Breanna Simpson
January 19, 2012
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
374 Pages
6 out of 10
This quarter I read the hunger games for my independent read. This book was different from all of the other books that I normally read. It wasn’t my favorite book by any means, but I would recommend it to someone that enjoys reading fiction stories.
The Hunger Games takes place in North America in a capital of Panem. The capital is a very strict and ruling government. Each year one boy and one girl between the ages of twleve and eighteen are sent to the hunger games. The hunger game is a fight to death on live television. The contestants used many different types of weapons to compeat against their component. The story follows a sixteen year old girl, Katniss Everdeen, who already has a tough life. She is chosen for the hunger games in place of her sister and she couldn’t be more afraid. Katniss goes through many hardships throughout the book. She learnes to fight for survival, and support her mom and sister. She makes friends and loses them, along with killing people and then regretting it in the end. This story is very interesting, and at times can get confusing but I think many of you will enjoy it.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Born to Run
Ryan Boquist
Author: Chistopher McDougal
Pages:272
Born to run is about the authors main quest is to find the answer to his running aliments. The book starts with the main author’s trip to Mexico. In Mexico he finds these Indians called Tarahumara Indians. They live in the Copper Canyons in Chihuahua state, Mexico. It is not a very easy journey getting to be able to meet the tribe but once he does it is well worth it. He finds out that the tribes people were pretty much born to run.
As children the Tarahumara have running games and it is not uncommon for the 80 year old men in the tribe to go for an all day run up to or over 50 miles a day. He also found out that the tribe members lived very long lives and also had no foot problems even though they only ran in sandals on the rocky mountain trails they had to run on. The key to their success was there foot wear and running technique. Naturally we were made to run from toe to heel but with modern day running shoes they change your stride to an unnatural heel to toe stride. The answer to the authors running aliments had been fixed. With time McDougal’s running problems had slowly faded away.
This book also has tips for ultra marathon (50 mile races) runners and runners who just want to improve their time. The tips were from the Tarahumara Indians and other barefoot runners. Even if you don’t run this is a very interesting book just to find out about the history and mechanics of running.
I would recommend this book to anyone. This book deserves a nice 10 out of 10 rating. There wasn’t anything really wrong with the book and I really enjoyed reading it. Born to run stared the “toe shoe movement” which shows that this book can be very influential.
Michael Oher: I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to the Blind Side and Beyond
Ben Swift
Mrs. Diamond
Author: Don Yaeger
5 of 5
Michael Oher was a young black kid living on the streets of Memphis who had no place to call home, and had a mother who neglected him and was a crack addicted. But when the Tuohy a white upper class family with a daughter and son took him in Michael could now say he belonged somewhere.
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.
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.
Mr. Marcoux: Guest Speaker on Vietnam after reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Hi everyone!
I wanted to provide a place for you to respond to yesterday's amazing guest speaker. We all love Mr. Marcoux, and yesterday you saw another side of this beloved teacher. Please share what message from his talk that you will carry with you forever.
Warmly,
Mrs. Diamond
I wanted to provide a place for you to respond to yesterday's amazing guest speaker. We all love Mr. Marcoux, and yesterday you saw another side of this beloved teacher. Please share what message from his talk that you will carry with you forever.
Warmly,
Mrs. Diamond
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Help
The Help
Kathryn Stockett
464 Pages
Kateri Bean
After every librarian and Mrs. Diamond told me over and over to read The Help, I finally did. It looked giant and not super exciting, so I wasn't too sure I'd like it has much as they said I would. But, I did. In fact as soon as I started I couldn't stop reading it.
It dealt with a side of the civil rights movement I had never thought of before. I didn't realize just how horrible the lives of African American maids were. While these women were free and not slaves, they still were treated very much like an animal in the households where they worked. That being said, there were a few houses where the maid was treated as part of the family; these maids were the lucky ones. This book is a real eye-opener to not only how maids were treated, but how they went about their lives.
The way the book was written, you got the point of view from three very different characters. This made the book go very quickly and also made it next to impossible to put down. Another reason the book was so engaging is the way it was written: the characters all have unique voices with accents, and the way it's written you can really hear the their voices in your head. You'll come away from this book talking in a deep southern accent if you aren't careful!
