Young Reader Club Vol 4.2010

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Y R Yun Chu, Nicole & Ian Bryan, our Featured Author of the Month Y oun g R eader C lub Vol 4. Nov - Dec 2010 / SGD 7.50 ISSN: 2010- 1376 Creative writing at its best – 3 great stories for you! Volunteering Yes, YOU can change the world! Acing your compositions How do you write a biography? Breaking Boundaries Life and education at the Tibetan Children’s Village Building the Next Generation of Writers

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Three diverse stories set the tone for this issue: In The Great Blue Yonder, Xena writes about a journey of life after death; Siti Jaliah goes in a completely different direction in her haunting tale on bullying in Awakened from the Dead and Wern Thing brings us on a trip down memory lane with The Story of a Young Farmer. Witness the birth of our new column on social awareness, Breaking Boundaries, and find out about the lives of children in the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India. Browse our preview pages to get a taste of this dynamically engaging issue.

Transcript of Young Reader Club Vol 4.2010

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Yun Chu, Nicole & Ian

Our next issue brings lots of new stories! Plus interesting articles for your enjoyment. Go get it!

Have a Happy Christmas!

Bryan, our Featured Author of the Month

Young ReaderClubVol 4. Nov - Dec 2010 / SGD 7.50 ISSN: 2010- 1376

Creative writing at its best – 3 great stories for you!

VolunteeringYes, YOU can change the world!

Acing your compositionsHow do you write a biography?

Breaking BoundariesLife and education at the Tibetan Children’s Village

Building the Next Generation of Writers 32

Yun Chu, Nicole & Ian

Our next issue brings lots of new stories! Plus interesting articles for your enjoyment. Go get it!

Have a Happy Christmas!

e New stories from our creative pool of young writers

e Breaking boundaries: Classrooms in Cambodia

e Essential writing tips

e DIY Chinese New Year arts & crafts

e Watch out for our beautiful story illustrations!

e Book reviews can be fun!

Bryan, our Featured Author of the Month

Young ReaderClub

Vol 4. Nov - Dec 2010 / SGD 7.50 ISSN: 2010- 1376

Creative writing at its best – 3 great stories for you!

VolunteeringYes, YOU can change the world!

Acing your compositionsHow do you write a biography?

Breaking BoundariesLife and education at the Tibetan Children’s Village

Building the Next Generation of Writers

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Singapore’s aspiring young talents gather to celebrate

two awards – the Young Author Award and the DigiTales Award.

These young students are recognised for their passionto write and create.

Time: 10 .00am - 12 .30pmVenue: Auditor ium, Tampines Regional L ibrar y

Date: Saturday, 13 November 2010

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Managing Editor Catherine Khoo

Editor Sofia Balmaceda

Chief Designer Lim Soo Yong

Writer/ Illustrator Charlene Shepherdson

Fashion Writer/ Illustrator Adeline Lim

Health Writer Paulina Lee

Photographers Adeline Lim, Paulina Lee

Circulation Manager Nannette Cruz

Media Representative Buzz Communications 63966695 Education Subscription Agent EmitAsia 63720330

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://yrc.catherinekhoo.sg

All rights reserved. No part of this publica-tion may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Call 6336-8985 for back issues.

Letter from the Editor

is published by

Experiences & Experiments Pte Ltd 261 Waterloo Street

#03-08 Waterloo Centre Singapore 180261

We envision a world where there are no boundaries, where the young share their ideas and stories, and learn about each other’s cultures through the stories they tell. But first, they must learn to create.

This is the mission of the YRC team —to inspire young minds to create freely and use their imagination to weave beauti-ful stories which they can share with the world. In this issue, we feature three di-verse tales written by students like you. Xena writes about life after death in The Great Blue Yonder, Siti Jaliah tells us how bullying can haunt us in Awakened from the Dead and Wern Thing takes us to a trip down memory lane in The Story of a Young Farmer.

We also believe in the significance of social awareness, thus, our new column Breaking Boundaries, was born. We asked our friends from the Tibetan Children’s Village to tell us about their life in Dharamsa-la, India. On page 48, you’ll find valu-able life lessons from Mr Microsoft himself (yes, it’s Bill Gates)!

