Brian's Winter

Brian's Winter was written by Gary Paulsen in response to rude comments about one of his earlier books; namely "Hatchet." Critics said the ending was unrealistic and wanted to know what would have happened if Brian had had to survive the winter. For further information you should probably read "Hatchet" first. Anyway, Brian's Winter is a really interesting book about a thirteen year old boy trying to survive a cold northern winter, all alone. I would highly recommend this book to anyone from age eleven to fourteen. His ideas and creativity make for a very interesting read.

Till the next book, Wild Mustang/Sloppy Joe

Horrible Histories: The Groovy Greeks

This book is pretty much a history book that is designed so that kids find it entertaining rather than boring and "lame." It includes funny comic strips, a timeline, an introduction to the Greek gods,fighting techniques, short articles on Greek stage performance, a short summary of the surrounding nations cultures, neat stuff about Alexander the Greek, stuff about Greek religion and superstitions, fun games and mathematical theories, info on the Olympics, and interesting Greek foods such as sea urchins, turnips, grasshoppers, and pigs which had died of over eating. Overall it is full of very interesting facts, intriguing but sometimes odd legends, war stories, and is a great short summary of how Ancient Greeks lived. You can get books from this series at Chapters, Indigo, and sometimes Coles. I would highly recommend it to any boy or girl aged 9-12.

Kingston-Fort Henry Trip 2010

My class recently went on an overnighter field trip to Fort Henry in Kingston, Onttario. There,I became a private in the British army. Situated at the place where Lake Ontario meets the might Saint Lawrence,it has a very interesting history. We were told some pretty freaky ghost stories by The Lance Corporal. We took many photos, ate a hearty breakfast and supper, and had tons of fun.

The Case of The Missing Backpack by Edward G. Mason

A Sequel to The Mystery of the Black Hand Print Copyright 2010 Manson Household Press

It was Monday. The worst day of the school week. As I got off the bus, I tried to look optimistic about the new school week. It was hard. We had a French Test, a Music Test, and a really hard gymnastics project for Gym. I was not in the best mood. As I walked in the building I automatically noticed something. Albert Mats one of my "associates" didn't have his high security backpack on him. I asked him what was wrong but he said he'd tell me after lunch. Math was incredibly fascinating thanks to jokes and paper airplanes. Literature was fantastic. We were reading The Bobbit by J.L.L. Molkien. It's a great book. After my lunch of two cheese and ham sandwiches and a refreshing drink of fruit juice, and devotions, I quietly slipped away to the Science Room, our un-official meeting place. Albert looked upset. "What took you so long, man?" "Well, you know, lunch" I said smoothly. "So what's up with you?" "Well I was on Bus #2 this morning and I was about to get off when I noticed my backpack was gone. I couldn't bring forth accusations right away or the bus driver would’ve killed me. I asked her if I could look for it and she told me that no, I couldn't. Then she practically booted me off the bus. So yeah, that's my story." "Max, you notice anything suspicious about the kids in our class?" "No Jack, nothing" " Well we all know the prime suspects, so here's what we do." "We can either sneak into their homes at the dead of night or search their lockers." Obviously everybody chose the second option. So the next day after a good sleep we got to work at school. We knew that most of the girls in our class went somewhere or rather at recess. Probably the washroom, we presumed. So, we decided to strike at a less busy time of day. After everybody was outside for lunch. We searched Kate, Nosila, Nancy, and Anne's lockers. Max was the first to find something. In Nosila's locker laid a giant lock that had obviously been scorched by a welder. We gathered it into a evidence bag. I also found two of Jordan's notebooks in Nancy's locker, plus a piece of black thread from Albert's backpack. After school, we all biked to my basement lab and examined the evidence closely. Evidently Kate had grabbed it while he was reading, stuffed it into her backpack and then walked away off the bus. Then Nosila and Nancy must have fought over who would bring it home and open it. Thus the thread. Nosila had won, brought it home, scorched it and then handed the notebooks to Nancy the next day. How to confront them.... We thought up a trap. Summer Vacation was only a day away. We legally hacked into a girl in our classes’ e-mail account and sent invitations to them for a small get-together at Bayfront Park. Obviously the girls had noticed we had the evidence now, but they didn't think we'd be as sly as to trap them. On the first day of Summer Vacation, the day of the "get-together" we hired a actor to be Josie, the girl whose e-mail we had hacked into. She had a tape-recorder and a walkie-talkie in her pocket. We quietly hid in the bushes and listened in. We couldn't stop burping because of all the rootbeer we had bought at a shack. Eventually we taped each other's mouths shut. Finally after the "get-together" we listened to the tape recorder. Sigh... nothing interesting yet...Yawn..."Hey wait we got something!" I exclaimed! "Yep, Albert will never find out, I know...." "I couldn't find the stuff we stole guys.." "Ha that's because I got Conner to get rid of it just in case they find it!" "Bye girls" "Bye!" Yes Victory! It reminded me of a song by Tom Cochrane. We hacked once more and told the unsuspecting girls to meet us at Limeridge for "coffee." It worked! We came 20 minutes late and automatically went all out. First, we rubbed in their face what we knew. Then we convicted them of stealing private property. Next we laughed at their disheartened expressions. Then we told them to stop stealing Albert's stuff and to get lost before we called the cops. They actually believed us and went running as fast as they could to the girl's washroom, the only place they knew they were safe. We all laughed and went to a barbeque at Max's house. What a great start to summer!

