Kristen's book reviews

Unfortunate Events

A book with sad endings may not sound interesting, but this series is. The Series of Unfortunate Events is a great book series. Each page keeps you reading and reading until you finish a book, then you want to read the next book. The three unfortunate orphans escape traps of the villain trying to steal their fortune. There are 11 books so far. Lemony Snicket, the author of these fantastic books is a great writer.

I love this series. It is just as good as Spy X!

once opon a time.....

Hey all! This is Jody. You may not know, but I am writing a book. So far I have 32 pages and I'm aiming for 100! Well.. anyway... here is a little bit of it. (with extra detail. : ) )

Zenith is just your ordinary 12 year old. Ordinary liking for yo-yos, normal pet turtle, regular life. But one day as he opened his locker to grab a book for his math class, an egg fell out. He wondered how it got there. Was it a Prank? If it was, Zenith thought, it was a pretty lame one. It had a cement-like texture but it was soft, like a peach. He decided to keep it in his pocket and hope for the whatever-it-is to hatch.

- Next Day -

"Whoa!It's hatching!"Zenith exclaimed. It opened and out came..........nothing. Whatever it is must have very good camoflage he thought. Something pinched the back of his leg. "What the?" Zenith yelled. He heard giggle somewhere behind him. "Who's there?"

"Nobody..."

"Wh...o is th...ere?" Zenith asked.

"I am!"

The creature stopped using it's camoflage. Zenith gasped.

Well, I hoped you liked it. You can read it if it gets published, see me, or, if it doesn't get published, you can:

• protest
• cry
• or I will put on a website for you to read. : )

What happened after the kindergarten fire

Everyone remembers the fire that happened at scchool at 6:15 on Febuary 7 that effected all of the kindergarteners and all of the teachers especially.

Mrs. Schmidt said that it was really hard to lose the room because everything that they had was in the room. Their was a lot of rumors saying that it was an electrical fire from the fridge but Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Cotton don't even know what really happened. Even though you would think that it would be hard on the kids to lose their own classroom it really wasn't!

They were actually really excited to move on and start a new adventure. They really love the new room. When Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Cotton took the kindergarteners to Mrs Kreins room to stay there for a while they didn't like it because they said it was too small and didn't feel like they were at home. So they moved to Mr. Grahams portable, room 22, and stayed there. As much as the kindergarteners liked adventure they weren't exactually thrilled with the room. The parents felt so sad for the kids so they fixed up the room and it made them feel a little better.

The classroom still wasn't what they were hoping for so they moved into a new portable (plus the room is kind of Mr. Graham's technology room now). They moved into a new portable on the upper grade playground and got to play gaga and a lot of other games that they hadn't really done before. It's really not downhill from here anymore because in two years the portable is going to be a real classroom and they will have their own playground.

If you are wondering what's going to happen to the old kindergarten room, then you'll be glad to know that it's getting rebuilt but not into a kindergarten room. They are planning on making it part of the teachers wing near the office.

Mrs. Schmidt and Mrs. Cotton were so happy that all of the parents were with them through all of this because the parents stayed on weekends just to help with the classrom and they helped everyone cope through this a lot better.

A Place To Call Home

Do you like stories of fantasy and orphans trying to find a place to call "Home?" Well if you do, Where I'd Like to Be is a great book for you. The book is about a twelve year old girl named Maddie who belives she was saved by a ghost. But does everybody believe this story? Most people do until a new girl comes to the orphanage, who believes her parents will someday come back for her. Will this turn out to help Maddie find a place to call home? You will have to read the book to find out the rest of Maddie's story.
In my opinion I would give this book an A or A+. If you are interested in this author's style of writing you may want to pick up her other novel, Dovey Coe. Enjoy the book!!!!

Read more reviews of this book at Teenspoint.org

By, Emily Ackerman

Campus Corner: about Mrs.Convirs

Ms. Convirs has been working here for 13 years. Ms. Convirs works at Rancho Romero on Wednesdays and Fridays, helping kids with their learning disabilities or family problems. She works at other schools on the other days of the week.

