Using her imagination, determination and creativity, one Year 4 student has shown she has what it takes to one day fulfill her dreams of becoming an illustrator.
Dalyellup Primary School’s Isabella Chalker recently won first prize in the Make Your Own Story Book Competition from The Children's Book Council of Australia.
Isabella said she loved reading and was very excited when she found out she had won.
“It’s my favourite thing, if I’m not reading, I love drawing,” she said.
“I was very excited, I didn’t think that I would actually win.
I wrote a poem for my little sisters birthday and when Mrs Walsh told me about the competition I thought I could do something about my sister.
It took the nine-year-old a month to create her book and she wants to be an illustrator when she grows up.
“I didn’t have time to play with my sister much but in the end she really liked the book,” she said.
English teacher Kelly Ann Walsh said she was proud of Isabella.
“It’s an amazing book but also just the perseverance, persistence and effort that went into it – that’s the fourth draft,” she said.
“Every single page was done by hand four times before Isabella was happy enough with it – I wasn’t surprised because it was well deserved.
“To me Isabella exemplifies self-motivation, determination and persistence and what those three things get you in life.”
