John Green, acclaimed author of The Fault in our Stars, is back after nearly five years with his new novel, Turtles all the Way Down. In this novel, Aza introduces her friend Daisy to us. Aza and Daisy are trying to solve the investigation of a billionaire gone missing for the prize of a large sum of money. Coincidentally, Aza knows the son of the billionaire, Davis Pickett, so they figure that they will become friends with him to discover more about his father. Aza also has raging anxiety and she worries that she’s not in control of her own mind. She gets overcome with spiraling thoughts about the bacteria that could be invading her body. Daisy always tries to tell Aza that she is always stuck on baseless thoughts in her own head. Meanwhile, Davis and Aza are hanging out more and start to become closer, which is exciting and terrifying for Aza, Davis, and even Daisy. As I was reading Turtles all the Way Down, from Aza’s perspective, I realized how John Green visualized Aza’s anxiety. Aza’s anxiety is a downward spiral for her; it keeps on going and gets worse unless she can put a stop to it. As usual, John Green’s writing is heartbreaking, funny and relatable, too. His writing makes you visualize a spiral in your head, while imagining how it connects to many moments in your own life. In showing Aza’s anxiety, he brings that issue to life. He shows how people can fight with anxiety and overcome it. While reading, I was relating Aza’s anxiety to my own life. When I get stressed, I feel that there is a spiral in my mind and that nothing can overtake it. Aza’s life and how she tries to overcome her anxiety, motivates me to stop my ongoing spiral and calm down. Although some people do not have anxiety, they can also imagine and connect a spiral to many moments of their own life. While reading, I also thought of many reasons that John Green would write this book and one major one came to my mind. Not only is John Green raising awareness for teens with anxiety, but he is also showing how he overcomes his own anxiety. Raising awareness for teens with anxiety is extremely important. John Green writes about mental illness in this book to show teens the importance of dealing with psychiatric issues and to teach teens to overcome their anxiety. This novel is very meaningful because it shows how to get debilitating thoughts out of their own head. Aza wants to overcome her anxiety, but cannot control it because of fear that something bad will happen to her. That’s the essence of Aza’s fear and the feeling of being taken over by outside influences and not being her own person. At one point, Aza thinks about how the string from one musical instrument can cause the string of another to vibrate. In essence, that’s what this novel does too. When you start reading it, there is a chain of events that spiral, and you cannot put the book down. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2017. Buy the book here and support the Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!
Autism by Joao Fernandes
Autism Autism by Joao Fernandes Table of Contents Famous Autistic People Why is Autism Weird or Aggressive? Information about my brother Sergio Why I wanted to help John Facts about me (Lilly Marzec) Information about the author Glossary We know that these pictures can be hard to read, so we’re including a transcript of the book below: Cover: Autism Illustrated by Lilly Marzec Page 1: Autism by João Fernandes Some may act different but can have a great future -João Fernandes Page 2: Table of contents 1. What is Autism? 2. Famous Autistic People 3. Why is autism aggressive or weird? 4. Information about my brother 5. Information about the illustrator 6. Glossary Page 3: What is Autism? Autism is a disorder that can show up at 3 years. Scientists don’t know how it shows up but scientist do know how to deal with it. Someone that helps with autism is called an aid. An aid is a person that is trained to help autism. Dialogue: “Stop repeating!” “Stop!” Page 4: The three major concerns are: first, people with autism have a very hard time with social interactions. Secondly, they lack understanding and intuition about feelings of other people, and reasons for behavior. Thirdly, when it comes to language, people with autism find it very hard to use. Dialogue: “Huh?” “Ha!” Page 5: the right words. Some repetitive behavior is also a feature of autism such: stereotpy: repetitive hand flapping, body rocking. Repeatedly arranging items in a certain way. Engaging in ritualistic behavior. Focusing and a limited range of behaviors and self-injury. Page 6: But Autistic people can have “a good life” if they have the brain to learn. On the next page you can learn about -Thomas Eddison -Albert Einstein Page 7: Chapter 2: Famous Autistic People An autistic kid that had changed the world with the light bulb was Thomas Edison. When he was at school back then they did not know what was autism. So he got kicked out his homeschooled him. Page 8: Thomas Edison studied, did lots of reading, did experiments, by the time he learned electricity, he had made the worlds light. In a bulb. Page 9: Albert Einstein, the world’s famous scientist. But did you know he had autism? The world’s famous scientist was not the average kid you would see. He was quiet for about 5 years until his little sister was born. He learned how to read and write. He also learned how to use a violin. Page 10: He figured out about mc squared and mass but in the 1900s he had to prove it. But his brilliant mind could not be stopped. Page 11: Chapter 3: Why is autism can be weird or aggressive? If you’ve ever seen an autistic kid acting aggressive or weird, you would wonder, why? It’s because they don’t know how to express their feelings. You may want to laugh or Page 12: stare. That’s being mean and provoking the autistic person to do more. Information about my brother Sergio Page 13: My brother Sergio was my first man to inspire me to make this book. If it wasn’t for him, I would have no idea what was autism. He is in second grade in Mapple East, if you want to see cursive, it’s now: Sergio F Page 14: Why I wanted to help Jhon (John) I wanted to help John because I like drawing and coloring. Also I want to learn more about autism. Also I wanted to help him because he is an amazing person. We are in third grade. Page 15: Facts about me (Lilly Marzec) -I like dance -I have one dog (Molly) -I have 2 brothers -I have 1 sister -I like singing -I love making songs -When I grow up I want to be a singer -I love playing with animals Lilly Marzec Page 16: blank Page 17: Information about the author: Hi! I’m João (John) Fernandes. My brother has autism (left) his name is Sergio. My mother is a PhD. That inspired me to make this book. Page 18: Glossary Aid: Helps autism. Engaging, Charming & attentive. Intuition: The ability to understand. Lack: The state of being without. Mass: gravity Repeatedly: over and over again Ritualistic: invariably performed Stereotypy: The persistent repetition of an act for no obvious purpose Page 19: blank Page 20: Hi! I’m João (John) Fernandes. I am the author. I have a list of almost everything about autism. Here’s a picture of the brain.
BizTown Money
Image by Melody Ann Crespo via Creative Commons Review by Megan Li, age 10 Ever thought how it would feel as a kid to sell, manage, and earn money? Well, with BizTown, you can! Yeah, I know, this sounds like one of those commercials we all know, but seriously, you can! My class in 5th grade started it on February 1st, 2018. BizTown allows kids, or anyone, to manage money and learn how to save or spend it. Our teacher gave us all a “small” booklet that read BizTown on the front. There were all kinds of things to do inside, like how to endorse checks, definitions of different words or making a fake bank account. We learned what types of checks there are and you could be arrested for writing a check that pays more money then you have in your account. That’s called a bounced check. Later on, you get assigned a job and either you’re an employer or an employee. If you’re the boss you can decide whether to invest, spend, or save the company’s money. You get a checkbook and can write checks or deposit money. BizTown not only shows kids how to act responsibly with money, it also allows you to have fun with it. You can play games and buy fake stuff. For example, my class played a game where you could spend or save money and earn interest. You would answer 3 questions in a round. There were 3 rounds. If you got it right, you got 1 dollar. So if you got all of them right you would earn 3 dollars. The interest rate was 30 percent, of course fake. There was stuff you could buy from the shop, like candies, bracelets, or a watch. But you had to buy at least 3 things by the end of the game. The money you saved earned you interest and at the end we could see how much money we had. Of course, like any session or subject, there might be quizzes. Not always but sometimes. It’s not that hard though, you just have to know the definitions of some words, like checking account or debit card, or what someone should do if they want this or that, but it’s pretty easy. All in all, I think BizTown is an awesome program.
