The Library Kid's 2012 Contest

The 2012 Library Kid's Contest

What would you do if you found a library like the one in The Library Kid's Series?

The Contest Rules are as follows:

Write an essay in Word Document Format, and send your entry through email (or send text through email) indicating what you would do if you found a secret magical library like the one in the The Library Kid's Series.

You need to have read at least the first book and your answer must be 500 words or less and must comply with the rules of the Library.

The contest is open to all United State's Citizens of all 50 states. There will be two parts to the contest. One is for adults (18 years and older) and the other is for children (ages 7 to 18).  One entry per person.

The author of The Library Kids, Rita Jean Moran, will be the judge for this contest. The contest begins on December 26, 2011 and ends at midnight on November 02, 2012. First place will receive $100 and second place will receive $50. These prizes will be given to both the adult and child winners of the contest.

Please send your contest entry to:

ritajean@thelibrarykids.com

Include the following:

Your name
Your email address
Your City
Your State
Your Age (or indicate adult)
Your essay answer
The books in the series you have read.

All entries will be the property of The Library Kids and the winners' names, cities, states and answers will be posted. The prizes will be mailed after the winners are chosen and announced.

Have fun!

I can't wait to see all of your entries.  By the way, I am on facebook and would appreciate it, if you click the Like or Share button.  You can ask questions or make comments and check for some announcements.  Have a blessed New Year!

Rita Jean Moran
http://www.thelibrarykids.com/

Sears Catalog and the Internet

Today, the power of the internet allows us to practically order all of the things we need such as food, cars, books, clothes, cleaners, appliances and toys online and have it delivered to our homes.  It's amazing and an absolute time saver.  However, is the concept a new one?  I can't help but remember hearing about the Sears mail-order catalog when I grew up.  It was a long awaited catalog that people were able to order practically anything they needed from the catalog and have it delivered to their home.  They could even purchase a ready-made home kit to put together from the catalog.  A man named Richard Sears started the company in 1887 in Chicago, Illinois.  He hired a partner named Alvah C. Roebuck in 1893, and called their company, Sears Roebuck and Company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Catalog_Home

http://www.searshomes.org/index.php/about-sears-homes/


http://www.searsarchives.com/catalogs/history.htm

http://www.searsarchives.com/history/chronologies/chronology_brief.htm


The idea of "The Wish Book" also started with Sears Catalog.  The Sears Christmas catalog became synonymous with "The Wish Book."  Today, Sears has an online store.


http://www.sears.com/


So we have gone from a paper mail-order society, to an electronic online store society in about 100 years since the beginning of Sears and Roebuck and Company.



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Students Can Publish a Book

Along my journeys with The Library Kids, I found out about an opportunity to self-publish a book by students through a school or library.  It is through Student Treasures.  One of the schools I visited, received a deal for free publishing and published their own book.  Here is a link to their site.  Perhaps it can be of interest to your school or church or library.   Enjoy!


http://www.studentreasures.com/



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

The Royal Library of Ashurbanipal (Ninevah)

An ancient library was uncovered in 1849 that revealed thousands of clay tablets with ancient Sumerian mythology and writings dating back to the 7th century BC.  It was named after Ashurbanipal, the last great king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.  The library was found at ancient Ninevah, which is in modern day Iraq.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Enûma Eliš creation story, and the first man myth of Adapa was found at the library.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Ashurbanipal




The following relief of a "winged genie" was taken from the walls of King Ashurnasirpal II's northwest palace at Nimrud and was photographed by myself at the Chicago Oriental Institute:

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Atlantis

The whole idea of Atlantis is not a new one.  People as far back as Plato and before have been writing and talking about lost worlds.  The internet has allowed for many new  researchers to post their work.  However, there were some famous people over 60 years ago that were writing about lost worlds.  Some of them include the following:


Ignatius Donnelly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_L._Donnelly

Immanuel Velikovsky:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Velikovsky


Plato:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sanzio_01_Plato_Aristotle.jpg

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Jane Addams & Hull House

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jane_Addams_in_a_car.jpg

Have you ever heard of Jane Addam’s Hull House in Chicago?  Jane Addams was a woman that played many roles.  She opened up a facility for new immigrants to come and stay until they could learn the English language and get a job.  Hull House provided schools for the children of immigrants to help them learn English as well.  She helped immigrants adapt to their new environment.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams

The Future

What will the future hold for the human race?  When I was a kid, I read stories and news articles of how I would have a flying car when I grew up.  I read stories about vacation trips to the moon and mars.  Needless to say it hasn't happened, yet. We are still using gasoline engines and haven't cured cancer yet or prolonged our life spans, yet.  Personally, I'd like to see a flying car and cures for cancer and prolonged life spans.  I'm not sure if it will happen in my lifetime.  What would you like to see?

