Summer Read: Here Today

An Ann Martin page turner keeps the action moving.

Here Today

Author: Ann M. Martin

Publisher/ Date of Publication: Scholastic, 2004

Number of pages: 308

Recommended age: Grades 4 - 8

Here Today by Ann M. Martin is about a girl named Ellie Dingman, who lives in Spectacle, New York, in the 1960’s. She lives on Witch Tree Lane, which is named for a tree down the block with knots in the shape of an old witch’s face.

Living on Witch Tree Lane pretty much means you’re an outcast, fitting in only with your neighbors. Ellie’s mother, Doris Day, who is always running off to singing or dancing auditions, leaves Ellie to take care of her sister and brother, Albert and Marie.

Just as life at home is hard, so is life at school. She and her best friend Holly are either shunned or abused by the more popular girls. When Ellie thinks it couldn’t get any worse, sabotage occurs on Witch Tree Lane. Rocks are thrown through windows, mailboxes are glued shut, and the witch tree is painted purple.

Then one day, Doris goes off to an audition, but never returns. Where did she go? Will she ever come home?

Here Today is an-action packed book, with many surprises and twists. It all adds up an awesome page turner, great for summer reading.

I enjoyed it very much, and could relate to the characters. It was very detailed, making me feel as if I was with Ellie on Witch Tree Lane. I never wanted to put it down!

I think many people would like this book because it’s packed with drama. Preteens will especially like this book because the characters experience events that they are likely to encounter themselves.

—Caitlin Wardlow

PHOTOS: (TOP) Book cover for Here Today by Ann Martin. (Image Courtesy Scholastic) (BOTTOM) Caitlin Wardlow's favorite place to read is in a comfortable chair. (Photo Courtesy Caitlin Wardlow)

Walter Wick's Magic

Inside the studio of the artist/photographer of I Spy!

When I recently visited Walter Wick, the photographer and artist for the I Spy and Can You See What I See book series, I got to see the sets he uses for his pictures up close and personal. I am working on a video story about the visit, which will be posted on the Scholastic Kids Press Corps web site later this month.

The sets were the coolest things in the whole studio. The one I thought was the best was the Jolly Roger set, which will appear in the book Can You See What I See? Treasure Ship.That book comes out on April 1.

Something that really surprised me was how much detail goes into each and every set! As I was looking at the Jolly Roger set, the detail, color, and lifelike look took my breath away.

One page of the book depicts the Jolly Roger Gift Shop. It looks like the sunken ship from a previous page. When I looked at the set, I could see the tiniest details in the splintering wood.

Sitting on the table, the Jolly Roger set was taller than me! Mr. Wick begins his sets by first making them out of cardboard. Then he actually designs them out of wood. Before the pictures are taken, he adds color and props, which are all those little trinkets you see in his work. He has over 15,000 props in his studio!

In a room off the huge open area where he takes pictures sits a big cabinet of containers filled with cars, people, blocks, and anything else that might be needed to decorate a set.

When you step into the workshop, you can’t help but smelling the scent of wood. As Mr. Wick says, “The workshop is where all the magic happens.”

That was what my fantastic day with Walter Wick was like—magic.

—Caitlin Wardlow

PHOTO: Kid Reporter Caitlin Wardlow and Walter Wick in Mr. Wick's Connecticut studio. (Photo Courtesy Caitlin Wardlow)

In the World's Submarine Capital

A tour of the USS Nautilus in Groton, Connecticut, is an undersea adventure.

On the banks of the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut, is the Submarine Force Museum and Library with the USS Nautilus sitting in the water. It is the only submarine museum operated by the United States Navy. I recently took an audio tour of the Nautilus. It was like having history blaring in your head!

The Nautilus was the world's first nuclear powered vessel and the first ship to travel UNDER the North Pole. It is named after the ship in the Jules Verne book,  "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." An original copy of the book is on board the ship.

Submarines may look big from the outside, but the hallways inside are so narrow, I could reach both arms out and touch both walls, side to side The bunks, where the crew sleeps, are so tight, the sinks fold up! I felt like I was in a little kid's playhouse as I almost had to crawl to get through a small doorway.

Oh, but the good part of this was that I learned that if you worked aboard the Nautilus, you would only have to work six hours and then get 12 hours off! And when you were done with that work, you could easily grab a snack. They served food there every six hours! But there's a catch. You are on this narrow, tight, windowless sub for six months! That's half a year away from your family. Once you are back on shore, however, sailors can stay the next six months at home. 

Did you know that today's submarines are about as big as the one I toured? Touring the USS Nautilus was really cool because I got to feel like a sailor living on a submarine.

—Caitlin Wardlow 

PHOTOS: (TOP) Caitlin Wardlow before boarding the USS Nautilus submarine. (BOTTOM) A look inside a bunk on the nation's first nuclear powered sub. (Photos courtesy Caitlin Wardlow)