Ghost by Jason Reynolds - review Ghost - the boy - is a runner. A good one, too. But his ambition was never track. It was to be the next (basketball star) LeBron. But when Ghost challenges expert runner Lu in a race, Coach Brody decides he has somethi...

Among us in the San Juan Islands on our very own Orcas, we have a great treasure. We usually see this treasure during the winter. It is a handsome, black and white, five foot long bird called the trumpeter swan, otherwise known as cygnus buccinator.  T...

Building Community with Hilary Canty Have you used the new school track? Do you ever visit or donate to the Food Bank? Have you ever needed housing assistance? Have you taken classes in the elementary school about emotional awareness? Hilary Canty, th...

Charlotte Doyle boards a ship to go to America where her parents and siblings await. When she boards the ship, she meets many people, including Captain Andrew Jaggery. The crew tries to warn her that Jaggery is an evil brute, but she doesn't listen, an...

Samuel Gribley runs away from home with only a penknife, a ball of cord, an ax, and $40, plus some flint and steel. He makes a home in the Catskill Mountains by burning a room out of a huge tree and using a deer hide door for added protection. On the w...

The Call Of The Wild is a breathtaking, fun and sad story. When a wolf-dog, Buck, is dog-napped from home to mine gold in the Yukon territory, Buck is not happy. He was taken away from Judge Miller at first, and then had to deliver the Alaskan mail wit...

Sophie Foster is a telepath. She doesn’t know how or why. She bonked her head when she was five which triggered her telepathy. She has no idea what to do about it, until she meets Fitz, a stranger that appears to be a telepath, too. He takes her to a d...

Your garbage gets thrown into a landfill. Totally unhealthy for the earth and all of us, right? Well, the Orcas Island Exchange is trying to reduce the amount of island waste going into landfills under the direction of Jeff Ludwig who runs the operatio...

It was Friday. I was feeling good about my vocabulary and multiplication tests. My younger brother Orion and I were good all week so my parents brought us to Clever Cow, our local ice cream parlor. We always enjoy playing our made-up game on the way, c...

It was a crisp autumn day when I walked into our local grocery store. I smelled ginger, cinnamon and cloves.  Holly Dennis, creator of Harmony Chai was handing out free steaming hot cups of her vegan chai with a warm smile! The chai is unique because...