Rockland Public Library
CWC Writes
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Stories
and more….
May 2013
The Children’s Pages
CWC Visits the Humane Society
by Matthew Thomas Young age 12
with Patrick Corcoran age 12
On April 27, 2013 CWC (Children’s Writing Club) visited
the Humane Society of Knox County. We met loads of animals and
learned stories about some of the cats and dogs, plus we learned the
process of the animals entering the Human Society.
First, we went to the Cobb House, which is the building
where the cats enter when they are first brought to the shelter.
There were three rooms of cats, but we only went into one of the
rooms. Five cats were temporarily staying in that room; they were
Twizzler, Fluffy, Cry Baby (she cries because she is often scared),
Gwen, and Miller (he has a hurt ear so he hisses).
When the cats are brought into the Cobb House, they are
put through a series of medical tests, which are: blood test, flea test,
and deworming. Also if they need it, they will be taken to the vet to
heal wounds, be spayed, or neutered.
After the Cobb House, we walked past a building called
Margaret’s Place. This is where sick cats go. We were not permitted
to enter because of viruses and germs.
Next, we went inside the main shelter. As soon as we
entered we noticed the vast amount of cats. They were laying,
sleeping, or cleaning everywhere! On printers, stools, desks, and
scratching posts. One was even playing in an old cardboard box.
In the shelter the cats are put into rotation cages. These
cages allow them to get used to the sights and smells of the shelter.
They are then released into the cat area of the shelter.
Shy cats and kittens can go onto the porch, an inside room
with lots of windows letting in the warm sunlight. Cats and kittens
who aren’t shy can take naps wherever and whenever they want.
All cats have access to the pen. The pen is a fenced in outdoor area.
In the pen we met some special cats. One with a broken leg,
one named Tom-Tom who’s owner gave him a lion cut because they
thought it was funny, a cat named Van Gogh with only one ear, and
a feral cat who stays on the outside of the fence but always comes
back for food.
Meet Matthew Thomas Young
by Patrick Corcoran age 12
Matthew Thomas Young is the
chief editor for the Children’s Writing
Club at the Rockland Public Library. He
is 12 years old and lives in Thomaston,
but he was born in Rockport at Pen Bay
Hospital. Some things that he likes are
forests, pandas, legos, and the color
yellow. He is also a Boy Scout and he
likes soup.
Matthew Thomas enjoys reading
and writing. He likes to write stories a
lot. His favorite genres are fantasy and
science fiction. His favorite books are
The Hobbit and Coraline, but his
favorite author is Roald Dahl. He wants
to be a director and author when he
grows up.
Matthew Thomas likes to be
creative. He likes to make art. He draws
pictures for many of the stories that he
writes and he is in an art club. Another
way he is creative is he likes to build in
Minecraft. He made a Willy Wonka’s
Chocolate Factory of which he is very
proud. In the future he plans to make a
The Hobbit Minecraft server because
The Hobbit is his favorite movie.
Finally we visited the dogs. We met five dogs, Coppo,
Gracie (my favorite), Bonnie, Gail, and Josie. Each dog has their
own special story and you can read articles on a few of them in this
paper.
Continued on the bottom of the next page
Minecraft Chocolate Factory
by Matthew Thomas Young age 12
CWC Community
Bly & Pierce
by Amariah Glaude age 9
picture by Erin Corcoran age 10
Bly and Pierce are brother and sister. They came from
South Carolina. They were rescued from an animal hoarder.
They are 11 months old. Bly and Pierce are good with cats and
dogs. They need a quiet home and are very shy. Also it would
be nice if they could stay together. They are a cream color
huskey mix, and they are soooooo cute!
Gwen
by Grace Young age 10
picture by Erin Corcoran age 10
The Children’s Writing Club went to the Humane
Society in April. I saw a cat named Gwen. She is gray striped
with white fur. She is one year old and he has been there for 3
weeks. Gwen is at the Humane Society because her owner
could not have her anymore.
Bonnie
by Addision Castellano age 9
picture by Tanner Castellano age 10
Bonnie is two years old and is a black and tan coon
hound. She doesn’t do well with children under 5 and she
doesn’t like cats. She likes other dogs. If you want to adopt
her it costs $150.00. The Humane Society has had her for
two months. When they found her, she was a stray dog.
They thought that she was left somewhere because her
family didn’t want her any more.
CWC Visits Human Society continued from front page
The shelter can only succeed with the help of their numerous volunteers. If helping animals sounds like a good thing for you,
you can get a volunteer form on their website: www.humanesocietyofknoxcounty.org. Also volunteers under the age of fifteen must be
accompanied by an adult.
