Well, today was fun. I accidentally kicked over my computer box. (I think it's called the "hard drive" actually, but computer box sounds less stuffy. In any case, it's the big, rectangular, black lego piece that sits at my feet and holds all the stuff.) When it hit the ground it went THUNK! And my screen went black. Oops.

Luckily for us here at Weekly Reader, we are protected by a swell duo known as The Computer Guys! (Actually, I'm pretty sure they're known as I.T., but that's a bit complicated to get into and way beyond the point I will be eventually making.) I ran over to the computer guys and told them of my problem. Within minutes, they had me hooked up to a brand new computer and showed me where all my stuff had been saved.

The TAKE FIVE contest is complete and our winners have been announced in the April/May issue of Writing Magazine. Thank you to everyone who submitted their work.

TAKE FIVE!

Enter Writing magazine's 2005-2006 writing contest! Not sure how to get started? Allow us to give you a hand. We've picked six interesting objects for you to write about.

1) red bicycle
2) elephant
3) chicken noodle soup
4) umbrella
5) shadow
6) key

Your job is to take five. That is, choose five of these six objects and use them to write a poem, a story (fiction), or an essay (nonfiction). You may include the five objects in your writing in any way you'd like. Just be creative and have fun! If you have any questions, e-mail us at writing@weeklyreader.com.

CONTEST RULES – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY!

The competition is open to students in grades 5–12.

Twelve winners will be chosen.

Entries will be judged by the following grade levels: Middle (grades 5-6), Junior (grades7-8), High (9-10), and Senior (11-12).

Poems should be no longer than 400 words, and stories and essays should not exceed 800 words.

Winners will be chosen by the editors of Writing.

Each winner will receive $50. Winning poems, stories, and essays will be published in the April/May issue of Writing or on our Web site. Each entry must include your full name, address, phone number, e-mail address (if you have one), school name and address, parent or guardian’s signature, and teacher’s signature. Entries received without all of the above will not be accepted.

You must tell us which five objects you used and which object you discarded.

Entries must be received no later than December 2, 2005. Any entry received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Mail contest entries to this address:
Take Five! Writing Contest
Writing Magazine
200 First Stamford Place
P.O. Box 120023
Stamford, CT 06912-0023

Or you can e-mail contest entries to: writing@weeklyreader.com 

Best of luck to all!

The DVD of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was finally released last Wednesday, November 9. We asked readers of Writing to compare the book to the movie and to tell us what they liked better.

Here's what some of them had to say:

I would have to say the movie is better than the book. I say this because for one, I'm not too crazy about reading. Another thing is I think even though the movie was less detailed than the book, I like the modern twist to it. In the book, the oompa loompas were little dancing midgets, while in the movie they were renamed as rock stars. Another thing that I think made the movie better was that in the movie you actually know how everything was supposed to look and how the characters were supposed to look and how their faces react to certain things. What I mean by this is that a picture can mean 1,000 words. These are my reasons for liking the movie better than the book. -- Bob E., Grade 7

In The Missing Manatee by Cynthia DeFelice, 11-year old Skeet Waters finds a dead manatee. He tries to track down the killer and .... (well, you have to read the book to find out what happens next!)

On page 46, Skeet says:

"When I finally got to sleep, I had some very weird dreams. The manatee killer appeared. As I fought him, he turned into a giant hammerhead shark, laughing at me, his big mouth open to show rows of shark teeth."

Write about one of your crazy dreams. Submit it to us.