The book that I am reading was recommended by a friend. It is called Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a story about a boy named Garrett. Garrett is taken one night from is home and taken to a boot camp known as lake Harmony. Lake Harmony is nothing lake its name. Lake Harmony is a boot camp for none disciplined kids. At this camp the kids are beaten, humiliated, and all pride they might of had for themselves is taken away. Once Garrett arrives at this camp he is immediately followed by two large body guards who watch his every move. There are no interactions with the outside world except for letters to your own parents. The camp is so far from the outside world if u tried to run away u would die before u reached any human being. But garrett believes he is being sent here for the wrong reason. The only way to get out is to either try to escape or graduate from lake Harmony. But garret decides to try to take the easy way out. When he heres about a possible escape plan. This could be a very risky idea but could also be is only way out of this so called "Lake Harmony."I was wondering what it would be like to be put in a situation like that.

House Of Arden

This book was a bad choice. I only got about half way then decided to abandon it. It was about a girl and her brother who sent out on a journey one day. They lived in a very small ramshackle house and their dad was no longer alive. They came upon a house that was mysterious. An old man was living in the house and told them that their family used to be royalty in this town. They went on to try and find the lost destiny of their family. Each chapter they were trying to find a new thing that would help them solve their family mystery. Towards the begining they discovered that the ld man they had met was a member of their family. That's where I stopped. It wasn't that the writing was bad, it was just a boring plot. It almost seemed like a childrens book. I am now going to begin reading Stargirl which was recommended to me by a friend. i have heard that this is a good book, so I am excited to read something a little more entertaining.

Runes of The North

This quarter for my first book I have selected Runes of The North by Sigurd F. Olson. This author specializes in writing books about the environment and nature. This particular book is about the wilderness from the Quetico-Superior and Hudson Bay to the Yukon and Alaska. This book is not extremely well known but I often like to test books that aren’t talked about a lot as I often discover my favorite books that way. It really interests me the way Olson is able to tie the facts and descriptions of the north, and his own experiences together. An example of this from the beginning is when he encounters and Indians who typically don’t give out gifts to strangers. One of the Indians gives him what is described as a small finely made fish net. The Indian tells him that it is meant to be hanged above you while sleeping to catch the bad things in your dreams. This was obviously identified as a dream catcher in English. I look forward to reading more of this book, as it is an interesting mix of and memoir, non-fiction and historical non-fiction. If you like learning about Indians and the land of Canada and Alaska I would recommend this book to you.

Mockingjay

I am in the middle of reading Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. This book is very different compared to the first and second books. I do enjoy this one so far, but not as much as the others. Its plot is slightly unclear and it has many slow scenes that do not add to the books effect on the reader (Me). I would have to rate this book an 8.5 out of 10 because of those opinions. But overall the book has many exciting and suspenseful parts where I can't put the book down. Its ending seems predictable, and I will not give it away. The characters seem very dynamic throughout the book and have changed their point of view on the situation at hand. At first they believe that what they are fighting for is freedom, but then they notice all that is happening in secret and what is being kept from them. The story seems to relate to political situations today and America's fight for freedom, but the story has no real information to prove my theory. Overall the book is a good ending (so far) to the Hunger Games. After I finish the book I might change its rating because there is a lot more that can happen, and if you want to find out what will happen you should read the Hunger Games series of 3 in order, or nothing will make sense.

The Million Dollar Throw

I just finished reading the book The Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica. It is a book about a boy named Nate Brodie. He is the best high school football quarterback in Massachusetts. He has a friend named Abby, Abby is going blind. Nate ends up getting benched after three strait games with lots of interceptions and throwing the ball all over the field. Nate buys a Tom Brady autographed ball and entering in a contest to win a chance to make a throw into a target thirty yards away on Thanksgiving night at the patriots game. It you hit the target, you win a million dollars. To make matters worse his dad looses his job, forcing his mom to pick-up a second job and making the throw that much more important. His dad used to have his own real estate business but when the economy went under so did his business. Then he got a job at the grocery store, which he just lost. Then he finds out that Abby may be leaving town and going t6o another school. A school for the blind. Nate finds a way to make it all better though. He finds this revolutionary surgery to reverse Abby's condition and return her sight to normal. And he wants to pay for it for Abby and her family. Nate's family could also be helped a lot by a million dollars. But he needs to make the throw.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Currently I'm reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. Most of you probably know that it has recently been made into a major motion picture. I decided to read this book because I saw the preview for the movie and it looked like an interesting read. Right now I am only about 20 pages in, so I am still in the dark as to what the main plot of the story will be. As of now, the main character is named Oskar. Based on the way that he narrates (in 1st person) and how he converses with others, it is clear that he probably falls somewhere on the Autism Spectrum. This gives the book some very unique insights, as he is somewhat emotionally detached from what is going on. Oskar goes on lots of tangents, and his narrations weave through a variety of topics. He is very witty and humorous, and a lot of his remarks are funny because they are interesting ideas that average people can't think of and yet they are brilliantly true. It is clear that his father died in the attack on 9/11. It also appears that, although Oskar doesn't seem to mourn his father or feel sad, some of his autistic traits have either morphed or gone away after the event. This shows that his father dying did affect him in his own unique way. So far the book is very good and I am looking forward to seeing in what direction the plot is headed.

