The Beast

As my hand gently wafted down the silky beasts fur

I injested a feeling of togetherness that stirred

His growl rose in symphony every scratch of the ears

Such a magnificant killer, with a trail of tears

The beasts hide was thick, his patterns dark

An elusive con, he bows to no bark

A staring contest, as i look in his eyes

His expression disguised from any surprise

A hot draft in the air, an ear chrisply twitches

A bite from his fangs would undoubtedly cause stitches

As ive grown towards the beast, hes mirrored my actions

As myself and the beast serve the same faction

I realize as we frolic in sadness apart

I love my cat Oscar, with all of my heart

Among the Hidden

Dorothy Crowell
Title: Among the Hidden
By: Margaret Peterson Haddix
Rate: 10/10
Pages: 153
This book is about a boy named Luke. At the beginning of the story Luke is mad that all the trees around his house get cut down. The reason why is because there is a law that says families cannot have more than two children. Luke is a third child. He use to be able to go outside because he was hidden enough in the trees but now he cannot go outside and he also cannot go near any windows or anything. Luke thinks his family is being a little bit too careful because they are also not letting him eat at the dinning room table with them.
Luke lives up in the attic and one day he found vents that he could look out to see outside. Through those vents he saw lights on next door and it was the middle of the day so he was thinking that meant there was another third child next door. He was able to sneak out of his house and get next door and he was right. He met another girl named Jen who was another third child. The 2 of them set up a system so that they can meet up on days.
One day when Luke went over to Jens house the two of them start talking about what it is like to be a third child. Jen told Luke that she some day is going to go to do a rally with the government and say that they need to change the law. The reason the law is set is because with the amount of people there are and also the amount of food there is it is set so people do not starve. The thing Jen wants to tell the government is that not every family has a kid or if they do they don’t have two children so if some people have three or more kids they will fill in the spaces for the families without kids.
Luke decides not to go to the rally but Jen still does it. She knows some other third children from the computer and she talks them into doing it. The results do not end up how they wanted it.
To find out what happened at the rally you will have to read the book. I really enjoyed it. It is also the beginning of a series.

Derek Chase: The Burning Wire

Derek Chase

English 11 The American Dream

11-10-10

Rating .5


The Burning Wire

The Burning Wire is all about electricity and terrorists. When a bans of terrorists gets hold of a substation in new York, they sabotage the others and cause them to fail. The city, of course, had a backup plan to run electricity through other substations. Upon doing so, they realize that there is too much power going through one substation. This causes an arc flash, killing 15 people above the substation. Now the hunt is on to find out who did this act of terror and if it will it happen again.

Dope Sick

Mike Gavarny
Dope Sick
By Walter Dean Myers
184 pages
Rating: 6 out of 10

This book is about 2 teens that get set up trying to do a drug deal. One of them shoots the cop and gets arrested and the other one runs away. The one who gets caught is getting in less trouble because he says it is the kid who ran away (Lil J). Lil J is ‘dope sick’ because he is addicted to heroin and now he is hiding from the police. There is a tv that shows the future, lots of cops and guns.
This book is by the same author that wrote Monster. I liked this book better because it was more interesting and was written in an entirely different format. This book has a lot of action. I would recommend this book to everyone.

The Three Days

Raymond Bertholet

Three Days

By Donna Jo Napoli

151 pages

Rating 10 out of 10

This book is about a girl and her dad driving in Italy. Her dad got sick and fainted. The girl is worried and tries to get help by yelling help. There was no one to help them for hours. Suddenly, these two men stop and took the girl, but not her dad. She does not know where she is going to. This is a great book to read about because it had surprises and excitement.

Breanna Simpson: And Then Things Fall Apart

Breanna Simpson
And Then Things Fall Apart
Arlaina Tibensky
254 pages
Rating: 8 out of 10

This story was a very great and touching novel. Keek had big plans for her summer vacation, but she did not plan for this. Keek and her boyfriend have always fought, and just recently had their worse fight yet. Not only that, but her parents are going through a long tough divorce and her mom has recently traveled to the other side of the country with her newborn cousin who is suffering from a life threatening illness. Keeks two best friends have both betrayed her, and now she is alone. Now Keek is suffering from chicken pox and stuck living with her grandmother in a remote town. All Keek is trying to do is making the best of her summer vacation, but is having lots of trouble. She begins to use the only typewriter in the house and writes stories and relate them to the novel she is reading and loves The Jar Bell.
I would recommend this book to someone who has a strong heart. Also who enjoys reading drama, because this book includes tons and tons of drama. I usually enjoy reading romance/drama novels, But this one was a little too much for me.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Ben Rubio

