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    The Landry News
    The Landry News
    The Landry News
    Ebook138 pages1 hour

    The Landry News

    By Andrew Clements

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    About this ebook

    NEW STUDENT GETS OLD TEACHER

    The bad news is that Cara Landry is the new kid at Denton Elementary School. The worse news is that her teacher, Mr. Larson, would rather read the paper and drink coffee than teach his students anything. So Cara decides to give Mr. Larson something else to read—her own newspaper, The Landry News.

    Before she knows it, the whole fifth-grade class is in on the project. But then the principal finds a copy of The Landry News, with unexpected results. Tomorrow’s headline: Will Cara’s newspaper cost Mr. Larson his job?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtheneum Books for Young Readers
    Release dateOct 30, 2012
    ISBN9780689850523
    Author

    Andrew Clements

    Andrew Clements (1949–2019) was the author of the enormously popular Frindle. More than 10 million copies of his books have been sold, and he was nominated for a multitude of state awards, including a Christopher Award and an Edgar Award. His popular works include About Average, Troublemaker, Extra Credit, Lost and Found, No Talking, Room One, Lunch Money, and more. He was also the author of the Benjamin Pratt & the Keepers of the School series. Find out more at AndrewClements.com.

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    Reviews for The Landry News

    4/5

    29 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I have really fond memories attached to this (and other Andrew Clements) books. I first read this one in a 4th grade book club, and absolutely fell in love with Clements' ability to create realistic characters just dealing with school situations, something kids will definitely be able to relate to, since school is pretty much where they spend most of their lives. There's humor everywhere making your way through this book. It also introduces, through simple characters and their interactions and activities in the classroom, a much bigger, more sophisticated and complicated concept: censorship in print publications. Not only does the story toy with the day-to-day goings on of a classroom environment, it touches on issues like divorce and classroom politics. One of the things that I really like, as someone who is on track to become a teacher, is the demystification of a teacher's life, telling the students, hey, you know what? Your teacher's not this huge scary power figure at the front of the classroom, he/she's a human being, just like you. It's very cool to see the evolution and growth of one girl's creativity alongside the evolution and growth of her teacher. It's incredibly obvious that Andrew Clements taught, and I'm going to say that's what gave this novel its realism and appeal to such a wide audience.
    • 5/5
      A 5th grader writes editorials in her own newspaper and gets in trouble.
    • 4/5
      Cara Landry is a fifth grader who just launched "The Landry News" in her language arts class by posting a highly critical editorial of her teacher, Mr. Larson - who after being burned out after decades of teaching and personal issues, simply reads his daily newspaper and lets the children do what they wish, and is notorious for not assigning homework for the entire year. Cara is also known for her scathing critical writing - having been jaded by her parents' divorce in the last year. In any case, Cara's article is a wake up call to Mr. Larson, who becomes motivated to challenge his class to publish a real school newspaper. The newspaper becomes a hit among students, until the principal, Dr. Barnes, gets hold of an issue featuring a student's own account of what he experienced when his parents divorced. Citing the article as highly inappropriate, Dr. Barnes uses the publication as an excuse to get Mr. Larson terminated as he had been attempting to do so for years. What unfolds is the greatest teaching moment Mr. Landry's language arts class has ever had.Although the book may not seem to reflect the reality of most elementary school children - with budget cuts and impacted curricula, what elementary school has the resources to publicize a school newspaper these days? However, with divorce rates being reported as low as 60% and as high as 75% just in California, "The Landry News" effectively illuminates divorce's mental and emotional impact on children, and the unique, range of ways children cope - from anger, to sadness, and acceptance. The Landry News is an essential read for ages 9-12, and teaches a great lesson on coping in the face of personal challenges. The book can also be used as a valuable tool in teaching First Amendment rights.
    • 5/5
      This is a funny tale of student to teacher influence. Cara Landry reaches a breakthrough in healing from her parents divorce. Along the way she opens up to her fellow students and gives them a voice as their school newspaper is the subject of freedom of speech struggles. Cara and Mr. Larson inspire each other thanks to the power of truth and mercy together. Mr. Larson and the Bill of Rights win a victory and I cheered for them both. The victory comes through gentleness, vision, and mercy.
    • 5/5
      catchy and entertaining, I love it.:)
    • 5/5
      Fifth grader Cara Landry, the editor of "Landry News", the school newspaper, writes an editorial article on her lackluster teacher which threatens to end his teaching career. More problems arise when the school principal gets involved and wants to shut down "Landry News." I'd highly recommend this book to 4th and 5th graders. This touches on complicated subjects like divorce and First Amendment Rights and makes them palatable for students.
    • 4/5