The best thing about her day is the kids. She likes to see them improve and succeed. She loves to see the kids happy. The thing she doesn't like is not having enough time to work with kids. Ms. Convirs is a great teacher and Rancho Romero is lucky to have her.

Kristen's Book Review

Spy X

Do you like spies and codes? If so, the Spy X series is a great book series for kids third grade and up. The Spy X series is about two kids, cracking codes to find their mom who is a spy. Along the way, they meet interesting people, enemies and friends. But, they find out things they never knew were possible. Each book has a cliffhanging suspense.

I absolutely love this series. I recently read the fourth book, the most recent one. It was fabulous. This is one of my favorite book series.

Laurens book review

It's the Book you have been waiting for!!

The preteen years can be tough; your body is changing and you have more emotions than you know what to do with. Sometimes you are treated like a little kid, and at the same time you are being told "just grow up!" What's a preteen to do?

Finally, just what you have been waiting for, a second Chicken Soup for the Pre-teen Soul, a book written mostly by pre-teens. True stories about finding your true self, achieving dreams, and conquering tough issues. This book will inspire you and make you laugh out loud. Remember you're not alone in your experiences, and life will lead you in the right path even when there is a fork in the road.

In my own opinion, I find this book excellent and well writen. I recommend it to all the girls in fourth grade and up!!!

Here are more reviews of this book at Amazon.com

by: Lauren Connelly

Michael's movie review is the best

Star Wars 3 is a great movie. Anyone who is a star wars fan should see it. It is about how Anakan becomes Darth Vader. Also it shows how Lucke and Leaha are born, but Padmen dies in child birth. The clones turn evil and try to kill all the jedis. It is full of action and adventure. It is pg-13.


By,
Michael

Hungry for a Dog?

Now, there is a new Dog in San Ramon. The Dog, home to smoothies and sausages, is a great quick meal, or a great place to hang. The owner says, "the new Dog is still a work in progress. We aren't even close to done. We still have to work on many things like a condiment table, bars to eat at, and more seating outside. We also will be changing the parking lot so it can be bigger, and are thinking of having a patio out back."

The Dog is still the Dog with all of its special originals and the same owner. People say they love The Dog. They like how friendly the staff is, how the menus have variety, and how good the smoothies are. Come to the Dog and you too can be amazed.

by Maddie

The Dancer That Lived In The Street

Once upon a time there was a little baby. The parents decided to name her Lily. The Hudson's lived in a big mansion. Mrs. Hudson was a famous movie star and Mr. Hudson was a big jazz mission. It was 1933 and many people were poor. Not many people could afford to go see a movie. Not many people could afford to go into a bar and listen to a jazz band. So no movie offers were made to Mrs. Hudson, and Mr. Hudson came home empty handed each day.

A year passed and today was Lily's birthday. Lily didn't receive anything except a pair of jazz shoes her mother had found in a dumpster. The Hudsons were going broke. So that night, after they had tucked Lily in bed and Mr. Hudson had drunken a lot and was now drunk, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson had to talk about what they would have to do about Lily.

"Why can't we just keep her!" Mrs. Hudson yelled while crying. "We can just go live in the streets! Who cares what other people think. As long as we stay together as a family, we will do just fine!"

"I don't care about the family!", screamed Mr. Hudson. "We are doing just fine here! Me and you at least. I don't want the stupid baby anymore! Let's just put her in the orphanage!"

"No!" Screamed Mrs. Hudson, "I want her!"

And without another word Mr. Hudson pulled out a rifle and shot his own wife. He waddled out of the room to go and find something to do.

After he walked downstairs, Lily crawled next to her mom. She looked at her mom's dark blue eyes and said "Mama?" Mrs. Hudson looked up at her baby girl and said "Step, step, jump, leap, step, step, step." Mrs. Hudson closed her eyes, and never woke up.

A month later Lily found herself at an orphanage. She didn't yet know where she was, but she sure wasn't happy. One night, when everyone else was sleeping, Lily woke up and rolled around her crib until she found herself falling out of the three storey high open window. Before Lily could know what happened, she found herself standing up in a dark alley. She waddled around until she found herself in the arms of a woman she did not even know.

