In Competition No. 2874 you were invited to submit a scene written by a well-known children’s author of the past in which a character grapples with a 21st-century problem.
Pamela Dow reimagines Louisa May Alcott’s girls posting selfies and practising mindfulness, while Harriet Elvin’s Eeyore longs for someone to invent antisocial media and Adrian Fry provides a thoroughly 21st-century exchange between William and Violet-Elizabeth Bott: ‘“William thexted me. And I thexted him. We’re going to thext and thext until we’re…” “Thick.” William concluded, self-pityingly.’ Commendations to Paul Wheeler for his portrait of Paddington Bear falling foul of immigration and to Josh Ekroy. The bonus fiver goes to G.M. Davis’s ‘Jabberwocky’ reworked for the digital age. The rest get £30.
’Twas cleggy and the cybertrolls
Did snark and gribble on the Web.
All memish were the twittermoles
For any zedlist sleb.
‘Beware the Googleweb, my son!
The links that lure, the whorgled word!
Eschew the Candycrush, and shun
The slavid MadBid bird!
Avoid the pornucopia where
The prunts and pantinudes at play
Display their publes, free as air,
And fricticate all day!’
He took his snafrous mouse in hand;
‘Click-clack’ went he, confining thus
The googlet’s algorithmic band
To the salubrious.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in