We don't have room to keep every old issue on here (GeoCities gives you a lot of space but Matthew's jokes take up a lot of it). So here is what was in each one, plus our FAVORITE thing from each issue, picked by all three editors. We voted. It was 2 to 1 every time and it was a different person losing every time, so that's fair.

<< Back to Issue #4 (the newest one!)

Issue #1 ~ June 1999
In it: Welcome to the Gazette! / How We Got Started / Matthew's Joke Corner (the first one) / Book Review: Frindle / Pet of the Month: Jordan's dog Rusty / A poem by Rachael about the creek

OUR FAVORITE: Why We Are Called the Lightning Bug Gazette
by Rachael, 10, Missouri

On the first night of summer vacation, Jordan slept over at my house and we caught lightning bugs in the backyard in a peanut butter jar with holes in the lid. We caught 23. Then we sat on the back steps and watched them blink in the jar and it was like having a little night light that was alive.

Jordan said it was sad that they were stuck in there. I said it was sad too. So we let them go, and they flew up all at once and went blinking off over the fence, every one in a different direction, like they all had somewhere to tell somebody something.

That's when we decided to make an e-zine. Because a lightning bug is little but you can see it from really far away. And so is a kid on the Internet.

Matthew came up with the word Gazette. He says it means newspaper. He looked it up.

Issue #2 ~ July 1999
In it: The Fourth of July Issue! / Movie Review: Tarzan / Matthew's Joke Corner / "My Grandpa's Garden" by Denise, 8, Iowa / Pet of the Month: a goldfish named Captain / Our first reader poems

OUR FAVORITE: Fireworks
a poem by Luis, 9, Texas

(We liked how it says the gold pieces never land. Jordan said it gave her goosebumps and it was 90 degrees out.)

Issue #3 ~ August 1999
In it: The Vacation Issue! / "The Day I Lost My Tooth at the Lake" by Damien, 7, Illinois / Book Review: Sideways Stories From Wayside School / Matthew's Top 10 / Pet of the Month: a hermit crab named Shelly / Rachael and Jordan's summer reading list

OUR FAVORITE: Top 10 Ways to Survive a Long Car Trip
by Matthew, 11, Joke Editor

I wrote this in the back seat on the way to my aunt's house. It is 9 hours. I know what I'm talking about.

10. Count cows. Whoever sees a white horse first wins all the cows.
9. Do not drink a whole Big Gulp in the first hour. Trust me.
8. Bring a book, but not one that makes you carsick. Comic books make you carsick. I don't know why.
7. Play the license plate game. We got 31 states. Nobody ever sees Hawaii.
6. Ask "are we there yet" only one time per state.
5. If your little brother is touching your side of the seat, draw a line. If he goes over the line, tell your mom. If your mom says "I don't want to hear it," you're on your own.
4. Bring a pillow. Not to sleep. To build a wall.
3. Make up new words to songs on the radio. (Don't do it on Dad's oldies station, he doesn't think it's funny.)
2. Look out the window. Sometimes there is a really big thing like a giant cow statue or a huge cross or a field of only sunflowers.
1. Remember that you will get there eventually. That's what my mom says. She said it 14 times.