The last time I posted on the book, The Tender Years, I had given you the full story of Victoria's life with Jenny and their love interest, Jamison Curtis. Actually in this story, there were two main plot lines going on at the same time. When Victoria wasn't worrying about Jenny, annoyed about her parents, or talking with Jamison, she was thinking about Rett Marshall. Rett was a man who never really talked much, spent his days roaming the woods, and only cared about injured animals. When the raft tipped over that night with Victoria's friends on it, he was the first to arrive to help the kids out. He stayed in that freezing water so long, but he refused to stop looking for the last boy. When He finally did find him, Rett took him to town where the doctors tried to save him, all to no avail. After the boy died, his family and the rest of the gullible members in town tried to blame Rett that he must have tipped the raft over. They even went as far as framing him for a theft crime he didn't commit. In the end however, the person who really framed him came out and announced Rett innocence at he trial, and all ended well.

I really liked this side of the plot because it gave me a break from Victoria and her problems and let me focus on another big picture at hand. I thought, along with Victoria, that Rett was simply not capable of doing the things he was accused of. He was not that type at all if you really knew who the man was. However, he was not the kind of man to stand up for himself. He just sat there at his trial and said nothing. Maybe unspoken words are sometimes the best said...

I was so glad that in the end, Rett was able to be free to roam again, helping all the animals in his path along the way. I just hope that no one will ever take advantage of Rett Marshall again. For now, I know I will follow Jannete Oke further in her series.

Perfect Match

I read Perfect Match. by Jodi Picoult.
its about a young boy whos sexually abused by a priest. What happens is that everyone falsely accuses a priest of doing it, when it was actually a visiting priest. The real molester had a bone marrow transplant from the falsely accused priests, show they shared DNA.
The mother of the boy, who's a DA, actually ended up killing the falsely accused priest. The jury couldnt reach a verdict so she wasnt charged with murder, just manslaughter, but her sentence was suspended.

Week 7: The Secret Life of Bees

When I last posted about the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I explained how Lily Owen's mother died. Lily, the main character, is now a 14 year old girl who lost her mother due to a tragic accident. She lives with her ever so cruel father, T-Ray, and Rosaleen, a black worker in T-Ray's orchard. As you know, the story was set in a time of racial discrimination. One day, Rosaleen comes into Lily's room and tells her to tell her father that she wouldn't be coming to the house tomorrow morning because she's going to her church to register to vote for the fourth of July. Lily, with it being her birthday tomorrow, wants to get out of the house, so she asks Rosaleen if she could accompany her. Rosaleen agrees and comes early in the morning to pick her up. They had to walk all the way to town. Because it was so hot outside, they stopped inside the church that T-Ray and Lily go to to rest. The deacon there is racist and doesn't welcome Rosaleen with much heart. They left the church after a while and finally got to Sylvan, which is the worst part of town. They walked past, or tried to anyways, a small group of men who started saying things like "Where're you going to nigger?" Lily, attempting to get Rosaleen to not turn around failed and Rosaleen couldn't help but wave the fact that she was going to get registered to vote in there faces. The men kept on throwing slanderous things and words at Rosaleen, so she spit on their shoes. The men called the police on her and she was arrested for assault, theft, and distubing the peace.

Week 7- The Tender Years

Since I have last blogged, I have finished the book, The Tender Years.I can't exactly blog about it all at once, beings that so many main things have happened in the plot. As the story goes on, Virginia wrestles with herself whether she should be the Christian and help and pray for Jenny to turn her toward her faith, or the firm friend who stands her ground and doesn't take Jenny's harsh ultimatums. As she decides which side of the fence she should be on, her family, church, and other friends are aiding her in staying on the side with God. One such friend doing this is Jamison Curtis, who is the boy Jenny is infatuated with. Even after all of the help Virginia had given Jenny, she still grew angry when Virginia so much as spoke to Jamison. She thought that Virginia shouldn't have any business with him, for she had her eyes on him from the very beginning she had started to go to church, Jamison being the only reason she went to church or Youth Group at all. After all of the flirting and extra time Jenny put into her appearance, Virginia had enought and decided that she didn't care that Jenny saw Jamison in that way first. She put her foot down, just like I hoped she would.

This story to me was ultimately very entertaining. I loved the spin to the melodramatics of today's teens. I liked how the time was set back into the approximate 20's or so, making the experiences they took part in much different, like dating, or courting, for example. Everything had to be approved by parents and there was only certain ways it could be deemed appropriate. In the topic of dating, I thoughbt it was funny to see Virginia's changing feelings toward Jamison and how she thought she was wrong for having the feelings. She almost seemed confused, making it all the more funny. Another thing-slightly off topic- I really liked was how the Simpson family always made sure that everyone was always included and felt like they were needed and were important as the next kid. The way Virginia developed as a person to actually see that they cared just as much about her as Clara was very interesting, for I knew the family did all along. There are many more details of this book, but I will be sure to touch on them in the upcoming blog. Stay tuned!

The story starts at an outdoor wedding. Orrin is going to be marrying Mary Tripp. While the wedding is going on Higginses walks up the road towards the wedding with a gun in hand. Orrin does nothing about it because he is caring more about marring the beautiful young lady in front of him. One of Orrin’s brothers meets Higginses on the road and tells him to stop but Higginses doesn’t stop. Orrin pulls his gun and tells him to stop but he didn’t so Orrin finally shot him. People started screaming and running for their lives. When Tye go home his mom asked him what had happened. Tye told her and she said that he should take the old hoarse and head west. He left with specific instructions to find a place to settle down and send for the rest of the family. On the way he spots a cattle drive and he approaches them and asks if they need any more ranch hands. The ranch hand in charge said yes and one of the other ranch hands thought that he was going to shot Tye but Orrin showed up behind Tye and told the hand to try it. On the drive the other ranch hands get to know Tye and Orrin and began to like them for who they are. On one part of the trail some men road up to Tye and said we are going to be splitting your heard. Tye pulled his gun told them his name and they went around and left them alone for the rest of the day. The foramen asked Tye what went on and Tye said they were going to split the heard but I told them my name and they left. After that the foramen had a lot of respect for Tye and his brother. They would save them a lot of trouble. That’s all that I have read so far and from what I have read this is a very good book. I would recommend it for anybody that likes to read.

Week 7

I am still reading Tangerine by Edward Bloor. At Paul's school, it was raining normally. Suddenly a big sinkhole appeared under most of the school. Paul now gets to go to go to Tangerine Middle school. He is really happy because he has a chance of being on the soccor team. He finds out that the team is made up of boys and girls and that the school is filled with rough people. He is really happy in the end, though, when he becomes the backup goalie. The team Paul is now on wins all of it's games and is a really good team. He is a little surprised though, that his parents never come to his soccor games. They always go to his brother's football games.

I think this story is a pretty good story. I was expecting Paul to be the main goalie though, instead of the backup when he moved. I also was expecting Tangerine Middle School to be a better school, not a trashier school. I wonder how jelouse Paul is that his parents don't support him as much as his brother. I think that he is just happy to have friends for once and to be on a soccor team. I think Paul actually likes the trashier school than his old one. He is kind of accepted with the soccor people and that is all that Paul wanted.

Always Watching

   I read a new book called Always Watching by Brandylin and Amberley Collins. This book was about a girl whose mother was a famous singer, and they were always on the road. One night at a concert the main character, Shaley, is backstage with her mom’s hairdresser. They are talking and having a good time when he leaves to go get something. Shaley ends up waiting for him to come back for an hour so she decides to go find him. When she walks into one of the offices she finds him dead on the floor with a bullet hole in his eye. Everyone gets questioned about it and Shaley has to go pick up her friend Brittany from the airport. They talk about what happened and they go stay in the hotel.

   The next day they go shopping and the paparazzi finds them and they have to leave. Someone slips a picture into Shaley’s bag and it scares her. The next day, Brittany’s mom makes her come home so Shaley is alone with the band. She goes to bed and wakes up to hear gunshots. She runs out in the hallway and finds her bodyguard dead. She suspects that her other bodyguard is the one doing the killing so she runs when she hears him coming. He tries to call to her to get her to stop but she just keeps running down the stairs. When she gets to one of the lower levels, her bus driver shows up in an elevator and tells her to come with him. They go down into the basement and he pulls a gun on her. She realizes with horror that he’s the killer and tries to escape. Her bodyguard is on the other side of the door and she kicks her bus driver, barely making it out on time.

   The story ends with the bus driver being arrested and her mother decides to devote more time to her and not to her performances.

