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Post by Christian Trent on Jun 25, 2013 17:25:03 GMT -5
The book I read was Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour. The story starts out with Major Joe Makatozi, and air-force pilot being held captive in Siberia after his plane was shot down during a test flight. This was the doing of Colonel Arkady Zamatev, a man on the rise to power and fame. He brought down this American to question him on the test flights he had been doing. Zamatev did this to the wrong man, however, for Joe Makatozi, or Joe Mack as his friends called him, was a Sioux Indian, and it was not in him to give up without a fight. With some help from another prisoner, Joe Mack escapes the night after being brought in, and quickly puts as much space between the isolated prison and himself as possible. Zamatev sends guards out to search, but no sign of the escaped American is found. If it was not already hard enough for Joe Mack to escape across an unknown country with no food or warm clothing, Zamatev puts Alekhin on the job to track Joe. Alekhin was a Yakut, the Siberian counterpart of the American Indian. It was Alekhin's pride that no one had ever eluded him once he started tracking. Joe Mack begins thinking as his ancestors once did, and makes himself moccasins and a bow with arrows. This is how he gets food. He is also careful not to leave any signs of his passing as he travels, for he knows that Alekhin is following him, and he knows of Alekhin's abilities. Joe Mack runs into a man named Yakov, who tells him the whereabouts of a refuge not to far away. Joe makes it there, and becomes friends with Stephan Baronas and his daughter, Natalya. Word comes around that Zamatev knows that Joe Mack is at the refuge so he leaves at once. Before he leaves, he tells Natalya that he will one day find her again. Natalya and her father also left the refuge so as to not be used as a bargaining tool to lure Joe Mack. Finding and capturing Joe Mack is such a big deal to Zamatev because if Joe escapes, Zamatev's career will go nowhere. Joe Mack begins heading northeast, planning to go the same way as his ancestors did, and cross the Bering Strait. Natalya's father, Stephan, dies while in the wilderness just from his old body not being able to take it, leaving Natalya on her own. Natalya runs into an old man she once knew who was also on the run, and they make it to a town bordering China. They realize that they are both being looked after by the law, and talk to an official of the town who decided to let them though to China that night. As they approach the gate, a woman stops them and tells them they are under arrest. Before she can arrest the, another highly ranked man comes out and tells the woman that they were no longer wanted by the law, because Siberia wanted to focus it's search efforts on Joe Mack. So Natayla and this man make it safely to China, and the man tells Natayla that he will find a way to get her to America. A man sees Joe Mack, and by now almost the whole area of Siberia knows of the escaped American, and knows that they will receive some compensation if the help in his capture. So this man contacts Zamatev and tells him where he saw the American. Alekhin, who was already nearby, encloses Joe Mack with vehicles in every direction and armed men on every side. Joe Mack, knowing he is trapped, puts down his gun and walks out to the men. He figured that if he tried to make a run for it, they would shoot at his legs and cripple him, but if he surrendered he may be able to escape again. Zamatev is told of the Joe Mack's capture, and began to fly to the area he is being held. In the meantime, Joe Mack was being beaten brutally by all of the guards. The man who turned him in listened to the beating as he waits with Alekhin. The man felt sick, and as he left the place he unlocked the door to the small building in which Joe Mack was being kept. As he does this, he whispered, "Now!" Joe Mack, in hancuffs and barely conscious hears this and crawls to the door. He gets up, opens the door, and hears the guards snoring. So he walks over to the man and knocked him out, took a set of keys from him, grabbed a gun, and gets in a nearby car. As he leaves he fires at a gas tank and there is a large explosion. After driving awhile, Joe Mack abandoned the car and goes back on foot because it would be better for him to stay away from roads. After weeks of walking, his wounds are healed for the most part, and he nears the coast. He saw Alekhin and some men behind him, and fired at them before running down to the water. He talked to a man standing there, and the man gave him a kayak to use later that night. Joe Mack goes back up to meet Alekhin one on one. In the final chapter, readers are told about Zamatev in his office opening up a package. It contained the scalp of Alekhin, and it also had a note. The note said: "THIS WAS ONCE A CUSTOM OF MY PEOPLE. IN MY LIFETIME I SHALL TAKE TWO. THIS IS THE FIRST. "I chose this book because my dad told me about it and said it was one of his favorites. This book was very good, and very descriptive. It was almost like you were right there with Joe Mack on his journey. I think anyone who wants to read a very exciting adventure story and enjoys action should read this book.
