Fourteen-year-old Kate Strube has
been selected among 40 national
finalists in the Discovery Channel's
Young Scientists Challenge. She's
come a long ways from the days in
elementary school when one of her
experiments was with "fruit batteries."
Her 8th grade science fair project
that put her in this year's national
finals was much more complicated.
It tested the effects of temperature
on both inputs and outputs of chemical
fuel cells.
Kate is now a 9th grader at Kirkwood
High School. She and her dad, Michael,
went to Washington late last month.
In addition to competing, finalists
were filmed for an hour-long Discovery
Channel program, to be aired next
February.
She said, "I started doing science
projects when I was in first grade.
We did a team experiment on balloon
rockets."
Her first solo project was in 2nd
grade when she built "fruit batteries."
That involved putting probes into
common fruits such as apples and
lemons. She was testing to see if
they could make electricity.
"I did one experiment that linked
a number of fruits in an electrical
series. I got enough power to run
a pocket calculator for a week,"
she said.
However, in recent years, Kate
said her science projects have involved
tests of alternative fuel sources.
She's done experiments concerning
getting power from ocean tides,
the sun, wind and water.
"We need to reduce our dependence
on oil and fossil fuels," she said.
Kate credits her continuing interest
in science to her dad's development
of a new home hobby. Her dad, Michael,
teaches statistics at Washington
University.
"After I was in first grade, he
started his hobby of building electronic
devices," she said.
One of his more spectacular devices
was a homemade "Tesla coil" that
allows for building up very high
voltage within a small device. The
magnifying coil is named after the
scientist Nikola Tesla, a noted
scientist who did extensive work
with electricity.
Once the release of the electricity
is triggered, it creates a big bang
and a spectacular electrical arc.
"I didn't burn anything but the
neighbors heard the bang," he said.
Kate said her dad was "always there
to advise me" with her science projects.
She was nominated for the Discovery
Channel's competition after being
a winner in the Missouri science
fair competition. A total of 2,000
young scientists were selected by
the Discovery Channel.
This number first was cut to 400
semi-finalists. The number was reduced
to the final 40.
The finalists were invited to
Washington to compete for scholarship
prizes. The 1st place winner gets
a $20,000 award. The competition
was open to 6th, 7th and 8th grade
kids.
(On Challenge, visit http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/dysc/)
Kate's winning project actually
was a two-part experiment. She was
measuring the effect of water temperature
during both the input and output
phases of fuel cell development.
First, she varied the water temperature
during electrolysis to divide the
water into oxygen and hydrogen.
Then, she also measured temperatures
when the oxygen and hydrogen are
recombined to produce electricity.
Successful development of fuel
cells for automobiles is considered
to be one way to reduce the world's
dependence on oil products.
Kate said, "Development of fuel
cells for cars will be difficult."
Her experiment looked at one of
the factors, the ideal temperature
for maximum input and output of
energy. "Manipulating temperature
in a fuel cell is hard," she said.
Because of her consistent winning
in science project competition,
she has been called to speak at
the St. Louis Science Center. "I
talked to other kids about my interests
in science," she said.
Obviously, when asked about her
favorite subject in school, she
said, "Science."
This year, one of the science subjects
has been "force and motion." She
said the kids are measuring the
force generated when toy cars go
down varying degrees of slopes.
Kate said she's already considering
what to study for the 2007-08 science
fair competition. She said she might
study some other aspect of fuel
cell development.
She said she'd like to go to Washington
University. But, she's looking at
a career that would combine her
interest in science with photojournalism.
"I'd like to be a photographer
for National Geographic," she said.
A Missouri Stream
Team
Kids monitor Deer
Creek's water quality
On their first field trip to the
Deer Creek watershed this fall,
7th graders Austin DaGue and Hoahang
Xu did water quality tests. They
used the same sophisticated testing
kits used by environmental scientists.
The two belong to Missouri Stream
Team No. 76 at Ladue Middle School.
Their team's low number comes because
science teacher Elizabeth Petersen
started her team in 1989.
