Eating out can help effort to clear minefield in Croatia

Local activists make the pitch to raise funds for worthy cause

By TERESA FALK
Tribune Staff Writer

Jan Mihelich and the South Bend Adopt-A-Minefield committee are raising money to clear a minefield in Croatia. Tribune Photo/GREG SWIERCZ How to help Send donations to the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign at the Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 7878, Notre Dame, IN 46556. Make checks payable to Eliminate the Land mines. Contributions are eligible for a tax deduction. Another way to help Eat at the Hacienda Mexican restaurant at 5836 Grape Road today or at Barnaby's restaurant at 713 E. Jefferson on Feb. 3. Hacienda will donate 20 percent of meal and drink costs to Eliminate the Land mines. And Barnaby's will donate 10 percent of all meal and drink costs served that day to Eliminate the Land mines. To donate by eating at Hacienda, a coupon is required. This can be found at Martin's Super Markets. To learn more, call (574) 232-3844 or (574) 273-5354. Or go online at www.landmines.org. Croatia land mine facts Total country area: 56,538 km Number of suspected mines: 400,000 Types of mines: 10 identifiable types of mines, including the Yugoslav-made MT-4, PMA-2 and PMA-3. Sources of mines: Land mines were deployed by Croat, Serb and Muslim forces during the former Yugoslavia conflict in the early 1990s. Location of mines: The most heavily mined areas are in eastern and western Slavonia and coastal areas north of Split. United Nations presence: A mine action center was established in 1996 to help develop a national demining capacity, to provide advice to the government and to maintain a database of land mines. The center activities have since been transferred to the Croatian Mine Action Centre. -- Source: Adopt-A-Minefield of the United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

After visiting Croatia and seeing firsthand the devastation that land mines can cause to innocent people, Jan Mihelich of South Bend decided to take action.

"I have been there, and it's the only place I've been with land mines, so I felt a connection," Mihelich said. "I've long been concerned about land mines."

Mihelich started a branch of the Adopt-A-Minefield organization in South Bend after seeing an advertisement for the national organization in a magazine. Mihelich is chairwoman of the nine-member committee.

"The ad told me there is something I can do," she said. "There's this little voice inside of you that says, 'I can help.' "

An estimated 26,000 innocent people are killed or injured every year in land mine explosions around the world, and a third of these are children, according to the Adopt-A-Minefield campaign.

"The land mines don't know that the war is over, so they detonate," Mihelich said. "We have to get rid of land mines so children can play and people can work in the fields."

These minefields have been placed during past wars in about 70 countries, including Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Croatia.

"When there's a war, one of the ways they fight is with land mines," Mihelich said.

Land mines come in various sizes and strengths. They explode when a person walks or a vehicle drives over them.

Each one only costs $3 to make but $300 to $1,000 to remove. The local Adopt-A-Minefield committee is hoping to raise at least $25,000 to clear one minefield in Croatia, Mihelich said. The community has responded generously since December, with about $3,000 raised so far.

A minefield in Croatia was chosen because the money donated to Croatia will be doubled by the International Trust Fund, Mihelich said.

The national Adopt-A-Minefield organization will decide which minefield will be cleared with the money. For instance, a minefield that sits between a village and its water supply desperately needs to be removed, Mihelich said.

Mihelich encourages the public to give because all money donated goes directly to the land mine clearing efforts in Croatia.

"Other causes are worthy, but for some, about 70 percent (of the donation) goes to overhead (costs)," she said. "For this, you know every penny you give goes to clearing land mines because we have a couple of 'angels' who are taking care of postage and other overhead.

"This is saving lives, so people are not blinded, injured or maimed."

Staff writer Teresa Falk:

tfalk@sbtinfo.com

Editor's Note:

Fact is that 99% of the landmines in Croatia have been planted by Serbs. Also, fact is that the UN has no charter or any kind of document in preparation, that I know, which will make people who planted the landmines, first give data of where they are, and second clear them on their expense. In this case government of Serbia and Montenegro, should as soon as possible give data, where the landmines are and secondly, but not after, PAY for the clearing the land. Is our government asking for it? Suing them in Hague etc...plus WAR REPARATIONS. It is evident that Croatian community around the world is getting together to clear our own homeland. Wonderful effort from Ms. Mihelich. We should get her address and thank her.

