Mt. Hope Student's Award-Winning Story Animated By WVPB

Drake Rasnic, an eight-year-old second grader from Mt. Hope, gets to see his award-winning PBS Kids Writers Contest story come to life.

Rasnic’s story, “Cheese World,” won the Readers’ Choice honor from West Virginia Public Broadcasting. With that honor, comes a special animation of his story by WVPB production associate Daniel Walker. "When I work on a production, I always ask myself who does this affect, and does it accomplish what it was supposed to do? Animation is fun, but hard," Walker said. "I enjoy the process. The best part is bringing something a child wrote at his kitchen table to life. For children, I think that can be a magical experience, one that has the power to change. I think that's why I work for WVPB, to produce content that changes rather than just entertains. If I can do that then I think I've accomplished my goals."

When Rasnic first saw the magic Walker infused into his story on screen, he was jubilant. “It was really cool! I was so excited!”

“Cheese World” comes to life on Swiss Cheese Street as we meet Mr. Cheddar, Old Man Gouda and their cat Colby believing they had not a care in the world. Little did they know, Mr. Ratatat was going to destroy Cheese World that very day.

A school assignment inspired Rasnic to pen his story, but the idea for the topic was all his. “We had to do a thing for school and my Grammy suggested a chocolate town, and I said 'I know! What about a world made of cheese?' ” said Rasnic, who is a fan of cheese, of course.

He will be heading into third grade this Fall and it’s no surprise the successful writer is a big reader. “Reading is my favorite because I like to fill my brain with new knowledge. I like to write because it is fun to create characters."

The award-winning young author is a huge fan of the “Dragon Masters” series and is already reading book 15. “I also like the ‘Dog Man’ series. I really like my ‘Sink Your Teeth Into Sharks’ book. It gives you which types of sharks there are, what they eat, how much they weigh and other facts. I also love to read my Bible.”

Sporting a WVPB Readers’ Choice Award and a colorful animation of his wonderfully cheesy tale, Rasnic offers up a little writing advice to his peers. “Don’t worry about what other people will think of your story and let that get in your way of writing what you’ve thought of.”

Meet our other winners and learn more about the Writers Contest.

Read other winning stories from West Virginia students!

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