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?

The Landry News

ANNOTATION

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.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From the Editor's Desk

A Question of Fairness

There has been no teaching so far this year in Mr. Larson's classroom. There has been learning, but there has been no teaching. There is a teacher in the classroom, but he does not teach.

Cara Landry is a budding journalist. When she posts a scathing editorial about her burned-out teacher on the bulletin board one afternoon, everything changes. Prodded into action for the first time in years, Mr. Larson challenges his fifth-grade students to create a real newspaper. Soon The Landry News gets more attention than either Cara or her teacher bargained for, as the principal uses the paper to try to get Mr. Larson fired. While the whole town is swept up in a dramatic debate over The Landry News and the First Amendment, Mr. Larson uses the controversy as raw material for some of the finest teaching of his career. And Cara and her classmates learn the importance of tempering a newspaper's truth with mercy. But will their lessons cost Mr. Larson his job?

Written by the author of the immensely popular Frindle, this is a compelling new novel about the collision of a student in need of a teacher with a teacher in need of inspiration.

SYNOPSIS

Fifth-grader Cara Landry is an aspiring journalist who has created her own newspaper, The Landry News. In her first edition, she writes a harsh editorial that accuses Mr. Larson, her burned-out language arts teacher, of not doing his job. However, her criticism has positive results: It inspires Mr. Larson to become a real teacher again -- one who encourages his class to turn The Landry News into a classroom newspaper. But when the school principal uses something that's been printed in the paper to try to get Mr. Larson fired, the whole town gets involved, and Cara and her classmates learn about the First Amendment -- and the importance of tempering truth with mercy.

Reading level: Ages 8-12

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Gr 4-6-A fifth grader's scathing editorial criticizing her burned-out teacher spurs him to take his duties seriously. A terrific read about free speech, the power of the pen, and the need to temper truth with mercy. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Cara Landry, entering as a new fifth-grade student in Mr. Larson's class, is quiet and unassuming. Barely noticed by classmates or her teacher, she publishes her first edition of the Landry News creating a transformation of teacher, students, and even herself. Her editorial states simply, "There is a teacher in the classroom, but he does not teach." Emerging from years of disillusionment, he begins to teach again. Journalism with all its ramifications and responsibilities are his tools. All the fifth-graders decide to help Cara publish the Landry News regularly as their class project. This gives the principal just the right tool to rid himself of Mr. Larson something he has waited for patiently. What begins as a small school conflict grows into a First Amendment Rights issue that solidifies friendships for, and love of Mr. Larson. As in Frindle (S&S, 1996), author Andrew Clements (S&S, 1999) uses an everyday classroom setting to illuminate words and their importance. Using clear and simple sentence structure, hard issues such as divorce, loyalty, and responsibility are presented with sensitivity and a lot of humor. Listeners will appreciate Cara's visit to the principal's office and her gauge, the "mad-o-meter," to assess the situation. Academic issues summarized such as newspaper analysis, the Constitution, and the First Amendment are introduced and briefly summarized. Actor Andrew McCarthy uses inflection and tone with subtle voice changes to make the fifth grade girls and boys and the stodgy principal vital and believable characters. This is an enjoyable story that also provides a great deal of information on some important and current issues.-Tina Hudak, St. Bernard's School, Riverdale, MD Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Karen Carden - The Christian Science Monitor

...[J]ust the book for refreshing summer fun....[T]his story is about...good writing, good truth-telling, and good motives....The book just might introduce young readers to their local [news]papers.