A12 The BulleTin • Tuesday, april 20, 2021
© 2021 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 37, No. 20
Many students have read the
books Dragons Love Tacos and
Dragons Love Tacos 2: The
Sequel. Kindergarten students
at Strobridge Elementary in
Castro Valley, CA put together
a whole lot of questions for the
author Adam Rubin and they
loved these books so much,
they went on to read more of
Adam’s books.
A: I get this question a lot and I think some students are
under the impression that I actually physically produce
the books in my apartment … I only write the words.
I use Google docs (just like a lot of students I know).
After I’m finished writing, Dan draws the pictures and
then all the digital files are sent to a factory in China
where they print out the copies of the books for people
to buy. The front and back cover are hard because there
are thick pieces of cardboard hidden under the paper.
A: When I was a kid, my dad had a little statue on his desk that looked
like a dragon eating a taco. It made me think of the phrase “Dragons
Love Tacos” which stuck in my head until I was an adult and it
sounded like a good title for a picture book. I have the statue on my
writing desk now.
A: I wrote Dragons Love Tacos at my kitchen
table at night after work while I was working at
an advertising agency in Chicago. I had a day job and
wrote stories at night for the first seven years that I was
an author.
A: Dragons love tacos for the
same reasons I love tacos.
Tacos are delicious,
nutritious, fun to make
and easy to eat. There are
endless varieties. They are
the perfect food!
Dragons are known to breathe fire. The smoke is a warning
sign of the impending inferno. Kind of like a burp from
Uncle Morris.
I always liked writing stories, ever since I was a little kid.
When you’re a kid, people tell you what to do all the time:
what to eat, what to wear, when to go to
bed … But when you write a story,
you can do anything you want.
You can stay up ’til 4:00 in the
morning, you can eat a thousand
pizzas, you can fly to the moon on
a magical rhinoceros. That’s what I
love about writing. Anything you can
imagine, you can bring it to life in a
story.
Dragons have a special sensitivity to spicy
foods, just like my Uncle Morris. Luckily, I
have a stronger stomach and love to eat spicy
salsa. The spicier the better, in fact.
What a
Character
Select a character in
a comic strip. Write
three things that
describe how this
character looks.
Then write three
things about the
personality of this
character.
Standards Link: Writing
Applications: Students
write phrases that describe
concepts.
Two of these dragons
are different from all
the others. Can you
find them?
INTERVIEW
VARIETIES
DRAGONS
CHICAGO
INFERNO
AUTHOR
TACOS
STORY
WRITE
SEVEN
SMOKE
LOVE
FIRE
BOOK
FOOD
Children are born curious.
From their earliest days, sensory exploration
brings delight and wonder. New discoveries
expand their minds. When they unlock the
joy of reading, their world widens further.
Magic happens.
Kid Scoop opens the doors of discovery
for elementary school children by providing
interactive, engaging and relevant
age-appropriate materials designed to
awaken the magic of reading at school,
at home, and throughout their lives.
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C A D O O F D A A I
M H W R I T E U N R
U B I R A I N T E E
H B E C A S E H V K
S N O G A R D O E O
T S S O V G L R S M
O T O I K R O I E S
R S E I T E I R A V
Y W O N R E F N I S
Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognize identical
words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.
This week’s word:
PHYSICALLY
The adverb physically
means relating to the body
not the mind.
Painting the mural was
physically hard work.
Try to use the word
physically in a sentence
today when talking with your
friends and family members.
Headline Helpers
Select five headlines from the newspaper.
Then rewrite them by using synonyms for the
nouns and verbs. Synonyms are words that
means the same thing as another word (For
example, good = great, excellent, awesome).
ANSWER: Fire alarms!
Standards Link: Vocabulary: Use strategies of the writing process
to write a variety of sentences.
“I love to read
because…”
Explain why and what you
enjoy reading.