I have started reading The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan who won the Mark Twain award for two of his Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, along with other awards for some other series he has. I was so excited to get this book because Riordan is my favorite author and I adore his Percy Jackson story. I got this book only last night but I’m already on page 447 (and reading while I type this, only 66 more pages to go!)
To completely understand all that’s happening in the book I think you’d have to read the six books that lead up to it but I’ll try my best to explain. Percy Jackson has been sent to the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood, by Juno (Hera). He befriends two kids, Hazel and Frank, who both seem to be outcasts but have dark secrets and big destinies lying in wait for them. After a successful war game a quest is called and the three friends are sent to Alaska, the land beyond the power of the gods. There they have to defeat an evil giant who cannot be killed and free Death.
Like all of the previous Percy Jackson books, The Son of Neptune is filled with the same addicting mix of humor and action. I found myself unable to separate my mind from the book, which hopefully my teachers didn’t notice too much. I can’t wait to finish this so that I can return my attention to my book. Then again once I’m done with it I’ll be sad because the Mark of Athena doesn’t come out until the fall, which means I’ll have to wait the rest of the school year and the summer to continue the adventure. I strongly recommend reading this series, especially if you find mythology difficult. As unlikely as it seems it really helps you remember things about the gods and other mythical creatures. It helped me remember some things for my history test on Rome. That’s more then three hundred words so I’m going back to my story now.

week 7

Tyler has to bring Bethany a get well cake for “hurting” her foot. When he gets to her house, they started off with just talking, and then they started feeding each other cake, finally when Bethany had to go upstairs, Tyler gratefully carried her up the stairs. This reminds me of the relationship between me and my best friend. Back in 7th grade he used to annoy the heck out of me, but as the year went on I started getting more used to him…even though I didn’t really have a choice since he was in almost every class I was in. Then at the beginning of 8th grade we were good acquaintances, as the year went on though we started to become friends. I even asked him to dance with me at a dance and he did. In the summer of 8th grade we were both in the same swimming class, we started to do things together, in the same summer he asked me to time one of his Marlin meets (swim meets), which is where I met his parents, in 9th grade I asked him to snoball, I was afraid of what his answer would be because I knew that he didn’t like dancing but surprisingly he said yes. Towards the end of 9th grade we were like best friends, we could trust each other with anything, now that 10th grade has started, he always asks me to come to his house after school, I think I go to his house at least twice a week and now he wants me to become student manager for the swim team, I don’t know if I’m going to or not though since I’ll be gone enough just with band alone, and I kind of want to try the pit orchestra, but I have a while to decide yet.

I finished my book the yesterday. The book that I was reading had a good ending so that is good. In the book I read “On the far side of the Mountain” it was interesting and I noticed a lot of things. I noticed that Sam had to go a long way to find his sister Alice. I also noticed that he showed a lot of emotion in the end of the book either it was sadness, worriedness, or happiness he went through some rough times in this book. I noticed that he began to forget about Frightful his bird that was taken from him. I noticed that Sam had a lot of things on his mind which made him nervous at some points in the story. I noticed that Alice was playing a game with Sam and did not run away she just made it seem like did. I also noticed that the guy that took Frightful wasn’t really a conservation officer, but a man just trying to sell her to make some money.
This book reminded me of a lot things. Ii reminded me of one time when my sister got lost in the Wal-Mart and we didn’t know where she was and of how worried I was about her. It also reminds me of going camping and it also reminds me of going hiking. This story also reminds me of going hunting and fishing. This story reminds me of building things with less resources then a person usually would use to build a certain item.
I had felt a lot of different things towards the end of this book. Things that I felt were the worriedness that Sam felt when he was looking for Alice. I also felt the sadness of losing Frightful and also the sadness of the thought that he might not be able to live without her. I felt the nervousness that Sam felt when out that the people that took Frightful from him were close by where Alice was.
I really have only one question for this book that I a reading and the question I have is from the end of the book and when Sam says to his friend Bando “I want to become a falconer to train and raise falcons.” Will Sam become a falconer? (385 words)

Tweak- Nic Sheff

I finished reading Lucky, and over the weekend I read Tweak by Nic Sheff.
The story is a memoir of his life.
Its starts out by telling you about his life at a young age, when he started with the drugs.
He was about eleven, and he got drunk for the first time with a friend. After that, he started smoking weed. Everyday. He tells you how he smoked before school, during. after, all the time. Then, he occassionally started tripping acid and mushrooms on weekends. He started dating a girl named Lauren his senior year. They always did drugs together, and he was embarrassed to bring her home to his parents and didnt want people to know he was dating her. They broke up and he later heard that she was in rehab. Nic was sober for 18 months, he had a car, money and house again. He worked at a rehab facillaty.  He ended up running into Lauren again and they started hanging out again, sneaking around between their houses.
Nic met Zelda. She was a rich older woman, and they started hanging out. She was engaged, and slept around with Nic and they did drugs together. Thats when Nic started doing cocaine. Nic became very emotionally attached to her, and things between them ended. Thats when he met Akria. Akria offered him his first line of meth, and Nic took it. Right away he was addicted, like meth was what he was missing his whole life. Nic went crazy to get that high again. But everytime he did it it was never the same. He dropped out of college and his parents kicked him out. He would break into their house and steal money and his dads checks to pay for meth. He got a job at a coffee shop but stole hundreds of dollars, and ending up getting a possesion charge. He spent three years going in and out of rehab too. He mets a boy named Destiny on the street and they become friends. Nic buys him a beer and Destiny agrees to introduce him to a friend of his who sells speed. Nic starts smoking alot too at this time. He leaves Nic on the street to go talk to someone and thats when Lauren sees him. Thats when they start hanging out again and he gets into drugs again. Laurens parents go out of town and he stays there with her. Its a really good book and I recommend it completely!

Consumed

I'm reading a new book called Consume. It's about this girl who is trying to fight off evil spirits. The book is a little confusing because it doesn't start out like a normal book would. It starts out with someone hurting the girl in a nightmare and then she wakes up and says to herself that whoever was hurting her in the dream can't hurt her anymore. So it's kind of confusing to me and don't really make sense because I wanna know who hurt her but I guess I haven't gotten far enough in to the book yet to know who hurt her and even learn what her name is. So anyways the girl in my book is haunted by evil spirits that shes trying to fight but they won't leave here alone. They keep coming back and haunting her so she is staying at her grandmothers house for the time being. That's how far I've got in to the book.

Vision in white

Catalyst

I am nearly done with Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson. What has happened so far is that Teri Litch’s younger brother was killed by an electrocute accident when no one was watching him. The accident happened when they were at the Litch’s new house that was being built. Someone left wires out of the plug and Mikey was playing with them. When everyone discovered him, Teri kept saying “my boy” or “my son”. So Mikey wasn’t Teri’s brother, but he was her son. When he was killed, it was so surprising and I didn’t think that it would’ve happened that way. After Mikey died, Teri spent the next couple of nights sleeping right in the place where he died.
Something else that I remember most from the novel was when Kate won’t accept the fact that MIT declined her and didn’t accept her into their school. She called and pretended she was her mother (who is actually dead), and asked why she wasn’t accepted. The college said that she lacked something special that made her different from everyone else.
I think that there is a huge story about Teri that the author hasn’t told yet. I think Teri had a baby when she was young and no one even knew about it. Kate finally realized that Mikey was Teri’s son after he has passed away.
There is something else about Kate that I can’t figure out. I don’t understand why she needs to be an overachiever so badly. She wants to go to MIT all because her mother did when she went to college. I think that Kate wants to feel closer to her mom, so that’s why she had her heart set on MIT. After she has been rejected, she doesn’t give up on hope of trying to getting reaccepted. Finally, towards the end of the chapter, I think she finally accepts the fact that she has to apply some where else.

Speak

I am on page 67 of the book Speak and currently what has happend is that Heather has joined this group of girls in school called The Marthas. It's a very expensive clan to run with; outfits must be coordinated, fresh, and appropriate for the season. They love wearing plaid in the fall with matching sweaters. Melinda thinks that Heather should push the fashion envelope just a teeny bit to something of the 1950's. The Marthas clan consists of, Meg, Emily, and Siobhan. They follow the rules to much. Heathers first project for the Marthas is to decorate the lounge. Heather asks Melinda for her help but Melinda doesn't want to because she thinks it's completely stupied. That's where i stopped.

Speak

The book that I'm reading is called Speak.It's about a girl named Melinda who is in the 9th grade. No one likes Melinda because she called the cops on a party and they stopped it. So now no one talks to her but this new girl named Heather that just moved from Iowa. Melinda really wants to tell her friends that now hate her why she had to stop the party but she can't. She just wishes that she could.

Vision in white

This is the first book in the series of four. They are written by Nora Roberts. In vision in white mac is the main character. She works with her friends who all have their own responsibility to complete a wedding. Mac is a wedding photographer. In the beginning of the book she talks about how she is just waking up from a wedding that happened the night before that was a New Year wedding. She woke up and landed on her face from the counter top that he fell asleep on. Normally she stays up all night working and all day but she normally sleeps in till noon. When she has free time or when she is done with her other work for her customers she will go to her work shop and work on her photographs that she takes for fun or for her scrapbooks. Then in the next couple chapters her and her friends are planning a new wedding for a winter scene and they just have a while to complete it. They always have to deal with MOB‘s which is the mother of the bride. They call and always ask how far they are and how much is done. So now most of the time they take turns trying to get rid of her. Mac calls them crazy because half the time they are more crazy then the bride.

R.L. Stine... Deadly Date (The Boyfriend)

Deadly date "The Boyfriend" is about a girl named Johanna. She was breaking up with her boyfriend and watching him sqirm at a meeting place where she stood him up, but next thing you know he’s climbing threw her window and asking her to grab her car and take him and his friend out to “The Teens Place” where teens would go and make-out and what not. Dex (her boyfriend) just wanted to spend time with her. He had to do tricks at the end of the cliff and frighten her. Then as she walked down to her car she seen him fall and heard his bones crack. She freaked out and ran to her car while his friend was telling her we need to help her Johanna, but all she thought was “I am helping, I’m going to go get help yeah that’s it I am going to go get help.” She drove off away from the site, she sped up and while speeding she noticed she was on the wrong side of the rode…. it was too late the truck that was up ahead of her hit her dead on. She dreamt everything was back to normal she started seeing Dex everywhere she went she didn’t know it was just a dream… seeing dex crawl into her window again with his skin looking paler in the moonlight then before. She was saying to herself that,”Dex? What he’s dead I heard his bones crush I did.” She woke up hearing nurses’ voices and her mother’s voice as well. She didn’t think she was in the hospital but she was. One day Dex’s friend came and visited her, asked how she was doing and then all of a sudden he said "You know dex died last night and you didnt even want to try and help him tyou just drove off." He sounded furious and angry with her.