Dark Secrets 1

I am reading a book called Dark Secrets by Elizabeth Chandler. I'm on page 30 of 431. It is a romance/mystery/thriller. Two girls are haunted by the past and are destined to relieve it. Megan has to stay with her strict grandmother that she wants nothing to do with. When she arrives, her mother old best friends meets her at the airport. Ginny was blonde and freckled and had the same southern accent as her mother. Nobody in Megans family has anything to do with her grandmother (her mothers mother). Her grandmother basically disowned her mother, for a reason that the author didn't explain. Megan is dreading the fact that her parents are making her do this. She is determined to get through the visit without any drama.

Lord of the flies

the Book i have started to read this quarter is Lord of the flies by william golding. I pursuded this book because i was looking for something diffrent from the usual action adventure that i read. I thought htis book was perfect becaus e i never read a book with a plot like this one. Once i found out with this book was about my first thought was to the book Animal Farm. I remmeber absolutely loving the book animal farm in 7th grade. This book i thought i would love even more because of its direct coralation to teenagers and humans such as my self. I am not very far into the book but i can already tell that this will be one of my favorites. I look forward to reading more of this book.

The Boyfriend List

I am continuing to read The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. Currently in the story the main character Ruby has just explained to her counselor about the last boyfriend that she had. It starts out that they break up right before the next school dance comes up so now she has no one to go with! Of course this is the end of the world for a dateless sophomore girl in high school, so she must find someone to take her. The almost perfect solution is to have her neighbor take her. After all, she did agree to go to his prom with him, it was the least he could do. Ruby and her new date arrive at the dance, but guess who has a sudden urge to talk to Ruby? Her ex-boyfriend. Obviously this is a plan for disaster. Everyone at the dance ends up watching Ruby and her former boyfriend kissing when Ruby already has a different date! When the night is over Ruby is horrified by her decision. She must face the girls at school tomorrow that gossip about her and the guys that think she is now available for all of them!

The Necromancer Brandon Boyd

This quarter I have just started to read a book called the Necromancer. It is a fantasy genre of book and is part of the Infamous Nickolas Flamel series. I started reading the series first three books about a year ago and have just started the 4th book. I really liked the series, but when I got the 4th book for some reason I did not start reading it until now. The book is about twins, Josh and Sophie who work at a book store and encounter a magical creature. When they find out about this creature the owners of the book store reveals himself as a magician. This book is kind of like Harry Potter in certain ways but completely unlike Harry Potter in other ways.

I am just starting the book and I am pretty interested to continue the series and start to remember all of the characters. The book has a lot of different stories to it and is a very different style of book. I am eager to start reading this book again and hopefully completely reimburse myself back into the series.

Into Thin Air

The interesting thing I learned about climbing in this book is that trust is essential. In the beginning John is leery of climbing with others that he does not know. He says that before he has always climbed with a small group of trusted friends, but now he is with a large group of strangers. Of course he is with a guide and on of the most trusted in the world but that aspect of the sport had never entered my mind. It surprises me that I have never thought about this because I have done high ropes and things similar to climbing and trust is one of the most important thing in those activities. There is a part of the book where he is at the dinner table with all the other clients and he and another one of them have a disagreement about politics and John is made to look silly so I am wondering if this group will get along. Hopefully they will because it cannot be much fun to conquer the heights with a group of people you do not like. Also, it is hard to trust people you do not like. The book offers an interesting Insight into Johns mind.

CHERUB: Mad Dogs

From the sound of it's title, I can assure you that it has absolutely nothing to do with dogs. For my first Third Quarter Independent reading book, I am reading what I believe is the eighth book in the CHERUB series. To remind my blog fans, CHERUB is an organization that deals with terrorists and drug dealers or anyone who commits big crimes, but needs evidence to show that they did do the crime, or they need to find them. But the cache is; they use teenagers and children as their agents, because not too many people would suspect that young people are spies. In this episode of gang war, it starts off with a scene from one of James's (The main character) friend, Gabrielle. Gabrielle was sent on a mission in the British underworld city, Luton. Luton is a city controlled mainly by lazy cops and gangs. The main gangs consist of: The Slashers (Cheesy name I know), who are mainly Jamaican or Black men, the Runts, who are teenage guys who work for the big gang called the Mad Dogs. During her investigation, Gabrielle had to fit her way in with the Slashers, to uncover information about the Slasher's drug related sales. This is easier for her, because she has a darker skin color and her boyfriend on the mission too, Michael, is also black, so they both fit into the gang well. They start to do drug dealings to fit in, but Gabrielle is stabbed by a Runt at one point, and has to return to the CHERUB campus. But the mission must go on, and James is sent in with his friend, Bruce, to the gang part of town of the Mad Dogs. James was perfect for this situation because he knows a boy who is in the gang from six books in the past, his old friend, Junior. Junior has become a low life, drug snorting and alcohol drinking regret, but is happy to see his long lost "friend", come back to town. (By the way, Junior does not know of CHERUBs existence.) James now must use Junior's links with the gang, and get himself involved so he can find out information about Mad Dog's robberies and drug dealings. That's how far I am now, so thanks for reading.

