Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe!

We hope you enjoyed our Poe extravaganza issue of READ this month. I know we certainly enjoyed putting it together for you. The best part, for me, was getting to interview the man. He had a lot to say and it was really quite an honor to get to speak to him. It's not that often that we get an audience with such a famous dead author. Yes, dead. Mr. Poe is dead. Long live Mr. Poe!

It has been 157 years and 3 months since Edgar Allan Poe has walked the face of the earth. But who's counting, right? Well, even though it's been so long, here's one guy (or gal?) who certainly hasn't forgotten the master of macabre.

A toast! To Mr. Edgar Allan Poe!
A man of whom I never did know
In life, although I did pretend
To meet the man to meet READ's ends

Such is the stuff of silly. I never was a good poet. Wait a minute... POEt? Surely this can't be coincidental! When Edgar (Don't Call Me "Allen") Poe wasn't busy writing the most gruesome and terrifying of stories, he bided his creative time by penning such masterpieces as The Raven, and Annabel Lee (both of which you can read in the current issue of READ). Although Mr. Poe was (and is, and always will be) revered as a great and classic poet, he once was noted as saying, "Most of those who hold high places in our poetical literature are absolute nincompoops." Oh Poe. Oh dear, sweet Edgar Allan Poe.

One of my favorite POEms, is a short little diddy. It goes like so...

In visions of the dark night
   I have dreamed of joy departed-
But a waking dream of life and light
   Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ahh. Sigh. Now I have lost my train of thought. That can happen upon reading such a work of art. What would you name this poem? I would name it "A Dream". It's simple. It conveys all. It works. Oh wait. That's what it's called. Gee golly Poe was a smart one! All right then, since I don't want to steal his idea, I guess I'll say that I would call this poem, "Stanley." No no no.

What else? What else? Well, there's TONS of Poe information in our READ issue. Have I mentioned our READ issue yet? It's all about Poe.

"Who?"
"Poe."
"Who?"
"Edgar Allan Poe."
"Oh. Poe. Why didn't you say so?"
"D'oh!"

Oh hey! OK, so I'm obviously running out of ideas here. That's OK. I've got one more for ya. Although the interview with Mr. Poe in READ magazine is mostly complete and uncut, due to lack of space, there was one question and, subsequently, one answer that was omitted. Hey, lucky you for stopping by here at WORD today! You get the backstage pass! I leave you now with this all too important dialogue:

Me: Soooo, Mr. Poe, tell me, what's death like?
Poe: Trust me brother, keep on livin'.

...And then he jumped on his Harley, nailed a killer sweet jump, and rode off into the sunset...

Hey. I'm supposed to be writing a play right now for READ issue 16. But I'm not. Don't tell anyone. What happened was, I started writing it and then I started zoning out, and then something else came up, and then I had to go to the library, and then it was lunch, and then something else came up, and then we had a meeting, and then I came back, and then I came here, and now here I am. Fascinating stuff, isn't it?

So I've been reading up on my Harry Potter. Is it a sin that I haven't read these books yet? Yes. Yes it is. Well, I've always meant to read them. And now I am. I'm taking it slow. As long as I finish all 6 before the final one comes out (sometime this summer), then I'm good.

My thoughts on the series so far:

Book 1 - The Sorcerer's Stone - Very good. It was a great introduction to the characters and gave me a slight complex about being a muggle.

Book 2 - The Chamber of Secrets - Not so good. I thought that Book 2 was basically Book 1 mangled, mashed, and regurgitated through a straw. OK, so Harry hates living with the Dursleys. Got it. OK, so Harry is smarter than the average wizard. Got it. OK, so Hermione is annoying. Yeah, definitely got it. OK, so Malfoy is Harry's nemesis. Yup, got that, too. Everyone goes crazy for Quidditch; there's a bad guy and a showdown. Dumbledore says something wise and Snape seems to be evil but really isn't... or is he? I don't know yet! But I do know the awful spoiler that is impossible to not know in this Harry Potter crazed world so let's just leave it at that and hope that things work out in the end. Yeah. Book 2 gave me nothing that Book 1 didn't already... except the heebie jeebies. Thumbs down. Not a big fan.