Nenad Bach

Editor in Chief

Ivica Celebrates Again

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia celebrates his third place in the FIS World Cup slalom in Wengen 18 January 2004. Benjamin Raich won ahead of second Rainer Schoenfelder both of Austria and third Ivica Kostelic of Croatia. AFP PHOTO MARKUS LEODOLTER(AFP/MARKUS LEODOLTER)

Karlovic wins in three-tiebreaker upset

Karlovic loss may have helped Hewitt

By Linda Pearce
January 20, 2004


Ivo Karlovic made his Australian Open debut yesterday, in the backblocks of court 13, with a three-tiebreaker upset of
21st seed Mardy Fish. Karlovic has ridden his whopping serve to No. 74 in the world, but remains, at least in these parts,
The Nobody Who Beat Lleyton Hewitt At Wimbledon.

And yet maybe, in a perverse way, the nobody did the somebody a favour, for last year's stunning first-round result at the
All England club may prove to be profound for both players involved. Karlovic, for the kick-start it provided for a career
in its infancy; Hewitt for the jolt it gave to his career that, right then, had stalled like never before.

"From the moment he lost that match at Wimbledon, I think he and Roger (Rasheed) have worked really well together and
Lleyton was really ready to play Davis Cup on both occasions after that," said Davis Cup coach Wally Masur. "I think that
he was perfectly prepared for those events and I think he's similarly prepared for this."

Ideally prepared, is the consensus - an opinion shared by Hewitt, who starts his eighth Australian Open today against
American qualifier Cecil Mamiit.

The 15th seed is understandably content with his unbeaten Perth-Sydney lead-in run, and has a 2-0 record against Mamiit,
the world No. 195.

"I just think he's got that nice combination of winning matches under his belt, but yet having had a good base of hard
work, like an off-season, which he just hasn't had the opportunities to do probably in the last two to three years," Masur
said. "Look, I don't want to get carried away, but he's fit, he's fresh, he's hitting the ball great, and he's just won a
tournament. Just sounds like a good mix, doesn't it?

"Lleyton had had an incredible two years; he just hadn't stopped. He had no off-season, he won the Masters two years
running, he was in Davis Cup finals for three years, he was just on such a merry-go-round, and it was almost like he
needed something to cause him to get off, and I think that came to a bit of a head there at Wimbledon.

"And it's a pretty gutsy move to say, 'I'm not playing the rest of the year, I'm focusing on this nd that, I'm going to
train, I'm going to prepare my game.'

"So you look at that Wimbledon loss, and now you look at where he is now, and it's the six months that he's put in that
has gotten him to this point. If I was Roger Rasheed I'd be pretty bloody happy with where Lleyton is right now."

The highest Australian seed, Mark Philippoussis, is also entering his home grand slam buoyed by the Davis Cup success
celebrated at Rod Laver Arena just seven weeks ago.

Tonight, the 2003 Wimbledon finalist meets 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, the Swede whose comeback from a
serious knee injury is still in its infancy.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/19/1074360696259.html


Defending champion Andre Agassi started his 2004 campaign convincingly with a facile win over Todd Larkham under the
lights on the Rod Laver Arena. Agassi, who has not lost a match in Mebourne since 1999, dominated against the local favourite.
The Las Vegan was into his stride almost immediately and cruised to the first set 6-1 in front of an engrossed Australian
crowd. Larkham battled back bravely in the next, but Agassi always looked as though he could go through the gears at any time and took the second set in just 34 minutes. 'Double A' was broken in the third as Larkham threatened a fightback, but was eventually put to bed as Agassi wrapped up the match 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.Earlier world number one Andy Roddick survived a tough first-round clash at the Australian Open - but for last year's finalist Rainer Schuettler it was another day to forget.

