CHESTER PUPIL PUTS TWIST ON A FAIRY TALE CLASSIC TO WIN NATIONAL WRITING COMPETITION

Eleven year-old Grace Millington, from Chester, has won a national writing competition for her modern-day take on the Gingerbread Man as part of Pearson’s My Twist on a Tale.

The world’s learning company, Pearson, encouraged children between the ages of 4-16 to tear up the rule book and give their favourite fairy tale, fable or regional folk story a 21^st Century twist, showcasing the diverse and modern-day Britain within which they live.

Scooping the award for the North West , Grace’s work was chosen alongside 13 other fantastic stories written by children across the country, all of which have now been published! The book, titled My Twist on a Tale Winning Stories was released on World Book Day (5th March). All the budding writers have received a copy of the book which is also available to download on Pearson’s website.

Grace’s story was an inventive take on the Gingerbread Man which saw Siri take revenge on Alexa as she was no longer the apple of people’s eyes.

Grace’s story started with a girl who was glued to her phone. The girl relied on it to do everything, however one day, Alexa processed an upgrade and developed wired arms and legs. Alexa ran away shouting ‘run, run as fast as you were made, you’ll never catch me I’m the Alexa upgrade.’

Alexa ran to Chester Zoo where she was chased by a lion and had a close encounter with a cheetah before finding the reptile enclosure. Here she found a security man’s jacket, a phone was there – Siri. Siri announced she had had a new upgrade of wings and boasted she could fly. Alexa told her to prove it and hopped on her back. Siri flew Alexa towards the crocodile enclosure where she tipped Alexa onto the crocodile’s snout. As she turned away, Siri heard a loud snap and a crunching of circuit boards. Siri grinned. She had got her revenge.  

Grace, who attends Acresfield Primary School said: “I was so shocked and surprised when I found out I had won. I love writing and felt inspired to take on this challenge. I chose the Gingerbread Man as it was one of my favourite stories. I really enjoyed twisting the story as I live near Chester Zoo and have Siri and Alexa at home.”

Over 3000 pupils and schools across the country entered the competition, with Grace’s Siri’s Revenge taking the top prize in the North West.

Katy Lewis, Head of English, Drama and Languages at Pearson said: “Grace should be extremely proud of the story she has written. Her imagination and writing skills in giving the Gingerbread Man a twist was outstanding. It was an incredibly difficult decision choosing winners from the 3000+ stories we received, as they were all fascinating to read.

“It was important to us that all entries included a personal twist and reflected the personalities, locations, heritages, interests and experiences of the authors. It has been fantastic to see the world from the perspectives of learners today and incredibly interesting to be able to identify the issues and areas that matter most to them.”

“This competition goes to show that diversity, inclusion and belonging matter to children and young people across the country. They matter in the literature we consume and the books, poetry and plays we put in front of them as well as in the literary content they are empowered to create.”

Last year, Pearson added a range of diverse texts to the Edexcel GCSE Literature texts list in response to student and teacher feedback around the lack of diversity of British texts at Key Stage 4.

Key stage four winning author, Samantha Parker, concluded: “See, we can write stories that teach our children about the real world and help them be inclusive of everyone. Why don’t we?”

The winning stories include:

To find out more about Pearson’s My Twist on a Tale and to download a copy of the book, please visit: pearsonschools.co.uk/mytwistonatale