One Christmas, back when I was eight and had just started at a new school in the east end of London, the annual Christmas hat competition was announced.
For an eight-year-old at a new school, this was a big deal. The making of that hat, and competition day itself remain vivid in my mind. The short story I submitted to Storm Cloud Publishing for their Christmas anthology this year, was inspired by those memories.
The Hat Competition is a story for anyone who’s ever been the new kid at school, or who has experienced that sinking feeling when they realised the standard of competition was entirely different from what they’d expected.
The story is available free as an epub or kindle in Christmas Tales 7—a Christmas collection of stories and poems for kids 8-12 years—which you can download here.
Contributing authors include myself plus Adam Benz, Dot Stute, Kerry Gittins, Elizabeth Klein, Sam Blake, Di Bates, Cooper Smith and Jill Barlow.
Happy Christmas to you all, and thank you for your ongoing interest and support this year.
Kesta xx
PS If you meet an elf looking for stocking fillers on Santa’s behalf, or you need an inexpensive but magic-filled present for a young reader in your life, please do consider Marlow Brown: Magician in the Making (or Scientist in the Making if that appeals more). Both are stand-alone stories and can be ordered at bookshops in Australia, or online worldwide. There’s plenty of stock of Magician in the Making, but be quick if it’s the science one you’re after, as I’m told stocks are getting low.