Roddick beat Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets but Schuettler, who has not won a match in 2004, surrendered a
two-set lead to Swedish teenager Robin Soderling, going down 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 in the Rod Laver Arena. Schuettler was the surprise finalist last year, beating Roddick in the semi-finals before losing to Andre Agassi, but has
been in poor form so far this season."I've had a pretty tough three weeks now. I started in Doha, Sydney and now here. I didn't win a match," said the sixth seed."Today I was two sets up and had break point at 5-5. I played the wrong shot. It's very disappointing of course."I had great memories from last year and there was a bit of pressure, but that is not the reason why I didn't win." Soderling will play Nicolas Escude in the second round after the Frenchman beat Hyung Taik-Lee 6-3 7-6 (7/5) 6-2.
Roddick had been wary of Gonzalez, one of the best unseeded players in the draw, and in the past there has been little to
choose between them.After two previous meetings their record stood at one win apiece, both in three tie-breaks.

On Monday, though, Roddick forced the upper hand in a tight encounter as Gonzalez became increasingly frustrated with some
crucial line-calls before going down 6-2 7-5 7-6 (7/4).

"I don't think it was a good draw for either one of us," said Roddick.

"I knew I had to play well. I got lucky there in the third set."

Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten was pushed the distance, but the Brazilian held on for a dramatic 5-7 6-0
6-1 2-6 8-6 victory over a resilient John van Lottum.

Kuerten, who has never been further than the second round at Melbourne Park, will play Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

Frenchman Arnaud Clement, seeded 30, also lost a two-set lead, going down to Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 4-6
1-6 2-6.

Of the other seeds, Vince Spadea (29) lost in four sets to Thomas Enqvist, Spain's Tommy Robredo (20) was beaten by
Argentine Gaston Gaudio 6-3 6-2 7-6 (8/6) and crowd favourite Younes El Aynaoui (18) was forced to retire.

His participation was always in doubt after he withdrew from the Commonwealth Bank International last week with a foot
injury that has caused him concern for some time.

The Moroccan was trailing Gala Blanco of Spain 4-1 when he retired.

American Taylor Dent (27) also benefited from a withdrawal when Fernando Verdasco pulled up when trailing 6-2 6-1 2-1.
Dent will meet Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round after the Argentinian overcame Irakli Labadze 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Carlos Moya, as was widely expected, pulled out of his first round match against James Blake with the ankle injury
suffered in the adidas International final against Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday.

"I tried to hit this morning. It was hurting a little bit. Then I came here, I got some treatment, tried again and then I
realised that it was not possible for me to play," he said.

"It has improved so much. Yesterday I couldn't even walk. Today I was running. I was still in pain and maybe one more day
it would have been perfect."

Thai sensation Paradorn Srichaphan (13) stormed into the second round with a 7-5 6-4 6-0 thumping of Jose Acasuso of
Argentina in 94 minutes while Sjeng Schalken (16) beat Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark 7-5 6-3 6-1.

American Robby Ginepri, the 32nd seed, beat Peruvian Luis Horna 7-5 6-3 6-3 and will play Australian 18-year-old Chris
Guccione, while American Mardy Fish (21) lost in three tie-breaks to Ivo Karlovic.

The Croatian will face veteran Todd Martin who came from two sets down to beat Frenchman Anthony Dupuis in a marathon
encounter 4-6 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/4) 6-3.

http://www.sportinglife.com/tennis/news/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=international_feed/04/01/19/manual_131229.html

Croatian Nick Šaban - Coach of the Year

Led LSU to NCAA Football Championship

Nick Saban was selected The Associated Press College
Football Coach of the Year on Thursday, December 11, 2003.
Saban completed a banner year by coaching LSU (Louisiana
State University) Tigers to 13-1 record and a Sugar Bowl
win 21-14 over Oklahoma Sooners to win a College Football
BCS "Bowl Championship Series" finale in New Orleans on
Sunday, January 4th 2004. And it was a rewarding win for
Saban. He makes $1.5 million, but a clause in his contract
said that if he won this game, he was guaranteed $1 more
than the highest-paid college coach — Oklahoma’s Bob
Stoops, at $2.3 million. Saban grew up in Monongah, West
Virginia and was All-State in football, basketball and
baseball graduating in 1969 from Monongah High School,
Marion County, West Virginia. His High School coach Earl
Keener said "I knew very early Nick was destined to very
far; he just had it over the other boys". Saban attended
Kent State on a football scholarship. Saban’s father Nick
owned a Gulf gas station. Grandfather Stanko (changed to
Stanley) Saban born in 1895 emigrated from Gospic, Lika,
Croatia in 1908 when he was only 13 with his younger
brother Steve and father (great-grandfather of football
coach). Brother Steve eventually settled in Portland,
Oregon where he had 10 children. They also had a relative
in Minnesota. Great-grandfather moved back to Croatia.
Stanko married Croatian American Anna Mihalic and they had
4 children (including Nick Sr., father of the coach).
Stanko worked at Carolina Coalmine in Carolina, West
Virginia. After 57 years he went back to visit Croatia in
1955. He died at the age of 76 in 1971.