With help from the Missouri Department
of Conservation, teams across the
state regularly keep track of the
environmental conditions of local
streams. Kids in Team 76 make regular
scientific tests and report their
findings to state authorities.
While they're on their scientific
field trips, the kids also clean
up trash and litter.
Twelve-year-old Austin tested for
the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO)
in the creek water. "The water had
11 parts per million of oxygen,
which is pretty good," he said.
The higher the amount of dissolved
oxygen, generally the better quality
of the water.
But, nearby 12-year-old Chase Lambie
said his DO test showed only 3 parts
per million. "That's pretty bad,"
he said.
A lack of dissolved oxygen usually
indicates pollution. Creek water
without any dissolved oxygen can't
sustain wildlife such as fish.
Twelve-year-old Haohang Xu's testing
was for the amount of nitrates in
the water. Her sample contained
1.5 parts per million, which is
considered to be "within the acceptable
range" for nitrates in Missouri
streams.
However, at a different part of
the creek, 12-year-old Jordan Garner
got a much different reading. That
indicated more nitrate pollution
in the water.
Twelve-year-old Briana Kyles tested
for nitrates in another location
along Deer Creek. Her readings were
about the same as Jordan's.
In an urban stream such as Deer
Creek, a heightened nitrate level
is often a sign of fertilizer runoff
from nearby household yards.
Jordan said he likes the idea that
his water testing results "are going
to people who can do something about
improving the water."
After the field trip, the kids'
testing results are forwarded to
the Missouri Department of Natural
Resources. That agency keeps records
of stream water quality across the
state.
Ladue Middle School has a multi-faceted
environmental program. For instance,
several of Ms. Petersen's science
students belong to the school's
Adopt a Highway team. That team
has agreed to keep trash picked
up along South Outer Road along
Highway 40 in west St. Louis County.
Their portion of Deer Creek is under
Highway 40 at the intersection of
Clayton and Warson rds.
(To know more about the Stream
Team program, visit the MDC's website
at www.mostreamteam.org.
Or call Mark Van Patten in Jefferson
City at (573) 522-4115.)
Mr.Van Patten, who is the state
Stream Team coordinator, made a
visit to Ms. Petersen's science
classes late last month.
Twelve-year-old Christina Nguyen
did several other water quality
tests on Deer Creek. One test was
for turbidity, which measures the
number of particles and water clarity.
She also tested for conductivity
of the water. That's a measure of
how well water conducts electricity.
In this case, the ease by which
electricity passes through is aided
by water "impurities." (Ms. Petersen
said distilled water's conductivity
rating of zero.)
Other tests by Christina were for
both water and air temperature.
These tests give environmental
officials a clearer picture of water
quality in the stream.
Jordan Garner also did some water
testing at home. She measured the
pH level of water in the family's
fish tanks. (pH is a measure
of the alkali-acid balance of water.)
She said the water in her fish
tank measured 7.0, which was "perfect."
The reading for water in her brother's
tank was 6.9.
However, the water from his father's
fish tank was a much-less ideal
level of 4.0.
But, Jordan admits that her dad
just had cleaned the kids' fish
tanks but hadn't cleaned his own
tank.
Most of the kids said they participated
in recycling paper, cans and bottles
at home. Also, Ladue Middle has
a paper and can recycling program
at the school.
To round out a busy Stream Team
month, the Ladue kids had a display
during a regional St. Louis Stream
Team conference at Fox C6 Middle
School. This first regional conference
was held Oct. 27, 2007, in Arnold,
Mo.
Combines math with
fun
Metamo4ic Math
Center in Ferguson
Kids attending the
new math center in Ferguson learn
how to figure mean and median numbers
in a very unusual way. They use
a bowling ball and pins.
That's an example
of Ms. Vicki Adams' approach to
teaching math.
"We expose the kids
to math principles but make finding
the answers fun," the former elementary
school teacher said.
"And we don't give
the kids all the pieces to the problems.