Book 3 - The Prisoner of Azkaban - I just finished this one. Much better! I truly enjoyed it. Sirius Black is a serious dude. I have a lot more respect for Harry now and all the garbage that he has to put up with for just being Harry. I loved how quick the ending came. One second, Harry and Ron and Hermione were walking away from Hagrid's hut (invisible under the cloak), and the next second... BAM! Welcome to the denouement, son! But was it the finale exactly? Nope. First, there was an entire chapter of storytelling that explained pretty much everything that happened in the rest of the book. (I'm being terribly vague for the 4 or 5 people out there who haven't read it yet.) Usually, if I'm reading a book and the ending comes with a pre-packaged storytelling device, I get very angry. Not here, though. I don't know why or how, but something about Ms. Rowling's handling of the whole thing had me spellbound and mesmerized. And if those are the same thing then I was in both places at once. How can you be in two places at once? Read this book and ask Hermione. So there.

So now it's on to Book 4. I'm not going to hit it right away. I'm working on a couple other reads first. I like to take my Potter in spurts as opposed to a non-stop thrill ride. It's for the best... if you're me.

Hey, so you want to talk about Harry Potter? Leave a comment below! But do me a favor and don't ruin the story for anyone (especially for me). Don't give away major plot points, that's all I ask.

Oh, and totally unrelated... did you see the Little Miss Muffet video in the post below? It's pretty cool. just click on it and it should start playing. Tell us what you think! It's the first time we've included video on this blog and I'm curious to know how it is received.

All right... enough stalling. Back to work...

Peace.

-By Becca Giles

Oslo, Norway. Miranda Muffet, who has been missing for three days, was found early this morning. She was floating on a homemade raft in the Arctic Ocean after drifting 400 miles from her home in Norway. After an unconscious Muffet finally came to, she was severely disoriented. However, the captain of the retrieving boat was able to acquire some information. Apparently, Ms. Muffet had been frightened by a strange spider and went temporarily psychotic. Immediately she fled the scene and, in the process, spilled her curds and whey. Psychologists say her reaction was caused by her extreme arachnophobia. It seems that Ms. Muffet felt the sea was her only escape from the arachnid. She is currently in a mental hospital. No word yet on her release.  

SesameStreet.com

- Story by Abigail Slack, Grade 6

House after house, building after building flew by and a soft drizzle lingered in the air. How could my parents do this to me, Jennifer Lantaly, the cheerleader, an A+ student? Make me move away from everything I loved, everything I had ever cared

about!

"All because of his stupid job," I huffed.

"Honey," Mom said, "this is it."

I glanced out the window and a beautiful redbrick house stared back at me. I had to admit it was spectacular. Every inch of the yard was green. Grass spread out all along the yard, the bushes were slightly overgrown, and the large pine trees were dense. There it was, my new home, right there, nestled in the trees, just sitting there, waiting to be opened.

Dad pulled into the driveway and the large, rumbling moving truck screeched to a stop on the street. I climbed out of my father's silver Volvo, slamming the door and making my parents jump. Even though I was disappointed because of the move, I was overwhelmed with curiosity. I had the strangest feeling that a secret was hidden somewhere in there, just waiting to be discovered. I hurried up the front steps and slowly, I turned the handle and the door creaked open.

I gasped. I had never seen anything so beautiful. An old brown staircase sneaked up a wall and the kitchen was bright with many windows. There were counters and old brown cupboards. I walked into the kitchen and reached out my hand and touched the glassy, brown counter. It felt cold, like the window of a car on a winter day. I took in

every detail. Inside a nook, surrounded by windows, I gathered, was the place to put a table. It was cute and homey. I advanced up the creaky stairs, running my hand along the smooth railing. I walked down the hallway and peered into a bedroom. I could tell that this was my room. No master bathroom or giant closet. There were just a few windows on a soft yellow wall.

"My bed will go perfect with these walls," I thought. Just then, I noticed something shimmering on the white carpet. I knelt down and saw a locket with a note. The sun danced upon the golden locket. I reached down and picked up the note. A strange riddle was written on it. It said, O lucky one who finds this locket, a place beyond your dreams awaits you, a magical world and just one simple word, wear the locket and simply say 'open', to discover the amazing world of Anazora.

"What is this?" I asked myself. Was this some sort of trick? Could I really wear this locket, say "open", and discover a new land?

Even though I should have told someone, I was dying with excitement. I slipped on the locket and fastened the clasp. Shivering with anticipation, I said in a loud, clear voice, "open." My brown golden locks swished behind me and the room around me became unclear. Just like that, the room disappeared and a burst of light surrounded me.

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