Congratulations to Nick Saban (second generation Croatian
American) and his LSU Tigers on winning Sugar Bowl and
College Football 2004 BCS "Bowl Championship Series"
 

Croatian Troops in Iraq

A convoy of Japanese troops crosses the border from Kuwait into southern Iraq (news - web sites) Monday Jan. 19, 2004. An advance team of 35 Japanese made way to their new base in the southern Iraqi town of Samawa. Greeting them, in background, are troops form Croatia. (AP Photo/Nabeel al-Jurani)

ZABRANIMO KOLINJE !

PRIJATELJI ZIVOTINJA TRAZE ZABRANU OBICAJA KRVAVIH DVORISTA I
TRIHINELOZE

Udruga Prijatelji zivotinja smatraju da u Hrvatskoj kolinje treba
zabraniti, pozivajuci se pritom na Europsku Uniju koja je tu primitivnu
praksu vec odavno zabranila. Zbog stajalista Ministarstva poljoprivrede
i sumarstva da ce se taj obicaj nastojati ocuvati, Prijatelji zivotinja
poslali su na adrese diljem svijeta izvjestaj o situaciji u Hrvatskoj uz
kratak film koji prikazuje obicaj dvorisne zabave zvane kolinje.

vise: www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/kolinje

ZASTO VEGETARIJANSTVO?

U suradnji s FARM Sabina Fund (www.farmusa.org), Prijatelji zivotinja
nastavljaju projekt: ZASTO VEGETARIJANSTVO

Projekt, koji je zapoceo je 01. listopada na Svjetski dan
vegetarijanstva postavljanjem informativnog standa, informativnog panoa,
dijeljenjem = letaka i uzoraka veganske hrane, nastavio se projekcijama
filmova po srednjim skolama i fakultetima poput Fakulteta politickih
znanosti (05.studenog) i II ekonomske gimnazije (18. studenog i 05.
prosinca). Nakon projekcija uslijedile su vrlo zanimljive i rasprave o
vegetarijanstvu, te uzgoju, odnosno iskoristavanju zivotinja u mesnoj,
mlijecnoj i industriji jaja, laboratorijima te na farmama krzna.
vise: www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr

Vidovic Ana's Masterclass

Hello,

Just wanted to inform you about Ana's masterclass that will take place in Baltimore, MD next Summer 2004. If you are interested in attending it, please do contact Ana's booking agent at lubabooking@hotmail.com
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Luba Booking
lubabooking@hotmail.com

Related article:

OCISTIMO HRVATSKU OD MINA

Srebrenka Bogovic-Zeskoski, Toronto

Ocistimo Hrvatsku od mina je povik na akciju skoro svih kanadsko-hrvatskih udruga Juznog Ontarija u Kanadi. Predvidjena su dva banketa u tu korist: 7 veljace i 21 veljace 2004, u Croatia Banquet Hall-u koji moze primiti oko 600 ljudi, pa organizatori smatraju da ne bi trebao biti problem popuntiti obadva datuma iako su relativno blizu jedan drugome. Jedan banket organizira radio postaja "Zvuci Hrvatske" a drugi skupina od dvadesetak udruga, hrvatskih zupa i zavicajnih klubova. Sva cista dobit ide u korist rasciscavanje hrvatskog teritorija, jer dok nemozemo nogom krociti po svakom pedlju hrvatske zemlje, Hrvatska nije slobodna.

Synopsis of the text in English

There are going to be two banquets in the month of February in Toronto/Mississauga, Canada, on February 7th and 21st 2004. All the proceeds from both events will go towards de-mining projects inCroatia.

