Bookworm Writing Competition – Bookworm by Jordan – DOB 27/10/2011, 11 Yrs

Mildred is a super clever 11-year-old from New Zealand. She’s an only-kid raised by her mum and loves diving into books to escape her everyday life. Her big dream is to find the Canterbury Panther, a legendary creature hardly ever seen by humans, and win a big old cash prize. But when her mum gets hurt and needs time in the hospital, Mildred’s dad, who she’s never really known, comes to take care of her. He’s a magician from America who’s seen better days. Mildred and her Dad decide to go camping together to look for the mysterious panther while her mum gets better..

Mildred and Strawn leave at first light to find the Canterbury Panther that lives in the Canterbury hills. They pack everything they need; food, water, and clothes. They walk and climb until they have reached a nice flat spot to set up their camp. They start with gathering some wood for a fire to keep warm, and sharpening long strong sticks as spears to fish in the river near them. 

As night comes Mildred and Strawn go for a walk to a nearby waterfall to bond a little more. When they get to the cave it’s a beautiful sight filled with glowworms. As they go closer to the waterfall they hear footsteps of an animal approaching around the corner. Strawn didn’t want anything to do with it so he made a run for it back to camp. Mildred followed him out because there is no way she is staying there alone. When they got back to camp they ended up falling asleep. Meanwhile the footsteps they heard walked past their campsite, but carried on walking luckily. 

They woke up to something sounding like possums trying to get their food by the fire pit. They look over to the next hill and see something moving. Mildred quickly grabs her binoculars to see what it is. They both start running away as it’s running towards them. They get scared and see a cliff, stopping suddenly because they realise it’s a dead end. The panther is slowly coming up in front of them. Their feet are slipping off the cliff. Mildred slips then Strawn and he is hanging on to the cliff with Mildred hanging on to his foot. The panther came up to them and to their surprise the panther bit Strawn’s sleeve and pulled them both up, saving them from falling.