Category Archives: 9-11 years

A Duck’s Disaster – Breadcrumbs, Quakes, and a Broken Home

I was having a normal day, swimming peacefully in the pond, until a breadcrumb hit me on the bill. And then another. It was like a hailstorm! But with breadcrumbs. I quickly turned and gobbled as many as I could.

Then, I spotted my archenemy – Peter the Rabbit – dashing around a tree. Every time I waddle to the pond, he shakes the tree I pass under, making acorns rain down on my head.

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Book Review – The Girl Who Lost Her Yes by Aarti Khatwani Bhatia

Book Name & Publisher: The Girl Who Lost Her YES published by Harper Collins Children’s Imprint
Author: Aarti Khatwani Bhatia
Illustrator: Priya Kurian
Book Reviewer: Navyaa Mathur

What if, one day, you suddenly start saying ‘no’ to everything – even to the things you like, like candies, toys, and ice cream? That’s exactly what happened to little Mia!

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World’s Weirdest Sandwich

This poem has been composed by 11-year-old Shaurya Gupta from Hyderabad and was chosen by the Jury as the Runner-Up of ‘Best Poem of the Year’ award at the BTB Wordsmiths of the Year Awards 2023.

Finally, I am conquering the feat
Of making the world’s most beastly sandwich seen
Poisonous if you do eat
Enough to make one’s mouth go scream

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Two to Tango by Ethan & Leona

At Beyond the Box, we are constantly thinking of ideas to give something unique, refreshing as well as challenging to our community of writers. Two to Tango is one such endeavour to encourage the participants to work along with another writer as a team and bring about a creative synergy. 40+ teams participated in Season 3 of this one-of-its-kind contest and the winners were chosen by prolific author Kanchana Banerjee. Below prompt was given to the writers and they were asked to narrate the same story from two different points of view. 

Prompt – Write a fictional story in which a book reveals a secret. Feel free to creatively interpret the prompt in any genre of your choice. 

The Winners in the kids’ category were Ethan Gonsalves & Leona Saldanha (Team 16). Enjoy their story!

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The Orange Cat of Bengal

A few years ago, in the Bengali town of Kalyani, there lived a young girl named Radha. She was a simple girl. She lived with her mother in a 2 BHK apartment above a sweet shop. Her father had gone to Chennai 10 years ago to make his fortune, but never wrote to them or sent any money back home. Her mother worked as a peon in a big office, and earned 1000/- a month, just enough for the two of them. Every morning she woke up at 5:30 in the morning to go to school, and by the time she came back, her mother would have left, but not without setting up lunch in the kitchen.

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