A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

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With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

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The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

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Some Thoughts on The Hunger Games

Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The Hunger Games never sounded like my kind of literature.  Yet I couldn’t help noticing the popularity of the books and movies, and the more I thought about it, the more the story’s premise became so repulsive it became intriguing.  How to write something like this?  Someday I would have to

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Tracking Refugees

If you are following the refugee crisis in Europe and are concerned, there is an easy way to help.  A man named David Altmayer has designed an online map that shows where the refugee camps are and what is needed at each camp.  It also describes the situation at each location and provides contact information.

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De-coding Facial Expressions

“If a logger smiles in the forest with no one around to see him, was he actually happy?”  —  Jerry Adler One of our most effective forms of communication is non-verbal.  I have a $1.50 paperback on my shelf from 1970 entitled Body Language.   So it should be no surprise to hear that people

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Origin of the Drone

Word meanings  can have fascinating histories.  For example, the heavily armored vehicle was named a “tank” to disguise its true purpose.  There are oil tanks, water tanks, etc, so who would expect one that moves and shoots back? Here’s a more contemporary example.  Why are unmanned aircraft called drones? I found one explanation in the

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Are You Ready for “Giving Tuesday”?

The holidays are a good time to remember worthy charities. So, in addition to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we have Giving Tuesday, the “day for giving back.”  (http://www.givingtuesday.org/) Yes, I do have my favorite charities.  If you don’t, allow me to make some suggestions. First, do some homework.  Several organizations rate charities; I subscribe

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The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven”

Happy Thanksgiving!  This is from the “I wish I’d written that” department — a Thanksgiving poem by Jack Prelutsky.   The Turkey Shot Out Of The Oven The turkey shot out of the ovenand rocketed into the air,it knocked every plate off the tableand partly demolished a chair. It ricocheted into a cornerand burst with

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Savage Wars of Peace

A major nation’s use of power is always an interesting topic, and seems especially relevant in this day and age.  That’s why I found the book The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power fascinating.   The book begins with the wars against the Barbary pirates in 1801 and continues

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