Thank you to everyone who made such a fantastic effort with their world book day costumes! We had a really enjoyable day undertaking lots of different reading and storytelling activities. The end result was a story that had been worked on by the different classes throughout the day. With none of the pupils seeing what the other classes had written! 

WORLD BOOK DAY 2020: School Story

PART ONE: Greenfinches

Once upon a time there was a cute, fluffy bunny called Crunch. He was called Crunch because he liked to crunch carrots all day long. One day, Crunch was having a hopping race with his bunny friends. No matter how hard Crunch tried he was always coming last in the race. Crunch felt very sad. Crunch decided to give up and head home for a bowl of carrot soup to cheer him up. On the way home, he bumped into his friend Shelley the tortoise. Shelley asked Crunch, “What is the matter?” Crunch told Shelley all about being the slowest in the hopping races.

Shelley knew how she could help. She had a magic spell to help animals go faster!

PART TWO: Wagtails

Shelly took a pair of lime green sunglasses out of her pocket and put them on. She said the magic words:

Abracadabra,

Zipity Zee,

Make the animals

Go faster for me!

As Shelley shouted the magic spell, the sunglasses got bigger and bigger and bigger until they were enormous! The sunglasses were so large they spread the magic power around all the animals and they all began to speed up.

PART THREE: Robins

The animals were running around as fast as lightning. But one animal tripped up and grazed his hip. He was right at the back of the large group and no one noticed he was hurt and left behind. He tried very hard to get up but he was in too much pain. Suddenly, a mean hunter came around the corner and threw a huge net over him. He was scared and trapped inside. He let out a huge growl. GRAHHH! The other animals heard the noise and looked behind to see that he was trapped and hurt. At super speed, they ran back towards their friend. They frightened the hunter away and tried to scratch open the net. It was tiring work but eventually they freed him from the net and carried on their way – going at super speed again.

PART FOUR: Sparrows

Suddenly, they saw a large, blue sand-timer. “What would happen if we touched it?” said James. As he reached out to touch it, the friends were suddenly transported to the bottom of a volcano. They tried to climb up, but however hard they tried, they strangely seemed to be back at the bottom. They were running out of time! Endingman swooped past them and shouted, “I’ll put a soon-to-be irreversible spell on the volcano so you will never reach the op. Miss Freeman has been captured and is that the top of the volcano, about to die!” Luckily, James realized the sand-timer was a time machine, so he pushed on the top to see what would happen…

PART FIVE: Woodpeckers

Suddenly, his body was sucked into the timer and he fell like a grain of sand into the darkness of time. It felt like hours. James questioned his life choices. His normal worries of his boss, girlfriend and COVID-19 seemed so trivial now. Coming-to slowly, he could see bright yellow sand and dark brown wood. He couldn’t see houses, roads, people or cars. In fact, he couldn’t see anything he recognized. In the distance, James heard a terrible guttural roar. It didn’t sound like a wolf or a tiger. The sound was primordial and James was worried. The thumping footsteps came closer and closer. James’ hands trembled. He gasped. An enormous dinosaur stood over him, towering like a skyscraper.

PART SIX: Herons

His heart was pounding as if it was about to escape from his rib cage. The hairs on his arms stood up like a regimented army. “Stay still,” he whispered to himself as an idea popped into his head. Grabbing onto the dinosaur’s tail, he found the strength to pull himself up onto the dinosaur’s back. As the tail was swinging from side to side, it was almost an impossible task but, eventually, he made it.

             From the dinosaur’s rough back, he could see a small time on the horizon. The day was almost over: the sun was setting, casting long, thin shadows across the fields. Noticing the terrain was hilly, he warned the dinosaur to be cautious…

PART SEVEN: Ospreys

It was a waste of time, of course – Reuben had tripped over his tail too many times to count and – just like the boy had predicted – Reuben’s legs quivered and shook and once more the ground greeted their faces with a thump! Struggling to their feet, the boy looked at the useless dinosaur – “It won’t be long now,” he thought to himself. They just had to reach the small town before the sun set completely. They followed the cobbled path towards the intimidating iron gates.

The boy and Reuben approached the gates apprehensively and stared at the statues that surrounded it – the boy was sure he saw their eyes move. Without hesitation, they boldly moved forward and searched for any sign of the magician. Suddenly out of nowhere, a stout wispy wizard stepped out of the shadows. “I’ve been expecting you.” The boy and Reuben gulped.

PART EIGHT: Owls

For a split second, the boys thought they were going to die. Looking desperately for a way out, Reuben spotted something glimmering in the darkness near his foot. Retreating slowly, he stood as close as he could to the crystal, trying to block it from sight. “You thought you could get away with stealing my potions! Well, this time, it won’t work.” Enraged, the wizard raised his hands and summoned a gigantic fireball. As the fireball hovered in the air, Reuben ducked down and picked up the crystal and held it above his head with his hands trembling with fear. Cool blue light shone from the crystal as the fireball came near. There was a sudden explosion and the wizard disappeared. The crystal fell to the ground with a clatter. The boy and Reuben looked at the crystal and were relieved to see the furious, tiny figure of the wizard trapped inside.

PART NINE: Kestrels

They pulled out a colossal wooden chest made of oak. The crystal was placed gently and carefully into the box and they cast a locking spell: “Hocus-Pocus. Lock us, don’t open us!”  they chanted softly as the key turned. Reuben took the enchanted chest many miles to the glistening glass-like river and threw it beneath the waves. The ancient box sank out of sight and Reuben turned for home.

* * *

Two days later, Elmer the troll was sitting under her bridge when she noticed an illuminating glow coming from a broken chest. She picked up the shining crystal. The light blinded her so much she did not see the crack appear as the wizard began to cackle…