december 2010 issue of the circle gazette

You may or may not have heard of the famous talk show Larry King Live.

For those of you who do know about the show, let me inform you that this month is Larry King’s last month on the show. In June he announced he

would be stepping down as host. It has been confirmed that the last episode will be aired on December 16 on CNN at 9 p.m. First, in order to know about Larry King Live, let us learn about Lar-

ry King.Mr. King was born in Brooklyn New

York in 1933 as Lawrence Zeiger. He began his broadcast career in a radio station in Miami, Florida, our home state. King got the surname, “King” after being told that the name “Zeiger” was too ethnic as well as difficult to re-member. King had hastily obtained the name King after seeing an advertise-ment in the Miami Herald for King’s Wholesale Liquor, minutes before air time. He had gone from a local Flor-ida radio star to a national radio star, and began hosting Larry King Live in June 1985 and to this date it is CNN’s

longest running and most watched pro-gram. Many things have come from Larry King Live. It was on the show that Al Gore and Ross Perot debated on

the North American Free Trade Agree-ment. It was on this very show that ce-lebrity talk show host Oprah Winfrey made her first endorsement for a cer-tain African American senator from Il-

linois for President. King’s interview style is basically

asking the best questions he can think of and follow along with the answers. He never follows anyone or attacks

anybody. After a twenty-five year reign, the show will soon be replaced by another yet to be named program hosted by British journalist and Amer-ica’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan. I don’t know about you, but I definitely will miss this legendary show and leg-endary interviewer. Remember if you want to see the show, it comes every-day at 9 p.m. Eastern time on CNN un-til December 16. I highly recommend this program.

Phosphates are phos-phorous compounds that can be found in the ingre-

dient list on the containers of many household de-tergents. Phosphates are

usually found in laundry detergent, dish detergent, and, degreasers because of their ability to cut through oil. Phosphorous is a necessary mineral for plant and animal life. Phosphates are used in fertilizers because of their natural ability to speed up plant growth. Animals need phosphorus to help absorb calcium in order to grow strong bones. Hu-mans need this element for the same reason.

So why is it that I am writing in my environ-mental column about a chemical that is perfectly safe and healthy?

Phosphates may seem like a good and healthy product, but looks can be

deceiving. When phos-phates get into the water it causes an overgrowth of plants where aquatic ani-mals need to live. These plants will not be eaten in the quantities neces-sary to keep them at bay. Algae will also grow in high quantities, blocking the light from the surface. Once the light is blocked out, all plants under the surface will die and start to rot. As the plants de-cay, oxygen is pulled from the water, causing water-breathing animals to suffocate and die. Even if you do not live near water, the chemicals you use will always end up in there. Worse yet, when one stage of the food chain gets messed up, the whole system is affected. This is what’s so bad about phos-phates.

About fifteen states around the country have banned the use of phos-phates in dish detergent. All states have banned phosphates in laundry detergent. It seems quite obvious that if states are banning this, then phos-phates are an issue. I am very happy that govern-ments are trying to help the environment. I look forward to when all states have substantially erased phosphates from our wa-ters. Even if your state has not banned phos-phates in dish detergent, you can still do all you can to reduce the amount you use. There are many phosphate-free cleaners for sale in the cleaning de-partment of your grocery store. Be sure to read the ingredient list before you buy the container. If it has

the chemical Nonylphe-nol ethoxylates (NPEs) in it do not buy the cleaner! This chemical is equally as bad, if not worse for the environment than the phosphates, themselves. If you think the green dish detergents are too expen-sive or do not want to buy them for whatever reason, you can make your own. See the recipe on page 3 to learn how to do so.

Show the earth you care by being green!

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE Volume 2, Issue 03 DECEMBER 2010

A Newspaper by Children for Children

IN THIS ISSUE

Green Tip of the Monthby A.J. Cross, Age 13

Boca Raton, FL

Phosphates: Friend or Foe?

by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

GoodbyE KInG

“Larry King Live has aired for 25 years”

CNN’s Longest Running Program Ends This Month

“Mr. King has conducted more than 40,000 interviews over the course of his career”

CREaTivE

JouRNaLisM

A call to GET OUTSIDE from The Nature Teacher P3

Reports from a FAMILY VACATION IN FRANCE P4

Home Depot Workshop P4

A Halloween Adventure P5

Dialog Box P5

THANKSGIVING holiday traditions P5

Meeting the author of “Safe Haven” P6

SUPER MARIO BROTHERS: a video game review P6

Meeting the author of “Ready, Set...WAIT” P7

America’s Growing Problem: a report on OBESITY P9

A report on the LIBRARY P9

oPiNioN P2

A note from the Editor

KIDS & POLITICS Election Update: A Blue Shellacking

LiTERaRY

WoRLD

FICTIONSuspicious Detective Decimo: the case of the missing peaches P12

The Thief P12

Meet “TEPUY, The Green Fairy”, a new character from an original world of magic P13

A playful spin on popular princess stories: the Runaway Fairy Tale P13

The Magic Crystal II P14

The Moon’s Twinkle P14

Megagytes: An Introduction and Comic Strip P15

Stuck in the Middle II P15

POETRY CORNER P10-11Jolly FrogsTragedy: Spill in a GulfFlowers, FlowersThe Lonely ButterflyGiraffes Naughty or NiceHappy HolidaysIn Loving MemorySchoolroom SoundsThe Clock

REGuLaR

CoLuMNs

Green tip of the month P1

Great Catches: It is the Season to Read P6

Theatre World: Double Performance P7

aRT BoX

P15-16

Nature and GeographyNative AmericansWhimsical Creatures

THE CIRCLE GAZETTE DECEMBER 2010

I hope that you all had a happy, grateful, and most of all, calm Thanksgiving holiday. As we look toward a month of holiday preparations, family gatherings, dance recitals, parades and fes-tivities, I have one word of ad-vice: STOP. No, I am not the Grinch who wants to steal your Christmas or the dreidel that re-fuses to spin! I am simply saying that we could all use a break from the hectic pace of the holiday

season. This time of year is tra-ditionally filled with lists, shop-ping, parties, shopping, cooking, eating, visiting, and more shop-ping! Wouldn’t it be nice to take a moment to catch our breath?! The staff at The Circle Gazette would like to recommend to all of our readers to take the time to re-lax this holiday season. Perhaps you can meet a friend for tea and

conversation, take a nice walk through a park, or curl up with something good to read. Just re-member to take a break from the joyous celebrations at this time of the year for some quiet reflec-tion. It can mean the difference between stressful, anxiety-filled chores and the peaceful enjoy-ment of the holiday preparations. Happy Holidays!

A word from the editor: Relax

The Enrichment CircleA Non-Profit Organization for the Advancement of Education

Serena Bruno, Assistant to the Editor

Kids & PoliticsKids & Politics

Hello my loyal readers. Even though you may already have been told, I just wanted to discuss with you the results of each election. First, you must know what the title of this article means. The color blue is the color of the Democratic Party and the word, “shellacking,” means a decisive defeat.

Before we cover national politics, let us start out with our small local elections. Many offices in the state of Florida were won by Republicans.

If you are a Republican, I will start with the good news, but for the Democrats, it’s always better to begin with bad news. To start with the governor’s race, after a very bitter and rather close contest, Republican millionaire businessman Rick Scott has proclaimed victory over Chief Financial Officer, Alex Sink with 48.9% to Sink’s 47.7%. This for me is a disappointing race because, not only will Florida have to put up with a Republican governor for another four years, but remember that I had said Mr. Scott’s 7-7-7 plan had been a proven failure a couple of months ago. Don’t forget that! The office of Chief Financial Officer vacated by Alex Sink due to her gubernatorial campaign also fell into Republican hands as well as the office of Agriculture Commissioner. Another interesting race was the race for Attorney General, which I neglected to cover. Since the current holder of the office, Bill McCollum did not seek reelection; this was an open election, as well as a disappointing one. The republican candidate, spokeswoman and assistant state attorney Pam Bondi beat Democratic state senator and former state minority leader Dan Gelber with 54.8% to Gelber’s 41.4%. Since Bondi wants to repeal President Obama’s healthcare plan I feel that she will be just like her predecessors. May I remind you that this office was also in Republican clutches for some time? Republican Bill McCollum held the office from 2007 and he was preceded by then Republican Charlie Crist.

Speaking of Crist, let’s discuss the Senate race. After the acrimony brought by the three way race, the winner was Republican Marco Rubio who had won with 48.9 percent, beating Independent Charlie Crist’s 29.7% and Democrat Kendrick Meek’s 20.2%. Unfortunately, the seat was

retained by the Republicans, while Crist lost because he was an underperformed governor.

There were also many Democratic losses in the congressional races as well. Take the 22nd congressional district race for example. The current office holder or incumbent Democrat Ron Klein, who had held this seat for four years, was defeated by Republican retired military veteran Allen West. Although West was defeated by Klein during the 2008 congressional elections, it did not happen again because West beat Klein with 54.4% to Klein’s 45.6%. Another congressional race to note was the open election in congressional District 25. The Republicans nominated Florida State Representative David Rivera who defeated the Democrat’s choice, Miami based lawyer Joe Garcia. Joe Garcia unsuccessfully contested for this seat two years ago with a narrow loss. It was a bitter election. Both sides ran a negative campaign against each other. Garcia attacked Rivera on a mail truck accident involving a mail truck crash caused by Rivera’s display of an opponent’s campaign fliers. Rivera was also attacked on his shady job history and Garcia was attacked by Rivera for connection to Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi and other politicians, New York congressman Charles Rangel for example. In the end Rivera beat Garcia 52.2% to 42.6%.

The above two districts caused an upset among the residents because many people believed that an experienced Ron Klein deserved at least one more chance to help the democratic president to execute his program. On the other hand, Allen West, as a former military officer, lacks political experience coupled with his radical background. However, Democrats retained some seats such as the victory of Democratic incumbent Ted Deutch over Republican challenger Joe Budd.