When Johanna got out of the hospital she started seeing Dex every where. when she went on her date with Scotty. *This is a book i most enjoy but i notice i can easily out grow it but it's remarkable. I recommend that you try and read it.* To be honest i don't remember what to do on this blog thing for school so i am typing what i remember reading about. this book has great thrills and can make you go to the edge of your seat yet it can just let you sit there and think is the book over with or is it going to be at an exciting part? This book as we all know and read from my topic that it is By R.L Stine and we all may possibly know that man really could let his imagination run wild.

This book "The Boyfriend", which is the main story i am reading because it has two stories involved. "The Boyfriend' is a weird book plus it starts out boring and slow but it gradually gets extremely interesting and fast it tells you describing words that make you picture the people or the characters.

This story really teaches a lesson in it. I can't fully describe it in a well manner but i can tell you it teaches that we should love the people we know and care for and that being rich or having money or even getting everything you want because your spoiled doesn't mean it will get you many friends.

When i read this book i had no clue most of the time what was really going on but that's what made me stick to it but it also lost me a couple of times but it sucked me right back in. It's like an off and on type of book but once you read it, it will all come together and at the end it will all make sense.

Up the Down Stair Case- Bel Kaufman

I started Up the Down Stair Case by Bel Kaufman. It starts out like a bust classroom on the first day of school. The teacher is new and has no idea how to handle her class and the kids are taking advantege of that fact. Everyone is yelling, the kids won't listed the teacher is repeating herself over and over again and noone is listening. And the principle is continuously coming in looking for one kid that never comes to school. Than later another english teacher writes Miss Barrett and tells her how to teach basically. She tells her all of the things that she shouldn't do and do this instead. Her name is Mrs.Schachter they seem to become good friends and talk alot through the schools communication writing system. They plan ot meet while the kids are switching classes in the bathroom. The teacher's lounge isn't used to smoke in because it's only a little room inl the bvasment with a couch and folding chair. While she is trying to learn how to teach at this dreadful, awful, school that is the "average school" Miss Barrett is also writing to her friend that made a better life for herself, having babies and having a better job, acording to Miss Barrett. So far the school isn't so great and the principle is almost non-excistant and the office supplies man is very tight on what he gives. Also the janitor basically lives in the basment, if someone comes down to get him he will reply " nobodys down here" . He very much loved by the students though who think he's the principle. But so far it's an okay book not one of my favorites but i'll finish it.

I am on page 255 in my book now. I have figured out that the year in my book is somewhere around 2083. It was such a shock to realize Anya’s 88 year old grandmother was born just a year before me, 1995. I’d be around 87 years old if I lived in this book.
A lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Most importantly is that the supply of Balanchine Special Dark chocolate, the chocolate company Anya’s family somewhat legally owns was poisoned. They first found out when Anya gave her ex-boyfriend two bars of chocolate. He ended up in the hospital, extremely ill. Anya was immediately the first suspect. The way the cops interrogated her at the school reminded me of those cops in shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS that are far too eager to put someone in cuffs. I felt indignant that she didn’t even get a fair chance to tell her side of the story.
As consequence she is sent to a reformatory, which turns out to be on Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is in our day. However, in their day the Statue of Liberty has been torn apart, only its lower skirt and feet surviving and the island goes by a different name, Riker’s Island, I think. Anya’s stay here is horrible but fortunately very short. She is soon bailed out by an unlikely friend.
Afterwards, Anya becomes involved with the new assistant DA’s son. They tried keeping their relationship a secret but that ultimately failed. The boy, Win, even now suggested they get married. I don’t know about the average age of marriage in this time period, but personally 16 seems way too young. Fortunately Anya doesn’t take him seriously. Anya struggles with this new found relationship and I don’t blame her at all. She can’t enjoy dating Win, she has to consider how everything she does is going to affect her family and what the possible consequences could be which makes everything even more difficult.

week six

I am on page 111 in my book that I am reading. In the book that I am reading I have noticed that Sam needs his bird to survive. I also have noticed that Sam needs his sister as well as his friends to live in the mountains. I noticed that Sam’s sister Alice the one he wasn’t very happy to have live with him, is very important to Sam by helping him build things and also give him ideas to build things that will help him in the future. I noticed when Alice ran away Sam missed her and was worried about her.
In this story it reminds me of many things. It reminds me of going camping with my family and friends. It reminds me of going hunting. It also reminds me of shooting sparrows of the barn roof with my BB gun at my farm. It also reminds me of going fishing. It reminds me of taking my little cousins fishing. It also reminds me of just going fishing by myself. It also reminds me of growing gardens. It also reminds me of building things like barns, garages and also houses. It also reminds me of having to work together to get things done.
In this story I feel sadness about how Sam lost Frightful. I felt worried because he now had to find new ways to kill and get food. I also felt happy like Sam did when he went to visit Mrs. Strawberry. I felt his worriedness and also his sadness after Alice ran away. I felt Sam’s excitement when him and Bando his best friend go off to find out where Alice went and when they were in new mountains on a big hike to find Alice. I felt his confusion when he found out Alice to her new pet Pig.
I have only two questions will Sam find Alice? Will Sam get Frightful back?
322 words.

Week 6- The Tender Years

So far in The Tender Years by Janette Oke, I have read 160 pages. Since I blogged last, many significant things have happened in the plot. For one, Virginia, the main character, has been torn lately with the thought of going along with her “friends” who really aren’t like her at all and break rules or being the girl her family can depend on. On one such occasion, Virginia was tired of the gang doing things without her. She decided that instead of going straight home for chores, she would go with Jenny and the crew to the creek that was swollen by the melted snow. She knew because of one other previous account where she disobeyed her mother that she would be in great trouble. Even knowing this, she went to the creek where the boys came with a stolen raft, and where Jenny came back with stolen candy. Virginia was so outraged by this that she stormed home. After some time she learned that as the kids were going down the creek, the raft flipped and the kids fell in. One of the boys died, and all of the kids suffered injuries, namely Jenny’s broken arm and hand. After some time, Virginia’s mom took it upon herself to take Jenny in and help her with her rehabilitation. Now, Virginia has to wrestle with the fact that she has to put aside her jealousy to be the kind of friend to Jenny God would want her to be.
The one thing that really reminded me of my life in the story so far is when Virginia grows jealous that her parents are caring more for Jenny than herself. She thinks that they are her parents and not Jenny’s. Why should she have to share them or her grandma when her mom takes Jenny for a visit to the farm? I have felt that way when I was younger and my cousins stayed at our house for a long time. I just didn’t feel comfortable sharing Mom and Dad. Also, a thing that sticks out to me most is how the influence of her sister, Clara, makes Virginia want to turn more to her faith. Virginia won’t really notice it when she is young, but she really does care about her sister, more than she ever will say. Finally, I find it really hard to fathom that Virginia could turn someone that she couldn’t stand into someone that she likes simply by turning to God. Sometimes, I think it’s a lot harder than that. I think this is a book that really has a good theme in its pages.

Week 6

I am now reading the book “Twisted” by Laurie Halse Anderson. In the beginning of this story, a boy named Tyler is working on shingling a roof because he got in trouble with the law for spray painting some slogans on the school wall. This reminds me of my friend who was sent to job court for getting in trouble with the law.
While Tyler was shingling the roof, the girls’ tennis team was holding a carwash. This reminds me of when our band held a carwash the summer between my 8th grade year and freshman year. The marching band was also practicing; it reminds me of when our marching band practices, on hot days and on cold days.
After Tyler was done with his job, his Dad would always make him out his dirty clothes in his trunk so that he wouldn’t get mud in his Dad’s car. This reminds me of when my parents always make me take my clothes that are really dirty off so I don’t track dirt into the house.
Tyler’s Dad got promoted in his job and has to go to a business dinner. This reminds me of when my Mom just got promoted in her job; this also reminds me of when my family gets to go to my Dad’s boss house once a year for a faculty party.
Tyler has a little sister, and she seems innocent, but on the first day of school it seems like she completely transformed, she had a belly button piercing that she showed Tyler once she got to school that her Mom doesn’t know about, even Tyler was surprised. She even had on a different shirt underneath what her Mom wanted her to wear that showed her new piercing. This reminds me of when I was in elementary school and I wanted to dress up for pajama day but my Mom wouldn’t let me, so I snuck a pair of pajamas to school.