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Post by nickhargroveiv on Jun 25, 2013 18:48:53 GMT -5
The book I read was Dracula by Bram Stoker. It takes place in the Victorian era. It begins with a lawyer, Jonathan Harker, traveling from London to Transylvania to conduct some real estate business with Count Dracula. He is held against his will at Dracula's Castle for some while. He discovers many things in the castle including Dracula's three wives. Dracula and Harker get onto a ship headed for London. When the ship arrives the crew is gone, the captain is found dead, and Dracula and Harker are nowhere to be found. We meet Mina, Harker's fiancee, and her friend Lucy. Lucy has three possible suitors: Quincey, John and Arthur. She begins to get very sick and so John calls his friend Doctor Abraham Van Helsing. He treats her for days but to no avail, and he realizes that a vampire has been feeding on her. The day that Van Helsing leaves, Lucy dies. Harker returns home and marries Mina. When there are reports in the news paper of children being stalked by a beautiful lady, Van Helsing concludes that Lucy has become a vampire. He, and Lucy's former fiancee track her down down and behead her. Dracula comes in the night several times and feeds on Mina. She goes into a trance where Dracula controls her. Van Helsing, Harker, and Quincey travel to Transylvania to kill Dracula and end his control over Mina. Van Helsing goes and kills Dracula's three wives. Harker and Quincey find Dracula in his coffin being carried by gypsies. One of the gypsies stabs Quincey but before he dies he stabs Dracula in the heart. Dracula turns to ash.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes horror stories. It has a lot of action in it too so also people who like that might like this book. I enjoyed it because of the suspense and the colorful details in the writing.
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Post by Gracelyn Ross on Jun 25, 2013 19:05:43 GMT -5
The book I read is called The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. It is a small book about a boy named Matt who is twelve who lives with his father in a cabin they built on the land that will eventually become Maine. In the book it is 1768 and Matt’s father has to leave to bring back the rest of his family from Massachusetts. Matt must raise their crop of corn and take care of the cabin by himself while his father is gone. Time goes by and many things happen in the beginning of the story such as the “visitor” who comes and in the night slips away with matt’s gun and a bear getting into the cabin while Matt is out hunting. One day though Matt decides that he is going to get honey from a tree with a bees nest in it that he and his father had found earlier and was told to leave alone. He ends up getting attacked by the bees and stung many times. But an Indian saves him when the bees went away and took him home. When he woke up the next day the Indian is back with his grandson, Attean, who is about the same age as Matt. He ends up making an offer that if Matt teaches Attean to read then Attean while bring him food. Attean is scornful of white men and is not happy with this idea but Matt agrees. At first Matt is uncertain of how he should teach him and Attean is stubborn. But after time and many adventures they teach each other and become good friends. Matt becomes well known in the Indian village and goes there with Attean many times. But when it starts to get colder the Indians prepare to leave and Matt’s father still hasn’t come back, so Attean and his grandfather try to convince Matt to leave with them because they aren’t coming back but Matt refuses to leave because he must wait for his father. Attean tells Matt that he probably isn’t coming back because it was taking him so long but Matt does not leave. So after they leave Matt suffers throughout the winter and waits for his family. They come back in the end to a warm cabin full of food and all of them together. I chose this book because I like some types of historical fiction and I love stories with Indians because I am part Cherokee and I like stories that are during the time period with Indians and when people started coming to settle in America. This is one of my favorite books even though it is so short because of the differences between Attean and Matt and that they end up becoming close friends. They show their friendship and loyalty many times over and help each other out. I like that the book shows how they can dislike each other in the beginning but become friends at the end. This book would probably appeal to people who like historical fiction and different sorts of cultures in books. So If you have time to read a short little book read The Sign of the Beaver.