The Kite Runner- Nick Washuta

I have just started the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and am only four pages in. Both of my Brothers and my mom have read that book. And I was surprised that one of them even read it because he doesn’t like reading. So I am now willing to also give it a try.

In the book so far, I have met the main character and met Rahim Khan, who was brought up several times in the pages. The main character started off the book by saying that memories that he has learned that he can bury the past. He also keeps mentioning that he has been looking down an empty alleyway for the past twenty-six years of his life. Also, when he is on the phone with Rahim he learns that there is a way to be good again and get rid of all the sins. He later took a walk in the park and sat on a bench and watched some kids fly a two twin kites. And he thought about his life, and how 1975 changed it all. He said it made who he was today.

So far so good hopefully I would enjoy it, but I recommend it to you anyway even though I am four pages in.

I am reading A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I am about 40 pages into this book and I think its wonderful. It is about a young Italian war doctor who falls in love with a British war nurse. Their relationship grows over the course of the war. I am not yet at the part where it gets really in depth with the war. So far though, this is a really good book with a gripping beginning. I have really become connected to the main character and his personality. He makes the book worthwhile to read in my opinion and knowledge of how the book has played out so far. I think that this will be a great book because of what I already know about it.

Skellig by David Almond

I have recently read the book Skellig, by David Almond. I read this book for book club, but the census for the book was bad. I am a little hesitant to say that, however. This book is about a boy who moves into another place, and his baby sister was recently born. He finds a strange crusty man living in his basement, and his baby is almost dying with heart problems. Overall, the book was just extremely strange. I think that the strangeness turned off many of the Book club readers. I thought that the crafting of the book and the way the book was written wasn't extremely great, however, I thought that the plot is extremely intriguing. It's something I've never really encountered in my whole life of reading. This man seems to be like an animal, and he has wings on his back. An extremely event then happens, where the mother gets a dream of Skellig, the old man, dancing with her child. After that, the child lives and Skellig disappears. The whole book is extremely confusing, and many mysteries lie unanswered. However, I bet there's tons of symbolism and meaty motifs and what not. I probably just haven't looked into this too much. The book itself has won many awards, and is apparently very well-known, but the book is from Europe. I think that is why I have never heard of it before. Overall... I'm confused by this book. I'm not sure what to think of it. Perhaps I shall delve deeper later in the year, but this book just didn't do it for me.

Unbroken

I have been reading unbroken for a while, now so I am farther into the book that my last post on it. Now, louis has progressed to be a world class runner. He started as a very skinny boy who could barely run, but he trained very hard and he was repaid for his hard work by making it in the 1936 olympic team. He took a boat over to Europe and a Nazi occupied Germany and gives it his all at the 5000 meter race, and comes into seventh place! He steals as many souvenirs as he can, including a Nazi flag. when he stole the flag, he got in a lot of trouble, with the guards, but a gestapo officer let him have the flag. at the time, Hitler was making plans of world domination and when louis got back to the untied states, he was drafted into the air force to fly a b-24 bomber. Meanwhile, he was working as a extra in movies and if he wanted his pay, he had to stay for two more days so he ate many candy bars. He failed his physical, but he did not escape it entirely, he was asked to take it again two days later.

Locked On

For the beginning of this quarter, I am reading the book Locked On by Tom Clancy and Mark Greaney. I'm only about 75 pages into this long book, so the main plot hasn't revealed itself yet. But so far, I've been reading a very action packed beginning about a rebel leader, named Israpil, who is running from the Spetnaz (the Russians). The Russians are chasing him, for some reason that the book hasn't yet told me, but Israpil is a extremely wanted man by the Russians. The Spetnaz figured that he was important enough for 8 men to crawl for miles to reach his compound undetected, and that they needed him alive. So far, many of Israpil's security detail has been killed, and also have many Russians. The entire book so far has been constant fighting with AK-74Us and RPGs etc...

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good gun to gun battle because this book is a very exciting book and it has been very hard to put it down and go to sleep.

Deniz

Half the Sky

I am in the middle of Half the Sky, and as I hear more and more about each story, I am more and more inclined to do something. A story where a tough woman resisted a man trying to capture her and they threatened to burn her house down is almost "the norm" in communities where sex trafficking is prevalent. There are usually gangs of men that will take women, or people promising young women a job or a home in a foreign place. The girls put their trust in these people giving them a "job," but then they capture and sell women. Not only is what happens in the beginning horrifying, trying to help doesn't always work. These women are sick (AIDs is a huge problem that is associated with sex trafficking) or addicted (they pump them with drugs to keep them subdued). Even if they are saved, there are many stories where women go back to it because they are ashamed, addicted, or desperate. It is a terrible cycle and it needs to be stopped before it is started, because that is the only way to keep women 100% safe from it.

A Great and Terrible Beauty

I just started reading this book (and by just started, I mean like first ten pages) called A Great and Terrible Beauty, By Libba Bray. It is about a girl named Gemma Doyle, who lives in India with her mom and dad. Until they are both murdered, and she is sent to live in the place she has wanted to visit for a very long time, London. She is sent to a school there, called Spence Acadamy, and very quickly she realizes that she isn't the only paranormal person there at that school. You see, Gemma has the ability to see into the future, something that she finds out that her mother could also do.

