The Lion King on Broadway

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I went to Manhattan. We went there because of my birthday gift. I had turned 9. On the day of my birthday, I got a paper. On it, it had all these cool facts about the movie and play, The Lion King. Here is what it looks like.

As you can see, on the bottom it says that we (my family) are going to help increase the number of people who saw the play, by 4 (the number of people in my family).That meant that we were going to watch the play on October 27, 2013!

Approximately, 2 weeks after my birthday, we were on our way. We crossed the Hudson River through a tunnel. On the other end, there was New York! We drove for a little bit until we found the Minskoff Theater. It had signs all over the place about The Lion King. Near by, there was a bakery and coffee shop called Junior’s. We went there and my mom bought coffee for her and my dad. She got a HUGE chocolate chip cookie for me. JUST ME!!  When I was done, I fed the remaining crumbs to the nearby pigeons.

After that, we went to the Minskoff Theater. We had to wait a bit for the show to start. Then everything went dark and suddenly we heard a beautiful song coming from the stage and from behind us. The show had started and it was AWESOME!!

They had epic special effects. They had a lot of ropes and swinging. When Scar fell off of Pride Rock, he had a rope and swung to the floor.  That must have taken a lot of practice! One of my many favorite things was that a lot of the characters came in through the audience. (One giraffe even smiled at me! But I didn’t notice. My mom told me this.) A couple of hours later, sadly, the show came to an end.

 

I was amazed that young Simba and young Nala were only 10-11 years old and that is only 1-2 years older than I am! I can’t even imagine being on a Broadway show at that age. Their acting was flawless. I also loved how young Simba transformed into older Simba in the song Hakuna Matata. You might be wondering how that happened but I am not going to tell you. You need to watch this show and find out for yourself.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Planet Hollywood. The food was SO yummy. The Mac & Cheese was delicious. That’s it. WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! Hold your horses! The dessert! The hot chocolate brownie with ice cream, do not forget that – That is the most yummolicious(I just made that word up) food ever!

 

After that we unfortunately had to go home. This OBVIOUSLY belongs on my Cool Lane! Wouldn't you feel the same way?

The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage

Title: The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage by Enid Blyton

Why I Started to Read This Book: When my mom was my age (8), she used to read this series. She thought it was very funny. She told me that I should read at least one of the books and I would be hooked. Then, my mom reserved this book from the library and we got it and I read it. I thought it was hysterical!

What is it About? It is about five kids and a dog and they solve a mystery that even the local policeman can’t solve. Their names are Fatty, Bets, Pip, Larry, Daisy and Buster is the dog. Bets is Pip’s sister and Daisy is Larry’s sister. Fatty is a friend who lives in the same town. Buster is Fatty’s dog. 

One of their neighbor’s cottage burned down one evening. The five kids and the dog have to find out who burned it down. They use clues (or as Bets calls it - glues) to solve the mystery. They also made a list of suspects and questioned them and ruled them out one by one.
 
The policeman in the book who also tried to solve the mystery is Mr. Goon and he kept saying, “Clear orf! Clear orf!” instead of “Clear off! Clear off!” to the children. The children named him “Clear Orf” .The person whose cottage was burnt was Mr. Hick and he was sitting with a cup so the children called him Mr. Hiccup. There is also a Mr. Smellie in the book.
 
What Did I Like About This Book? I like the way the children thought about the clues and suspects. They were very good detectives.

What Didn’t I Like About This Book? I can’t think of anything.

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? You'll have to comment and tell me what you think.

Hint: The rest of the books of this series are not available in our library but I am going to ask my aunt to get them for me from India. I can’t wait to read them ALL!
 

My Vacation to Pittsburgh, PA

A couple of weeks ago, during our summer vacation, I went to Pittsburgh with my family.

The drive to Pittsburgh was very long and a bit boring. The fun thing was that we got to go through tunnels that were dug through mountains. Their names are Blue Mountain Tunnel, Kittatinny Mountain Tunnel, Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel and Allegheny Mountain Tunnel.

