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Gussie Grant recently moved from the exciting world of Los Angeles to a quiet sheep farm in Oregon. At least there are no neighbors close by to complain about her loud French horn. She makes a friend, Tex Fuller, who might be able to get her a place on the school’s winning basketball team. She enjoys the open fields and lakes, too. But what really excites her is the old rumor of a monster in the lake near her ranch.

The first night, while practicing her French horn, she hears a low, moaning sound coming from Lake Looney. What was it? Probably just an echo. Then she stumbles across a giant orange egg. Now she has to know. She starts exploring and pretty soon comes across other clues that lead her on a wild journey that might just have a monster and a buried treasure at the end! Read The Friends of the Loony Lake Monster by Frank Bonham to find out what happens.

If you’ve ever rubbed a balloon on your head and then watched your hair stand on end, then you’ve experienced static electricity. But what makes it happen? Well, everything that you see is made up of tiny particles called atoms.

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No one is really sure where or when gymnastics started, but about 2500 years ago, it became apparent in Greek civilization. The Greeks were the first to use the sport of gymnastics for physical fitness. In the city of Athens, they held tournaments which became extremely popular. So popular did they become, that the Olympic Games were founded. When the Romans conquered Greece, they found the sport of gymnastics to be excellent training for their military men. However, once the Roman Empire fell, gymnastics was forgotten about for hundreds of years.

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Summer is always a great time to cook and eat some delicious treats. Try this great recipe for some fantastic fudge. Make sure you ask an adult to help you with the stove.

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Summer is here and it’s time to have some fun! In the last few issues of the Tribune we gave you some great game ideas that you can play with your friends outside. But what if your friends are not around? There are a lot of fun things that you can do on your own. Here is one great idea that you can try on a clear but slightly windy day. Make your very own kite and then take it outside to fly!

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Have you ever been playing outside with your friends when all of a sudden your nose begins to tingle and your throat begins to itch and then all of a sudden….. aaahhhhchooo! You sneeze a few more times but you feel generally OK so you continue to play with your friends. Then, a few hours later, your throat begins to feel a little scratchy and you eyes become watery and before you know it…you have a cold. You then go home and crawl into bed and prepare yourself for the three to four days of misery that you know so well.

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Here is a great question for you…if you do not know the answer try to ask your friends and see if they know the answer.

Question: What was the first animal in space?

Answer: Laika, the Russian space dog.

Are you wondering how you can change some of the terrible things going on in our world? Besides, when in the world would a kid find the time to do anything anyway? With television shows to watch, video games to play, snacks to eat, who has time? In It’s Our World Too: Stories of Young People Who Are Making a Difference, by Margaret A. Bush you will read about some kids who have decided that there’s no better time than the present to take action. Read about a group of first and second graders in Sweden who decided to save a rainforest by buying it.

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What are marshmellows really made of, besides the most delicous substance on earth? What makes them so infinitely tasty? What secrets are locked in that squishy piece of happiness? Here’s a golden chance to find out!

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Golf. People who play it are passionate about it. And it has the tendency to make people a little bit nutty. The French claim it originated from their country’s game called “jeu de mal,” the Dutch say it descended from their game called “kolven,” but both of these games lacked an essential element that defines what we refer to as golf. Can you guess what was missing from both of these games? Both games used a club to hit the ball. They were also played on grand concourses, but they lacked the essential ingredient that the game revolves around. Give up? Neither game had a hole for the ball to sink into! How can you play golf without hearing the satisfying plunk of the little white ball in the hole? The Scots claim the game as their own, if only for that reason.

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Did you know that the petal-like butterfly that you see floating from leaf to leaf came into creation about 130 million years ago? Well, not that actual exact butterfly, but its relatives spread their colorful wings as soon as flowering plants and trees evolved. Apparently, the butterfly evolved from a water-loving, night-flying insect called the caddisfly.

When the flowers began to take form on Earth, butterflies were there to help pollinate the blossoms which they depend upon for food. These delicate creatures are also close relatives of moths, but tend to be active during the day, whereas moths are night-flying insects.

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Have you ever heard of leeches? Leeches are small worm-like animals that can attach themselves to the human body and suck out blood.

Leeches can attach themselves to a human body and suck out blood for 30 minutes to an hour, removing about 20 ml of blood before they fall off. They attach themselves to the skin using two muscular suckers. They then bite the skin through three teeth that are inside one of these suckers. Leeches can actually ingest about five times their body weight in blood before they let go of the skin and fall off.

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