Kid Power! New Year's Resolutions

Kid Power! Kids can make a difference! Every Thursday on Ink Splot 26, we'll show you a new idea for how YOU can make the world a better place.

It's almost 2012 and it's my favorite time of year. The beginning of a new year is a great time to start brand new, to think of some goals and resolutions for how to be a better person. No one is perfect, and this is a great time to think about ways that you can improve in 2012.

My New Year's Resolutions:

• Set a better schedule for myself
• Spend more time with my family
• Be a better friend and a better listener
• Change my closet and develop a better style
• Graduate college with good grades and honors
• Travel to a new country
• Do more arts and crafts activities and more D.I.Y fashion activities
• Go to the gym more often, and live a healthier lifestyle (No more soda or candy!)
• Read interesting books
• Learn how to cook

Your New Year's resolutions and goals can be about anything, from saving more money so you can buy a really cool toy that you like, to making more friends, or to spending more time with your sibling. Start jotting down some goals. After you finish, keep the paper somewhere that you can see it constantly, like on your refrigerator or on a wall in your room. Give yourself credit for all your success, and check off the things on your list that you have completed as the time passes.

Leave a Comment with your resolutions for 2012. Happy New Year!

— Glory, Scholastic Intern (a.k.a. CupcakeChateau4)

Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say

Have you ever wondered how people become artists? How they decide their paths? Who helps them; who hurts them? Award-winning children's book illustrator Allen Say knew from a very young age that when he was drawing, he was happy.

Growing up in Japan during World War II wasn't easy. To make matters worse, Allen's parents divorced, and no one in his family wanted him to be an artist. But all that Allen wanted was to be an artist. He spent as much time as he could drawing things he saw, things he imagined, and drawing other people's drawings.

When Allen was just about 13, he read a curious story in the newspaper. A boy, only 3 years older than Allen, had walked 350 miles to Tokyo to ask for a cartoonist job at a local newspaper. Noro Shinpei, the most famous cartoonist in Japan (and Allen's favorite), was so impressed that he made the young man his student. After reading that article, all Allen could think of was whether Shinpei would take him on as a student. Allen had to find out. Shinpei's answer could decide Allen's future as an artist - the only future he had ever wanted.

Read this autobiography to find out Allen Say's path to becoming the world-famous artist he is today.

--Emily, Scholastic Booktalker

Winter Vacation Would You Rather

Last week I posted some Holiday Gifts Would You Rather questions, and we got some awesome responses from you guys! To keep in the winter-y spirit, this week we're going to do it again with Winter Vacation Would You Rather. So whether you could go to these places and do these things for real or not, let your brain do the traveling. And let us know, would you rather . . .

1. Ski the Alps OR surf Hawaii?
2. Be snowed in your school for the whole break, OR be caught at the mall wearing matching Santa sweaters with your mom?
3. Get a stomach bug from eating moldy fruitcake OR 10 cavities from too many candy canes?
4. Clean Santa’s elves’ bathroom OR brush his reindeers’ grimy, smelly teeth?
5. Watch Sesame Street the whole break OR babysit 5 screaming toddlers instead of going to a New Year’s Eve party?
6. Go to Disney World OR Hogwarts?
7. Visit the Grinch in Whoville OR Santa at the North Pole?
8. Sip hot chocolate at the lodge OR snowboard sick slopes?
9. Be lost in a frozen tundra OR stranded on a desert island?
10. Sleep in an igloo in Alaska OR bungalow in Tahiti?
11. Go on a shopping spree in the Big Apple (New York City!) OR at the Apple store?

Leave your answers in the Comments below! And let us know your ultimate holiday vacation. Real or daydreams. Because in my opinion, sometimes you've gotta have big dreams!

— Ratha, STACKS Writer

Writing Prompt: A Perfect Day

Today's Writing Prompt comes from eighth-grader Sophia Shi, who won a Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her Personal Essay. Here is a small sample of her award-winning writing:

I want a day. A day to myself. A day with no chaos, errands or planning; a day with no one yelling at me, insulting me, broadcasting my inferiority to the world. Sometimes I want to drop everything . . . I want to forget what assignments I have due tomorrow or what I have to organize or who I have to face . . . I just want to sit on my bed or a sunny hill or a vacant park swing and think about nothing at all.
—from Optical Illusions by Sophia Shi, Grade 8. Silver Medal, Personal Essay/Memoir.

So for today's Writing Prompt, think about your perfect day. What would you do? What would you NOT do? Where would you be? What would you see, hear, taste, smell, and how would you feel? Write your answer in the Comments.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer