Happy New Year!
We're starting 2007 off right by bringing you an exclusive interview with Ann Brashares, the author of the highly acclaimed Travelling Pants series! The interview was conducted by Sarah Caron, Associate Editor of Current Events, a magazine here at Weekly Reader.

Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, is the fourth and final installment of the Travelling Pants series. In it, Lena, Carmen, Bridget, and Tibby are on summer break from college and heading off in different directions for all new adventures. When we interviewed Ann Brashares about her new book, we could only fit part of what she had to say into our magazine. It was such a great interview that we had to share the rest with everyone here.

On the Sisterhood ...
With the girls being nearly 20, Brashares said that she had no choice but to introduce some more mature themes in Forever in Blue. "This is a young adult book. It's really not intended for the younger readers," Brashares cautioned, saying that she sometimes will warn parents at book signings that it might be a good idea to have kids wait to read.

"The characters are nearly 20 and I feel like I cannot write them at a different age than what they are. But I'm also a mother. I can't not think about the readers so I felt a little bit of a pull. I have a certain amount of conscious and consciousness about it. I try not to have it be too graphic or two disturbing," Brashares said.

Now, the Sisterhood series is complete, but Brashares says that there still might be more in store for the girls. There are talks going on about another possible movie. "Six months ago, I would have said to you, 'No there aren't any more movies planned' but they are working on a new one right now. It's a good possibility but by no means a certainly," Brashares said. And although this is the last book in the series, Brashares admits that there could be a book about the girls as adults sometime far in the future. Brashares also says that she plans on continuing writing for teens.

On being a writer ...
"Being an editor demystified the writing process for me." Brashares, an editor before becoming a writer, says. "I would watch people write their books and I would see the first drafts and all the mistakes and how much an editor can add to it. I just saw that books are sort of living and flexible. It was sort of like I backed into it in a way. Having seen so many approaches to this ... it was kind of like you don't have to be a genius to try this. I've seen great writing and bad writing. It made me think that you don't have to have any sort of gifts to at least try to tell a story."

She said that she always loved reading and telling stories, but wasn't in the habit of writing them down. "I spent so much of my time in my head. I told myself stories all the time, I still do. I didn't write down many of those stories but I wrote down a few when I was younger ... when I was a teenager."

Despite Brashares' success, she says that she isn't sure what to think of it all. "It's hard to say or know anything about it. Part of it is you just think 'That was lucky.' I came into my writing career with very low hopes. I thought I could just patch together some type of living. I can't believe I am getting paid for this. In a way it feels like the luckiest thing possible to connect to a reader as a writer. There is something deeply gratifying about it. That is my favorite part of it."

Advice for aspiring writers ...
"The first commandment of writing is always to read. The more you read, the more comfort you have with language. But just read for pleasure. I know a lot of people would say write everyday. It's a good idea, but not essential."

Brashares also says that having unplanned time -- time where you aren't off to soccer or lessons -- is helpful too so you can exercise your imagination. "I am a big advocate of having a lot of unstructured time. I was, if anything, very under scheduled. I have spent a lot of time in my imagination."

Current Events is an excellent magazine that covers the world news for students. Have your teacher order it today! Also, you can look forward to a **NEW** Current Events blog coming to a computer near you in September... details to come...

ONE MORE THING
The first 4 students to leave a comment about Ann Brashares or the Travelling Pants series will get a free SIGNED copy of her new book, Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood. It hits stores Janaury 9. Why buy one when you could get one for free? Leave a comment below and tell us why you love this series! Hurry! Before someone else does!

Hey folks,

Thanks for a great 2006! We're going to take a very short break but we'll be back soon. No later than 2007. Promise.

In the meantime, why don't you brush up on your Shakespeare? Click on the image below to check out a Readers' Theater adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. This play was originally published in READ Magazine early this year. It stars Miss Piggy as Hamlet. No, not really. Bad joke. Sorry. It's been a long year.

At any rate, we'll see you in 2007! It's the year of great things like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - the final chapter of the most popular literary series of ALL TIME! We're gonna have to do something with that. Right on.

But for now... without further ado ... we give you... Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.

- Poem by Danielle Maturo, Grade 9

Twelve candles on the birthday cake,
It happens every year,
I slowly blow out the flames,
As everyone begins to cheer.

They all ask what I wish for,
I look at them and smile,
"Maybe I'll tell you right now,
Or maybe not for a while."

The years have come and passed,
Faster than the blink of an eye,
My sixteenth birthday is today,
I go up to my room and cry.

I hear a knock on the door,
I quickly wipe my tears,
"Come in," I say in a quivering voice,
Through the door my mom appears.

She sits down softly on my bed,
And asks if it was something she did.
I look up at her with blurry eyes,
"I just want to stay a kid."

This is the 14th  and final piece of student writing in a string of two straight weeks of student writing! Check back in 2007 for lots more!

- Poem by Janelle Wilhelm, Grade 8

I sit in the pasture and watch the stallion graze
His grace and glory set my eyes ablaze
When he runs, his muscles flex
under a glossy coat of black
The grass dances under his hooves,
which pound the ground like rain on roofs
His mane and tail flow in the breeze
in a way that makes me weak in the knees
Such beauty in the spirit of that beast!
His being has the fire of the dawn in the east
I try to sketch him, but he darts out of view
and hides his face behind a yew
I think of chasing him, just to play
and laugh and run on this summer day
But he's faster than me, and soon I'm winded
and just like that, our game is ended
He finally comes closer, and nuzzles me
as we sit in the shade of the big oak tree

This is the 13th piece of student writing in a string of two straight weeks of student writing!

Check back every single day 'til Christmas to see if your writing gets posted.