Best 05-06

By Jessie Fortier
Essex Middle School, Grade 6

The day my mother died, I was riding in the car on my way home from lunch. I was with my grandmother (on my Dad’s side of the family). We were at Five Corners, and we got the call on the cell phone that she had died.

This story was given dramatic presentation by the Vermont Stage Company in December 2005

By Abbie Senesac
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 10

“Silence is golden,” grandmother says.

This poem was given dramatic presentation by the Vermont Stage Company in December 05

By Abby LeDoux
Georgia Middle School, Grade 8

Wake up to
Frosted glass window panes

This story was given dramatic presentation by Vermont Stage Company in December 2005

By Moya Cavanagh
Browns River Middle School, Grade 6

The sun rises on a snowy Vermont morning,

(fiction)

By Arianna Rehak
Williston Central School, Grade 8

My mother gave birth to me when she was only seventeen-years-old, far too young to properly care for a child. Instead of putting me up for adoption, she decided to hand me over to her mother. Soon afterwards, she moved to Mexico, and I haven’t seen her since. My grandmother raised me like her very own, and she was truly the one and only in my life.

By Sam Ross
Champlain Valley Union H.S., grade 10

One fine day with the snow fresh-fallen a lone lumberjack did leave
He needed wood to heat his house and the cold to relieve

By Lauren Bean
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 11

You! Yeah, you,
You’re the one who makes me feel fat and ugly,
I compare myself to everyone around me because of you,

By Jenn Gingras
Champlain Valley Union High School

I am sorry, for not being perfect, as you wish I was. I am not her.
I am sorry that you compare me to her, when you know that I am nothing like her

By Camille Johnson

Berlin Elementary School, Grade 5

I am sorry
my heart weeps with pain and guilt
my eyes sting and are flooded with tears of sorrow
I am sorry

By Camille Johnson
Berlin Elementary School, Grade: 5

Noah had been friends with a boy named Logan since the sixth grade. They were in 8th grade. Noah did not consider Logan to be smart. He was always in trouble of some sort because he was trying to be cool. Noah, on the other hand, was as sharp as an axe. He could do anything from algebra to understanding Shakespeare. The only thing that Noah lacked was courage. Noah always envied Logan for his courage.

By Julia Proft
Shelburne Community School, Grade 6

Fiery yet gentle
Luminous and bright
Deep pools capturing the reflection
Of a sacred, starry night.

Starting as the joyful

By Emma Campbell-Mohn
Homeschooler, Grade 6

Across the tranquil lake
Dwell the ancient mountains
I survey their silhouettes
Of green and blue
Their round edges

Jokes from Prudence Krasofski’s
Grades 3-4 Class at The Warren School:

This guy is holding a Vermont map and another guy walks up to him and says, “What state is that?”
“Dude, you don't know what that state is?”

By Jeseca Wendel
Mount Abraham Union High School, Grade 9

Well this is it, I’ll never drive. Never. Not with a parent, guardian, alone, with friends. Nope, I’ll never drive. I can’t believe I failed the test. I never fail. I cannot remember the last time I have ever failed a test. Oh yes, I can’t remember because I never have! I shall always be Jess: Can’t-drive-loser-girl. I will forevermore be begging for rides off people. I can already see myself on the side of the street hitch-hiking. Hitchhiking Jess, that’s what I’m changing my name to. Hitch-J for short.

By Bryon Hu
Mt. Mansfield Union High School, Grade 10

When I think of money I do not think of wealth, for true wealth is knowledge.
So even the poorest of people can be wealthy; they just have to seek out the light.

By Taylor Fargo
Westford home-schooler, Grade 12

When lights go off across the town
The day comes to an end.
No soldiers sing or wave their guns,
no longer are we friends.

By Kelsey LaFreniere
Hinesburg Community School, Grade 7

When I hear the word Iraq I think of my Dad: Scared, alone, trapped and yelling for help. No one is near him to hear him yell and scream for help. He's trapped in a large cave looking for ways out, yelling and screaming.

By Isabelle Fenn
Charlotte Central School, Grade 5

Running through
the woods on a summer day.
Hop-skipping
over brambles
rocks
and
roots.
Get to
the path

By Elizabeth Davidson
Brookfield School, Grade 5

As I
woke up
I was
ice cold

I woke
to find
I
wasn't in
my
warm bed
but
lying next
to
an
oak tree

This piece was written in response to the prompt: "The old man got up and went to answer the knock on the door. Little did he know what was awaiting him on the other side..."

By Philip Henzel

By Emilee Spain
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 12

Hey baby,
Wanna take this trip
Here’s a toast to a man
With his face in the mud
Tip toe
Egg shells…

By Emily Bruyn
Woodstock High School

I saw on the T.V. just the other day...
The sneakers which told me to, "just do it,"
I saw the hamburger which told me, "I'm lovin' it."

By Camille Bower
Camel's Hump Middle School, Grade 7

The old beggar man would have danced with bliss had old age not stopped him. It was summer again, a beautiful warm day, and times were not as hard. It did not matter that his clothes were tattered and falling off his hard-as-leather body; the cold of winter was gone, and no more was it able to creep inside of his skin.

By Rachel Sorrell
Ferrisburgh Central School, Grade 5

When I was 4 or 5
my dad
who is now deceased
bought me my very own
white as a snow
iceskates
and he took me

By Luci Smith
Champlain Valley Union High School, Grade 12

We leave a path of dry salty sand behind us
as we make our way home.
Hot pavement and pebbles push their way

By Brittany Tullar
Spaulding High School, Grade 11

If I were to die tomorrow, I would want to get in the car and drive.
I would drive to the airport, climb into an airplane and lift up, off the safety and assurance of the ground, into the clouds. I would wait as the plane climbed higher into the deep blue sky, filled with sparkling, puffy, white clouds and I would think. I would evaluate my life, my accomplishments and my struggles. I would remember all of the people who touched my life, and quietly thank them. I would remember all of the love that surrounds me every day and all of the people who would die for me.

By Brook Plante
Lake Region Union High School, Grade 11

Blonde Hair
Long Hair Brown Hair
Short Hair Red Hair Curly Hair
Grey Hair Straight Hair Thin Hair Thick Hair

By Camille Johnson

Berlin Elementary School, Grade 5

Early one morning I lay asleep in my bed. My alarm clock began to buzz. It was loud and annoying. I hit the button that said “buzzer off” and saw it was 7:25. I sat up and got out of bed. It was Monday morning. I hate Mondays.

By Emily Lyman
Mater Christi School, Grade 2

When I was born, like most babies, I was bald. My hair grew as I turned one and two. Then when I was almost three, I got Leukemia. Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects your blood cells. I went on medication that would help me, but chemotherapy made my hair fall out. It got shorter and shorter until I was bald. My parents and friends bought me lots of bandanas, wigs, and hats but I didn’t wear any of them. I was only three. I didn’t care if any one saw my bald head. I went to preschool bald and pretty much everywhere bald. Soon my hair grew so it was short and later it grew into thick red curls.

By Sarah Selby
Mount Abraham Union Middle School, Grade 7

I’m sorry
I’m terribly sorry
I’m awfully terribly sorry

I had no idea
I had not a clue
That was so important to you