Maureen Bush

Fall 2009 Contest

It’s time to conclude the fall 2009 howweirdcanyouget.com contest.

And the winner is . . . Beth, 11, who sent in a story idea that charmed me:

“My idea is a book about a girl, but she’s not an ordinary girl; she is a star shiner. She has magical powers but she doesn’t know it. She can create the temperature on earth. When she does find out she goes out of control and creates disasters around the world. Soon mother nature is after her and has her trapped in an imaginary world. Will she ever escape?”

Other lovely ideas worth an honourable mention:

Another from Beth: a spell to control minds.

And some great ingredient ideas that Griffith intends to work with:

from Beth, again: troll toe nails and ghost sweat

from Peter: lizard tail and rabbit tough!

Griffith says to Rachel:

A time machine is the hardest – my plans always fail. Any ideas for how to make it?

From my sister – this one always works:

Sister Solution

Guaranteed to make her run away FAST

one strand of naturally curly hair,

one ounce of spit from a mischievous child,

One can of sardines

one glop of peanut butter

Mix well and serve to older sister

(That would be me).

Maureen

Contest

I’m having another contest for Feather Brain. Griffith the wizard is looking for more ideas to develop into magical products; check out his store at www.howweirdcanyouget.com.

The prize, once again, will be a small leather-bound notebook for recording magical ideas, and a signed copy of Feather Brain. Adults are welcome to send in ideas, but only kids can win.

Maureen

and The Winner Is . . .

It’s time to conclude the contest for howweirdcanyouget.com. Griffith, the wizard who owns the site, asked for magical ideas. For the best idea, he offered a leather-bound book for recording spells, and a signed copy of Feather Brain, as a reminder of how magic can go wrong.

The contest entries were wonderful – imaginative and funny and sometimes a little scary. It was a blast reading them, and really hard to chose the winner. Special thanks to the kids from Teresa’s class at Keeler School, who sent so many great ideas.

Perhaps the most practical entry came from an adult named Mark (okay, my husband) – a “Do Over” button for undoing and fixing mistakes. This was not unlike a Time Machine for Mistakes, to go back and fix mistakes. Other useful ideas included several for making clones – wouldn’t it be useful to have a clone to do your homework and clean your room? Some entries were mini-stories, from future writers of fiction.

Griffith has chosen his favorite ideas to experiment with, and try to bring into development:

Caitlin’s Turn Yourself Into a Mermaid, and if that fails, Yoan’s Turning Humans Into Fish;

Luny’s Time Machine for Mistakes – to go back to fix mistakes;

Taylor’s Magic Dino Digger, a lustering potion for finding dinosaur bones;

Jayden’s Copy People’s Voices – to make yourself sound like another person of your choice; and

Josh’s Make Toys Come to Life.

The first runner up:

Turning into a mermaid!
by Caitlin (Age 9)

1kg-Cream soda
3 hairs-of a child at the age of six
10ml-of tears from an adult.
10 scales from a fish.
5 small pieces of cloth.
In a medium pot, stir all the ingredients together until well mixed. Cook at 350 degrees celsius for half an hour.
Take the  pot off and set aside to cool.
When cooled put into bowls and serve.
The spell lasts 2 days, so make sure you are back on land before that time or you will drown.
(should serve 5 people)

And the winner is:

The Weather Spell
by Fiona (Age 9)

The weather spell creates the weather. You could make any kind of weather by saying,  “Weather!” and say what it is.  Here’s the example: “Weather – snow!” and it snows.

The ingredients are, snow, rain, grass, flowers, and the last  ingredients are the moon and the stars. Mix them in a pot and put your hand in it.

It works by saying “Weather, weather come to me!” and all weather will be yours. And everyday you need to dip your hands in the pot. This means that you need to save the ingredients in the pot. It works in a dark , dark place and it needs to be a place that you are scared of.

Warning: If some one sees your pot with the ingredients, you will disappear forever.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep watch – I may have another contest in the fall.

Maureen

Enter the Contest!

Have any great ideas for magical wonders? Enter them in the contest on howweirdcanyouget.com. It’s meant for kids, and the prize will go to a child, but kidults can send in ideas, too! Let’s see who has the wackiest imagination.

I was shopping for bulbs one day and found a small leather notebook, perfect as a prize for the contest (along with a signed copy of Feather Brain).You can see an image of the notebook on howweirdcanyouget.com.

Maureen