Rick Riordan

50

8/10

This book is about a Demigod (half mortal, half God) Percy Jackson. He’s just a normal student that’s been kicked out six times in six years. He gets in to trouble so often even if he didn’t mean to. Weird creatures always show up to him, Grover his friend is always with him every time. He’s like his best friend but he’s really the protector of Percy, but he don’t have a clue on what’s going on, one time in their math class their teacher somewhat turned into a flying creature and try to hurt Percy, but good thing he has a pen which turns into a sword, so he used it for protection. And he accidentally vaporized his math teacher with the sword, and weird creature keeps on showing to him, three witches stared at him and one snap a scissor as if she’s going to kill someone. Everyone tries to keep the “ish” that’s going on. Then her mom and he kind of like loot at each other’s eyes and Percy had a flashback of his childhood encountering weird moments and some other creatures. Her mother told him that his father wants him to be on a summer camp, but his mother don’t like him to go cause if he did, he might be staying there for good. Lightning and thunder is all over the sky and waves in the ocean are so high, his mother is so worried and Grover also came to the house. They rushed in the car and his mother kept on driving not letting go of the gas and Grover unexpectedly lost his pants and Percy asked what is he.. finally Grover told him the truth that he is really a Satyr and he also told him all that weird creatures is true and that’s what he is protecting Percy of….. and that’s what I read so far.

The Rivalry: By Ben Swift

The Rivalry

John Taylor

62 of 375

Rating: 9

Although I haven’t come even close to the end of this book I can say that I love it so much already. This is just my kind of stuff, John Taylor is a Journalist in Boston at the time of the early Boston Celtics and Los Angles Lakers rivalry. He writes about each game between these hated franchises and describes what is happening with the teams players, coaches, and there respected cities. Some of the players that were most focused in these games were Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain these were the 2 leaders of each team. At the beginning of the book goes right in to playoff games in the late 50s and really describes the atmosphere of the 2 cities. He talks about how each game played was an all out battle with fists thrown and all out brawls, this is how basketball used to be. He also talks about the differences of ball now and how thing really have changed in the league. Over all so far I really love this book and id like to encourage anyone who likes this stuff to read this book, but let me finish it first.

From Addict to IronMan

Todd Crandell

190 pages

Rating- 7 of 10

This book is about the life of Todd Crandell. It starts with him being a child and being a hockey prodigy. He starts off on a local team, where people realize he is one of the best goalies they have seen. He then moves to a private school, and becomes even better. Then in high school, while being scouted by college teams, he starts drinking. Him and his friends start partying every weekend, and they think everything is fine. But soon Todd starts drinking on school nights, and doing cocaine. It just gets worse and worse. He starts doing cocaine before games, and drinking every night. His friends don't see what is happening, because he's good at hiding it. He soon gets kicked out of school, and off the team for doing coke in the bathroom.

Todd moves from friends house to friends house, trying to find someone to put up with his crap. He moves to Miami, to Ohio, to Georgia. He finally stays back at his parents where they fight, but he finally makes a pact to stay clean. He tries his best to play hockey again, but he has to face the fact that he is washed up. To stay in shape he starts biking. Then he starts racing bikes, and running marathons. Soon he is doing big competitions and is a part of his community. His life goal is to finish an IronMan triathlon. This is a 6 mile swim, 26 mile run, and 112 mile bike ride. He struggles, and can't finish his first few tries. But then he finally finishes one.. and another... and another. He now runs a drug abuse community marathon organization, and has a happy family.

Megan Pratt: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

A Million Little Pieces
James Frey
430 pages
Rating 9 out of 10
A Million Little Pieces is about James Frey and his recovery. Along the way he is faced with obstacles that he has to overcome. He had the ultimatum either go to rehab or die. This was not the first time that he was sent to rehab but it is the first time he took it seriously. When things went wrong in the beginning all he did was think about leaving and doing drugs or drinking again. But as time went on he thought about it less .He started to care for himself and even the people around him. He made friends that helped him out a great deal. Miles, Leonard, Hank, Joanne, and Lilly were the people that he came closest with while in the rehab. What really shocked me was how diverse a drug addict or alcoholic could be. Miles was a lawyer and Leonard was a criminal. It doesn’t matter who you are and where you come from anyone can be dragged down into doing drugs or drinking. James had to figure out all of his past problems and work his way through them, his past was a big issue with moving on. He fixed problems with his parents and even met a girl, Lilly, and fell for her. He owned up to his mistakes and made an effort to fix everything. This was such a great book because it had issues that we have to deal with in everyday life. You get to see the hardships that an addict is faced with. This makes me realize how lucky I am and how serious drugs are and why you shouldn’t do them. It rips your life apart and there is nothing you can do about it. James fry wrote this story about his life well and I felt like I was living everything he did as I read it. I would recommend this book, you just have to be really open minded because some of his experiences were not all that pleasant, but well worth reading.

The Face on the Milk Carton

Dorothy Crowell
The Face on the Milk Carton
Caroline B. Cooney
184
10/10

This book is about a girl named Janie who has a milk carton with a picture. It is a picture from many years ago and the Janie knows who is on the carton because it is her. She could call the people that the carton says to call if they find this girl but she cannot do it. The main reason she can’t call the people is she would go back to her old parents but she loves the parents she has right now. She thinks that her old parents kidnapped her and she doesn't want too live with someone who she got kidnapped by. In a lot of parts Janie feels like she has to hide because she thinks people in the world will know who she is and call her in and there are a lot of different ways she plays things safe.
I really liked this story because there are a lot of things that happen and Janie doesn’t get caught. I suggest this book to anyone that likes books with a theme that is like play it safe.

