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#50PreciousWords

Scribal School #50PreciousWords

#50PreciousWords is my all-time favorite kidlit writing contest. It’s run by Vivian Kirkfield, and it was the first writing contest I ever entered. I love the challenge to write small and three of my previous entries, Dig: an archaeological lift-the-flap , A Handful of History, and Grandma’s Flute have been selected as finalists, and First Playdate Fears was an honorable mention last year. I’m excited to share my entry for 2026 below.

Scribal School: Mesopotamia’s First Writers

(c) Katie McEnaney
49 words

Class begins.

Flat clay.
Sharp stylus.
Ready?

Poke here.
Stab there.

Triangles. Lines.
Wiggles and waggles
won’t stay straight.

Smooth the clay. 
Try again.
(Don’t chuck the stylus 
across the courtyard.)

Deep breath.
Press. 
Poke.

Repeat.
Repeat.

Perfect? No.
Readable? Yes!

A name
we can read
5200 years later.

Artifact Version

The cuneiform tablet shown is currently on display at The Met. It is a student practice tablet with the name of a Mesopotamian god, Urash, copied six times. This particular tablet dates to approximately 4000 years ago or the 20th-16th centuries BCE. You can read more about it here.

First Playdate Fears #50PreciousWords

#50PreciousWords is my all-time favorite kidlit writing contest. It’s run by Vivian Kirkfield, and it was the first writing contest I ever entered. I love the challenge to write small and three of my previous entries, Dig: an archaeological lift-the-flap , A Handful of History, and Grandmother’s Flute have been selected as finalists. I’m excited to share my entry for 2025 below.

You can leave a comment on my entry here too.

First Playdate Fears:
a reverso poem

(c) Katie McEnaney, 2025
Word count: 50

Playdate time?

Nervous,
Not
Excited.

Let’s imagine:
He’s in my room.

Laughing at my books.

Collapses 
My fort.

He climbs around
While I worry.

Knock
Knock

While I worry,
He climbs around
My fort.

Collapses
Laughing at my books.

He’s in my room.
“Let’s imagine!”

Excited,
Not
Nervous:

Playdate time!

Have you ever read a reverso poem? The first I ever encountered came from the book Mirror, Mirror written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josée Masse. I reviewed her follow-up book, Echo Echo, on my blog The Logonauts and shared a few examples from my students.

It’s so clever how reversing the lines of the poems completes changing the meaning and point-of-view! I’d been wanting to try more of my own recently, and my son’s first playdate with a friend last week gave me the inspiration.

For recent reverso-style books, check out Amah Faraway written by Margaret Chiu Greanias and illustrated by Tracy Subisak or Drawn Onward written by Daniel Nayeri and illustrated by Matt Rockefeller. (It’s billed as a “palindrome” book, but while the title and center line are palindromes, the overall book is not. 😉 )

Have you ever attempted a reverso poem? Or have a favorite example I missed? Please share!

Grandma’s Flute #50PreciousWords

#50PreciousWords is my all-time favorite kidlit writing contest. It’s run by Vivian Kirkfield, and it was the first writing contest I ever entered. I love the challenge to write small and two of my previous entries, Dig: an archaeological lift-the-flap and A Handful of History, have been selected as finalists. I’m excited to share my entry for 2024 below.

Grandma’s Flute

(c) Katie McEnaney, 2024
Word count: 50

When Grandma’s flute trills, my heart sings. 

My turn:
Pucker, blow…
Squeal! 
Screech!

Hugs. Encouragement. Try again.
Squeals become notes.
Screeches transform into melodies.

Nana cheers my recitals.
Graduation.
Until I have only her flute.

Silent.

Finally, my daughter—ready to learn.
Her great-grandma’s flute trills, and both our hearts sing.

The image of the flute used in the Canva version of my story come from Marco Verch on Flickr and is used with attribution under the Creative Commons license 2.0.

A Handful of History #50PreciousWords

It’s time again for Vivian Kirkfield’s #50PreciousWords contest! I was delighted to be a finalist last year with my short story, DIG, which you can read here.

This year’s story, A Handful of History, was inspired by Paleolithic cave paintings. In a recent study, archaeologists recreated these blown-paint hand outlines and determined that many of them were likely made by children. You can read the full study here or the Atlas Obscura article here. (The background image is from The Panel of the Hands at El Castillo cave in Spain.)

If you enjoyed the story, please leave a comment here on the #50PreciousWords blog post. Thanks!

A Handful of History

Shadows flickered against the cave wall.
“Here?”
“No—here!”
Proudly the boy raised his hand, fingers spread.

Fwomp!
His mother blew into the hollow reed, scattering paint.
He giggled; it tickled. 

Together, they admired their artwork. 
Then, a new creation— 
Now, 40,000 years old.

How will you leave your mark?

(c) Katie McEnaney 2023

Dig #50PreciousWords

Dig: an archaeological lift-the-flap book

Dig down.
What’ll be found?

A broken pot,
All we’ve got.

Tough to fit
Pottery bits.

Trowel clicks.
What’s this?

Sheen? Green!
Coins gleam.

Dump, lift.
Trays sift.

Small seed?
No, a bead!

Search the past.
Artifacts last.

Stories found
In the ground.

Work slow,
Uncover.

What will you
Discover?

(c) Katie McEnaney 2022

You can leave a comment on the official #50PreciousWords post.

#50PreciousWords

August Afternoon (50 words)

Another tremor. Nothing fell over this time. Liviana continued weaving.

Marcus burst in, pointing out the window. “The mountain! It’s growing!” Rather than low clouds, the mountain had tripled, shooting up a column of gray. As the ash began raining down, they grabbed hands and ran.

Behind them, Vesuvius exploded.

(c) Katie McEnaney 2021

The #50PreciousWords challenge runs the first week of March. You can read the details and enter here.