"A flying car retailing for $227,000 could be on roads in a matter of months -- and customers are already lining up to be the first to get their hands on one, its maker claims.

Just over a week ago, the Terrafugia Transition passed a significant milestone when it was cleared for takeoff by the U.S. National Highway Safety Administration. It's taken Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich just five years to realize his dream, with some media outlets reporting that the Transition could now be on U.S. roads by the end of next year."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/07/18/terrafugia-flying-car-cleared-for-landing-in-us/#ixzz1f295jDmY

Old Time Cancer Cures:

Essiac was the name given to a herbal mixture from an old Ojibwe Medicine man.  The medicine man gave the recipe to a nurse named Rene Caisse.  She used it and cured many people with cancer. 

http://www.healthfreedom.info/Cancer%20Essiac.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH6AQtZ6FiQ

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7852271959661622459#

Many mushrooms are also said to contain cancer fighting properties.  The Japanese use a mushroom tea that is from reishi mushrooms.  Their cancer rate is low.

"Reishi in Cancer Research
Studies of Reishi in cancer research have been largely conducted in Japan, where Reishi was scientifically proven to have an anti-tumor effect. This research has continued in Korea, Japan, and China.

An example of Reishi's cancer-fighting potential occurred in the summer of 1986. A 39 -year old Japanese woman approached Dr. Fukumi Morishige, M.D., Ph.D, a renowned Japanese surgeon and a member of the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine, for help in treating her lung cancer. It was a complicated case, and she had been refused an operation by several hospitals. Hopeless, she returned home where she found her husband had collected Reishi in the forests. He boiled the mushroom and gave it to her to drink as a tea.

While this was going on, she begged Dr. Morishige to do something for her cancer, regardless of its very advanced stage. From what was evident six months earlier, Morishige was surprised when he found no increase in swelling. Then he looked at her X-rays. Something wasn't right: her tumor showed as only a trace on the X-ray. When she told him she had been drinking Reishi tea, Morishige operated with great curiosity. He was "astonished" to find only scar tissue, and although cancerous cells remained, they were now benign."

http://intelegen.com/nutrients/reishi.htm

Perhaps we will also be able to grow meat as we do vegetables on a farm as well as grow organs to replace failing organs rather than use a donar.  

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/11/28/2809541/growing-organs-cell-at-a-time.html

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

WW 2 Ducks

I went up to Wisconsin a few years back and took a ride on the WW 2 Ducks (DUKW) with my family.  There are other states that have rides on these amphibious vehicles. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

http://www.wisconsinducktours.com/



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

The Robots are Here!

The following is a video I found on Youtube about a robot called PetMan.  It is being developed by a company named Boston Dynamics.  They have also developed a robotic dog.  The idea is to use these robots for dangerous situations, but will they be used for something more bad than good?  Time will tell.  Move over Terminator!

PetMan Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mclbVTIYG8E

BigDog Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0s7aRUIoTw&feature=related

Hope I Can Visit Arkansas, Someday!

I really hope to visit many more places in my lifetime.  I hope to visit Ireland, Egypt, Peru, Italy and Greece someday.  But in the United States, believe it or not, I want to visit Arkansas.  There are many historical places and national parks in Arkansas.  But most of all, I want to go looking for real diamonds.  That's right, real diamonds.  There's a place called  Crater of Diamonds State Park where you pay a small fee and can look for diamonds and keep them.


http://www.arkansas.com/things-to-do/diamond-hunting/

http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/


There is a 37 1/2-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of an ancient volcanic crater.  There you can look for diamonds and keep what you find.  Over 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed since 1906.  Some very large carat diamonds have been found including the  4.25-carat "Kahn Canary" diamond found in 1977 and worn by Hillary Clinton during the presidential inaugural ball and other occasions.

