THE PORT HARDY DAILY NEWS

Coming To You From Scenic Northern Vancouver Island

by Stella Donahue Story

COAL HARBOR, BRITISH COLUMBIA — A local fisherman and his wife appear to be lost at sea after a freak storm blew through Quatsino Sound last night. Many of the local townspeople fear both died in the storm, but the couple’s only child, an 11-year-old daughter named Primrose Squarp, said she’s confident her parents’ will return alive.

Primrose said her father had been on a routine fishing trip and was out at sea when the fast moving storm hit at 8:32 pm. Her father always comes home at 9:30pm. When he missed his curfew, Primrose’s mother set off into the howling storm in the family’s tiny row boat. Primrose says last she saw, her mother was paddling her way into the crashing waves.

Primrose spoke to a reporter while keeping vigil at The Girl On The Red Swing, a local eatery known for serving everything on a waffle – from chicken to lasagna to waffles, everything is served on a waffle.

Ms. Bowser, owner of the restaurant, says if Primrose doesn’t think her parents are dead, she won’t either. Ms. Bowser acknowledged some would judge Primrose’s mother harshly for leaving her young daughter home alone. However, Ms. Bowser chalks Primrose’s mother’s actions up to true love.

Local officials, including school psychologist, Miss Honeycut, said they will begin work immediately to find a home for Primrose. An elderly neighbor named Mrs. Perfidy will take the girl in temporarily while the school works to track down the girl’s only known living relative, a maternal uncle named Jack who is believed to be currently serving as a naval officer in Nova Scotia .

Locals said they are shocked at the sudden loss of two prominent members of their small community. Plans for a memorial service are underway, however the young Primrose said she is so confident her parents will return that she has no plans to attend.

Miles is a prankster, and a serious one. I read a book called the Terrible Two by two writers named Mac Barnett and Jory John. Miles is a boy who has just moved from living in a city, I think, to living in Yawnee Valley a part of the country known for their cows. When he gets there he is ready to play the role of prankster at his new school but quickly finds out that the school already has one, and a great one too. On the first day of school, the children found a car sitting on the top of the school steps blocking the entrance. Nobody could find out who did it. Niles is also our main character. He is the kiss-up. Meaning that he is the teacher’s pet. Yawnee Valley is a small town with a population of 9,980 and a whole lot of cows. Barnett and John both make you feel like you are seeing Miles’s world out of a person who lives in Yawnee Valley’s eyes.

Miles is a pretty normal kid except that he pranks and he used to live in a pink apartment next to the ocean. I would describe Miles as whiney because he is always moping around even when something nice like a birthday party is going on. Also, mischievous because he pretty much is always either making up a prank or planning a prank like when he pranked the teachers. He made flyers that told eight of the teachers that there was cupcakes and bacon down in the cafeteria, (there was cupcakes but, no bacon and one teacher couldn’t eat cupcakes but, loved bacon). Plus quiet because he talks a lot at home but usually at school he just gives short answers and then walks away. I think one of the most interesting parts was when Miles throws a birthday party for a boy named Cody Burr-Tyler because he is turning thirteen years old except that Cody doesn’t exist. Miles made him up so people would bring great presents and then he would take all of them while announcing that Cody didn’t exist. But then as he is making his announcement, the principal shows up and ruins it.

I thought this book was OK but I didn’t love it. I think that was because I could thought he could have described things better than he did. I thought it was too focused on boys because the only girl that was Miles’s age was kind of an annoying know-it-all. I would have also liked it if it was longer because there were a lot of chapters but they were all really short. I would recommend this to people who enjoy action books or like pranks but, if you don’t like those types of things then I would not say it was for you. I haven’t really read any other books like this so it is kind of new to me. I would give this book 3 stars.