Kids! What do you want for Christmas and/or Hanukkah? This past weekend, I started thinking about holiday shopping. (Yes, I know it's late.) On my list, I have my two sons, and I also have a slew of nieces and nephews. I don't know what to get for any of them. But I do know what they don't want -- BOOKS!

I'm talking about kids of all ages, from toddlerhood to college sophisticate. My experience has been that a kid unwrapping a gift and finding a book is about as happy as a kid finding ... I don't know ... socks? underwear? pajamas? No, even those items elicit more joy. Especially if they are plastered with images of Hello, Kitty, or Bionicals, or Kakashi Hatake.

Today, my friends, is Lucy Liu’s birthday. I’ve had it marked on my calendar for a few months and had completely forgotten about it—until Bryon pointed it out to me this morning.

“It’s Lucy Liu’s birthday today,” he said. “You wrote it on the calendar with a big exclamation mark. Do you really like her that much?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I laughed, somewhat embarrassed. “She’s pretty cool.”

Ummm… yeah … well, come to think of it … I really don’t know too much about Ms. Liu. All I know is that after I walked out of Charlie’s Angels, I was in awe. I wanted to leap up and slice through the air like her. I felt the same way after watching Kill Bill I. I went home and dreamed I was a mighty martial arts diva—with a pen in my hand.  

So, anyway, Lucy Liu’s 37th birthday today got me thinking that in fact, this has been the week of Lucys for me: 

A couple of days ago I went to an advance screening of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (Check back here for a review next week!) … While watching the movie, I was completely captivated by Lucy Pevensie’s character. She’s curious, adventurous, faithful, and courageous. Just like I want to be. 

There’s another literary Lucy who creeped into my life this week—when I was reading Snoopy’s Guide to the Writing Life.

That’s the Peanut Gang's Lucy (Van Pelt)—in many ways, the opposite of Lucy Pevensie. She’s crabby and loud and loves to give unsolicited advice. Just like I sometimes can be. (So my family tells me!)

Hmmm…I guess I have a little bit of many Lucys in me. ....

"She made us see and agree that everyone should be free." – Bill Clinton at Rosa Parks's funeral on November 2, 2005

Sometimes when important things happen, it takes a while for history to get the story right. For 50 years now, people have said that Rosa Parks was a poor seamstress who was too tired to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. They even said it in the movie Barbershop. But that isn’t the whole story. The facts are very different. Rosa Parks was tired. She was tired of living in a world where the white people told the black people where they could go and what they could do. She was tired of segregation. She wanted it to help end it.

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!