Nightshade

Nightshade is a well-written book by Andrea Creamer. Set in modern-day Vail, Colorado, young Calla Tor is a Guardian, the to-be Alpha female for the Nightshade pack. Guardians protect Vail from Searchers, the 'evil' group of magically gifted teens and young adults in a fast-paced chase for the Scion. The Scion is a individual, gifted in the art of fighting, and capable of ending the War of All Against All. Calla's life is complicated by her to-be husband and Alpha male, Ren, from the Bane pack, a group of similar Guardians and Keepers. Things turn south for her however, when she saves Shay. Knowing her secret of being able to transform into a wolf complicates their relationship, especially with jealous Ren following Calla's every move. Thing accelerate when Shay is discovered to be a vital piece of Calla's life, even with her marriage to Ren coming up, and her becoming the Alpha leader to the Nightshade pack.I thought this was a good book because it is not terribly focused on the religious aspect of the Nightshades, Keepers or Seekers, but more in the action, drama and history behind the three groups. In a less direct way, it shows how love can be fickle, and how it can tear two people apart, then put them back together, then rip them apart again. Creamer uses a collection of interesting characters, clever twists and turns, and complicated love triangles. The greatest reason I liked this book was because of Calla's personality; she is brave, determined, and loves her pack mates with a passion. She is the support system to her Nightshade pack, and with out her, it would collapse internally. The only problem I thought the book had was that it didn't explain the Guardian-Keeper-Seeker-Scion relationship very well, thought their history is both scandalous and shocking. Overall, the book was good and I recommend it to those who like scandal, love, werewolves, or adventure.

Legend

I am currently reading Legend by Marie Lu. It is a great book about the future. Day is the Republic's most wanted criminal who has just learned his family has the plague, a deadly disease that spreads throughout the Republic. Day tries to steal plague medicine for his family and ens up killing a soldier. June is one of the only people in the Republic who scored perfectly on her trail. She learns that her brother was killed by Day on a raid. June now joins the military forces to try to find Day and get revenge for her brother. June finds Day in a  surprising way the two become friends. Day shows June that the capital might be hiding something from them about the Plague and who actually murdered June's brother.
     This is another science fiction that tell an exciting story about the future. I would not like to live in the Republic because they are very rough. They kill innocent citizens to test the Plague. They also kill people who rebel including citizens and people form the colonies. This would be a very scary society because it seems like there is not a lot of technology to help people. They also to execute people in public from a firing squad. I hope that the future is not like this.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

I am in the midst of the story of Henry, who is the orphaned nephew of Professor Hardwigg. The professor stumbles upon a secret piece of paper hidden in an old book that had been owned by one Arne Saknussemm, who was a very famous alchemist. On the paper was an encrypted code written in Runic, a very old language. Eventually Axel (Henry AKA Harry) figures out the code and off the go, on their travels to the center of the Earth.
So far I like this book, but what I like most about it is the form of speech in which it is written. Because it is a very old book, written by Jules Vern, it has a very nice (I cannot find a good enough adjective) way it flows. So far I have only read 28 pages into the book, and already they are on the boat traveling to the entrance to the abyss. I still have a very long way to go so I think it is going to be a fun book to read this quarter. If I given a choice, having just read a little bit of the book, so far I can say I would recommend it.

Mocking Jay, Suzanne Collins

I have recently started reading Mocking Jay, by Suzanne Collins. This book is the third in the Hunger Game series. I have only gotten to page 89, so I'm not to far into the book yet, but it has been really good. The last book had a suspenseful ending, so reading the first couple of pages really intrigued me into reading more. There haven’t been a lot of events that have happened yet, but the events that have happened, those events have been pretty important. When the second book ended, we didn’t know if Peeta was alive or not! We didn’t know where he was; all we knew was that he was captured. From already reading 89 pages, I have found out that he is alive, he may be getting beaten, but he is alive. When Katniss found out that he was alive she was speechless. The only down side about that was when she found out that he was alive, he was on a news cast, and the whole time he was lying and he also didn’t know a lot about what has happened in the past games. That was the biggest thing that has happened so far. Another detailed part was when Katniss toured District 12. There was so many emotions flowing through her mind. She saw so many things that made her think of her past. When she visited her house, she really started to share her emotions, the only thing holding her back was that she knew people were watching her and she wanted to be strong. So far this book has been really good! I’m already enjoying it!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Despite this books weird title, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith is a great book. It is about Abe and his life as a vampire hunter, husband, father, and president, with a few twist and turns. It starts out with young Abe and his youth on a farm, but when his mother falls ill and dies, he is devastated. He soon finds out from his rather that apparently she was killed by a vampire. Apparently, the vampire made her drink his blood so she fell deathly sick. He soon finds that his father wasn’t just drunk and was telling the truth. Thus, he vows to eradicate all vampires from the world. He knows little about vampires at this point but uses old folklore to come up with effective killing materials. He soon kills the vampire who murdered his mother. He then continues on his way. He finds a vampire with a young child in the dead of night and follows it with his trusty axe and stakes. He is surprised by the vampires looks and is over taken by the vampire's strength and is about to be killed when a rescuer appears. He soon wakes up to find himself strapped down and in the liar of the thing that he hates the most, a vampire. He begins to learn what they are like, how they are killed, how they act, and most importantly, that they aren’t all bad. He then bonds a sort of friendship with this vampire, Henry. As Abe’s life continues, Henry sends him the names and addresses of vampires who are bad and must be killed. And his life continues and he then meets the Mary and falls in love. He gives up hunting vampires, but continues on his way to eradicating slavery. He hates slavery because most of the people who own slaves are vampires who are allowed to kill the slaves without punishment. He is soon made president, and he finds out that the civil war will be much more than the splitting of America, if the Confederates win it will mean the end of life as all Americans know it. We all know the story of Abraham Lincoln, but do we know the story of his heroic second life? I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure, and history with a twist.