We make them think rather than just
memorize the answers given to them,"
Ms. Adams said.
The Metamo4ic Math
Center opened in September. Her
new non-profit organization uses
four large rooms in the First Baptist
Church of Ferguson. The rooms are
filled with interactive math displays.
Eleven-year-old Herbert
Daniel and his mother, Carla Daniel,
were among a group of home-schooled
kids and parents who attended last
month. The 6th grader from North
St. Louis admitted that math wasn't
his favorite class right now.
That's because he's
having problems with triple-digit
multiplication. "I'm not that good
at it right now but I'm getting
better,"
Seven-year-old Alison
Capps of Florissant also was in
the home-schooled group. She was
accompanied by her mother, Cindy
Capps.
Alison's goal for
her math study is simple: "I want
to be really smart when I grow up."
Ms. Adams' approach
to teaching math involves having
kids and their parents work together
to figure out a wide variety of
math problems. They learn the math
principles while working through
the exercises.
(To learn more
about The Metamo4ic Math Center,
visit its website at www.metamo4icmathcenter.com.
To reserve times, call (314)
807-3290.
(The fee for a
2-hour session is $3 per person,
$4 for 3-hours and $5 for 4- or
more hours. There are discounts
for groups of 10 or more.)
Ms. Adams dips into
many different fields to find examples
that explain math principles.
For instance, she
has a number of projects grouped
under the title, "The DaVinci Mode."
Leonardo DaVinci
was a famous Italian artist. He's
known mostly for his paintings,
including the "Mona Lisa." But he
was much more, including an engineer
and a scientist.
Those other occupations
deal a lot with math. DaVinci used
mathematics during the planning
of some of his most famous paintings,
including "The Last Supper."
One of the DaVinci
Mode exercises Ms. Adams uses involves
putting a grid of small squares
over the face in a painting. That
way, the kids can draw one piece
of the face at a time. It makes
it easier to complete the whole
drawing one section at a time.
One of the other exercises
Alison Capps and her mother used
involved a study of measurement
with the aid of outlines of two
huge human feet.
In teaching kids how
to recognize large numbers, Ms.
Adams has wall displays with hooks
and commas between every three hooks.
The kids hang up boards with a single
number on each.
Then, they hang up
12 numbers in a row. After standing
back, they can see what numbers
in the billions look like. (A
sample: 856,712,357,990)
The bowling display
is an example of teaching more complex
math principles.
First the kids form
teams and bowl several games. They
mark their scores on a wall chart.
Afterward, the kids add up their
scores. Then they figure out the
mean, the median, the mode and the
range of the scores.
They even get to see
the work of some famous mathematicians
from the past. For instance, one
display is of a Pascal's Triangle.
Blaisé Pascal was a French mathematician
who designed several ways to show
the relationship of numbers to each
other.
Ms. Adams' Pascal's
Triangle is a series of hexagons
stacked into a triangle shape. Each
hexagon has a number. When you add
two or more numbers together, the
sum of those numbers is always listed
in an adjacent hexagon.
The displays show
a great variety of difficulty. But,
that's on purpose.
Ms. Adams said it's
not easy to determine how much difficulty
each kid can take.
She said, "When I
was teaching at Orchard Farm, I
had a 1st grader who was learning
5th grade math. And he couldn't
get enough of it."
So, she has fun activities
to teach kids math, regardless of
their age or current talent.
Red Ribbon Week
Young kids learn
about positive lifestyles
Charise Lowe and Mark King were
among a group of Jennings High
School students who told kids
at nearby Northview Elementary
about positive lifestyle choices.
The Jennings kids are members
of the Stars and Heroes after-school
program. Kids in the music segment
created and performed at the Northview
school during its Red Ribbon Week
celebration on Friday, Oct. 26.
Red Ribbon Week is a national
program, started in 1988 by then
First Lady Nancy Reagan. She had
started a drive to "Just Say No"
to negative lifestyle choices
such as drugs and alcohol. She
designated the red ribbon as the
national symbol.