With YRC’s goal to build the next gen-eration of writers, we hope you’ll continue to take this journey with us as we keep on discovering new talents. Expect more sto-ries in the coming issues! And of course,

we would love to hear from you! Drop us an email at [email protected].

Have a wonderful Christmas, everyone!

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D E PA R T M E N T S

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YOUNG AUTHORS

5 Featured Author Bryan Joel Lim, 15, shares his passion for creative arts and his feelings about social responsibility.

58 C.O.M.I.C.S In the spirit of Christmas, two young artists show us what selflessness is all about through their awesome comics!

FUN

37 Story Exercise Do you know how to write a biography? YRC shows you how!

46 Crack that Rusty Brain! It’s the season to be jolly! Can you figure out our Christmas trivia?

55 Fashion Nerd Chic – can you pull it off? Plus, our DIY teaches you how to make a personalised Christmas gift!

EDUCATION

42 Breaking Boundaries Letters from Tibetan Children’s Village… Three young students write about their life and dreams from a tranquil community in Dharamsala, India.

48 The Real World The 11 rules of life according to Bill Gates.

Vol 4. November-December 2010

YRC MISSION: We envision a world where there are no boundaries, where the young share their ideas and stories, and learn about each other’s cultures through the stories they tell. But first, they must learn to create.

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49 Email from USA Sruthi Shankar,15, moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota from Singapore a few years ago. Find out how she adjusted to her new life!

53 Writing Tips Every story has a protagonist. Published author Catherine Khoo writes about the importance of aim and conflict.

FAMILY

51 Parents Ask, Teens Answer How can you promote social responsibility?

F E AT U R E S

7 Xena Tan – The Great Blue Yonder Do you wonder about life after death? Journey with Harry as he tries to find his way to the Great Blue Wonder.

17 Siti Jaliah Jamal – Awakened from the Dead Sandy is a mean bully – until one tragic incident changed her life forever.

28 Hor Wern Thing – The Story of a Young Farmer Take a trip down memory lane in 1940s Malaysia in this wonderful tale of family and survival.

38 YRC Investigates Volunteering is a big word. How do young students really feel about giving up some of their free time to help out? What motivates them to volunteer?

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Letters to the Editor

I think your Featured Author section rocks! It’s inspir-ing to read about students who pursue their passion for writ-ing and go after their dreams. I’ve always wanted to write a story but I’m always stuck at the first chapter. Maybe this time, I’ll finally try com-pleting one story. Who knows, it might get published some-day. Leo

I enjoyed reading Email from Korea. I learned how Kore-ans spend special occasions and birthdays. I had fun reading about their traditions. I like learning about different cultures.

I love the story The Pill of Con-fidence. It’s very touching. I also like the trivia questions and the article about bullying. Plus, the images and illustrations are great!

I like the stories The Last Wolf, Run Away and The Pill of Confidence. They are in-teresting and it made me read un-til the very end. I wish I could write sto-ries like those. The young writers are very talented!Iffah

Aila JoyceMin Hye

*Editor’s Note: The 3 sto-ries were written by the Young Author Award win-ners. They were featured from issues 1 to 3.

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Bryan Joel Lim, 15, studies at Hai Sing Catholic School. At the age of 11, he wrote Charles Wonderboy, a story about Charles Mudgens and his friend, Mitch Traffley. What set

Charles Wonderboy apart from other stories is its awareness of the world around it. At the age of 11, Bryan’s story was filled with refer-ences to society and politics, as well as popular movies at the time.

Four years down the road, YRC catches up with Bryan and his mum to discuss social awareness, responsibility and even the season of giving.

Speaking to Bryan, it is pretty clear that he is not your average boy. Keenly interested in the arts, Bryan Joel Lim has explored numer-ous avenues in the creative arts; from perfor-mance to music and even visual arts. He reads widely and trawls the internet for information and news.

Bryan’s not just into the arts. In his free time, he plays football with his friends (he has numerous battle scars to prove it) and likes to relive his childhood by getting up to what he calls “corridor mischief”.