Week 6: The Secret Life of Bees

I finished reading The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan and am now reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Sue won numorous awards Quill Award in General Fiction and the Southeastern Library Association Fiction Award. The Secret Life of Bees is quite depressing so far. It’s about this 14 year old girl named Lily Owens whose mother died when she was four. The story starts off with her lying in her bed watching bee’s swarm around her ceiling. I absolutely love the imagery in this part of the story. Sue writes “…a high pitched zzzzzzz that hummed along my ski. I watched their wings shining like bits of chrome in the dark…” I almost got goosebumps when I reread this line. The main character thinks that bees swarm before death and starts to think about the summer her mother died. She was four years old. Her mother was “cleaning the closet” and fighting with T-Ray, Lily’s father. Lily ran to her mother but was stopped by T-Ray who threw her into the hallway. When he did this, her mother drew out a gun and aimed it at her husband. He hit it out of her hands and it landed on the floor. Lily picked it up and all she can remember is the loud boom that filled the room and her head to this day.

City of Bones

   I have finished reading City of Bones but I have not started a new book yet. The rest of the book started with Clary and Jace going to an old abandoned church where the vampires live and they run into a boy there. He said he wanted to go with them into the lower levels of the church to find the vampires because he said they killed his brother. When they go down they realize that he was a vampire and all of a sudden they see bunches of vampires on the rafters above. When Jace asks for Simon (aka, the rat) they show him to them. They say they don’t want to give away the rat for fear that Jace will kill them. At this time Jace has the boy they had met behind a knife and threatens to kill him if they don’t give back Simon. They want him to promise he won’t kill anyone but he won’t promise so they start to attack. In the middle of the attack a huge group of werewolves burst through the glass and attack the vampires. This is where Jace and Clary make their getaway. Simon had escaped the vampires and was being held by Clary. When they escape the church Jace grabs a flying motorcycle and flies off.

   Clary finds the Mortal Cup at an apartment and they get attacked by a demon but escape. When she later shows the cup to a man named Hodge (who they all trusted and knew) he takes the cup and gives it to Valentine. They did not want him to get the cup but Hodge betrayed them. Valentine knocks Jace out and takes him away.

   Later, when Clary finds Valentine and Jace, she learns that Jace is her brother and Valentine was the father to the both of them. She escapes with Jace after Luke helps her and Valentine leaves as well. This is how the story ends.

So far in the story the family is settling in. Interesting fact: one of the daughters is brain dammaged but is actually quite smart,(she can read backwards,and she has read several classic novels cover-to-cover several times.) This is one of those african tribes where the women's breasts are flopping in the wind, so when the father preaches about the sin of nakedness they wrap theirtunics around themselves(thus revealing their legs, which is as bad there as bare breasts are here.)

Week 6- Roadwork

Burt Dawes is becoming more and more insane. He purchaces two different large-caliber guns, a pistol and a rifle, for whatever reason (why did you do that, George? shutup, Fred) and then goes on with his daily life, working at a laundro-mat and providing for his wife, Mary. Because the 784 highway extension is going through both his home and his business, his insanity makes him go to a gangster-type guy to see if he can purchase some dynamite so he can blow up road machinery and the road itself. The ganster, Salvitore Magliore, says he will not sell the dynamite due to his belief that Bart is a total psychopath (which he is), so Bart makes his way home disappointed. When he gets back to work, he finds that the managers decided to move the laundromat to a shut-down plant, but for some reason, Bart decides to resign despite the very possible raise he would have gotten had he stayed. His wife then leaves him, and Bart becomes very depressed and drinks a lot, but then, while he is out driving passed the slowly-progressing extension, he picks up a college-age hitchhiking girl, that somehow teaches him his life isn't so bad. His head finally clear, he calls his wife to lunch so they can talk. just before he goes back out to talk to her, however, Fred comes back to talk to him occasionally.
This book is getting more interesting, and I'm curious to see just how the rest of it plays out. Will he shoot people? Will he blow anything up? How crazy does he get?

Up the Down Staircase

Miss Barrett has put in a suggestion box in her classroom and she was reading them one day and they said things like... "Don't call the roll so early- Late bird" and "Don't think you'll get off so easy just because you speak nice and you don't seem scarred of us, last term we had a man teacher and we make him cry.- yr. Enemy". These were some of my favorites even though the author thought of some really funny ones. The book is so strange, there is a chapter called “From Miss Barrett's wastebasket". It has a lot of weird writings in it, like memos from the principle, letters she wanted to send but didn't, and papers that children wrote but messed up on and threw away. The best one is a picture of a grave stone and flowers, the caption states "In memory of those who died waiting for the Bell." The story is so strange but very well written it's about the public school system and how it works. Miss Barrett is a determined teacher that doesn't give up and is willing to help her students unlike most of the teachers in the New York high school. In this school most of the kids in Miss Barrett’s English class don’t want to read, write, or even speak. The one’s they do talk are always out of turn. Most of them aren’t very smart and they can’t even spell and they are sophomores. The classes just don’t learn and the ones that try to learn can’t or they are already too smart for the class. This school needs a wakeup call in its system, the students don’t know anything and it needs to be changed is basically what the book is saying.

Week 6

I started reading Tangerine by Edward Bloor. This book is about a kid named Paul. He is kind of like a nerd with huge glasses that nobody likes. His brother is a star football player and Paul is usually jelouse that everyone likes him. Paul's family moves to Tangerine, Florida and it is pretty tough for Paul to move at first. Eric quickly gets popular because he is a star on their football team, and Paul is only exited about one thing. He is only exited about soccer tryouts. Paul is a goalie and he is really good. Every other boy calles him Mars because he has these huge goggles that help him see. In the end, though, Paul doen't make the team because he is "handycapped". His mother is, in my opinion, overprotecive and she made it known that Paul was legaly blind, even though he could see fine with the goggles. He coach can't have a handycapped person on the team. Paul is really upset because he is a really good goalie and it seems that soccer was the only thing he looked forward to.

I feel kind of sorry for Paul that he can't see that well and he has a very overprotective mother. His mother makes everybody know that Paul is blind, even when he can see with his thick glasses. I don't think he should have gotten kicked off the team because even if he was handycapped, he was still the best. I, however, don't think that Paul should be so jelouse and concerned with his brother. Football is his thing and I think Paul should just be happy with who he is.

week 5

I am currently reading Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson. Anderson is a Nation Book Award finalist, and she won the Michael L. Printz Honor Book award, and an Edgar Allen Poe finalist.
Catalyst is about a young girl named Kate that is about 17 or 18 years old. Kate’s father is a pastor at a church, so she basically is the “good girl”. Kate’s mother died when she was 8 years old. And she has a little brother that’s 14 years old.
She is a senior in high school and she’s super smart. She has been freaking out over the last 98 eight days because she only applied to one college. The one and only college she wants to get into is MIT. Her letter came in and she was rejected. After a bad day at school, she came home only to realize it got even worse. Her worse enemy, Teri Litch, now has to live in her house because their house burned down. Because her father is the pastor, it’s his job to help people who need help so he decides to let Teri’s family stay in their house. Teri is a bit of a heavy set, big girl. Because of this, everyone makes fun of her, and when people make fun of her, Teri fights them back and always gets into trouble. While Teri has been living with Kate, Kate notices that some of her jewelry has gone missing and she sees Teri wearing it. She has tried telling her father, but he wouldn’t listen. And this is all that I read so far.

Week 2

I am reading Hothouse by Chris Lynch. So far the story is about a guy named Russell, who is attempting to get over the death of his father David who was a firefighter that had died in a fire saving an old lady and her cat. Also killed in the fire is his best friend DJ’s father Russell died. Russell’s dad (David) was best friends with DJ’s father (Russell) and they both named their boys after their best friend names. The whole community feels devastated of the loss of David and Russell. The mayor places an memorial in the town stating that Russell’s and DJ’s dad was a hero. Russell still dealing with his grief but is happy for school to start so he can put the whole summer behind him. On the first day of school he gets into a fight with a guy named Montgomerie. Montogmerie and Russell never really got along, Montogmerie is always trying to start trouble, giving Russell an evil eye, and smirking in his direction. Mont. came up to Rusell Friday morning stating that his father was a phony hero and that he was drunk the night he died. Russell told Mont. to take it back but Mont. refused to, so Russell got very angry and started beating up on Mont. His friends pulled him off of Mont. Russell got a text massage from his mom right after he was pulled off of Mont to come home and realizing what he did ran home.

So far I have really enjoyed this book. I can relate to missing a loved one and trying to move on in life and let it go. I hope to read more novels by this author. I can not wait to finish this book and share more with you.