Let us now discuss the national results. The Republicans gained sixty one seats in the House of Representatives, enough seats to topple Nancy Pelosi from her position of Speaker of the House and give Republicans control of Congress. On the bright side, even though the Democratic majority lessened, they still have control of the Senate.

The Democrat’s poor performance in Florida may be interpreted to mean that Floridians are not happy about the way President Obama does his job. From my own perspective,

Obama may have been a little misunderstood, but all in all he is not a bad president. I really hope that this loss allows the president to refocus and rekindle his effort on how to solve the problems confronted by the people – “the economy and jobs.” He is currently trying to forge a way to cooperate with the Republican leaders. As I stated last time, the only way we can know that the new government will bring prosperity is by waiting and watching. Stay involved!

reducing the size of government, cutting taxes and lowering wasteful spending. Since this is thankfully not a registered political party, they toss their support to Republican candidates, such as for Speaker of the Florida state house, Marco Rubio. This movement seems to have issues with the way President Obama is running the country, wherein they oppose just about everything he does.

Another division is the age old difference between parties. These parties are as different as cats and dogs. Their fierce attack on each other encouraged Independent candidate, Governor Charlie Crist, to reap benefits in the Senate race. Since the Democrats are the party in the government, and the welfare of the people is not improving, they stand to rue the people’s cause which the Republicans take advantage of.

Now, that the votes have been cast and the decisions have been made, the election is over. I cannot tell you the results due to issues with this article’s deadline, but you can still find out our new leaders by watching your local news.

However, things don’t end with the election, in fact, in most cases, elections have always initiated new directions, so that leaves me wondering about the new fate the people of Florida will be facing. Will the elected leaders be fair, impartial and make good use of their power? Will they actually try to improve our state? Will they actually represent us? Will they keep the promises they made that brought them to office? Will they remember the people who helped them in their campaign? Will they do something in office other than sitting around, twiddling their thumbs and taking money? All of these questions, and more, can only be answered by time, but, I will do my best to keep you updated about the state of things in the Sunshine state.

Through voting, people put full trust in the individuals elected to office and expect good results…well… good luck Florida!


Deerfield Beach, FL

Election update: Blue Shellacking

DECEMBER 2010 THE CIRCLE GAZETTE PAGE 3

The temperatures have dropped; the weather is absolutely lovely outside... no more sticky, buggy, heavy hot days for a few months! Flocks and flocks of tourists and snow birds (people want-ing to escape the snow of the north) are entering Florida, paying lots of money to visit a place where we get to live! Now is the time to get outside ev-eryone! Get outside, get healthy, and get back to nature!

You might be wondering what you can do outside, how can you get to know nature here in South Florida... let me give you some ideas:

Explore your own backyard. Yes, your backyard - even if it is just a tiny courtyard, there is life and beauty no matter where you look. You and your family can work together to bring na-ture back in to your yard. The National Wildlife Federation has a program to certify your backyard as a wildlife hab-itat. There are some criteria you need to meet in order to gain the certifica-tion, but it is easily done. Your garden has to provide space for food, shelter, a place to raise young, a water source, and has to be gardened sustainably (or-ganic, non-invasive methods). For ex-ample, you could provide a hollowed out log, a pond or fountain, and native Florida plants.

Go to www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wild-life.aspx to learn more about their Gar-den for Wildlife Program and how to

get certified. Another way to know your yard is

to visit it. Explore it inch by inch, take notes, keep a nature journal, sketch a bird flying by or visiting your tree, or an ant crawling up the wall. Does your backyard change day to day? Week to week? What does it smell like, look like, feel like? Do you have a favorite spot to sit or play in your yard? Can you add one to it? Now is the time to plant. Grow some flowers and veg-etables, plant a butterfly garden. You don’t have to go far to enjoy the earth!

If you want to go a bit further, anoth-er idea is to visit your local parks and natural areas. Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties have won-derful parks and natural areas (areas of nature that are preserved in trust for the community). We also have several National Parks and many State Parks to explore. I will suggest a few that you might like to explore this winter...

On a local level, one of my favor-ite county parks is Tree Tops Park and Pine Island Ridge in Davie. Pine Is-land Ridge is a natural ridge -the high-est natural ground in Broward County - topping off at 27 feet above sea level! It is high ground made of ancient sand dunes. Due to its higher level, it has been home to humans for thousands of years. There are eleven miles of walk-ing/equestrian trails along the ridge. It is a great way to get outdoors without going too far.

The most famous, and my favorite place to get out of the city, is the Ev-erglades. You can visit the Everglades

National Park to see the alligators and sawgrass and then head to Big Cypress National Preserve to see the pristine cypress swamps and maybe visit the famous gallery of nature photographer Clyde Butcher along the way. The winter is the time to get out there and see the birds. Many, many birds are migrating through right now, heading to warmer climates. The Everglades is a place of vital importance to the mi-grating birds. They get much needed rest and food while on their long jour-neys. Many of the birds don’t go any further than our shores. They stay here

and nest through the winter and spring, birds like the endangered Wood Stork, the White Pelican, and Roseate Spoon-bills. It is a place of tranquility and beauty, especially when the tempera-tures are cooler and the mosquitoes are sleeping!

I hope, no matter where you go, that you appreciate the beauty of South Florida this winter, or wherever it is that you live! Let the fresh air fill your lungs, and let the stillness enter your soul.

See you outside everyone and Happy Holidays!

by Christie Schultz

The Nature Teacher

It’s Get-Outside Time in Florida!

Roseate Spoonbill flying through the marshes.

Make your own Automatic dishwasher d e t e r g e n tby Aaron Cross, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

INGREDIENTS

½ cup washing soda

½ cup Borax

¼ cup citric acid

¼ cup kosher salt

White distilled vinegar

Mix the first four ingredients together in a container. If you cannot get the citric acid, use ¼ cup of unsweetened and uncol-ored Kool-Aid mix. The main ingredient in Kool-Aid is citric acid. Use one tablespoon of the mixture for each wash. Pour the vinegar into the Jet-Dry com-partment of the dishwasher. A good benefit of making your own detergent is that there is no container to have to worry about recycling. Use the same container each time you make a new batch. Now you can feel good about yourself helping the environment, while you are saving money.

Did You Know...

…that recycling and composting rates recovered 32.1 percent of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in the US in 2005? According to the statistics published by Greenliving.com and Green Headquarters (greenhq.net). The US General Accounting Office only reports every two years. That is a significant increase from 1980, when less than 10% was recycled. The bad news is: Since 1980, the generation of MSW had grown by 60% – nearly 246 million tons per year in the same year!

“Recycling” by Diego Infanzón, Age 5. Wax crayons on paper.

The New date and time is: Saturday February 5, 2011 10 a.m .to 2 p.m.


My Family vacation in Franceby Julian Lewis, Age 12

Plantation, FL

Visiting Franceby Zurie Lewis, Age 9

Plantation, FL

Hi I’m Zurie. I am going to talk about my visit to France this year. First, we stayed at our friend John’s house for two nights in the city of Orsay, and then we went to Paris for almost two weeks. We stayed next to a park that had lots of puppies; there I met a six month old German Sheppard. In

France there is a delicious bub-ble gum called Malabars and I learned how to blow a bubble for the first time. After our visit to Paris, we went to Le Beauset in the South of France for one week. We stayed at a great house where I met a black cat that I called Kit-Kat. I fed her every day. I could smell Jasmine everywhere.

We played Chat-Couleurs a lot. This is a game similar to tag but the person who is ‘it’ calls out

a color and you have to run and touch it before they touch you. Our last night in Le Beauset, we roasted marshmallows and made S-mores and then we went back to Paris for three more days. In Paris there was an ice-cream place where I would always get the flavor mango. Oh yeah! The last place we stayed in had a great view of the Eiffel Tower.

I had a great time in France.

France is a wonderful place with things to do, places to see and good food to taste. The first things I want to share with you are all the interesting activities I like to do. You can go up the Eiffel Tower or ride a carousel or go to the South of France. I especially liked going to Parc de la Villette on the east side of Paris, because there is a pretty big outdoor play area with tram-polines, and a zip line. That is a ride that has a metal line and something that you hold onto, then you run jump and swing on

the line to the other side. This last visit we went down into The Catacombs which are miles and miles of tunnels underneath Paris where you can find many skeletons (and get painful feet). That visit was good.

Next, I will tell you about the things I saw when I went to the South of France to Le Beauset. I saw the most beautiful view on the top of a mountain. You could see the ocean with all the colorful houses, and the accent of the people there sounds Ital-ian. If you listen to a French

person that lives in Paris and a French person that live in the South of France you would hear the difference.

Now, my opinion of the food in France and the food here: I think the food in France is bet-ter than it is here because the food in France has better qual-ity and I had the best Italian ge-lato there too. I saw some of my best friends there that I had not seen in four years. It was nice to see France again.

Home depot W o r k s h o pby Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age 7

Davie, FL

My dad and I went to the Home Depot building workshop for children. First, we nailed the nails into the boat. I love going to Home Depot with my dad because it is a dad and son time. The FB-1 boat we built is nice.

“Eiffel Tower” by Sofia Serrano. Soft pastels on paper.

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home mother of today! You are interested in the world around you, want a variety of activities for you and

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go to International MOMS ClubSM www.momsclub.org.


Once there was a family that had no turkey for Thanksgiving. They got lucky and went to a store and found the last Turkey they had for sale.

The girls had been nervous and concerned because they were not sure they would find the turkey, but now they were happy and excited.

When they got home they enjoyed cooking the turkey and the rest of the food. They made gravy, cranberry sauce, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and “bollos de atún.” Bollos de atún are tamales made out of corn meal and veg-etable stew with tuna fish. This is a traditional dish from Venezuela.

The family cooked for about four hours. After that they all sat to enjoy a pleasant meal.

