The Runaway Marble by Hannah Guthrie, age 7

Runner-up, Junior Fiction (8 and under), Writing Rammy 2021

One day there was a boy. He went to the shop with his mum. They went to the toy aisle and the boy found a bag of marbles. The marbles were so heavy the bag burst! They scattered all over the floor.  The boy caught as many marbles as he could, except for the one that was hiding under the games. It was shiny red with speckles of black.

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Later that day the cleaner swept the floor, and the marble went rolling towards the doors. It stopped. Then a customer accidently kicked the marble and it escaped into the car park. A little girl with red hair picked the marble up and put it in her pocket. Then the girl and her dad went to the park. She went on the swing first. When she got off, she realised there was a hole in her pocket. She looked everywhere but the shiny red marble was nowhere to be found. The girl was so sad. She told her dad that her marble was gone. He helped her to look for it, but they could not find it.

When the girl went home, she took some sweets from her pocket. She pulled out a smooth, shiny sphere and realised it was the missing marble. She showed it to her dad. He thought it was one of the best marbles he had ever seen.