Childhood magic

Children’s stories are often about fantasy and reality, imagination and belief.

In this snippet, the protagonist believes in Santa despite friends saying he isn’t real. The protagonist tells us about staying up and listening for Santa’s sleigh, when something even more amazing arrives.

The writer uses short sentences to build anticipation, and evocative details to create a sense of magic and imagination.

On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I'd never hear—the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh. 'There is no Santa,' my friend had insisted, but I knew he was wrong. Late that night I did hear sounds, though not of ringing bells. From outside came the sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. I looked through my window and saw a train standing perfectly still in front of my house.

The Polar Express(1985)

Here’s an example using the picture as a starting point.

That night I hopped out of bed, put on my best elf slippers, and crept down to the sleigh hangar. I tiptoed quietly. One little elf foot after the other. The halls were silent. I was looking for the presents—which Zimzam told me I wouldn’t find—the gifts I knew Santa had stolen. ‘He takes them to children around the world’ he insisted, but I knew he was keeping them for himself. When I reached the hangar, the presents were there, but not in a sleigh or in a sack. They were piled in a huge heap, the wrapping paper ripped free and scattered. A giant cat leapt back and forth, pouncing on the shreds of paper like bugs in the grass.

Write your own excerpt from a children’s story that captures a child-like anticipation and belief in something magical.

Christmas Genre (Middle Years)