The table was set with an orange and red table cloth, there were two glad candle holders with green candles on the top and there were fancy glasses for

punch and water.The big turkey was close to the middle of the table,

the gravy and the cranberry sauce and relish were at its side.

Before they started eating, they all said “thank you for a good life.” They made a toast and drank their drinks. The food was tasty. One of the girls said she liked the mashed potatoes the best.

When dinner was over, the girls went off to play while their mother and father cleaned up the dishes. And then they all went to sleep after a great feast.

Halloween was a very rainy, dreary evening. Walking with my two friends Raven and Ryo was quite an adven-ture. Our moms had to drive us around the neighborhood where we knocked on doors. It was so rainy it was hard to run from house to house. They let us go eight or so blocks. It was fun trick-or-treating in the rain.

Once we finished, we sat on the floor of my friend’s house looking through our loot... man did we get a lot of candy! Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and my friend’s dad went to see the trick-or-treaters and told them the family had run out of candy. A few minutes later there was a LOUD BANGING Knock on the door. My friends ran to see who it was and they yelled out: “Someone needs you Mom!” The way it sounded made my mom and me jump up. There was a boy sitting on the steps, head hang-ing low. The boy said someone just hit him, stealing his bike and his mask… and they tried desperately to take his candy bag too.

The attackers had punched his head and had thrown many eggs all over him. My mom inspected his head and jumped up and out of the house to find the crowd that hurt this boy, Ricardo. She saw a man nearby walking in the rain, walking with a bike. She asked him, did you find that bike? Yes, he said. It was great when the man walked it over to the boy.

Luckily, we all helped the boy in the dark. It was a strange twist to our Halloween experience. Then, we got back to what mattered to us next, our CANDY!

by Ricky Litz, Age 10

Fort Lauderdale, FL

DIALOGUE BOXMeet Darian HaberlandSad Twist to Halloween

Darian is a ten year old girl that attends St. Bonaven-ture Catholic School in Weston, FL. She is in 4th Grade. Darian was born in Hollywood and now lives in Davie.

Her favorite holiday is her own birthday and she loves to sing, sing and sing. If it were up to her she’d eat waf-fles and whip cream every day. She loves to watch Ex-treme Panda Adventures, her favorite song is Tik Tok by Kesha; and you should know that she enjoys very much reading Boys are Dogs. Darian’s favorite theater play is A Christmas Carol.

If she could meet a fictional character, she’d choose to shake hands with Ang (from the Last Airbender) for he knows how to work out all four elements. Just as much, Darian wanted to meet real life Buddy from popular TV show The Cake Boss, because he makes amazing cakes. Last summer, Darian and her family visited the actual bakery The Cake Boss in New Jersey. To read more about this adventure read her article online in the September issue of The Circle Gazette at www.enrich-mentcircle.com. That summer was fun; Darian only re-grets not spending more time with her baby cousins and not actually being able to meet Buddy at the bakery.

Darian’s least favorite thing to do is Karate but most of her friends would be surprised to know that she wears a black belt in her Kimono. She is very proud of this achievement.

She doesn’t have a good excuse for not finishing her work on time and she thinks that most adults don’t un-derstand how tough it is for kids to have them as par-ents.

In her free time, Ms. Haberland likes to watch TV, read and play on the computer.

Darian, describes herself as friendly, caring and talk-ative and she likes to imagine that she is a famous ac-tress. Next summer, she would like to go somewhere she has never been to.

To wrap things up, Darian Haberland is a regular con-tributor to The Circle Gazette and she thinks that the most remarkable thing about her is that she is who she is: “I’m me” – she said.

“man did we get a lot of candy!”

Thanksgivingby Alizdair Sebastien Ray, age 7

Davie, FL

I love Thanksgiving! It is a great time of the year. I take a holiday to visit family in North Carolina with my mom and dad. We eat tur-key and turkey is great! We watch football. Thanksgiving is the best holiday. I play with my cousins. I have the best family!

Did You Know...… that the cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as the food of worship and holiness, Horn of Amalthea, harvest cone, and horn of plenty.

“Cornucopia” by Brandon Ungar, Age 5. Deerfield Beach, FL.

Multimedia.

The Great Feast

Fall Festivities

by Emma Gómez, Age 7

Margate, FL

“The table was set with an orange and red table cloth… The big turkey was close to the middle…”


Meeting Nicholas Sparks

Nickolas Sparks is one of my sister Jillian’s favorite authors. He is a popu-lar author and the long lines [outside the book store] told me that.

We got to meet him at the book store Books and Books in Coconut Grove on September 18. I went with four friends and my sister. We waited on the side-walks for awhile. Inside the lines were long, too. Everyone bought the book, which was his brand new release, titled “Safe Haven.”

Nicholas was stupendous and a great person to meet. He seemed very happy meeting every person there. My sister got an autographed copy of his newest book. He has written sixteen books so

far and he lives in North Carolina.We had fun in the lines, hanging in a

cool outside cafe in the middle of the store. They had a restaurant, too. And so many books.

After meeting the author, we walked and went to a great candy store right nearby. We tried different candy sam-ples. My mom, Debbie, bought us chocolate covered popcorn...and all four of us begged for every last kernel. It was delicious with very good rich flavored chocolate.

I want to go back to that bookstore and then over to the candy store once again.

Jump into an adventure with the game New Super Mario Bros Wii! Released in 2009, this game is fun for the whole family. The game is the newest sequel of “New Su-per Mario Bros” for Nintendo DS, released in 2006. But the original “Mario Bros” was released for ar-cade in 1983. My mom played it when she was little. Did your mom or dad play it?

The main goal of the game is to rescue the captive Princess Peach. You will pass through eight worlds, each containing different levels. Of course, there will be enemies such as Koopas, Goombas, Buzzy Bee-tles, Spiny Koopas, Paratroopas and many more. I you don’t have the game yet, go to www.mariowiki.com and you could find out more. You and your family can play (up to 4 players) and become Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, Luigi and Mario. Which character would you pick?

In some levels, there is more than one exit. If you find the secret exit, it could lead you to new pathways, restricted areas and levels! Every world except World 7 and World 8 has warp cannons. These cannons let you skip worlds. The cannons shoot you out of a world and then you land in a different one. You can unlock these by finding a secret exit in any course. If you can’t find the secret exit, you can go to Prin-cess Peach’s castle in World 1 (W-1) and you can use “star coins” to watch instructional “hint” videos to help you find your way. To get star coins, you must find three stars in each level. Save them up to buy lots of different hint videos!

In each world, you will find two fortresses: a small one and a big one. Each fortress is ruled by a boss

whom you must battle and defeat in both the big and the small fortress. Each world has a different boss! In some worlds, there will also be an airship called “Bowser Boat”, which has an additional boss. If you want to learn more about these mean bosses please visit the website mentioned above.

World 8 is my favorite. It has a humongous fortress, the biggest in the game. You must battle its gi-gantic boss and if you win, you can rescue Princess Peach and fly away with her in a hot air balloon! You have a chance at collecting lots of coins (points to earn more lives) at the scene where they show the vid-eo game credits. And then enjoy all your victories by watching a movie of the fall of ALL your game en-emies.

Another great feature of this game is that if you are stuck on a level and you lose more than 6 lives, Luigi, the ‘Super Guide,’ will come in the screen and show you how to do the level. After he finishes you can choose to skip the level or play it anyway.

Just because they show the credits and you have defeated all your en-emies and rescued the Princess does not mean that there is nothing else to do in the game! There is a nice surprise after, which I will not spoil for you!

This game is very enjoyable. I think it is very much worth it. I hope you have enjoyed my review!

by Ricky Litz, Age 10

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Author visited the Miami area to promote his newest book

“Safe Haven”

“I went with four friends and my sister”

New Super Mario Bros WiiA Video Game Reviewby Felipe Peña, Age 11

Boca Raton, FL

Hello, diligent readers of my col-umn. It may be the end of the year, but… there is never an end to good, juicy books. With the holidays com-ing up, there are many sensational books out there that you can either read or wrap up and place under a tree as a gift to a friend because, there is no gift like a good book. Happy holidays!

How the Grinch stole ChristmasAuthor: Dr. Seuss Age level: Kindergarten and upRating: Old, young short or tall, none of

us could possibly tire of Dr. Seuss’s classic tales, especially this tale about how a greedy, hateful creature discovers that the spirit of Christ-mas might not be able to be stolen away in a sack in the dead of night.

The Latke who wouldn’t stop screaming

Author: Lemony Snicket Age level: 1ST Grade and upRating:Though we are all probably more

than aware of the existence of Ha-nukah, many of us don’t actually know what it is about. Our igno-rance brews up the irritation of a potato latke who is provoked by how people (or in this case, objects) don’t know that it and Christmas are completely different things.

KwanzaaAuthor: A.P. Porter Age level: 3rd grade and upRating: Though Kwanzaa is very impor-

tant to some people, many others don’t have the faintest clue what this holiday is about. Learn all about Kwanzaa’s purpose, steps, signifi-cance and so much more when you catch this book.

It is the season to read!by Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Great Catches!


Ms. Jo Ellen, a librarian, invited us to the library in Oakland Park to hear a new author read her book to all of us. Patti Zelch was a teacher at Lloyd Estates Elementary in Oakland Park, Florida for twenty years. She read for us her first showing of her book “Ready Set ...Wait.”

He grandson, Jaxon asked her one day what happens to the wild animals when the hurricane comes. She said she did not know and decided to find out. She contacted many research specialists. She called the Dolphin Research Center in Key Largo, the Harbor Branch of the University of South Florida, the Uni-versity of Florida, and other scientists everywhere including New Hampshire and Australia. She wanted to expand her knowledge so her book could be very re-

alistic.What she researched she turned into

basic instinct survival information and reported on what nine animals do when

they sense danger and what they do dur-ing the arrival of a hurricane. Her book was very artistic and a great story.

