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BOOK NAME: Toys Come Home
AUTHOR: Emily Jenkins

Toys Come Home by Emily Jenkins is a story all about the adventures of a few soft toy animals. The soft toys teach you important morals about friendship and taking responsibility.

Stingray is a blue friendly soft toy who arrives at a little girl's house as her birthday gift. Stingray is learning all about the house and trying to make friends with the other toys, Sheep and Bobby Dot, the walrus. However, Stingray does not like their personalities as Sheep is lazy and sleepy and Bobby Dot is mean and brags. But, Stingray is a true hero for she rescues Sheep from a thorny bush he gets stuck on. When Bobby Dot dies in the dryer, the girl buys Lumphy, the buffalo to take his place. Stingray and Lumphy become good friends and enjoy playing games together. They are soon joined by a playful intelligent ball named Plastic. The three of them realize that they along with the girl are a true family.

This book is a perfect read when you want to enjoy some simple adventure. It's amazing how each toy has an individual personality that is reflected by their acts. For example, Plastic is intelligent as she reads lots of books and Lumphy is brave for he saves a mouse from a cat. Also, I could picture the toys so easily because of the detailed descriptions. This book reminds me about little children interacting with each other. I cannot wait to read more about the toy's adventures in the sequels, Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party.

Tyler and Stefan, two brothers, went on a year-long trip of a lifetime around the world. They share some of their favorite memories from their trip.




Check out the rotating globe to see all of the places Tyler and Stefan visited during their journey.

Phenomenal Friday Fact

The 2012 Hands-On Explorer Contest is now closed. No new entries will be accepted by the judges. It's time to wait to find out who won!

A strong solar flare from an active region of the sun caused a dramatic display of the aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights). The solar flare sent a cloud of gas and charged particles called a coronal mass ejection, or CME, at the Earth. The flare's collision with the Earth's magnetic field causes the brilliant light displays.

The sun has a cycle 11 years long. We are now in the part of the cycle where the sun's activity is higher. Scientists predict that we will continue to see this kind of intense auroras as the sun's activity increases, reaching what is known as solar maximum next year.

See more pictures of this week's auroras on National Geographic News.

See pictures of the sun on National Geographic Kids.


Photograph by Thilo Bubek

We entered Sri Lanka wondering if it could possibly be December 1st when it was 90 degrees outside. We drove to Kandy where we spent 2 wonderful nights in our own cabin above the lake. We spent our first day at the botanical garden. Some of the trees in the gardens were 2 times older then America. The coolest part was the bat filled trees. There were hundreds of them hanging from the branches. It was awesome and creepy at the same time.

Hi everyone! I am very happy to say that finally I went around Sydney with a camera and my mum (everyone thought we were tourists). We took a picture of the Opera house and the Harbour bridge.

This is my last post on the Olympics, and frankly, it's been great writing for you guys. I've really enjoyed writing this blog, as it's helped me do things I wouldn't normally do--like interview athletes, trade pins, learn about the mascots and the torch relay. This enhanced my Olympic experience, too! The last Olympic event I went to was the men's beach volleyball.  The U.S. team got the gold medal, and I got to see them raise the American flag and sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the middle of Beijing! What a great way to end this Olympics!

Another highlight was getting to see Nadal and Federer play on the same day. It has inspired me to work hard on my tennis and I will try out for my middle school tennis team again this year (I didn't make it last year).  I also learned how a lot of different sports were played & judged (canoe/kayak slalom, beach volleyball, badminton, diving, etc.). Being able to watch a few events in person helped me appreciate how hard the athletes have to work before and during the Olympics.

Today, I'll tell you about a normal day at school. I still have to go to school until the end of the month of June.  My school specializes in music and presents concerts here and also outside of Canada.

I walk to school with my friends. It takes us ten minutes to get there. Classes start at 8:30 am. At this moment all students are very excited because this is the last month of school, but also the time for exams. I have four classes of 75 minutes and between each class a break of 15 minutes.

During lunch time I eat at the cafeteria and have fun with my friends in the park around the school. School ends at 3:15 pm. I walk back home were I do my homework and I relax. I often take the subway to go to the library Plateau-Mont-Royal were my mother is chief librarian. We have dinner together and then I go to my fencing class. The library is in downtown. I like to go in that part of the city, where it's full of people and very buzzy.


The swimming pool will open soon!

First, I want to show you a video of me weaving.



I have been weaving for about three years--since I was 11.

Last year I met Meg Cabot, the author of The Princess Diaries, when she came to South Africa. It was so cool and she was so nice!

Last week I met John van de Ruit, the author of Spud, during the launch of his latest book, Spud - Learning to Fly at this cool mall called Melrose Arch.

Every year Grade Five puts on a huge production, a play  that my drama teacher writes, and this year it was my turn!!!

My friend Sukayna and I were the lead along with two boys.

Sukayna and I were the two angels: Goodness and  Evil, who come down from the heavens to Earth and meet two crazy people, and they all go looking for the reason of evil spreading everywhere. And guess what? I was the evil angel! And Sukayna was the good angel.

Something exciting has happened at the Kakenya Center for Excellence girls' primary school! We have finally moved into our brand new dormitory!

The Kakenya Center for Excellence students are really proud of the new dorms, and they take pride in keeping their rooms very clean. They have to clean the rooms often, as the cement floor gets dirty very quickly here in dusty Kenya. This often means mopping twice a day with rags and soapy water.

My school is a French school in the middle of London, which is a bit strange but loads of schools are like that in London. We do not wear uniforms, because  in France they do not wear uniforms.

There is a Spanish school which we did a exchange with this year. There is also a Italian school in south London. My school is in South Kensington near the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum where we do visits all the time. My school has existed for about 80 years and it now almost holds 4000 pupils which is about 11 classes per year.