The 2010 Children's Fiction Writing Award WINNERS

‘Oliver Saves the Princess’ by Tiffany

How do you save a princess?

That was what Oliver asked his teacher after the story ended. According to the story, there was a princess who was kidnapped by an evil wizard, a knight who rescued the princess from the evil wizard, and then they lived happily ever after … like all the other stories about knights and princesses.

The teacher closed the book. ’Well, first the princess has to be in some sort of trouble. Then somebody has to save her by getting rid of the trouble. I think that’s how it usually works.’ The teacher clapped her hands together. ’All right every one; it’s time for art and crafts.’

After school Oliver was still wondering: how do you save a princess? What sort of trouble would she be in? Would there be a princess right now who needed his help?

Still wondering about this, he went to talk it over with his friend Joe, who was in third grade.

’You want to save a princess?’ Joe asked Oliver when Oliver told him everything. ’Are you joking? Why would you want to save a princess?’

’Because in the story,’ said Oliver, crossing his arms, ’the knight or whoever rescues a princess gets a kiss from her. Isn’t that the whole point?’Of course not. But then again Oliver was still in first grade.

Joe was Oliver’s best buddy, but every now and then Joe liked to tease his younger friend a little bit. This was a perfect time to do it.

’I’ll be right back,’ Joe said. He ran behind a tree, and moments later came back with a piece of paper. ’Do you know what this is?’ asked Joe. He gave the paper to Oliver and whispered behind his hand, ’These are the four steps on how to save a princess.’

Oliver gasped. ’Really?’ he said. He read the list:

HOW TO SAVE A PRINCESS:
Get past the big web of big spiders
Get swallowed by a huge yellow monster and come back out again
Ride a silver dragon with a fairy
Get a kiss from the princess

Oliver blinked and stared at the paper. Joe started to laugh. ’Sorry,’ said Joe, patting Oliver on the back. ’It’s just a—’

But before Joe finished his sentence, Oliver began running.

Joe called him, ’Where are you going?’

Oliver called back, ’To rescue the princess! Thanks for the list!’

’What?’ yelled Joe, ’I was only kidding!’ But Oliver was already too far away to hear that part.

In the playground, Oliver looked left and right. He looked down at the list again:

1. Get past the big web of big spiders

Oliver shivered. He didn’t like spiders. But if it meant saving the princess, then he would do it!

But where was the big spider web?

Oliver looked around some more and then he saw it in the big kids’ playground. It was a very colourful spider web; it was green, yellow, red and blue. It was a very big spider web, too, and very dangerous-looking.

Oliver gulped. ’I’m not scared, I’m not scared …’ He gathered up his courage and began climbing the spider web.

’Hey! What are you doing?’

Oliver almost fell from the web and looked up, way up. There was a big kid sitting on the spider web. ’Is he a big kid?’ Oliver thought, ’or is he a big spider in disguise?’

’I’m climbing the big spider web to get past it,’ said Oliver bravely.

The big spider laughed. ’A spider web? Kid, this is a jungle gym.’

’Nice try,’ said Oliver boldly. ’But you can’t trick me, big-spider-disguised-as-a-big-kid.’

’What?’

But Oliver had already gotten past the big spider web and was walking away.

Oliver walked some more. He looked at the list again:

2. Get swallowed by a huge yellow monster and come back out again

Oliver wondered what it would be like to get swallowed by a huge yellow monster. He began looking for it, getting a queasy feeling in his stomach. He never thought knights had to be eaten before; they usually avoid getting eaten.

He found many a yellow monster. One was shaped like a big spoon and it was sitting inside a red sand bucket.

’That monster’s too small to swallow anything,’ said Oliver. He kept on looking.

There was another one disguised as a big yellow backpack. It looked as if it could eat someone, but it didn’t seem hungry; the monster had eaten a bunch of school books already.

There was just one more yellow monster…but Oliver figured that a banana wouldn’t swallow people.

’Oh, I can’t find one,’ said Oliver aloud. Should he give up his quest? Not save the princess? Not get a kiss from her? He thought about it. ’Never mind,’ he said determinedly.

And then he saw it; the yellow monster. It rolled smoothly down the road and stopped right beside the sidewalk. It’s a really big monster; a giant one in Oliver the knight’s eyes. Its mouth was on the side of its head, and even though it was mostly yellow, Oliver could see the inside of its stomach. Its legs were black wheels! Oliver laughed as he suddenly realized that he gets swallowed by yellow monsters every day: the monsters were called school buses!

As always, the inside of the yellow monster’s stomach was very comfortable, although the ride was a little bumpy as its wheels rolled over the road. Oliver looked outside of its window and then down at his list:

3. Ride a silver dragon with a fairy

Oliver frowned. You could find spider webs and yellow monsters called school buses every day, but how often would anyone see a fairy? Or a fairy riding on a dragon? And even if Oliver did find them, would they let him take a ride? Where would they take him? Oliver hoped it would be where the princess was.

