The most interesting book I’ve read

Winner:

Most people read many books in their leisure. So do I. Usually the story of one or two books can remain in our mind forever. It or they become one’s most interesting book or books. I also have read many books like Heidi, Jane Eyre, Village by the Sea, New Tales from Shakespeare and so on. Among those, the writer of Heidi, Johana Spyri has been clever enough to decorate my mind entirely. The entrancing events contained in Heidi fascinates me again and again.The author of Heidi, Johana Spyri born in 1827, wrote it at the age of fifty three. She was a daughter of a village doctor, wife of a lawyer and a mother of a son who died at the age of twenty nine. Her experiences throughout life has helped make the story a success.

The main character of this book is a six-year-old orphan girl who lives with her grandfather. The grandfather is a hard and unhappy man who hates everyone. Heidi has to live with him high up in the mountains. A strange man, her grandfather who is called Alm Opa doesn’t talk to the people in the village near by. But the beautiful snowy mountains, two pretty goats and a friend called Goat Peter are always with her. Later Heidi leaves the cottage of Alm Opa and goes to Frankfurt.There she meets a new friend called Clara who cannot walk. Heidi lives there and forms a strong bond of friendship with her. Clara is finally able to cure herself because of this strong friendships.In this story, the writer tells us how everyone, even a very young girl, can help other people and make them happy.

I’ve decided to be mindful of helpless children like Clara after reading this wonderful book.

Thisarika Rasahari,

Grade 9A, WP/HO/President’s College.

My English teacher’s advice

Winner:

One day our English teacher taught us a good lesson. He gave us instructions to improve our knowledge. He told us to be members of the public library. He asked us to read as many books as we can, and to write down important things we note in an exercise books. Further he asked us to read books from the reference section of the library. According to his theory by reading books anyone can improve his knowledge.

He also advised us to access the internet and find important things which helps us to be decent, educated people.

R. Tharuka Dilrangi Fernando,

Grade 8E, Holy Family BMV,Wennappuwa.

[Your poems]

Oh! It was only a dream!

Winner:

Along a lonely path,
I was walking alone,
Heard someone calling,
And was astonished to see.

Mum was raising her arms,
Wanting to take me to her,
In a split second I was,
Surrounded by her arms!

The happiness I felt,
The warmth I got,
Went through the veins,
And made me strong.

Yes, I heard her heartbeat,
Of course she was alive,
She was not cold but warm,
As she ever was.

I still blame myself,
For opening my eyes,
Because seeing her even in dreams,
Makes me think she’s still alive!

Hansika Gopallawa, Holy Family Balika Vidyalaya, Kurunegala.

The witch’s house

Winner:

It stands by the river bank,
Where the little boy sank,
You get a fright when you pass it by,
Then you see the bats fly
At day there’s no fear
It’s all at night,
When you see the green light.

When you go by the river bank,
You hear weird noises it’s true,
If you see the green light blink,
In you go as soon as you wink.

She sleeps at day,
Awakes at night,
The cats and bats work at night,
So for God’s sake
Don’t pass the witch’s house.

Nishalya Jayasuriya, Year 6C, Bishop’s College, Colombo 3.

Good manners

Winner:

As schoolchildren we must learn good manners. We must always try to be well mannered people. Good manners are essential to live in society.

When we meet someone we must always greet him by saying good morning or good afternoon. We must greet him with a smile. When someone offers to help us we must say 'Thank you very much' to show our gratitude. If we want to speak to someone who is very busy we must say 'excuse me'.

When we have hurt someone by an oversight, we must, say "I'm very sorry". We must also say 'please' when we ask someone for a favour or something.

We must respect our parents, teachers and our elders. We must not look down upon the poor and the weak and help them whenever we can.

We must also appreciate the talents of others. We can say 'How nice!' 'That's fine', 'My congratulations, 'It is excellent', 'It is great' or 'Keep it up' to encourage the person.

