MFL MarMac third grader is a winner in statewide writing contest
MFL MarMac student Brooklyn Landt has been selected as the statewide first-place winner for third graders in the Iowa Reading Association’s short story creative writing contest. She’s pictured with her dogs, who were the inspiration for her story “The Two Dogs and the Black Hole.” (Submitted photo)
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
MFL MarMac student Brooklyn Landt has been selected as the statewide first-place winner for third graders in the Iowa Reading Association’s short story creative writing contest.
“It’s quite an honor,” said Landt’s teacher, Jennifer Wilwert. “This is the first student I’ve ever submitted, and I can’t tell you the last time [an MFL MarMac student was selected].”
Landt was recognized for the short story “The Two Dogs and the Black Hole,” which was a writing assignment in Wilwert’s class. Each student had to create a fictional narrative that presented a problem, then solved it.
Landt’s story centers around two dogs: a silver lab named Chester and a golden retriever named Rider. Chester, the more playful of the two, goes on an adventure in the woods one day and discovers a black hole. He later brings Rider to the site to prove the hole’s existence. Rider accidentally falls into the hole, and Chester rescues him.
The story was inspired by Landt’s real-life pets.
“I was thinking of my dogs at the time and just made up the story,” she said. “Chester likes to go a lot of places while Rider sits more on the porch.”
Wilwert said Landt’s story stood out when the students read their work aloud in class.
“It just struck me,” the teacher reflected. “I loved the idea of the dogs getting in trouble and she had such well-developed characters. It was above and beyond what I’d seen before.”
Before submitting the story to the contest, Wilwert and Landt worked together to edit and review the narrative.
“It’s a black hole now, but it was a magic portal originally,” Wilwert shared. “We added more details and tightened it up so there were no open-ended areas.”
“We just came up with ideas to make it better,” added Landt. “When I first wrote about the dogs talking, I used ‘said.’ Now it’s ‘they exclaimed’ or ‘they shouted.’”
“The Two Dogs and the Black Hole” was a favorite among the Northeast Iowa Reading Council, who advanced it to the state contest. Landt said she was surprised to take the top spot statewide, as well.
“I feel happy,” she stated. “I’ve never won anything this big.”
Now that she’s found success, Landt doesn’t plan to stop writing any time soon.
“I like making up stories,” she said.
“She’s even started creating binders of pictures she’s drawn and stories she’s written. She puts them all in protective covers,” said mom Kate Landt. “It’s almost like a comic book.”
She credits Wilwert for working with her daughter and the other students: “She’s so wonderful and encouraging, and really brings a lot of energy to the class.”
Wilwert was happy to do it.
“Brooklyn is an enthusiastic writer,” she noted. “She’s very talented.”
The Two Dogs and the Black Hole
By Brooklyn Landt
There once lived two dogs named Chester and Rider. Chester was a silver lab and Rider was a golden retriever. Chester was not a good listener, but his older brother was a very good listener. Chester also really liked to go on adventures.
One day Chester took a little adventure into the woods even though his owners told him not to. He walked down the trail and to the campsite. The campsite was where his owners had built a fire pit and a place for camping.
He was wandering around in the woods and found something that looked kind of odd. He thought it looked like a lever, so he took his paw and pushed it down. The ground all of a sudden fell through. The trees, the leaves, the logs, and the plants fell through the hole. Chester quickly backed up before he fell in. He dashed back up the steep hill to get to Rider.
Chester gasped for air, “R…R…Rider, you got to come see this giant black hole down by the campsite.” Of course, Rider did not believe him because he knew that black holes on Earth were not real. “Please, please, please,” begged Chester. “Ok,” Rider said, “but this is the last time I go on another one of your long, tiring adventures and you better not get me in trouble.” “Fine, just follow me down to the campsite,” grumbled Chester.
When they got down to the campsite, Rider did not see the black hole. Then he turned around and fell in the black hole. Rider caught himself on a small ledge. Chester yelled, “Are you okay?” “Ya! Just get me out of here!” Rider yelled. “All right, just hang on. I’ll be right back!” Chester shouted.
Chester zoomed up the very steep trail to the house and got a rope to pull Rider up out of the black hole. He zoomed back down the trail with the rope in his mouth. He lowered the rope down to Rider and said, “Rider, grab on!” Rider grabbed on and Chester started to tug and tug and tug. Then all of a sudden, it snapped. “The rope snapped!” Chester yelled. “I will run back up to the house and grab a ladder.”
Chester dashed all the way back up the trail and got a ladder. When he finally got back down, he put the ladder in the black hole and Rider climbed up and out.
Rider said, “I am so glad to be out of that hole.” Chester pulled the lever up to close the hole. “I am never doing that again,” Rider exclaimed. Chester replied sarcastically, “Maybe you shouldn’t have listened to me.” Rider chuckled quietly and rolled his eyes. Both dogs went home and took a long nap.
