Color Blindness Quiz

Color Blindness Trivia Quiz

What do Mr. Rogers, Bill Clinton, Keanu Reeves and Prince William all have in common? Besides being famous, they also all happen to be color blind! Inspired by our Left Handers Trivia Quiz, we decided to do a Color Blindness Quiz. To get you revved up, take a look at this image and see if you can decipher what letter or number it shows. Which leads us to our first Quiz question. . .

1. What letter or number is inside the circle? If you can't tell, chances are you're color blind!
2. TRUE or FALSE. If you're color blind, you can't see any colors at all.
3. Who is more likely to be color blind, men or women?  
4. Name a job that requires you NOT to be color blind.  
5. Are bees color blind?  
6. If you're color blind, how many color hues are you able to see? A. 0 B. 3 C. 20 D. 50 
7. Name the cure for color blindness.
8. How can a color blind person tell if a traffic light is red or green? 
9. If a woman is color blind, will all her sons be color blind?

Leave your answers in the Comments below, and check the official answers!

— Ratha, STACKS Writer

Personality Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to last week's Personality Quiz. What's your personality?

Check your answers to the questions from last week, and count how many times you picked A, how many times you picked B, and how many times you picked C. You might be evenly split between all 3. That means you are pretty balanced between all these personalities. But if you picked one letter more than the others . . . 

MOSTLY A's
You're fashionable, and LOVE outfits and gossip. The best of the best won't even make you smile sometimes. Try to lower your expectations. It'll make everyone happier.

MOSTLY B's
You are sporty and casual. You could grow up to be an amazing athlete with tons of fans, (but don't get too carried away. I'm no fortune teller.)

MOSTLY C's
You're a bit of everything. Because of this, you can be almost anything you set your mind to. Just remember, I'm no fortune teller.

Thanks for participating!!!!!

Thank YOU for the awesome quiz, FairyEmerald31! If anyone else has quiz ideas, feel free to type them up in the Message Boards. I can't promise to use them all in the blog, but I will try to use some of them!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Writing Prompt: Superpower

Writing Prompt: Superpower

It's a bird; it's a plane; it's YOU! Because you are a superhero, and your superpower is . . .? Today's Write On Writing Prompt comes to us from Arianna who asks:

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I would want to fly. It would be awesome to just take off whenever I wanted, be one with the birds, and of course, I could avoid a lot of traffic.

What about you guys? What would your superpower be? Inquiring minds like Arianna want to know! Leave your answer in the Comments below.

— Ratha, STACKS Writer

SPONSORED BLOG POST Ice Age Continental Drift

This post is sponsored by Ice Age 4: Continental Drift.

In Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, Scrat's nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he's been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences: a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego, and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny, and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home. 

To celebrate the movie coming in July, you can have a chance to win a private screening for 50 of your closest friends, plus a Nintendo DS system. How can you enter, you ask? Pledge to do a random act of niceness to enter the sweepstakes. After you show your kindness, come back and enter again by making another pledge. You can enter as many times as you like! Plus, take the Ice Age Personality Quiz to figure out how nice you are!

Sweepstakes ends May 21, 2012. See the Official Rules for prize details and restrictions. 

Charity Book Drive for Kids

Charity Book Drive for Kids

Summer is almost here, and you know what that means. Summer Reading! YAY!!!! All that free, uninterrupted time to just dive into books. But I am about to tell you a very sad fact. There are many kids who don't have ANY books to read ever. They don't have any books at home, and they don't have any books at school, and they don't have a public library where they can borrow books.

As I write this, I am looking at a pile of delicious books on my desk at work. There are books in every room of my home, and I live 1 block away from the public library. I can't imagine a world where I couldn't just reach out and grab a book, but lots of kids live a book-starved life. That makes me sad. 

But there is a way we can help them. We can send them our books! There are several organizations that collect books and send them to schools and libraries all over the world where the kids have no books. Here are a few ways that you can get involved, but make sure you check with your parents first before you do any of these.

Operation Cleanup: Go through your own overflowing bookshelves, and pull out the books that you will probably never read again. Check to make sure they are in good condition. Nobody wants moldy, beat up, colored-in books. Then box them up and send them to one of the organizations below.

Books for Birthdays: For your next birthday party, request that all your guests give you a book. Then when you are done reading them all, box them up and send them to one of the organizations below.

Host a Book Drive: Put a box with a big sign by the Front Office at school (or church, or public library, etc.), and ask people to donate their gently used books. When the box is full, send it to one of the organizations below.

Mail the books (Media Mail or Book Rate is cheapest) to the organization that is nearest to where you live:

Bridge of Books NJ
P.O. Box 39
Rumson, NJ 07760

Reader to Reader MA
Cadigan Center
38 Woodside Avenue
Amherst, MA 01002 

BookEnds CA
2957 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064 

International Book Project KY
1440 Delaware Avenue
Lexington, KY 40505 

These are only a few of the organizations out there. There may be others that are closer to you. Ask your parents to do some investigating for you. 

Now while you're luxuriating in all that free reading time this summer, you can feel good knowing that other kids might have books too -- all because of you!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

Beezus and Ramona Readalikes

You know when you find an amazing book, and you never want it to end? How do you find another book to read after that? Our answer: Readalikes to the rescue! We hope our Readalikes will rescue you from the what-to-read-next question, and help you find lots of new amazing books.

Let's start with the classic story of older sister and younger sister, Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary. 5-year-old Ramona drives her big sister Beezus CRAZY! It is not that Ramona deliberately sets out to make trouble. She simply has more imagination than is healthy for any one person, and it somehow always causes problems.