This all-rounded approach to life has given Bryan a particular slant on the world, as well as a very dry and witty writing style that comes through in Charles Wonderboy. Social com-mentary is important to Bryan and it is easy to see how widely-read he is in Charles Wonder-boy.

His mother, Tan Mei Mei, can vouch for that. “He is so socially aware that I sometimes have to tell him to be qui-et when he gets too carried away and challenges my opinion.”

To the both of them, social awareness is important because it gives children a better understanding of what’s around them. When they head out into the working world, they will know how to think, act and behave.

“It’s easy to be socially aware,”

Bryan quips, “but are people willing to take up a cause and champion it?”

It’s not enough to know about what’s hap-pening in society. It’s about being aware of what’s going on, then doing something about it. Social responsibility, to Bryan, isn’t just about going to welfare homes or donating money to the poor. It covers all parts of life and can be something that you feel very strongly about or have an interest in.

Social responsibility is something that ev-eryone needs to be concerned about and take an active role in.

“If you keep shifting the responsibility, nothing is going to happen.”

All this pushing means the issue never gets resolved, so get out there and DO SOMETHING about it!

Featured Author

Name: Bryan Joel Lim

Age: 15School:

Hai Seng Catholic School

Favourite book: Screenburn by Charlie Brooker

Favourite author: Stephen Fry

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One of Bryan’s ways of taking an active part in society is by doing what he can to promote the local music scene. Currently on a mission to review every single local release in existence, he documents it all on a blog (www.singaporeal.blogspot.com) and the mission is well underway! His aim is to build public awareness of the range of local music available to Singaporeans so that we can sup-port our local artistes.

“It is funda-mentally human to share,” Bryan says. In the future, he wants to start up his own radio station promoting local music and keep the station advertisement-free.

A lot of these ideas stem from his upbringing, courtesy of his mother. To her, school is somewhere children can, apart from learning about English, Math and Science, learn to network and build friendships. This, in turn, will lead to good relationship skills that people can use when they start work-ing. This unusual perspective is proof that the two of them are open to learning from all avenues; they believe that people should have the freedom to read and learn.

“You shouldn’t limit the spec-trum of what children can see,” they insist. Of course, this is easier than it sounds, but children need to discern if the ideas are relevant or trustworthy. School can only provide so much textbook knowl-edge.

“I owe everything to my Mum,” Bryan says and you can see how filial and fiercely protective he is of her.

At this time of the year, it’s important to remember how important family is. For Bryan, his mum and younger brother Sean, Christmas is hectic, but it’s a time where the entire fam-ily (30 people in total) can get together and celebrate. There’s a sort of routine the family has – dinner on Christmas Eve carries on un-til midnight, where the whole family gathers around the tree and opens their presents after

well-wishes are exchanged.

To them, Christmas is about love and the spirit of giving. Here at YRC magazine, we can’t help but agree.Maybe it’s time we give a little something back to others.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Featured Author

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P R O F I L E

Siti Jaliah Jamal, 12Pioneer Primary School

Siti Jaliah developed a penchant for writing at a young age and Awakened from the Dead was the very first story she completed. She described the experience,“The journey may be a long and tiring one but it will always give me a sense of accomplishment.” She was a merit prize winner in the Young Author Award 2009/10 national competition.

Setting: My room, ocupied by a ghost named Cecilia My house: located near Alexander Primary SchoolPlace: A thick forest and a deserted islandVictims: Me, Sandy; my victim, Cecilia and my younger sister, AmandaAction: Sandy bullying lots of peopleClimax: When Cecilia kidnapped her younger sister, Amanda Ending: Cecilia forgives Sandy and returns Amanda to her family

Message: Do not do bad things as revenge will come your way.

Sandy, the Big Bully

I sat down on the bench, waiting for my next victim. It was apt that at that very moment, I saw frail-looking Cecilia walking towards me.

Cecilia was the smallest girl in class. With her spectacles weighing down heavily on her nose and her un-kempt hair tied loosely into a messy bun, she was the perfect candidate. Everyone in school knew Cecilia as the poor, lonely girl with no friends. She always sat by herself, ate by her-self and even walked down the halls by herself. Her parents worked in a hawker center nearby and they lived in a small one-room apartment in the rat-infested neighbourhood of Towns-

AWAKENED FROM THE DEAD

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ville. “What a loser!” I thought to my-

self as I stood up and approached her, brimming with excitement. I was filled with energy to show her what power I had. “Give me all your money, Cecilia, or I’ll punch you!” I demanded menac-ingly.