For 19 years she lived with this strange lady. The lady turned out to be poor, but she raised Lily as her own child. On days that Lily got bored she would walk around alleys and start to move her feet to what she heard around her. The moving cars, people banging on trash cans, the opening of soda pop. She danced all day until the poor lady called her to come back to the cardboard box.

Pretty soon Lily started dancing for money. She drew a lot of attention to herself. She made about 20 cents a day. One day while she was dancing, a movie director from Hollywood was watching her. He liked how she danced and asked her "What's your name?"

"Lily." she said.

"Lily what?"

"I don't know sir, just Lily."

"Well we'll have to do some research on ya' Just Lily. Hey, how'd ya' like to come to Hollywood to perform a show?"

"Sir, I've only lived in Chicago all my life, I was only lucky if I got food. I've lived on the streets my whole life and I don't have a clue where I was born, who my parents are and where I really belong. Do you really want me?"

"Of course I do! You belong in Hollywood! So what ya' say?"

"OK", Lily said. The next thing she knew, she was on a plane to Hollywood.

"Are you ready?!" asked the director before she went on stage to perform.

"I think so", said Lily. All of a sudden a woman's voice was in her head saying "Step, step, jump, leap, step, step, step."

"And now Lily Hudson!" announced the announcer.

"Hudson?" Lily said.

"That's your last name!" said the announcer. Your mother was a movie star and your father was a musician! Now get up there and dance!" Lily did just that. She followed the steps in her head and eventually, she became a famous dancer!

Kristen's book reviews

Heads or Tails

Heads or Tails, a story by Jack Gantos, is an interesting book. Jack, the main character is in sixth grade, having an unpredictable life. Anything can happen at any moment. Having a pesky little brother and an older sister doesn't help, especially if you have neighbors that do whatever they want. He never knows how things are going to turn out.Things you won't expect will happen in this amazing story.

To me, this book was O.K. Some things were just too crazy or too weird to believe. But, some things were pretty good. I would defiantly recommend this book to people with good imaginations. But overall, this book was O.K.

Getting to know people on campus

SAZ THE OFFICE MANAGER OF OUR SCHOOL

Saz grew up in Oakland and went to school at St. Augustine grammar school in Oakland. She now lives in Danville.

At Rancho, Saz is in charge of enrollment, answering the phone, helping students with various things, helping teachers with daily routine, and helping the principal. She has worked for eight years in our office. Her favorite thing about the job is she loves the kids and the teachers are all really nice. She says an improvement to this school would be a better building and new facilities.

Unfortunately Saz will be leaving us at the end of this year. Saz's goal is to spend more time with her grandchildren.

By,

Samantha Merrell

Jody's super cool book review !

Eragon

Hey everybody! If you are looking for a good book, read ahead. A book I think you might like is Eragon. Its a book for you fantasy lovers =D.

It's about a boy named Eragon who lives in a poor family. He finds a strange blue stone and is suprised when it hatches a dragon!!! He then embarks on a risky mission and learns lots of magic, makes powerful allies, and destroys the evil empire. Even though it's a bit long (more than 500 pages), it will have you hooked from the first page.

Alex's Movie Review!

Millions
By Alex Thomann
This week I saw the movie Millions. This movie is a movie for everyone to see. Millions is about two kids who find a million dollars. One kid is religious and is always talking to saints and getting advice from them on how to stay out of the way of a thief who is trying to steal their money.

To see what happens, go see this movie at the Orinda Theater. The reason you should see this movie is because in my opinion, it is really good. In some parts it will thrill you. In other parts it's very heart-warming.
I give this movie an A-

Weekly Sports

Are The Giants Really That In Shape?

Strike one, strike two, strike three, is he out? During the season, the Giants have had a lot of injuries, starting with Barry Bonds. Barry has had three knee surgeries, due to torn cartilage. On Monday Barry received his third surgery because doctors have found bacteria in his wound. Barry is doing aggressive antibiotic therapy with Dr. Arthur Ting. Can we expect good ol' Mister Bonds to return to the Giants? Who knows! His injury is pretty serious so we'll just have to wait and see if he returns this year!

