The Sandcastle Contest - Munsch Review

The Sandcastle Contest
By Robert Munsch
Illustrated by Michael Martchecnko
Scholastic 2005

Matthew's family are packing up to go to the Beach. Matthew desperately wants a dog, but the family does not have a dog. So they drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and drove until they arrived at the beach.


When they finally got to the Beach, Matthew went to see what was happening. There was a sandcastle competition going on. Matthew asked a girl what the first prize was. A bathtub full of ice cream she said.

Matthew started building a house. The house was taller than Matthew, and it looked really real. It had several rooms - a kitchen with a sand refridgerator, a lounge with a sand TV and a bedroom with a sand bed.

A judge came by and asked WHO put this house on the beach. Houses are not allowed on the beach. Matthew said it's my sand house for the competition. HA HA HA laughed the judge. This is a real house and he went in and sat down in the lounge and watched the program on the sand TV.

Another judge came by and asked WHO put this house on the beach. Houses are not allowed on the beach. Matthew said its my sand house for the competition. HA HA HA laughed the judge. This is a real house and she went in and opened the refridgirator and pulled out some sand food.

Matthew was mad. He said, I'll show you this is a sand house and he went outside the house and kicked in one corner. Immediately the house collapsed, right on top of the two judges. Once they dug themselves out they immediately said that Matthew's sand house won the competition, because it was so real. They could not tell that it was a sand house. So Matthew won the bath tub of ice cream. The girl he had spoken to had made a sand dog. So Matthew asked her if she could make a sand dog for him. And so she did.