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COMMUNITY 71 Oakville teen wins Canada-wide Abby Robitaille tackles oppressive dictatorships, press censorship JULIE SLACK jslack@miltoncanadian champion.com Abby Robitaille is a self-proclaimed book­ worm. She has a Polaroid pho­ tograph of her bedroom's bookshelves on the back of her iphone, while the home screen is a photo of a book, its pages curled in­ to a fancy pattern, with shelves of books in the shadows. The 15-year-old lives, breathes and dreams about books, and some day she is going to be an author. Correction, she al­ ready is. The Grade 10 White Oaks Secondary School student and author of The Greater Good, won the First Page student writ­ ing challenge. CBC Books asked Ca­ nadian students to pro­ vide a glimpse of the great Canadian novel of the year 2167, presenting how current-day trends and is­ sues have evolved in 150 years. The contest, which asked students to write the first page of a novel, was held in part to cele­ brate Canada's 150th last year. More than 2,400 stu­ dents entered, and a team of readers narrowed that down to a shorlist of 20. Judge Erin Bow, the bestselling Young Adult (YA) author of books like Plain Kate and The Scor­ pion Rules, chose Abby's story as the winner of the Grade 10 to 12 category. Abby's prize, besides the prestige of the win, is a collection of 50 books that the CBC donated to the school library in her honour. In addition, she will receive a one-year CBC writing challenge Julie Slack/Metroland Grade 10 White Oaks Secondary School student Abby Robitaille, the author of The Greater Good, won CBC's First Page student writing challenge. subscription to OwlCrate, which delivers a highly- anticipated brand new YA release, bookish keep­ sakes and exclusive items from authors and pub­ lishers YA books to book­ worms on a monthly ba­ sis. She was also excited to be able to visit CBC in To­ ronto where she read her story for radio. Reading her work, you'd think she was a ma­ ture author with years of experience behind her. Listening to her - the same can be said. She credits her parents for reading to her when she was just a toddler and later reading together. She began reading vo­ raciously as a youngster, but says she got really se­ rious about it after read­ ing the Harry Potter se­ ries in Grade 3. Since then, she said she's read it 12 times. Later, Homer's The Od­ yssey got her hooked on FRIENDS AT OUR FREE MONTHLY WORKSHOPS FOR SENIORS! COLLAGE AND PAINTING WORKSHOP AT CENTENNIAL Friday 23 February, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm Free bus transportation available to and from seniors residences; visit our website for details. RSVP to Elizabeth at 905.844.4402 WWW.OAKVILLEGALLERIES.COM Ontario Oakville galleries Greek mythology. In addition, she credits her Grade 9 English teacher Hamish Guthrie, who encouraged her to enter the contest. He also runs the school's debate team, of which Abby is an active member. That's where she got her ideas for the award­ winning piece. "He has always helped me and encouraged me in my writing," she said "This is one of the big­ gest accomplishments I can remember a student achieving in the more than 40 years I've been at White Oaks. We are thrilled for Abby," said Guthrie. "She is one of the most widely-read stu­ dents I teach." Abby said she was thrilled when she learned she had won the contest. "When I got the email, I couldn't believe it," she said. "It was almost surre­ al. "I'd really been hoping I won," said Abby, who im­ mediately phoned both her parents to tell them the news. Robitaille tackled op­ pressive dictatorships and press censorship in The Greater Good. Bow said she was hooked from the first line of the story: "The beauty of running a benevolent dictatorship is that be­ nevolent is a relative term. "I picked The Greater Good because it's just so much fun. If you read teen fiction, you've seen it be­ fore: the crowd of nervous teens waiting for some terrible trial or competi­ tion to begin. But here, it gradually emerges that the kids are waiting to see who is going to be picked as an apprentice to the evil dictator," said Bow. "The story stayed with me. I would absolutely read more of it, and in the end, that's what storytell­ ing is about." To read her story, go to The Greater Good. General $8.501 Children & Seniors $6.501 _____ II seats Tues $5.00 F I L M .C A C I N E M A S S H 0 W T I M E S F O R F E B R U A R Y 9 - 1 5 2 0 1 8 NEWTHIS WEEK: PETER RABBIT, FIFTY SHADES FREED PETER RABBIT (PG) FRI, MON, TUES, THU: 1:20,3:50, 6:50, 9:15 SAT, SUN: 12:30,2:30,4:40,6:50, 9:15, WED: 1:20,3:50, 7:30 FIFTY SHADES FREED (18A) FRI: 11:00, 1:30,4:00,7:20, 9:40, SAT-TUE, THU: 1:30,4:00, 7:20, 9:40, WED: 1:30,4:00,7:20 THE DARKEST HOUR (PG) FRI, SAT: 3:15, 6:30, 9:10 SUN, MON: 3:15, 9:10 TUE, THU: 3:15, 6:30, 9:10, WED: 3:15, 7:15 THE SHAPE OF WATER (14A) FRI: 10:40, 12:45, 7:00, 9:30, SAT, SUN: 7:00, 9:30, WED: 12:45, 7:40, MON, TUE, THU: 12:45,7:00, 9:30 MAZE RUNNER: DEATH CURE (14A) FRI, SAT: 3:40, 9:00, SUN: 9:00, MON, TUE: 3:40, 9:00, WED, THU: 3:40, 9:00 THE POST (PG) FRI: 10:50, 1:15,6:40, SAT-TUE: 1:15,6:40, WED: 1:15, 7:45, THU: 1:15 PADDINGTON 2(G) FRI-THU: 1:00,3:30 WONDER (PG) SAT, SUN: 12:45 BLACK PANTHER (STC) THU: 7:00,8:45 171 Speers Road, Oakville (at Kerr St.) 905-338-6397 (MEWS) w w w .f i lm .c a O akville B eaver | Thursday, February 8, 2018 insidehalton.com http://WWW.OAKVILLEGALLERIES.COM http://www.film.ca Oakville teen wins Canada-wide CBC writing challenge