The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 72

H4 THE READING ROOM How to reach us Kids, to take part in a feature on these pages, write to Reading Room, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st Los Angeles, CA 90012; or fax to (213) 237-5946; or email Include your first and last name, age, school and the city in which your school is located. Get published The Reading Room encourages submissions for the following features: Book Reviews by Kids, Jokes Riddles and Creativity Corner. Submission guidelines Submissions should be brief and are subject to editing. Drawings should be square or vertical in shape, in color and on unlined paper.

Make sure you do all the work yourself. Dogs Sarah Sinai Akiba Academy Los Angeles Dogs are sweet and loving animals. Dogs are in my heart. They are smart, soft, adorable, joyful, special, wonderful, cozy, cuddly, fun and they are a blessing. They are as loving as my friends and family.

Eternal Vacation Jack, 12 St. Episcopal School San Juan Capistrano In a sea of arctic liquid glass, I glide. Asilver missile beneath the churning waves. It is silent here. Empty of racket.

All the booming, drilling, and screeching we call progress silenced to peace. The fish and clams are all on their eternal vacation, swimming and snoozing in their colorful coral cottages Rent and utility free. no electricity here. Just the natural heartbeat of the sun and tide. The Butterfly Isamu, 8 Roosevelt Elementary Santa Barbara Iwas walking down the road.

The huge, shiny, wonderful sun glimmered in the afternoon. I was holding a box and inside the box was a little, spiky larva crawling in the sun. The larva looked like a little hedgehog, why his name was Spike. When I got home, I put some leaves in the box for the larva to eat. After six days, the larva turned into a chrysalis.

It was a copper color. When it came out of the chrysalis stage, it was a butterfly. It was wet and damp. It was orange, copper, purple and blue. After it dried, it shot out red stuff, floosh! Finally, I gave it some sugar water and let it go.

Spring in My Garden Jillian, 9 Magic Pen Kids Mission Viejo Vermilion amaryllis twirl and bow in the breeze in the garden where the starlings sing. The gnarled apple tree stands in the shadows, laughing as the nuthatches tangle in his hair. CREATIVITY CORNER OCEAN: Drawn by Sophia, 6, South Shores Magnet School for the Performing and Visual Arts, San Pedro. yler looked up with horror at the red, glowing tongues of brush fire. At school, his gym teacher had said, fire department has ordered immediate evacuation.

Get home, locate your family, grab a couple of things you value most and He was home now, but what should he DVDs, His Gameboy, his iPod? When his brother Walt went off to the Army, Tyler promised to take care of his black Lab Sarge. He must grab Sarge. The yard gate was open and, yikes! The front door was open, too. A note was taped on it. go to the Community Maybe Sarge got scared and ran away.

Or maybe he hid in the house, thinking it safe there. Tyler looked carefully in each room. here boy. Here He went outside and kept calling. Tyler called clear around the house.

He looked in the bushes. Walt loved that dog. And Sarge loved him. Last time Walt called, he asked to speak to Sarge. When Sarge heard Walt laughing, the dog whimpered happily at the sound of his voice.

If anything happened to Tyler trotted the three blocks to the Center, and rushed in looking around wildly. His mother saw him first and ran to meet him half way, followed closely by his dad. Tyler, this you take Sarge His parents looked silently at the floor. got Tyler asked. must have opened the His father looked up apologetically.

have to go find Tyler hailed a man who looked like he was in charge of things. you know if there is some lieve it. Was it? It was! Tyler hugged the exuberant black Lab who whimpered with delight while leaping on him. Sarge so happy to find Tyler hugged the dog who returned juicy dog kisses. Tyler started back with Sarge following closely.

They went directly to the woman at thestack of crates. you have another crate for my buddy Tyler asked. she said. Tyler patted and reassured Sarge while he was put into the crate for care and protection. parents and many others spent the night in the Center, being fed and provided with blankets.

They watched the news on TV until late that night. Then the firefighters announced they felt certain that within another day, everyone could return safely to their homes. Tyler looked around the room and smiled. He felt so thankful for the firefighters, The Humane Society and whoever was feeding and housing them. Sometimes people can be wonderful.

Special thanks to Milla Zeltzer for her illustration. To see more of her work, visit MillaZeltzerArt.com place where people take their pets to keep them safe? The Humane Society set up a place. by the grade Tyler started off, his heart much lighter. It was easy to spot the Humane Society by the howling animals. Tyler approached a woman standing by some crates containing rescued pets.

you found a black Labs! We have Tyler saw at once that the first one was not Sarge. Funny, he thought, you would think you tell one black Lab from another, but he could tell at once. He moved hopefully to the other two. One of them was friendly and tried to lick his hand, but neither was Sarge. Tyler was discouraged.

Suddenly he had a thought. He left the Humane Society and headed along a route where he and Sarge sometimes rambled. He whistled the code he used to call Sarge back from exploring. He got no response, but kept going, whistling the melodic code. As he approached a dry channel he whistled again.

When a black nose emerged from a concrete culvert he could hardly be- Milla Zeltzer Kay Haugaard What washes up on tiny beaches? Microwaves. Caitlin, 8 Montemalaga Elementary Palos Verdes Estates What did the triangle say to the circle? Your life seems so pointless. Carina, 11 Oxford Academy Cypress Kids, send us your funny jokes and puzzling riddles. JOKES RIDDLES CMYK.