      Another wonderful school story from Clements. I just love how the grownups are real people, too. No cardboard characters, no cliched interactions, no forced drama, just brave kids taking a common school experience to the next level because they're smart enough, and passionate enough, to follow through.
    • 4/5
      Cara Laundry was the new girl at Denton Elementary. She had troubles at her previous school. Cara was in Mr. Larson's class but he was a particularly lazy teacher. Mr. Larson thought that children learn best by having an open classroom where children teach themselves. Cara was not impressed and decided to something about the situation. Would this decision cost Mr. Larson his job? (Please read to find out more)
    • 2/5
      A girl named Cara is going to a new school, Denton Elementary school, she is really excited! When she goes to her classroom all the teacher is doing is sitting there drinking his cofee while reading the newspaper. Cara is getting sick of it! Is cara going to just sit there and watch the teacher sit there and read, or will she do something about it?
    • 3/5
      This is a funny story about the student teacher relationship. Cara Landry reaches a breakthrough in healing from her parents divorce. Along the way she opens up to her fellow students and gives them a voice as their school newspaper is the subject of freedom of speech struggles. Cara and Mr. Larson inspire each other thanks to the power of truth and mercy together. Mr. Larson and the Bill of Rights win a victory and I cheered for them both. The victory comes through gentleness, vision, and mercy
    • 5/5
      Summary: A fifth grader, Cara, has recently moved and is now attending Denton Elementary School. Upon arriving at school and getting familiar with her new surroundings, she realizes that her teacher, Mr. Larson, is not the typical teacher. He rarely assigns homework, allows the students to do as they please, and reads the daily newspaper. Cara decides to get creative and begans to write a school newspaper. In doing so, her hopes is to get Mr. Larson's attention. No only did she get Mr. Larson's attention, but she got the attention of the school principal, Dr. Barnes, as well. More students began to get involved in the writing of the paper and things began to fall back on Mr. Larson. Since Dr. Barnes has been waiting for the right opportunity to get Mr. Larson terminated, he saw this as the chance of a life time. Happy ending...........Personal Reaction: I enjoyed this book. I liked the way that Cara was concerned about her teacher, as well as the class and decided to take a stand to help everyone involv ed. This is an example how even though someone may not have intentions of hurting anyone, someone else can look at it differently and use it against either that individual or someone else....... in this case, someone else, Mr. Larwon. Even though this story is fiction, it is a good example of freedom of the press. We all have a right to it, we just need to use it for the right reason.......to Help not to Harm.Extensions:1) I would use this as an opportunity to encourage the students to respect self, others, and the persoanl property and resources of the school or a place of empoloyment. I will open up discussions allowing the students to share ways that we show respect.2) I would incorporate this book into a lesson about the 1st Amendment, Freedom of the Press (Speech)3) This would be a good opportunity to have discussions on divorce with the students and bring a professional in that can help answer some of the students questions or concerns.
    • 4/5
      Read many years ago but forgot to add until now!
    • 3/5
      A fifth-grader starts a newspaper with an editorial that prompts her burnt-out classroom teacher to really begin teaching again, but he is later threatened with disciplinary action as a result.This book could be used when discussing freedom of speech and also on reporting correct information.
    • 4/5
      Can one person affect change? In The Landry News, Cara Landry, a fifth grade student does. Cara starts a new school and notices that rather than teach, her teacher, Mr. Larson, sits behind a newspaper. Cara decides to expose the problem by publishing The Landry News. She exposes the fact that her teacher doesn’t teach. As a result of her editorial, Mr. Larson decides that if he wants to change his job he needs to make changes. He was a good teacher once and Cara helps him rediscover his passion for teaching. This is a charming story that would fit in any elementary social studies class. It will lead to discussions of the first amendment, freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
    • 5/5
      This book is very entertaining
    • 2/5
      It was on a list of summer reading for my fourth-grade daughter. Plus, I used to write an “underground” newspaper, so I couldn’t pass this up.But it reads like it was meant to be used for curriculum. It reeks of “written to be taught”, not because the author had something to say or a good story in mind. I deduce this because it’s padded badly. The beginning doesn’t match the ending–it switches themes partway through. After about a third of the way, it stops being about the student-published newspaper and becomes about the “evil principal” trying to “get” the teacher. And then the news story he hides behind is reprinted word for word in the book. And it has nothing to do with either idea. Its content is about a kid’s divorce. It has nothing to do with the themes of the main plot. I don’t know what its meant for. I think it’s trying to cover different themes at once so there’s plenty for the class to discuss.The inciting incident is also too implausible — I cannot believe that at teacher would sit at his desk for eight hours a day, reading the paper, while the kids futz in the classroom semi-supervised and not being taught. From 7AM to 3PM. Teachers have been fired for less, tenure or not.It’s so instructive I expected there to be a study guide in the back. Just skip this one.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    The Landry News - Andrew Clements

