 Thursday, May 11, 2006
OK, so not that anyone cares but here are just a few pictures from our Chicago trip last week.
Here is Jives working his Weekly Reader MoJo on some unsuspecting visitor to our oh so impressive booth. "Check out all these cool features in our magazines! Don't you soooo want to subscribe?"
Here are our magazines. They're much more impressive in person.
Here is Sandhya in Millennium Park about to be eaten by a grinning giant.
Here we are. Last day in Chicago. Exhausted. Counting the minutes til our last deep dish pizza arrives so we can catch our flight home. Yes, we look like Pizza Hut employees.
I know. Gather 'round the good stuff.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006
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The following story was received as part of Writing's Take Five Contest. Although it did not win, we enjoyed it very much and wanted to share it with you. Check back throughout the rest of May to read more excellent poems and stories from Take Five. |
In My Pockets
- Poem by Brianna Segars, Grade 6
What's this in my pockets?
A frog, a pencil,
two shells, one stone,
a wadded up newspaper,
a chicken bone, half of
a blue jay feather and a piece
of string, three crayons, and a
ladybug wing, some pink gum,
a couple of cookie crumbs,
a plastic elephant I have a
couple of these, hey look
assorted keys, a melted candy
bar, and a picture of a place not
too far away, my sister's mini-umbrella,
some noodles from my chicken
noodle soup, and what's this? a
Cinderella doll, a plastic red
bicycle, a wheel from a tricycle,
some rubber rockets ... that's
What's in my pockets!
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Tuesday, May 09, 2006
- Poem by Zach Dionise, Grade 7
Once solid and strong, now thrown off balance.
Broken on the shore, unstable evermore,
Steady and undivided, now riffs gaping large.
Undecided, hesitant, loyalties destroyed.
In an instant, an endless, timeless, compassionate instant,
Everything thrown carelessly in disarray ... Dismay.
Dismay for precious moments lost,
Lost in the endless, timeless, compassionate instant.
Restore.
Restore what seemed to be lost for evermore.
Throw back lies, and return strong ties,
Growing slowly as long lost summer's heat.
With moving words and gentle words, may this life be revived?
Yet with each small step, of trust and truth,
Troubles won and lost each way,
Each show equally victories and failures,
Only with this will the life be restored.
However, is it strong, is it of merit worth?
Will this broken shell's restore survive for evermore?
Time will tell, and time will kill,
Nevertheless, time will help all to grow.
Grow to the sky, up and up,
Or down to Satan's halls.
Only time will tell,
If the endless, timeless, compassionate instant will prove fatal after all!
Does Zach's poem remind you of another famous poem? Click on comments to make your guess.
Hint: "chamber door"
The first person to answer correctly will receive a whole lot of thunderous applause here in the comments section.
(Zach, Zach's friends, Zach's family, and Zach's pet armadillo are ineligible for this mind-numbing prize... As is everyone on staff here at Weekly Reader... Walk away, Jives... just walk away.)
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A good name has to fit a character like a glove. If a character's name doesn't make sense, it can cause problems and send an otherwise good story off the rails. Just look at every movie where Austrian-born (and thick accented) Arnold Schwarzenegger had a regular-American-joe name like John Marshall: "Hahlo, ah aam fraam Chicaagau. Mah Nahm is Jaahn Maaasall." Ouch. It's important for names to enhance your audience's understanding of the character ... not confuse it.
Here's a fun practice activity that will hone your naming skills. Make a top five list of band names. Come up with the coolest band names you can think of, and then read through them and describe the kind of music they play. See for yourself how the name changes the way you think of a band's style and substance.
Click "Read More" to read my top five band names. Then, you are REQUIRED to post your own top five band names by clicking "Post Comment." If you read this blog and leave without posting your top five list, you will be cursed to a lifetime of giving your poor characters names that don't work ... and we don't think you want that on your conscience.
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Friday, May 05, 2006
Our trip to Chicago for the annual International Reading Association convention was not without its fair share of culture and good times. Some of us went to the art museum, some of us ventured to the top of the Hancock building, and on Wednesday evening, some of us drenched ourselves in soul, rhythm, and blues at the world famous Kingston Mines Blues Club.
 As we sat there listening to Jimmy Burns and Andre Taylor & the Blues Alley Cats, Jeff Ives (known to one and all as "Jives") came up with the brilliant idea that we should let the music inspire us to write. So that's what we did.
You can read the story we came up with by clicking below. And when you're through, you know you can always try one on your own. It doesn't necessarily have to be a story inspired by the blues. You can use any kind of music to move you... even the sound of silence.
Our strange, sad story, Dancing Aloud, was written in turns by Jeff Ives, Sandhya Nankani, Julie Alissi (One L, Two Ss, Two Is, One A) and myself. If it feels jumpy or if the flow is uneven at some points, that's just because it was written by four different folks with four different visions of what lay inside the sultry baseline of the classic downtown sound that was hittin' us from all angles.
You can read the words that the blues man inspired by clicking here. Enjoy.
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