“I haven’t got any money, Sandy,” she said, trembling like a leaf. I could see the fear in her eyes. As tears rolled down her cheeks, I felt empowered to bully her even more. “Give me your money, now!” I screamed, my fist only an inch away from her face.

Cecilia looked down, stricken. I knew she was aware that there was no escape for her. I took the chance and gave her a blow. It was so strong that it knocked her to the ground. Her face accidentally hit the bench and blood started to stain her face. After kicking her several times on the stomach, Ce-cilia slowly took out two dollars from her wallet and handed it to me. She was sobbing quietly.

It was only then that I was satis-fied. Cecilia was an easy victim so I bullied her almost every day. I was not afraid of anything. After all, the

“Give me all your money, Cecilia, or I’ll punch you!” I shouted with rage.

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One day, however, I received a phone call. I was surprised to hear the principal on the other end of the line.

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teachers were unaware of the extent of my bullying as I made sure my vic-tims did not expose my ways. To me, the sense of empowerment I got from harassing weaker students was worth the amount of hours spent after school staring at the whiteboard if I got caught. Hitting weaker students and getting money from them everyday gave me satisfaction and happiness. I enjoyed being a big bully until an unforgettable incident shocked me to the core and changed my life forever.

The Confession

My lovely mother was unaware that her daughter was a horrible school bully. She was completely clue-less about the mean things I did since she never received any complaints or phone calls from my teachers and the victims’ parents.

One day, however, I received a phone call. I was surprised to hear the principal on the other end of the line. In a solemn tone, she told me that Ce-cilia had died in a very tragic circum-stance. I felt my heart drop to the floor.

“She’s dead?” I repeated, shell-shocked. I was unable to come to terms with the fact that the girl I had bullied and kicked just the day before had died. The principal sighed and simply told me to say a prayer for Ceci-lia and her family.

I found out later from one of my friends that Cecilia took her own

life and leapt from the 12th

level of her building. I felt very uneasy and I couldn’t stop asking myself questions. “Why did she do it? Did I have any-thing to do with this? Did she tell any-one I had bullied her before she died?”

These questions flooded my mind non-stop and I was consumed with guilt. It was the last straw for me. I felt trapped by my own conscience. As I walked past my room with hands over my head, shoulders slouched and tears falling heavily, I heard Amanda call out to me.

“Sandy, are you ok?” she asked, her forehead wrinkled with worry. She looked at me with alarm.

I decided to confide to my little sister. Amanda had always been reli-able. I trusted that she would not tell our mum about my predicament. I dragged my feet, walked slowly to her and slumped my body next to hers on the bed.

“What’s the matter?” she asked me again. “Huh…oh, nothing really…” I replied in an awkward tone. I had dif-ficulty expressing myself. Bullying was not something to be proud of, espe-cially if it led to Cecilia’s suicide.

“If you must know… I have been a bully in school for quite a long time. Remember those times I said I had CCA? I was lying. I was out pick-ing on smaller and weaker students. I just learned that one of the girls I have been bullying took her own life,” I said, my voice low.

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I kept my eyes on the ground, re-fusing to look up at Amanda. My tears kept flowing. What example was I set-ting to her a big sister? I felt so guilty and ashamed.

Amanda’s jaw dropped open. She finally mustered the courage to speak. In a very soft tone, she said, “It’s great that you’re finally telling the truth.” It was the first time I heard such disap-pointment in her voice. I knew she was unhappy and shocked beyond words by my revelation.

I felt completely hopeless. Cecilia was dead. I had a strong nagging feel-ing that I caused the pain and unbear-able misery that led to her suicide. My loud sobs drowned my thoughts as I walked back to my room. It had been a terribly long day.

The Nightmare Begins

That night, I was shocked by some-thing unimaginable. At the foot of my bed, staring at me with blood-red eyes was Cecilia.

