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BOOK NAME: Travels with Tarra
AUTHOR: Carol Buckley

Tarra the elephant was sent from Africa to California to a man named Bob who wanted attention for his tire store. Then a college girl, the author Carol Buckley, ends up buying Tarra and teaches her all sorts of tricks, but she's most famous for her roller skating. Tarra's roller skates are specially made to fit her feet - they're huge! For about twenty years, Carol and Tarra appeared at circuses, theme parks, and zoos.

This is a picture book that is for older kids. It's very interesting because Tarra has a very cool life. She meets Carol's dog Tasha, and they become friends. There's a picture of Tarra holding up the dog with her trunk!

Tarra ends up living in a bunch of zoos but finally settles down in Buckley's elephant sanctuary. A lot of other elephants live in the sanctuary with Tarra. The sanctuary is in Tennessee, is 800 acres big, but you may not go visit the elephants there.

Buckley created the sanctuary so that Tarra could settle down and not have to move to different places.

I really like this book. Until next time - seeya!

Hello people, I'm reporting from Panama and having a great time. The first place we went was Los Quetzales Lodge. The owner, Carlos, was really nice and when we got there, he showed us around and told us everything about the place. Carlos then took us to his barn, where there were ten little puppies. They were labs and they were absolutely adorable. They were only a month old and sooooooooo cute. It was fun because we got to hold and pet them. They would also bite your ankles because they were teething (but it didn't hurt).  

Every fall, beautiful red, yellow, and orange leaves become a big outdoor clean up project for many families. Rakes, leaf blowers, tarps, plastic bags, and brown paper kraft bags are the tools of the trade for leaf warriors. Depending on how many deciduous trees you have in your neighborhood, raking, piling, bagging, and dragging leaves can take hours!

Composting yard waste saves space in landfills and can help reduce overall methane gas produced in landfills. Many local governments require that leaves be picked up as yard waste by trash disposal companies. The leaves are taken to a facility and are turned into mulch along with other yard debris, like grass clippings, small sticks and branches.

If you have room in a corner of your yard, pile the leaves and leave them there for a couple of years! Over time, the pile will become compact and you'll have leaf mold, which can provide nutrients to the soil in your garden.

Do you help your family or neighbors with yard clean up? Do you stuff your leaves into plastic bags or do you use brown paper kraft bags as they do in Canada? Or do you haul your leaves to the curb to wait for the big vacuum truck to suck them up on recycle day?

Get some tips from the EPA's Create Your Own Compost Pile.

Photograph by Photo Library

Hey, everyone! It's McKenna again, with one last blog about a memorable moment in Peru. I'd like to take you back to "The City in the Clouds" for a quick visit to a special spot nestled in a narrow notch on a mountaintop overlooking Machu Picchu.

After exploring and shooting pictures for hours in the marvelous ruins of "The Lost City of the Incas," and after eating a quick buffet lunch at the Machu Picchu restaurant, many members of the expedition, including myself, decided to take on the challenge of a 45 minute hike about a mile up the Inca Trail, a long, twisting, ancient stone path made and used by the Incas. Our destination? The Incan Sun Gate.

The length of the trail we traversed curves up the side of the mountain and overlooks the grand city of Machu Picchu. It was an amazing experience. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were walking on the same stones the Incas used to trek. But, overall, the trek wasn't all that easy.

The stones of the trail are jagged and serrated, and one misstep at certain places could have caused us to tumble down the steep precipice of the soaring mountain. YIKES! At 8,000 plus feet in the sky, it was sometimes tough to get the oxygen we needed to climb without breathing pretty hard at times. And, being ever so high in the sky, we had to be on guard to avoid getting sunburned. We were told that, at that height, even if it doesn't feel like you are getting sun, if you aren't careful to wear sunscreen or cover up, you are likely to get sunburned--even on the tops of your hands!

Photograph courtesy WFP/Rein Skullerud


Did you know that over one billion people suffer hunger in the world each day? That is about one-sixth of the population of the planet. The World Food Programme, part of the United Nations, helps feed people around the world and has created online resources to help kids learn about hunger and ways to help. The WFP blog for students and teachers called, Teaching Hunger, is a great way to learn more about how hunger affects people around the world. Another WFP blog, On the Road, features videos highlighting hunger issues. Check out the links below to visit the World Food Programme blogs on their website.

Visit the World Food Programme's Teaching Hunger blog.

Visit the World Food Programme's On the Road blog.

Learn how you can help others during the holidays this year on National Geographic Kids.

Hunger isn't the only problem in the world. Malaria is still a problem in Africa. Read more on National Geographic Kids.

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.

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.