The red ribbon was first adopted
as an anti-drug symbol after U.S.
federal drug agent Enrique Camerena
was murdered by Mexican drug dealers
in 1985.
(For more on Red Ribbon, visit
the website for St. Louis chapter
of the National Council on Alcoholism
and Drug Abuse (NCADA). The address
is www.ncada-stl.org.)
Fourteen-year-old Charise was
one of four Jennings girls who
make up a rap group. They call
themselves "Undiscovered." The
Jennings 10th grader along with
15-year-old Sharita Beck are the
two rap dancers.
The two singers in the group
are Charise's sister, 15-year-old
Marissa, and 15-year-old Bria
Howard.
Before the performance, the four
girls wrote the script and "set
the beat" for the music at a school
sound studio. Their number was
named "Statistics."
Charise said the song refers
to the low academic scores of
kids in the Jennings district.
She said the song's message is
"that it isn't cool for the kids
to become one of the future 'statistics'
as they grow up."
The "Undiscovered" group don't
wear costumes. But, Charise said,
"We try to wear similar clothes
and coordinate the colors."
Fourteen-year-old Mark is a 9th
grader at Jennings. His group
consists of three of the members
of "Undiscovered" and two boy
rappers. Besides Mark, the other
boy dancer is Entrée Green.
Mark said his group's message
to the young kids is "they shouldn't
join the 'negative' group of students.
Rather, they should be in the
'positive' group."
Their song is titled "Gear Up."
It focuses attention on a school
dress code that features neat
pullover shirts and dress pants.
Shirts come in three colors, red,
white and black. Pants are either
black or khaki.
Mark stresses that the pants
come all the way to the waist.
That's contrary to some current
styles where the pants end up
under the butt.
"We want kids to follow the
dress code and be proud of the
way they look," he said.
Charise and Mark both participate
in the music element of the Jennings
after-school program. That is
titled "To Read, To Write For
Music."
It stresses all elements: writing
lyrics, picking the music and
then do the performing.
Charise said she's been in the
music portion of the after-school
program since 8th grade at Jennings
Junior High School. She's also
in an ABC (Abstinence By Choice)
group.
The Stars and Heroes program
at Jennings gives kids a chance
to do homework and study as well
as take part in a variety of extra-curricular
activities. Those include karate,
chess, math, science, writing,
reading and music.
There also is a move to start
a group to publish a Jennings
High newspaper.
Mark also takes part in regular
"Big Brother, Big Sister" mentoring
sessions at Northview. On Thursdays,
the older kids go to the elementary
school to help younger kids with
a wide variety of activities.
He's also a member of the Jennings
High School band, playing percussion.
Late in October, the band was
in a parade at Truman State University
in northeast Missouri.
He will begin this month as a
member of Upper Bound. That's
a program designed to help kids
qualify for college.
Charisa is considering another
unique program to involve kids
in college early. She said there
is a program at Northwest Missouri
State University where kids take
their junior and senior years
of high school at the same time
they are enrolled in college.
"After two years, you get a high
school diploma and an associate
degree," she said.
Charisa said she wants to be
either a lawyer or a psychologist.
Mark said he's planning on either
being a doctor or a lawyer.
Local kids have new sports opportunity
St. Louis-area youngsters
have a brand new sporting venue.
Although playing horseshoes might
be new to local kids, the sport
got its start in ancient Greece.
The National Horseshoe
Pitchers Association Hall of Fame
and Museum opened last month near
Wentzville. The museum is equipped
with both indoor and outdoor horseshoeing
pits.
Roy Evans is vice-president
of the Quail Ridge Horseshoe Club.
That's the host club that operates
the Hall of Fame and Museum complex
at Quail Ridge County Park.
That facility is near
the intersection of U.S. 40-64 and
Interstate 70 in St. Charles County.
The horseshoe association has leased
three acres in the new county park.
The 250-acre county park has a special
area for dog training as well as
hiking trails and playgrounds.
Evans, who lives
in unincorporated St. Louis County,
said "One of our museum's big goals
is to start kids leagues here."