reading check

I just finished Abraham Lincoln, vampier killer. Although it sounds like a weird book with a bad plot, it surprised me in how good it was. It was well researched, went along with history, and felt very real. It follows Abe's life but as if vampires exist. It was really good, and said that vampires were connected to slavery because it was an easy way for them to get blood. But there was also vampires who were turned into a vampier against there will. Abe met one of these, and he helped Abe and also gave him protection. In the end, James both, who killed Abe, was supposedly a vampier, but then Abe's vampier friend brought him back to life by making him a vampier.

HUnger Games Brandon Boyd

I have recently finished reading catching fire and I thought it was a pretty good book. Catching fire is the next book in the Hunger games series. I read the first book (Hunger Games) and I really liked it, after I read Catching Fire I thought that it was not as good as the first book. I still enjoyed the book a lot and intend on reading the next book in the series, Mocking Jay. Hunger Games is probably the most recommended book I have ever heard of and I am glad I decided to read it. Although the beginning of Catching fire was really boring it picked back up and got my attention. This series also is kind of unique because it is one of the few action books where the girl is the main character, I thought that was pretty cool and a very interesting component of the series. I love this genre of book and I am really excited to start reading Mocking Jay, the next book in the series.

Into thin Air

I am reading Into Thin Air by John Krakauer. It’s a thrilling memoir about a climbing Everest. The author works for outdoor magazine and gets an all expenses paid trip to climb Everest he is very into climbing and gives you a deeper look into the motivation behind wanting to climb The worlds highest peaks. Some just climb because they want to get the glory. These people usually have their Sherpa’s, or guides do everything for them and take the easiest route. The true adventurers take the hardest route with the least amount of equipment. These climbers are the real deal. I like that part of the book best because my dad and I were wondering what was the motivation to climb a mountain. So, I picked up this book and found out. I am just at the beginning of the book. John and a couple others are just getting to meet their guide named Rob Hall a once famous climber, in the small world of climbing of course who eventually started his own guiding company. He seems like a smart, funny, good guy. I suspect that to be written about, something in this attempt to reach the summit of the world something must have gone wrong but I’m not yet sure what that is.

Post 3- Edmund Chute (The Adventures...)

Over the winter break I was gifted a book from my father, The Adventures of Captain Horn by Frank Richard Stockton. I was quickly ensnared in the action and am almost finished, the book is about a young (30s year old) ship captain and his adventures. One of my favorite parts of the book was the beginning where he and his ship with about 10 crew and 3 passengers get caught in a tornado that strands them on an island at sea. Captain Horn sends out almost all of his crew in a single rowboat to go call for help. Two of the ship mates on shore go out in the search of game but end up getting lost and they have no idea how to locate them. Another person left on shore is a cook who has escaped from his previous hard working life and decided to live with Captian Horn and his crew. Despite the scene's unfortunate setting and mood it contains a bit of humor. I am enjoying this book and plan to try another historical fiction title as I have learned to like more that just realistic fiction this year. If you love the water, boats and drama I think that this book would be a great choice.

Post 2- Edmund Chute (Total Outdoorsman...)

I recently finished reading the informative book The Total Outdoorsman Manual by T. Edward Nickens and the editors of Field and Stream (a hunting, fishing, camping, survival and outdoors magazine). This book has a selection of the best tips the editors can think of regarding hunting, fishing, camping and survival. I first saw the book and thought it would be a few interesting tips with a bunch of “filler” writing. I was proven wrong. I found almost every single one of the 374 tips to be informative and will be useful when it comes to being outdoors. One thing I really loved about the “manual” is that at the beginning of each section like hunting or fishing there is a section of about 10 pages where the author talks about why he wrote the specific section. In these pages the authors were able to relate to me and talk about things like why someone like me is reading it. From this I must say this book “manual” isn’t for everyone, however if you hunt, fish, camp or just love the outdoors, give it a try, and if you don’t like it that’s fine, because the point of reading is to enjoy what you read, not to just read, but I sure enjoyed this selection.

The Crow by Alison Croggon (Pellinor series)

Throughout second quarter I’ve read The Crow, Lord of The Flies, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Glass Swallow, Hugo Cabret, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, and Night.