What I'm Reading

Im still readin "Peak" and it is a very good book. Im at the part where Peak arrives at a hotel a couple miles outside of Everst. His dad Josh had bought a whole bunch of new gear and left it in his room. Peak is trying it all out and inspecting it all when a person knocks on the door. He opens it and sees a boy about his age but a couple inches shorter. He said his name was Sun-jo and he was the grandson of a sherpa. He was sent there to get Peak and bring him to the buddhist temple. When they arrive Peak and the Sherpa (Zopa) greet each other and he gives them some money for a taxi and head back to the hotel. When they get there Zopa looks at all his gear and says he needs some different gear. So they traded some in and get some gear that fits. After this they head up to Everest. When they arrive they see Josh dodging a punch from a guy that was mad about being sent home. The doctor there said he had a heart murmur and could not continue so Josh was sending him home. After they get the guy to start packing Josh talks with Peak about whats going on at Base Camp. He shows him around a little and shows him his company "Peak Adventures." What strikes Peak kind of weird is that there is a camera crew around the Base camp. He hears of how much people are paying him just to take him to the top. And he thinks of when in court his dad said "Don't worry, ill get the money back." He figures his dad only took him for publicity. Take Peak and get him to the top, and make a lot of money out of it. Who wouldn't want to be taken up to the top by a company who got the youngest person in the world up? But he shakes it off and decides its just nice to have some time with his dad. Right then an SUV pulled up and a man in uniform came up to them and shouted "Papers!" So Josh handed them their climbing permits and the man said "We be watching you very closely." Then he left. Josh said that was Captain Shek. He was a very mean man who would send anyone back down the mountain for even the littlest of infringments. He told Peak just to not mind him, that he would take care of it whenever he came up. This is as far as ive read so far

I have started reading the book All these things I’ve done, by Gabrielle Zevin. She won the Borders Original Voices award. This story is obviously set in the future, though how far I can’t be sure. The simple acronym OMG that is used by most teens today is scarcely known to these people. Chocolate has also been declared contraband, caffeine is illegal, and there hasn’t been a new book printed in many, many years. Everything, from paper to water is limited and laws change so frequently you could hardly know whether you were doing something illegal or not.
The main character in this story is Anya. She is the daughter of a well known crime boss. Though her dad is dead his reputation follows her wherever she goes. She lives in a small apartment, though that’s the same as everyone else, with her sickly grandmother, mentally handicap older brother, and her little sister. The school year has just started for Anya and it is her junior year. Things do not have a good beginning for her. The night before school starts she breaks up with her boyfriend Gable only to wake up the next morning and find that he had already spread rumors of his version of how they broke up, which earns him a tray of hot lasagna over his head.
I really feel sympathetic for Anya because despite some rash decisions, such as the lasagna, she is really a good kid. She takes good care of her family and does her best to stay out of trouble, which she usually is very good at. She struggles with her dad’s bad reputation always preceding her and always being judged by others because of it. I hope that as I continue reading this story that Anya will be able to escape the dirty business of her family and show people just what an admirable person she is.

Lucky

I just started reading the book Lucky.
Its a memoir about a girl named Alice Sebold.
During her freshman year at Syracuse University, she was beaten and raped in the park along the university.
She went to the police and they did everything they could but they still couldnt find the man.
She went back home during the summer, and returned the following school year back at Syracuse. She had to make some changes though, she had to live in the all girls single room dorm, she needed an escort when she went out past five o'clock, and most people were surprised she came back.
During her sophomore year, she was walking through town and she passed by her rapist. He began to talk to her and she kept walking. She turned to see the man talking to a police officer. She went to her class and told her teacher, he escorted her to the police station were she made another complaint on him. They took her description of the police officer the man was talking to, and it was enough evidence for them to identify him. Thats as far as I've gotten.

Dear John

John starts to realize that now he is gonna have to leave, even though now him and savanna are more in love and in a bigger relationship the more that time passes. Not no wing how to tell her he figures that he might as well just tell her. She is sad but what else can you do, john then says we can wright and email. Savanna seems that she agrees but in a way really doesn't want him to leave her. I understand that though why would you not want your new boyfriend to leave after spilling out your guts to one another oh and also meeting each others family. Going out seems to be every day now and all day being with each other. It seems so sad to me, and just thinking oh we can wright and email would never be enough for anyone. Soon enough he is leaving, gone what seems to be forever. Savanna alone starts to beginning to wright a letter to send to john. John waiting for the letter wondering will she even right, how long will it take,plus with the time of coming all the way here. Soon he gets the letter then they begin to start to send them back and forth now he knows exactly when he should be getting the letters and everything seems fine. It seems to be taking a while for letters so he asks if they should email but they both agree letters are better because the way of waiting for the letters is exciting and more fun. Plus they can still send pictures with the letters. Every time they get a picture from other especially john starts to realize how much he is starting to forget about her face and hair, just her appearance in generally.

Week Five

I started a new book it On The Far Side of The Mountain by Jean Craighead-George. I’m on page 29. I the begging the main character Sam Gribley starts to talk about how his family came to visit and then how he got stuck with his little sister. I feel his pain. I noticed how he felt about his sister. Then his falcon which helps provide food for him and his sister Alice.
I noticed in the story that he was over joyed that his sister was staying with him I am just joking although he somewhat happy to have a person to talk to. i also noticed that he really depends on his pet falcon Frightful. I also noticed that with his sisters help he can do more things like build bigger things. I noticed that he has to get more food being that his sister is living with him. I also noticed that he had to change up his routine being that he had someone else with him. Another thing that i noticed in the story so far is that he uses other people for help and also goes to town more he isn’t trying to hide from people anymore.
I feel his sadness when a conservation officer comes and takes his falcon away from him. I also feel the need to be alone when this happens. I also feel his concern when he starts to think what his he going to do without Frightful.
It reminds me of going hunting and fishing. This story also reminds me of going camping with my family. It also reminds me of building things with my sisters. It reminds me of going out the woods and playing around in the trees.
I have a couple of questions so far and they are: What is going to happen to Sam and his sister Alice? Will Sam ever get Frightful back? (318)

Week 5: The Raging Quiet

So, Marnie and Raven are basically in love, but neither of them wants to admit it. Raven wants to take Marnie to his "far-away home" and show her his dancing. When they get there, its just a field surrounded by a large circle of standing rocks. The townsfolk call this place "The Devil's Ring" and when they just happen to see Raven and Marnie dancing, their suspicions immediately believe the rumor that Marnie's a witch compelling the suposed demons inside Raven with her magic hand motion. They go to her house and wait until she returns. When she gets back, the townsfolk give her two options: Come to them quietly, or they would burn her house, and force her to come along. Reluctantly she goes, telling Raven to run far away. The townsfolk tightly binded her hands and put a sack over her head. Marnie is going to be tried for witchcraft. she's taken to the church, and Father Brannann did the best he could to get the townsfolk to stop, but they all think he's under Marnie's spell and won't listen to him. The people want Marnie to be tested by walking nine paces, with a hot bar of iron in her palm, it must be wrapped in a holy garment with the seal of the church on it. If in three days its starting to heal and is clean in, she'll be proven innocent. If its fustering and infected she'll be proven guilty and burned at the stake. She ends up doing it and is innocent.
The townsfolk still hate her even though she's innocent. Father Brannann suggest that she moves away with Raven and possibly get married to him. So after think about this for a while, they do get married (aww cute!!). Right after their marriage, Marnie goes to talk to Peirce because she's interested in selling the house that he's so interested in. He tells them that he wont need to buy the house because in his fathers will it says that the widow of an Isherwood inheirits her husbands belongings, but if she marries before tens years after her husbands death, she loses the inheiritants. They run back to the cottage, but about halfway there, they were stopped by some kids who had just put a black cats blood all over Eilis's grave, the supposed "witch" that lived there before Marnie. They said that they were going to burn the cottage down to get rid of the evil there. When Marnie and Raven get back to the cottage, they pack up all their stuff and get ready to leave.
On the road heading out of Torcurra, Peirce stops them. He starts talking about how naieve Marnie is that she didn't know about treasure there. The treasure ends up being the ugly ring they found in chimeny when the tree fell over from the storm. Its worth a small kingdom. Suddenly, they see black smoke and Marnie remembers what the children said and tells Peirce that the house is on fire. Father Brannann frantically runs up to them shouting that their house is on fire. Marnie doesn't care because its not her house and now she can buy just about anything she wants because she has Eilis' Treasure, the thing that brought her here.
I think that this book is about predjiduce and ignorance. I really can connect with this book because a lot of people hate me and love me for the fact that I am different. I really liked this book.

Week 5

I just finished reading The Road by Cormak McCarthy. The man and the boy stay on the beach of the ocean for a while, and the boy gets a fever. They stay a few days until he is better. Then they go out on the beach a ways together. When the man and the boy come back, everything is gone. Somebody had taken their food, blankets, and tools and left them! The man was furious and sprinted to the road. They find a grain of sand on the left side of the road and started running in that direction. After a while, they found out a skinny man had taken everything and was still trying to get away. The man caught up, threatened with his gun, and took the supplies back. It started to get cold there, even by the ocean, so the man and the boy head even farther south. They pass through a town and just as they were leaving it, the man got hit in the leg with an arrow. The man tipped the cart and shot the guy with the bow, which was up in a building, and the man with the bow died. The mam fixed up his wound and the boy was sad. He had always thought that they were the good guys, the heros. The boy relized that they didn't help people like in all of his father's stories. He relized that they kill people too. The man and the boy keep heading south and the man can't stop coughing. He relizes that he isn't going to make it to another day. He tells the boy this and the boy is really sad. He tells the boy to keep going and find the good guys. He said that he knows that if the boy tries hard enough, he will find good guys and live happily. The man died that night and the boy cried. He wrapped up his father in a blanket and took his gun and headed for the road. The first thing he saw was a man heading for him with a shotgun on his back. He finds out that he is a good guy and goes with him. He lived on and even found out that there are things called fish that live in the rivers.

I think that this book was really sad. I always thought that in the end, the man and the boy would find a town of friendly people and live happily ever after. It was the saddest thing when the man died. After all that he had been through and done for the boy, he still had hope the boy would go on in happiness. It was hard for me to think that the boy was all alone. It made me happy knowing that the boy still found good people to live with, but I still cried at the end of this book.