He said there will
be leagues in two different youth
divisions. One is Cadets, for kids
10 and under. The other is Juniors,
for kids 15 and under.
Evans said the Missouri
chapter recently was given an award
as the state that had recruited
the largest number of junior players.
Missouri regularly ranks either
first or second in the total number
of participants in horseshoeing,
he said.
Kids use the same
horseshoe pits as adults, but the
distance between pegs is shortened.
For instance, the
horseshoe pegs are spaced 40 feet
apart for adults. For Juniors, they
are 30 feet apart and Cadets throw
at pegs 20 feet apart. The standard
adult horseshoe weighs a maximum
of 2 lbs, 10 oz.
Juniors and Cadets
throw shoes that weigh 1 lb., 14
oz. But, Evans said both ages oftentimes
throw adult shoes because they are
throwing from shorter distances.
Evans said, "If you're
just starting with horseshoeing,
we have people who can help you
improve." He said Rich Altis of
Ballwin heads up the group of club
members who will help both kids
and adults.
The Quail Ridge club
operates open horseshoeing hours
on Sundays, from noon to 5 p.m.
(If you are interested
in signing up for a youth league,
you can visit the club's website
at www.quailridgehorseshoes.com.
Or you can stop by the museum and
pick up an application form. Or
you can call the museum at (636)
327-5270.)
The facility is open
Mondays and Wednesdays, from noon
to 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday,
noon to 5 p.m.
League play started
late last month. Mixed leagues for
men, women and juniors compete on
Monday evenings with 16 4-member
teams competing. On Wednesdays,
12 men-only teams of from five to
seven compete.
Evans said the drive
to relocate the national hall of
fame and museum in Missouri started
about 2½ years ago. He said the
facility was formerly in Tennessee.
"A doctor had given
money to the national association
to build the hall of fame and museum
there. However, the donor died and
the horseshoeing club there couldn't
maintain the facility," Evans said.
He said the New Melle
Horseshoe Club made a push to build
a new facility in Missouri. The
St. Charles Parks Department was
building the 250-acre Quail Ridge
Park and agreed to lease three acres
of land for 30 years at $100 a year.
The national association
then sold the buildings in Tennessee
and used the money to build at Quail
Ridge Park. The new facility was
dedicated last month. The biggest
part of the building is for the
indoor pits.
Evans said he's been
horseshoeing since he was "about
9 or 10" and living in Michigan.
When moving to St.
Louis, he joined a couple different
clubs. But, he moved to the New
Melle club because it had indoor
pits. "I thought, 'Boy, I can throw
all year around,'" he said. The
New Melle club changed its name
during the move to the new facility.
He said horseshoeing
dates its beginnings to ancient
Greece. "It was under a different
name then," he said.
Horseshoeing was a
natural for the United States in
the early days because of the use
of horses for both farm work and
transportation.
But, the new hall
of fame and museum certainly makes
horseshoeing look like a modern
sport. The indoor throwing area
looks more like a bowling alley.
The only dirt is around the pegs
and the rest of the area has flooring.
The new facility will
host the Missouri state horseshoeing
tournament next Labor Day. And the
club is hoping to land the world
championships in 2010.
2007 Gateway Young Achievers
Madeline Johnson
continues busy pace
in high school
Madeline Johnson of
Wildwood, Mo., set a fast and productive
pace during her middle school years.
That schedule of accomplishment
won her a 2007 Gateway Young Achiever
award.
The 15-year-old is
off on the same sort of multi-faceted
schedule now she's a freshman at
Lafayette High School in western
St. Louis County.
Madeline said her
academic workload is "significantly
greater" but there's "more freedom."
She still finds time to get involved
in sports, community and church
outreach.
"Although," she admits,
"I do sometimes look up after finishing
my last homework and find that it's
midnight."
She said her work
last year served as good preparation
for high school. "In middle school,
my teachers stressed the need for
taking responsibility and urged
us to stay involved," she said.