The Crow is by Alison Croggon, and is 483 pages. It is the third book in the Pellinor series. I picked up this series at the Blake school library, but I’ve never heard of the story before. Mrs. Post told me that this was a popular series a few year ago, but has remained untouched ever since. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fantasy series that was NOT focused around romance, and I loved the details and complex, woven plot. The Crow was the only book in the series that was from a different perspective from the other books. The book is about Maerad’s brother, who leaves his trouble at Barding school to help the war against the Nameless one. He ends up playing as a spy in the child armies, whom have been influenced by drugs in their food. Through his travels he tries to save Zelika who had blown her cover being a spy in the child army. He deals with stealing food, concealing spells, and training with children being controlled by evil sorcerers. Tension builds as people get more desperate. It showed me many things however, like the pain in losing something beautiful. People knew that they were going to die, but they fought in honor in the war.

This series is a great, well written, fantasy series. I recommend this book to Middle schoolers and high schoolers.

(P.S. I'm sorry if I didn't post by 9 pm! I came home at 9:30 because of the Knowledge Bowl meet D: )

Unbroken

Over the winter break, I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Unbroken is defiantly one of my most favorite books of all time, somewhere after The Percy Jackson Series and The Gregor Series. Unbroken is about a man named Louis Zamperini. He grew up as a mischief and stole a lot. He was the typical desperate kid, and of course he had a genius older brother who Louis tried to suck up to. The only thing that he could do that his brother couldn't was run a mile in 4:16!!! Yes, Louis Zamperini was an olympic runner who enlisted in the air force during World War 2. During World War 2, his plane, Superman, get shot up, a lot, by Japanese fighter planes. In total, Superman had some 400 bullets in it. As a result, Louis, along with his 4 remaining crew members transfer to the Green Hornet, a terribly old plane that can barely even fly. And while they were on a Search and Rescue mission, they hit turbulence and went down. Only Louis and 2 others survived and floated towards Japan for 50 days. During these 50 days, they were attacked by sharks, strafed by Japanese fighter planes, and caught up in the middle of a Typhoon, yet Phil and Louis still somehow managed to survive. This is where the story really starts. Louis, a use to be Olympian, no was suck in a little Japanese imprisonment cage with barely enough food and water to get by.

I won't spoil this book, but I will say that he was nearly murdered more than one time from beatings, his friends who were forced to punch him 300 times (Milgram's Experiment), and from malnutrition.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about history and World War 2.

Half The Sky

I am reading a book called Half the Sky and I just started it. It is about sex trafficking in Africa and Asia. There are personal stories that are so touching and sad, and it makes me want to do something to help. I have been learning about red light districts and how promising jobs turn into disasters and forced prostitution. The authors Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn travelled to these places and talked to/tried to help women that have fallen prey to the terrible cycle. I have heard two stories so far and it really makes me want to get involved and educate women to stop sex trafficking.

The Invisible Man

I just finished The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Although the book lacked an engaging plot, I did enjoy the uniqueness of the concept. The writing style called for a slow reading of the book, because it was written in 1897. In order to fully understand what was going on, I sometimes had to reread sentences or at least go slower than normal, which is why it took me a while to get through this relatively short book.
Overall, I would probably give this book a 5 or 6 out of 10. As I said earlier, the plot was slow moving, sort of hard to follow, and the only real action came in the end of the book. But even this was somewhat disappointing. I also felt as if the writing style lacked emotion; it seemed to be more focused on describing what happened rather than really developing characters and showing their struggles. To give the book some credit, however, the ending was unpredictable and I really didn't know how the book was going to turn out. All in all, I found The Invisible Man to be a fairly enjoyable passtime, but it definitely does not crack my list of favorite books of all time.

Lost Voices

Lost Voices is a book written by Sarah Porter. It tells the story of a fourteen-year-old girl, Luce, who's father died one night at sea, leaving her alone, on the coast of Alaska, with her abusive and alcoholic uncle Peter. After a night of drinking, Peter's actions drive Luce to wish for death. Diving off the rocky cliffs would bring about certain death to most girls, but something different happens to Luce. In the darkness of the cold ocean, a transformation occurs, turning Luce into a mermaid. Unlike most mermaid-relatied tales, however, Luce is drawn to the dark, alluring tribe of other mermaids, who use their sirenesk-powers to lure sailors to their deaths. Luce's gifts make her suddenly become either a powerful ally...or a dangerous enemy. Catarina, the groups' leader, wonders about Luce's faith in her tribe as a shocking detail of Luce's path surfaces after Luce saves a young boy. Luce and Catarina's friendship is at the tipping point of rivalship and best friend hood when the group commits mass murder, drowning all but one new, young mermaid. With her persuasive words and beautiful voice, this new mermaid theaters everything Luce stands for with her dark, alluring beauty. In her first, heartbreaking, breathtaking novel, Sarah Porter has captured the essence of fear and despair, as well as the essence and power of friendship. I highly recommend this book, but keep in mind it is a mature book, probably not for anyone under the age of 14, or anyone not able to handle reading about sexual harassment.

