Free Book and Activity Pack

Mutating Mansion Lockdown Competition!

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded Mutating Mansion and the activity pack. This web page has been visited over 7000 times in the last month and a bit! I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed reading the book and doing your own writing.

Thank you also to everyone who has entered the competition. There were hundreds of amazing entries and it was REALLY hard to choose the winners. In fact, it was too hard to choose just one winner for each activity, so I've chosen three! (Even this was difficult - there were so many brilliant pieces of work that nearly won.)

So here are the winners, who all win a signed book and a visit from me to their current school, whenever it is safe for me to do so. 

WINNERS

For activity 9: Jake (year 5, Priory Primary School), Nicholas (Horsell Junior) and James (year 5, Stramongate School)

For activity 10: Sophia (year 5, Trinity St Peters School), Nadia (year 6, Hounslow Town Primary) and Milita (year 3, St Andrew's Primary)

For activity 11: Isla (year 3, Gotherington School), Halle (year 5, Forest View Academy) and Thomas (year 5, St Joseph's Primary)

You can see the winning entries below...

Activity 9 (take a boring paragraph and make it more exciting)

Original boring paragraph:

Felix was scared. She opened the door and walked into the kitchen. She saw thousands of rotten eggs on the kitchen table. An egg rose off the table and flew at Felix. She ducked and the egg smashed on the wall behind her. Three more eggs rose up and flew at her. She didn’t duck in time and one of them hit her in the face. Felix ran out of the kitchen.

Jake's writing:

Felix froze dead on the spot and her heart pounded. Slowly, with a shaking hand, she opened the door and cautiously tiptoed into the kitchen. Felix breathed in and a stench of rotten eggs ran up her nose. Looking forward, she saw thousands of rotten eggs lying on the old, rusty kitchen table. One of the eggs arose from the table and flew at Felix like a bullet being fired from a gun. With speedy reflexes, she ducked down onto the dirty, broken tiled floor and the egg smashed onto the crumbling wall behind her.

Pulling herself up, Felix stood staring in shock. As the clock struck behind her, three more eggs rose quickly up and flew at her. She didn’t duck in time and one of them hit her in the face. A terrible taste in her mouth made Felix gag. She sprinted out of the kitchen and her screams echoed around the hall of the mansion.

Nicholas's writing:

Slowly and carefully, Felix crept into the kitchen.  Before her eyes sat hundreds of rotten and mouldy eggs.  Her eyes widened as she entered through the door: the stench was almost unbearable and was like the worst sewer. As she raised her head groggily, her eyes watered like a tap. She couldn't see: her head was spinning and she stumbled senselessly around the room, smashing already broken pots and pans for what seemed like  a decade. Suddenly, she stopped to wipe hair and tears out of her swollen eyes, only to be confronted by a victorious egg, flying straight at her head. It hit her square on and knocked her to the floor, along with the pans. She felt a terrible pain in her arm. She crawled backwards and fumbled frantically with the door handle. It flew open and shot her out into the hall like a rocket. Felix fell to the floor, cradling her broken arm, only to be confronted by .... her worst fear. 

James's writing:

Felix was more scared than a mouse being chased by a cat. She opened the creaky door and tip-toed into the roomy kitchen. She saw (and smelt) the the century-old rotten eggs. A particularly pungent smelling egg rose off the table, like it was being picked up from a UFO, and flew at Felix. She reacted at lightning speed and ducked before the egg could touch her face. Then, it smashed harmlessly on the wall behind her. 3 more eggs rose and flew at her 😮. Could this be the day her looks would be destroyed forever? Could this be the day that she will never forget? Will she want to look in the mirror again? Well, one smashed in her face. Yuck! She sprinted out of the kitchen as fast as a cheetah...

Activity 10 (design your own version of one of Luke's book cover)

The original covers are on the left, the competition winners' are on the right.

Sophia's book cover: (click on the cover to make it bigger)

This is a really fun and original drawing, full of lots of great ideas. I particularly love the skeleton hand coming out of the postbox.

Nadia's book cover: (click on the cover to make it bigger)

What an amazingly atmospheric drawing, using lots of horror concepts to create a completely unique and creepy book cover that fits perfectly with the story of Mutating Mansion. I love the red windows and the arms stretching around the house, with the claws holding the diary.

Milita's book cover: (click on the cover to make it bigger)

A completely original version of my Traitor's Revenge cover, which reminds me of a Pablo Picasso painting (if you've never seen any of them, have a look on Google!).

Activity 11 (lockdown diary writing)

Because the diary entries contain personal information of the children who wrote them, their parents will be asked for permission before the diary entries can be shown here.