Joanna Cole, born on August 11, 1944 in Newark, New Jersey, has been credited to be one of the most popular children's authors of all time. She has written over 250 books and is famous for writing one of the most popular children's book series. She knew as early as 5th grade that she was interested in writing and science. Cole has owed a large part of her passion to one of her elementary school teachers.

    Joanna Cole continued her education by attending the University of Massachusetts and Indiana. She would eventually earn a bachelor's degree in psychology from the City College of New York in 1967; after graduation Cole decided to take some education courses to become a librarian at a Brooklyn elementary school in 1967. Eventually, she would take jobs working for Newsweek, Seesaw book club.

    Cole's passion for writing and science was still alive and well during this time. In 197l she decided to write her first book, Cockroaches. She did some research and discovered there had never been a book written for children about cockroaches. So she thought she would be the first.

    Cole struck gold when she wrote the first Magic School Bus in 1985. The book would go on to be published the following year and quickly became book series and cartoon series due to its success.

    Cole continued to write both non-fiction and fiction books for children. She writes in a way that will hopefully inspire children to think like a scientist. She does this by writing ideas instead of just facts. She also tries to ask questions in her books that require children to think and discover the answers as they read. This creates an engaging experience for children, so it is no wonder why younger readers are hooked on her books.

    Are you looking for something to do? You might like to try one of these four experiences.

    Crocodile watching

    Do you fancy getting up close to some of the most terrifying animals on earth? Crocosaurus Cove, in Darwin (Australia) has the “Cage of Death”. It's an enclosure that's lowered into a pool. This gives you a 360 degree view of a crocodile as it's being fed. The cable broke once and the cage sank to the bottom, but they've fixed it since then.

    Edge walk

    How about walking along the edge of a building several hundred meters up in the air? If that sounds like fun, head off to the CN Tower in Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Built in 1976, the tower is 553.33 meters tall.

    The Edge walk consists of a 20-30 minute stroll along a 1.5 meter wide platform that runs around the tower's restaurant roof. During the walk, you're encouraged to lean forwards as you look over Toronto's skyline (轮廓线).

    Plastic ball rolling

    Do you fancy rolling down a hill in a plastic ball?

    Plastic ball rolling is popular all over the world, but the place to give it a go is in Rotorua (New Zealand). Brother David and Andrew Akers came up with the idea in 1994. A typical orb(球) is about 3 meters in diameter, with an inner orb size of about 2 meters. There's no brake or steering mechanism, but the inner layer of the plastic ball helps absorb the shock.

    Volcano bungee jumping

    If you're looking for the adventure of a lifetime, how about going bungee jumping off a helicopter into the crater of a live volcano? As part of the jumping, a helicopter ride takes you to the Villarreal volcano, one of the most active in Chile. Once you're at the drop zone, you leap off the helicopter and fall into the volcano. Finally, you enjoy the ride back to the airport flying at 130kph.

    Attracted by the above? If so, please contact us. Only half price from March 22 to April 25th For more information, please click here.

    Living next to the Spellmans, our new neighbors, almost drove my mother crazy. If shewasn't shaming them for not attending church, or complaining to her sister Jackie about theway the Spellman girls dressed, then she was shoeing the Spellman's dogs out of our yard or filing noise complaints with the police, My mother had never been so busy.All she ever spoke of any more were the Spellmans and their wrongdoings.

    One Sunday afternoon after church service, my mother was driving old Ms Parker home to her house on the hill when we got a flat tire. As far as changing the tire, let's just say that we were at the mercy of the good Lord. Since old Ms. Parker lived so far up that hill, not a lot of traffic drove by us. It had been about fifteen minutes since the last car passed when we heard the rattling and puttering of an old pickup truck as it pulled over to assist us.

    The Spellman boys ran up on our car like a NASCAR pit crew. Before my mother could even protest, they had taken the tire off. "Her spare is flat," said the middle one to the big one. " Give her ours” replied the big one, barely acknowledging the sacrifice. My mother was stunned. "I don, t know what to say, "she stammered. The big one said, "Well, the Lord said love your neighbor, and we are neighbors, right?

    The next day when the Spellman's dogs went through my mother's flower garden, she put out a bowl of water for them. When she saw the Spellman girls walking out with nothing but a halter on, she lectured them about being upright ladies and offered them sweaters. And when she heard the Spellman's music through our walls, she tried to dance a little bit. She even invited the Spellmans to be part of the good neighbors committee. Now the neighborhood was a better place.

    There are campus museums all over China that offer various collections and make for eye-opening visits.

    Beijing Air and Space Museum at Beihang University

    Admission: free

    Opening hours: Tuesday and Saturday, 9:00 am -12:00 pm

    Highlights: Included among the more than 300 historic aircraft and space artifacts are one of the two Northrop P - 61 Black Widows in the world and China's first light airliner, Beijing 1.

    Fudan University Museum

    Admission: free

    Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 9:00 am - 11:30 am and 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Highlights: A unique collection of native artifacts from the Gaoshan aborigines in Taiwan. Some of them, such as pearl vests, are rarely seen even in Taiwan.

    China Ichthyic Culture Museum at Shanghai Ocean University

    Admission: 10 yuan

    Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9:00 am - 11:30 am and 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm

    Highlights: In this collection of more than 40,000 specimens of about 3,000 ocean-dwelling species, the most eye-catching one is an 18. 4-meter-long sperm whale skeleton.

    Yifu Museum of China University of Geosciences

    Admission: 40 yuan; half price for students

    Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am - 12:00 pm and 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm; weekends and holidays, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm

    Highlights: It houses a collection of more than 30,000 mineral and rock specimens, more than 2,000 of which are rare ones like the museum's well-known dinosaur fossils.

    China Academy Museum at Hunan University

    Admission: 50 yuan

    Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 8: 00 am - 6: 30 pm in summer and 8: 30 am - 6:00 pm in winter

    Highlights: China's only museum to feature the history of academies and cultural education in the country.

    It doesn't matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That's what all doctors thought, until they heard about AI Herpin. AI Herpin, it was said, never slept, Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

    AI Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping, In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

    The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

    Herpin died at the age of 94.

I've had many opportunities to experience living in a foreign culture, but my first experience came in an unexpected place—my own country. When I was 20, I got an internship (实习职位) in New York City. It was my first time to 1 outside of my home state of Texas.

With my move north came culture 2 . I grew up in a big city in Texas. But it was no comparison to the tightly 3 New York with their 8 million citizens. I was used to life at a 4 pace; New York moved fast. The saying is true—this city never 5 . I had to adjust.

My first reaction was fear. Fear I would 6 at my new internship in the 54-storey office building. Fear of getting lost on the subway. Fear that the locals wouldn't have 7 for my frequent moments of confusion. My 8 ranged from reasonable to silly. But I 9 my fears and kept trying.

I learned quickly never to 10 a New Yorker always speaks English. New York is home to people of all walks of life, from all corners of the world. At weekends, I would spend hours 11 along Canal Street in Chinatown—the closest I'd ever been to an 12 country.

By the end of my internship, I was a little older, a little wiser and sick of big city life. I 13 the skyscrapers, tourists and the high price I had to pay for a cheeseburger and fries. But I had 14 , too. I was quicker, smarter and more independent. I knew I would miss that feeling of having the world right at my doorstep. But it was good 15 for the life of travel I'd soon begin.