Jennifer Holm is famous for her thick-skinned comic heroine Babymouse, so it is no surprise that Turtle, the eleven-year-old Shirley Temple-hating lead in this story is pretty tough herself.  Turtle is used to life played out at her mother’s whim, so she takes most things in stride and does the best she can with every situation.  It’s 1935, and her mom seems to have an endless supply of dreams and hopes (“all she sees are kittens and roses”) that carry her through a variety of housekeeping jobs, taking Turtle with her from house to house.   Unfortunately, the latest position happens to be with a woman who didn’t expect and really doesn’t like children, so Turtle’s mom sends her from New Jersey to Key West to live with Turtle’s aunt and cousins.  When Turtle arrives in what seems like a foreign land, her aunt doesn’t expect her because she hasn’t received her mother’s letter, and her aunt isn’t prepared for another mouth to feed in her household of boys. 

Turtle quickly finds herself absorbed in everyday life on Curry Street, including a successful babysitting gig carried on by her boy cousins, the shared caretaking of her crabby old grandmother, visits with a gruff writer called Ernest Hemingway at the local bar, and attempts to keep her cat Smokey out of trouble.  Key West is a variety of experiences all at once, with never a dull moment and never a step out of the reality that Turtle is part of so many families trying to make ends meet during a tough time in American history.  She is, it seems, more mature than her mother (“I see things for what they are”) with lower, if any, expectations and a soft spot only for her mother and her cat.  There is a happy ending but it isn’t too happy, which is more believable than her mother’s Hollywood hopes.  Above all else, this story shows how difficulties bring families together and make them stronger, even when it is hard to imagine a light at the end of the tunnel.

Why should we love honey bees? After all, they sometimes sting people, and there’s not much fun in being stung, is there?

But they are only trying to defend themselves and their hives, which are their homes. Despite the fact that they might cause us a little bit of pain now and then, there are many reasons to love bees. We need them for honey, and to pollinate flowers, crops, and trees. Without bees, we would have far less variety in our diets, so we should wonder why bees are mysteriously disappearing. It’s a case that the world’s best detectives are trying to solve:  scientists. They’re hard at work to figure out what is causing honey bees to disappear, and what can be done to save them from becoming extinct, like the dinosaurs and dodos. So, if you love bees, want to learn more about bees, and like a good mystery story, then Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe is just the book for you!

This nonfiction book, aimed primarily at 5th-8th grade children, grabs your attention from the first line and holds it throughout the entire exploration of bees and what’s making them disappear. The author, Loree Griffin Burns, discusses the subject of beekeeping and raising bees in apiaries, or man-made beehives. She writes about a beekeeper, Mary Duane, and how her beehives, like most modern ones, “consist of several boxes, called supers, stacked one atop the other in a tower-like structure.” The bees use the removable frames as “a foundation on which the bees can build their wax honeycomb.” And why, you may ask, are the frames removable? Both to care for the honey bees better, and to get at their sweet honey and harvest it, of course!

The author goes into several contributing factors to colony collapse disorder (CCD), the term used to describe why so many honey bees are dying around the world. You’ll feel like an investigator, yourself, as you track down the clues and various reasons for the decline in the honey bee population. For instance, some factors are increased pollution, pesticides, a decline in the nutrition of honey bees, and Varroa mites. (The tiny mites attach themselves to the bees and feed on their blood, hiding “inside a honeycomb cell, usually underneath a growing larva.” They are, according to one scientist, Jeff Pettis, “still enemy number one.”) But there is another mite that also can kill honey bees. It’s called the tracheal mite. They settle into a safe spot, like a bee’s breathing tubes, and then suck the life out of the bee.

Still, though the mites are a problem for beekeepers, they are not the major causes of CCD. One major cause appears to be a virus called “the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV).” It’s been found in many of the beehives suffering from colony collapse disorder. Also, the very pesticides that beekeepers use to kill the mites that harm honey bees could have delayed harmful effects to the bees, themselves. Scientists are continuing to investigate why the honey bees are disappearing, and the various causes of CCD.

I really liked the beautiful high-quality color photographs in the book, taken by the photographer Ellen Harasimowicz. There are close-ups of the honey bees, busy at work in their hives, and photographs of the mites, and the many investigators working to solve the mystery. Another great feature is that there’s a glossary in the back of the book to explain the terms the author uses. The scientists are profiled in a scrapbook-like format, and this same style is used to explain about the types of bees in a hive, the drones, workers, and the queen.

Books like The Honey Bee Detectives help give young readers insights into how scientists work to solve problems and also provide them with knowledge about a specific subject.  This volume will tell them all they want to know about honey bees, beekeeping, and why honey bees are so important to us. I highly recommend it–it’s one honey of a book!

Disney Channel original series Pair of Kings recently posted a behind the scenes peek, with stars Mitchel Musso and Larramie Doc Shaw playing tour guide.  The video was made for Fanlala but we’ve brought it here for you!  Mitchel and Larramie show us the kings’ bedroom, the throne room, and the set where most of the action happens.  You catch quick peeks of the stars rehearsing their lines and of all the equipment necessary for making a television show.

Kelsey Chow, who plays Mikayla, gives a rundown of the show and Ryan Ochoa shows off the green screen and describes how they use it to make the special effects scenes seem real.  Pair of Kings airs on Disney XD.