Lush by Natasha Friend

Lush
Natasha Friend
178
Rating: 9/10

“Lush” is a book about a teenage girl named Sam. Sam has to live with an alcoholic dad and a yoga obsessed mom. Not your normal family right? She doesn’t think so. As a thirteen year old girl it makes it even harder. Plus she has a younger brother to protect from getting hurt. Sam can't even admit to her friends that she has an alcoholic dad. Sam still needs to confess to someone about her life, so she goes to a stranger. Sam writes about all her worries concerning her father's alcoholism on scraps of paper and places the notes in between the pages of “A History of Modern Whaling” which is not the most popular novel. To her surprise, someone does respond to her desperate needs and throughout the book they are very good pen pals. One day, while Sam puts the note in between the pages of that book she is startled by a boy named Drew. She had no idea who Drew was but suddenly, he was attracted to her. Having distractions to get your mind off of your crazy life is fine, but when it involves drinking and partying you start to regret ever leaving in the first place.

I learned that this book can really help teens that are struggling with this issue of alcoholic parents. In the back of the book there are many hotlines of numbers you can call if you are thinking about running away or just information about the subject of drugs and alcohol. It also made me realize how lucky I am to have healthy loving parents. I can't even imagine having to deal with an alcoholic dad who thinks its good parenting to just say "good morning" and then never talk to your kid for the rest of the day, which Sam's dad did in this book.

The author really did do a great job writing this book and I recommend this book to anyone, even if you don't have alcoholic parents.

Kateri Bean: A Walk To Remember

A Walk to Remember
Nicholas Sparks
256 pages
10 out of 10

“A Walk to Remember” is hardly your usual teen romance novel. I read it after seeing the movie, which made my sister, my friends, and I all cry. It’s written by Nicholas Sparks who is a genius when it comes to romances. While the movie was good, the book was much better.

You meet the boy first, Landon Carter, and he’s definitely not a perfect kid. His family has issues, he doesn’t have the best grades or the best friends, and has a habit of getting into trouble. All in all he’s really not a BAD kid, but he certainly has some stuff to work on.
Then there’s Jamie Sullivan, the preacher’s daughter. Jamie carries her Bible with her wherever she goes, wears sweaters and long skirts and always, always, always, does the right thing. Jamie has no friends, gets teased constantly at school (but never gets mad about it), and spends her time helping orphans and other people in need. Jamie seems happy and perfect on the outside, but inside she’s got a troublesome secret.

While adults raise their eyebrows at Landon, they absolutely adore Jamie. The two of them, according to the rules of high school, could never in a thousand years work together even if they wanted to, which they obviously don’t. Jamie had gotten over his last girlfriend but wasn’t looking for a girl like Jamie to replace her. A cheerleader, not a preacher’s daughter, was more what he was looking for. And Jamie wasn’t interested in Landon; her dad wouldn’t even let him in the house, and a boy like him could be nothing but trouble for a girl.

But, when a boy doesn’t have a date for the homecoming dance and all the pretty girls are taken, he can get pretty desperate. That was the situation Landon found himself in, so instead of going alone and having his friends tease him for the rest of year, he decides to ask Jamie to go.

Jamie agrees on one condition. “I’ll go with you, Landon, as long as you promise not to fall in love me.” Landon promises. After all, he’s not interested and clearly neither is she. It’s just a one time deal to help both of them escape the awkwardness of having to go alone. Homecoming was a blast, sort of: Jamie saved Landon from embarrassment and a fist-fight and helped him clean up puke from the bathroom floor, after that Landon has a new respect for Jamie.

In fact, after homecoming, for some reason, Landon can’t get Jamie off his mind. It doesn’t help that Jamie is always so friendly to him and the two of them are stuck in the same drama class.

Even though Landon had promised to never fall in love with her, he finds himself slowly starting to. At first it doesn’t make sense to him, isn’t Jamie the exact opposite of everything he always thought he wanted in a girl? But over time Landon slowly begins to realize he’s changed his mind about a lot of things.

Finally after awhile of denying it, Landon asks Jamie out. She says no. He asks her why and she tells him she’s not allowed to date, but if he wants he could ask her Father’s permission. After gathering up his courage Landon asks her father and gets permission.

After that Landon and Jamie slowly but surely fall head over heels in love. The two figure out that even though all their friends, and even the whole town, don’t approve, none of that matters. Landon slowly finds himself changing into a much better young man thanks to Jamie, and Jamie finds herself actually having fun and enjoying the world.

Just when things couldn’t be any better for Landon, Jamie spills her deepest secret and it changes their lives forever. Reading it will make you think about choices you have made or will make in the future and also make you consider what you would do for the people you love. Would you be willing to give up everything for them?