For instance, she
was a member of the Rockwood Valley
Middle School's student council
for all three years at that school.
That included being vice president
as a 7th grader and president last
year.
She's already involved
in the student council at Lafayette
HS.
In sports, she was
active in basketball and volleyball
in middle school. In volleyball,
she played for the Rockwood Thunder.
That select team traveled to tournaments
in the Midwest.
It also earned her
a chance to play for the Lafayette
freshman volleyball team. She practices
five days a week for two hours after
school and also plays in league
games.
As soon as volleyball
ends, Madeline will join the school's
basketball team. She was a member
of the Future Lady Lancers basketball
team during middle school. That
club was a "feeder" team helping
to prepare girls for continuing
basketball in high school.
Selection for the
team involved multiple tryouts.
She termed the competition "awesome."
Madeline earned a
4.0 grade point averages all three
years in middle school.
Her academic accomplishments
earned her the opportunity to be
the keynote speaker for the 8th
grade graduation ceremony.
(Young SaintLouis.com
has covered the Gateway Young
Achievers program for several
years. Last May,
YSL.com ran an article that
named the 2007 winners. Then, starting
in June,
2007, we have run
individual profiles of elementary
and middle school winners.
(If you'd like
to read previous coverage, click
on Past
Stories off the home page
and go to the June,
July,
August,
September
and October
editions for the individual profiles.)
Madeline's Young Achiever
award earned her the school's Excalibur
award during 8th grade. The award
is given to students showing effort,
participation and dedication.
She also won the award
in 6th and 7th grades. In 7th grade,
it was for physical education.
In 6th grade it was
for Theater Arts. She was in two
school plays, "Tom and Huck" and
"Lockers." The first play was about
Mark Twain's dynamic duo while "Lockers"
was a variety show about life in
middle school.
Madeline said her
"own personal favorite activity"
in middle school was student council.
Kids worked on various fund-raising
drives and helped with school activity
nights. One of the fundraisers was
the "Penny War for Katrina," raising
money for hurricane victims.
Another activity was
the RVMS Ambassadors. These selected
students helped orient new students
to the Rockwood Valley Middle School.
She said the Ambassadors "hang out
for about a week" with new 6th grade
students at the start of the school
year.
When a new student
came in during the year, the Ambassadors
also helped orient them.
In 8th grade, she
also was a mentor to 6th graders.
"We'd meet with the younger kids
about 15 minutes in the mornings
to answer any questions they had,"
Madeline said.
She also volunteered
for a month each summer for a Mothers'
Morning Out program. The volunteers
give mothers some free time by babysitting
their kids.
Last year, during
her confirmation at church, she
helped with 5th graders during Sunday
School classes.
Madeline also helped
with food and gift collections at
church and school.
She said she's just
starting to think about college
and a career. "Of course, the $1,000
bond I got for the Young Achiever
award is nice," she said.
She said her favorite
class is language arts. "I like
to speak and write a lot," she said.
She's thinking about a career in
either journalism or law but isn't
sure just yet.
This month's
book reviews
A girl living
in a lighthouse with her father
rescues a baby from the sea
Quila MacKinnon
is only twelve-years-old. The
year is 1848 and the location
is Devils Rock, off the coast
of Maine. Quila lives in a lighthouse
with her father. The loneliness
of the isolated island is made
worse by the recent death of
Quila's mother.
One morning, after
a terrible storm, Quila spots
a piece of debris that has floated
ashore. It consists of two small
mattresses tied together. In
between the mattresses is a
lively and crying baby! Excitedly,
Quila runs to show her find
to her father. They decide to
name the baby Cecilia, which
means "a gift from the sea."
They decide to call the new
arrival Celia, for short. As
the little girl grows, she helps
Quila and her father put their
grief behind them.
