Sisters become world's top tennis players

If you like to read the life stories of famous sports figures, you will like this book. Especially, if you are interested in tennis, you will find the story of the two sisters, Venus and Serena Williams, a book you will want to read.

The book, "Venus and Serena: The Grand Slam Williams Sisters," emphasizes the many accomplishments of these two young tennis stars. They are the first sisters to be ranked among the best players in the world. They are the first sisters to have both won a Grand Slam singles championship. Venus, the older sister, won the 2000 Wimbledon championship, at age twenty. Serena, the younger sister, won the U.S. Open Championship in 1999, at age eighteen. And the book, new as it is, does not reflect what the girls accomplished in 2001.

The young women have drawn even greater attention throughout the world because they are African American girls. Their father, Richard, was the one who developed their skills. He has been their main coach and teacher on the road to their becoming tennis champions. Richard was the son of a Louisiana sharecropper and grew up in a life of hard work and poverty. He studied tennis on his own and, although he never played, he was able to coach Venus when she showed an interest in tennis. Then, to his surprise, Venus' younger sister, Serena, showed very early that she wanted to play, just like Venus. Both girls loved the game and from an early age showed unusual talent.

Only one player can be ranked number one in women's tennis. Interestingly, both Williams sisters have the skills to make it. One of their hardest jobs is when tournament competition leads to their having to play each other for a championship. The book explains how they can be loving sisters, who support each other, yet can compete without reservation, when they have to play each other in a tournament.

Because the sisters are still so young, there is still a lot yet to be written in this story about these two champion athletes. Already, they are famous celebrities and are role models for thousands of female athletes around the world.

 

Controversy and middle grade kids
doing a classroom newspaper

Cara Landry is a fifth grader who printed her own newspaper. She loved doing it and knew she was good at it. Cara was in a new school and, even though she had to print her newspaper by hand, she produced one and pinned it up on the bulletin board. To her surprise, the other kids read it and really liked what she was doing. Her teacher, Mr. Larson, who drank coffee and read newspapers all day long, was surprised by one of Cara's editorials criticizing his lazy approach to teaching. He felt guilty because he knew Cara was right. He decided to encourage the class to produce a classroom newspaper and named Cara to edit it. The class decided to keep calling it "The Landry News" because it was Cara's idea in the first place.

Surprisingly, Mr. Larson started giving out assignments that the kids really bought into. With help from the school librarian, the kids composed a weekly newspaper on the computer and printed out hundreds of copies. The whole school started reading it, as well as the parents at home. The principal, Dr. Barnes, had been looking for an excuse to fire Mr. Larson. He saw the newspaper as a chance to get rid of a teacher he didn't like. He was looking for just one story to appear that would give him a reason. Well, as you would guess, that story did show up in "The Landry News."

The rest of the book deals with "freedom of the press" issues as Mr. Larson and "The Landry News" go on trial before the School Board. There are a number of plot twists before the issue of freedom of the press for a fifth grade newspaper is finally resolved. It turns out Cara learned a lot and so did all the fifth graders, along with Mr. Larson and Dr. Barnes.

For any kids who think they would like to be a newspaper reporter, this is a must read book.

 

A mystery with a real cool New York
juvenile solver of mysteries as a hero

Peter Christian Hawke is seventeen years old high school junior who likes to be called just P.C. Hawke. He has just recently lost his mother. His father is a famous archeologist, who is head of that department at the New York City's Museum of Natural History. Since his father has just left to carbon-date some bones in Sumatra, P.C. can use his father's museum office as a hangout. While P.C. is in his dad's office, one of the museum's bug researchers is murdered. The custodian, a friend of P.C.'s, is caught with his hand around the victim's neck. P.C. knows his friend didn't commit the murder, but he can't prove it, nor does he know who the real killer is.

The story's plot involves P.C. Hawke and his friends in trying to catch the murderer while saving an innocent man from being convicted. One obstacle is a tough police lieutenant, who is in charge of the investigation. She thinks P.C. and his friends are spoiled kids who should just stay out of the way. She is not in the least interested in P.C.'s theory that some kind of hypnosis was involved in the crime and that the killer was trying to cover up the theft of a priceless necklace.

It wouldn't be a good mystery thriller unless the real killer has it in mind to kill the meddling kid who is about to mess up his perfect crime. And the killer almost does end P. C.'s sleuthing career.

 

How about a series combining catastrophe, science fiction, and futurism, all rolled into one?

"Remnants" is the first book in a series called "The Mayflower Project." The author is K. A. Applegate, who is also author of the "Animorph's" series, which seems to add a new book every time you go to the bookstore.

The year is 2011. An asteroid large enough to destroy all human life is about to impact the earth. About eighty people have been selected to be placed in a capsule and rocketed into space. They are the only hope for a renewal of human life.

What makes the story interesting is the strange collection of people that have been picked to make the voyage. The main character in the book is a fourteen-year-old, named Jobs, who is a computer whiz and a genius. It appears that the villain will be Yago, who happens to be the teen-age son of the president of the United States, but unfortunately, is also evil and a danger to others. The last hours of other characters are explored, as they are all being rushed to the launching pad. In the case of one pair of characters, they are trying to figure out how to sneak aboard, since they have not been invited.

The launch is a dramatic event to read about. Book # 2 in the series is called "Destination Unknown."