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Post by cookies on Jun 25, 2013 19:27:11 GMT -5
Matched
By Ally Condie
Cassia lives in a dystopian society where she doesn't really get to decide anything. There's a goverment like body called the Society that makes all life decisions for its people. The Society chooses the school you go to, when you go to school, what your job is going to be, one recreational activity and who you are going to marry and even how many pieces of art/poetry/music you can have.
When Cassia turns 17 she is matched(everyone is matched at 17) to a boy called Xander. Xander is a boy she grew up with, so it's kind of a mistake that she is matched with Xander. There was a blip in the system and it also matched Cassia with Ky. Ky is not from any of the towns and everyone considers him an outcast.
This book is kind of a romance. Cassia has a hard time choosing between Ky and Xander and the Society makes it hard for her to make any choice at all. Because she is trying to choose she realizes that the Society is wrong about lots of things. This book reminds me of The Hunger Games a little bit because of the different towns and the rules passed down to the different groups of people. I just finished this book and it leaves you having to read the next book to find out what happens to Cassia, Ky and Xander.
I chose this book because my mom bought me the series for Christmas after one of her friends said her son liked it.
I enjoyed the book. It was very good. It made me feel like I was reading a girl book at times because they talked about a lot of love and stuff. I kept waiting for the action to start but it was more drama instead of action.
I think everyone can read this book unless you are in to real action and war, non-fiction or mysteries. It really was good, it was about struggling against government, what teenagers really want and how everyone has to conform sometimes.
It's a really girlie book. I can tell my mom picked it out but now I need to read the others to find out what happens.
Girls will like this book better than boys.
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Post by Lexi Barry on Jun 25, 2013 20:17:52 GMT -5
Review 1: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
If I Stay by Gayle Forman is the tragic story of seventeen year old Mia, the girl who had the decision of life or death. This story is written in first person point of view and in Mia's perspective. This book makes you feel like you are really there with Mia and experiencing just what she is. By the end of the novel you will for sure be choosing a side. This was one of those books I simply could not put down.  There is also a second book in this series called Where She Went. It shows this book but in her boyfriend Adam's point of view.
One snowy morning, Mia and her family were in the car on their way to visit some relatives, they always debated on what to listen to and finally decided on Beethovens Cello Sonata No. 3. Mia closed her eyes to soak up the music and when her eyes opened she was in for a rude awakening and something that would change her life forever. She and her family had been in a severe car crash. She was unconscious in a ditch but somehow she was standing outside of her body watching what was happening. She saw herself get carried away and put into an ambulance. She also saw sadly, her parents both lying there dead and her little brother Teddy in severe condition. She saw her life flash before her eyes and the first image that popped up was the day her boyfriend Adam and her had their first date. Adam was her amazing boyfriend, whom her parents loved and she adored. They both had a passion for music and shared in loving each other. Mia was a marvelous young girl and is faced with the biggest decision of all. She is in a coma but she can control when or if she wakes up. She has to decide if life is worth the fight or if she should just give up the fight. Throughout the novel it shows you how her world is turned upside down, how love could conquer all, how much life means to you, and her thoughts about what has happened in her life. If you were in Mia's shoes what would your decision be? Would you live life without your parents and possibly without your brother or would you die? This book really makes you think about how grateful you are and how lucky you are to be alive.
I chose to read this book because I love tragedy books, I love feeling as if I am the character, and I love being in suspense. In this book I was in suspense the ENTIRE novel until the very last line. This author really knows how to trigger your emotions and ask questions while you are reading. My opinion of this book is that it is amazing and really down to Earth. It is written from Mia's point of view and that makes you see this ordeal from her side and how much she went through. It really is an amazing book simply because it is so realistic that it could actually happen and you get to experience exactly what Mia is going through. I give this book 5 stars and 2 thumbs up!! People who would like this book are people of both genders, people who like tragedies and crying, people who love suspense(because this book has a ton of that), and people who love being in the main characters shoes and feeling what they are feeling. Overall this book has to be one of my all time favorites! Please enjoy!
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Post by zachloflin on Jun 25, 2013 20:30:25 GMT -5
The first book I read this summer is called Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (though I don't think Patterson wrote much of this book).
