I am as short as a puppy, and as cute as one too. My ears are as big as an elephant, but I don t live in the zoo.
His ears may indeed be as large as a cute little elephant, but his senses are as sharp as a shark and his talent is bigger than a whale.
His name s Youssef El Kattan, a 10-year-old Egyptian boy from Alexandria whose tiny poem was short-listed among the six best poems selected in a poetry competition organized by the British Council. His entry was chosen from among the thousands submitted from schools around the world.
Terry Garbett, the deputy head of the British School of Alexandria, explained that Youssef s success story started back in January. The British council sent mass e-mails around the globe to British schools registered with them which are located in countries where English is taught as a second language.
The e-mails contained an announcement for a new poetry competition entitled Learn English Kids Poetry that would enable young students below the age of 18 from across the globe to compete with one another and speak about their cultures.
The aim of the contest was to teach young learners to express themselves unreservedly in a creative, constructive manner while learning to explore their little lives and the world around them.
Garbett asked his 8 to 11-year-old students to write a poem that met the aforementioned goals and a screening process took place afterwards where the 10 best poems were selected and submitted to the council.
In February, Garbett was notified that Youssef s work was named as one of the six best poems representing his international age group category.
An advance selection, where students and parents would have had the chance to vote for the best poem among the six, was scheduled to be held later but due to some undisclosed reasons, the British Council axed this stage and decided instead to celebrate all 18 students from the three different age groups (10 and under, 11-13 and 14-18).
Garbett didn t hide his excitement for Youssef s big win. This award is for the whole school, he said. We re one of the very few schools in Egypt that encourage creative writing. This award is a testament to all the efforts of the entire school staff.
Youssef, whose father is a pilot and mother is a housewife, is very bright, lively, energetic and a polite young man according to Garbett. He s a big football fan and always had a penchant for poetry. Yousef told The Daily Star Egypt reporter that he s been reading children s poetry from grade 1 and ranks poetry composition as one of his favorite hobbies.
His award-winning I m as Short as a Puppy poem took him about three days to finish.
Puppy is a very straightforward, playful and humorous poem that brims with the unadulterated joy of childhood and innocence.
It s a smart description of his physical features juxtaposed with objects and animals he s fond of (the comparison of his neck to a giraffe, his mouth to football pitch). Youssef s world is limited, yet his writing reminds us of how such a small world is enormous, fascinating and utterly fulfilling for youngsters.
His poem, along with the other five other diverse winners from India, Israel, Singapore and Turkey, is a snapshot of a time unaware of doubt, worry or uncertainty that starts to slowly creep inside the skin of every child the older he/she gets and is evident in the writing of the two other groups.
Youssef intended his poem to be funny and was confident of winning.
His obvious delight is not only a result of triumphing in an international contest, but also of the brand new video i-Pod his parents bought him as present for his win.
Youssef s favorite subjects are math and science. The main themes of his writings center on himself, his parents and football. He said that he s still yet to write anything about the world, perhaps since he s not been acquainted with a place with dimensions much more complex than the defined outlines of his own little universe.
He didn t seem to truly recognize what attracted him to poetry. For him, poetry isn t associated with the big-headed notions some people associate it with. It s simply just another hobby; an instinctive affection for a stimulating art form that acts like an inner dialogue rejoicing his carefree existence.
Why does Youssef like poetry? His answer is quite simple; It s fun, he says.
