r Planner

oyes organizing and
vats for charity.

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

prepared by Andrew's grand-
mothers and aunts, and prizes
like games and finger paints.
Andrew used money he re-
ceived at Chanukah and on
his birthday to pay the start-
up costs of the carnival, which
raised $19.
Today, reviewing a photo
album that chronicles the
event, Andrew points to a
picture showing Adam and
Michael, exhausted but sat-
isfied, after the big day.
"Here are my best workers,"
he says.
Subsequent carnivals
were held in the family's
back yard or in the basement;
Andrew hosts two a year. He
raised $10 for the Pontiac Res-
cue Mission, which helps the
homeless, and $25 for the Jew-
ish Community Center's Send
A Kid to Camp.

Andrew Landau

orget the detective stuff. Forget
the Indianapolis 500. Forget
about being a doctor and yes,
even forget about becoming the
next Babe Ruth.
Andrew Landau wants to be
a party planner when he grows
up.
He already has the experi-
ence. A third-grade student at
Doherty Elementary in West
Bloomfield, Andrew, 8, just suc-
cessfully completed a carnival
that raised $40 for tzedakah.
It all began with art.
"I started out drawing pic-
tures, like of lions and stuff,
that cost a penny each," he says.
Exhibited in the family base-
ment, the drawings sold "most-
ly to my mom's friends."
But as Andrew matured and
developed — "when I was about

6 or 7" — he moved on to more
sophisticated projects, like or-
ganizing in his basement a mu-
seum of Legos (open free to the
public) and setting up a plaster
playhouse for his younger
brother's birthday party. Ryan's
friends happily painted and af-
fixed all kinds of glitter and
feathers to miniature plaster
houses and magnets and pins,
he explains.
Andrew made his move into
the big time with Funland, his
first carnival. His "assistant
managers" were his cousin
Adam Leeb and his best friend,
Michael Jurewicz.
Also held in the Landau fam-
ily basement, Funland featured
such games as the famed fish
pond and catch a duck. There
was a snack bar, with treats

"I started out
drawing pictures,
like of lions and
stuff, that cost a
penny each."

Andrew Landau

But his biggest success was
last month's carnival, at which
Andrew earned $40 he'll donate
to the Child Abuse and Neglect
Council of Oakland County.
Held on the grounds of a nurs-
ery school, the event attracted
100 children and parents.
Andrew says it takes him
several months to plan each

carnival. He does virtually
everything himself, from send-
ing out the invitations to se-
lecting the games to making
decorations. (He does, howev-
er, accept post-carnival clean-
up help from his parents.)
The master's workshop is lo-
cated, of course, in the family
basement. Only the privileged
may enter.
"This side of the basement is
mine," Andrew says, heading
to the right. "I don't let anybody
in here. Not even my brother."
Sectioned off by sheets on a
clothesline, Andrew's "office"
was constructed by his father,
Mark. It is filled with leftover
carnival games and toys and
boxes and cabinets to help him
get organized. It's Andrew's fa-
vorite place to come after school
or whenever he has a free mo-
ment.
Andrew, who belongs to
Temple Shir Shalom, says he
also likes collecting baseball
cards. And he enjoys art and
math in school. But his favorite
hobby is getting ready for those
carnivals.
"Every day, he asks me,
`What should I do for my next
carnival?' " says his mother,
Debbie. "All he wants to do is
art projects and plan. Even
when he was 11 months olcL he
was very organized." (Brother
Ryan, meanwhile, is sticking
his hands in the matzah balls
Mrs. Landau is fixing for din-
ner. The two boys are quite dif-
ferent, she says.)
"Sometimes, Andrew will be
in his room for an hour, and
ask him, 'What are you doing
in there?' " Mrs. Landau says.
"He just tells me, 'I'm plan-
ning.' "

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