Zoo is about a poor blogger/biologist named Jackson Oz. Oz is considered insane by his fellow biologists. He has theory called HAC: Human Animal Conflict. Basically Oz has realized an alarming increase in animal attacks on humans. The problem is that so far no one believes him. Oz is a college dropout that has had no real job and no evidence of why the attacks are increasing. He has gone to many hearings only to be laughed off the stage. But when a whole village in Africa gets killed by lions, an African safari guide who was considered a lion expert around the world contacts Jackson. He wants him to go to Botswana, Africa to document the odd lion behavior. When Abe takes Oz out in the wilderness they immediately notice things that seem out of sort. Like empty jeeps with blood stains on the doors and tourist objects strung about on the ground. When they stop to take pictures of these items they are soon surrounded by lions. All male lions. Which never happens. Abe gets killed after shooting some lions. Oz miraculously escapes by getting in the jeep and flipping it into a river. Oz was happy after all of this happened though because he got every thing on tape. The jeep obviously no longer works so he has to walk back (he is on the opposite side of the by this point) to the airport. Everything is going fine until he hears screaming. He looks in the river and sees a screaming woman clinging to a rock with crocodiles in hot pursuit behind her. After convincing the woman to swim to shore he learned that her name was Chloe a French biologist. Oz is immediately attracted to her even with her being covered in mud. They hit it off immediately and Chloe agreed to come with Oz back to the U.S. to spread the news about HAC. Oz creates a large convention to show world famous biologists his video. He also schedules a visit with a U.S. senator. When he arrives at the visit with the senator he gets blown off. Oz gets furious and tries to make a seen to get on national television. He ends up getting arrested. the book then cuts to 5 years later. Somehow Oz got out of prison, married Chloe, and had a child. Also, HAC has been accepted by the government, though the cause is still unknown. The book then switches back and forth between Oz's life and vivid animal attacks on humans.
I chose this book while in Barnes and Noble. I read the back and the first chapter and it sounded great.
I thought the book started off very nicely. But then it seems as if the author got lazy and decided to just skip over five whole years. Not that he should have wrote 5 whole years worth of book but he skipped over some very key moments in Oz's life. Even after he skipped the 5 years the author seemed to have gotten bored with the plot and decided to write about animals murdering humans instead. Overall I was disappointed with the ending.
You might enjoy this book if you like authors that use great descriptive words. Also if you like high paced action scenes. I don't recommend to those who don't like swear words! Very colorful language in this book!
~Zach Loflin
6-25-13
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Post by Andrew Runyon on Jun 25, 2013 21:04:10 GMT -5
I read Calico Joe by John Grisham. It is a book about a fictional baseba player named Joe Castle who's baseball career is cut short by a beanball to the temple. The beanball is thrown by the main character, Paul Tracey's father, Warren Tracey. Warren is deadbeat dad. He's never been there for Paul and Paul hates him. When Warren is on his deathbed, Paul makes him feel guilty and go track down Joe Castle and apologize for intentionally ending his career. I chose this book because I enjoy baseball and this book looked interesting. I think this is a quality book. It is very well written and very interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think all baseball fans would really appreciate this book.
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Post by juliadmartinez on Jun 25, 2013 21:24:32 GMT -5
The Silver Linings Playbook The title of the book I chose to read this summer is The Silver Linings Playbook. The book was written by Matthew Quick, who has also written two other novels, as well as two upcoming ones in the near future. This novel has been adapted into a critically acclaimed film, which has had the honor of winning an Oscar. Quick has recently won the PEN/Hemmingway Honorable Award Mention.