Catching Fire

I have recently finished the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. This is the second book in a three book series. The second book was twice as good as the first. in had me in constant suspense, and it brought on an unexpected turn in events that left the book with a strong cliff hanger. I will warn you that as soon as you finish the second book you will immediately go out and buy the third (at least that was what I did). If I were to rank the book out of ten I would give it... a 9.999 etc. The only reason why I did not give it a 10 was because it a couple of short boring romantic parts during the suspenseful part, and I hate when that happens during a movie! Anyway, the book had sort of a mystery theme to part of it, which is very different from the other book. The plot of this book also changed slightly from the first book because the first book's plot was to survive the Hunger Games, but now it is to defy the Capital and escape. Because of its change in plot it has became a lot more interesting to me and I would recommend for you to read it too.

I recently finished the book The Winter Garden by Kristen Hannah. This was the best book ever. I really loved this book, it was set in multiple locations including Seattle, Russia, and Alaska. It switched from reality, to flashbacks, and then to a wild fairy tale. It was a great love story that was mixed with family troubles, dealing with losing a loved one, and just trying to stay on top in life. I didn't think that i would like this book, but it go amazing after the first few pages. It has a slow start, but once you get into it you won't be able to put it down. I read it right through without stopping because it was so good. Everybody should read this book because it just has a lot of great life lessons and the story will move you.

Horse Heaven

I'm currently reading the book Horse Heaven. This book is about the lives of horses, their jockeys, and all the people involved in the daily lives of horse racing. It gives in insight to the everyday lives of the people that own race horses. It follows many people, some who have had famous race horses, who go on to the high stakes races and then the others who have horses that fail and never win a single race. This is a great book so far, i'm about 240 pages into it and i'm loving it so much! I really enjoy this book because I'm a rider, but it offers great stories for pretty much anyone! This book took me to many different scenarios and places and i got to see horses from completely different time periods in one book. Great read.

Nick Washuta-final post

Over length of the quarter I have read part of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (152 pages), finished Tangerine by Edward Bloor (303 pages), and read the Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall (112 pages). In the 2^nd quarter I have read 567 pages.

I finished Tangerine (which I know most of you have read) and near the end lots of mysteries begin to unravel. Paul meets Luis Cruz who gets killed by Erik and Arthur…which Paul also knew. Later Tino and Victor show up, to beat up Erik, at Erik’s high school football award ceremony when he is getting his awards. Tino and Victor accomplished what they came for and ran away. Paul runs too after he jumped a coach and is cornered by Erik and Arthur near his home. He has a flashback at that moment and figures how he nearly got blinded…by Erik and his old friend in Texas spraying spray paint in his eyes…not by staring at an eclipse. The book ends with Paul on his way to a new school rolling the windows down smelling the scent of the golden dawn tangerine.

Now the Ultimate Gift.  Alright I’m going to be honest with you… the only reason I was going to read this book was to fill in the last fifty some pages that I needed to read. I didn’t even plan on finishing the book. From saying this, though, I couldn’t put the book down, one of the very few. This book had a great outline and marks as one of my favorite books. Red Stevens, a multi-billionaire, has provided everyone in his family with everything they needed. The family soon became very greedy when Red dies. Everyone shows up at the reading of his will and get what they get and leave. The only person left with nothing is Jason Stevens. He is the main character in the book and thinks he is all it. His life changes when he is sitting in the room and the TV turns on, and Red appears; “Jason, if you are watching this right now I must be dead…” in the long run Red asks Jason if he wants to go on a year long journey receiving life lessons and learning what life really is. He regrets it in the first few months but later notices how thankful he is for everything. Red put together 12 months worth of life lessons and on the last one he would receive the ultimate gift. The life lessons/gifts were the gift of: work, money, friends, learning problems, family, laughter, dreams, giving, gratitude, a day, and love. In the end he thinks his ultimate gift was learning the all the gifts but it turns out Jason inherits Red’s billion dollar trust fund! This book was very inspiring and I would recommend it to you even though it was an easy read.

Temptest Rising

I am half way through a book called Temptest Rising, by Tracy Deebs, and it is about a girl named Temptest Maguire, who lives in California with her two brothers, Rio and Moku, and her dad. She has always known that she was a mermaid and that on her seventeenth birthday would have to make the decision her mom did ten years ago when she left them for the sea. She would either get to stay on land, or go back to the sea. Temptest has always wanted to stay on land and surf with her boyfriend Mark and her friends, but then she meets a boy, Kona, who is a sealie. One night as he was walking home with Kona, she kissed him, and felt the need to return to sea, which she did. And that's as far as I have gotten.

The Nine Lives of Chloe King

I just finished reading this really long book called The Nine Lives of Chloe King. It was about a girl named Chloe King who, on the day before her sixteenth birthday, skips school to go to a tower in San Francisco where she lives with her two best friends, Amy and Paul, called Coit Tower. Chloe then falls out of one of the windows of the 700ft. building, and dies. But just moments later, she comes back to life. After she gets up and tells her friends that somehow she is fine and unhurt, just a little dizzy, she goes home. the next night, she goes out to a club called the Bank, and meets a boy called Xavier. They leave the club together, and she kisses him. Then the book goes on to talk about how she finds out from this guy she likes at her school, Alyec, that she is Mai, an ancient race of people that are half cat, half human. They are able to run faster and longer than humans, they can jump really high, defend themselfes well, and they have night vision. But there's one catch. Mai and human's can't mate. Ever. If they do, then the human dies.

