ox who she wants to invite to the party. Suddenly she realizes that she hasn’t made the invitations yet, so she shakes a leg to make the invitations and sends them out.

After that, the panda is so excited that she can’t help daydreaming. In her dream she will make a LOT of dumplings with different shapes and flavors. She’s dreaming to make the dumplings shaped like the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig and of course Panda. For the dumpling flavors, she will want chocolate, cotton candy, fruit cake, gummy, ice cream and bamboo flavors. When the panda and her guest are eating dumplings, she’ll want to see lion dance and dragon dance. After eating, she will want to watch Kung Fu Panda movie because all of them love Kung Fu. They will get so excited that they’ll start to copy the Kung Fu moves of Master Shifu. In the movie Shifu picks up a Baozi with chopsticks. That will remind the panda of her chopsticks. She’ll probably ask you for a pair of chopsticks. And chances are, if you give her a pair of chopsticks, she’ll want some dumplings to eat with!!!

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Second place

"The Best Christmas Ever"

By Riley Yocum

Last Christmas Eve I lost a tooth. When I went to bed all I could think about was, will the tooth fairy and Santa Clause visit my house at the same time? Would they see each other? What would they talk about? Would the tooth fairy yell at Santa because he eats too many cookies and they are bad for his teeth? Did they already know each other? Did Santa deliver presents to the tooth fairies house?

The next morning I got up and came downstairs. I opened my treasure box that I put my tooth in that I lost. I got $5 out of the box! Then I opened up my presents. I got a toy dinosaur and then eight hours later we went to the store. I used my gift card for Target to buy a dinosaur egg that had a pterodactyl toy. two days later I got a helicopter it looked like an army helicopter. I like dinosaurs. The dinosaur I like the most is the scorpius-rex. There are little things on their backs and if it got in your body you will be poisoned.

It was the best Christmas ever

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Third place

"Celebration of Light"

By Mona McKoy

Everyone is welcomed today to spread the joy of celebrating the light of their ancestors. Let’s think of our joyous memories with them. We stay connected through their stories, fashion of African clothing, delicious meals, and nurturing spirits.

We come to a part of our lives where we should take a pause to reflect on how much we love each other and hold each other tight. But I want to encourage you to enjoy your memories of them, especially in sad moments. We’ll always remember them in all the days and nights.

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Honorable mention

"Love Can Take You Far"

By Lucy Walk

We change the world by who we are

We run with our dreams so far

I can reach and touch a star

I know I can, I just keep going

Making the world a better place

It’s fun to see happiness and laughter in every place

I may be small, but my heart goes far

Loving others plants a seed

We never know how far it will grow

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Westerville writing contest 2022: Category grades K-2