A couple of years
later, a body from another shipwreck
is washed ashore. This time
it is a young woman that Quila
and her father bury in a grave
next to her mother. Not too
long after that little Celia
spots a boat approaching the
island. A neighbor from on shore
is rowing a visitor out to the
lighthouse. The visitor turns
out to be Margaret Malone, a
woman from Ireland who has come
to bid a last farewell to her
sister, who had perished in
a shipwreck. Naturally, Quila
and her father assumed that
Miss Malone's sister might very
well be the one they had just
buried a few days before.
They invited Miss
Malone to stay with them so
she might grieve for her sister.
They are surprised, however,
when they find out that the
sister's shipwreck had occurred
not recently, but two years
before, and that both the sister
and her baby had been lost at
sea. In other words, there is
a good chance that Celia is
the sister's lost baby and that
Margaret Malone is the baby's
aunt.
By this time,
of course, little Celia had
become an important part of
the little family's life at
the lighthouse. Could they ever
give her up to return with her
aunt to Ireland? You need to
read this little book to find
out how it all turns out.
A novel of history
and adventure
set at a violent time in England
Twelve-year-old Will Belet was
not thrilled to be called "Little
Rabbit." It hardly seemed a fitting
name for a boy who intended to
become a fighting knight. The
year was 1140, seventy-four years
after the Norman duke, William
the Conqueror, had invaded England
in 1066. Will was growing up in
an England torn apart by competing
claims to the throne. Stephen
of Blois was the reigning king
of England. Many considered that
Steven had stolen the throne from
the Empress Matilda, who had been
named by her father, King Henry,
to be the ruler of England after
he died. Empress Matilda, had
a son, also named Henry, currently
living in France, who was blood
heir to the throne. Young Will
Belet, second son of a minor nobleman,
had to make his way in this time
of warring factions.
The reason Will was called "Little
Rabbit" was because, after earlier
years of illness, he seemed unusually
small for his age. He hoped to
gain in height and weight, but
for the time being, he had to
make up for his small size by
being faster and trying harder
at everything that an aspiring
knight was expected to do. His
older brother, John, who would
inherit their father's manor,
Brindley Heath in Surrey, with
its surrounding land, had left
home some years before to prepare
for knighthood. Will, only now
after recovering from his long
illness, was being sent to serve
as a page to his rich and powerful
uncle, Earl Aubrey de Vere. Will
knew that, even though Will's
mother was Aubrey de Vere's sister,
his uncle was envious of his brother-in-law,
Sir John Belet. Sir John, Will's
father, had a claim to his title
and lands that extended will back
into Saxon times, unlike De Vere,
who had only fairly recently gained
his lands and title through the
King's favor. It seems that Will
was going to a place where he
had to be on guard, since his
new lord was not going to be especially
friendly or helpful.
It is in this atmosphere of distrust
and lurking danger that Will is
to experience the adventures that
make up the content of the novel.
Will wants to develop his fighting
skills and earn honor and recognition
in battle while serving his rightful
king or queen. Just who that ruler
will be remains unclear, just
as it is uncertain as to whether
young Will can even survive long
enough to become a knight. For
a young reader interested in English
history and in reading about the
life of an ambitious youth in
those turbulent times, "The Winter
Hare" is a book to enjoy.
Gossiping or
passing on rumors
can stir up a lot of unexpected
trouble
Jennie McAfee is in sixth grade.
Her best friend from grade school,
Addie Wilson, has become one of
the "pops" in middle school. "Pops"
are what the regular kids call
the "popular" girls' clique. These
are the girls who always band
together to make fun of the other
kids - their hair, their clothes,
how they talk, etc. Of course,
the pops think they are better
than everybody else in school.
Strangely, though, most of the
regular girls envy the pops and
just wish they could be one of
them!
Joyce Kilmer Middle School had
its own student newspaper. Early
in the new school year, the paper
added a gossip column. The column
author called herself "Madame
X," and each issue she wrote a
different rumor that she claimed
was circulating in the school.
No names were used, so once a
rumor was started, everybody speculated
as to who the person was that
the rumor was about. The biggest
mystery of all was who could be
Madame X. Because the rumors she
printed were hurtful to so many
people, many of the kids hated
Madame X, whoever sh