Hope I get to Arkansas someday and find a diamond.  Maybe I'll see you there!


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Places for Kids, Families and Adults to Visit

Many of the links listed below refer to places or subjects that are mentioned in The Library Kids series. They are real places that can be visited. Enjoy!

Coral Castle

Fossil Park

Pearl Harbor

Cave Link

Chicago Oriental Institute

Mount Rushmore

Chichen Itza

Machu Picchu

Gettysburg

Galena, Il

Cantigny

America's Stonehenge

Aztalan

Rock Lake/Lake Mills, Wisconsin

 

The Cave of the Blue Mounds

The Blue Mounds

Mt. Horeb

Edison & Ford Winter Estates

Volo Museum

Helen Keller's Home

Chicago Field Museum of Natural History

Burpee Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Health and Medicine

Susan B. Anthony House

White Buffalo

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Kids' Guide To Collecting Link

I received a great email from Barb at the Afterskool club regarding a link to a kids' guide to collecting.  Here it is:

http://www.curiocabinetspot.com/kids-guide-to-collecting


Thanks again Barb and all the kids in the After SKool Kids Group!


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Hopi Spiral/Squash Blossom

I've always found the Hopi maiden hairstyle fascinating.  It is called the "squash blossom" and it is used to indicate a maiden's eligibility for courtship status of a Hopi girl.

The Hopi are a native American people who live primarily in Arizona.  They are believed to be descendants of the pueblo people who lived in the area.

Oraibi is one of four original Hopi villages and is still lived in.  The Hopi view the land they live in as sacred.  The Hopi make their living through the use of natural resources and tourism and have continuously voted against casinos on their land.

Their name is derived from a long name, Hopituh Shi-nu-mu , meaning "The Peaceful People" or "Peaceful Little Ones"  The Hopi way strives to live in peace and harmony and to follow the instructions of Maasaw, the creator and caretaker of the Earth.


Read More at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi_people

http://www.hopi-nsn.gov/

Interestingly enough, a similar hairstyle was used by, Princess Leia, in Star Wars.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8b/Princess_leia_film.jpg

And similar hair styles of Europeon women were used in the 1800s and earlier as seen by the hairstyle of Ada Lovelace.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ada_Lovelace_color.svg

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)



Famous Inventors and Scientists

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Ed Leedskalnin and His Coral Castle

Ed Leedskalnin was a Latvian immigrant, born on August 10, 1887, who came to America after alledgedly being unengaged by his "Sweet 16" fiance.  He is famous for building a place called Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida.  Coral Castle was made by Ed who sculpted coral rock and moved it into place all by himself.  The rock weighed tons, but somehow this man who was only 5 feet tall and 100 pounds and had only a 4th grade education,  had figured out a way to move the rock.  Not only did he move the rock around at Homestead, but he had built his Coral Castle at a different location in Florida and then decided to move all of the rock and carvings to Homestead.  He was very secretive in how he did it.

I visited Coral Castle years back and it truely is a mystery.  Ed said he knew the secrets of magnetism and he wrote a book on it.  He also left clues to how he moved the rock in his Coral Castle.  Perhaps some day, someone will figure out how he did it and tell the world.

http://coralcastle.com/

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Hippocrates - The Father of Modern Medicine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hippocrates_rubens.jpg

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek doctor who is considered to be the father of medicine. He was born in 460 B.C. on the island of Cos. Hippocrates’ father was also a physician and there were other physicians before Hippocrates. But, Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine because he was the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine.

Now during Hippocrate’s time, the world was a very different place. The people believed in a pantheon of gods and goddesses and believed that these gods and goddesses were responsible for everything.

The Greeks had twelve main Gods and Goddesses:

Zeus was King of the Gods
Hera was his wife
Poseidon was god of the water and earthquakes
Hermes was the messenger of the gods/goddesses
Athena was goddess of war and the arts
Demeter was goddess of the corn
Artemis was goddess of the hunt
Apollo was the god of medicine and music
Hepahestus was god of blacksmiths
Aphrodite was Hephaestus’ wife
Ares was the god of war
Hades was the god of the dead


There were other minor gods such as Dionysus who was the god of wine and a demi-god known as Heracles who was a very strong man as well as the son of Zeus.