Homecoming: Week 5

After reading about 20 more pages of Homecoming, I have finally finished it. The last thing I talked about in my previous blog was that the kids’ grandma wanted them to stay with her, but she thought she just didn’t have the resources to care for them. However, she decided that until she got word back from Cousin Eunice, the kids could stay with her. Because they all knew Cousin Eunice would take ages consulting everyone in her town whether she should take them in or not, Gram decided that they could go to school in her own town while they waited for an answer after Gram sent a letter to Cousin Eunice. So on a bright Monday morning, the Tillermans went into town to register for classes. While they were in town for the day, their grandma had a plan to mail her letter. When Dicey brought this up, she tore the letter up into a million pieces. The last words Gram said must have sounded like music to these travel weary children. She asked, “Ready to go home?”

At the end of this book, I feel so happy that the kids got a happy ending like they deserved. They had been through so much, so finding a place to call home must have been a relief. I realized that throughout the Tillerman’s visit to their grandma’s, she got increasingly friendly and sane. Therefore, I think that she will be better off in life when she comes home to these kids each day.

The new book I am reading, The Tender Years, by Janette Oke, has already proven to me to have a very interesting plot to it. However, when focusing on the author more and her titles, she has been noted for winning the 1992 ECPA President’s Award, the 1999 CBA Life Impact, the Gold Medallion Award, and the Christy Award for fiction.

The Tender Years varies greatly from Homecoming as far as their characters’ problems and personalities go. In The Tender Years, Virginia, a 14 year old girl living in the early 1900’s or so, is shown facing troubles like fudes with here friends or small quarrels with her parents. She is faced with problems as any teenage girl faces, but in a slightly different setting than these days.

One of my questions, however, is how Virginia’s story is going to meet up with the prolougue. Also, I wonder why Virginia cares so much to be in with the good graces of her “friend” Jenny. I’ve noticed that she seems to have changed from a girl that could hold her own and stand up for what she thought was right into a shy, upset girl, wanting the approval and acceptance of her peers around her. I guess I’ll just have to see how this story unravels.

City of Bones

This week I have made it to page 260, chapter 14 in my book City of Bones. After Clary discovers what had happened at her house, she goes back to the Institution where she had earlier woken up in after being attacked. She wants to learn what happened to her mother so she and Jace go to Luke’s house to investigate. Luke is Clary’s mom’s best friend and she almost considered him a father because hers died before she was born.

   When they arrive they find Simon hiding in the bushes and they interrogate him to find out what he was doing. He told them he was worried because he hadn’t heard from Clary in almost a week and was told by Luke that she was visiting a sick aunt. Simon knew Clary didn’t have any other relatives so he wanted to see what Luke was hiding. He said that he caught Luke packing guns in a bag so they all went inside to see what was going on. When they get into the room where the bag was they hear the front door open so they all hide behind a screen. They listened as Luke talked to two people who turned out to be warlocks about how he thought Clary was dead from the demon that had earlier attacked her. They also talk about a “Mortal Cup” which is something that can create Shadowhunters.

   Later, after they get out of the house they go to a club to find a man named Magnus Bane and find out what he knows about Clary and her mother. Before they leave Simon drinks a potion that turns him into a rat and Clary puts him in her bag. As she walks out the door she realizes that the bag was torn open and Simon was gone. They asked Magnus about it and he said he saw a vampire carry a rat out. I end here with them going into the vampire lair to find him.

I found out later on in the story "speak" that Malinda was raped at a party the summer before school, everyone hated her because they thought she called the cops because of the party, but she actually called the cops because she was being raped and hurt. I think it's sad because no one knows the real story and they didn't bother to ask. It reminds me of people spreading rumors at school, people think something they're not sure about happened, and they start telling it to other people. I can relate to this because people spread rumors about me all the time in elementary school. They would say things like, "she hurt this person" "she kissed this guy," this was said in elementary school. Because of this people stayed away from me, just like people are staying away from Malinda. She found out that one of her ex best friends was dating the same guy that raped her. When Malinda tried to tell Rachel what really happened at the party, Rachel actually felt sorry for her, and wanted to know who did it, but when Malinda told Rachel who it was she got really mad and said that she was jealous and mad that she got the boy instead of Malinda, but later during the prom dance Rachel found out that Malinda was telling the truth, the guy that raped Malinda was trying to do the same thing to Rachel, and after that people started talking to Malinda again because they finally knew what happened. This reminds me of when me and my ex boyfriend used to fight. We were yelling at each other and finally he said you're just jealous because I found another girl, it broke my heart when he said that, but when she broke up with him I was there for him and helped him get through his sadness, we are good friends now and things are a lot better between us.

Week 4

I started reading Sold by Patricia McCormick earlier this week and I am now finished with it in less than a week. Sold is about a 13 year old girl from the Napal mountain countryside. Her family is very poor, so when her step-father says she needs to go into the city to become a maid for a rich family to earn money, she decides to do it. Her step-father has to sell her because he keeps gambling away the family's money so they continue to stay poor. The 13 year old girl, Lakshmi, is sold and a woman who makes her call her "auntie" takes her and brings her into the city. After she took her a certain distance, another man, who wants to be called "Uncle Husband" takes her even father away to another city. Once she is at the place where Lakshmi believes she is going to be a maid, an older fat woman, Mumtaz pays money for her. She believes Mumtaz is the head of the house, but she is wrong. Lakshmi is locked into a room and Mumtaz has a "customer" come into her room. Lakshmi fights him off and finally realized that she is not at a house to work; she is at a brothel in India. She is raped several times, but she stays hopefuk that she will pay off her debt to Mumtaz soon. But the trick is that Mumtaz made it so Lakshmi will never pay off her debt. Finally, after over a year, an American man comes in and says he will help her leave. He leaves and Lakshmi gives up hope he will ever come back until a week later when he shows up with police. The American man comes back and takes her to a safe place for help and treatment.

At first, I didn't think I'd like this story because it was so short and unlike many other books I read. After I finally got into the book, part of me didn't want to read it because I didn't want to hear about the horrible things that those girls actually go through. The book was told through Lakshmi's view and she told about the punishments that happened to other girls. This particular story, persons, and settings isn't EXACTLY true, but it is based on things that really do happen in India when girls are sold into prostitution.

A long time ago when Barnes Kilrone and Major Frank Paddock were very gallant young officers in Paris, it had happened that they had fallen in love with the same beautiful young girl. Now that that’s all over, there are two men in exile. They are to be living in one and I do mean one of the harshest territories in the American West. The horrible choice that Paddock made was a very bad one that may send both of the men into a battle to save both of their lives. Later on Paddock leads his soldiers in a chase of a Bannock war party. The war party massacred one of Paddocks patrols. Meanwhile, Kilrone has been chosen to guard a fort full of all aged children and women. Within a number of hours Kilrone knows that the choice that was made was the wrong choice. I am just thinking out load but I think that before the day is over one of them is going to be in very great danger. In other words I have decided to quite reading this book because it is falling apart. I would like to finish it but is really hard to finish with pages falling out every page I turn. When this book gets fixed I recommend that you should read this book or a book by the same author.

I am now reading "The Poisonwood Bible," a novel about a baptist missionary, his family, and their jorney through the Congo. I haven't read enough to know what I think of it yet.

The Tenth Circle- Amanda Roehrich

Im currently reading "The Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult.
So far in the story you learn that its about a comic book artist named Daniel, and his wife whos a College Professor, and theyre freshman in highschool daughter Trixie.
You learn that Daniels wife has an affair on him with a student of hers, and her and Daniel become very distant which causes problems for Trixie, who also currently broke up with her boyfriend Jason, whos the most popular senior.
Trixie gets really depressed and makes herself isolated from her friends.
Then you find out that some bad stuff happened at a party and thats one of the reasons why they broke up, and it really bothers Trixie.
Thats as far as I've gotten.

Babe in Boyland, chap. 20

I'm still reading Babe in Boyland. Natalie has now spent three days at Underwood Boy's Academy as Nat Rodgers. The guys there have already firmly established her status as less than worthy. It's difficult for her to tramp down her instinctive girl behavoir, some things were so subtle I didn't even realize that girls do them until I read this book. Almost everything she does is wrong in the eyes of the guys she lives with so at first she is stuck at the bottom of the social pyramid with Tyler, Max, and Earl. All three of them are kind and willingly welcome her into their group, unfortunately they don't have any answers for her questions. She has to find a way to gain the respect of the "uppercrust" guys to get more information if she is to write her article. She accidentally achieves this when she is caught reporting her experiences back to her two best friends in the drama prop closet. Some incorrect conclusions are drawn and Nat is welcomed among the jocks. This book constantly has me laughing. I feel so bad for Natalie and all the awkward situations she finds her self in. Like when her voice acciddentally slips or she is faced with the all boy locker rooms and restrooms, or even when her ultra-handsome roomate sets her up on a date with his sister. I find this book opens up a new perspective on the differences between girls and guys, especially in the ways we act and how we respond to different situations or even how we judge others. This book is really good so I don't think it'll take until next Monday for the next blog. I suppose it's a good thing though. I wouldn't want to ruin the ending for anyone who wanted to read it, which I highly reccomend.

Week 4

I am still reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The man and the boy are still on their way to make it to the south. They live off of food from the celler, and it lasts quite a long time. Eventually, they meet an old man and the boy is nice enough to give a little food to him. The old man is grateful and keeps on walking down the road. The man and the boy then later on find out there are a few people behind them. The people pass them as they hide in the trees and the man notices that one of the women is pregnant. Later that night, the man and the boy found out where the people had camped and found a baby burned black in what used to be a fire. The man and the boy still keep heading south and eventually make it to the ocean. The ocean is not really blue anymore. The ocean is just gray with ashes. They are still cold and have no food.

