Going to Knott’s Berry Farm (by William)

One of my biggest summer wishes is to go to Knott’s Berry Farm.  One night I had a dream that I was riding Knott’s wildest ride.  I screamed as the coaster twisted and turned and a triple loop-a-loop.  After the wild ride, I woke up and realized it was a dream.  

The day before my dream was my Forum Festival for singing.  My music teacher, Ms. Lo suggested we go to Knott’s Berry Farm in the afternoon, but my friend in singing class suggested we go on a different day.  After the Festival, we would only stay at Knott’s for half day, and if we go on a different day, we may be able to play for a whole day.  So we decided to go during summer vacation.

I know that Knott’s Berry Farm’s theme is rides.  Mom told me that we will do more research about it.  I learned from its website that the theme park was once the site of Walter Knott’s Berry Farm.  The Knotts sold berries, pies, and chicken.  In 1920, there were ideas to build a theme park on the farm, and that is why it is called Knott’s Berry Farm.  The ride I want to go on is the Journey to the Iron Reef because during the ride, you can blast bad creatures with freeze rays to save Knott’s from them.  The bad creatures have an appetite for coaster metal.  The show I want to watch is about Charlie brown and his dog, Peanuts.  They are fun and entertaining at the same time.

Pictures are from Knott's website

My grandpa will be going along with us.  I am looking forward to go during my first week of summer break!

The Non-nutritious Apple (by Jennifer, guest columnist from Sydney, Australia)

A teacher was teaching about what foods children should eat more often than others.

“Now we will learn about fruit and vegetables.” The teacher said.  “Fruit and vegetables are a lot healthy…never mind about that, let’s just see for ourselves.”

The teacher brought out an apple. “Peter, come and eat this apple, you will find it both delicious and nutritious.”

Peter ate a slice of apple. “It’s disgusting!” Peter exclaimed.

“Just, take another bite.” The teacher explained. “Things always taste better after you eat them more.”

Peter took another bite, then another and another. Then, suddenly he stopped. He started making choking sounds. “Are you all right Peter?” The teacher asked.

“Gargle muckle…” was all Peter could come up with.

“Go to the nurse’s office, quick!” cried the teacher. Peter stumbled out of the room.

“Never mind that,” The teacher said, “Now what have we learnt today?”

“Apples are bad for you!” One person replied.

“Fruit is poisonous!” Another person shouted.

“Junk food is healthy!”

“Don’t eat vegetables!”

“No, no, no. That is not what leant!” The teacher shouted over the noise.

Then the bell rang. The teacher couldn’t be heard over noise of people rushing out of the classroom.

The People of "Clock" (by Jennifer, guest columnist from Sydney, Australia)

(Manuscript of Jennifer's fiction)

Peter and Jane met in the town square right underneath the grand clock. There was a sign right next the clock said: DO NOT CLIMB CLOCK OR ELSE....The rest had been rubbed off by someone during the centuries it had been there. Many people have talked about who erased it, why it was erased and when.

Every time the clock was just about to strike the hour, two small doors opened, one on each side of the clock, then a wooden strip of wood would come out the first door and then in the other. The clock would start striking and small figures would start to come out one door and along the wooden strip it went. Once it reached the other door, it would disappear into the mass of gears and pallets.

Peter and Jane had met for that especially. It was really amusing for the children to watch the little figures coming in and out of the doors. Just after all the figures had finished parading their little show, Peter asked "Are you brave enough to climb to where the doors are and hold on until 8:59 and 59 seconds?" Jane was indeed afraid but she didn't want to show it, "Of course I am brave enough!" Exclaimed Jane.

Jane climbed to where the little ledges stuck out and supported the wooden strip that carried the tiny figures. While Peter and Jane waited, they had a little conversation as to not bore themselves to death.