There are a bunch of books in that series, as well as the movie Ramona and Beezus. But once you've finished all those, what to read next? Try these other books about dealing with sisters, school, and everyday life problems. Click on the book cover below to see a whole bunch of other Beezus and Ramona Readalike books you might also love.

Hope you enjoy our Readalikes!

—Amanda, Scholastic Booktalker

Personality Quiz

Today's Personality Quiz comes from FairyEmerald31 on the STACK Back Message Board. Enjoy!

I decided to make a quiz to determine your personality. The answers (mostly A's, B's, C's . . . you get the idea) will be out next week. Just write down the answers in the Comments to participate, and then check back next week to see what your personality is.

1. It's picture day tomorrow. What are you most likely going to wear? 
   A. The cute new dress you saw at the mall. 
   B. A sweatshirt and your favorite pants. 
   C. Probably just a shirt and skirt, nothing fancy.
2. You chipped your nail. How do you react? 
   A. You scream and shout. Worst day ever! 
   B. Ignore it. You already chew them. 
   C. Have your parents cut off the rest of them so it blends in.
3. You're late for school. What do you do? 
   A. Have your parents drive you. 
   B. Jog.
   C. Bike it!
4. It's a rainy day. How do you spend it? 
   A. Look at the latest fashions. 
   B. Jumping in puddles!
   C. Just read a book.
5. What's your idea of a great restaurant? 
   A. The fanciest place in town with a large menu. 
   B. A casual place, the simpler the better. 
   C. I'm fine with anything. I'm not picky.
6. What's your favorite art tool? 
   A. Glitter, and lots of it! 
   B. Art, are you kidding? I'm terrible! 
   C. Crayons in pretty colors.

That's the quiz. I'll have the answers next week. Bye!

— FairyEmerald31 (c/o Sonja, STACKS Staffer)

Holiday Writing Prompt

Writing Prompt: Make Your Own Holiday

May 8 is No Socks Day! You celebrate by taking off your socks and letting your feet feel free (after school, of course). I don't know when this random holiday was invented or why, but it got me thinking. . .

If you could create your own holiday, what would it be?

I would invent Chocolate Chip Cookie Day which you celebrate by baking chocolate chip cookies and giving them out to all your friends. Obviously, they do the same, so you get piles and piles of home-made chocolate chip cookies that day!

What would YOUR holiday be? Tell us in the Comments.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

First Position Ballet Movie

First Position Ballet Movie

First Position is a new documentary film about 6 actual dancers (ages 9-19) at one of the world's most prestigious ballet competitions, where hundreds of young dancers compete for a handful of elite scholarships and contracts. The film paints a thrilling and moving portrait of some of these gifted young ballet stars of tomorrow as they push themselves to the limit to realize their dreams. 

Take a look at this video clip from the movie where Michaela DePrince talks about her dreams and her struggles as an African-American ballerina.

Follow Michaela and other amazing ballet dancers on a yearlong journey around the world as they face injury and personal sacrifice on their way to the Youth America Grand Prix competition. It looks like a really inspiring film.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

SPONSORED BLOG POST: The Power of Green

This post is sponsored by Con Edison.

Student Contest: The Power of Green

How do you and your family save energy at home?

Want the chance to win a family day trip to New York City for fun, food, and fine arts? OK! Are you already saving energy at home? Good! You're halfway THERE!  

• FIRST: Create an original artwork on an 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper that explains how you and your family are saving energy. It can be a poster, drawing, comic strip, collage, or painting.
• THEN: Pair it with a short essay (50-100 words) about your artwork and your "green" ideas.
• ALSO: Read the rules and download the entry form.  
• ANNNNND . . . FINALLY: Mail your completed entry in with your contest submission!

Easy, right? Entries are due May 22, 2012. Good luck!

Harry Potter and Summer Reading 2012

Are you up for the Summer Challenge?

School is almost over and it's time to start getting ready for summer. You've been working your brain muscle and sharpening your skills all year, so you've earned some fun time for swimming, hanging out with friends, going to camp, and READING! Yay!

You know that reading isn't just for school. It is an all year activity, and we're challenging you to break the world record for the most minutes read over the summer. Last year in the Scholastic Summer Challenge, kids around the world read an impressive 64,213,141 minutes. We need your help to break that record, and you can earn prizes along the way!

Take the Scholastic Summer Challenge! You can:

Win Cool Stuff! You can participate in weekly challenges and win virtual prizes. Every month, you can enter a new sweepstake to win awesome prizes. Like right now, you have the chance to win a Harry Potter complete series box-set!

Have fun reading! You can chat with fellow readers on the message boards and look at a virtual world map to see how much kids in other countries are reading. You can find activities and book lists to help you decide what to read next.

Compete with kids around the world! Logging your reading minutes will help break the world record for reading minutes! PLUS, the 20 schools with the most minutes logged will be included in the 2013 Scholastic Book of World Records! How cool is that?!

The Challenge is happening now through August 31st. Are you ready to read?

Whatever After Book #1: Fairest of All

New Modern Day Fairy Tale Series: Whatever After by Sarah Mlynowski

Every time Abby and Jonah enter their basement mirror, they find themselves messing up a different fairy tale! In Fairest of All, Book #1 of the new Whatever After series, Abby and Jonah get tangled in Snow White's story. Once there, they accidentally change major events in the tale! In order for Snow White to get her happy ending, it's up to Abby and Jonah to make things right.

• Read Chapter 1
• Watch the Video Trailer
• Play the Dress Up Game
• Read the STACKS Book Review

What do you think? Are you excited for a new twist on the Snow White story? If you could enter any fairy tale, which would YOU choose? Leave a Comment.

--Vanessa, Scholastic Trade Books