Guardians of Ga’Hoole, Book One: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky; Scholastic Inc.: New York, 2003; $4.99 I was excited when I opened the book Guardians of Ga’Hoole, The Capture, by Kathryn Lasky. I could tell it would be a good book once I read the cover. Initially, it appealed to my love of animals and nature. Once I started reading it, however, I was so interested in the story that I was fascinated by this adventurous world of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls, also known as St. Aggies. This book is about a young barn owl named Soren. He and his friends are captured and taken to an evil academy where they hypnotize young owls and force them to join their evil army bent on destroying all owl kingdoms. Soren and his friend Gylfie escape the hypnotism by telling stories of the Great Ga’Hoole Kingdom. It forces them to stay awake so they are unable to fall asleep during a full moon, also known as moon blinking. That’s just the beginning of their adventures, for they escape and meet up with two other owls, Twilight and Digger. Together, they are in search of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, which they hope will be able to stop the evil academy of St. Aggies. The author was very clever, and made a map of the entire owl world. This map is illustrated on the inside cover of the book and includes at least ten different areas, such as Forest Kingdom of Tyto (where Soren is from), St. Aegolius Canyons, and the Island of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. On the outer edges of the map, there is even an area called Beyond the Beyond. I enjoy reading maps, and this made the book very appealing to me. I had read that the author spent several years doing extensive research about owls, in order to write a nonfiction book. She decided in the end to write a fantasy about owls, but to include as much information as she could about their natural history. This is very obvious when you get to the end of the book and find a type of glossary naming all of the characters in the story, their origin, and the type of animal they are. It also includes the scientific name for each animal. I was surprised that there were so many different types of owls. Not only was it a learning experience, it made the book seem much more realistic. The story definitely drew me into its fantasy world. I felt at times as if I was Soren. Sometimes I felt eager, sometimes I felt scared, sometimes victorious. I didn’t want to put the book down even to eat or sleep. It was definitely a page-turner with a good-versus-evil theme, which is a characteristic found in most of my favorite stories. Guardians of Ga’Hoole, The Capture, by Kathryn Lasky, is definitely a book I would recommend to my friends. In fact, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series. Anthony Cali, 10Acworth, Georgia
September/October 2004
Neverland
There might be no Neverland, No heaven, no after. Only cold Earth. There might be nothing— Yet isn’t that something? So pretend today will last forever. And fly now, soar, Gravity only exists If you believe in it. Fly with sunbeams Tangled in your glowing hair And fly with moonbeams Softening your face And fly on the back of Pegasus. Fly close to the sun, And don’t be burned, Fly to the moon, And leave your handprint Denting it for who knows how long. Bring me with you When you go, Lifting gently from This battered planet. We will skim the galaxies Like tadpoles in a puddle Or young eagles Weightless For the first time. We will fly past Where all the maps and pictures show To un-named universes Where we will orbit Other suns And we will Never Land. Nicole Guenther, 12Vancouver, Washington
The Shooting Star
Darren Milar sighed as he walked into the schoolyard. All around him kids were laughing, running, and playing. The sound of tetherball chains as they clinked against their metal poles rang out as Darren passed. When kids started school again, they were sometimes nervous, excited, or a little sad. But that was nothing compared to what Darren felt. Ever since kindergarten, Darren had been the outcast. The nerd, if you had to put it that way. Other kids had had loads of friends, and turned against him. Darren had only one friend, Ian, and Ian was just as nerdy as Darren, without the glasses and braces. The start of school meant Darren was back to rude notes on his locker, people laughing at him in the corridors, and Ian telling him to ignore them. But he couldn’t ignore them, and already Darren knew, the second he walked into the schoolyard, that he was off to the start of another terrible year. And so it was, another terrible first day back. In the corridors, even kids younger than him, sixth-graders, laughed at him. As usual, in classes, teachers told him that he had extraordinary talent, while people sniggered and pointed behind the teacher’s back. Ian is never laughed at, thought Darren, looking around at Ian. He was sitting, working in his math book. How does he do it? thought Darren desperately. * * * Later that night in bed, Darren lay propped up on pillows, looking at the stars. He had heard that there would be shooting stars tonight. He was thinking of a wish, and it wasn’t hard. He closed his eyes and whispered, “I wish I was popular at school.” He closed his eyes and whispered, “I wish I was popular at school” But when he opened his eyes, nothing had happened. His wish hadn’t come true. * * * The next day at school Darren had totally forgotten about his wish. He and Ian were talking when suddenly, a hush fell over the blacktop. That was not normal, even the tetherball chains weren’t clinking. Darren and Ian stopped talking and looked up. Standing in front of them was the prettiest girl Darren had ever seen. She had long red hair that reached nearly to her waist, and eyes as green as jade. A few freckles were scattered across her nose. She could have been a model if she hadn’t had the ugliest scowl on her face, if her faded jeans weren’t torn at the knees, and if her Good Charlotte shirt was still black, instead of a smoky gray. Darren was paralyzed. He didn’t know whether she was an angel or a devil. Fortunately, he was spared the moment of trying to speak because the girl asked him, “You go here?” “Y- yes,” he stammered. “Good. Then you’ll be able to tell me where the principal’s office is.” She looked at him like a tiger examining its prey. “D- down the hall, f- fifth door past the water fountain.” He thought he must look like an idiot, stammering next to her speaking confidently. She didn’t even thank him, just walked away, leaving him and the rest of the school staring after her, her sandals clip-clopping loudly on the dead-silent playground. When the bell rang ten minutes later, the school was still frozen in awe at the girl’s entrance. Darren was suddenly the center of attention for once, and people kept asking him about the girl, because he had seen her best. Then, in history, Darren finally got to learn about her. “Class, we have a new student today” said Ms. Kent, after the class had settled down. “She has been on vacation in Mexico, up until yesterday. Dear, would you like to come and introduce yourself?” The girl walked up to the front of the class. “My name is Claire Guerrerro,” she growled. “I like punk rock bands. My favorite color is black, and I play the guitar. Any questions? Good.” She walked back to her seat. “Well then,” the teacher replied, “I’m sure you’ll all be very nice to Claire. Now please open your book to page 102 …” But barely anyone was listening. Claire opened her book and didn’t look at anyone. Darren had a bad feeling in his stomach, and gulped. Just one more person to pick on me. Soon Claire did become the most popular kid in school, but she chose her friends carefully, and they were almost all boys. If Darren thought this was bad, the worst was yet to come. Two weeks after Claire arrived, Darren came to school and looked around at their usual table. It was empty. This was odd, because Ian was usually dropped off by his older brother Alec pretty early. Darren sat down, and looked around for Ian. He found him quickly, but his heart sank. Claire’s group, which was usually prowling around and scaring sixth-graders, was now sitting down at a far-removed table. They were talking to (Darren shut his eyes tight) . . . Ian. Darren couldn’t believe it. Claire had taken his best friend from him. Now Ethan Lowell was talking to Ian, who pointed at Darren. The whole group looked over and laughed. Zach Parker said something, and the group cracked up again. Darren felt like crying. He tried to sit with them at lunch, but Ethan Lowell said, “Sorry, no room here, but there’s a spot for you at the nerd table.” Ian looked uncomfortable, and shifted in his seat. Marilyn Fisher said, “Don’t worry, Darren. I’m sure you’ll find a place to sit.” He didn’t realize she’d put a KICK ME sign on his back. * * * The days passed, and Darren became more and more miserable. He tried sitting with his sisters, but they talked about fashion and other girly stuff. He tried as hard as he could to be friends with Claire, and he was practically down on bended knee. One day as he sat on the
