Bookworm
ABOUT THE FILM
11-year-old Mildred’s life is turned upside down when her mum lands in hospital and estranged, American magician father, Strawn Wise comes to look after her. Hoping to engage the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding — a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
Here’s a little reminder: this is how Nell’s story starts…
Mildred is a super clever 11-year-old from New Zealand. She’s an only-kid raised by her mum and loves diving into books to escape her everyday life. Her big dream is to find the Canterbury Panther, a legendary creature hardly ever seen by humans, and win a big old cash prize. But when her mum gets hurt and needs time in the hospital, Mildred’s dad, who she’s never really known, comes to take care of her. He’s a magician from America who’s seen better days. Mildred and her Dad decide to go camping together to look for the mysterious panther while her mum gets better…
Remember many great stories have a beginning, middle and an end. Nell has given you the beginning, now let your imagination fly!
Bookworm by author, (Ava)
While Mums gets better in hospital, Dad and Mildred are still on the hunt for the Canterbury Panther. Days have passed with no luck of finding it until..
One day they were walking around looking for some new higher grounds for their camping site. It had been raining so they wanted to find shelter up high. That’s when they stumbled upon a Big cave, big enough for them and all their stuff to fit. Nobody and no creature was there.. That’s what they thought since it was empty. So they begin to set up tents, fire, food, beds, and all their supplies. It was late at night just before they were about to head off to sleep but then they saw something, a Canterbury Panther! “It can’t be” says the Dad shookenly, “we found it” says the girl excitedly. The panther then stayed around waiting for them to get the hint and leave, but they never did. They guessed it was hungry and cold, but when they gave him food he didn’t eat it, when they tried to lure him closer it didn’t work. So the next morning they woke up early, packed their stuff and left with the Canterbury Panther. They didn’t understand how the Panther just followed them and didn’t try to run away, most animals would attack or run for their lives, except this panther just stayed with them. So they named HIM Bucky. It was going to take them quite a while to get back home so they would stop and set up camp when it got closer to night. They were eating dinner when they heard a cry, a baby panther cry. That’s when Bucky shot right up and cried out back, that’s when we realized he wasn’t
following us to be friends, he wanted us to lead or help her to his Family!! Since that night instead of going home we’ve been trying to help him find her home.
The mission was a heck of a lot and they had so much fun doing it. They later found his Family, he had two kids and a wife. We then help and bring them back to their home in the wilderness. That’s when dad says “I’m sorry i was never there kiddo, but i’m back now do you forgive me?”Mildred jumps in his arms and they both cry of happiness. When they got back home Mum asked if they found the Canterbury Panther? They replied “No..no we didn’t, but we had a blast camping and doing other things together” with a smile on both their faces. “We should do this again, but as a family this time” Mildred said with a big smile on her face.