Brians Hunt

Brians hunt is a relatively short book (190 Pages) however, it is very interesting and it is one of those books that you just can put down. Brian is a boy that is sixteen years old, but he is different than other boys, to begin with, he can no stand living in cities. instead, he prefers to live in the woods in north minnesota and low Canada. He leaves his home for the summer and barely keeps up with school by bringing a textbook or two. he only does this during the summer, and he has done it before, but this trip will be different. on his first night, he found a wounded dog in the woods. at first he wasn't sure what to do with it but he decided to bring it back to health and then find its owner and return it. he was pretty sure whose dog it was so he canoed to their camp, but he didn't find any of them there. instead, he found a nasty surprise. A bear had gotten into their house and killed all but one, dragged the bodies into the woods and eaten them. he found all but one body, and the rest of the book is brian finding the missing person. overall it is a great book to read in a short amount of time.

What My GirlFriend Doesnt Know

Last time I blogged about this book, Robin and Sophie were in a fight and avoiding each other. Well, of course the made up and decided to take a stand against the bullying. They made tee shirts basically say they were in a relationship and were freaks. Unexpectedly, people slowly started to support them and write freak on their own tees. Their art teacher even starts to wear shirts with the word freak drawn on. Everything seems to be going great at this point, Robin and Sophie are together again, Sophie’s friends support their relationship, and bullies aren’t a concern anymore. Then of course, they get into another fight about how Robin cares more about his artwork than Sophie and Robin decides to confide in Teresa and ends up cheating on Sophie. That is were I am right now because, I got so upset I could not keep reading!

The Death Cure

I finished reading The Death Cure by James Dashner. This was a really good book that ended a fantastic trilogy. Thomas and his glader friends have a chance to get their old memories back. Some want them back, but some don't. Thomas is one of the ones who doesn't want his memory back. WICKED then explains more about the trails to his friends. He tells them that most of the Gladers are not affected by the Flare, a deadly disease that makes people go crazy. Thomas is one of Immunes, but sadly his good friend Newt is not. Not wanting to trust WICKED Thomas and his friends escape to Denver, only to find out that other Galders from Group B also have escaped. Since Thomas is Immune people who have the Flare hate him. Now Thomas must try to escape from WICKED without them making an offer which can't he can't resist.
This is a story about the World almost ending. this is a very exciting book and has a lot of good descriptions. This is a pretty realilistic book on the World ending because it kind off relates to global warming. I strongly reccomend these books.

Make Lemonade

I recently finished the book, Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff. This book focuses on the aspect of teen pregnancy. Two teen girls change their lives to spend it with the people they love. Jolly, a seventeen year old girl has two kids Jilly and Jeremy. She is having a difficult time managing her job while taking care of her loving children at the same time. Throughout the book, it is teaching me what makes adults adults, and how teenagers take on the role of becoming an adult. Many teens are trying to grow up too fast, and Jolly is one example of this. This book also is an example of how teens learn to manage their time with both school and work at the same time. LaVaughn, a fourteen year old girl, is working extra hard in school to keep her grades up so she can apply for college, but at the same time she is babysitting Jolly's two children, and she eventually helps Jolly have a more efficient lifestyle by putting her kids in daycare, and starting the "Moms-Up Program" which helps her to gain her education back and manage her time through this hard time.

The Boyfriend List

I am currently reading The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. From the first few pages I fell in love with this book!! It is about a quirky high school girl who is seeing a therapist because her parents think she's going nuts. The main character Ruby "Roo" Oliver is told to make a list of all the guys that she's ever had anything to do with. At first this is a challenge for her but Ruby quickly comes up with The Boyfriend List, which contains 15 boys. Throughout her appointments with her "shrink" Ruby tells all about her experiences with all 15 guys and how all of them are connected.

I really like how this is a lighthearted book that is very funny!! It has an interesting layout because utthroughout each chapter there are sub numbers next to a lot of the paragraphs. At the end of the chapter Ruby goes into further detail about what she was thinking/feeling when she said those words.

Ivy

I just finished reading the book Ivy by Julie Hearn. Its a story set around the 1800s in Europe. It is about a young girl with abnormally red hair. She is living in an impoverished family that has lied and cheated its way for every ounce of bread that they can afford. Because of a regularly used drug from her childhood, that caused drowsiness called laudanum, she is addicted to it as a young adult. She becomes dependent on it to get through the day. Soon her fire colored hair attracts an unwanted guest. He is a painter named Oscar Frosdick who is trying to make it big as a painter but needs the right "stunner" to do that. Ivy is forced into a modeling job with Oscar by her family who desperately want all the money they can get, even if Ivy doesn’t want to. She soon discovers that doing this was a possibly fatal mistake, because Oscar has an extremely jealous mother who hates Ivy for being the object of Oscar’s paintings. She will try by any means to do away with Ivy. But before Ivy can worry about that can she throw off her deadly addiction to laudanum. This was a really interesting book and I liked it a lot!