The End (For now)

The Mystery of The Black Hand Print by Edward Manson

It was 3:00 in the afternoon and I was exiting the school building. I was putting my homework in my bag, but just then I noticed something. There was a note in my bag! Well, I was already late for the bus so I stuffed it in my pocket and zoomed downstairs. I finally got on the bus and slowly sat down, gasping. It said "Why did you fail Thurday's Math Test?" It was signed by the dreaded black hand print. This person had tormented me and my dreams for days on end. But wait! The Math Test was tomorrow! They were going to make sure I failed! That afternoon I sent a private message to Albert Mats, one of my "associates" asking him what we should do. He responded an hour later. "Don't take the test!" That was a brilliant idea! I decided I'd pretend to be sick the next day. It barely worked! My sister almost found out, but I did it. The next day at school, I decided to dedicate my recesses to finding clues. Who in my class had a black pen, marker, paint, or even a glove? Max Regajed helped me. I discovered 8 black pens, 4 black markers, and no gloves. I went down to the artroom and found 3 black paint bottles. Then I asked Mr.Ikslow if I could get a drink during Art Class. It worked! I quickly took a shortcut through the Grade 8 room to the end of the hallway. They were on a field trip. I hid between the doorway and the closest locker. I watched my locker for two minutes straight and then hurried back. Nobody had slipped anything into my locker. I had checked my locker at lunchtime on Wednesday and there was nothing there. So the suspect must be slipping notes into my locker between 12:30 and 3:00. As for the math test my counter-attack had worked thanks to Albert. Over the weekend I relaxed and thought of who might have something against me. George McNalty might be mad at me because I had gotten him in trouble with a teacher once for stealing lunch money from a third grader. Bruno Hamkut was probably mad at me for beating his team in a game of volleyball. Nancy might be mad at me because last week I told her to stop gossiping so much. Charles Sukant was still mad at me because I had stood up against him when he wanted to spraypaint stupid sentences on the school wall. So I had four prime suspects. Monday came along and I snuck out of the class during lunch to inspect lockers and backpacks. Nothing! Boy were these people sneaky! I had a hard time paying attention in History class because I heard a lot of whispers , which I knew were about me and the Black Hand. I tried to ignore it so they wouldn't suspect me of listening in. I caught some juicy tidbits though. I think it is a girl from what I heard. The guys were paying more attention. Although the girls are always talking and the boys might've been hiding something. On Tuesday I was exhausted from homework plus the case. I managed to write down a short document of who left the classroom between 12:30 and 3:00. The following left: Charles,Bruno,Denver,Nancy,Albert, Max, Taylor, Alison, Bruce, and Ben Hofsink. Well, at least George was off my suspect list. I got on the bus that afternoon with information overload. I found something even more disturbing in my bag. Another note! It read: "If you want to see the guinea pig again, meet me in the pine trees at 12:45 tomorrow, and bring tomorrow's French Test answers!" It was tempting at first. But then I released it was a trap! I would get in trouble for going off school property and for giving away answers! But at the same time I would get to meet the mysterious Black Hand , possibly find clues or un-mask them, and save the class guinea pig. So I decided to trick them. I wrote down all the wrong answers. Whoever it was, they were not good at French. Nancy was out. She was really good at French. That left Bruno and Charles. The next morning I woke up , confident I would solve the case. I checked my watch at lunch. It was 12:40. I slowly scanned the field for suspicious behavior. I saw a tree branch move. Someone dressed in green and black. Camouflage! Charles said his dad went hunting sometimes! I had the false answers tucked into my coat. I hurried over quickly, not wanting to be caught by the yard supervision team. I entered the pine trees. Someone quickly pulled me down and held a knife to my throat! Then I realized it was not on the sharp side. I pretended not to notice. "Give me the answers" the person growled. I pretended to shudder and cringe in fear. I slowly handed them the false answers. Then they made a run for it. I went after them in hot pursuit, jumping over fences and doing my top-speed tip-toe run. I pounced. Brought him down! I pulled off the mask! It wasn't Charles! It was Nosila a "arch-enemy" of Albert. " Ha! Thought you could escape me huh?" "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be held against you in a court of J.S.P.Y.A.!" I was quickly dragged to my doom. The principal's office. An adult would not understand how important our agency was! I was suspended for 5 days and had to apoligize to Nosila .(through gritted teeth) I had figured out who the Black Hand had been at least. Another mystery solved! Now me and my friends were free of black hand prints thankfully. I hoped I would never have to go through that again, but time will tell.........

Deer Hunter

Deer Hunter is a fun deer hunting game for your PC. You can pick what equipment you want, including whether you want a horse or ATV. Then the game starts and your left all alone at the destination of your choice. You sometimes have to trek for many kilometers before you spot a deer. To pass the time I usually just shoot other animals that you don't get a trophy for like racoons, platypuses, eagles, otters, and even mallard ducks. When you spot one you have to keep quiet. Then take careful aim and pow. If the deer runs really fast, you lost it. Fairly slow, you should follow it. A minority of the time it will just drop dead. When that happens you walk up to it and collect it as a trophy. Unfortunately there is a bag limit. If you shoot more than one doe , you don't win any trophies. No fawn shooting either. You can only shoot two bucks. Once I got in trouble in Australia for shooting an endangered eagle. You can reload your gun by pressing R. Altogether it is a great game I would suggest for boys and tomboys aged 10-40.