by Stone Marshall | Dec 17, 2014 | parent-news |
Thanks to friends from across the globe — in all 50 states and more than 60 countries — Dylan Siegel and his best friend Jonah Pournazarian have reached a megamilestone.
Dylan’s book, “Chocolate Bar,” written to raise funds for research into a rare liver disorder called glycogen storage disease type 1B, netted $1 million in book sales this week.
Boy author raises $750k for sick friend.
Boy raises more than $30,000 for sick friend.
Boy author raises $400k for sick friend.
In fall 2012, Dylan, now 8, wrote and started selling the books for $20 each.
For more information on “Chocolate Bar,” click here.
He wanted to help Jonah, now 9, who is one of 500 children in the world with the disease, which does not have a cure.
Every cent from the book has gone to the University of Florida lab where Dr. David Weinstein leads the research team studying and treating patients.
Weinstein said that when he finds a cure, he wants Dylan right there next to him.
The money has financed the hiring of a new geneticist, studies resulting in new gene-therapy treatments, and kept the facility open and on track to a cure within several years.
Dylan has vowed not to stop raising money until there is a cure.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 12, 2014 | Awesome Book News, parent-news |
THERE’S some bad new for fans of Harry Potter, who were rejoicing across the world when reports emerged that 12 short stories would be published by author JK Rowling before Christmas.
Rowling has now denied reports that she is releasing the 12 ‘Harry Potter’ short stories this month via her popular site Pottermore.
A message to fans on the Pottermore’s Facebook page confirmed the talk of short stories was untrue.
Sorry Potterheads … J.K. Rowling has bad news for you. Picture: AP
The post stated: “Just to put everyone straight on the misleading media reports of ‘Twelve New Stories for Christmas’ As true Potter fans worked out straight away, our 12 days of festive surprises and accompanying rhyming riddles refer to new potions and Moments in addition to several new entries by JK Rowling that will be posted on pottermore.com between 12th and 23rd December.
“Sorry to disappoint fans, but there will not be a set of 12 new short stories, one for each day of Christmas. Even Pottermore wouldn’t be that generous.”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 12, 2014 | Awesome Book News, parent-news |
Remember the Daily Prophet newspaper from the “Harry Potter” movies? You know, the publication that has images that move around a bit, like GIFs embedded in paper? Well, that style of photo may soon be coming to digital driver’s licenses in Iowa.
The Iowa Gazette reports that the department of transportation there is experimenting with licenses that could be stored on a smartphone and would feature a rotating headshot, just like in the articles penned by Potter’s not-so-favorite journalist, Rita Skeeter.
The licenses would be optional and available in addition to a normal physical license you carry around in your wallet. Having a digital license would help out if you leave the house without your wallet or purse and get pulled over. At least if you get stopped for distracted driving, you could just tell the officer that you were looking at your phone to get your license ready for him.
The Gazette reports that the licenses could be available as early as next year and that Iowa could very well be the first state to offer them to drivers. There would be no cost for the digital version of the license.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 11, 2014 | parent-news |
SWANSEA — Copies of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” practically flew off the shelves and into the eager hands of the third graders at the Luther School Friday morning.
There were other fiction novels that interested the students too, like “The Tiara Club,” the “Dork Diaries,” and “The 39 Clues.”
“You can go on adventures in your mind,” said student Damien Caetano, after opening the cover of “Into the Gauntlet,” another saga of “The 39 Clues.” “I’m really good at picturing it in my head.”
Caetano and the other children chose their books carefully from the new Luther School Library.
The library opened a couple of weeks ago in a classroom on the second floor, after having been closed for years.
Luther School Principal Sean Scanlon, who took the helm for the new school year, said it was a goal of his to reopen the library.
“It was an easy decision to make,” Scanlon said. “You want them to find things they’re interested in reading. It’s leisure reading.”
Since the summer, Scanlon, along with teachers and parents, especially Laura Zorra, have worked to fill the shelves with books for children in grades 3 to 5. The Luther School educates children in just those grades, while other schools in town have students in the lower grades.
Each class will visit the library every other week and make their own book selections. Parents have volunteered to help the kids and assist them in checking books in and out of the library.
Scanlon said they’ve spent about $1,500 on new books and are still beefing up certain sections of the library.
“A few hundred have come in,” Scanlon said.
Another shipment of “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” is on the way.
“I love it,” said teacher Karen Koutsogiannis. “It’s really, really exciting.”
Student Anna Medeiros was just tucking into “The Dork Diaries.”
“I love it,” Medeiros said. “I like it because I picture it in my mind, what she’s saying. And, the pictures really take me there.”
Student Byron Bell chose “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” to read, as did Hannah Santos.
“It’s funny,” Santos said. “It’s fun to read.”
Bell thought so too.
“It’s funny,” Bell said. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s really interesting.”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 11, 2014 | parent-news |
KELSO, Wash. — Talk about fairy tales, a Kelso, Wash. mom threw a Harry Potter birthday party for her son and it turned into a business.
Catherine Jabush created wands for all the young wizards at her son’s party and two years later, she’s still turning sticks into magical gifts.
That’s because parents across the country are placing plenty of orders, especially now, for the holidays.
“Making and creating is what I love to do. My inspiration is right out the window,” Jabush said, referring to the wooded area outside her home.
She uses Willow, hickory, oak and drift wood to fashion special wands and sells them online as the Woodland Wandolier.
“I might cast a Harry Potter spell and see if I can lift you off the ground,” she said, smiling as she played with one of her creations.
In her home studio, where a spider takes up permanent residence and a troll overseas operations, anything seems possible.
“The designs are different on every one, depending on my hand movements, my mood, if I’m working slow or fast. And they each have to be different because they’re like snowflakes,” she explained.
Before the hot glue, there’s sanding and trimming and after that, there’s the painting and decorating.
“There’s a lot more love in it and it’s going to last longer,” she said.
Before each wand is finished there is an 8- to 10-step process and somewhere along the line, Jabush believes that a bit of magic happens, too.
“Because of the way they bring people together,” she said.
Her customers are not just kids, they are therapists, brides and grooms, or even grown children purchasing magic for their parents.
This holiday season, Jabush said her “Frozen” wand has emerged as the best seller. It originated from a special order online.
Jabush described herself as a lifelong artist who once created castles out of clay. Now, because of the wands and what they can do for kids, she has found her happy ending.
“I’m always thinking about children. What they might be thinking, what they might do with them,” she said. “I have to delight them!”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 10, 2014 | parent-news |
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, written by Jeff Kinney, have sold more than 150 million copies around the world.
Based on character Greg Heffley, the books follow him through his life at school and on adventures with his friends and family.
Jeff first came up with the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 1998 but it wasn’t until six years later, that it was first published online.
Now Jeff has just released his ninth book in the series called The Long Haul and will be speaking to Newsround this week.
We want you to send us your questions for Jeff and we’ll ask him as many as we can.
Maybe you want to know how he comes up with ideas for the books or perhaps you want to know why he wanted to become an author.
Whatever you’d like to ask him, get in touch and let us know.
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