When a teacher comes into the classroom, we must stand up and great him.

Well mannered people can become good citizens and be respected in society.

M.H.F. Faheema,

Gampola Zahira College.

My favourite sport

My favourite sport is cricket. It originated in England many years ago. Today cricket is played in many countries around the world.

There are two kinds of matches played in cricket. They are International test matches and one day matches. 20-20 matches too are played now.

My favourite cricket team is the Sri Lankan team. Cricket is a team game. There are eleven players in one team. My favourite batsman is T.M. Dilshan and my favourite bowler is Lasith Malinga. There are cricket tournaments such as the T20 Games, Asian Cup, IPL cricket and Hong Kong Sixers.

In the Asian region, the strongest teams are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

The Hong Kong Sixers cup was won by South Africa.

I like the Sri Lankan cricket team very much.

M.E.M. Shadeer,

Grade 6,

Oxford International College,

Nawalapitiya.

Poson poya day

Poson Poya Day which fell on June 25 this year is a very important day for Buddhists because it was on such a day that Arahath Mahinda There brought Buddhism to our country. On that day many years ago, King Devanampiyatissa became a Buddhist and his people too became Buddhists.

On Poson Poya Day Buddhists go to temples and observe sil. In some places alms are given to the people. Temples and houses are decorated by hanging lanterns and Buddhist flags. There are some beautiful peraheras too held during Poson.

This is a very important day for Buddhists because many do charity work without doing wrong things on this day.

Isuri Amandhi,

Grade 2F,Musaeus

College, Colombo 7.

IIFA Awards Ceremony

All the gorgeous stars in the Indian film industry shone and twinkled brilliantly at the IIFA Awards Ceremony held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. As their fans, we salute them for coming to Sri Lanka despite threats from LTTE sympathisers asking them not to come to Sri Lanka. They were told that if they come they would ban their films from being screened in Tamil Nadu.

The cinema culture is a unique universal media by which to create peace and harmony among nations. Why can't people understand this fact? Bollywood films are made to world standards and prove that the world is one global village.

Ignoring all these threats you came to Sri Lanka as real heroes and heroines of Mother India. You showed your colours at the grand show. 'Vivek you have a loving and kind golden heart, to help the innocent children who suffered for 30 long years because of the LTTE terrorists in Vavuniya. You came forward to uplift their lives and families and create a peaceful and harmonious nation under one flag. Thank you Vivek, we all appreciate what you and all the other stars have done.

Swedesha Suraweera,

Grade 12, Kolonnawa Balika Vidyalaya,

Kolonnawa.

My trip to Kandy

For my summer vacation. I came to Sri Lanka I went to Kandy with my mummy and daddy. It took us a long time to get there because we first went to Pinnawala. We saw lots of mountains on the way.

At the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, I saw many elephants. One elephant had got injured. The biggest elephant was very old. It was a female. She was eating when I first saw her. I was able to touch her. The baby elephants were racing to get their daily feed of milk. I was able to feed one baby elephant two whole bottles of milk. I even got to watch them have a bath. I went to a shop to buy a book and the paper of the book was made out of elephant dung. Elephant dung is really elephant poo poo!!

We went to the Temple of the Tooth, Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. The Buddha's sacred tooth Relic is kept there in a golden room with a golden door. Before we went in we bought nelum flowers, (lotus) handung kuru (incense sticks) and kapuru (kamphor). We offered them to the Buddha long time ago the Temple was a palace of the king and queen of Sri Lanka. I saw the queen's bathing place. I visited the museum too and saw the king's and queen's clothes and jewellery. I also saw the stuffed elephant. The dead elephant's name was Raja and he carried the Tooth Relic at the perahera. Then we went around the lake and bought a toy.It was a very tiring trip, but so much fun because I saw many things that I have never seen before.

Bhakthi Karunasena,

Grade 1B, Jakarta International School, Indonesia.