We humans are notified on TV of what to do. We board up windows, collect food, and plan an escape route. We get ready to hide out. We then prepare for the long run.

According to Ms. Zelch’s book, peli-cans and herons hide in the mangrove is-lands, and the manatees hide near the sea grass beds, where there is a lot to eat. The sharks leave the shallow areas and head out to deeper waters. Fish swim back and forth in large schools and swim all twist-ed turning back and forth to show other fish danger lies ahead.

The illustrator never met Ms. Zelch. The publisher chose who would draw the illustrations for the book. Her name is Connie McLennan from another state, California. Her drawings are beautiful. They look so real.

Mrs. Zelch reading her book to us last September 14, has made me research and learn more information on this topic.

This also made me want to write my own books.

Oh yeah, the punch and cookies they gave us that day were super!

Theatre World: double PerformanceAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland & A Midsummer Night’s Dreamby Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

This December issue will be a spe-cial one, a double performance theater review. Perhaps because it is getting near holiday time, there is no particu-lar reason except that I saw two shows that I really wanted to review.

The first play that I will review is a well-known story: Alice’s Adven-tures in Wonderland directed by Stephanie Ansin and presented by the PlayGround Theatre in Miami Shores. Starring Shira Abergel as Alice, Jesus Quintero as the King of Hearts and Melissa Almaguer as the owl, the dor-mouse and the Red Queen of Hearts. Linda Bernhard played a macaw and the Chesire Cat. Marjorie O’Neill-Butler was the White Rabbit. This version of Alice in Wonderland was written by Stephanie Ansin and Fer-nando Calzadilla.

The play began when Alice (Shira Abergel), a young girl woke up in the morning ready for school and the White Rabbit (Marjorie O’Neill-Butler) came onstage through the audience saying “I’m late!” Alice curiously followed the rabbit until she found a wall of doors and a large key, she wanted to open those doors but they would not do so. Alice was upset until she found a tiny door that fit the key; she looked into it and saw a lovely garden. She decided that she had to go in that beautiful place of nature so she tried to squeeze in but the door was too small and again she was sad. A bottle floated down from out of nowhere. It was labeled “Drink me.” Alice inspected the bottle, “It isn’t marked poison,” she noted and if it wasn’t marked so, it shouldn’t be so. Alice decided to drink whatever was in the bottle and when she did she began to shrink… In the background, there was a screen that could have videos and pictures on it, the videos were done by Maria Teresa Alvarado and Nicholas Kunstle and the photog-raphy by Maria Teresa Alvarado. It made interesting effects at particular points such as shrinking and enlarging and also when Alice was swimming in her own tears. When Alice was small (after a big shrinking video on the screen) a tiny figure of Alice in a remote controlled toy car would come onstage and the actual Alice would re-mote-control it while onstage herself and make facial expressions and talk while she moved the car wherever she needed. That made a nice effect. I loved that part.

There was a scene with the Mad Hatter (Troy Davidson), the Dor-

mouse (Melissa Almaguer) and the March Hare (Ilana Isaacson) that was very well-done. Melissa Almaguer did a very good job with the Dor-mouse part; it wasn’t goofy or out-of-character. The Dormouse once tried to tell a story and she had to do it quick because she was prone to fall asleep. “Once upon a time, there were three sisters…” she did a little dance before she said anything. The audi-ence (Alice, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare) often interrupted her to ask things like: “Why did they live in the bottom of a well?” In the end the story was about three sisters who lived in the bottom of a well and they wanted to learn how to write with the letter ‘M.’ The Dormouse said they wrote words like much and then she said “Much of a muchness” and gig-gled. That was very funny and it was acted well.

There was a colorful scene where some animals including a macaw (Linda Bernhard), an owl (Melissa Almaguer), a grouper (Ilana Isaac-son), a duck (Jesus Quintero), a mouse (Robert Johnston), a turtle (Troy Davidson) and a crab (Stephen Elliot Kaiser) danced. This was when Alice cried until she was drowning in a pool of tears. She swam around and being small at the moment, it was hard to see the shore. Animals had been trapped in this ocean triggered by sadness and the only one happy was the grouper who swam gladly. When Alice saw a mouse she said hello and asked for help but the mouse didn’t reply. “Donde esta mi gato?” (Trans-lation: Where is my cat?) Alice called, the mouse did not like that, he began to run away, but Alice apologized and the mouse and other animals gathered around her. When they found their way out, they all (except the grouper) wanted to get dry, and they all decided that a kind of race in which you start when you want and stop when you want was the only solution, so they all got ready. When the race was over, the crab announced that everyone had one and all needed prizes, they all agreed that ‘the girl’ (Alice) needed to hand them out. She dug in her bag and found some bubble gum for everyone. There was a little song where they danced and chewed the gum, it was such a funny little scene with all the animals chewing with great exaggera-tion. When that was over, the animals realized that Alice also needed a prize, she found in her bag an old lipstick and the crab took it and gave it to her as an award.

I liked the performance; it was cre-ative, and sweet. They are perform-ing now through December 19. I re-ally recommend Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland and for more information on the PlayGround Theatre and their upcoming performances go to www.theplaygroundtheatre.com.

The next play I will be reviewing is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, di-rected by Jennifer Pedraza and pre-sented by the Fort Lauderdale Chil-dren’s Theatre at their Studio Theater at Galleria Mall. Danny Willis played the part of Lysander and Dara Homer was Hermia, two young Athenians from the time of Ancient Greece, who were in love but could not marry, not in Athens anyway. Hermia’s father (Christopher Benjamin) wanted her to marry a man named Demetrius (Matt Botkin). Hermia’s best friend, Helena (Brittany Payne), wanted to marry Demetrius but he loved Hermia not Helena. Hermia’s father went to The-seus (Ethan Abramson) and told him that Hermia wanted to marry Lysand-er, not Demetrius as she was supposed to. The situation got worse as Hermia and Lysander grew more and more in love and finally they decided to run away until they found a place where they could marry. Hermia told Helena that she was running away at night-fall and said goodbye. Helena had an idea, if she told Demetrius that Hermia and Lysander were leaving, he would be grateful, in fact, so grate-ful that he would fall in love with her! Let Hermia marry Lysander if she wanted to! She was going to marry Demetrius!

In the meantime, the Queen of Fairies (Delaney Kline) and the King of Fairies (Ethan Abramson) were arguing. The Queen had found an In-dian prince (Logan Moreno), a little boy, who now was one of her follow-ers. The King wanted the Indian to be one of his followers but the Queen refused to let that happen. Slyly, the King went to Puck (Nicolas Saenz), an elf boy that was one of his sup-porters and told him to find the flower shot by Cupid’s arrows that had mag-ic nectar. If one sprinkled it into the eyes of another, that person would fall madly in love with the first per-son or animal they saw! The king told Puck to collect the flower and bring it to him.

Helena was certain that her plan would work so she went to Demetrius and told him of Hermia and Lysand-er’s plan. He thanked her and, surpris-ing poor Helena, he set of at once to look for Hermia. Helena followed him and begged his attention as he started away from Athens. The King of Fair-ies happened to see Helena talking unsuccessfully to Demetrius and took pity on her. He called Puck at once to his side. He ordered him to not only bring him a flower, but to take one

himself and sprinkle it on the eyes of a man with a woman he did not love while he slept. That way, when Dem-etrius awoke in the morning he would see Helena and fall in love with her. Puck set off for the place where he would find this flower.

While this happened, a group of amateur actors (Mikey Simon, Casey Mcdonell, Cinthya Nunez, Chad

Coolidge, Jacob Greene and Ernesto Stewart) went around from place to place performing a play everywhere they went. They wanted to perform for Theseus since he was getting mar-ried to Hippolyta (Delaney Kline), the Queen of the Amazons. They all tried to perfect their performance but it was hard to do so.

Puck found the flower and headed off to find this girl and unloving man. Hermia and Lysander had just fallen asleep near Puck and as the King’s helper approached the two and mis-taking them for Demetrius and Hel-ena, poured the magical nectar into Lysander’s eyes and left to report to his king. The King was proud of his devoted supporter and he went to his wife’s chambers and as she slept, he took out his flower and put the potion in her eyes. Then he went out and happened to come across the actors

that wanted to perform for Theseus and his bride. He cast a spell on one that changed his head from that of a human to that of a donkey! Then he led it near the Fairy Queen’s room where she would see him first thing in the morning. After a night of events that could only happen in a dream, everybody awoke and assumed it must have been a strange Midsummer

Night’s Dream. I loved the play. The actors did a

great job and the setting (by Tyler Smith) was very nice and believable. At the entrance to the theater there was a sign that said:

WELCOME TO NEW ATHENSThat was very funny. I loved the

play. If it could be performed again like it was when I saw it, I would def-initely recommend it, but since it has already passed, I hope you could have seen it right now through my review. For more information on the next plays coming up at the Fort Lauder-dale Children’s Theatre go to www.flct.org. The next show at FLCT will be Snow White and I’m in it! It will be December 17 and 18 at the Main Library Theater in Fort Lauderdale. Watch many shows this holiday sea-son and come with me as the lights go out!

by Ricky Litz, Age 10Fort Lauderdale, FL

“Mrs. Zelch reading her book to us … has made me research and learn more

information on this topic… also made me want to write my own books”

Jesús Quintero, Melissa Almaguer in ALICE’S ADVEN-TURES IN WONDERLAND. Photo by Pavel Antonov,

2008. Courtesy of The Playground Theatre.


The staff of The Enrichment Circle &

The Circle Gazette wishes a

Happy and Restful Holiday Seasonto all our young writers and artists, to our

subscribers and partners and to all our sponsors.We appreciate your work and your support,

without which there would be no paper.We opened up 2010 with an eight-page issue full of stories and art; and through twelve months we have featured more than 400 pieces of high-quality work from children of all ages from all over South Florida and beyond. The holidays help us wrap up a full year of color with our first sixteen-page issue!

We keep growing and getting better and better.Join us!

