The following is an article my son wrote for our Middle School paper. After that is an article by my daughter. You can read other articles by our kids at www.bbsd.com and click on Middle School!

Jack wrote:

IS JK Rowling a Fraud?

Many people have read the Harry Potter series and enjoyed them. The same goes for the Lord of the Rings books too. After reading all the books in each series I couldn’t help but notice the similarities with Rowling’s writing and Tolkien’s. Avid readers know that Tolkien could not be copying J.K. Rowling because his books were written between 1937-1939 and Rowling’s books are more recent. One of the biggest similarities that a reader would discover was the ring in The Lord of the Rings and horcruxes in the Harry Potter series. The ring is made by the evil Lord Sauron. The ring is very powerful and evil. In the Tolkien series the main character Frodo is wearing the ring around his neck and it makes him incredibly weak. It also makes him lash out at his friends when they try to touch the ring. In the Harry Potter books the evil wizard Lord Voldemort splits up his soul and hides them in hidden objects. These objects are called horcruxes. They come in handy if someone kills Voldemort, as he will still be alive because parts of his soul are in the horcruxes. When Harry wears a locket around his neck that is a horcrux, he also becomes incredibly weak and cannot use magic. He also lashes out at his friends who journey with him just as Sam journeyed with Frodo.

Another similarity deals with some characters in both books. In the Lord of the Rings there is a giant spider called Shelob. In the Harry Potter books there is a giant spider called Aragon. Then there are Ring Wraiths from Lord of the Rings and Dementors from Harry Potter that are almost the same. They both wear black hooded cloaks and a person cannot see their faces. Also when they are nearby everything feels cold and eerie. There is the evil character Wormtail for the Harry Potter books and Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings. Both characters follow their evil masters around and do their bidding.

I even found story lines that were the same in both series. Dumbledore tells Harry not to hate Wormtail and that someday Wormtail will save Harry, which happens in the last novel. In Lord of the Rings, Gollum is a twisted character like Wormtail and Gandolf tells Frodo that some day Gollum will help save him, which also happens at the end of the series. “Everyone will play is his part.” is the line in Tolkien’s book.

If this doesn’t convince you, read both series and see for yourself.


Kate wrote:

Michael Phelps and his Battle with ADHD.

Many of you know Michael Phelps as a eight time gold medal winner in the 2008 Olympics. But what you might not know is that as a child he struggled with ADHD. As a student he was always full of energy and his teachers were constantly telling him and his mother that he could not learn. Because of his unusual size he was picked on a lot by other kids. They say that Michael Phelps is the perfect swimming machine because his arms are long and strong and give him lots of power. His legs are smaller compared to his arms and this reduces the drag in the water and makes him faster. His ADHD actually gives him an advantage too. With ADHD it’s not that you can’t focus on anything its that you are focusing on something so much more that you can’t focus on anything else. With this he can put all his energy and focus on swimming.

As a little kid, his mother, Debbie, signed him up for swimming lessons but he was reluctant even to put his face in the water. His coach taught him the backstroke first and soon he was swimming all the time.

But the reason that he says his mother inspired him so much was not just because she got him into swimming, she also helped him in school. She is a middle school teacher and she got his teachers to sit him at a table by himself because he didn’t pay attention and bothered other kids sitting by him. He didn’t like to read but she got him to read the sports section of the newspaper. He hated math so she got him a tutor that gave him math problems on swimming so he would pay attention and work hard at solving them. He learned about being a good sport from his mom too and that when he doesn’t win that he should still be a good sport.

Debbie Phelps is a principal in Maryland now and uses what she did with Michael with all her students.

“All kids can fail us at times,” she says. “But if you work with them, nine times out of 10, they’ll make you proud.”

I think that Michael Phelps’ story is truly amazing and anyone can accomplish whatever they set their mind to do.

www.additudemag.com/adhd