32 February 4 - 17, 2012
Youth
www.SanTanSun.com
SanTan Sun kids have talent! In the first issue of every month, the SanTan Sun News prints the best entries from kids in grades Kindergarten through 12th grade in a variety of categories. Congratulations to this month’s winners!
Note: If a great entry doesn’t make it into this issue because of space considerations, we will hold it over to run in a future issue. Submissions are minimally edited to preserve the writer’s voice. If your submission appears in this section, compare it to your original to help improve your writing skills.
Arizona Camels
by Gillian Harrill, Grade 6 Conley Elementary School
When we think of Arizona wildlife, howling coyotes, scurrying lizards and rattling snakes come to mind, but never camels. Yes, camels – those large, horse-like creatures with distinctive humps on their backs. You often hear they can travel over hundreds of miles without water, but no one seems to care how long they can go with water. Arizona is the perfect habitat for a dromedary: a pleasant, warm climate; sunny deserts filled with plenty to eat; and tons of hot tubs to sit in, which camels love. However, camels aren’t native to the area – they’re tourists.
Everyone in Arizona has heard of Camelback Mountain – that huge peak that looks like a resting camel. But, not everyone knows that in 1856, there were a lot more camelbacks in Arizona.
Congress budgeted $30,000 to import 80 grumpy camels from Arabia to Arizona. You may be wondering why the government was interested in camels. According to Lt. Edward F. Beale’s report, these animals were really useful. After the 80 dromedaries were sent to Arizona, Beal discovered a camel could not fail. They can carry more than a thousand pounds and travel twice as far as the average pack mule. Dromedaries can also go longer without a refreshing drink, because of the fatty reserves in their humps. This miracle animal should have its own extreme survival show on television!
Just like “Survivor Man” eats bugs in the rainforest, camels consume raw leaves off the foul and oily creosote bush without even gagging! Camels can also tread on the jagged rocks around the San Francisco Peaks, which are so sharp that horses need shoes to climb on them. Surprisingly, camels can even swim in water like dogs! Lt. Beale predicted that some day “every mail route will be tread by a camel …”
After the U.S. Army read the Lieutenant’s report, they started begging Congress for a thousand more camels. Yet, by 1860, the Civil War broke out, and Congress suddenly lost interest in camels.
Meanwhile, back in Arizona, the camel herds were becoming hard to control. They would “spit” on camel drivers who found out the hard way that the “spit” was actually regurgitated food the camel had for lunch … gross! The camels would even kick their human companions and bite them. The dromedaries became so ill-tempered that Arabian camel trainers were brought in to help. The whole idea of having camels in Arizona was a mess. Congress was so busy with the Civil War, the camel drivers decided to take matters into their own hands. The camel market was zero. No one wanted a camel. Would you? Hey, how about a free camel? They have wonderful gas mileage; they practically run on unwanted food. A camel has a nice soft paint job that can’t get scratched! Oh, but watch out – it spits out its regurgitated lunch on you. Do you still want a free camel? Probably not. Since there wasn’t anyone who would take a camel, the herders just set them loose in the Arizona desert. They ran untamed for a long time, and it is still very likely that there may be a few wild camels out there somewhere in the scorching Sonoran Desert. All we know is that camel soup was a part of the Southwest Native American diet for many years, and Arizona law states it is perfectly legal to hunt a camel – all you have to do is find one! They’re probably just sitting in a nearby wilderness hot tub.
Editor’s Note: Gillian’s story is also winner of the statewide Wacky Writing Contest. In addition to free books, her story earned her school a free visit with the “Arizona Way Out West & Wacky” authors and mascot.
Water Alive
by Havana Baez, Grade 2 Weinberg Elementary
Under bridges and over rocks, Stretches all over the world. Over rows and rows, Even touches your toes.
Slides between mountains. When it snows, It turns into ice.
Ice skating, ice skating every day!
Blue and teal everywhere, Waves splash with joy. So many colors on the reefs.
Animals with claws, flippers, tentacles and teeth.
At the bottom, sand, At the top, water.
Swimming things, swimming things everywhere. No breathing or talking and no air.
So peaceful and quiet, No one is here.
No splashes anymore, The water is clear.
Kids: Win $15 gift card from Changing Hands Bookstore
Students who either live in Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek or surrounding areas or who attend area schools can win $15 gift cards from Changing Hands Bookstore, thanks to a new partnership between the bookseller and the SanTan Sun News.
This ongoing, monthly promotion awards a $15 Changing Hands gift card to every youth whose article, story, poem, essay, editorial, book review, photo or illustration is chosen to be printed in the SanTan Sun Kids Opportunity section, while supplies last. The Kids Opportunity section is printed in the Youth Section of the first paper of the month, each month. The best news is that even though only one to three submissions are printed per month, all good submissions are held in a file to be printed in future issues. So if an entry doesn’t win this month, it could win next month - or even the month after that.
To enter, visit
www.SanTanSun.com, click on Youth and then on Student Writer Permission Slip to download a submission-permission slip. Complete the form and have a parent sign it so the paper has permission to print the entry and the author or artist’s byline. Then, email the submission- permission slip and writing or artwork to
Lynda@SanTanSun.com as a Word file, if writing, or JPEG, if art, or pasted into the email.
Those who don’t have access to email, or prefer to send submissions on disk, may send a hard copy of the form with the entry in a Word file or JPEG on a CD via postal mail to Lynda Exley, Kids Op Page, SanTan Sun News, P.O. Box 23, Chandler, AZ 85244-0023.
For more information on the Kids Op page, or to have SanTan Sun News Editor Lynda Exley speak at your school to rev students up about writing and publishing, email
Lynda@SanTanSun.com.
Remember that the Kids Opportunity section will eventually print all good entries. That means that if your entry didn’t make it into this issue, it may be slated for a future one. Keep checking back, as we sometimes experience a backlog of submissions.
Hey Kids!
K.
O. Knockout NONFICTION STORY:
Knockout POEM:
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