Veleuciliste za Razminiravanje
School of Higher Learning in de-mining

Srebrenka Bogovic-Zeskoski, Toronto

Krajem prosle godine (21 prosinca) udruga Knights of Malta, (ogranak Toronto) odrzala je svecani banket za nove clanove, a jedan od njih je bila, medju jos nekolicinom zasluznih Hrvata, Prof. Dr. Vjera Krstelj, iz Zagreba, koja osim svojih zaduzenja kao predavac na Sveucilistu u Zagrebu (Fakultet strojarstva i brodogradnje), je ujedno i jedan od glavnih osnovatelja novog, osebujnog, veleucilista u Velikoj Gorici (15 km od Zagreba).
Veleuciliste ima nekoliko smjerova: 1/ pirotehnologija (u koje je ukljuceno i raminiravanje, te rukovanje ekspozivima za potrebe gradjevinarstva i rudarstva), 2/ odrzavanje "strucnih" vozila, 3/ energetika i 4/ racunarstvo (computer science), svaki u trajanju od tri godine. Za upis studenata ce se bodovati odredjene ocjene (prirodne znanosti, matematika, fizika, kemija itd.), a umjesto klasicnog prijemnog ispita potencijalni studenti ce ici na intervju. Nazalost pohadjanje ovog, nadasve prijeko potrebnog veleucilista, koje, nakon uspjesno zadovoljenog skolovanja osposobljuje diplomante za rad na terenu, bez dodatne potrebe za praksom, nije besplatno. Po 6000 kuna ($800.00) placa se studij energetike, racunarstva i odrzavanja vozila. Za studij pirotehnologije polaznici ce po semestru izdvojati 10.000 kuna. ($1.500.00) U programu je, kako je istakla Prof. Dr. Vjera Krstelj, da se dio nastave omoguci na engleskom jeziku, a narocito obuka pirotehnologije odnosno razminiravanja. Namjera veleucilista je standardizirati predavanja na engleskom jeziku koja se odnose na tehnologiju razminiravanja i time privuci studente iz ostalih zemalja za koje su mine akutni problem. Standardiziranje bi omogucilo polaznicima da u relativno kratko vrijeme savladaju i teoriju i praksu i po povratku u svoje zemlje prenesu to znanje i na ostale. Tim potezom bi se uvelike smanjio trosak deaktiviranja po mini koji danas iznosi otprilike izmedju 600 – 1000 dolara. Republika Hrvatska i njeni znanstvenici, a posebice pokretac ove akcije Prof. Dr. Krstelj stvarno mogu biti ponosni sa tim konceptom koji doslovno ozivljava, u prenesenom smislu: "nauci gladnog loviti ribu, pa ce jesti svaki dan" Znaci osbosobiti "domorodce" da sami rijese uspjesno taj ogroman problem. Ako veleuciliste uspije, voljne institucije u svijetu, a napose Hrvatska, koja je ocito jedan od nosioc tog koncepta (nazalost silom prilika), omogucit ce svakoj, pa i najsiromasnijoj zemlji stvoriti dovoljno vlastitih resursa, sto ce uvelike smanjiti trosak razminiravanja i time ostvariti brzu realizaciju povratka zemlje u "funkciju". (Jedan od najakutnijih problema rasprostranjenosti mina je za ratare koji nemogu obradjivati svoja zemljista i time im se onemogucuje njihov opstanak, njihovih obitelji, ali cesto i cijelog sela ili kraja).
Nazalost studij razminiravanja na engleskom jeziku se naplacuje 24.000 kuna (3.500.00). Ta suma, s dovoljnim brojem polaznika bi pridonijela samo-odrzanju ustanove kao takve, medjutim, ne samo za hrvatske polaznike, vec i za mnoge iz nerazvijenih zemalja, a gdje je problem mina najveci, i ta suma postaje prepreka u sudjelovanju. (Ako se jos dodaju potrebe svakodnevnice kao sto su stan hrana itd. suma postaje znatno veca). U tu svrhu, Dr. Krstelj je odrzala svoje nadasve informativno predavanje potkrijepljeno statistickim podatcima i ilustracijama clanovima karitativne udruge Knights of Malta uz apel za financijsku pomoc ili direktno skoli ili u stipendiranju polaznika.Uz Knights of Malta, bilo bi dobro kada bi se i neke nase udruge, klubovi itd. u Sjevernoj Americi (SAD i Kanada) ukljucili u tu akciju i osnovali fond za stipendije koji bi se direktno dodijelio polaznicima, bez ikakvih posrednika, sto bi osiguralo da cijela suma ide samo u tu svrhu, bez gubitka na administraciju itd. Donacije bi mogle, uz domoljublje, donijeti donatorima i koristi, jer vecina drustava, kao i Knights of malta izdaju potvrde za
poreske olaksice. Zainteresirani, za dodatna pitanja obratite se izravno Dr. Prof. Vera Krstelj na
e-mail v.krstelj@fsb.hr