The CWC would like to thank the people and animals of the Humane Society for letting us visit them, and the CWC might do
an article each month on one of the many cats and dogs at the Humane Society. To adopt a cat or dog, visit the Humane Society on 17
Buttermilk Lane in Thomaston.
CWC Writes
Alpaca vs. Sheep
The Origins of Earth Day
by Erin Corcoran age 10
Tanner Castellano age 10
When it comes to sheep and alpaca yarn;
alpaca is definitely the cleanest. Alpaca never ever
touch each other except for when they are babies. Also,
alpaca pick one spot in the field they live in to go to the
bathroom then they only go there and nowhere else!
That is why their wool is so clean.
With sheep it’s a different story they’re
bumping into each other all the time and they go to the
bathroom wherever they want. That is why sheep wool
is not clean. So when it comes to any yarn alpaca is
definitely the cleanest. Alpaca yarn is also softer but
that is a different story.
It all started with a person who wrote a book on how
beautiful Earth was, and how humans have polluted it. It
touched the hearts of 24 nations and it also made people
realize that we have been polluting Earth for a long time,
with our putrid leaded gasoline and gas guzzlers. Finally the
government got to it. In the end they declared there should
be one day where everybody will respect the Earth and take
care of the Earth. That day is now called Earth Day, April 22.
May Event
by Addision Catellano age 9
Endangered Box Turtle
by Addison Castellano age 9
The Box Turtle’s amazing shell has either yellow or
orange markings. The legs and neck have black to reddishbrown skin with yellow red, or orange spots and streaks.
The Box Turtle lives throughout the eastern U.S. but
reaches the northern extent of it’s range in southern Maine.
Box Turtles prefer moist woodlands and wet brushy fields,
especially where there are a lot of sandy soil.
The Box Turtle is endangered mostly because humans
collected them as pets. The Box Turtle was listed as
endangered in Maine in 1986.
Fish Crossword (see the story, Frankie)
by Tanner Castellano age 10
Across
1. The name of the fish that is still alive.
4. I bought one of these for my fish to live in.
5. My fish ate snail ______ off the side of the bowl.
6. Another creature that lives in my fish bowl.
Down
1. His main food supply.
2. The fish that disappeared at home.
3. The project where I got Frankie
In May I am in a dance recital with The Rockport
Dance Conservatory at the Camden Opera House. There is
only dancing though, but the dancing is great. The styles of
dancing are tap, ballet, and hip hop.
The first half of the program is different types of
dance numbers and the second half is a show called The
Seuss is Loose. My part is the Lorax which is a tap dance
number. The show is May 24th and 25th. Tickets are available
at the Rockport Dance Conservatory website and at the MRC
which is where there dance studios are located.
CWC Writes
An Interview with Parker the Cat
By Matthew Thomas Young age 12
I was given the great task to interview the famous cat Parker. I asked
her these questions,
Q. “What is your favorite color?”
A. “Well, my fur is black and white, and I really like black and white,
and black and white is really awesome, and black and white is pretty
on me. So I have to say black and white.”
Q. “OK so your owners tell me that you eat fish sometimes, and cat
food, what is your favorite food?”
A. “I have to say that I really like that tuna, and my momma gives
me a lot of that dry stuff that you call, CAT FOOD, but I think I like
that cat food. I also eat leaves that momma tells me not to eat, and
she scolds me”.
Q. “What are your favorite activities?”
A. “I like chasing those little red dots that never, ever, disappear, and
I like eating bugs that I find on the ground”.
Q. “Tell me a funny story about something you once did”.
A. “Well along time ago momma’s momma brought over a, a, a
DOG! So I climbed up the window blinds at the tipsy top. You know
the kind with the white plastic bars”.
Q. “Are you famous?”
A. “Oh yes, I love to sign autographs with my paw prints. And, the
best thing to do is to meow, and meow at my fans!”
Q. “What do you do when you’re bored?”
A. “I clean, and lick, and clean, and lick, and then I nibble so I can get
the gunk out of my fur, and then I clean”.
Q. “What do you do when your mommy isn’t home?”
A. “I go down into the basement and plan to take over the world; if
my plan does work everybody will have to take naps every five
minutes!”
This interview was based on my cat Parker, anything that she
answered in this interview is from personal experience.
Art by Matthew Thomas Young age 12
Scarlett
by Amariah Glaude age 9
My dog is important to me. Her
name is Scarlett. She is a small
white Shih Tzu- Maltese mix. She
has small floppy ears with brown
on the ends. She is very fluffy.
She is important to me because I
got her on my 8th birthday.
