I read a lot of newspapers for my job, but the one I liked best is called The Family News. Its editor is Heather Cook of Lisle, Illinois. She is only 12years old. Heather thinks all her relatives should keep up with what everyone else in the family is doing. So every few months, she prepares The Family News and after her mother has made 50copies, Heather mails them out. They are received by 73 people in 9states, who range in age from 4 to 94. Because of the paper, Heather's family is joined together in a way that most families are not.
The reason I like The Family News so much is its happy stories. Most other papers depressed me with stories about cruelty of mankind. But The Family News never fails to bring a smile to my face. Here are a few of its items:
"Keven is in first place in his conference in golf. He is glad!"
"Math got his second tooth. He crawls around the floor to get where he wants to go."
"Grandma, Heather and Keven cleaned up the yard and burned the leaves in the back yard. It smoked so much that there was smoke all the way up the street."
"Steve got a new car. It is dark blue."
"Heather started putting out The Family News when she was seven." said her mother, Jeanne. "I didn't expect it to last. But obviously it means a lot to her, and to everyone in our family. It is a kind of collection. My brother—in—law Tom gave money to buy stamps to send it out. And my uncle Frank, who never wrote to everyone, sent Heather a letter asking her to keep the paper going because it was the most important news he got."
Heather doesn't look on her job as a hard work. "It's fun," she says. "Whenever I can, I call people up to see what's new. Then I put it in the next issue. The best thing is hearing how much it means to my family. I plan on doing this until I get really old — at least 18!"