Synopsis of the text in English

School of Higher Learning in de-mining

In December a professor from the University of Zagreb (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval
Architecture) Dr. Vjera Krstelj has given a very informative talk on the subject for the Knights of Malta which has
also invested her as a honorary member.
Dr. Krstelj is one of the initiators of a unique School of Higher Learning in the town of Velika Gorica (near Zagreb)
in Croatia. The school, in addition to other curricula, has a three years course in de-mining. It is planned that
the course will be conducted in both Croatian and English language (with the tuition cost of $1,000.00 and $3,500.00 respectively). An attempt has been made to organize the instructions in such a way, that after the three years, the graduating students can immediately, not only be experts in removing mines, but can also instruct and prepare others for this, dangerous job. The latter concept is especially attractive for the developing countries, as they would by recruiting among their own population future de-mining experts, greatly reducing the present cost per mine.Since the tuition is not negligible, especially for the course in English, for both Croatians and foreign students (expected mostly from the developing countries), it is hoped, that the organizations, such as the Knights of Malta and many Croatian associations would create a fond which would in some way disburse the cost of either running the school and/or create a stipend for the students. For any additional information please contact directly Dr. Krstelj at v.krstelj@fsb.hr 

Croatian Children's books NEEDED

Can you suggest some good books on
Croatia, its folk life, folktales, kid novels, geographies, stories, et al,
published in English recently that could be included in a "For additional
reading" section for this book on Croatia.

Martin Hintz

martinhintz@wi.rr.com

Children's books, Croatia

Dear Nenad--

--Congratulations on creating a great resource for news and Croatian
cultural awareness! I really enjoy every issue and especially your
editorials.

I am forwarding to you (for CROWN) a request from Marting Hintz who is
compiling an encyclopedic resource including a section on Croatian
children's literature. He wants to add a section of suggested readings.
Perhaps someone on this distribution can help, by listing children's books
or Croatian fairy tales they read to their children, travel guides /
geography / popular history resources on Croatia in English (perhaps even
music), that would be appropriate for children & young adults. He wants to
get titles that are readily available in Canadian and American bookstore
chains. So, if anyone has any suggestions from what they used with their
children or shared with family & friends in North America, they can
forward a reference directly to Mr. Martin Hintz. He will be very grateful
and it is also important to present Croatia correctly and in the best
light in this published encyclopedic work that will disseminate
information about Croatian children's literature.

Hopefully, this will be possible to distribute to the readership CROWN
list. If it is not, I will look for other ways to help him out. Thanks,
again.

Best,
Marija
dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Children's books, Croatia
From: "Mart Hintz" < martinhintz@wi.rr.com  >
Date: Fri, January 9, 2004 1:41 pm
To: dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ms. Dalbello - another question - can you suggest some good books on
Croatia, its folklife, folktales, kid novels, geographies, stories, et al,
published in English recently that could be included in a "For additional
reading" section for this book on Croatia.

I'd need the usual bibliographic info (author, title, place of publishing,
publisher, date of publishing, pages).

They should be age-specific - aimed at 9-13 year olds (middle school).
Each should also be readily available to get in US and Canadian bookstores
or libraries, as well.

Thanks for any tips.

Martin Hintz
--

Marija Dalbello
Assistant Professor
Department of Library and Information Science
School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1071
Voice: 732.932.7500 / 8215
Internet: dalbello@scils.rutgers.edu 
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~dalbello