Find more information about us on Page 2 or online at www.enrichmentcircle.com.


I have been reading since I was four and now I am sev-en. I think every kid should go to the library and check out books. First, I started off with Storytime Fun, but I decided to join Read and Learn Storytime. I have been going to the Alvin Sherman Library at Nova since I was a baby. They held a gradu-ation for my age level and I read a book aloud for the ceremony.

I felt very proud. I love the li-brary!

One of my favorite things about the library is the librar-ians. I decided to interview two librarians, Ms. Rebecca and Ms. Meagan, at the Alvin Sherman Library so I could learn more about them. I asked them how long they had been doing Sto-rytime. Ms. Rebecca told me it has been since 1992 and for Ms.

Meagan it has been four years. Ms. Rebecca decided to become a librarian after graduating col-lege and Ms. Megan wanted to once she heard about it from a friend! They both told me they like to be librarians. What Ms. Rebecca likes most about her job are her coworkers and Ms. Megan likes the kids most. They both also enjoy doing Storytime.

I love the library!

I Love the Libraryby Alizdair Sebastien Ray, Age 7

Davie, FL

America currently has a huge problem on its hands. And no, this time it is not the economy. It’s obesity. When the word obesity comes to mind, what do you think of? A fast food restaurant, heart disease prob-lems in adults, diabetes, de-pression? How about stroke, breathing problems, cancer, and fatigue? All of these things can relate to obesity in many ways and now obesity is con-sidered a national epidemic in the United States. Today, ap-proximately 15% of children aged 6-18 exceed the upper range of healthy weights for their age groups. This percent-age of children who are over-weight has more than doubled within the past two decades! And it is not only the children who are gaining more weight,

but adults are too. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 30% of the adult population in the U.S. (about 58 million people) is obese! But that is not the worst part. Every year in the United States, 300,000 deaths are related to obesity and overweight! But what is the cause behind the sudden growth of obese people in the U.S?

There are several major factors that contribute to the growth in obesity. One of the most obvious factors is the lack of activity or exercise that the average person does during the day. Many jobs today are sedentary, mostly sitting at a desk and typing away on a lap-top. Many kids prefer sitting inside, playing video games on a scorching, summer day, than playing outside sweating and fatiguing themselves. But what they don’t understand is that exercising is not as hard as it seems! Simply walking for a mile, for a 200 pound person, at 2 miles per hour (a slow walk) can burn up to 114 calories! And, little by little, they can prevent gaining more weight, or shed a few pounds! Exercising, for most people, is just mental. Here’s a tip: Try and call up a friend and walk

around the neighborhood with them. You will be finished with a lap before you know it!

Another major problem that is contributing to increasing numbers of obesity is the type of food choices that people are making, along with the portion sizes that they eat. Did you know that an average meal served at a fast food restaurant is double the amount of calo-ries of a home-cooked meal? Not only that, but it is usually a better deal to buy bigger quan-tities of food at these restau-rants than to buy smaller ones. A good example is at Wendy’s. Their “Classic Double with Cheese Old-Fashioned Com-bo Meal” costs $4.89 and has 1,360 calories. But for only 39 cents more, one can “big-ger size” the meal and eat 1,540 calories! Also, at many schools around the nation, the vending machines often sell sugary drinks and heavily salt-ed chips and snacks. Some of these drinks and snacks con-tain up to 300 calories! Luck-ily, many schools are now is-suing restrictions to the sale of unhealthy soft drinks and snacks in their facilities to-day. Not only have fast food restaurants majorly contribut-ed to this gain, movie popcorn

selling stands have too! In the 1950’s, the largest sized pop-corn that you could buy would be three cups full, which was only 174 calories. In 2004, the largest sized popcorn that you could buy contained 21 cups, and had 1,700 calories! In just 50 years, the serving size was multiplied 7 times! We cer-tainly need to fix this prob-lem unless we want the whole country to be obese!

There are many things that you can do to prevent yourself from gaining weight. Exercise and watching what you eat

everyday certainly does help. But always remember to check your serving size. Eating 2 cups of rice is just as bad as eating a greasy, small hamburger. Also, skip the soft drinks and drink water. (Soft drinks are really just chemicals made to taste good anyways.)

Together, we can win the war with obesity, little by little, so please spread the word and encourage your friends. If we continue to do this, maybe one day, there would be no such thing as obesity!

America’s Growing Problemby Ismail Ercan, Age 13

Coral Springs, FL

Image courtesy of freshhealthyvending.com

Young reporter Alizdair Ray at the Alvin Sherman Library

Librarians Ms. Rebecca and Ms. Megan with

Alizdair Ray.

The Alvin Sherman Library at Nova.


The Lonely Butterflyby Jessica Rodríguez, Age 6

Sunrise, FL

The lonely butterfly was looking for a friend and saw a moth.The sun was hot on the butterfly’s wings as he flew across the garden to the moth.“Will you be my friend?” asked the butterfly.The moth said “Yes” - and they were happy.

Flowers, Flowersby Emily Rodríguez, Age 7

Sunrise, FL

Flowers, flowers have you ever heard?

The wind blowing through the sky,

This way and that way, blowing through the sky,

Bees and butterflies and birds and bugs?

Jolly Frogsby Olivia Mason, Age 7

Parkland, FL

Frogs are green and slimyBut do you know what they are the most?Amphibians! Amphibians! Amphibians!Frogs are jolly and happyBut do you know what they are the most?Amphibians! Amphibians! Amphibians!Frogs are sticky and slipperyBut do you know what they are the most?Amphibians! Amphibians! Amphibians!Frogs are red, yellow, blue, black, brown and grayBut do you know what they are the most?Amphibians! Amphibians! Amphibians!Jolly frogs are so much fun,But do you know what frogs are the most?Amphibians! Amphibians! Amphibians!

Tragedy: spill in a Gulfby Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Someday in the future, teachers will tell the tale Of the Gulf disaster, this made many people wail!Please do not think this as a mundane accident Because you have no idea where that oil went.

On the fateful day in April two thousand ten,Obama’s incipient policy a really big thing then,About allowing drilling to occur off the coast,But that ominous well, made everybody toast!

That no-good well exploded, in the middle of the GulfTaking the lives, of many crew workers,That infamous well allowed gallons of oil to gush, And there was no one to make the media hush.

For about a hundred days, the oil just flowed and flowed,Any progress in New Orleans was hindered and slowed. The company itself was hated and reprimanded,And they lost all of the money they were easily handed.

Fishermen were tremulous from worrying about their fateAll they could do was just sit there and wait,Tourism in that region was as good as killedAnd all BP could do was watch as their oil spilled.

The company itself was only inadvertent dupesFor simply believing safety was an avoidable loop.No matter how hard people tried, there was no cessationAnd the region’s lack of tourism really hurt the nation.

Finally on a fateful day, the spilling gradually stopped,Though there still was a plethora of oil to be mopped.Spill is a euphemism for that horrible accident,And few people actually know where all of that oil was sent.

All in all this disaster, made many people cryAnd you truly are inadvertent for not knowing why. So if you meet a person hurt by that accidentOffer your condolence and words truly meant!

Giraffes by Sofia Serrano, Age 4

North Lauderdale, FL

Did you know…that giraffes live in Africa where it is hot and dry almost all the time?

Did you know…that giraffes have big, long necks so they can reach the leaves high in the trees?

Did you know…that giraffes have long, grayish, black, sticky tongues that can grab food by curling around it, and pulling it into their mouths?

Did you know…that giraffes have lots of brown spots on their body so they can be camouflaged?

Giraffes are one of my favorite animals because even though they are really big and have really long necks, they can still run fast and get away from predators.

Illustration by author. Color pencils on paper.

Illustration by author. Crayons and color pencils on paper.

Illustration by author. Pastels on paper.


In Loving Memoryby Abigail, Emily, Jessica & Sophia Rodríguez

Sunrise, FL

Abuela, Abuelo, where are you now?Are you up in the sky where the angels fly high,Up with someone greater than I?Or are you a butterfly, gracious in flight,That dances in the light, Disappearing at night?Where ever you are near or far, We will always remember you here In our hearts.

Naughty or Nice!by Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL I ts’ that t ime of the year,When the decis ion is drawing nearSanta is making the l is tReviewing the year in a gis t .Whether we’ve been naughty or niceHe’s s tar ted throwing the dice. I f you’ve been naughty you’l l getSomething that you’l l real ly hate!But i f you’ve been real ly niceYou’re sure to get the r ight pr ice .So i f you’re looking for something good,Stop being mean or act ing rude. Being naughty or niceIs your very own choice.The decis ion is yours to makeEither you make or you break.Learn to share , and share to learnI have learnt my lesson, now i t ’s your turn!

schoolroom soundsby Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

The pencil makes a screechAs it does not like its job.The raspy sharp scissorsMake quiet snipping, snap!

The tape lets forth a crackAnd if it could shed tears,It would because part of itIs lost for gluing things

The hum of the laptopMakes a song with ticking clockIt imitates the roarOf a jet plane full of people

THE CLOCKby Emma Gómez, Age 7

Margate, FL

The clock is ticking in my classroom,As I work at my table.The clock is ticking softlyWith a steady beat

And it soundsTic Toc, Tic Toc, Tic TocAnd it never stopsTic Toc, Tic Toc, Tic Toc

I look at the timeWhoops! Time to go!I’m ready to go and leave the room with theTic Toc, Tic Toc, Tic Toc

Tragedy: spill in a Gulfby Bilal Amodu, Age 13

Deerfield Beach, FL

Someday in the future, teachers will tell the tale Of the Gulf disaster, this made many people wail!Please do not think this as a mundane accident Because you have no idea where that oil went.

On the fateful day in April two thousand ten,Obama’s incipient policy a really big thing then,About allowing drilling to occur off the coast,But that ominous well, made everybody toast!