“But Cecilia is dead,” I thought to myself. My logic was at war with my feelings and it could not cope with what I was seeing. I closed my eyes, pinched myself and slapped my face, praying that it was all just a dream. To my horror, it really was Cecilia! She was floating above the ground, her messy hair flowing down her shoul-ders.

For the first time in a very long time, I felt weak and powerless. “AHHH!!” I shouted.

“Why? Why are you shouting? I am just a ghost,” Cecilia said calmly.

“You do realise there’s something wrong with that sentence. There’s no such thing as a ghost,” I replied.

“But there is. There’s one in front of you. I guess you’re wondering what I am doing here. I want to take re-venge,” she said with a dark look. “I want to you to know and feel the pain and the hell that you put me through!” Her voice was so loud and strong, it sounded like thunder to my ears.

Cecilia grabbed my hand and…“AHHHHH!” I shouted. I looked around me. My pink walls surrounded me. It was three in the morning. There was no ghost, no Cecilia. My pyjamas was soaked with sweat. I looked at my hands. I suddenly felt dirty and blood-stained. Haunted by my nightmare, I tried to go back to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the image of Cecilia’s ghost.

A week passed by but my sleep did not get any better. I was haunted by the same nightmare over and over again every single night. I was falling sick due to frustration and lack of sleep.

“What can I do to make things bet-ter?” I kept asking myself but I knew it was too late. I had accidentally killed Cecilia. It was my fault that she had killed herself. The nightmares were un-bearable and I was starting to hate my-

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self more. I locked myself in my room with the lights switched off.

Suddenly, the lights came on.

My Poor Amanda

“Sandy, Amanda’s gone! I looked everywhere for her – even in the base-ment!” my mother shouted, panic writ-ten all over her face.

“How is that possible? She was in bed!” I exclaimed in a shocked voice. When I realised that she was not in her room, I decided to go out and look for her. I asked passer-bys if they had seen her and showed them her picture. My efforts proved to be futile. Nobody saw her.

My mother was devastated. She cried her eyes out all night. I felt no better. I found it hard to believe that Amanda ran away. She was far too sensible for that. I was on the brink of a breakdown – Cecilia’s death and Amanda’s disappearance – it was too much for me to handle. I needed an-swers.

I got it that very night when I went to bed. I received a mysterious phone call. “Hello,” I said hopefully, wishing with all my heart that it was someone with news about Amanda.

“Hello. Do you recognise me?” The voice sounded familiar. It sounded like the girl I spoke to the night before, it sounded like… CECILIA.

A shiver went down my spine.

“Is this Cecilia? Is Amanda with you? Don’t harm my sister. I’m in the wrong, not her.” I tried to explain myself.

“I told you I wanted revenge but you didn’t believe me. This would show you what a ghost is capable of doing,” Cecilia threatened in a croaky voice.

“Sandy!!! Help me please!” I could hear Amanda’s voice in the back-ground.

“Did you hear that? If you want her back, you need to walk past a forest in Bukit Timah. There, you will see a boat which has been charmed. It will bring you to a deserted island where you will have to find her by yourself,” Cecilia instructed.

Facing the Music

I woke up in cold sweat. It was an-other nightmare! This time, it felt too real to be ignored. I mustered all the courage I had. “Amanda needs me!”

After a few minutes, I decided to save Amanda at all costs. I ran to my mum as fast as my legs could carry me. She was in the living room, still sob-bing.

“Mum, I have to tell you some-thing. Do you remember when I told you that I was busy with my CCA? It was a lie. I was actually out bullying my schoolmates. Cecilia, the girl who died, was one of my victims and I think she’s taking her revenge on me through

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My face turned blue as bubbles burst from my mouth. My legs kicked about crazily.

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Amanda!” I confessed, shame-faced. The honesty proved to be too

much for my mother to take. Her face turned beetroot red with anger and she slapped me. “What?! How could you do something like that?” Mum shouted in rage.

“I know what I did was wrong and I regret it, Mum. I am really sorry. I wish I wasn’t mean to Cecilia. I prom-ise you that I will save Amanda. I was told I had to travel to a deserted island. It could take a few days. Mum, I need your blessings to go there and save her. If I disappear too, please forgive me, Mum.” Tears welled up in my eyes. Without waiting for my mother’s reply, I turned away and quickly packed my bag.

