The Landry News by Andrew Clements Read Free Book Online

margin on both sides . . . so we have ten and a half inches to work with. How about five columns that are each two inches wide? That will leave an eighth of an inch between them.” Almost as quickly as Joey said it, the columns appeared on the screen. He pointed at the lines around each column and said, “On the real paper, these lines won’t be there, but we can leave them for now so you can see how much space there is to fill.”
    Cara gulped and said, “There’s a lot of space to fill, isn’t there.”
    â€œWell . . . yeah,” Joey said, “but remember, there can be headlines and drawings and pictures and dingbats—they all take up space, too.”
    â€œPictures?” asked Cara. “I can put pictures in the paper?”
    â€œYup,” said Joey. “Pictures, drawings, cartoons—whatever you want.” He pointed at a little machine on the table beside the monitor. “That thing is called a scanner. You can put a sheet into that slot, the scanner will make a copy of whatever’s on it, then you can add it to the newspaper on the screen and print it out—bingo!”
    Cara was feeling a little overwhelmed by all the choices. “So . . . so do I have to type up all my news stories on a computer now?” she asked.
    â€œWell, someone does,” said Joey. “But it doesn’t really have to be you. If you like, write things down the way you want them, then me or Ed could type it up—or even someone else. Alan’s real good at keyboarding, and so is Sarah. I bet they’d help out if you ask.”
    Joey turned back to the computer screen. “Now I’m going to print out a copy. Then you can use a pencil to sketch in where headlines should go . . . what pictures you want—whatever. I’ll print out two copies. They’ll be good for your planning.”
    A minute later, Joey handed Cara the sheets, still warm from the printer. Holding the actual pieces of paper, seeing the name large and clear across the top, Cara stopped worrying. She didn’t understand all the computer stuff—not yet—but she understood paper. In the end it was just going to be a piece of paper—paper and ink and ideas.
    With a big smile Cara looked up and said, “This is great, Joey.”
    Â Â *  *  *
    And four days later, there it was—paper and ink and ideas. Joey DeLucca and Ed Thomson were standing at the doorway of room 145, handing out crisp, clean copies of The Landry News. It had not been easy, but they had made the Friday deadline.
    The lead story was the results of a survey that Cara and LeeAnn had taken on Tuesday and Wednesday. Theyhad asked seventy-five fifth-graders to name their favorite teacher at Denton Elementary School, and to explain their choice. The headline was: M RS . P ALMER C HOSEN F AVORITE T EACHER.
    There was a “Top-Ten List of the Least-Favorite Cafeteria Foods.” The list ended with:
    And the number one least-favorite cafeteria food at Denton Elementary School—two words: creamed corn.
    There was sports news about the recreation department basketball season, with the total wins and losses so far for each of the fifth-grade teams.
    In the center of the page there was a picture of the boys’ locker-room door. Ed had brought his dad’s instant camera to take the picture, and Joey had scanned it in. The headline below the picture said H OLD Y OUR N OSE ! and the article was about why the locker rooms—boys’ and girls’—smell so bad.
    And of course there was an editorial.
    As Ed and Joey handed out papers, Cara took a copy from the four or five papers she was keeping for herself and walked up to Mr. Larson’s desk. He saw Cara coming out of the comer of his eye but kept reading the sports page until she said, “Mr. Larson?”
    He said, “Yes? Oh—hi, Cara. What can I do for you?”
    Cara was