1. What kind of music was said to accompany the circus acts?
2. List some of the acts that the kids are reported to perform in a circus.
3. How do the kids end each ten-week schedule of circus classes?
4. Do you have any interest in training as a circus performer? Why or why not?

 

1. Why was Harry Potter an unusual selection for the Quiddich tournament?
2. What can happen to a competitor who is not careful?
3. What new responsibility does Harry find out that he has acquired?
4. What were Harry and Ron most afraid of at the Yule Ball?

 

1. Why is it a joke around the school to say that new teaching applicants need long-distance running records on their job applications?
2. What do kids who sign up for Read, Right, and Run agree to do?
3. Why did the school not participate in RRR in the 2004-2005 school year?
4. Would you be interested in getting involved with Read, Right, and Run? Why or why not?

 

1. How were the "sweepers" compared with the ball boys and girls at Wimbledon?
2. Why are local kids preparing to help at the national ice skating championships?
3. How old are these ice skaters that are preparing to be sweepers or presenters?
4. Do you have any interest in figure skating? Why or why not?

 

1. Who is involved in the LEAP mentoring program?
2. Why did the Normandy students join the ROTC program?
3. Name as many of the Pillars of Character as you can.
4. What is the evidence that not all ROTC members go into the military after graduation?

 

1. What did Tony's uncle mean when he said that Tony's "hunting career from now on will be from the peak all the way down?"
2. Why was Tony lucky to even get a chance to hunt for a deer?
3. How do you explain what "buck-fever" is?
4. Do you think you would enjoy youth-hunting? Why or why not?

 

1. What does Lindsey have to do in order to play in tournaments year-round?
2. What other sport does she participate in when not playing golf?
3. Why has she limited her golf playing since entering sixth grade?
4. If she can't make a career out of golf, what does she intend to become?

 

This Month's Book Reviews

A paperback about a big, friendly dog named "Santa Paws"

"Santa Paws to the Rescue" by Nicholas Edwards is the latest title in a series of four books about the Christmas season and the role that a dog called "Santa Paws" plays in making the season a happy one. In this one, Santa Paws is intent on helping his family, the Callahans, come safely through a big pre-Christmas snow storm that hits their small New England town. Even though there is some suspense, the tone of the little book is mostly humorous, since the events tend to be seen through the eyes of a big, floppy-eared dog whose main priorities in life are to eat, sleep, and be part of a family. If he can save a few lives while wagging his tale and making friends, that's just icing on the dog biscuit.

 

One in a series of "spy novels" for kids

"Spy X, Tunnel Vision" by Peter Lerangis is the fourth novel in a series of paperbacks, published by Scholastic Inc, the largest marketer of novels for kids, hardback or paperback. Like most series books for kids, the author has a "hook" that he or she uses until the kids who buy the books stop buying them. The "hook" in this case is to involve the characters in a series of improbable events that, supposedly, keep young readers on the edge of their seats. To further involve these readers, they are served up a series of encoded messages that they can, if they choose, try to decipher before the book's characters unravel their meaning.

Just as there are adults who can't wait until their best-selling author of spy novels comes up with a new one where the main character saves the world, there are kids who like the same genre. In this little series, however, saving the world gives way to saving the family, while saving the country.

 

Noted children's story with an ecological theme

Jean Craighead George is the author of "There's an Owl in the Shower." She has written more than sixty books for children, many of them with an ecological theme. And, of course, this little paperback makes the case for protecting the spotted owl. The author points out that, if the lumbering had been done right in the first place, tree cutters would not have lost their jobs. Hopefully, today's lumber industry is taking better care of the forests - to everyone's benefit, not just protected species. This paperback was named "A notable children's trade book in the field of social studies, 1996." It also was illustrated by a notable painter of animals.

 

A mother and her four daughters try to protect a mistreated teenage relative

Author Ruth White won a Newbery Medal for an earlier book about a family in the rural Appalachia of the 1950's. In "Tadpole", she writes about a similar time and setting. A mother is raising her four daughters on a small farm not far from town. With no husband and the need to work long hours six days a week, Mrs. Collins is dependent on her daughters to keep house and maintain their vegetable garden. When a musically talented teen-age relative shows up and asks to stay awhile, limited resources are stretched to take him in.

The story centers on Tadpole, the guitar-playing relative who is seeking escape from an abusive uncle. It also features the narrator, Carolina, the youngest of the four daughters, who is seeking to establish an identity for herself among her more outgoing sisters. It tells of a simpler time when people seemed to have to make do with much less than is available for most families today.