That no-good well exploded, in the middle of the GulfTaking the lives, of many crew workers,That infamous well allowed gallons of oil to gush, And there was no one to make the media hush.

For about a hundred days, the oil just flowed and flowed,Any progress in New Orleans was hindered and slowed. The company itself was hated and reprimanded,And they lost all of the money they were easily handed.

Fishermen were tremulous from worrying about their fateAll they could do was just sit there and wait,Tourism in that region was as good as killedAnd all BP could do was watch as their oil spilled.

The company itself was only inadvertent dupesFor simply believing safety was an avoidable loop.No matter how hard people tried, there was no cessationAnd the region’s lack of tourism really hurt the nation.

Finally on a fateful day, the spilling gradually stopped,Though there still was a plethora of oil to be mopped.Spill is a euphemism for that horrible accident,And few people actually know where all of that oil was sent.

All in all this disaster, made many people cryAnd you truly are inadvertent for not knowing why. So if you meet a person hurt by that accidentOffer your condolence and words truly meant!

Happy Holidaysby Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

Happy Holidays joyfullyAnger and bitterness go to sleepPaper cards of loving letterPunched out holes of heart-shaped loveYummy food of every flavor

How many desserts to savor?Over there is your great friendLoving family to the end“I am happy on this Holiday”Dani says so merrilyAnd her sisters cheer awayYoung excitement is todaySo have fun, it’s a great day!

Happy Holidays!

The girl and the clock by Emma Gómez. Color pencils

on paper.


During a time, not so long ago, in a place you probably would wish was far, far away, was a small village called Basten. It had a population of exactly 206 people and had precisely one school, one library, one cemetery, one retirement home and four hills. There were no sports, no newspapers and no car dealerships. Fourteen per-cent of the people worked and lived on farms. There were no arcades or movie theaters or ho-tels. There was only one mall which only had stores. Most children only had fun by sitting around, waiting to grow up so they could move away or pray that their parents would move or even attempt to move away. There was not a police depart-ment, so all matters of law en-forcement were handled by De-tective Decimo, a man who was in his mid thirties, with short, curly black hair. He was tall and thin and had a black, heavy mustache. He always wore the same clothing, buttoned while shirt, grey trousers and black leather jacket along with a brown hat with a white pair of gloves. His hat had a name tag labeled, Detective Decimo Dar-nal.

Detective Decimo was badly paranoid and was as qualified to be a detective as a broom. He had a way of finding something suspicious about nearly every-thing and every one. He lived in a square two-story building where he worked.

On a Tuesday afternoon, Ka-tie Vilanice, his assistant, who was about his age, four inches shorter, slightly thinner, and wore her hair in a pony tail, walked up to him, saying, “De-tective, there is an irritable Mrs. Danwell here to see you.”

Mrs. Danwell was an old lady with wisps of blond in her graying hair. She was stout and grumpy and lived with her hus-band Mr. Danwell, who was as stout and as grumpy as his wife. The two-story house they lived in was painted pink, unlike their not so gentle personalities. The large peach tree that stood in their yard was a landmark in the neighborhood.

The moment Mrs. Danwell saw the detective, she spurted out, “Some hooligans climbed my tree and stole every last peach and left the branches bare.” She did not even take a moment to introduce herself or give so much as a greeting before she launched her com-plaints.

“Calm down madam,” said Detective Decimo in a smooth tone. “If you keep up your out-bursts, I might enlist you as a suspicious character. So, some-one robbed you! Do you have a description?”

“How should I know what they look like,” snapped Mrs. Danwell. “All I know is that, I have been robbed.”

“Do you know when your peaches were stolen?” asked Detective Decimo, raising his eyebrows.”

“Why would I need to know when it happened? I just know it happened,” squawked Mrs. Danwell with an unpleasant look in her eyes. “Why are you asking me all these silly, base-less questions?” screamed Mrs. Danwell. “Do you expect me to know every small detail?”

“You are a suspicious lady,” declared Detective Decimo. “How do I know that you did not steal from your very own tree and march straight over to me to accuse someone else? I can have you jailed for theft and fraud.”

“Listen dome hat!” said Mrs.Danwell, jabbing a finger at the detective. “I looked at my tree today and found precisely zero, I repeat zero, Z-E-R-O peaches in my tree.”

The detective raced to his supply closet to grab his clue notebook, his box of arrest war-rants, (which he issued himself) and a large brass baseball bat, “Alright woman,” he called from the closet, “Did you find any clues at the scene of the crime?”

“Well, I did find a pair of clippers and stick near the tree, but why would a peach thief use that garbage to steal my peach-es?”

Detective Decimo came out of the closet and lay out all of his materials on his desk except the baseball bat which he kept at his side, “Thank you madam, we’ll handle it from here.”

Now, whenever someone in Basten brought up a case, the detective and his assistant came to Pitiful lane, a lane that could be judged by its name and cover. It only contained a dull grocery store, a Laundromat and salon which was as poor (and by poor I mean not very good quality) as a city made entirely out of ice in the middle of the Sahara desert. A lot of people happened to be in that part of the town on that particular day. Katie looked nervously at her boss as they walked to the front of the grocery store, “Please promise not to overdo your interroga-tions this time,” she begged, re-membering the last case involv-ing an ice cream truck, a box of stamps and the poor mayor who was still in prison.

“Don’t worry,” the detective assured her, “I have learned more about how guilty culprits act during interrogations. If they even say the word “peach-es” three times, they are sus-pects. And suspects need to be arrested!”

Katie sighed, hoping no one would be sentenced for a life-time sentence in prison for sim-ply walking in front of them.

Unfortunately, that happened to Danny, a nine year old who walked in front of them wear-ing a peach colored tee shirt.

“You young man!” roared Decimo, “You appear to like wearing peach colored clothing, argot having the same clothing choice as a peach eating mani-ac who steals fruit from an old woman’s tree.”

“What are you saying?” asked a very perplexed Danny.

“I am saying you are the thief who stole an old woman’s peaches fresh off of her tree.” Decimo said in a distinguished tone.

“But I don’t even like peach-es,” whined Danny

“One!” declared Decimo, “You seem more suspicious by the second.”

“Come on,” begged Katie,

“What would a boy do with peaches? He does not even like them. And even if he was the thief why punish a young child like an adult for such a petty crime?”

“Yes,” said Danny, “What would I do with peaches?”

“Two!” announced Decimo, “A crime is a crime, child, adult, animal, plant, and all crimes need to be punished.”

“I am not the peach thief!” screamed Danny.

“Guilty!” screamed Decimo opening the warrant box and signing a warrant. “You are un-der arrest for suspected peach burglary!” He grabbed Danny’s arm and turned to see the owner of the grocery store, a plump bearded man who was gestur-ing to a sign that read “Peaches at Half Price!”

“Sir!” called the detective, “Please tell me where you ac-quired your peaches or I will arrest you like I arrested this young man,” he said, gestur-ing to Danny who nodded ner-vously.

“Not to be rude,” said the gro-cer politely, “but why are you concerned with my peaches?”

“One,” the detective cried, “I would feel very nervous if I were in your position.”

“Excuse me,” said the grocer “but what does that have to do with my peaches?”

“Two!” the detective declared, “You seem more and more like a criminal by the second.”

Rays of understanding beamed on the grocer’s face, “Oh, you are talking about the theft of the Danwells’ fruit. I know it is tragic, but I assure you that is not where I get my peaches.”

Decimo silently reached into his warrant box, pulled out a warrant, filled it out and grabbed the grocer’s arm say-

ing, “You are under arrest for suspected burglary.”

“But I’m innocent,” argued the grocer.

“Your words betray you,” was all Decimo said smoothly. Just then, two women exited the sa-lon with a peach scent. “Excuse me ladies,” Decimo said, “but why do you smell of peach?”

“We just got our hair done with peach shampoo,” said the first woman.

“One,” said Decimo.“And we took peach per-

fume,” said the other.“Two,” said Decimo.

“And we just received peach manicures and pedicures.” Both women said in unison proudly.

In a couple of seconds, two more warrants were filled out and four innocent people sat tied together with really stale cheese Katie found in the gro-cery store,

“This is ridiculous!” the first woman said.

“We paid for those salon ap-pointments,” said the second.

“You will pay,” Decimo promised, “in jail time,”

Just then, the most hated cou-ple in the town came up to Dec-imo. Mrs. Danwell who came at the beginning of the story, and Mr. Danwell, a man who was short, plump had grey hair (or at least what was left of it) on his balding scalp. He also had a thick mustache of grey hair and a carefree look on his face.

“My wife came to you ear-lier today to talk about a peach thief,” Mr. Danwell explained, “However, she didn’t know that I took down the peaches last night and used them in a recipe to make a fresh peach cobbler for her birthday. We came to tell you that it was all a big misun-derstanding.”

Detective Decimo still looked serious as he wrote up two more warrants.” I should have known it would be you who would take your own peaches. You two are under arrest for fraud and these four,” he said, gesturing to the four tied up captives, “are un-der arrest for associating with you in this crime. And, from the peaches they have obtained, Mr. Danwell, Mrs. Danwell you are also under arrest for bribery.”

“No fair,” said Danny“Let me go!” hollered the

grocer“You are crazy,” accused one

of the two women“Insane,” agreed the other.

“That dome hat is way too tight you miserable excuse for a detective!” declared Mrs. Dan-well.

“You are making a big mis-take!” screamed, Mr. Danwell

There was a lot more scream-ing after that as Detective Deci-mo took them to jail where they would spend four days until they found a lawyer to get them out and by then, they would al-ways have a prison record for a false crime. So if there is a lesson to be learned it is either, avoid peaches, or run away from paranoid detectives.


Deerfield Beach, FL

suspicious Detective Decimo

As the thief walked toward the gallows, he remembered the night he was caught...

It was a dark, cold, dreary night. The moon was a silver cannonball flying through the unrelenting blackness of the night.

The thief heard the cold drip of the wet stone as he slunk through the alleyway.