This novel is about a man named Pat Peoples who suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) caused by his divorce from his wife. As a result Pat spends eight months in an institution only to be released to the care of his parents in his hometown of Philadelphia, only with the help and guidance of his therapist Cliff. While trying to get a steady foot back into his reality, he is introduced to his close friend's wife's sister named Tiffany. Tiffany, who just recently lost her husband, bonds quickly with Pat. Pat's only goal is to reunite with his ex-wife Nikki, and he will do anything to achieve it. In a sneaky deal, Tiffany agrees to be a liaison for Pat in order to contact Nikki due to legal reasons. In exchange Tiffany will use Pat as a dance partner in a local contest. After winning the contest and conversing with Nikki through letters, Pat rudely discovers that Tiffany wrote Nikki's letters- Nikki and Pat never truly reconnected, and that Nikki had remarried and now has two children. Pat, with good reason, is hurt and betrayed by Tiffany, and refuses to speak to her again. After long contemplation Pat realizes how much he needs Tiffany-and vise versa because they have been through similar situations. Pat finally finds his silver lining and lives a happy life with Tiffany.
I chose this book by seeing the previews for the movie on TV. I didn't really have a clue what the book was about until I had heard the plot from a friend. The further I read, the less I could put it down. The whole time I was consumed in the story and blazed through it in a few days.
I really enjoyed this book because the author made it so easy to feel what Pat was feeling. When Pat was hurt or betrayed, you really understood his raw emotions, and the same thing goes with his happiness and joy. So much that you began to find yourself in a similar mood. Overall I found this book entertaining with a strong story about an average man.
I think any one who is willing to read an entertaining book with a positive vibe and hidden humor should consider reading this novel. I would recommend it to my friends and would enjoy comparing notes. Also for any one who has seen the movie, the books are always better!
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Post by spence on Jun 25, 2013 21:48:53 GMT -5
The story I read is called Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham. Theodore Boone is just a normal thirteen year old guy in the 8th grade at Strattenburg Elementary. He is just like everybody else, except for the fact that both of his parents are lawyers. Theodore spends a lot of time in his parents’ law firm, and has made himself an “office” in an old storage closet. He has a lot of friends from his school and is a fairly popular kid. He lives near his uncle Ike who is his weird uncle but acts as a brother to him by offering Theo Beer and then giving him a soda, or wearing Caribbean style clothes and sandals when he goes to see Theo. He sounds like a pretty cool uncle to me. Well Theo’s friends know that he knows the law like the back of his hand, and they go to him for legal advice. Theo helps out his best friend April when she and her dog are summoned into Animal court. He acts as her lawyer, because Theodore and the animal court judge are good friends. The whole town is excited because there is the first murder trial in Strattenburg since Theodore’s parents were children.
The case of Pete Duffy occurs when a man murders his wife and pulls all of the right strings so that he gets off clean and it looks like just a normal intruder. The whole town is awaiting the trial, and as you can guess, Theodore is studying and learning the case backwards and forwards so that he knows the ins and the out of what is going on during the trial. He even plans to miss school to go to the trial. Theo and his friends talk about the trial, his homeroom teacher has Theo fill in the class on the background of the case, and Theo arranges for them to get seats at the first day of trial. Theodore talks to a guy from his school whose cousin works at the golf course where Pete Duffy lives and he has crucial information that will change the verdict completely. There is a twist. The witness is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador and he is afraid that if he tells police about the trial then they will also send him back to El Salvador. Theo is the only one who knows about this and he is being mentally tormented whether or not to break his promise not to tell anyone and save the trial.
I really enjoyed reading this book because I love to read mysteries like the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew and so this was a modern twist on mystery novels, and I loved to read it. I would highly recommend this book to anybody who loves a good mystery, and likes for their book to keep them from going to sleep because they want to read it. I chose the book because I was in the library with my mom and brother and I remembered this assignment so I told a librarian I liked mysteries and this was what she brought back to me, so I read it and I am very glad that I did.