I think this book is quite sad and depressing. There seems to be no hope of anything good happening to anybody in the whole book, besides finding food. It seems that it is just going to go on and on with the man and the boy looking for food and warmth. I don't have a clue to what can happen in this book later on, except for the man and the boy dying peacefully or something. I still think the book is interesting and it always keeps me wondering how the man and the boy are going to survive another day.

Week 3- Gunslinger & Road Work

Not much more happened in the end of The Gunslinger. The man in black told Roland about his future, or destiny, which involves finding three different people before he can get to The Tower, his ultimate goal. What he needs to do there is beyond me, but if I ever read the next seven books I'll probably find out. as of right now, however, I moved on to a new book. This one is by Stephen King and is entitled Road Work. So far this book is about a man, Burt George Dawes, that has both a house and his own business about to be destroyed due to a highway extension. He seems to be going crazy because of this, and often talks to a voice in his head, named Fred (Isn't that right, Geogie? That it is, Fred). This insanity seems to be due to the loss of a son, Charlie, who was raised in this house of Burt's. So far, nothing much has happened along the plotline, but King's style is to always fully develope setting and plot before the action of the story.

Week 4: The Raging Quiet

So, Marnie is going back to her hometown. She's taking Raven with her. When she gets there, everybody's happy to see her, but her mother and a few of the town's folk don't like seeing her with Raven. At the party in the town, Marnie gets extremely drunk and runs into Jonty, who was paid to lie in court against Marnie the beginning of the book. He starts to pick a fight with her, so Raven jumps in and beats the crap out of him. They go back to Marnie's mother's house to spend the night but get kicked out because everybody thinks that Raven's a madman. When they get back to Torcurra, they find out that their cottage had been ran-sacked by Pierce, who's still inside. Marnie tells him to leave and he storms out. Then, in the next chapter, Marnie and Raven are racing. Raven takes Marnie to his "hole" where he sleeps during the winter and the cold rainy days. Marnie tries to explain the word noise using "hand-words" and that the only reason people are afraid of him is because he is different. He gets upset and runs back to the cottage with Marnie chasing behind him. When they get back, a huge storm hits. Raven goes outside to get the chickens and the goat and brings them inside. While he's out there, a tree crashes down on the chimeney and soot and ash burns Marnie's feet. Raven runs back inside to help Marnie and finds a ring that fell out of the chimeny. The next morning, Raven and Marnie go to the church, and everybody is standing outside looking at the tree that broke through the church's glass stained window.

week four

Today I finished my book. Near the end of this book I noticed that the main character Sam loses the sense to hide from people. It all starts when he talks to this kid that is a reporter and he goes off and publishes stuff about Sam. Then I noticed that he talks to people and starts to invite people to his tree. I also noticed that he wanted to be found. I noticed that he becomes a different person in the end then what he was in the beginning. He doesn’t care about staying in known to people; he also starts to think of the company as an everyday thing.
I felt the lost in the sense that he wanted to stay hidden or unknown to the people outside of the woods. I also felt the need to talk to someone while reading this book just like Sam did near the end. I felt the fear that Sam had when the photographer found him. I also felt the joy that he feels when his family comes to visit him, and also the sadness that he feels when they try to make the woods homier for him.
This book reminds me of going camping and hunting and also fishing. This book reminds me of camping by how he stays in the woods and sleeps by the fire and cooks his own food. It reminds me of hunting by how he hunts and traps for animals. It also reminds me of hunting by how he gets deer during deer season because of hunters and how he takes the deer from the hunters. It reminds me of fishing because he goes fishing and also makes a raft to go fishing out in the middle of the steams to catch fish, just like I use a boat to go fishing out in the middle of a lake.
I have only one question and that is about how the book ended. My question is does Sam go home with his family? I ask this question because it just ends with his mom talking to Sam.

Week 4: Homecoming

Currently, I am on page 386 of my novel, Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt. I finally got to the point now where Dicey entered her grandma’s farm and met her for the first time. She went alone, thinking that it would be best for her to see her grandma first so the others wouldn’t be disappointed if things didn’t go well with her. After meeting her, Dicey realized that she was fairly sane. As a bonus, she also had a large farm that the kids could roam around on that was even close to the water. After a bit of confusion on account of where all the kids were, they all came together and, courtesy of their grandma, stayed a night at the farm. They decided that if they kept busy and helped out without being asked, they could hopefully go on living there even though their grandma said they couldn’t stay. Eventually, this plan ran out, but the kids did find out that their grandma wanted them, but she couldn’t take care of them. So, they are now forced to move on and find another place to call home.

Lately, I have noticed that Dicey and the kids are even closer than before. They always cared for each other, but I feel now that they would go even to the extent of going against their deranged grandmother to protect the well beings of their siblings. This greatly reminded me of my brothers and myself. One will go out of his way to make sure I am okay if anyone is taking to me in any way he didn’t think was correct. The other, even though he wouldn’t like to admit it to his friends, makes sure any boy I talk to treats me right, as if I couldn’t handle it myself. As I believe Sammy does with Dicey in the book as well, I greatly appreciate my siblings and am hardly ever embarrassed by them.

In another situation, I notice how even though their grandma cares about them and wants them, she can’t seem to find a way to keep them at her house. However, she is trying to drag out their stay as long as possible. It is in a way ironic because everyone thinks she is a crazy bat of a woman, but in actuality, she has an odd way of showing that she actually does care. I actually have to question if maybe she has a underlying reason for not trying her fullest extent to gain control of the kids like she says she wants to. Why does she give excuses to them that really don’t seem too legitimate to result in them moving on? I still have 16 pages left, so I hope my questions will be answered.

Post 4

I’m on the last few pages of When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt. So far in the book, Wayne, Cal’s older brother, died in the war of Vietnam. Cal’s mother broke down once military police showed up at her house to tell her the bad news. After that happened, Toby seemed to have pulled back from the real world, just like the rest of the town. He stayed in his house for about 4 days. Toby’s father went to Wayne’s awake but Toby couldn’t go. Instead of going to the awake, Toby goes to the Bowl-a-Rama to get away from everyone. Farris, the owner is there and he didn’t go either. Then the funeral happened; Toby didn’t go either. He went to go see Zachary Beaver. Zachary asked who died and Toby couldn’t tell him without choking up. After that, Cal showed up and was mad at Toby for not going to his brother’s funeral. Everyone in the whole town went but Toby. Cal and Toby didn’t speak for a while. After they resolved their differences, Cal and Toby had a plan; they were going to get Zachary Beaver baptized. They had Farris do it because Zachary didn’t want a lot of people showing up to think he was a freak.

There’s one main thing I really related to in this book. It was when Cal’s brother, Wayne died in war. My boyfriend is in the military so I’m always afraid he’ll get deployed and sent off to war. I know things are a lot different now then Vietnam, but I always have something like that in the back of my head. My whole extended family has a military background. All of my uncles were in the military and served over seas.

Eragon and City of Bones

   I just finished reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini. The book ended in a big battle where Eragon killed a creature called a Shadow. When he killed the Shadow, all of the Urgal creatures started to fight agaisnt each other instead of Eragon and the rest of the people in the town. The book ends with a happy victory and everyone gets back to fixing up the town after the destruction.

   Now I have started a new book called The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Cassandra won the Locus award for best first novel in 2007.
   In The City of Bones, there is a girl named Clary who is with her friend Simon at a punk club. While they are dancing, Clary sees a boy with blue hair and thinks he is cute. She watches as he follows a girl into a closet area and notices that two people are following him. She decides to see what is going on and when she gets into the closet area she finds him tied to a post. There are also three other people in the room. Two of them were the guys who were following the blue haired boy and the other was the girl that the boy was following. She was horrified to find that they were going to kill the blue haired boy and tried to stop them. This resulted in the boy getting out of his bindings and attacking one of the guys who's name she later finds out is Alec. Alec stabs the boy in the chest and he dies in a swirl of black smoke. When Simon comes in with a bodyguard from outside the cub she realises she is the only one who can see those people. This scares her and when she goes home she sees a demon that attacks her and she passes out.
   Clary later wakes up in a hospital type bed but she's not in a hospital. It turns out that the three people she had met before had taken her and helped her get better. I ended at a part where she returns home to see how it looks and finds that it has been stripped clean of everything inside.

As I get further into the book "speak" I learn that she is very depressed and upset so much that she decides to cut school, she decides to go to the mall. This reminds me of when me and my friends went to the grocery store after a Latin Club meeting instead of marching band practice because we didn't feel like going, but she wanted to cut school just to get away from her depression. I feel sorry for her that people have to treat her so mean because she doesn't fit into a group, and people make her an outcast, even her friend Heather doesn't want to be her friend anymore because she's worried about her reputation. It reminds me of elementary school where I was the outcast, for some reason no one seemed to like me, I got bullied most of my elementary school life. I had a couple of so called "friends" but I felt like they just kept on using me because I was an easy target. I didn't find my closest best friend until half way through Middle School and that was because she was in my band class. Most of my good friends are in band, I don't know what I would do without them, they're always there for me, even the ones who graduated last year are there for me whenever I need them.

