This monthly column features the work of Vidya Murlidhar’s students aged 9-13. By giving them the space to share their thoughts, she hopes to empower them to delve deep and tap into the power of creating and writing.
Prompt:
When a child writes a story, a lot of faculties are at play. First, they have to process what they observe in the world around them, add elements of fantasy and imagination to their narrative, find the vocabulary to articulate this magical concoction, and then pen it down. There is an emergence of playful and pristine innocence in their stories because of their belief that everything is possible. Nothing is too outlandish or silly or illogical to them. What a wonderful way to be and live, don’t you think?
This is one of my favorite prompts for children: Imagine a kid your age had a superpower. What would it be? What would he/she do with it?
Written by Ashaika Shah
Once there was a girl named Raina who had a superpower – she could zoom past you and you would not even notice a thing, just some wind. She discovered it one day when she was playing outside with her friends.
Raina’s friends said, “Let’s play tag.”
Raina had never played tag before. She asked, “What is that?”
One of her friends said, “One person catches all the other people who are playing. Whoever is caught first will then catch the other players.”
“Okay,” said Raina. “Let’s start!”
When it was Raina’s turn, all the kids got caught one by one in a matter of seconds. Raina’s friends were convinced that she had a superpower.
Later that day, she was walking down Victoria Street when she saw an old lady with a stick walking in the middle of the road. A car was coming straight at her! Raina ran down and grabbed the old lady’s arm and took her safely to the sidewalk.
The old lady blindly screamed, “Oh lord what is happening?” She was the lady who lived in the haunted house. Her name was Miss Adkins. She said she would tell Raina’s parents what a hero Raina was.
Raina said, “No need for all that.”
Miss Adkins said, “No, your parents need to know this.”
“Okay,” said Raina.
Soon after a lot of tests at the doctor’s office, they figured out that Raina figured out that she had a secret superpower named superspeed. It had something to go with her brain and how it worked. That means she could run really fast. That explained why she won in the game of tag, and how she saved Miss Adkins. Raina kept it a secret so no one would use her for the wrong things.