In ancient times, it was believed that an illness might have been brought on by angering one of these deities. But Hippocrates approached illness in a different way.

He wanted to study the illness and treat it if necessary rather than be superstitious about its cause. He believed that disease was caused by environment and diet, not by the gods or goddesses or other superstitious notions.

Not much was known about the human body back then because dissection was forbidden. They also didn’t have the technology that we have today such as x-rays, blood tests or MRIs. But they relied on the skills of observation and diagnosis and the usage of herbs to treat certain disorders and diseases.

Hippocrates thought that illness came about because of an imbalance of the body. He divided the imbalance into four humours-blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. And he would try and bring back balance by using a therapy such as giving the patient citrus or an herbal concoction to bring back the balance.

The treatments were gentle to the patient and emphasized cleanliness as well. The biggest strength of Hippocratic medicine was with the usage of prognosis. That is determining what the disorder or disease was and what to do about it.

Hippocrates is credited with diagnosing and describing the condition of clubbed fingers, epilepsy, lung disease and even hemorrhoids.

Even though his thoughts on what was causing the condition in the patient were incorrect by today’s standards, the practice of diagnosis and treatment of a disease was a very important concept in his time since many people were superstitious in their beliefs of the origins of disease.

Throughout his practice, Hippocrates used many herbs to treat health problems. He would choose to use the leaves, root or stem of an herb or possibly a combination of herbs depending on the diagnosis.

Oregano was a common herb that Hippocrates used to treat many disorders such as arthritis.

Today, herbs are still used to treat some medical conditions and promote well-being.

Herbs are used in cough drops, teas, medicines (such as bella dona), tinctures, sprays and massage oils.


Herbs are also used in foods today. Some herbs that are eaten are oregano, basil, parsely, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, chives, sage, spearment, peppermint, rosemary, tarragon and thyme.

Garlic was considered the king of the herbs and was used to heal colds and flus and rid the body of parasites.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Henry Ford- Inventor of the Ford Automobile

Henry Ford was born on July 30, 1863.  He is most famous for being the founder of the Ford Motor Company and the development of the assembly line technique for mass production.  His introduction of the Ford Model T automobile changed transportation and American industry and allowed the average person to be able to afford the purchase of a car.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_ford_1919.jpg

Henry Ford looked up to Thomas Edison so much, that he built a winter home next to the Edison winter home in Florida.


Henry Ford also built a car made of Hemp plastic and that ran on Hemp Oil.  Unfortunately, the hemp plant was made illegal by the United States Government.   Henry recognized the value of using a renewable source for making plastic and fuel and was ahead of his time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgDyEO_8cI

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Thomas Edison- One of the Most Prolific Inventors of our Time

Thomas Edison is considered one of the best inventors of all time.  Thomas Edison was one of seven children born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio.  He grew up in Port Huron, Michigan.  He had patents for over 1000 inventions in the United States. 

Thomas attended school for a while but was taken out and home schooled eventually because the teacher didn’t like all of his questions. He was also partly deaf due to a bout of scarlet fever and several ear infections.

Thomas was dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a reporter.  Now Thomas was famous for many inventions including a telegraph transmitter, the phonograph, the motion picture camera or kinetoscope and his most famous light bulb.

The kinetoscope was a precursor to the movie projector.  It’s what was used to play film so that movies could be projected against a screen or wall. Edison’s kinetoscope used this concept to show a movie inside of a window. 

Eventually this idea became a motion picture projector that showed the movie on a screen so that a large group of people could view the movie at once. It worked by using a collection of many pictures collected on film and then these pictures were shown at a certain speed so that it looked as if the images in the pictures were moving. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Thomas_Edison.jpg

By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

A Place to Find Interesting Things

Hello,

I am the author of the The Library Kids Series (http://www.thelibrarykids.com/).  My books are about a group of children who find a secret magical cave inside the Blue Mounds that contains the entire history and knowledge of the Earth in the past, present and future.  The main character is a 10 year old girl named Katie O'Conner who has many questions that need to be answered.  Not only will she find her answers, but she will end up with a mission at the end of the first book that will require her and her friends to travel around the world to ancient and mysterious places to find what she is looking for.


As the author, I travel to many of the places I write about and these places are available to others to visit as well.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)