The Elementary School Carnival

And then there’s the pop bottle ring toss. One game ticket, three rings, seven hundred bottles of pop. Keep any bottle you ring. My child gets two Mountain Dews in three shots.

That’s not hard, I think, so I hand over a ticket. Nothing.

Another ticket. Nothing.

A third ticket. “Hey, that one’s leaning! A leaner counts, right?”

Wrong. Grudgingly, knowing I can’t quit, I hand over another ticket. Finally, a winner! Yes!

For…a bottle of water?!? The kid gets two Mountain Dews for two-bits, and I spend a buck to win a bottle of water at a game stationed beside the drinking fountain that’s giving it away for free?

Lesson learned: Let the kid toss the rings.

Spring is here! At least, it must be if schools are having their annual Spring carnivals. Sure, as I wrote this last weekend we were under a Winter Storm Warning. Sure, two days before it was published we had snow and freezing rain. High temperatures in the teens?

Bah! If there's an elementary school carnival a-happening, it's Spring. End of story.

Anyways, my latest newspaper column was published on Friday. The above is a little piece that got cut in final editing. Here's a link to the online version and the printable version.

Happy Spring, everyone! Enjoy the snow! (You know there's gotta more coming...)

A Dilemma No Longer

The release date mentioned in A Moral Dilemma Part I and Part II has now arrived, and I'm curious to see if my dilemma was a mountain, molehill, or some sort of piedmont in between. It’s actually still the night before as I write, but it’s still all pre-orders at the online booksellers and zero available reviews, at least none within Google’s reach.

As a teacher I chose to go ahead and read the book aloud to my fourth graders. We’ve used it for lessons on summarizing, predicting, making judgments, and the occasional unfamiliar word. (Don't worry, it's been story first. If there's a lesson to be taught it comes after the read aloud. No pausing and restarting and "If we stop and think for a moment, we may wonder how our protagonists will react to the unfortunate circumstances that now..." It might be a great lesson, but when the book is good, that's just downright mean.)

As a book reviewer I chose to wait and publish my review the night before the release date. The kids are in bed, no spoilers have been leaked, and the review will be there in the morning for anyone wanting to read it.

So, enough jibber-jabber, already! Is it a potential Newbery Medal winner? A book destined for timeless greatness? The next masterpiece from one of the world’s most recognized and respected authors?

No, probably, on all three counts. It is, however, a book that the kids in my class have been anxious to get their hands on, and they’ve had to wait a week less than most kids, at least as far as I can tell.

The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis.

Thoughts or comments?