Deadline

David Donovan

Author: Chris Crutcher

Pages: 316

Rating: 9.8889 (out of 10)

The book I read was called Deadline. This book is about an 18 year old student in Trout Idaho, a town with a population of 943. After Ben is told he is dying from a rare condition, he is determined to make the best of his remaining year to live. Ben’s goal is to complete as much of his life as he can in a year. The first thing he does is go out for the football team. As a senior, Ben only weighs 123 pounds, but prevails as an incredible asset to the team. His brother is the starting quarterback, which makes bens life a little easier. Ben also follows his interest in a girl named Dallas Suzuki, and they become close over time. I noticed Ben enhances many of his relationships over the course of this book. He becomes very close with people such as his coach, his dream girl, other players on his team, and even his own family. Ben goes through a lot in this book. I am almost done with it so I cannot say everything, but I did pick up a lot more messages than I expected from a book revolving around sports. Because Ben realized that he truly had something so important to lose in such a small amount of time, he was more driven to try new things and take chances. Ben wanted to use all the life he could before it was too late. This book is very intriguing because it dabs on the question of what Ben is to face after death. This book really showed me that you never truly and fully appreciate something until you realize you cannot have it much longer, that is when you want it, because you cannot except that possibility of it not being there anymore. Ben realized this, so he tried everything he could manage, and was able to excel so far in football at only 123 pounds. Ben had a strong and courageous character throughout the book and I respect the character he carries with him, and the way he acts with reason and meaning. I gave this book a 9 out of ten because I just I didn’t want to stop reading it. The book inspires me to appreciate life as a gift and not a burden. A book has never taught me so much while also incorporating the best sport in the world (fact). I would recommend this book to any of my football buddies because it shows life at such an inspiring angle that really allows you to appreciate what you have. Goodnight.

Landon Allen -Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy

Author: Gary D. Schmidt

Pages: 220

Rating: 7 - 10

The book Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy is based on a true story that took place in Phippsburg, Maine, in 1912. Turner Buckminster, the main character, was the new kid in town that summer, and his father was the town’s new minister. In his old town, he could hit a baseball better than most kids his age, but when he came to play in Maine, it was a whole new game. Turner faced problems obeying his father’s strict rules and regulations. He also had problems with the new kids he was supposed to become friends with; getting in fights, staying out to late, and being with people he wasn’t supposed to be with.

In the town of Phippsburg, there was island inhabited by a group of African Americans, called Malaga Island. Turner becomes friends with Lizzie, one of the islanders. These African Americans aren’t accepted on the mainland of Phippsburg and Turner has specific instructions not to associate with them. The town officials are planning on eradicating them from the island so they could create a tourist attraction there. Turner is the only one who understands Lizzie’s people and respects them, and because of that, he does everything in his power to save them. This is the story of Turner entering manhood and standing up for what he believes in. It is a great book and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading books with true information in them.

Ten Days in a Madhouse

Ryan Boquist

rating: 8-10

pages:90

The book I read starts off with the narrator, Nellie Bly in the office of Joseph Pulitzer. She works as a journalist for the New York World newspaper, and took an undercover assignment. She agreed to fake insanity to investigate troubling reports of brutality at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.

After a night pretending to be insane in front of a mirror, she checked into a boarding house. There, she refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. They soon decided that she was crazy, and the next morning called the police. The police took Nellie to a courtroom, she pretended to have amnesia. The judge concluded that she had been drugged and was not insane. However being a good journalist Nellie could not let her mission end there. She was then examined by several doctors, who all declared her to be insane. The “highly experienced doctors” said she was demented and that she was hopeless. Therefore the doctors decided to put her in the Women’s Lunatic Asylum.

In the asylum Ms. Bly could get a firsthand view of what went on at Blackwell. The food consisted of gruel broth, spoiled beef, terribly stale bread and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. The patients were made to sit for much of each day on hard benches with minimal protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating places. Rats crawled all around the hospital. The bathwater was frigid, and buckets of it were poured over their heads. The nurses were obnoxious and abusive, telling the patients to shut up, and beating them if they did not listen. Speaking with her fellow patients, Bly was convinced that some were as sane as she was and the asylum made them the way they were.

After ten days, Bly was released from the asylum. Her report was later published in a book as Ten Days in a Mad-House, the reports caused a sensation and brought her fame. The physicians and staff that admitted Nellie could not explain how they could have been fooled. After the reports came out about Blackwell a grand jury launched its own investigation of the asylum, inviting Bly to assist. After the investigation a call was made for an increase in funds for $850,000 in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. They also made sure that all of the examinations were more thorough so that only people who were actually insane went to the asylum.

I recommend reading this book if you like reading about holocaust stories. The authors writing style is very compact and eye opening. Even though this is a short book this feels like reading a book twice its length and the author had a firsthand experience so it’s cool to read from that perspective too. All in all I recommend reading this book if you have not read it, it is a very eye opening book.

No Less Than Victory (part two)

Trevor Giroux

Author: Jeff Shaara

Pages 449

Rating 7-10

As I near the end of this book I am still enjoying it as much as the day I started reading it. Towards the end of the book the author writes more chapters from the perspective of the Germans. The two Germans that you see the war through are Architect Albert Speer and Field Marshall Karl Rudolf Gerd Von Rundstedt. What I really like is the way the author uses actual documents and historical books to recreate how these characters felt during the last months of the Third Reich. The description of the destruction of German cities by constant Allied bombing helps to remind you that the Germans were people too and that not all of them were Nazis. Some were just innocent people that knew nothing about concentration camps or the genocides that Hitler was participating in. Unfortunately they had to suffer the same things that Hitler and the German army suffered. You also continue to see the war through the eyes of General George Patton and Private Benson. The description of the concentration camp at Ohrdruf is so real that you can feel the horror and anger of the Americans that liberate the camp. I do not want to say too much about the fate of Benson and his squad or tell you what happens to the real people like Patton and Speer but I can tell you that this is an amazing book that almost anyone would enjoy.