People were starting to get worried about Malinda so her and her parents went to go talk to the principle. I think the reason why she's so depressed i because her parents don't seem to understand her. This reminds me of me and my Mom, we are complete opposites, for example, she thinks every little thing me and my little brother do should be perfect, she get mad when I don't do my hair or makeup good enough, or when I wear baggy t-shirts to school, and when she tries to fix it, and tells me that I should look more like a girl, I tell her I like it the way it is, and she thinks I'm careless, but she doesn't understand that I have bigger things to worry about more than the way I look.

At this moment, Malinda is trying to change herself because she is tired of being treated the way she is, she starts buying new clothes to wear and she even went to a basketball game to try and feel normal. I disagree with her decision because I think she should be able to exspres herself in her own way, and not worry about what anyone else says because she will one day find someone that likes her for just being herself.

Ever notice how the doctor's 1st incarnation looks like Adam Sandler?

I finished reading the book "cut" and I'm now reading the book "speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson. I notice that the girl in this story doesn't seem to belong to a group and isn't trying that hard to find one of her own. It reminds me of how our school has different clicks and groups and sometimes there's always someone whose left out. For instance, you have the band geeks, the choir nerds, the athletes, the brainiacs, and others, but some people just dont feel like they belong in a group. It makes me kind of sad that our school has this, we shouldn't be separated into groups, we should act as one unit, I mean yes I'm in the band geek and choir nerd department but the athletes seem to ignore us and we usually ignore them. Which I don't think is right. I hope this girl finds a group tha would be good for her.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town by Kimberly Willis Holt

As of right now, I'm on page 139 of my independent novel, When Zachary Beaver Came to Town. What's been happening so far is that the main character, Toby has been having some internal conflicts within himself and conflicts with the world around him.  His first conflicts is when his mother leaves to pursue a career with being a singer.  So she travels to Nashville to enter a contest to win a record deal.  She didn't win and was only a runner up.  After the contect, another publisher offered her a deal , so she decided to stay in Tennessee.  She writes a letter to Toby saying that she just isn't happy there in their home town of Antler, Texas, so she decides to leave her husband.  This external conflicts sets out one within Toby about whether or not to accept his family falling apart; so he decides to lie.  Toby doesn't have anyone to turn to so he writes a letter to his best friend's (Cal) brother who's over seas in the war.  He signs the letter as Cal. But more recently in the book, Toby and Cal join together and try getting the new "drive by town freak" to go to the drive in move theater with them.  The "freak" is a 15 year old boy who is extremely over weight.  Once the boy's gardian abandons him, Toby and Cal try keeping him company. 

For my personal opion of the book, I like it.  It's easy to read and doesn't move at a too slow of a pace so it's easily to get into it right away.  I think the main character has some issues in himself that he tries to deal with, all when his parents are taking a break from each other.  Toby isn't the only person who is having some issues I think.  The fat boy, Zachary Beaver, seems like a more complex character then the book is showing.  It seems as if he's having trouble with how over weight he is.  He acts like he doesn't care about what people think of him, but then he shows little hints that he wishes people wouldn't stare and make fun of him.

In my book, Babe in Boyland, Natalie is Dr. Aphrodite for her school newspaper. However, Dr. Aphrodite has been getting a lot of complaints, mostly from the opposite gender, about what advice she dishes out to the girls at their school. So when Natalie hears about a writing opportunity she decides to do a piece on what guys really think. She makes a plan with her two best to infiltrate the private boys academy disguised as a boy herself. I love this story so far. It's hilariously funny. However, I can't help but think Natalie's plan is going to end in disaster.

Week 3-The Gunslinger

Roland and Jake have gotten closer and closer to the man in black, and as they climb the mountains before them, they come face to face with him. He laughs at their struggle, urges them to continue, and guarantees that he will meet them on the other side. The duo make their way to a cave in the rock face that they travel through in pursuit of the man in black. There, they find things that seem to come from our Earth (as I believe the setting is a different "universe" or "dimension") such as train tracks, a subway station, and dead bodies in uniforms. When they reach the man in black, they are above a huge, and seemingly bottomless, pit. Jake slips and hangs on for dear life, but the man in black tells Roland that if he saves the boy, the gunslinger will never talk to the man in black again. Jake sacrifices himself, mentioning that there are "more worlds than this" before he drops. Roland finally talks to the man in black, who explains that The Tower, something Roland has been looking for restlessly, is a "pylon" or "conduit" for all multiple universes and worlds. Really, I'm still lost with what is happening, and I'm hoping the next (last) few pages will clear things up.

Week 3-Homecoming

As of right now, I am on page 311 of my independent novel, Homecoming, by Cynthia Voigt. Many changes have happened to the kids since I had last blogged. When I had left you, I ended up talking about how Dicey and the kids escaped from their Cousin Eunice's house in search of their possible deranged grandmother. After riding the bus for some time followed by a fair distance of walking, the kids got help from two teenage boys to cross the bay separating them from their grandma's. Once across, they found work to earn a little extra money just in case on a small farm where a strange old man needed help picking in his fields. It turned out that the man was crazy, and wanted to kidnap the children for his personal gain! If it wasn't for the circus in town and its owner, Will, the farmer might have done just that. After staying with the circus for some time, they eventually ended up at the farm of their grandma's, where Dicey decides to go in alone......

At this point, I feel very anxious to start reading again. What could happen to Dicey when she goes to see her long lost grandmother? Will she great her with open arms? Or will she throw the kids out, only to have them start walking on an endless journey to nowhere once again? Only time seems to tell for these kids. Also, I feel increasingly sorry for the Tillermans because they are truly good kids, but no one seems to really legally want them.

Some of the things I have noticed is how the author has changed her writing dialogue as they move from state to state or even from town to town. I liked how Voigt described one of the clerks at a grocery store in the town and how here words “came thick and slow, like molasses-again, something like Momma”(308). This just seems to give a reader a sense of where the Tillermans started and what their background might be. While I have been reading, I just can't seem to get the Baudelaire children from The Series of Unfortunate Events. Everything that these kids go through, whether being chased by a crazy man or even working in a circus, seems to link back to this other story. So I believe it is only fitting to think the question, Did Cynthia Voigt use the other book as a slight reference at all to her literary work, or was it just a coincidence? Perhaps this question may not even be answered. Nevertheless, I guess I'll just have to read on to see.

Week 3

I am still reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The man and the boy keep trying to head south. On there way, they are always cold and is a problem. They try there best to keep warm, but they are still always cold. Eventually, they come across a group of men going along in a truck. One of the men tried to take the boy, but the man shot him with a pistol and ran away with the boy. They keep on heading south. Later, they come accross a house with a celler. Desperate for food, the man busts it open, only to find many hopeless people wanting help and out of the celler. The man relizes that two other men are keeping them to be eaten and the man and the boy manage to get away. After this, there is a night where they run out of food. The nights are getting colder. It all seems like they are going to die, because they can barely walk, and never sleep, because they know they will probly die if they fall asleep. Miraculousely, the man finds an old barn with clear water, and apple trees with old, rotten apples all around. He gathers some up and they eat enough to survive for a few more days. A few more days had passed, and the man and the boy come by another house. They are starving again and have no choice but to look for food. The boy is scared, because they found another celler. He doesn't want to open it, but the man is forced to because of their hunger. In the celler, they found crates of food, cots, and a lamp with oil. They are overjoyed.

The book seemed so sad the whole time. The man and the boy are always cold and hungary and looking for food. They always seem to manage though and just barely get enough food to keep on going. At the part where they found the celler with food, I was really happy. For once, they will be fed, warm, and safe inside.

Eragon

   Out of what I read this week there has been a lot more traveling and Eragon covers a great distance. I'll start with Brom, who was the man that traveled with Eragon. Brom dies in a fight against these creatures called Urgals because he cuts a deep cut in his side that Eragon can't heal. When Eragon buries Brom his dragon she touches the grave and huge gems grow out of the ground and cover it. Eragon places a tombstone on the ground and they leave. After about a week of traveling, he starts to have dreams about a girl captured in a cell. After talking about these dreams with Saphira(his dragon) another group of Urgals attacks. This time Eragon gets hit on the head and passes out. He later wakes up to find a boy not much older than him sitting by a fire. The boys' name is Murtagh and he saved Eragon. Murtagh accompanies Eragon on his journey to find the Ra'zac, but once again, they are attacked. This time Eragon wakes up in a cell and finds out he's been drugged so he decides not to eat or drink anyting the guards give him. When the effects of the drugs wear off he gets out of his cell and finds the girl that was in his dreams. It turns out she was an elf and he found her sleeping to where she wouldn't wake up. The guards find Eragon with her and he is outnumbered but right then Murtagh shows up and kills the guards. While they are trying to escape they run into someone called a Shade, which is basically a human possessed by an evil spirit. They barely escape by the time Saphira gets there to help them out.
   Murtagh and Eragon decide to cross the Hadarac Dessert to try and find the Varden. These people are against the Empire and live in a safe sanctuary the Empire can't get to. When they finally near the Varden Eragon learns that Murtagh is the son of a once very evil man who died long ago. Murtagh says he ran away though and is nothing like his father. The Varden take them in and know who Murtagh is so they keep him locked up. Eragon leaves the elf, whom he learns is named Arya, to be tended to. This is all I have read this week.