
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.
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