This week, on Tuesday, November 29, fifty Iranian protesters stormed into the British embassy in Tehran, Iran. It all started with protesters charging into the embassy; then they tore down the Union Jack and screamed, “Death to England.” They held six members of staff captive during the protest, but they were later freed. The protesters also ransacked offices and torched at least one vehicle. The cause of the riot was unclear according to reporters and the British embassy; it was perhaps the economic sanctions against Iran’s suspect nuclear energy program. William Hague, the foreign secretary of the UK’s parliament, stated that there would be consequences for those that made the assaults. He also stated that several hundred people had stormed both British compounds at the British Embassy building in Iran. The United States and the European Union (EU) also rushed to condemn the assault. President Obama has said how he is concerned that the Iranian authorities allowed the protesters to riot, but nobody really knew how and why it happened. Iranian authorities have expressed their regrets and have promised that they will prosecute the wrongdoers.
Every year, MKA holds a Scholastic book fair–the largest one in the country! There are three visiting authors at each campus, and what seems like millions of books are brought into the school. Everyone loves the book fair; it’s something people can look forward to at the beginning of each year. In fact, this year’s book fair just ended, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s authors and, of course, books, book signings, book reviews, books, and more books! This year’s authors were R.L. Stein, author of the Goosebumps series and Fear series; Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series, The Beyonders and The Candy Shop Wars; and Harlen Coben, author of Shelter. R.L Stein’s speech was great. He involved the entire school in writing a ghost story, then he told us his own childhood ghost stories. A fun fact: R.L. Stein writes scary stories because he “likes to give children the creeps.” Brandon Mull talked about how he gets his story ideas. People liked his presentation because he had visuals to go with what he was saying, which neither of the other authors had. A fun fact: Brandon Mull gets most of his story ideas from real-life experiences. Harlan Coben
R.L. Stine says he has a great job: “My job is to give kids the CREEPS!” Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, he has sold over 350 million books, making him one of the best-selling children’s authors in history. He was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1943. R. L. stands for Robert Lawrence. His mother, Anne Stine, was a homemaker and his father, Lewis Stine, was a shipping clerk. He has a younger brother and sister–Bill and Pam. No one in his family ever called him R.L.; everyone calls him Bob. When Stine was nine years old, he found an old typewriter up in the attic. That became his new endeavor. He brought it down to his room and started typing some stories and little joke books. Oddly Stine always tried to be funny. When he was asked to write a scary story for his humor magazine called “Bananas,” it became an instant hit. In 1986, he wrote is first horror book called “Blind Date.” When Stine was a child, his mother begged him to go outside and play. But Bob always said it was too boring outside. He stayed in his room typing away–and he
The Scholastic book fair comes to MKA every year, and every year so many books are sold each day of the book fair. Several authors came to the book fair over the three days it was open these three authors spoke to students. First of all R.L Stine, the author of the well known “Goosebumps” series came to talk to third through eighth graders. He is a man who loves to scare people but make them laugh at the same time. The next author who came was Brandon Mull. He is the author of The Beyonders and the Fablehaven series. The Fablehaven series is a story based on fantasy; the same applies to The Beyonders series. Then, the last author to visit was Harlan Coben, the author of Tell No One, Shelter and Live Wire. He is a person who loves to write serious, young adult novels. He is a #1 New York Times bestseller, and he can be a funny man! Then a line of trucks came to pick up the books that were left over, and that was the end of the book fair at the MKA Middle School.
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