Existence

Every day I ponder on the question “what is all of this?”

I believe something is beyond death. Life may just be a sliver in a journey. It’s crazy. Maybe there are other things like life but not life. These parallel journeys may be similar. We meet the same souls and friends. But u won’t recognize them by their face, because the physical body was just a vehicle for the soul. Yeah, we are souls manifesting in physical matter. You will recognize them by their soul alone. Like a sense. I think the purpose of all this is a journey, through the hardest of hard, to allow us to appreciate the end result of eternity, a desired destination. existence was made to be good. And not a letdown. I discussed this unanswerable topic with a friend. He stated how 1 kilometer closer than the sun. We might not be here. And how lucky we are compared to everything else, every other thing that might have “lived” on a planet had it not been 1 km off. But then I think. How is something that never existed unlucky? The ones who never existed due to circumstantial inequalities are not unlucky, because they never existed. Something that does not exist cannot be anything, except nothing, and what is nothing?

In a simple thought, a law states that nothing can exist or derive from purely nothingness. This means that everything that exists, every grain of sand, planet, every strand of reality, was created. It didn’t spontaneously pop out of nothingness, but was rather created by something that wanted it to be there. This brings me back to the unanswerable question: what? Whatever put it there left more proof. Everything has uniform. Everything has design. Think about it. Atomic structure, planets, forces, galaxies. Everything has a recognizable design…everything. How does this occur? We humans replicate this with buildings, cars, clothing, and everything we create. Is it just chance that everything existing has a specific design. It didn’t come from nothingness. Something truly wanted it there. And that something designed it. Designed everything

If something can it exist, it will, because the chances of it occurring will always be happening. We just don’t know when or where it will occur. Many fear that after life is nothingness and nonexistence. I don’t see this possible. I believe it is impossible to not exist. That everything must exist. One cannot ponder on non existence because it is not comprehendible and unable to be experience by anything, for something to experience it, it must exist, and existence does not cease to exist. Woah, back to square 1. I believe something is after death, not nothing.

So, the planet that was 1 km too close to the star did not have life exist that could have. What if it were the other way around? Earth was too close for life and planet 1390375 was perfect. Would I be typing this blabber there instead of here? So can I exist somewhere else? It reminds me of aborted babies. Will that life just occur somewhere else? What makes a life different to another and what connects one to another? If I die, and another life reoccurs, might I exist back into that one? This really depletes the value of “I”. What is “I”? What makes me different? Can “I” occur again? And how would one know it is that certain “I”? If we do re exist, how is it that “I” can be another “I”? I end up without an answer to any of this. Damn it.

This is what I think about every day. Where are the deceased? Are the self aware somewhere? I constantly question reality and existence, and life. I state nothing of religion. But I conclude to one thing: something, no idea what or who, but something, created existence and everything in its realm. If I knew the who, what, when, where and why…I’d probably be rich. My head is clear. Goodnight.

A Million Little Pieces

A Million Little Pieces
By James Frey
448 pages
Rating: 7
By Elijah Shanelaris

A million little pieces is about a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. The story follows his time spent in a rehabilitation center in Minnesota. His friend told him that he fell down a fire escape but he doesn’t remember. I thought this was a very good book because I never wanted to put it down because it was gripping. It was interesting and there was always something that would leave you hanging that you wanted to find out more about. There was always some significant thing that was about to happen. I recommend this book. This book was controversial because it was supposed to be a memoir, but the author lied about most of it. Oprah recommended this book and then found out that a lot of it wasn’t true but it was still a good book and that shouldn’t stop you from reading it.

Monster

Monster
By Walter Dean Myers
281 pages
Rating: 1
Michael Gavarny


This book is about a kid who gets accused of killing a convenience store clerk. I really did not like the way this book was written. It was just people talking back and forth all the time which made for a slow, boring read. While the kid is sitting in court, he starts writing it like it is screenplay because he wants to be a filmmaker. I gave this book a rating of 1 and I don’t recommend it. There is no action or anything to catch your interest.

Ben Rubio's Post on Why I Fight

Why I Fight
By J. Adams Oaks

Why I Fight is a good book about a kid that was emotionally scared and abused who kind of flashed back to his youth. Wyatt evidently grew up in fighting in the streets to make money. His parents was decreed by the judge because they are unfit, they drink, take drugs, and party all the time while leaving Wyatt anywhere with nothing. His uncle took him, Uncle Spade is a traveling salesman. He goes all around the country with his “chevy” He always take Wyatt with him. Spade has a girlfriend in every truck stop they went, some of them get along with Wyatt and some just don’t like him at all. You will know a different culture by reading this book, It is focused on the poor living of a boy that evidently grew up in fighting.

Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier

Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier
by Tom Bodett
197 pages
Rating 9 out of 10
Raymond Bertholet

This book is about a boy named Norman Tuttle that tells about his life in Alaska. He has some trouble with most of the things in his life. His life feels like a prison in the wild. I think this book is a bit hard to understand. There are fifteen stories about Norman's life.

The Hunger Games

Kateri Bean
The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Length: 374 pages
Rate 10 out of 10!

The Hunger Games is new series of books that’s becoming more and more popular. When I first heard about them I honestly thought they were a little weird, but I decided to give them a shot. I’m really glad I did--they are by far the most compelling, incredible, series of books I’ve ever read.
The story is set in future North America, only it’s nothing like it is now. Instead of a happy, futuristic, world we sometimes imagine, it’s a complete disaster. There are no countries, only twelve districts which are ruled by the Capitol, which (long story short) is evil and goes out of the way to make life miserable for all the people living in the districts.
The Capitol is a genius for making life miserable. The people have next to nothing to eat, live in constant fear of being arrested by breaking one of the millions of silly laws, and work themselves to death. But that’s not the worst thing: the worst thing is that every year each of the districts must send one boy and one girl to the Capitol. These twenty-four kids are thrown into an arena where they must fight to the death until only one remains alive. This one kid is hailed the victor, is showered with gifts, their district gets extra food and their family gets a new house and will never have to work again. But, to gain this, twenty-three innocent kids must die at the hands of other innocent kids. The kids are picked randomly, like lottery numbers, but anyone can volunteer to take another kid’s place. This disgusting event is known as The Hunger Games and it is broadcast on television for entertainment in the Capitol and as a punishment back in the districts. (Everyone is forced to watch the games; if they don’t, they’ll be arrested and most likely die.)
Enter Katniss Everdeen. She’s sixteen and every day is a battle for survival for her and her family. She’s from district 12, the poorest and least respected of all of the districts. Her father died when she was little, leaving her mother in such a deep state of shock and grieving that she couldn’t care for Katniss or her little sister, Prim. So it was up to Katniss to keep the family from starving to death. Katniss doesn’t have anything but her family, and she is willing to do anything to keep them safe, no matter what it will cost her.
With the help of a boy named Gale, who’ll become Katniss’s best friend, and a lot of rule-breaking, Katniss is able to keep her family afloat. Every year she manages to escape having her name drawn and being sent to the Hunger Games. Then Prim becomes old enough to be entered into the games.
Prim’s name gets drawn. And the next thing Katniss knows she’s volunteered herself to take her sister’s place.
But that’s just the very beginning of the incredible story. The boy who’s sent from District 12 is named Peeta, and he and Katniss have a confusing past. But, it’s nothing as confusing as their future will turn out to be.
These books are just as addicting (if not more so) than Harry Potter. Just when you think you’ve got the story figured out, something shocking will happen. Reading these will leave you feeling like you experienced what the characters are going through, which is sometimes really scary.
I think everyone should read this series. They literally have something in them for everyone, and once you start them it’ll be impossible to stop. These books are so much more than just another popular teen series like Twilight; they actually will make you think about things you’ve never thought about before and will completely drag you into the story. (Another good reason to read them is the fact that the movie comes out next summer and it looks really good!) If you liked Harry Potter, Twilight, or The Mortal Instruments Series, chances are you’ll love The Hunger Games, too.

Call of The Wild

Dorothy Crowell
Call of The Wild
Jack London
105pages
9
This book is about a dog who was found and becomes a sled dog. He learns a lot of things with his new owner that includes good and bad things. I liked this book a lot.

Peace, Love & Baby Ducks: Sarah Whitt

Sarah Whitt
Peace, Love & Baby Ducks
By: Lauren Myracle
Rating: 9/10
Pages: 292

Carly is a teenage girl that has always wanted to be original and real. Her sister, Anna, is the complete opposite. Anna turned into a goddess one summer and now Carly cannot stop comparing herself to her little sister. Carly is always going to protect and love her sister but having all the attention be on Anna is not what she wants. Carly end up feeling very left out while watching her sister be admired by a swarm of guys. This brings up many weird and interesting situations in their life while dealing with their parents and of course, boys.

I learned that even if you think a girl is perfect or think that she loves her life it might not always be true. Anna did grow up to be gorgeous and she was not used to having attention from boys and dealing with popularity. Carly thought that Anna loved having all this attention but when Anna came home at nights she would cry because she could not understand why this was happening. I also learned that it is important to stand up for someone when you feel like its right to because you never know how much you could help that person that is being attacked. For example, in the book Anna and Carly took the same gym class and Anna was being yelled at by the gym teacher for not taking the final which was to dive of a diving board that was realy high up. Carly stood up for her and Anna ended up getting a second chance and passing the class.

I do not have a sister so this book made me realize how great sisters can really be. I always saw my friends fighting with their sisters and hating eachother which made me not want a sister at all. Now that I have read this book I know that there is always a diffrent side you do not see and that is the side that loves one another and always has eachothers backs.