Suddenly, a shadowy hand gripped his shoulder and flung him against the damp wall.

Next thing he knew he was bound by the cold iron of a chain. He was then lead, like a mule, to jail.

He now looked up at the dark, bleary moon as he was led on to the gallows and thought how stupid he had been to steal on such a night, when he knew that they were waiting and would track him like bloodhounds.

The moon was the last thing he looked at as the tight rope was strung around his neck.

by Cedar Schultz Brandon, Age 12

Hollywood, FL

The Thief “Peaches” by Emma Gómez, Age 7. Color pencils on paper.

“Detective Decimo” by Dan-iela Gómez, Age 10. Color

pencils on paper.


Name: TepuyAge: 94Color: GreenHobbies: Flying over the mountains and camping outLeast favorite thing to do: Doing NothingFavorite Bird: Loro (Spanish for: Parrot)Favorite Insect: Green Sweat BeeFavorite Season: WinterAnimal Friends: Mariana (Parrot), Elena (Parrot) and Limon (Sweat Bee, by the way, Limon means lime)Home: TEPUY: Abandoned anthill in Pixie Place, a fairy townFavorite Flower: TEPUY: Green Zin-nia (Found only in FairyLand)Favorite Accesory: Her glass globe with a picture of Venezuela in it

I looked out the window as the leaves fell from the trees and I pushed back my soft lime-green blanket and pulled off my pajamas. The cool autumn breeze filled me with excite-ment. I was going to be in a play. It was the first time I would go onstage in front of many fairies. I slipped into green shorts and a tank top so that changing into my cos-tume wouldn’t be much trou-ble. Then I walked straight into the kitchen and made an ‘arepa’ and popped it into my mouth. I was in a big rush be-cause I had to meet my cous-in, Sawgrass, who was also a Green Fairy, in the costume room so we could change into our costumes and rehearse be-fore anyfairy arrived. The play I was in was A Christmas Car-ol and I played the Ghost of

Christmas Past. Sawgrass was going to be Emily. I was a bit nervous but mainly excited! I packed my snack, an arepa with butter, ham and cheese. In my backpack I stuffed a mountain-green water bottle filled with hibiscus nectar and an old long-sleeve shirt to put on over my costume when I eat so as not to dirty it. Then I was ready to go.

I met Sawgrass in the hallway before the costume room and we went to change. It was a nervous moment for me when the director called places. I felt like a butterfly was fluttering in my stom-ach. Sawgrass had been in a few other plays and she assured me that everything would go as planned and if not; that I should act like that was all part of the plan and no fairy would notice that something had gone wrong. Jay, the Blue Fairy, who was Fan in the play, walked over in her blue cos-tume and patted me on the back “Don’t worry Tepuy” she said softly. “I don’t wor-ry amiga” I answered, “I’m nervous.” Jay smiled “Have you got a butterfly?” she asked with a growing grin on her face “Yeah, why are you smiling?” I shook my head and kept saying “Ami-ga, don’t you understand?” Jay smiled and said “No, I have a DRAGONFLY!” She laughed and I did too. Jay loved dragonflies. She had a dragonfly that had broken wing, his name was Dragonwings. His wing had been cut with the windshield wiper of a human car and Jay had saved his life. Drag-onwings had stuck with her

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10

Margate, FL

“Tepuy” the Green Fairy!

“Tepuy” Soft pastels and color pencils on paper by Daniela Gómez.

Hey! I’m Rose or as I am more widely known, Sleeping Beauty. You’re probably think-ing I should be on my honey-moon with my prince having my happy ever after. Well, I dumped Prince Charming. The guy is a jerk; he is always running after other princesses. After the wed-ding, he ran away with a glass slipper, later I found him on the beach with a mermaid.

Anyway, I am queen but there still is one little problem – the evil witch in my story. I detest her.

“Rose you have to run away before the evil witch enchants you again,” whispered a gallant knight.

“Just one problem,” I remind-ed him. “We are in a story book. The only thing I can do is run to another story!” swallowing, as though I was choking on my own words.

An hour or so later, I was dashing through a forest. I guess it must be Snow White’s fairy tale. I think I missed an itty-bitty detail here. Snow is my best friend, and I certainly don’t want her to marry that jerk prince. Is he the only prince in the pages of this book? He called it hard work saving the princess. Isn’t that what he is supposed to do? Anyway, just then twelve little men ran past me. Can you believe it? THEY RAN PAST ME! Don’t they know that I am a Queen? I fol-lowed them, soundlessly. They bustled in a little doll house. I also sneaked into the house and spotted her at once. At that very moment, Snow passed out. I was so shocked, I failed to no-tice a man with a pan behind me and then it got all dark.

When I awoke, I was in a glass box beside Snow. “Let me out of her,” I screamed.

I had just stopped to take a breath, when I saw the Prince of Jerks come along. “Snow, my love, I will awaken you.” He then glanced at me and said distastefully, “Ugh, now I know where the step sisters disap-peared!”

Hearing this, I deeply felt the urge to smack that fool.

“Who will kiss the stepsister?” Doc asked. (He is the only dwarf I know). “Doc”, I boomed. “It’s me Rose! Help, I’m running out of air!”

“Look, she is moving,” one of them remarked.

“I thought step sisters were supposed to be ugly,” another one retorted with a surprise look on his face.

It was only then that the prince thought of lifting the glass of my coffin. I instantly took a deep breath, and then slapped the jerk. “Don’t let him marry Snow,” I barked.

At that very precise moment, he bent down and kissed Snow.

“Nooooooooooo”, I screeched. But it was too late. She had al-ready woken up, only to fall in love with that Prince of Jerks.

Snow glanced up at me. “Rose!” she asked, astounded.

“Shh! The witch is chasing after me. Plus, he is a jerk.” I squealed.

At that instant, Prince Charm-ing looked at me and snarled, “I save princesses! I am no jerk. If any one is the bad guy it’s you! You dumped me! ME! Prince Charming!”

I looked at him hard. I couldn’t believe I fell in love with that guy. “Snow he is married to many princesses, he said it him-self! ‘I save princesses’. He even split Beauty and the Beast apart. Look every finger on both hands is full of rings!” I explained.

Snow gasped. “You’re right.” She turned to the prince and said “And you’re a jerk.” “Rose let’s try to make sure he doesn’t marry any other princesses ever again.” She added.

“Uh Snow I think we have bigger and hairier problems.” I screamed pointing to a big hairy spider.

“I will save you and then mar-ry you both!” The prince said.

“I hope he gets eaten” I whis-pered to Snow.

“Uh your highness” Happy the dwarf (although he didn’t look so happy) asked, “Do you even have experience with spi-ders?” Charming (I can’t believe that’s his name) thought for a moment.

“Please, I’ve handled drag-ons, a beast, plus Cindy’s dirty friends.”

Every one gasped. “You killed beast?” Doc screeched.

“You destroyed your wife’s friends?” Grumpy yelled.

“No no. There with the giant-ess and Jack.”

“We achoo are achoo plac-ing achoo you achoo under achoo arrest! Achoo!” Sneezy declared.

Both Charming and I were surprised. “What?” we said in unison.

Then Snow started explaining. It turns out that the dwarfs were undercover policemen, plus the prince is a criminal. Then to prove it the dwarfs defeated the spider.

“So this was all a trap to catch

the prince?” I questioned. “Yup,” Snow replied, “even the robotic spider. We wrote this story just to catch him. The witch agreed to come when we told her about the poison. I knew he was a jerk even before I saw him. I also know you are running away from the witch. Don’t run to the next story, Rapunzel. Although don’t worry about Zel, there is a new prince in town for every princess without their happy ever after. We can go to a story nearby called, Hansel & Gretel. About right now Gretel is 9 and Hansel is 7. I think tomorrow they are going to meet the witch.We better hurry.”

The dwarfs were loading into a car, when I turned to follow. Snow tapped me on the shoul-der “It’s this way.” She pointed. When I saw her car I almost fainted.

“OMG! Is this your car? I wish I had one like this!” I ex-claimed.

Snow looked at me like I was crazy. “This story book is full of imagination. Just picture a car and it’ll come.” She was right, in a flash my dream car was right in front of me. “Whoa,” I gasped. I stood still for a minute, and then I stepped forward. “So are we going to visit Hansel and Gretel or what?” Then I shifted gaze. “Sorry, I just love my new car. Come on!” I hopped in and raced after Snow. I hoped we wouldn’t meet people like Goldie (Goldilocks) or Mary and her sheep. If we do, they are not going in my car. Finally we stopped at a small cottage. It was so brightly colored. I couldn’t believe it was Hansel and Gretel’s. I hopped out. I knocked at the door. Snow fol-lowed. “What are you doing?” she screamed. “Hey I thought we were friends!” I replied after I opened the door. She looked at me blankly. I sat down on the couch, and then I realized: IT WAS THE WITCH’S HOUSE!

(To be continued…………….)

by Shadya Amodu, Age 10

Deerfield Beach, FL

Runaway Fairy Tale

“An hour or so later, I was dashing through a forest” Illus-tration by Emma and Daniela Gómez, Ages 7 and 10. Color

pencils on paper.

Continued on page 14


After some time of traveling, Malana and Teresa entered a rain-

forest seemingly as big as the Am-azon. They sat down under a tree to rest from their journey. Malana was sweating so much, her long black hair clung to the back of her shirt. Just then, a green haired, middle aged woman swung down from a tree on a vine. She was a complete mess of vines, leaves and branches. Malana noticed that the woman’s hair was actu-ally blond, it was only green be-cause of all the foliage entangled in it. “Welcome to the forest, do you care to join me for a swing?” she asked.

“We’ve never really done It before” Teresa pointed out, not a bit surprised at the woman’s ap-pearance. She was now quite used to the many strange things that had happened in this mysterious world within a world.

