SURPRISE TWISTS Last month I visited schools discussing the fun ways we can use creative thinking to use everyday things in ways that most people never imagine.  Writing short stories is one of the best ways to flex your creative thinking muscles without having to spend money, make mistakes or hurting people by accident. (Explosions can be fun things to write about, but trust me when I say that your eyebrows can take months to grow back if you're silly enough to try researching how to do them for yourself!)  Another important part of writing fun and exciting stories is looking ahead to examine all the possibilities that can happen to your characters if they do dangerous or funny things.  Too many kids end up hurt or financially wasted these days by not taking two seconds to consider the consequences of their actions. So the short story sessions were really great for practicing those skills as well.  And gosh, didn't we have some fun with the sudden twist endings!   Here's one by Ben S from St Bernadine's Parish School in Brisbane:  A short grade seven boy was late for a cross country race and just makes it to the starting line as the gun goes off and he wins. But when he goes up on stage for his medal, a teacher said: "Here's the winner for the grade one race..." Hehehe... I thought that was sooo funny! Here's another great story from Mitchell P, which he thought of after seeing the step pyramid picture from the Kirby's Crusader webpage...  A boy goes over to his grandparent's house and every time he goes over there his grandad is always asking him what has happened to him. He writes down what the boy says and when his grandad dies, in his grandad's Will the boy gets a piece of land. The boy finds a cave on the land and in the cave is a book that has his whole life in it. I wish I had more space to share all the funny, scary and spooky stories.  Cameron H, Mitchell C, John S and Bianca all wrote especially wonderful letters to me too.		Club Editorial Hey gang! A major big wave to all our new members this month! Welcome to the latest exciting edition of the Crusader Club Newsletter!!! We're packed full of some weird stories this month! Check out the Footprint experiment! Have a go at the new jokes... And special celebrity guest author this month is Anna Ciddor of Viking Magic Series! If you enjoy this edition, then you might also like to check out some of our past editions by clicking HERE. The weird stories, jokes and secret writing tips from famous Aussie authors are simply amazing!  And don't forget to tell all your friends and teachers about our new website at www.kirbyscrusaders.com There's heaps of prizes to be won! HAVE FUN!!!! xx Kirby. CLUB JOKES Knock Knock Who's there ! Ellis ! Ellis who? Ellis before "M" !   Knock Knock Who's there ! Elly ! Elly who ? Elly-mentary, my dear Watson !   Knock Knock Who's there ! Dish ! Dish who ? Dish ish a schtick-up !
	Real life Crime Crusader A father in Sedgewick, USA realised that he might have a neighbourhood peeping tom spying on his daughters (ages 6 and 15) in the shower, because he noticed that a chair on his back verandah kept moving from one place in the yard to a place underneath his bathroom window every night. So the clever 37-year-old crime fighter took a spool of fishing line, tied one end to the leg of the chair, snaked the fishing line into the house, and left the spool on the kitchen counter. The next time one of his daughters went in to the bathroom, his "fishing line"  got a bite. The spool fell off the counter and began unraveling. "Just like I hooked a fish, he took the bait and ran with it." The father ran outside and ordered the man to lie down while his wife called police. The 31-year-old peeping tom, who turned out to live a few houses away, was taken to the Sedgwick County Jail. (haha!) "It was just a stupid, little trap," the father said. "But we got him!" Club Secret - Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but Kirby's going to have a small guest role in the sequel to Crystal Coffin, which will mean Kirby will have guest spots in her big brother's series, just as he has guest spots in her series for younger readers!		Bad Jokes of the month: Sign in a Chinese Pet Store: "Buy one dog, get one flea..."  TEACHER  : I want you to tell me the longest sentence k of Pupil: Life imprisonment ! TEACHER : What is further away, America or the Moon ? Pupil   : The moon! You can see the moon at night! TEACHER :What kind of birds do you find in captivity? Pupil   : Jailbirds !