    CHAPTER 1

    NEW KID GETS OLD TEACHER

    CARA LOUISE, I am talking to you!

    Cara Landry didn’t answer her mom. She was busy.

    She sat at the gray folding table in the kitchenette, a heap of torn paper scraps in front of her. Using a roll of clear tape, Cara was putting the pieces back together. Little by little, they fell into place on a fresh sheet of paper about eighteen inches wide. The top part was already taking shape—a row of neat block letters, carefully drawn to look like newspaper type.

    "Cara, honey, you promised you wouldn’t start that again. Didn’t you learn one little thing from the last time?"

    Cara’s mom was talking about what had happened at the school Cara had attended for most of fourth grade, just after her dad had left. There had been some problems.

    Don’t worry, Mom, Cara said absentmindedly, absorbed in her task.

    Cara Landry had only lived in Carlton for six months. From the day she moved to town, during April of fourth grade, everyone had completely ignored her. She had been easy for the other kids to ignore. Just another brainy, quiet girl, the kind who always turns in assignments on time, always aces tests. She dressed in a brown plaid skirt and a clean white blouse every day, dependable as the tile pattern on the classroom floor. Average height, skinny arms and legs, white socks, black shoes. Her light brown hair was always pulled back into a thin ponytail, and her pale blue eyes hardly ever connected with anyone else’s. As far as the other kids were concerned, Cara was there, but just barely.

    All that changed in one afternoon soon after Cara started fifth grade.

      *  *  *

    It was like any other Friday for Cara at Denton Elementary School. Math first thing in the morning, then science and gym, lunch and health, and finally, reading, language arts, and social studies in Mr. Larson’s room.

    Mr. Larson was the kind of teacher parents write letters to the principal about, letters like:

    Dear Dr. Barnes:

    We know our child is only in second grade this year, but please be sure that he [or she] is NOT put into Mr. Larson’s class for fifth grade.

    Our lawyer tells us that we have the right to make our educational choices known to the principal and that you are not allowed to tell anyone we have written you this letter.

    So in closing, we again urge you to take steps to see that our son [or daughter] is not put into Mr. Larson’s classroom.

    Sincerely yours,

    Mr. and Mrs. Everybody-who-lives-in-Carlton

    Still, someone had to be in Mr. Larson’s class; and if your mom was always too tired to join the PTA or a volunteer group, and if you mostly hung out at the library by yourself or sat around your apartment reading and doing homework, it was possible to live in Carlton for half a year and not know that Mr. Larson was a lousy teacher. And if your mom didn’t know enough to write a letter to the principal, you were pretty much guaranteed to get Mr. Larson.

    Mr. Larson said he believed in the open classroom. At parents’ night every September, Mr. Larson explained that children learn best when they learn things on their own.

