When the breakfast radio team at 702 ABC looked over the entries in their Zoomobile primary school short story competition last month, they couldn't resist picking Faulconbridge Public School student Stephanie Mader's Bush Babies tale in their top three.
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Each story had to be based about the writer's favourite endangered animals.
The Robbie Buck program was so impressed with the Year 6 student's work, they recorded her reciting it and played it on the show on August 13 along with two other students' short stories, set to the classic song Talk to the Animals.
As a competition winner, Stephanie and her class, 6M, will get to experience an excursion to Simmos Beach nature reserve on October 7 and a visit by Taronga Zoo's Zoomobile.
In Bush Babies, native animals, including Harry the northern hairy nosed wombat and Polly the mountain pygmy possum, head to their local bush cafe to enjoy a buffet of insects, berries, seeds, grass and worms.
When William, one of the baby possums, loses his appetite due to worrying that his grandparents might not survive their trip into another bushland reserve, his mum reassures him that "they won't get eaten by feral cats like your cousins did - we're in a protected area".
William's friends then cheer him up by ordering a tray of his favourite insects.
Stephanie told the Gazette she enjoyed the challenge of writing about the topic as it captured her interest.
"I wanted to know the diet of the animals, so I looked up on the internet what they ate and I thought it would be cute for them to eat at a cafe," Stephanie said.
"The idea of the cafe just popped into my head while I was writing. I think it is an enjoyable story to read because of the baby animals and their habits."
Faulconbridge Public School principal Dorothy Lean congratulated Stephanie "on her success and on the personal initiative she has shown."
Stephanie said her favourite book at the moment is Girl Online by Zoella (Zoe Sugg).