--Shawn Wu, Grade 7

Through the lofty oaks and into a nest,
a small sliver of glistening light explodes.
Popping up instantaneously, an alert head looks around.
The silent forest stays still,
refusing to awaken.
Suddenly the blue jay's scream cuts through the forest--
she waits.
The uniquely audible echo reverberates back,
back to the lonely jay.
Once--Twice
As soon as it comes back again,
another cry is heard,
it is that of a different blue jay.
A robin joins in.
Next, a curious moole surfaces,
its head covered in dirt.
The day has begun.

This is the third runner-up in READ magazine's 2008 Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest. Check back every day through May 1 to see 14 fabulous student poems. Did you enter? One of them could be yours!

-Zoe Lee-Chiong, Grade 6

A bridge of colors hangs motionless in the sky.
Rays of color play across the sidewalk,
still wet from the storm that just passed.

I long to reach the end of it,
but as I walk toward it,
it only seems to run away,
laughing meanly.
I run,
but it just skips farther from my reach.

It slowly fades away,
I sit by the window,
waiting for another one.

This is the second runner-up in READ magazine's 2008 Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest. Check back every day through May 1 to see 14 fabulous student poems. Did you enter? One of them could be yours!

-Hannah Colbert, Grade 12

The sky at dusk is like my father doing Tai Chi in a big room;
early in the morning, he's moving through the porcelain stillness,
after the sun sets, the clouds are waltzing towards night.
Both are all soft moves and graceful circles,
the slow gestures of strength across the empty room,
the slow paths treading on the wind, across the sky.
There is no curtain to go up.
If there are any viewers, it is accident only.
The man, the sky, they perform for no one;
it is their very nature to be purple and common gold,
to be patient, practicing,
the man moves even as the clouds do,
the clouds move even more like the man.
When they finish, no applause.
It is only the end.
The man and the clouds go their separate ways.
My father starts to make breakfast.
The clouds fade over the horizon.

This is the first runner-up in READ magazine's 2008 Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest. Check back every day through May 1 to see 14 fabulous student poems. Did you enter? One of them could be yours!

The following is a WORD Bloggy endorsement from Esther Yan, a 6th grade student.

The readandwriting website is very interesting in two ways. One way is that they give an opinion on a book. For instance, they were giving an opinion on the Chronicles of Narnia. A Canadian reviewer said, "The chronological order makes the books more strictly allegorical than they really were intended to be...". Another way is that they have many categories. Some of the categories are "Books and Authors", "Get Published", "Writing Tips", "1000 Words", and more.

There are four ways that I would use "www.readandwriting.com". First, I would use it for finding books. I would go to "Books and Authors" to find some comments or opinions on the articles/stories that they have in READ and Writing magazines. It would be helpful for writing an article about a story for English/Language Arts.

Second, I would use it to find cool websites and interesting articles. For instance, if I was curious about the National Book Festival, I would simply click on "Cool Links" and scroll down until I found the section that was talking about the National Book Festival. It's easy as 1-2-3!

Third, I would click "Writing Tips" and check out the writing tips. The tips they give are very interesting. For instance, they tell you about revising. Did you know E. B. White (author of Charlotte's Web) revised his story 8 times?

Lastly, it tells that you shouldn't give up on your writing when you are confused. In the movie A Christmas Story, the main character Ralphie has to write a theme for the teacher on what he wants for Christmas, so he writes that he wants "a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time". He imagines his teacher saying, "Poetry. Sheer poetry, Ralph! An A+!" But when he gets back his paper, it doesn't have an "A+" on it, instead, it says, "You'll shoot your eye out!"

Those are four ways that I would use this readandwriting website.

Thanks for the raving review Esther!

Check back here tomorrow and every day for two weeks straight for Ann Arlys Bowler Poetry Contest Runners-Up!