It’s time again for Vivian Kirkfield’s 50 Precious Words contest! It’s so much fun to challenge ourselves to 50 words and see what bubbles to the top. If you are on the fence, you should do it! This year I have an entry that I will post next week when the contest opens, but it’s too sad for the contest, so I’m posting it here instead.
The challenge is as follows
- Write a story appropriate for kids ages 12 or under, that has a total word count of 50 words or less.
- It can be prose, rhyme, free verse, silly or serious…whatever works for you.
- This needs to be a story, with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
My entry rings in at 49 words. Inspired by Margaret Wise Brown’s wonderful Dead Bird, which is actually humorous. The version that is illustrated by Christian Robinson is perfect.
Baby Wren
Wren hatchling by the riverside,
not yet even open-eyed.
Her little mouth she opened wide.
To feed the baby bird we tried.
A tiny dropper to her beak applied
throughout the night at our bedside.
In the morning when she had died
we buried her, and we all cried.
Writer's Corner 