The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

"...The boy wished he could live in the "humdrum towns" and "coastal villages". He sang "I wish i weren't me" over and over again just flat of the key of love until he forgot the words and could only hum along. Everyday was the same. The same stupid smile on the same stupid boy. Until the days blurred into a haze and the boy dropped into a depression. Not a cool dark room and cigarette depression like the songs he loved, but one that felt like he was being smothered by a safe, suburban, monotonous blanket...."

"I think somewhere in everyone is THE BOY..."



-passages from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, BY: Pete Wentz



So i started this great new book. The Boy with the thorn in his side. When i first read the two passages above, i thought, "wow, that's me." IT's wonderful to know someone you don't even know can feel the same exact feelings you are. Even if they are unexplainable. Sometimes you start to think, "It's just me in this screwed up life, no one knows how i feel". Then you hear a great song or read an excellent book that just gives you hope. No matter how upset, sad, angry, confused or whatever you are. There's just hope. When you find a song or book like that, keep it with you, no matter what happens, in your hopes. In your dreams. In that messed thing you call your mind. =]

Born to rock!

I just started this great about a week ago. IT's called
Born To Rock. BY: Gordan Corman. IT's about this boy that gets staight As and is apart of The Youing Republicans group. But he has a sceret. His bio-father is really the king of punk. KIng Maggot. He absoulty hates punk music. But when he loses his scholarship to harvard, he decides that becoming close to this rich dude, wouldn't be so bad.
It's a really great story. I mean it's gotta be one of my favorite. There is always something in this book to keep you turning the pages. You totally gotta read it. Trust me.

Picture:

I changed mine. But you can tell I like ducks. I like frogs more, but I have yet to come across a frog.gif.

I hope you all know how to get a picture or change it and if you don't, let me know because I can post another bulletin about it or ask Lisa or Ms.James to show you.

=D

Ze Driver's Manual

So how many of you have read this? Haha. I couldn't find a picture, but you all know what I'm talking about! I'm being forced to read it since my mom's taking me to get my permit on my birthday. There's no fighting her either. Once she's decided something like that, she won't budge her decision. Don't you just love your mommies?

Anyway, is the test easy? I really don't want to read all of that then freeze up on the test! AAH! That wouldn't be good!

Ha Ha Ha

"These gentlemen are of such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use to laugh at nothing."
Meaning: Sensible means something more like healthy, or appropriate to the purpose here. Basically the insult mocks people for laughing pointlessly.

I totally disagree with this insult because why not laugh at whatever you want??? Even if it is nothing, there are tons of studies that show that laughing is soooo good for you. I read somewhere that even if you make yourself laugh, just the action of laughing releases a lot of stress, and makes you a healthier person. So ha, ha, ha.

Not very good

That is my opinion of Double Helix. I started reading it yesterday. It isn't written very well and I don't know if I am going to finish it. The book isn't that interesting and its hard to get into.

Double Helix is by Nancy Werlin. It is two hundred and fifty pages long. It is about a dude named Eli Samuels. He just got out of high school and he is offered a job at Wyatt Transgenics by Dr. Quincy Wyatt. Dr. Wyatt starts to show an interest in Eli. There is a big mystery about the connection between his parents, Dr. Wyatt, and Eli (which isn't that suspensful or anything). So far the book just hasn't been that great. Thats just my opinion though.

I don't recommend the book.

Any Fantasy/Sci-Fi fans out there?

Whoohoo! It's friday! But anyways, that wasn't why I posted. See, ever since the first Pendragon book came out, I've wanted desperately to read it, but I've just never gotten around to it, I guess. But (and there's always a but, isn't there?) my friend owns like half the series and he loaned me the first book! Yeaheah! It's called The Merchant of Death and its reeeeeeaaallly good! D.J. MacHale is really good at describing things and the plot is so original! Basically, its about this kid, Bobby Pendragon and ...well, I'm jsut gonna write the summary on the back of the book.