The Amazing Journey

I went off to the dark forest. The deathly silence chilled me to the bone. Along the way, I saw a helpless squirrel pinned under a big branch, squealing for help. Amanda’s face flashed in my mind. She was an animal lover and I knew she would try to save the squirrel if she were in my place.

With all my might, I lifted the big branch. The squirrel jumped to safety and scrambled up a tree. My eyes fol-lowed the squirrel and chanced upon a door in the bark of the tree. Curiously, I stepped inside.

My mouth dropped open at the

sight that greeted me – there were elves everywhere. They were dressed in shiny clothes, green and white. They saw me, took something which looked like sparkling dust and sprinkled it on me. In a blink of an eye, my dirty shoes and shirt looked brand new.

The elves grinned at me and I ex-plained why I was there. “Here take this…” said one of the elves.

“What is this?” I asked as they placed the object on my hands. “This is a magic potion. Sprinkle some on the ghost and it will never bother you again.”

I thanked them profusely and set off. The oldest elf insisted on following me. I carried him and placed him in my pocket. After what seemed like an eternity, I spotted a boat at the edge of the forest. I boarded it as instructed in my dream.

Once seated, I took a telescope out of my backpack and started to look for an island. Water was swishing every-where. A powerful wave crashed into the boat. It began rocking at a dizzying pace. Suddenly, the boat turned over. My face turned blue as bubbles burst from my mouth. My legs kicked about crazily. The elf popped something round into his mouth and one into mine. I stopped choking. I swam to the surface, placed the elf in my pocket and swam to the deserted island ly-ing at the distance. I lay down on the smooth sand, panting. I looked around and saw a cage.

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The Elf to the Rescue

“Amanda, are you in there?” I called out.

“Sandy! Help me!” she wailed.I looked around for a pick. I took

my bobby pin, twisted it, put it in the lock and managed to unlock the cage. I ran in without a second thought. I saw Amanda sitting at a corner of the damp cage and hugged her tightly. “I’m so sorry!” I said, crying. We ran for the exit but it was too late! It was a trap set up by Cecilia. She tied Amanda and I to a piece of wood.

But this time, I knew what to do. I had my secret weapon- the elf! When Cecilia disappeared, the kind elf hopped out and untied us. We took the wood and began digging a hole. After much effort, we succeeded in getting out.

Cecilia was standing the tip of the island. I begged her for forgiveness. She was enraged. As the wind blew her long hair, we could see her bloodshot eyes and long scars on her face. The scars freaked me out. I knew I caused them.

“After all you have done, you ex-pect me to forgive you?” Her fiery eyes looked directly into mine. With ven-geance, she charged towards me.

“The magic potion! Sprinkle it now!” said the elf urgently. As fast as lightning, I followed the elf’s instruc-tion. Cecilia screamed out loud. Sud-denly, she was transformed into a small

girl. She fell on the sandy ground, mo-tionless.

Summoning my courage, I slowly walked over to the frail-looking body. “Cecilia, please forgive me,” I whis-pered. She opened her eyes resignedly and gave me a small nod. She disap-peared into thin air.

“Rest in peace, Cecilia. I know you have forgiven me.” Tears of remorse, guilt and relief streamed down my face. I was full of mixed emotions.

The Hurtful Reality

Amanda gave me a big hug. “San-dy, I know how painful it is to be bul-lied. I understand why Cecilia took her own life. Please, STOP being a bully!”

I hugged her back. I felt so bad that she had to suffer because of me. “I promise. I promise that I’ll never do it again,” I swore. I would never be able to forgive myself should anything hap-pen to my dear sister. I glanced at the magic potion that was still in my hand. “Thank goodness all went well,” I mut-tered.

“Use it to teleport home. It’s your reward for being a kind soul in saving the squirrel, even though you were in a hurry. That incident was a test,” said the elf. He disappeared into thin air. I never knew that such a simple gesture to help those in need would save us.