As I mentioned, this book is told by three different characters. Each of them has their own struggles, but together they unite against their shared struggle: racism. The three of them, along with a few followers, manage to change not only their town's point of view, but their state's.
If you are interested in the civil right's movement, American history, or just a heartwarming story, I suggest you read The Help!
Kathryn Stockett
464 Pages
Kateri Bean
After every librarian and Mrs. Diamond told me over and over to read The Help, I finally did. It looked giant and not super exciting, so I wasn't too sure I'd like it has much as they said I would. But, I did. In fact as soon as I started I couldn't stop reading it.
It dealt with a side of the civil rights movement I had never thought of before. I didn't realize just how horrible the lives of African American maids were. While these women were free and not slaves, they still were treated very much like an animal in the households where they worked. That being said, there were a few houses where the maid was treated as part of the family; these maids were the lucky ones. This book is a real eye-opener to not only how maids were treated, but how they went about their lives.
The way the book was written, you got the point of view from three very different characters. This made the book go very quickly and also made it next to impossible to put down. Another reason the book was so engaging is the way it was written: the characters all have unique voices with accents, and the way it's written you can really hear the their voices in your head. You'll come away from this book talking in a deep southern accent if you aren't careful!
As I mentioned, this book is told by three different characters. Each of them has their own struggles, but together they unite against their shared struggle: racism. The three of them, along with a few followers, manage to change not only their town's point of view, but their state's.
If you are interested in the civil right's movement, American history, or just a heartwarming story, I suggest you read The Help!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Defiance
Author: Nechama Tec
Pages: 296
Rating: 7-10
Defiance is an amazing book about a group of four brothers trying to survive the Holocaust. The brothers are Jewish farmers that live in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The country is currently called Belarus and borders Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Early in the book the parents of the boys are killed by the SS death squads during the early days of the invasion of the Soviet Union and the brothers decide to hide in the woods with the other survivors. The oldest brother Tuvia Bielski becomes the leader of the small group and his younger brothers, Zus, Asael, and Aron, and they build a small camp in a forest in Western Belarus. Their survival is difficult and they survive by hunting and stealing from those who cooperated with the Nazi invaders. Eventually they meet a group of Russian Partisans and agree to help them fight the Germans. The newly formed Bielski Otriad and the Russian Partisans do not always agree and there is a lot if internal disputes but Tuvia's leadership brings the groups together. The reason that I chose this book was because I have been to the country of Belarus and I love to learn about the history and culture of the country. I cant believe that I may have been in the same place that these incredibly important historical events happened. I don't even know how to describe how much more important and realistic these events feel to me after understanding the culture of this country, and meeting possible family members of the Bielski group. By the end of the war Tuvia and his Bielski Otriad had saved hundreds of Jews and their descendants now number in the thousands. His story is not well known but if you are interested in learning about the Second World War or the Holocaust then I would highly recommend this book. It is a different story than many other Holocaust books because the Jews in this book not only survive but they fight back.
Pages: 296
Rating: 7-10
Defiance is an amazing book about a group of four brothers trying to survive the Holocaust. The brothers are Jewish farmers that live in the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The country is currently called Belarus and borders Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania. Early in the book the parents of the boys are killed by the SS death squads during the early days of the invasion of the Soviet Union and the brothers decide to hide in the woods with the other survivors. The oldest brother Tuvia Bielski becomes the leader of the small group and his younger brothers, Zus, Asael, and Aron, and they build a small camp in a forest in Western Belarus. Their survival is difficult and they survive by hunting and stealing from those who cooperated with the Nazi invaders. Eventually they meet a group of Russian Partisans and agree to help them fight the Germans. The newly formed Bielski Otriad and the Russian Partisans do not always agree and there is a lot if internal disputes but Tuvia's leadership brings the groups together. The reason that I chose this book was because I have been to the country of Belarus and I love to learn about the history and culture of the country. I cant believe that I may have been in the same place that these incredibly important historical events happened. I don't even know how to describe how much more important and realistic these events feel to me after understanding the culture of this country, and meeting possible family members of the Bielski group. By the end of the war Tuvia and his Bielski Otriad had saved hundreds of Jews and their descendants now number in the thousands. His story is not well known but if you are interested in learning about the Second World War or the Holocaust then I would highly recommend this book. It is a different story than many other Holocaust books because the Jews in this book not only survive but they fight back.
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