The day we reached Pittsburgh, we did many interesting things. Here are some of my favorites:

1. The water steps. At the river front, there is water flowing over steps and you can climb around. (This isn’t dangerous if you are careful) It was a really hot day and it felt good getting wet.

 

2. We also went on a bridge called Warhol Bridge. That was cool because it had yarn knitted blankets on the sides. They were very colorful and beautiful.

 

 

3.  That day we also did a hot air balloon ride. We only went up about a 100 meters in the air, but it was still cool. I found it surprising that every time the fire went up, the balloon went up higher in the air. The view from up there was nice and we waved to my dad below.

 

 

After all that, we came to the hotel we were staying at. It was called Extended Stay America. We went to our suite (number 320) and we fell asleep after dinner.

The next morning, we woke up. It was Sunday. We ate breakfast and we set out. Today we went to West Virginia. On the way there, we stopped at a rest area. We ate pizza. And we also picked up some pretzels and cheese dip from Aunt Annie’s. ¡delicioso! (That is Spanish for delicious) Then we were back on our way.

 A few hours later, we reached West Virginia. We drove all around to find the Oglebay Good Zoo. We wanted to see the dinosaurs that move and roar. After a while, we found them. They were SO cool! One of them even spit out water!

After the dinos, we went to see a type of bird called a lorikeet. They were very colorful. We bought cups of nectar (for one dollar) and fed them to the lorikeets. They even stood on my arm!

 

 

Even funnier, one climbed on my mom’s arm and up to her head! It started picking at her hearband and would not let go!

We also saw zebras and kangaroos. We went inside a room and saw snakes, frogs, a chameleon and other reptiles.

 

 

On the day we were leaving, we rode the incline up to the peak of a mountain. We saw Pittsburgh below us. While we were waiting for the next car, we saw how the incline works. It was so cool.

This trip is POSITIVELY, ABSOLUTELY, UNDENIABLY, AND DEFINITELY ON MY COOL LANE !!
 

Stick Dog

Title: Stick Dog By Tom Watson

 

Why I Started to Read This Book: I just found it at the JFK Library. I thought it sounded funny. I mainly liked the pictures, not because they were very good, but because they were very funny. For example, if the author drew a tree, it looked like a broccoli. So I decided to borrow the book and read it.

 

What is it About? It is about a dog called Stick Dog. He and his friends named Poo-Poo the Poodle, (Just so you know, he is not named after –you know– poop. He is named after what he is. Get it? POO-dle) Stripes the Dalmatian, (oh- and in case you were wondering, Stripes is the kind of dog that would look up on a rainy day and say,”Let’s go for a picnic!”) Karen the Dachshund, and Mutt the Mutt(of course!). They all go on an adventure to find delicious hamburgers.

 

What Did I Like About This Book? The story was funny. A lot of times the dogs got distracted and forgot about the hamburgers. But Stick Dog usually stopped them and got them back on track.

 

What Didn’t I Like About This Book? The only thing that I did not like was that the book was too short and easy for me. This book was not as long as a Limo, but as short as a Beetle.

 

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? Yeah. Sure–I’ll allow it.

Camp App Attack

Last week I had camp App Attack. We learned how to make an app using a software called Construct 2.

 

I learnt how to make an app. Here is how we did it:

 

1. First, we tested the game “engine” to get an idea of what the game will do.
2. We planned our game and made blocks and baddies (villains) to go with our plan.
3. Next, we worked on all the art. We made the backgrounds and gave features to our blocks and baddies.
4. Next, we did all the sound effects for our game.
5. Last, we tested the full game. Uh-oh! Mistakes! Fix. Test. Mistakes. Fix. Test. Mistakes. FINALLY… everything looked perfect! Our teacher put our game on a website.

The game I worked on is called “Canshot”.

 

 

 

The game works on a computer and other electronic devices. If you have ever played Angry Birds, the idea is pretty similar. You have to drag the aimer to where you want to hit the target.