"Don't you think the tiny line of figures is getting every now and then?" Jane asked Peter.  "Yeah," Peter replied "I kind of noticed that, too."  "Maybe it had something to do with the erased sign." Jane suggested.  Just then the clock started striking, Jane had not noticed but the wooden strip had already stretched its way across the big wide gap between the two doors and already the figures were coming out.

"YOU CAN LET GO NOW!!" Peter cried in alarm.  "I can't," Jane shouted back. "I'm too scared."

One sweaty hand came loose and Jane screamed in alarm. She frantically scrambled on to the now seemly much too narrow wooden strip and got carried into the mysterious inside of the clock. Peter scrambled up the clock and jumped on to the wooden strip just as it was disappearing into the clock. The only light source he had now was the dim light coming from the one door that would close soon, the one that the wooden strip had retreated through. The other one had already closed.

"Jane!" Peter called, desperate to find his friend.  "Jane! Where are you!?"  All of a sudden the door closed, blinding him. Peter took a cautious step forward and fell into a hole!

The next time the grand clock rang, two extra figures joined the line of the small figures, a boy and a girl.

Buck's Story - The Call of the Wild (by William)

I read The Call of the Wild by Jack London (condensed by Kathryn Knight) and I really liked the book.  Now I shall tell you all about it.

Buck did not read the newspapers so he didn’t know trouble was ahead.  He lived in Judge Miller’s estate in the Santa Clara valley.  Buck was the king, he ruled over the other dogs living at Judge Miller’s estate.  The whole place was his.  He jumped in the swimming tank when days were hot and sat by the furnace when days were cold.  He went hunting with Judge Miller’s sons and long walks with Judge Miller’s daughters.

Klondike Gold found in the Arctic dragged men from all over the world, and those men wanted dogs with muscular bodies and thick fur.  Judge Miller’s garden helper had a greedy heart and his eyes fell on Buck—a perfect sled dog.  Judge Miller and his children weren’t home that evening, so Manuel the garden helper took Buck to a train station and sold him to a stranger.  Buck was taken onboard the train.  The next day, when he woke up, he heard a tooting sound, he was kidnapped!

A few weeks later, Buck was taken to a man wearing a red sweater.  Buck was beaten up there by a club and then was bought by a man named Perrault, who worked for the Canadian government. Perrault also bought a Newfoundland dog named Curly.  The dogs boarded a ship and that was the last sight of sunny California.  

On the ship, Buck met the dogs who would be on his sled dog team.  The lead dog Spitz was friendly but sneaky.  The wheeler dog Dave had eyes that warned other dogs to stay away.  When they arrived at the Klondike, Buck saw nothing but snow.  Perrault and another man Francois camped near a log store and Curly in her friendly way walked up to the husky and the husky bit into her.  The husky kept biting until Curly was dead.

The next morning Francois and Perrault started training their dogs.  In the afternoon, Perrault bought two dogs Billee and Joe.  They were brothers but different like day and night.  Billee was good-natured and Joe was sour and silent.  By nightfall, Perrault bought another dog Sol-leks which means the Angry One.  That night it was freezing.  Buck crawled into the tent but the men made Buck retreat to the outer cold.  He decided to find his teammates, and found Billee in a nest in the snow.  Buck learned making a hole and sleeping in the snow.   The next day Perrault bought three dogs named Pike, Dub, and Dolly.  Then two more dogs Teek and Koona arrived. Spitz and
 Buck fought each other but Buck killed Spitz and became the lead dog.   

When the team reached Skagway, Francois said a tearful good-bye to Buck.  The team was bought by a Scotch Half-Breed for a few weeks, then they were bought by three tender-feet Hal, Charles, and Mercedes.  The new owners didn’t know the ways of the wild north, and of course they ran short on dog food when they got to the White River.  The tender-feet argued with a prospector John Thornton on whether the thin ice in the river could support them pass.  Buck was so tired that when Hal asked him to get up, he didn’t but John Thornton saved Buck while the sled team went over the White River, the ice cracked and the sled fell through. 