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Post by debbiecoleman on Jun 25, 2013 22:51:40 GMT -5
For my first summer reading assignment, I decided to read Pretties by Scott Westerfield. This is the second book in the amazing Uglies series. Its funny because I read the first book and I loved it, but I couldn't find the sequel to that so I skipped to the third. *oops*  Well, I went back! In this series you will read of adventure, thrill, billions and BILLIONS of parties, rebels, and extreme cliques. You see, in this book, everything and everyone falls into some kind of category; even when you are a little kid. In this seemingly futuristic time, you are destined to be a "Pretty". You start out as a "Littlie", then you become an "Ugly", and on the day you turn 16, what better way to say "Happy Birthday!" than an extreme surgery that alters your cheekbones, eyes, arms, tummy, and anything else! Yup, that's what this society calls being "pretty". The Pretty life is a wild, social, and rebellious teenager's dream: no school, endless parties, alcohol as a pass-time (I find that sad), and moreover-everyone around you is super attractive. Oh yeah! Get this girls- your closet is voice activated, has no holding limit, and it can shoot out anything from your imagination! Sounds like a dream come true, right? Well...the Pretty society has rules. I feel like these rules are more of a control issue that is being perused against your will, and it all starts with that that surgery. In that transforming surgery, the doctors are told to (by this horrible government) to put these lesions in your brain. These lesions are like a cancer, but they don't grow. They control what you think, do and kind of damper the fullness of who that human being really is. Tally's mission is to stop this democracy. Tally Youngblood is the main character in this book. In the beginning of the story, she is in the middle of a bad hangover. To Tally, this party is no ordinary bash. This is the party at which she will became a member of the "Crims" (Criminals) clique. Although this was supposed to be a joyous celebration for Tally, the party comes crashing down for her when she suddenly recognizes and old friend from The Smoke. This person is a rebellious Ugly who ran away to The Smoke, where the uglies who know more than they should take refuge from the magnetizing Pretty world. This old friend is named Croy, and he has something from the Smoke to Tally. She kinda shrugs him off and returns to her life when Zane, the leader of The Crims asks her about Croy (whom he'd previously known). She tells him everything and he says he too wanted to travel to The Smoke, but he'd chickened out. Although he'd already been transformed, he still wanted to find what that item that Croy needed her to find was. When they find the item after hard and grievous trials, Tally also finds a letter from her "former self". This letter was written before she had her surgery, explaining everything- from the lesions to why she had become a pretty, and that was to take these pills that were supposed to remove the lesions. She and Zane take these pills together and they try to change the crims, or rather, make them bubbly. This word as you may think is associated with happiness and possibly frolicking in fields of daisies! Well, in pretty language, this means you do things that your old ugly-self would do as a non-controlled and fully personalized teen. The crims follow along in these shenanigans, but Special Circumstances (basically the cops of the pretty world that make sure a) everything is under control, b) no one is bubbly, but most importantly c) the lesions are doing what they're supposed to be doing) trace these occurrences to Tally and Zane. They are then monitored by these irremovable wrist cuffs that record everything that they say. Well, Tally's not going to let those dirty-rotten Special Circumstances destroy her plans, so she wraps several scarves around hers and Zane's cuffs to muffle or even mute the microphone. Now, Tally's best friend Shay (also another member of the crims) is getting bubbly, and she's remembering some of her past life, including how Tally totally betrayed her back in the Smoke. Tally is forced to tell Shay about the lesion pills, making Shay mad that she wasn't part of this rescue plan. She rebukes Tally and forms a new group called the Cutters (basically a self-harm group.) that hurt themselves to stay bubbly. In this fight, though, Shay is shouting and not only can Tally hear her, but also her microphone on the wrist cuff can. On the other side, Zane is suffering from extreme headaches, and he goes to the hospital. Tally goes into Panic and flees to the "New Smoke", also explained in the letter. Peris, Tally's "boyfriend" finds her as she's attempting to escape the pretty world in a hot air balloon. He doesn't want to join her in her escape and so he stalls the balloon and Tally drops to an area with some people who are practically stone age. They were sort of primitive, so they hadn't reached the any of the Ugly or Pretty regions yet. Unfortunately they also didn't speak Tally's language. Tally meets someone a while after who speaks her language and helps her to the rusty ruins. She calls out names from the Smoke, hoping someone would hear her. Yes! Low and behold comes her previous lover from the Smoke, David. David takes her to the New Smoke, where she meets his mother and she explains that the pills were meant to be taken by one person. One pill ate away the lesions, and the other stopped it when the lesions were gone. Well, Tally had the "stopping" pill and Zane's pill was now eating away his brain. They also find that a tracker chip was placed in his tooth when he went to the hospital and so Tally stays with Zane. David is Jealous and thinks She's only staying with him because well, he's more attractive! Tally needed for David to get away so he wouldn't get into trouble with Special Circumstances and so she said something rather insulthing to David. He ultimatley leaves her. When Tally and Zane do get caught and they're in the Special Circumstances headquarters, Tally sees that Shay has become apart of that horible group. This amazing book ends in a cliff hanger that leads you into the next book, Specials. I enjoyed this book because of the many twists and turns that kept you reading page after page. I also enjoyed this book because I loved the first and I thought it'd be cool to clear up some things from the third! I'd reccomend this book to any readers that enjoy future-istic stories! |
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Post by Yoon Kim on Jun 25, 2013 22:52:45 GMT -5
My second book is "Hen come out of the yard." by Sun-mi, Hwang.