The monster halted at his stop, and Oliver got out and began his search for the mysterious dragon-riding fairy. He looked in the places he thought fairies would usually hang out; the flower bushes near the bus stop, beneath the bench, and even in a puddle of water from yesterday’s rain. No fairy. Worse still, it was beginning to get a little chilly as the wind picked up. Oliver shivered and zipped up his coat, still looking around for a pair of wings. Rrrrrrrring! Ring!

’What’cha lookin’ at?’ Oliver looked up to see Marcey, his big sister, look at him. Marcey always rode her shiny-grey bicycle to school and back, and every day she would drop her little brother off at the bus stop and pick him up after school. Her long hair—she wouldn’t let their mom cut it short—was tied in two big ponytails. Marcey watched as Oliver crawled around the grass and then said, ’Hurry up, Ollie. I’ve got a lotta homework to do.’ ’Ooooh,’ said Oliver sadly. He must save the princess! ’But...’

’Come on.’ Marcey picked up her whining little brother, plopped him onto the seat and let him hold onto her waist as she pedaled their way home.

Oliver continued complaining. ’But you don’t get it, Marcey! I have to save the princess, or else I’ll never get her to kiss me! I only have to find a fairy and her silver dragon!’

’I can’t hear you, Ollie!’ said Marcey over her shoulder. She quickly swiped her long hair from her eyes and squinted against the wind. ’Wait ‘til we get home!’

’Whaaaat?’ said Oliver loudly, but then he noticed something.

The wind.

The wind blew all around them, straight at them, whipping Marcey’s ponytails behind her and spreading them out … they looked like wings.

Oliver forgot to argue. Marcey had wings! Big, weird wings, all brown and flowing. He heard the bicycle ringing again, and in the howl of the wind, the bell chimes sounded like a dragon growling and whistling. The air whooshed past them. Oliver looked up to the sky and felt light, as if he were soaring. Soaring on the back of the silver dragon, holding on to the fairy as the wind continued blowing, singing in his ears. Flying!

.’Marcey!’ called Oliver over the wind, ’how come you never told me you were a fairy? I was looking for you everywhere!’

’Whaaaaaat?’ said Marcey loudly.

Finally, the dragon ride was over. Oliver got off of the silver dragon, Marcey locked it in the garage by their house, and the two of them went into their home.

While Marcey raided the fridge for snacks, Oliver took out his crumpled list and looked at the final step of saving princesses:

4. Get a kiss from the princess

Oliver watched as Marcey crunched on her potato chips and turned on the television. ’No,’ he thought to himself, ’Marcey’s the fairy, not the princess.’ He walked around the kitchen and wondered whether the princess would live here. A princess? Here? No way.

’But the fairy and her dragon brought me here,’ said Oliver out loud. ’So the princess has to be here! Marcey, do you know which bedroom the princess is in?’ Marcey stopped chomping chips and looked at him. ’Uh, her room’s the same as mine.’

’Really?’ Oliver said brightly. Marcey sniggered as her little brother stampeded into her room. A moment later, he came back, disappointed.

’She’s not in there, though,’ he said curiously. ’Are you sure the princess lives in your room?’

Marcey rolled her eyes in that big-sisterly way. ’I’m the princess. Get it?’

’No,’ Oliver corrected her, ’you’re the fairy.’

His sister just stared at him. At that moment, the front door opened. With a jingle of keys, their mom came in, locked the door behind her, gave a great big sigh, and plopped her folders and mail onto the kitchen table. ’Hello Marcey, hi Oliver. How was school?’

’Good.’

’Great!’ said Oliver, smiling. ’I’m saving a princess right now!’

’That’s wonderful, dear,’ said their mom, barely listening. She looked very tired, the way she slipped off her high heels, slumped onto a chair, and opened the envelopes with a weary face. Oliver knew that face, and he didn’t like it.

What could he do? He was getting sick of seeing mom look so gloomy every day after work, opening bills and then cooking dinner. It wasn’t fun.

But then, he remembered. Oliver unzipped his backpack and found what he was looking for; not the princess, but a fancy paper heart he was working on during arts and crafts that day. He looked at it and flattened out the wrinkles. It was perfect.

’Mom,’ he said, holding out the heart to her, ’You look very tired every day, so I want to give this special heart to you. That way, whenever you come home tired or sad, you can look at this and remember that we love you.’ His mom looked surprised. She took the paper heart in her hands and turned it over. It was decorated with gold glitter and coloured ink, pieces of foam shapes and confetti. In big letters were the words:

HART- BY OLIVER.