Pet Poems
Pal
by Erin Corcoran age 10
P: placid (calm )
A: ate a plastic spoon once
L: loves peanut butter
Scarlett
by Amaraiah Glaude age 9
S: surprising
C: crazy
A: active
R: righteous
L: loveable
E: enemy
T: terrible
T: true
CWC Writes
Cute Peach
by Amariah Glaude age 9
My fish, Cute Peach, is a Beta fish. He is
the same color as a peach. When I feed
him beta fish food, he waits a few
moments before he eats. I think he does
that to make sure no one is going to eat
it. The reasons I named him Cute Peach
were: number one he is cute and
number two he is the color of a peach. I
got him in September. That is my story
about my fish.
Frankie
by Tanner Castellano age 10
My fish is named Frankie. I
got him from a science project on
ecosystems at school. He is a little
mosquito fish. He doesn’t do much ;
he just swims around eating the fish
flakes I give him. I can’t believe he is
still alove. I mean I’ve had him since
the beginning of the school year!
Before I brought him home I
actually had 3 fish, but the other 2
died. One was named Frankie Jr. and
the other was named Antonio.
Antonio disappeared in the fish
bowl. He probably got stuck inside
the the shell and couldn’t get back
out for food. Frank Jr. also
disappeared but at school! I never
did figure out what happened to
him.
I also have some sea snails.
There is only one left now. He is
starting to lay eggs. The thing is that
Frankie is eating the eggs. Well that’s
all I can say about Frankie.
Pet Shop
by Erin Maire Corcoran age 10
There once was a pet shop it was an old pet shop.
The chameleon was old. He was too old to change colors so
nobody wanted to buy him. The hound dog was old, too
old to sniff things out so nobody wanted to buy him. The
goldfish was old, and he was sooooooooooo old that he barely
swam. He just kind of floated there.
The owner wanted them all to find families, but he
couldn’t give them away or the other animals would
starve! The animals were getting really skinny! One day a
nice person came into the shop and saw the animals. She
wanted them to find homes so she told the owner her idea
to have a flyer that said to come meet the animals. It
worked!
The hound dog went to the hospital to keep sick kids
company. It helped that he could not sniff things out
because he would knock every thing over. He was happy.
The chameleon went to a child who was colorblind so he
didn’t mind that the chameleon could not change color. He
was happy. The goldfish went to the nice person she didn’t
mind that he just floated around. She was happy.
Art by Amariah Glaude age 9
Hamsters
Grace Young age 10
Hamsters are really good pets. They are cute, too. I
had two hamsters. Their names were Gabby and Smokey.
Hamsters come in a lot of different colors; like black,
brown, and white. You should get one.
Our Library
Book Reviews
The book, The Fake Mustache, by Tom
Angleberger is about a powerful mustache called
Heidlberg Handlebar Number Seven that cost
$129.99 and the main character, Lenny Flem Jr.,has
a friend Casper Bengue who bought the mustache.
It was made from real human mustache hair! And
he used the power of the mustache to rob banks
and then under a fake name, Fako Mustacho, he
uses the power of the mustache to hypnotize
people and first become the mayor, and then the
president! Lenny meets a TV star named Jodie
O’Rodio and together they try and stop Fako. I
give this book four mustaches.
Secret Garden Day
by Erin Corcoran age 10 and Grace Young age 10
Erin Maire Corcoran age 10
Girl Scout Troop 2117 and the Rockland Public
Library will be having a Secret Garden Day on June 15.
Activities will take place from 10:00-11:30. The movie “The
Secret Garden” will be shown in the community room from
12:00-2:00.
I read the book, Giant Pandas, by Lenore
Franzen because Giant Pandas are my favorite
animals. This book talks about how the panda is a
very endangered species. It has very descriptive
easy-to-read text about Giant Pandas. This nonfiction book was interesting, and I enjoyed it
completely. I would rate This book four stars
There will be games, crafts, a movie and door prizes! Come
to Secret Garden Day at the Rockland Public Library!
Matthew Thomas Young age 12
Ask a Librarian
by Erin Corcoran age 10 and Grace Young age 10
If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
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Not Norman is a book by Kelly Bennett
and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones. It is about a kid
who gets a goldfish for his birthday. At first he
wants to trade Norman, the fish, for a different pet.
He brings Norman to school to see if anyone will
trade another pet for Norman. Eventually he
brings Norman to the pet shop to trade in. I rate
this book four stars for young children who like
pictures.
Patrick Corcoran age 12
If you are interested in joining the Rockland Public Library Children’s Writing Club, please, contact Janet Corcoran at [email protected].