    This was not a new idea. This idea about learning was being used successfully by practically every teacher in America.

    But Mr. Larson used it in his own special way. Almost every day, he would get the class started on a story or a worksheet or a word list or some reading and then go to his desk, pour some coffee from his big red thermos, open up his newspaper, and sit.

    Over the years, Mr. Larson had taught himself how to ignore the chaos that erupted in his classroom every day. Unless there was the sound of breaking glass, screams, or splintering furniture, Mr. Larson didn’t even look up. If other teachers or the principal complained about the noise, he would ask a student to shut the door, and then go back to reading his newspaper.

    Even though Mr. Larson had not done much day-today teaching for a number of years, quite a bit of learning happened in room 145 anyway. The room itself had a lot to do with that. Room 145 was like a giant educational glacier, with layer upon layer of accumulated materials. Mr. Larson read constantly, and every magazine he had subscribed to or purchased during the past twenty years had ended up in his classroom. Time, Good Housekeeping, U.S. News & World Report, Smithsonian, Cricket, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Boys’ Life, Organic Gardening, The New Yorker, Life, Highlights, Fine Woodworking, Reader’s Digest, Popular Mechanics, and dozens of others. Heaps of them filled the shelves and cluttered the corners. Newspapers, too, were stacked in front of the windows; recent ones were piled next to Mr. Larson’s chair. This stack was almost level with his desktop, and it made a convenient place to rest his coffee cup.

    Each square inch of wall space and a good portion of the ceiling were covered with maps, old report covers, newspaper clippings, diagrammed sentences, cartoons, Halloween decorations, a cursive handwriting chart, quotations from the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence, and the complete Bill of Rights—a dizzying assortment of historical, grammatical, and literary information.

    The bulletin boards were like huge paper time warps—shaggy, colorful collages. Whenever Mr. Larson happened to find an article or a poster or an illustration that looked interesting, he would staple it up, and he always invited the kids to do the same. But for the past eight or ten years, Mr. Larson had not bothered to take down the old papers—he just wallpapered over them with the new ones. Every few months—especially when it was hot and humid—the weight of the built-up paper would become too much for the staples, and a slow avalanche of clippings would lean forward and whisper to the floor. When that happened, a student repair committee would grab some staplers from the supply cabinet, and the room would shake as they pounded flat pieces of history back onto the wall.

    Freestanding racks of books were scattered all around room 145. There were racks loaded with mysteries, Newbery winners, historical fiction, biographies, and short stories. There were racks of almanacs, nature books, world records books, old encyclopedias, and dictionaries. There was even a rack of well-worn picture books for those days when fifth-graders felt like looking back at the books they grew up on.

    The reading corner was jammed with pillows and was sheltered by half of an old cardboard geodesic dome. The dome had won first prize at a school fair about fifteen years ago. Each triangle of the dome had been painted blue or yellow or green and was designed by kids to teach something—like the flags of African nations or the presidents of the United States or the last ten Indianapolis-500 winners—dozens and dozens of different minilessons. The dome was missing half its top and looked a little like an igloo after a week of warm weather. Still, every class period there would be a scramble to see which small group of friends would take possession of the dome.

    The principal didn’t approve of Mr. Larson’s room one bit. It gave him the creeps. Dr. Barnes liked things to be spotless and orderly, like his own office—a place for everything, and everything in its place. Occasionally he threatened to make Mr. Larson change rooms—but there was really no other room he could move to. Besides, room 145 was on the lower level of the school in the back corner. It was the room that was the farthest away from the office, and Dr. Barnes couldn’t bear the thought of Mr. Larson being one inch closer to him.

    Even though it was chaotic and cluttered, Mr. Larson’s class suited Cara Landry just fine. She was able to tune out the noise, and she liked being left alone for the last two hours of every day. She would always get to class early and pull a desk and chair over to the back corner by some low bookcases. Then she would pull the large map tripod up behind her chair. She would spread out her books and papers on the bookshelf to her right, and she would tack her plastic pencil case on the bulletin board to her left. It was a small private space, like her own

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