"Bobby Pendragon is a seemingly normal fourteen-year-old boy. He has a family, a home, and even Marley, his beloved dog. But there is something very special about Bobby.
He is going to save the world.
And not just Earth as we know it. Bobby is slowly starting to realize that life in the cosmos isn't quite what he thought it was. And before he can object, he is swept off to an alternate dimension known as Denduron, a territory inhabited by strange beings, ruled by a magical tyrant, and plagued by dangerous revolution.
If Bobby wants to see his family again, he's going to have to accept his role as savior, and accept it wholeheartedly. Because, as he is about to discover, Denduron is only the beginning..."

Yep. If you're a Fantasy/Sci-Fi nut, you will love this book. I absolutely guarantee it. ^-^

ALSO:)!

Thank you to anyone and everyone who donated to the Ghana fund. A friend of mine actually got a jar, put pictures of people and children from Ghana on it, and took it to her church. I'm pretty sure she raised quite a bit of money which was SO nice of her to do. And to any of you who had money to spare, but were selfish and didn't.. well.. SHAME ON YOU!

ALSO:)!

Thank you to anyone and everyone who donated to the Ghana fund. A friend of mine actually got a jar, put pictures of people and children from Ghana on it, and took it to her church. I'm pretty sure she raised quite a bit of money which was SO nice of her to do. And to any of you who had money to spare, but were selfish and didn't.. well.. SHAME ON YOU!

Red Rabbit or Dead Rabbit?

Tom Clancy is confusing. Ive heard from people that all of his books are really good, but im reading one called Red Rabbit, and im through 30 pages and am totally lost. It is going back and forth between the U.S. CIA, the british intelligence agency, and the Russian KGB. I don’t know who any of the people are and I don’t know what they are doing. I don’t know if I could still read it or drop it and get a new book.

People who have read his books before: do they all start out slow, and will it get better? Did I pick the wrong book, and if so, which of his books are good ones?

Beefy Manwich

Funny

I think it's funny how Foot-licker means Crawly suck-up. There are a lot of interesting insults in Shakespeare's plays. Here are some more funny insults:

A wretched pulling fool, a whining mammet.

-Puling meant whinging, plaintively moaning about something, and a mammet was a doll, something of little importance. So the insult means a foolish little moaning minnie.

Such a want-wit!

-If you want or need wit, then you're an idiot.

om

the shakespear insult of "what hempen homespuns have we swaggering here?"
is judging someone by the way they dress, i like wearing clothes that look like they came off bums, but that doesnt mean im in the lower class. sorry, i dont have anything better to post about.

Impulse

So i'm reading a new book called Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. I started it yesterday and i'm only on like page 50 but its really good so far. Here's a summary of what's it about:

Three teens are locked up in a psychiatric facility after their suicide attempts. They each have a dark past filled with abuse, but slowly they begin to open up to one another and form tight bonds.

YOU SHOULD READ IT!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Shakespear insult!

On the site Ms. James gave us are some insults from Shakespear.My favorite ones are "You should be women and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so".This one means pretty much what it says and is to be directed at a woman with a bit of a facial hair problem!Another one of my favorites is "You are an index and a prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts".The index and the prologue are the parts of a book that tell you what is in it - hence someone who was these would know all the information in the book inside out. Basically, it's accusing someone of being a lech and a pervert.What is some of your favorite insults from the site we were supposed to look at?

♥Everlost♥

This is the new book i am reading. it is very strange and weird. So far i am on like page 24 and these 2 kids get into a car crash and they end up dieing and goin to this place called everlost where their not in heaven or hell but like in the middle. also there is certain rules that apply to being dead. like you have to be in a dead place like a forest of all dead trees to stand on a flat surface because if you stand in a live place like the highway or the garden you start to sink and you will end up in the middle of the earth. i dont know if this is going to turn out to be a good or bad book. I really want to read burned or impulse by ellen hopkins because i thought crank was a really good book.