After Buck’s recovery, Thornton went to a bar in Dawson and bragged with other men about their dogs.  Thornton made a bet with Matthewson and Buck was lead outside to drag a sled that weighed 1,000 pounds.  Thornton shouted “Gee!”  Buck pulled the sled to the right.  “Haw!” commanded Thornton, Buck swung to the left.  The Thornton shouted “Now mush!”  The crowd gasped as Buck pulled the sled forward a hundred yards, then every hat went up.  Buck won Thornton 1,600 dollars, enough money for Thornton to travel with his partners to a lost gold mine.

Near the camp site at the mine, Buck found a timber wolf and they became friends.  When Buck went back to the camp, he found that Thornton was dead because the Yeehats Indian attacked.  Buck killed the Yeehats but couldn’t save Thornton.  That night he heard yelping of a wolf pack.  The wolves attacked him but Buck was too smart for them.  Eventually the wolves let Buck join the pack and Buck found the wolf he made friends with.  

The morals of this story is never give up, let it go, and true love between Buck and Thornton.  I hope you will enjoy reading The Call of the Wild as well. 

 

A Review of The Call of The Wild (By Ethan)

The Call of the Wild is written by Jack London. He was considered to be the greatest author in the list of all the great authors. He wrote books in a very special way. He used very hard but fancy words to make you feel like you are in the scene.

In Dec 1^st 1902 Jack London started writing The Call of The Wild and then it was published in 1903. Do you know that we almost didn’t have this book? When Jack’s mother, Flora Wellman was pregnant with him, she tried to kill herself by overdosing on laudanum. But that attempt failed. Then Flora tried to shoot herself in the head!! Thank God she failed again.

The book is about a tide-water dog named Buck whose origin was the sun-kissed Santa Clara valley. He spend 4 years of that good life but then a poor man named Manual stole Buck and sold him to be a sled-dog in the freezing North because Inuit had found gold. This is known as the Klondike Gold Strike.

The book is fun to read but it is not easy. The language is surprisingly fancy and amazing. The theme maybe deceiving but it is being adventurous. My favorite character is Buck because he is brave, kind and ready for the wildest adventures of his life!! My favorite part of the book is when Buck meets his “wild brother” a timber wolf. Because the timber wolf is friendly and they get along very well. In some part of the book, the scenes are written and described particularly well. For example, a “yellow” moldy stream is described at the end of the story. (It was gold sand in the stream) I can almost sense the whole thing as if I was there.

I would love to recommend this book to a hiker or someone who is courageous. This book will put the soul of an adventurer to life.

Will Buck make it and survive in the North or will he have to die facing the cruel colds? Read The Call of The Wild and you will find out!

A detective case -- whether there was a fire evacuation at San Diego International Airport (by William)

This evening at my school open house, Ms. Huang mentioned to me that her son told her that there was fire evacuation at San Diego International Airport today.  She told me that my homework was to get more information and write a blog about it. 

I went home and started working on it after I did all my night chore.  We first went to Google and Facebook, and searched for any report about fire evacuation, but we didn’t find any.  Then I started thinking “Hmm, why doesn’t the internet have it?”  My mom said “Why don’t we call the Airport directly to find out whether it really happened?”  So she found the phone number online and called the Airport, but there were voice messages only because people have gone for the day.  Then we tried to call the Fire Department in the Airport, but that didn’t work out either for the same reason.  Next we tried to call the Police Department non-emergency line, a dispatcher there told us that she hadn’t heard anything about the airport fire today.  At last, we called the car rental company at the Airport and were told that they didn’t hear anything about the fire evacuation at the airport. 

At this point, my mom turned to me and said “Ha ha ha, William, it is possible that the evacuation was small scale so most people don’t even know about it.  It’s also possible that Ms. Huang is testing you and there was no evacuation.”  Either way I loved the investigative work. 

Thank you Ms. Huang for giving me the challenge.  The research process was interesting and exciting.