 

 

 

Then you click the fire button: ©… and … a chicken pops out! Ha-ha! You use the chicken to hit blocks and either destroy them, or knock them over.

 

 

 

You will find baddies and you have to destroy them to finish the level. There are 10 levels. Each level has its own structure of blocks and baddies.

 

 

 

I know all this sounds so much fun and interesting and it actually was, but unfortunately, for this camp, the kids in my class were not very nice and laughed at me for some reason I did not understand. My partner, who I worked with to make Canshot, was very mean too!

 

On Monday, he did not do anything and just played on his 3DS XL. On Tuesday, he did everything and did not give me a turn on the computer at all. I don’t think I enjoyed working with him. On Wednesday, I told my teacher that I was not learning anything because I was not getting any time on the computer. He helped me a little bit with working with my partner after that.

 

In the beginning of the week he told us that he had a rule: SFL. That means that we should be Safe, have Fun, and Learn. Now, as I said before, I was not learning anything and not having any fun. So, even though the app making by itself was fun and I have downloaded the software at home and I am working on it, the Camp DOES NOT and WILL NOT belong on my Cool Lane.

Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Wolf Brother

Title: The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness: Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

Why I Started to Read This Book: Well, it’s really funny. Remember the book, Clone Chronicles? Well, every time I saw a book of Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, I thought it was a book of Clone Chronicles. Then, I found out that it was actually an entirely different series from Clone Chronicles so I finally decided to try it.
  
What is it About? It is about a boy named Torak. He is part of the Wolf Clan. A clan is a group of people that live and hunt together. But his father (who he calls Fa) kept him away from other people - even his own clan. Fa keeps him away from people because he doesn’t want them to know what special thing Torak can do. Fa is attacked by a bear demon and passes away. But before he dies, Torak swears to find the Mountain of the World Spirit. On his adventure, Torak meets his guide - a wolf. Then, he finds out what special thing he can do: He can… talk to wolves! Later on, Torak gives the wolf a name: Wolf. As they continue on their adventure, Torak and Wolf find Renn, who belongs to the Raven Clan. They have an adventure together.

What Did I Like About This Book? Nothing… except, EVERYTHING!

What Didn’t I Like About This Book? Just like Savvy, it was confusing in the beginning but I decided to continue reading anyway. I also didn’t understand some words that Wolf used. Like Tall Tailless. (Can you guess who or what that was?)  WARNING! WARNING!  Only read this if you have completed the book.*

 

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? DEFINITELY – I have started reading the second book in the series already!  

*(Answer: Torak)

Theater Camp: The Pearl of the Fire God

These 3 weeks I have Theater Camp with Taubenslag Productions.

 

My camp director’s name is Michael Taubenslag. Joel and Rebecca are always there to help him with everything. He also has a group of amazing counselors to manage the kids in the play. He is a very good actor and director and very kind.

Last week we acted out the story of Pinocchio.

This week we did the story of “The Pearl of the Fire God”. You may not be familiar with this story. It is written by Michael’s dad just for their family and they turned it into a play.

The story takes place on the island of Hakaluka. (This island is fiction.):  

One day the Fire God got very angry and threw smoke and lava. (AHHH!) The people of the island rushed to their boats and rode as fast as they could out to sea. Then the lava stopped and they returned but all was destroyed. On the shore Samatoo found a giant oyster with a pearl inside of it. He was the Chosen One. He was KING!

But Samatoo grew older and eventually passed to the heavens. The pearl was passed to his 1st born child of the king. And the pearl was passed from generation to generation. The present king, King Hulo, was also growing old. Then the evil Pudinas stole the pearl. They made their son Calla throw the pearl into the ocean. Then Maclada’s children went fishing. They saw Calla leaving. Anyway, when they were fishing, they caught the biggest fish in the world! And it was a talking fish! It was the Queen of Fishes. She was choking on the pearl. They got the pearl from the fish and brought it home to Maclada. The guards caught Maclada with the pearl. The family was put in prison. Joshita told the king they were innocent and that Calla threw the pearl in the ocean. The king found out at the end that Calla was guilty! The Pudinas were punished and the Macladas were rewarded!!

