The Landry News by Andrew Clements Read Free Book Online Page A

nervous. She held the copy of The Landry News behind her back and, trying to smile, she said, “You know that project Joey and I wanted to go to the library for? Well, it’s done, and I wanted to show it to you . . . here.” And Cara handed him the newspaper.
    Mr. Larson leaned forward across his desk to take it, acting surprised. “Project? Oh, yes . . . the project in the library.” Looking over the newspaper quickly and then back up at Cara’s face, he said, “Yes, I remember—I asked you if it was going to be a good project . . . What do you think? Are . . . are you happy with the way it turned out?”
    Cara gulped and nodded. “Uh-huh. We had to work kind of quickly, and there’s not all that much in it, but . . . but we like the paper, and I . . . and we just wanted you to have a copy.”
    â€œWell . . . thank you, Cara,” said Mr. Larson, a little haltingly. “I’ll enjoy reading this.”
    Cara nodded, smiled awkwardly, and said, “You’re welcome,” and backed away from Mr. Larson’s desk. She turned and headed for her space in the back comer of the room.
    Mr. Larson leaned back in his chair and held up The Landry News to get a better look at it. He really didn’t know what to expect. As he scanned the page, his eye fell to the lower right-hand corner of the paper—to the editorial.
    From the Editor’s Desk
    New Looks
    The Landry News has a new look this week. A lot of people helped to make the improvements. Without Mr. Larson, Ms. Steinert, Joey DeLucca, Ed Thomson, LeeAnn Ennis, Sharon Gifford, and Alan Rogers, the changes and also some of this week’s stories would not have been possible.
    This paper has taken another new look this week, a look at what a newspaper is for. Above all, a newspaper has to tell the truth. Telling the truth can sometimes make people angry. Does that mean that a newspaper should try to stay away from a story that might bother someone? It all depends on the thought behind the newspaper—the newspaper’s heart.
    A mean-hearted newspaper tries to find out things that are bad, and then tries to tell the truth in a way that will hurt others. Newspapers can get famous that way, but they don’t do much good—for anybody.
    A good-hearted newspaper tries to tell the truth in a way that helps people understand things better. A good-hearted newspaper can tell the same story as a mean-hearted paper, but it tells the story in a different way because it’s for a different reason.
    As a reminder that The Landry News is trying to be a good-hearted newspaper, starting with the next edition, below the name of the paper, there will be a new motto: Truth and Mercy.
    And that’s the view this week from the News desk.
    Cara Landry, Editor in Chief
    Mr. Larson had started slowly swiveling his chair around toward the chalkboard when he was about halfway through the editorial. He could feel his eyes misting up, and he was pretty sure someone would be watching him while he read the paper. When Mr. Larson finished it, he smiled as he blinked hard, and he reached for his coffee to help gulp away the lump in his throat. He hadn’t felt this good about being a teacher for a long, long time.
    After a minute, Mr. Larson got up and walked back toward Cara’s mini-office. Now it was Cara’s turn to pretend she didn’t see someone coming.
    Looking down on her over the top of the tripod map, Mr. Larson said, “Excuse me, Cara . . . would you happen to have an extra copy of this newspaper? My wife’s a teacher, too, and I just know she’d love to read this editorial. It’s really a good piece of writing.”
    Beaming with pleasure, Cara said, “Sure . . . sure, Mr. Larson. Here’s another copy.”
    Â Â *  *  *
    The second edition of The Landry News was a big hit. All