There are a lot of hens in the yard, and one of hen wants incubate eggs, her name is Dal(It's Korean name). But she can make eggs but she can't incubate eggs, because she is in the yard where people wants eggs which can eat. She decide to get out of here. She has a duck friend,Green(also Korean name). His girlfriend is pregnent, but few days after, she is killed. A weasel eat her, and Green needs someone can incubate egg. Of course Dal wants do this, she really wants. Greean and Dal start trip to protect egg. Dal keep incubate egg and Green keep protect Dal and his egg from a weasel and weasel keep looking them. One day, Green go to lake to drink water, and weasel is walking to Green. Green is killed. There is only Dal and egg. Weasel is going to them, she really try to protect, she fight with weasel, do her best. But she is just a hen, Weasel kill her and eat egg.
Why i choose this story? That's because i can see that she try her best what she want, she never give up. This story show that if you do not try, then you can not do anything. Impossible, you try and sweat, then it will be i'm possible.
This book is pretty popular for teenager, most people know this book and my opinion about this book is that it is a book which "teenageer have to read'.
Every teenager might enjoy this book.
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Post by Berenice Quinonez on Jun 25, 2013 23:05:13 GMT -5
I chose the book The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. It's a story that revolved around the friendship of two boys in Afghanistan around 1975. Amir was the fortunate one, with a powerful father and Hassan was the son of a servant, that Amir's father owned. It all started with the discrimination of Hassan's ethnicity, a Hazara, and due to the harassment Hazara's were beaten, made fun of, and tortured and because of Amir's jealousy towards Hassan he ignored a rape and blamed money theft on Hassan which ended their relationship completely. Few years later Amir and Baba have to leave Afghanistan and move to California because of the soviets. Amir and Baba are reduced to poverty in the United States. But in their lives in America Amir finds a wife for himself and weeks later after their wedding Baba dies. Then few months later one of Baba's old friends from Afghanistan convinces Amir to come visit him because he's on the border of death. When arriving at Baba's friends house Amir is convinced to go find Hassan's little boy because Hassan and his wife were murdered and they left the little boy in an orphanage. On his journey to take the little boy to another family he finds out that the boy is actually with the man who had raped Hassan and was the now abusing the boy. In trying to save the boy from the man he gets beaten up and finding out that the boy actually doesn't have another family. So Amir decides to take him home with him since his wife and him can't have any children but not before the boy tries to kill himself and after that he doesn't show any sign of speech or emotion just until the very end when Amir shows the boy how to use a kite and shows him a special move Hassan use to do to. I chose this book because my older sister told me it was an extremely good book and that she loved it, and I agree. I thought that Hosseini described the plot and the settings so well I could practically see it. As well with the emotions each character went through, I felt it. I believe people interested in powerful meaningful stories should read this because it held so many great morals that an be later used in life.
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Post by Austin Oplotnik on Jun 25, 2013 23:18:32 GMT -5
Animal Farm by George Orwell is a classic well written novel. This book by the cover may seem like it is just about a farm. As you read you discover it has a very important underlying message that you discover if you read this novel.
Animal Farm is about a farm of animals that over throw their human farmers that take care of them. At first they prosper and fell confident about their new life but then suddenly it goes down hill when there leader Old Major dies and Napoleon and Snowball begin to take control of the farm. It leads to complete disfunction of the farm.
My decision to read this book was because I have heard a lot of my friends from other schools talking about "Animal Farm". Hearing them talk about it made me become interested in what this novel was about and I was hooked from the start.