Ryan Boquist
The Lost Hero
By:Rick Riordan
rating: 8 out of
pages:557
The book starts off with the main charater jason siting n next to Piper, a girl who appears to be his girlfriend, and a boy named Leo who says he is Jason's best friend. The bus is taking them, along with the rest of their grade at their school, the Wilderness School, on a field trip to the Grand Canyon. While they are there, storm spirits, or venti, attack the three. Jason surprises himself by using a sword disguised as a coin to fight off the spirits, and Coach Hedge is captured while defending them. At the height of the battle, two pegasi and next to them carrying strangers, Annabeth and a boy named Butch. They carry the three friends off the camp half blood. There at camp they find out that they are demigods (half mortal half go) and need to go on a quest to save Olympus and get back Jason memories. On the quest they fight numerous enemies like trolls, giants, and witches. They eventually save Hera and Olympus, everything is at peace, for now.

This book is not ussually the type of book I read but i did enjoy it. If you read the Percy Jackson series and liked those books i highly recommend reading this one. This book has a little of everything in it; comedy, romance, drama, and action. The only dislike i have is that this book is a little slow in the begging it takes a while before you get to the really action drama parts but when you do the book is very worth reading. The biggest theme in this book is friendship. The three have to stick together throughout the whole book and work together through thick and thin. Even though they might fight ant the end of the day they always can count on each other to be there.

The Secret Life of Bees by megan pratt

The Secret Life of Bees

302 pages

Sue Monk Kidd

Rating 9 out of 10

The Secret life of Bees made me realize how lucky i am in my own life. It tells the story of a girl named Lily. She lost her mother when she was young and was left with her father T-ray, who was abusive and didn't care much about Lily at all. The only friend she had was her house keeper Rosaleen. The story takes place in a time period that the Civil Rights Movement just got passed, although it didn't seem to matter because they still weren't treating black people equally. Rosaleen got thrown in jail, so Lily not having anything to risk decided to go and get her, they ran away. Lily was in search of her mother from the little bit that she left behind. So they went to Tilburon because she found an old photo of a black Mary of her mothers and on the back that's what is said. She thought maybe this would help her to know something about her mother because she had to have been there before, and she was right. Turns out the black Mary was on a honey jar at the store her and Rosaleen went to get food, after their long starving trip is where she found it. She got the name of the owner, August Boatright. She went to her house and asked to stay there, explaining how she and Rosaleen didn't have anywhere to go. She didn't tell the full truth not wanting to seem "crazy" but they allowed them to stay there. While living there with August and her sisters, May and June she discovered love, becoming close to them fast. She felt the best she ever did. While working as a bee keeper for room and board she met a boy named Zach. They fell for each other, the only problem was he is black, black and white people weren't suppose to be together. He ended up being thrown in jail. Lily rushed back to the house to try and tell June and August. She didn't want May to know because May would have gotton really upest ( May was like that ever since she lost her twin sister, who committed suicide, she was alway overly upset about things ever since then)But Zach called the house and May picked up, she found out anyway which wasn't a good thing at all. Lily told August the full truth and found out her mother did live there. T-ray found Lily and he beat her but something also hit him, that she wasn't her mother, and somehow he let her stay with some convincing for August. I don't want to tell the ending so this is where I am going to stop at. But I would recommend this book to you if you like to read about hardships and overcoming them. It was an amazing book

Ben Swift

Son of the Mob

Gordon Korman

All Pages

6 of 10

Vince Luca is 17 high school student and also the son of Boss in the New York mob. Vince doesn't want any part of his fathers business, but through out the book he is constantly reminded what his father does for a living. Things get worse when he finds out that his new girlfriend, Kendra Bightly, is the daughter of the FBI agent that is trying to send Vince's father to jail.

Vince gets more mixed up in his father's business when he is approached by “Jimmy Rat" the towns low life. Jimmy Rat has a severe gambling debt, and he owes some money to some of Vince's "uncles". So Vince being the nice guy he is ends up loaning Jimmy a small amount of money, thinking everything will be alright.

t Jimmy has a friend who also owes money a debt he is willing to pay. But he is going to pulling the plug on his great aunt in order to get his inheritance to pay it off, wow what a guy huh? Vince feels that he has no choice but to help him as well. At the same time things with his relationship are heading down hill, Kendra's father shows Kendra pictures of Vince with the two mobsters she realizes what’s happening. Then Kendra breaks up with Vince, thinking that because he was in those pictures he’s a mobster, but she doesn’t know he wants nothing to do with his father business. To make matters worse, Vince realizes that the two losers are borrowing money in order to pay back a man who is working for his father, making a never ending money circle in which his father gets richer and richer and the men get poorer and poorer. He confronts his father about this.

Later on Vince finds out that one of his "uncles" is an FBI informant. He confronts him, telling him that if he leaves that he will not be pursued if he joins the witness protection program. In gratitude, the uncle explains the situation to Kendra, Kendra feels awful and they get back together. After an explosive argument, Vince's father cannot help but be impressed by Vince's bold action in finding the mole and helping Jimmy Rat, and their relationship is saved.

Although I do like mob stories I didn’t like this one it was easy to predict and to me doesn’t really capture the whole mob life. I know the main Vince isn’t in the mob but when I picked the book I was looking for a little bit more and I was just disappointed.