I was Joshita in the play. This was the first time I got a role where I had a big part. I found it a little difficult because this was my first time playing an important part, but once I was done, I felt more confident and proud of myself. I loved it and I hope I get more speaking parts in plays.

 

My sister in the play is my actual sister. That was cool too!

 

There is something very interesting about the names in the play. The name Joshita comes from Michael’s son, Josh. The name Maclada comes from Michael. One of Joshita’s sisters is Adama and it comes from Adam who is Josh’s brother. I found all the names in the play very clever.

 

            
And next week we have The Wizard of Oz and I am looking forward to it. 

I have read the book before and I am watching the movie this weekend so that it helps me in the play.

 

I think this definitely belongs on my Cool Lane. What do you think?

Savvy

Title: Savvy by Ingrid Law

Why I Started to Read This Book: My library has a “Dig Into Reading” 2013 Summer Reading Club. If I read different kinds of books, I’ll get a raffle ticket. If they pick my name out, I get a Nintendo DS! One of the types of books I was supposed to read was a Garden State Book Award (GSBA) nominee book. And this book is a GSBA nominee.
  
What is it About? It is about a girl named Mibs Beaumont turning 13.You are thinking “Yeah. So what?” But, when a Beaumont turns 13, they get a super power called a “Savvy”.
Mibs’ grandpa shakes the ground. One of her brothers makes electricity. Her other brother causes hurricanes. You might be wondering what power she got. Find out for yourself after reading the book!!  

What Did I Like About This Book? I like that Mibs risked her life to save her dad. Oh right. I forgot to tell you. Her dad had an accident and is in the hospital.
 
What Didn’t I Like About This Book? Honestly, I found the beginning too boring and confusing.

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? I have to admit, I first thought that if it was found on my Cool Lane, it would be arrested immediately by a cop. But I continued to read because I wanted to enter it for a raffle ticket. After I read a couple chapters, I decided that it should belong on my cool lane after all.  Now that I think about it, it is hard to find a fantasy book that I don't like!

101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher

NEVER TRY THIS AT HOME...Or should I say, at SCHOOL. If you think that you will, well then, STOP READING RIGHT NOW!!!

 Title: 101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher by Lee Wardlaw

Why I Started to Read This Book: I just found this book at the library. My second grade teacher’s name is Miss Cooper. Since she is really nice, the nicest teacher I have ever had and I would not do any of these things with her.
And anyway if I did anything bad to any teacher, I would be in BIG trouble.
                 
What is it About? It is about a kid inventor named (hmm… what was it? You know he was the one narrating, so they didn’t tell his name a lot. I think it's) Steve. He did a lot of naughty things. But, his most famous invention (and my favorite) was the “Nice Alarm”. Instead of buzzing or ringing noisily, it gently taps you on your shoulder awake.

What Did I Like About This Book? Well, the main thing is, that it is funny!! I am pretty sure that there is another book called 101 Ways to Bug Your Parents and I really want it. But I could not find it at the library.

Out of the 101 things mentioned in the book, I want to share three of my favorite ones with you.
1. When the teacher says, “Pay attention”... ask, “Pay how much?”
2. When the teacher says, “Take a seat”... ask, “Take it where?”
3. If you aren’t good at singing, and the teacher asks you to sing a song, play it with your armpit.

There were so many more throughout the book but I don't want to mention them all and ruin the excitement in the book. You have to read the book yourself to enjoy it.

What Didn’t I Like About This Book? Zip Zilch Nada Nothin'

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not?  This DEFINITELY belongs on my Cool Lane!!

Camp Solar Power

This week I have Solar Power Camp.

My teacher’s name is Mr. Matt. He is the BEST summer camp teacher I’ve ever had. I had him for two other camps last year! He was my teacher for Electricity and Robots in 2012.
 