The Luckiest Man

I just went to the library yesterday and picked up a book called Luckiest Man by Jonathan Eig. It is abou the life and death of Lou Gehrig. He was a famous baseball player that played along side Babe Ruth for the New York Yankees for over 13 years thorughout the 20's and 30's. He was not as popular as thh great Bambino but was more famous for his farewell speach. In 1939 he started not to play as well as he once did. Everyone knew that something was wrong. So on May 2,1939 he decided to end his streak of 2,130 games played. Lou was diagnosed with a rare disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL). To this day that disease is known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. On July 4, 1939 Yankee Stadium held a recognition day to honor Lou. It was probably one of the emotional moments in sports history. He told the 66,000 people in attendance that he felt like "the luckiest man in the world". From what i have read it seems like a good book. I definatlly enjoy reading biographies. I like learning the background of people that are famous or have a significant spot in history.Well i havent read much but i am excited to get through it.

New Moon....!

The picture above is two books by Stephenie Meyer. The apple picture is Twilight ( I posted about it last month) and the Flower Picture is called New Moon. New Moon is the sequel to Twilight, and oh my goodness, I love this book so much. I loved Twilight, and i finished it really quick, but it took forever for me to get New Moon:/ but now I have it!:) New Moon has totally caught me off guard so far, it's nothing that I expected. It takes you on so many twists and turns, it's sortof hard to keep up, but if you loved Twilight as much as I did, then you'll for sure be willing to stay focused. Bella Swan reminds me quite a bit of myself, I love how Stephenie Meyer takes everything into detail, she explains everything so vivid and clear. I love reading books that you can just picture the scene in your head without trying, New Moon and Twilight for sure will have you doing that. It's exciting:) haha.

On another note, I do not like this stupid cold weather. It's spring for Pete's sake! Sheesh. I hope we all have funfilled weekend:]

Willy Boy

Although Shakespeare is very romantic, I don't really understand anything he says. I mean, think of Romeo and Juliet, what's more romantic than dying for your one true love??? I wish his plays were translated into today's English, and then we might understand and enjoy his works more.

This cartoon is making fun of Hamlet, which is one of the plays I studied in Drama. We watched the Mel Gibson movie, and it was super boring. It was also weird because his mother married his uncle,who killed his father to become king. Hamlet figures it out, and then he thinks everybody he's close to is in cahoots with his uncle, so he pretty much kills everybody to avenge his father's death (even though everybody is innocent except his uncle). And then Hamlet dies too because his uncle poisoned him before his uncle died. It's like a soap opera - so dramatic. It's all in ye olde English too, so it's majorly hard to understand. But oh well, I guess this is what we have to look forward to in here...

SNOW in spring?

I'm a little confused on why it was snowing earlier today.

Last few days it was so warm. what happend? well i dont know about you but i dont like it at all. April is supossed to be warm. Missouri has the strangest weather at of all the places ive lived.

Maybe it will warm up soon, i sure hope so.

have a nice COLD weekend :)

Brrr. ooh it's cold in here. There must be some cheifs in the atmosphere

I have NO idea where I got that one from.

The school is really, really, REALLY, cold downstairs. But I guess we'll be grateful when it gets really hot outside.

So tonight I get to go ice skating with my friends. I swear, it's so Romeo-and-Juliet-ish, except for the rivalry and suicide and stuff. I think they should get together, and I know they like each other, but they don't want to. It's a little odd. So I'm scared to go ice skating because I've never been before and my ankle is currently sprained. Ouch.

So who donated to Ghana? I gave up my whole penny collection [[about 3 dollars]] and I have been collecting that for almost a year. The reason I gave it up is because I feel that I have enough money that I can spare that. It is important to me, but who cares? It'll help starving people, then that's good enough for me.

I'm might be the Easter bunny for a group of kids that shall not be named. I have to call after school to see if the suit came in. I hope it'll fit. I'm pretty tall.

For some reason, I think we should all just gather in a place at this school and start singing and dancing. I think it's because I have seen two movies today about singing and dancing: High School Musical and The Cheetah Girls 2: The Girls Go To Spain.

Okay, well, I have to go comment you guys.
Adios!

a knave

You are an ass head and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull.

Thought this was kind of wierd at first, but then I read what it meant and thought it was kind of cool. here's what it means.