“That’s okay, It’s not hard to learn,” said the vine tangled, leaf haired, branch covered catastro-phe. Just then, a Great Jacamar bird landed on her shoulder and started tweeting in her ear. “Hello my little scout. Hunters? How’d

they get here? They’re by Anat-wa? Oh my! They maimed your leg! Oh poor thing! Don’t worry, stay nigh to me and I will console

you.”“How do you know what it’s

saying?” Teresa asked. “Well. As Celinina, the guard-

ian of the forest, I understand the animals and they understand me.”

“Celinina! that’s such a beauti-ful name!” Malana exclaimed.

“Thank you. I do enjoy it my-self.”

“Celinina, Botato gave me some healing powder. It might help the bird.” Malana said in a questioning voice.

“He did! Oh my! He gave you some ootsticata beamata jadawa-da zoop?!!!” Celinina’s face brightened.

“If that’s what it’s called, then yes.” said a confused Malana.

“Yes! if you got some, use it!” Malana sprinkled some of the

O.B.J.Z on the Great Jacamar whose name was Olive, and in-stantly she healed.

“Take her with you, she might be able to help. She is a very good navigator.”

Malana spoke up and said it was

time to go. Celinina told them to follow a cleared path she said was a shortcut.

“The path leads to a bridge, you

must cross it to complete your quest. If you are not careful, it will collapse.” She warned them. They said thank you and goodbye to her and continued on, with Te-resa stopping to wave.

They traveled along the path and found the bridge stretch-ing across a big, deep, and jag-ged canyon with a tiny river at the bottom. Teresa took a deep breath and carefully stepped onto the first plank. She held onto the rope railings that stretched across the tops of the netted sides of the bridge.

“I’m not too sure about this,” Malana said, stepping away from the canyon.

“Come on,” Teresa said, reach-ing out her hand. “Don’t be a scaredy-cat. Just be careful and it won’t collapse.”

Malana hesitated before grab-bing her friend’s hand and step-ping onto the bridge. She held on to the railing with one hand and to Teresa with the other, as the two friends proceeded forward, step by step.

“Don’t look down, don’t look down,” Malana mumbled to her-self.

The two of them looked straight ahead as the end came closer and closer. About halfway in, they started feeling a breeze that kept getting colder as they went on. They could see colossal moun-tains reaching up to the clouds. They were mostly clear, with only a few thin white lines going through them. As they got close the girls realized that the moun-tains were made of solid blocks of ice. Malana and Teresa let out a very big sigh of relief as they stepped off of the bridge onto firm ground.

“They … found the bridge stretching across a big, deep, and jagged canyon with a tiny river at the bottom.” Illustration by Aaron Cross,

Age 13. Color pencils and tempera on paper.

by Sara Cross, Age 9

Boca Raton, FLby Emma Gómez, Age 7Margate, FL

The crescent moon was silently moving above the neighborhood. I sat in the room. The moon sud-denly looked like a big crescent in a box. The box was the clouds that surrounded it. Then it looked like

a big piece of cheese. I felt like I could fly and then everything was back to normal. The room seemed quiet, dark and peaceful.

I looked back at the moon and it was the only light shining through the window.

The moon twinkled merrily as I felt asleep.

“The moon suddenly looked like a big crescent in a box”Caption: Crescent in a Box by Emma Gómez. Soft pastels

on paper.

“They said thank you and goodbye to her and continued on, with Teresa stopping to wave.”Illustration by Aaron Cross, Age 13. Color pencils and tempera on paper.

since. “Have you got Drag-onwings? amiga” I giggled. “I could well have alligator in me” Sawgrass comment-ed “It’s the first time I play an important character.”

The show was about to begin, I felt dizzy besides what the other fairies told me. 0k, take it easy, noth-ing will happen, what do you think is going to happen to you if you act? When it was my time to go onstage, I could barely walk into the wings, “Do it” I told myself and I walked onstage. I don’t understand how much a but-terfly could bother me for this. It felt astonishing to be in front of fairies unraveling the past to Scrooge. I could feel the audience believed me. I stood up and disap-peared as I had rehearsed. Then I flashed my hand and the scene was magically set to long ago, the fairies crept into position as I distracted the audience with my act-ing, I filled with confidence. I noticed Jay and Sawgrass creeping to their positions. Jay had painted herself blue and was sticking to anything with blue shades, even the violets. Sawgrass did the same with green. I however could see them, Jay winked and mouthed “dragonfly” then she morphed to navy and disappeared.

It was when Sawgrass was

dancing with the (boy) fairy that played Young Scrooge, when everything went wrong. They were singing their song and dancing, and suddenly the music stopped, luckily I managed to control myself and Sawgrass contin-ued to sing and dance. I tried to forget that the music had gone off and I concentrated on the same facial expres-sion that I had had a few sec-onds ago and soon the music played itself in my mind. Then I remembered that I had to send a shot of green at the two. Jay let a blue stripe into the air as mine touched Sawgrass. Magma, the Red Fairy made red. Many fair-ies were blended into the background so they shot out their colors and I flew up in the air and ended the scene.

After the play, I was talk-ing to my friends about that scene in which there was no music. “I was about to freak out” said Sawgrass “me too, prima” I was smiling “You did great” I loved doing the-ater. It was so much fun to act.GLOSSARYAREPA: A kind of bread made out of corn. Very popular in Venezuela and ColombiaPRIMA: Spanish for: cousin.AMIGA: Spanish for: friendANYFAIRY: Fairy way of saying: any-one. Same as everyfairy.FAIRYLAND: A place in any country that fairies live in.

by Daniela Gómez, Age 10 Continued from page 13


Megagytes is 10 years old and her dad is an evil scientist. Her

mom, on the other hand, is totally different, she wants her kids to explore nature and be nice unlike her father. She wants that because she is a ro-bot and has never experienced it

herself. Megagyte is learning the rules of life. Her dad created her and wants her to be his evil part-ner in crime.

Read my comics in The Circle Gazette newspaper.

“My Cottage” by Brendan Darden, Age 4. Coconut Creek, FL.

Wooden structure.I used a little piece of wood and I glued another one on that. There was a piece of wood with a hole in it and glued

that one too. I put a circle on top. I had to share the glue with Tatyana because mine ran out. I let it dry in the class-

room. At home, I added to my cottage. I glued a birdhouse right next to it.

“You know the triplets, Bart, Cart and Dart?” asked Lark. “Yes, what about them?” replied Quat and Barky. “I was talking to them the other day and they told me that they are go-ing into pupal stage in two weeks,” said Lark. “Okay,” said Quat and Barky not see-ing what Lark was getting at. “The method to keeping the work force together is very sloppy. The authorities just keep records of who is in the work force. Whoever doesn’t show up is arrested and punished,” continued Lark. “Right,” said Quat and Barky, still not follow-ing where Lark was going. “They don’t keep records of the juveniles. They just patrol the streets for any adults by seeing whether they are green or not,” re-marked Lark “We know all this,” said Quat. “What are you trying to say?” inquired Barky. Both were totally confused. “So we train the triplets in our jobs and give them our IDs. Since there is no photo ID or anything like that, they just sign into the work force every day instead of us,” explained Lark. “Um, Lark, there are two problems with your plan. Problem number one, what if the trip-lets don’t agree? Problem number two, how about our fellow workmen?” Barky questioned. “Answer num-ber one, I know the triplets will agree. Answer number

two, we will tell our fellow workmates what we are go-ing to do. Goodnight,” said Lark and he went to sleep.

The next day at work, Lark, Quat and Barky divulged the plan to their workmates. Ev-eryone was ecstatic about them leaving. Surprising-ly, their workmates even helped them pack up and gave them supplies to take along. On the other hand, they did have a bit of a hard time with the triplets. “NO WAY!” said Bart, Cart and

Dart simultaneously. After two hours of convincing,

they finally got the triplets to agree. Three weeks later, the triplets went into pupal stage. Another week after that, they hatched.

(That evening at the edge of the woods)

“Iron?”“Check!”“Steel?”“Check!”“Aluminum?”“Check!”“Money?”“Check!”“We are ready then,”

said Lark. “Okay, I will go get the contact to the resis-tance. You two wait here,” said Quat. A few minutes later, Quat came with a fel-low they didn’t recognize. “Lark, Barky, meet Dyre. Dyre meet Lark and Barky,” said Quat. “Got everything I told you to bring?” Dyre asked Quat. “YUP! Got ev-erything you told me to get,” said Quat. “Then, let’s go,” said Dyre. That night in the woods...

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE PART II

by Ari Swift, Age 13

Boca Raton, FL

by Carolyn Kean, Age 8

Coral Springs, FL

“Turkey” by Brandon Ungar, Age 5. Deerfield Beach, FL

Multimedia.

“Peacock” by Diego Infan-

zón, Age 5. Fort Lauderdale, FL. Markers and

pencil on paper.Inspired by the

roaming Peacock family in Diego’s neighborhood.


“Araguaney” National Tree of Venezuela by Daniela Gómez. Acrylics

on canvas.

“Monster Truck” by Daniel Cas-tellon, Age 6, Coconut Creek, FL.

Wax crayons on construction paper.

“Whimsical Creatures” by Abigail Rodríguez, Age 9. Sunrise, FL

Wax crayons on paper.

Physical Map of Venezuela. A Hands–on Geographical Study by Ellie, Emma and Daniela Gómez. Margate, FL.

Multimedia.

“Indian Girl” by Elizabeth Abrams, Age 6. Fort Lauderdale, FL.

“TIPI GIRL” by Abigail Abrams,

Age 4. Fort Lauderdale, FL

by Elizabeth Abrams, Age 6. Fort Lauderdale, FLThere once was a little tipee that nobody wanted to sleep in because it had a monster in it.

Then a little girl came and she said to herself: “I’m going to have that tipee!

“Nativity Scene” by Valentina Peña, Age 4. Boca Raton, FL. Natural Wool Felt.

Techinque: Felting.

december 2010 issue of the circle gazette

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