This week, we learned about the sun. Here are some cool facts that I learnt…

• Did you know that Aphelion is when the Earth is farthest from the sun than it will be all year? This date is July 2nd.
• Perihelion is when the Earth is closest to the sun than it will be all year. This date is January 2nd.
• Did you know that helium was named after the sun? The Greeks called the sun Helios. Since someone discovered helium in the sun, they called that gas "helium".
• The average distance between the Earth and the sun is 93,026,724 miles (or 1 Astronomical Unit).
• The sun’s core can get up to 10 to 22.5 million degrees F.
• DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN FOR LONG!! It can blind you.
• The sun is about 4.5 BILLION years old! (and according to Mr. Matt, that’s how old he is!)

Everyone in the class got to make a vehicle that used solar power to run it. We used a kit called Solar Power Plus Kit. During the week it was rainy but fortunately, it was sunny outside on Friday and I got to build a car and try it out. My car was yellow and black. When it gets direct sunlight, it runs. On mine, I put number 43 on it and my initials “AD”.

I’m going to let you guess if it belongs on my Cool Lane or not.
(Here is a hint: I LOVED Camp Solar Power!)       

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Title: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Why I Started to Read This Book: Every summer I like to read one Harry Potter book. This way, I get older as Harry gets older. This summer I am reading the 3rd book.
I would like to suggest that you should read the 1st and 2nd Harry Potter book before this one.

What is it About? It is about a person named Sirius Black. He escaped the prison of Azkaban. To stop him from getting into Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore put soul-sucking Dementors outside every entrance of Hogwarts. Join Harry, Ron, Hermione and their friends(and maybe enemies) on their 3rd adventure.
 

What Did I Like About This Book? I like the new spells. My favorite one is Riddikulus - it is so funny.
I also liked reading about Quidditch games, the Patronus(which is a defense against Dementors), Firebolt(which is a REALLY FAST broom...whoosh), and Buckbeak, the hippogriff.
The end was a little bit confusing. (Not a lot, though.)

What Didn’t I Like About This Book?  I almost loved everything BUT...but...but, I didn’t really like the end because I had to read it a couple of times to get what was happening.

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? Well, IT BELONGS ON MY COOL LANE because I couldn’t stop reading it and loved it but I wish it was less confusing for me at the end. Once I am slightly older, I might understand that interesting end part better! I really look forward to reading the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th book.

Mischief Managed!
(I REALLY don’t want to tell you what this means because I want to build up the suspense.)

Watercolors at Summer Camp

This summer I am going to Middlesex County College. I am not going to school there, just for camp. You know, I’m only a 3rd grader.
 

I have Water Colors this week. I have learned many techniques. Some of them are: Flat, Graded, Two Graded, Three Graded etc., Resist, and Wet On Wet. I also learnt about Perspective.
 
My favorite is resist. You have to draw something with crayon. Then, if you paint over it, you can still see the crayon! You can make an invisible ink with it. All you have to do is draw something with a white crayon and paint over it. Then, you’ll see where you drew with crayon.
 
Even though Water Colors is fun, I wish I was a better painter. In case you were wondering, I am not too sure if this should be in my Cool Lane. This one would be kind of on the side walk next to my Cool Lane. You know what I mean?

Perspective:

 

 

Resist:

 



 

 

Three Graded:

 



 

The Clone Chronicles #1 Popular Clone

Title: The Clone Chronicles #1 Popular Clone by M.E. Castle

Why I Started to Read This Book: I went to the library and found this really cool book. But guess what? It was the 2nd book in the series! I wanted to read the series so I reserved the first book and I read it.

What is it About? It’s about a really smart creative kid named Fisher. He has a flying pig named FP (which stands for Flying Pig). He makes a clone which he calls "Two". They all have to fight evil Dr.X.

 

What Did I Like About This Book? EVERYTHING!!!!! If I could clone myself like Fisher I'd make him do my homework and ask him to clean up my room. Unlike Fisher, I like school. He has bullies in school which he calls Vikings. There are no bullies allowed in my school.

What Didn’t I Like About This Book?—

Does This Belong On My Cool Lane Or Not? DEFINITELY