A coxcomb, meaning cockerel's crest, was worn on the hat of fools in Shakespeare's time. Knave means rogue, untrustworthy person, with a hint that the person is lower class - a bit like today's 'chav'. Gull meant someone who was easily taken in, similar to the term 'mark' as used by con men today.

Well there you go that is my favorite for all the Shakespeare insults that I have heard. If you liked it comment or if you don't like it comment. It doesn't matter.

Twilight

Alright, if you already haven't guessed, I'm reading this book! It's called Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I'm only about 125 pages or so into it, but it's pretty good! My favorite character right now is Edward Cullen. He's this absolutely gorgeous guy who usually just stays around his family, but starts to socialize with this girl, the main character, Isabella Swan.

If Edward isn't enough to draw you into this book, then the front cover certainly will. It reads, and I quote:

"When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret.

"What Bella doesn't realize is the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And, it might be too late to turn back...."

I thought that the inside cover was really good, and also it's a really popular read for a lot of book lovers. It is really good, so if you ever get the chance and want to, I suggest picking this up from the library! After I'm done with it, that is... haha.

On a totally different subject, what do you all think about reading Shakespeare? I'm all up for it, but I'm going to need some one highly skilled to translate! I love to read, but I can only read English, not olde English!

By this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth!

Ha-ha. This insult was my favorite. It's easy to understand too, so I got it right away and laughed before reading the definition. Do you guys get it? It's fromt The Tempest, Act III, Scene II. I don't even know what that play is about. Oh, I learned a new word too. Fleer means to pull a mocking or scathing face.

Impulse?

Right now, I'm still reading A Million Little Peices, but I need to think of the next book I'm giong to read.

I think I'm going to read Impluse. Has anyone read it yet?
It's by Ellen Hopkins, and her other two books, Burned and Crank, are really good, so i figured this one would be, too.

I got those three books for my birthday, so I don't have to worry about how to get it.

But please, anyone who's read it, tell me what you think :]

Oh; and anyone with book suggestions, let me know. Thanks.

Geesh

im so glad this week is over. cheif time is way to long. plus i dont understand why students have to take the map test anyway. and what is that site we were supposta go to for the insults. my computer wont let me on www.freshmanscholars.com/blogspot or whatever it is.

Shakespear

Well I am glad we are done with To Kill A Mockingbird and are now starting Romeo and Juliet.To Kill A Mockingbird was very boring to me.Hopefully Romeo and Juliet will be better and not so boring.It is really cool the sheet of words Ms. James gave us.Shakespear made up all the words himself like jig,howl,eyeball,and glow.Those are just a few considering he made up more than 2000 words and expressions!Yesturday we read a little about Shakespear himself and it told about his Wooden O theater.We also learned about some of the Shakespear insults and got a sheet to make up our own which is pretty interesting.When I went to the site Ms. James told us to go on today it showed some Shakespear insults and what they mean.A few are never hung poison on a fouler toad,which means toads were believed to be poisonous, were held to be ugly, and were associated with evil. Saying this would be calling someone more poisonous and horrible than a toad, and I would not be in some of your coats for twopence,that meant I wouldn't wear that if you paid me. I am kind of excited to learn more of the insults and actually hear them in the story.

New York

Hey peoples!!!!!!!!

I haven't blogged in a really long time because i've been gone all this week. I was in New York!!! So this is my first blogg this week. I don't really know what you guys have been doing this week except for the test on To Kill A Mockingbird, which i did today and was a little difficult.

Well, i went to New York for a birthday party for one of my friends from Puerto Rico. It was so much fun! It was me, Viviana( the girl who's birthday) and Rita. There was supposed to be lots of people coming but things happened i guess and couldnt come. I was soo happy to see them since i havent seen them in almost a year.

One thing i learned while i was there is that i lost alot of my spanish unfortunately. I mean, i understood almost everything but i had a realllyyyyy hard time speaking it to them. Actually i ended up speaking english to them most of the time. I had never been to New York so it was really cool for me. We went to alot of really places like Times Square, Statue of Liberty, and a million of other places. All in all, it was an amazing experience for me and had the best time!!!