Landon Allen - Zeitoun

Zeitoun

Dave Eggers

335 pgs

Rating (9-10)

Abdulrahman Zeitoun is Muslim man originally from Syria but soon moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. He and his wife own a well-known painting company in the area and work hard to provide for there three children. The story takes place before, during and after hurricane Katrina, from a point of view of a man that went through the storm. While Zeitoun’s wife and children migrated north when they heard of the arriving storm, Zeitoun demanded to stay home and protect the house. The struggles they go through as a family are unreal and it is amazing that we don’t hear about it. I cannot believe the segregation that the family received because of their religion. I have learned the how difficult it would be living in the area being a Muslim. It makes me think twice about things I would do or say about someone or something. I recommend this book to everybody interested in the history of America, even if it was only a couple years ago. What happens in this book should not happen ever again. I now have a lot more respect for the people who’s lives were changed by Katrina, I never realized how bad it actually was and how much damage it did.

Angels & Demons

Dan Brown

713 Pages

Rating(so far)- 9

So far this book has kept me intrigued 100 percent. It is about a Harvard symbology professor named Robert Langdon who receives a fax from a director of the biggest scientific research facility in the world. He flies in a futuristic airplane to Switzerland where he is blown away by the new technology the public hasn't been exposed to yet. He feels a little awkward being a religious professor in a place of science, seeing how they have always frowned upon each others theories of the creation of our universe. Over the last few years however, a famous researcher and his daughter(Leonardo and Vittoria) have been trying to connect the two saying that physics is God's "drawing board" of the universe. They successfully create antimatter out of absolutely nothing, and are about to prove the creation, when Leonardo is murdered and the antimatter is stolen. The antimatter was kept on a rechargeable magnet keeping it from touching matter, because when the two touch it releases pure energy and implodes into what they call annihilation. This is why Robert was called to Switzerland. The terrorist group that killed and stole from them is an ancient brotherhood called the ILLUMINATI, Langdon's specialty. They now have to search for the antimatter because in the wrong hands, many people will die.

I have not wanted to put this book down once. Not only is it a great read, but you learn science and theories that make it feel like you are taking a physics class...Only easier. I love thinking about possible ways this world came to be, and if you do too this book is perfect for you. This is the first book in a 3 book series, too. The others include The lost Symbol, and The Da Vinci Code. Not trying to leave anybody out, but I recommend this book directly to Dave Donovan. So many things he has said popped into my head as I was reading this book, and obviously our constant Harry Potter connections lead me to believe we have the same taste in literature.

Trevor Giroux

No Less Than Victory
By Jeff Shaara
449 Pages
Rating = 7 out of 10

No Less Than Victory is a great book about the lives of both the soldiers and their Generals during the Second World War. The book focuses on the strategic and political difficulties of the Western Front during the year 1944. The reason that I find this book to be interesting is because not only do you get to see the war from the perspective of General Eisenhower, you also see what German Field Marshall Rundstedt had for difficulties and successes. The other parts of the book try to help you understand what the front line American soldiers had to do to survive not only the war, but also the freezing cold of a winter in the Ardennes Forest. Unknown to the men on the front line, the cold will be the least of their problems when the Germans start their infamous counter attack known as the Battle Of The Bulge.

MacKenzie Fletcher

Recovery Road
By Blake Nelson

Recovery Road is an excellent book about a young girl with some serious addiction problems. Maddie is sixteen and is already a heavy user of coke, prescription drugs, marijuana, and alcohol. Her parents send her to Spring Meadows, a rehab center. The rehab is filled with an assortment of different people from drunken housewives to drugged famous movie stars. The only other person there close to her age is an 18 year old girl named Trish. They end up having a strong bond between them, and Trish becomes Maddie’s first real friend. Maddie also meets a boy named Stewart; he is mysterious and is dealing with demands of his own. When she gets out of Spring Meadows she tries to get back on her feet and wait for Stewart to join her. When he does, it’s not the ideal reunion she has dreamed of. Both of them still have serious problems. And there love seems more like a question than an answer.

Welcome!

For many of you in the class, this may be your first time blogging. For others, you've built a community as bloggers before (www.ilhsenglish9.blogspot.com). We tried other vehicles for presenting our independent reading last year, and many of you have shared that blogging was the ideal way to maintain an ongoing discussion about what you are reading. I'm glad you missed it.

This is how it works:

1. I will send you an invitation to join the blog via the e-mail address you've provided. You MUST have an e-mail account to blog!

2. Once you've accepted the invitation, you will be a contributor to the blog. You will be able to post your responses to your independent literature and respond to other's posts!

3. To post on the blog, click on "New Post" up at the top of this page. For your title, put the name of your book and your name. That way, we can follow comments to your specific post as we experience our online discussion!

Please include the following in your blog:

The title of the book
The author
Length of the book
Rating (1-10)
Include a BRIEF synopsis of the book, but focus on your thoughts and insights about your reading for the quarter. What did you learn from this book? How did it help you see an issue differently? What questions did it create for you? Be sure to consult the blogging rubric from class. Remember that part of your grade is respectfully responding to your peers' responses. Allow plenty of time to post your work and discuss the literature with others.

If you are experiencing difficulty, you may e-mail me at mdiamond@interlakes.org.

Thank you!