	CRUSADER MAD SCIENTIST Time for another amazing Mad Scientist  Experiment from fellow Aussie children's writer Jackie Hosking. Thanks for another fantastic experiment Jackie!!!  FOOTPRINT IDENTIFICATION  You’re gathering evidence at a crime scene when you see it, clear as mud. A footprint in the soil underneath the rosebush but the forecast is for rain. How will you get the footprint back to the lab before it is washed away? Here’s what you will need: A foot or shoe A plastic container – a shallow ice-cream container will do fine. Plaster of Paris A mixing spoon A mixing bowl Moist soil or sand to cover the bottom of the plastic container. Rubber gloves  Here’s what to do: Firstly put on the gloves then tip the soil into the plastic container. Make an imprint of your foot or shoe. Mix up some plaster of Paris according to the instructions. Pour the plaster of Paris into the footprint impression. Leave for an hour and a half. Remove the plaster cast from the soil/sand and brush off any excess. What do you notice? Now collect a range of shoes or feet (still attached to their legs I would suggest), depending on the type of print you did and ask someone else to identify the print. CLUB JARGON BUSTERS Here are this month's weird words from the world of spies, private investigation, military surveillance and criminal justice. These are sent to us by club member Jayson B. If you have a weird word you'd like to share, then email the us HERE and we'll spread the word - or explain it for you: ASIO (It's an anagram for Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) This is the Aussie government department that is responsible for gathering information about possible threats to our national security, like possible terrorist attacks or civil uprisings. They don't call their workers spies anymore. They're called GIO's (see definition below). CIA (It's an anagram for Central Intelligence Agency) It's the American government department that's responsible for investigating security threats from foreign sources. The CIA has an EXCELLENT website to help you with school projects about foreign countries. CLICK HERE. I use this website a lot when researching countries for my novels. But BEWARE... as soon as you log in to the CIA website, all your keystrokes are recorded to make sure you're not up to mischief! hehehe Counterspy: (pronounced counter-spy) A spy who's job is to find enemy spies and figure out what they've been up to.   GIO (It's an anagram for General Intelligence Officer) Which is now also the new name for an Aussie spy who works for ASIO. To be a GIO in Australia you need to have a 4 year university degree (in anything). You also need good skills in talking and listening to people from all kinds of nationalities. Every year, ASIO advertises (secretly) for new GIO's. The salary starts off at $42, 701 per year and can go up to $66, 040 if you work hard as a good spy... doh! ...I mean GIO! And wages are even going up an extra 4% from the 1st of April next year!... So if you want to see more about what's involved in being a real life GIO or if one of your parents wants to apply for a job CLICK HERE. But don't tell anyone! The secret to being a good spy... I mean GIO... is keeping your identity and your job application a secret! (Even from your friends!) Ground Truth (You know how to say this one!) It's a fact that's verified by sending in secret police, spies, special forces or undercover agents to take a better look at things from ground level when they look suspicious from satellite images or photos taken from planes but might be innocent after all.   OSS (It's an anagram for Office of Strategic Services) This is the name of the spy organisation used in movies like Spy Kids, but in real life, it's the name of the American foreign intelligence organisation, before it was replaced by the CIA		Crusader Stellar Watch RAIN ON MARS!!! Okay, it was 3billion years ago, but according to a new French study using the NASA Mars Odessy orbiter probe and infra-red imaging of the dry dust valley's, Mars not only had rivers and lakes, it also had heavy rainfall. Scientists in USA agree the data could rewrite the Martian history books by suggesting the planet had a much longer "summers" than anyone thought. During the Martian Noachian era, the climate was thought to be muggy with large volumes of water flowing over the surface cutting (valleys and eroding craters). Then, around 3.6 billion years ago (about the same time that life was emerging here on Earth) the little red planet froze, entering the so-called Hesperian epoch, which lasted around half a billion years. What remained as water has almost always been locked up as ice, either at the poles or (so it is hoped) in the subsurface rocks.!    If you have to write a short story for your teacher this term, why not try a science fiction story about a scientist who finds water on Mars?    WEIRD NEWS This story comes from one of our fabulous librarians... It's the most amazing story about a guy who found an unborn baby dragon preserved in a jar in his attic. Take a look at the photo by clicking HERE... I've never seen such amazing detail!!!! Then check out the amazing follow-up story about it HERE to find out what it REALLY is! But make sure you read the first link before you see this one! WAAAAAH!  I want one too!