Second baseman Ray Durham has strained not one, but BOTH sides of his groin! Though the groin on his left is much worse than the groin on his right, he is still sitting out. Durham's position will be replaced [for now] by Deivi Cruz. The Giants have considered placing Durham on the disabled list. Now all we can do is hope and pray that Durham will return.

On May 11 Felipe Alou [the Giants manager] turned 70! Though Felipe may be old, he still has a lot of spunk. And we can hopefully expect many more years to come. Happy birthday Felipe, we hope you had a good one!

Up in Flames: a short story

Haven't you always wondered why there are clouds in the sky? Well this is where it all began.

On one hot July day it was Karens birthday. She got a present she would have never expected;
a blue silk dress.

This family was special, it had something most families don't. It was a curse. A curse to haunt the family forever.

That night Karen gazed into the candles that enclosed her cake, rushing to think of wishes and every now and then staring at her dress while her family was singing. Then they eased their singing to none and she blew out her candles. When crackle! Her house had gone into flames leaving nothing but ashes all over.

I have searched the premises forever but I have not found Karen. All I know is this: the curse on the family struck that night. Supposing the fire did not go out but got bigger. Spreading within seconds. I've heard her scream was fatal. The smoke went up in seconds and stayed there forever and will continue to stay there. The smoke from the fire are our clouds. And they say that Karen's silky blue dress is somewhere reflecting into the sky to give it it's blueness. 1,000 years ago the Vandull family was alive, now all that is known of them are ashes.

Alexandra's Movie Reviews

Fever Pitch
If you're into comedy and romance then this is the movie to see! It's called "Fever Pitch", and it's about a craved Red Sox fan who unexpectedly falls in love with a political business woman played by Drew Barrymore. She goes into this relationship thinking that his love for the Red Sox wouldn't interfere, but boy was she surprised.

During the course of time that this movie takes place [Jimmy Fallon] will learn what's really important in life. Although this movie is rated PG-13, I feel that it is appropriate for ages 8 and up. If you would like to see this movie you can go to Century 14 Walnut Creek theatre.

This is a great movie to see with your family and friends. I didn't even have to think about how I would rate this movie because I would give it a 2 thumbs up!!!!!!

By,

Alexandra Walsh

Alli's Restaurant Review

There's No Place Like Home: a restaurant tale

As my mom and I were driving around Alamo thinking of a place to review, my mom said,"Let's go to Courtyard Cafe!" So we walked in.
Now, let's start with my first impression. When I first walked in the door I thought it was a little small, but definitely homey. The walls were bluish- green and had a couple of old fashioned pictures. The cafe was bustling and the staff was working non-stop. As I walked in a little closer I saw my friend's mom, Mrs. Thomann. She and her friend had ordered blueberry pancakes and said that they were delicious. Unfortunately, I had already eaten breakfast and wanted some lunch.
My waitress' name was Telia and she was a very pleasing person. She did very thoughtful things like bringing me an extra, big glob of whipped cream when I ordered a decaf mocha. The staff was working so hard, including the manager, but I managed to ask her some questions. Her name is Barbara Yung and she loves working at Courtyard Cafe. She said that she has great customers and great staff. She wished that her restaurant would appear homey to her customers, and it was.
I ordered a caesar salad and my mom ordered a hamburger. They weren't mouth watering, but they were still tasty. The salad had watery dressing, weird tasting croutons, and great lettuce. (In my opinion.) My mom told me that her hamburger was the perfect size, cooked the way she wanted it, but it didn't have very much flavor. (In her opinion.) The portions were HUGE and I got full really quickly. So the next time you want to go to a home away from home, just click the heels of your red magic shoes together three times, and you will appear at the Courtyard Cafe.

I would give the food an A- or B+.
I would give the overall restaurant an A or A-, but I've only been there once, you never know what I might get next time.
Located at 3195 Danville Blvd
Open for breakfast, lunch and brunch
Call: 838-1661