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A Lesson Learnt

We were teleported right to our doorstep. Our mother screamed in joy when she saw us and she hugged us so tightly we that we could hardly breathe. “I am so happy that you are both safe!”

“Let’s put this frightening episode behind us.” She led us to our bedroom. “It must have been a tiring day for you

This time, I saw Cecilia in a long white gown waving at me. She seemed satisfied and happy. I was happy for her too.

both. It’s best that you try to sleep.” That night, I had a dream. This

time, I saw Cecilia in a long white gown waving at me. She looked happy and at peace. I was happy for her too. I promised myself that I would visit her grave from time to time. It was the least that I could do to show my sincerity and how sorry I was for everything. I would make sure that history would never repeat itself. I will never bully anyone again.

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“Knowledge is limited; but imagination encircles the world.” — Albert Eistein

With Christmas coming around the corner, we searched the ends of Singapore to find out what Selflessness meant to these two artists. Do you agree? Drop us an e-mail and let us know what you think!

Zachery Tan, 15, Bedok View Secondary School

Amanda Ng, 15, CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent Secondary School

Selflessness means the will and ability to sacrifice your own desires for the betterment of others; even if it means your glory.

It means giving up something to someone in need...even if you want it for yourself.

Itching to send us something?Send us an e-mail at [email protected] by 31st November 2010 to find out next

issue’s theme. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Be our guest blogger!

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Do you love to read and write? Do you want to learn more? Sign up for our unique writing workshops!

Workshop locations: Janus Education c/ o HanIP Centre 170 Upper Bukit Timah Rd #B2- 16 Bukit Timah Shopping Centre

Janus Education c/o Young Prodigy 500 HDB Hub Toa Payoh Lorong 6, #04-40/41.

For workshop schedules and other information, please contact Janus Education at:T: 63368985/ 63360832. F: 63365604. E: [email protected]

261 Waterloo Street #03-08 Waterloo Centre, Singapore 180261

Aspiring Writers & Illustrators Scheme (AWIS)Draw and write? Yes! In this programme, your child will discover the creative writer in him. This is an intensive introduction to composi-tion writing. Aspiring writers will also learn the art of illustrating from a professional artist. Pri 1 to Pri 2 Course fee: $680

Young Author Scheme (YAS)Children have a wealth of emotions. How do you draw them out? The first of its kind in Singapore, YAS trains aspiring young authors and nurtures their writing skills. Learn from veteran author Catherine Khoo!

Pri 3 to Pri 6 Course fee: $880

Young Comic Artist Scheme (YCAS)This programme will de-velop your child's poten-tial in writing his own story, not in words but in comic form. Each child would be given a chance to improve his talent and abil-ity in expressing himself through drawing. Pri 3 to Pri 6 Course fee: $680

Reading into WritingThis is a unique combination of three best-selling programmes to help students under-stand and grasp the nuances of English. The Reading Detective is an exciting new approach for students to read and comprehend stories and reports, predict word meanings, link ideas, and learn to question what they have read. Pri 3 to Pri 5 Course fee: $680

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Our next issue brings lots of new stories! Plus interesting articles for your enjoyment. Go get it!

Have a Happy Christmas!

e New stories from our creative pool of young writers

e Breaking boundaries: Classrooms in Cambodia

e Essential writing tips

e DIY Chinese New Year arts & crafts

e Watch out for our beautiful story illustrations!

e Book reviews can be fun!

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Yun Chu, Nicole & Ian

Our next issue brings lots of new stories! Plus interesting articles for your enjoyment. Go get it!

Have a Happy Christmas!

e New stories from our creative pool of young writers

e Breaking boundaries: Classrooms in Cambodia

e Essential writing tips

e DIY Chinese New Year arts & crafts

e Watch out for our beautiful story illustrations!

e Book reviews can be fun!

Bryan, our Featured Author of the Month

Young ReaderClub

Vol 4. Nov - Dec 2010 / SGD 7.50 ISSN: 2010- 1376

Creative writing at its best – 3 great stories for you!

VolunteeringYes, YOU can change the world!

Acing your compositionsHow do you write a biography?

Breaking BoundariesLife and education at the Tibetan Children’s Village

Building the Next Generation of Writers