The creative mind behind iCarly and Victorious, Dan Schneider, recently tweeted that he’s working on a crossover movie script.  He wrote:

Writing the script for the iCarly-Victorious HUGE crossover SPECIAL has been like a month-long marathon. WHEW! I’ll finish it TODAY! :)

Victoria Justice, the star of Victorious, has appeared on iCarly before.  She played Shelby Marx in the special episode “iFight Shelby Marx”.  I’ve heard that the crossover movie is going to be featuring Miranda Cosgrove and Victoria Justice as their signature characters of Carly and Tori, who hate each other at first but then join forces against someone they hate even more.  Hmmm, could it be Nevel?  Which show is better, iCarly or Victorious?

The movie Grease may have been 16 years older than Justin Bieber, but that does not mean he isn’t a fan of the musical. In fact, Justin has shared that he would love to play John Travolta’s character Danny Zuko if they ever decide to remake the film. Here is what he had to say about Danny Zuko.

It would be a lot of fun. It’s been talked about a lot over the years but it would be awesome to play Danny

He also dished on whom he would pick to play the role of sweet Sandy! Miley Cyrus is his number one pick and he even shared that he thinks Susan Boyle to star in it. You can read what he exactly had to say here.

If I had to pick my perfect Sandy I would go for Miley Cyrus without hesitation. She can sing, dance and act,” he says, “I would really want some great people to star in it. Wouldn’t Susan Boyle make an amazing Principal McGee? We’d just need to write it into the script that she broke into song. I am obsessed with Susan Boyle. When I look at her original (Britain’s Got Talent) audition it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I would love to include Cheryl Cole in the movie as well if she was up for it. She would look great in the Rydell High cheerleading uniform.

But the good news is that he does have a movie and a book come out, so if they never do a remake of the Grease you can still see Justin Bieber on the big screen. So it works out well for him either way, but I do think that they would pick a tiny bit of an older cast for a remake of Grease. If they do remake of it, will you watch it?

source-cambio.com

Kevin and Danielle Jonas gave Cambio a virtual tour of their Texas home. You can watch it below at the bottom of this post and don’t forget to see the other Jonas Brothers house.

As usual, the home is fancy and exactly what you can picture a famous couple to live in! Kevin shows off his music collection and you can get a taste of what he likes. Very fun video and it is nice to see that he included his wife in the video as well. They showed it as a couple and I think that is fabulous. What do you think of the video and of their house?

Don’t forget on September 3rd Kevin Jonas’ new movie comes out on the Disney Channel. Which is a must see for any Jonas fan and will likely be a popular topic for the next month. So be sure to mark your calendars for it and watch the video below to see how well Kevin lives!

source-cambio.com

Disney has teamed up with Nintendo for a new video game called Disney Guilty Party comes out today(August 31). We have a few trailer videos for this new game at the bottom of this post.

The game will be like the classic crime solving game called Clue. The Disney Guilty Party game will be a fun family game that allows each player to guess and find clues to who is behind the crime. The Wii’s remote will be used and no other needed accesories it appears to need. The game appears not to use the regular Disney characters at all, but since we do not know all of the character options, we cannot say for a fact either way.

The game has very real looking graphics and appears to be friendly for all ages. I love the fact that this game is coming out before the holiday rush begins. I get the feeling that this game will sell well and Disney will have to expand the series of this game. Do you think it looks like fun?

Demi Lovato recently gave an interview and talked about what it’s like seeing herself on major sites like iTunes, and finding her face plastered all over her own iPhone.

“Weird, it was so weird, seeing your little face on iTunes.”

She admits to buying her own songs a few times, but she doesn’t listen to it.  I don’t know if I’d be able to resist doing that, either.    How do you get your music, download or do you go buy the actual CD?

We’ve got video, but it’s a little jumpy.  The clip includes a couple of numbers from Camp Rock 2:The Final Jam, which airs this Friday, September 3 on The Disney Channel.

Mandy Moore, the voice of Rapunzel in the Walt Disney Pictures Tangled, gave an interview to MTV and she lets a lot of secrets out!  Mandy reveals why the movie’s title was changed from Rapunzel to Tangled.  Disney changed the title because they weren’t sure boys would want to go to a movie called Rapunzel.

Mandy says Rapunzel isn’t a typical Disney princess.  For one thing, she doesn’t know she’s a princess.  She’s been locked away for years and years and is finally going out into the world, but definitely can take care of herself.  Do you think the name change will fool boys into seeing the movie, or would they see it anyway?

The Stoop took the time to interview the very busy Selena Gomez to talk about her career and how it affects her life. The interview can be seen below and you need to watch it to find out which career she wants to settle into down the line!

I thought that the questions were good and I love the fact that they asked about past Disney stars to Selena. I also think that she answered it well, but perhaps they should also leave that question for a little while. They also asked her about friends and I find it interesting what she had to say about it. Perhaps she and Demi can solve their issues if they haven’t yet.

Don’t forget about Selena Gomez’s new album which they also talked about. And they also sort of mentioned about her show, which will be ending after the 4th season. Very sad news for Selena and the rest of the cast for that show, you can tell that they all have a great time together. What do you think about the interview?

source-oceanup.com