I felt this novel was very well written and I just wanted to keep reading and keep reading. I feel I really enjoyed this novel due to the fact I got to figure out what each character stood for in real life and how I was able to relate it to real events that happened. Being able to do that made the novel a lot more exciting for myself.
Anyone that would consider this book I believe would love it. Your able to relate it to the past, present, and future of the real world. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel I would recommend to anyone.
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Post by Mica Martinez on Jun 25, 2013 23:39:12 GMT -5
The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, is a very interesting and heart warming novel that I highly recommend reading. The story follows African American maids who work for white families in Jackson, Mississippi. It takes place during the early 1960's, which most know, was a time of racial segregation. The story mainly focuses on the lives and perspectives of three different characters: Skeeter Phelan, Aibileen Clark, and Minny Jackson. Skeeter comes from a wealthy white family who has African American maids working for them. Aibileen and Minny are both black maids who obviously live completely different lives from Skeeter. The three work together to help over come racial barriers and laws despite their skin color and different ways of living. This book also shows the lives of the rich white people and how they treated their maids.
I decided to read this book because I had enjoyed watching the movie when it was released a few years ago. I wanted to compare the movie to the book and see which one I liked better. After reading the book, I can say that I enjoyed reading the book more than watching the movie because it went into much more detail. One of many things I noticed, that was in the book but not in the movie, was the fact that Constantine, Skeeter's maid who raised her, had a daughter but gave her up for adoption when she was just four years old. Constantine became pregnant when she was raped by a white man and thought it would be better to give the baby up because of the child's white skin. In the movie Constantine has a black daughter named Rachael who is said to work for the Phelans, but the book says that Skeeter's family never even know of Constantine's daughter. I think this is important information that should not have been left out of the movie. I found the differences from the book and movie very interesting which is the main reason why I wanted to read the book.
I definitely enjoyed reading The Help. I enjoy anything set in the 1960's because I love seeing how far we have come and how different it was from what society is like today. I thought it was a great story that teaches us that the color of our skin shouldn't matter. We are all equals and should be treated that way. I loved Aibileen's connection with all of the white children she raised and what a kind heart she had. I found Minny's sassy personality, even though it got her into trouble, very entertaining. If you like things during this time period and if you want to read a heart warming, loving story with a good sense of humor, then you should definitely read this book! I know I definitely enjoyed it.
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Post by Patrick Wilson on Jun 26, 2013 11:55:05 GMT -5
I read the book Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen it is a continuation of the book Hatchet it is what would happen if he stayed during the winter. At first he only had a hatched but during the winter he gets a long bow and a lance which he hits a mouse and weakens it and kills it with the lance. At the beginning of the store Brian notices fall is coming. Brian killed a mama bear and had to take care of the 3 cubes and bring them fish. At the end of the story he is hunting and finds a hunter and his family.
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There is also a second book in this series called Where She Went. It shows this book but in her boyfriend Adam's point of view. 
Well, I went back! In this series you will read of adventure, thrill, billions and BILLIONS of parties, rebels, and extreme cliques. You see, in this book, everything and everyone falls into some kind of category; even when you are a little kid. In this seemingly futuristic time, you are destined to be a "Pretty". You start out as a "Littlie", then you become an "Ugly", and on the day you turn 16, what better way to say "Happy Birthday!" than an extreme surgery that alters your cheekbones, eyes, arms, tummy, and anything else! Yup, that's what this society calls being "pretty". The Pretty life is a wild, social, and rebellious teenager's dream: no school, endless parties, alcohol as a pass-time (I find that sad), and moreover-everyone around you is super attractive. Oh yeah! Get this girls- your closet is voice activated, has no holding limit, and it can shoot out anything from your imagination! Sounds like a dream come true, right? Well...the Pretty society has rules. I feel like these rules are more of a control issue that is being perused against your will, and it all starts with that that surgery. In that transforming surgery, the doctors are told to (by this horrible government) to put these lesions in your brain. These lesions are like a cancer, but they don't grow. They control what you think, do and kind of damper the fullness of who that human being really is.