English Tree:
A Symbol of Creative Writing
The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) organized
"English Tree: A Symbol of Creative Writing" in March 2007 to encourage primary four to six
students to write. Students were invited to create an ending for one of the four given
unfinished stories. In order to preserve the originality of the students’ writing, the text shown
below is the original entry submitted by the student, no editing has been done. The content
printed in blue is the story ending written by the student.
TANG Harmony (Primary 6)
Canton Road Government Primary School
Bad Bat and the Sticky Pie
Molly baked a strawberry pie and put it on the side of her plate to let it cool. She
left the room.
In came Bad Bat. He ate the pie!
This made Bad Bat happy, but made Molly very sad. It also made her mad.
The next day, Molly made a sticky pie. She made the pie with three cups of cherry
jelly, a full jar of white glue and a roll of clear tape.
When the pie was ready, Molly took it off the stove and put it on the side of the
same plate as last time. She left the room hoping that Bad Bat would fly in and eat the
pie.
But………. Bad Bat was watching and saw what Molly did. He was very angry!
He was feeling bad about eating the strawberry pie and was thinking about writing a
card to Molly to apologize for what he had done, but now he had a better idea…
When Molly came back from work with a rumbling empty stomach, she found that
all the food in her house had disappeared, except of course for the sticky pie. She felt so
hungry that she began searching the whole house, looking for something to eat. When
she could not find anything, disappointedly, she returned to the kitchen.
Molly was surprised to find her sticky pie still sitting on the side of her plate, just
waiting for someone to have a bite…. Suddenly, a rather crazy idea came to her: “Why
don’t I have a little bit of the pie. It is made with a full jar of white glue, but there is also
three cups of cherry jelly, and hey, three cups of jelly is much better than none at all! I
can just eat the jelly!”
So Molly started to eat the very sticky pie. Not long after however, Molly’s throat
began feeling terrible and sticky. Then unexpectedly, Bad Bat came in and happily he
asked, “See, how does it feel? Is it uncomfortable? Hahaha! I’m not stupid, poor little
Molly! I saw you making that pie! You wanted me to have a sticky throat?! Not so
easy!…”
After hearing Bad Bat’s infamous laughter, Policeman Eagle arrived to see what
was happening. Molly explained the story by writing words and drawing pictures
because talking was too painful. Policeman Eagle gave Molly a packet of Strepsils and
then drove them both to court so they could explain everything to the judge. After
hearing both sides of the story, the judge announced that Molly must host a tea party
with Bad Bat every weekend so that they can enjoy Molly’s pies together happily. Bad
Bat cannot touch Molly’s pie without asking her first, and must supply the topping so
that Molly can keep making delicious desserts!
At last, Molly and Bad Bat became good friends. In fact, Bad Bat became known
for being very nice and is now known as Good Bat.
Feedback from the Judging Panel
This is a clever story written in lively and fluent language. The events are both
amusing and well-structured and the reader’s interest is sustained till the very end. I
especially like the scene of Policeman Eagle giving Molly a packet of Strepsils to help
soothe her sticky throat ☺.
The idea of taking this case of dispute to court and having the judge announce that
“Molly must host a tea party with Bad Bat every weekend” is very original. The judge’s
stipulation that “Bad Bat cannot touch Molly’s pie without asking her first” helps to
rectify Bad Bat’s previous misconduct and the fact that he must supply the topping for
the pie is a very clever idea as it creates a sense of fairness as well as provides an
opportunity for Bad Bat to make his contribution. This helps to resolve the conflict built
up between the two and turn the two enemies into friends by the end of the story.
This young writer demonstrates great potential in creative writing.
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