A Rip In Heaven!

That is the book that I'm reading right now. It's written by Jeanine Cummins and is a true story. It actually took place not to far from here! St. Louis, MO and in April of 1991. I started it yesterday afternoon and I'm already on page 158! It's such a good book, but it's all SO sad. Especially since I know this all actually happened. What's went on so far, in a nut shell, is that Tom Cummins, his parents, and his two sisters, Tink and Kathy come to St. Louis, Missouri from Washington D.C. They came to visit their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Well, their two favorite cousins are Robin and Julie Kelly. The night before they head back to D.C., Tom sneaks out so Julie and Robin can pick him and take him to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge where Julie has spray painted one of her peace poems on. While there, they run into 3 african-american men between the ages of 19-23 and a 15 year old white boy. The three men rob Julie, Robin, and Tom. Than the 15 year old boy takes Tom and watches him with a gun to his head, while the other 3 men gang rape his two cousins. After that is over they are all forced to jump 90 feet down into the Mississippi River. Tom survives and gets out of the water, but Julie and Robin were not so lucky. Now the cops are accusing him of raping and murdering his two cousins when really he did his best to save them. SO! This is obviously a really good book or atleast I think so. I am excited to see what else happens in the book, and to finish it.



I'm also excited to start the Shakespeare unit! I've wantd to read some of Romeo and Juliet for a while now, simply because it seems like there would be A LOT of beautiful quotes and stuff in it. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Just In Case

I am reading this book. The beggining was a little weird. It starts out with an immediate almost-tragedy. This guys brother is one years old, and thinks that he can jump out a window and fly. His brother Chris, jumps to his save at the last second, it is quite tense!! haha

A few pages later, it talks about how this little one year old is noticing that his old brother is miserable. He is trying to figure out why, becuase he sees pictures of his brother earlier in life when he seemed very excited and happy.

I'm sure at all where this book is going to go. Hopefully it will be good!!

Meanwhile, Mockingbird is FINALLLY done. Well, it has been for a while, but we just finished the test. It was not to difficult...I found the last question a little challenging. Like, i knew the answer, i just wasn't sure how to describe what I was thinking in words.

What did everyone else think?!

This week has been intense, poms try-outs are coming up! Its exciting to get ready to start our sophmore years. Actually, I am not to happy for another year of school, but it will do! :D

I hope you alllllll leave comments! :D

:D

:D

:D

:D

The Jump 2

Well this is the second time i have posted about this but this book is really good. Its called The Jump. Its about Sebastian Telfair, a player that was drafted right out of high school to go to the NBA, but I'm still where he is in high school. He is playing for Lincoln High School and is an amazing player. He played on a AAU team and his coach got into illegal stuff involving a strip club and then Telfair changed teams. Since he changed teams his old coach has been out to get his new coach into trouble. Telfair also went to a camp and was ranked the number one player in his grade in the US, but another player there was thretening his title. They ended up playing against each other and Telfair killed him, but they lost the next game in the championship. The only problem is finding time to read it with everything going on, but i will keep you posted.

William

Well To Kill A Mockingbird was really long for me, i just couldnt get into it. Now we are starting Shakespeare. I have a feeling that it will not be the greatest read ever either cause the words and grammar are so much different. We will see though and hopfully it will be as good of a book as I have heard. We read about his Wooden O theature yesterday and just a little bit about himself. It was pretty interesting so maybe the book will be to.

Why Help Ghana?

There are many people in this school that are asking this question:

1. Why should I help Ghana?
2. Why shouldn’t you?
3. I mean why not do it for the sake of it?
4. Why help Ghana when our country needs help too?

And to this question I can answer: we do it because they don’t have the things we have in the U.S. and it makes me really mad and it upsets me because people won’t help another country. Why be greedy with money, it’s only a dollar or a quarter, or dime, or nickel, or even a penny. But all I know is that we should help Ghana because they need more things than we do. Why be so selfish as to help your own country first? When the homeless doesn’t have a place to go to they go to a place like the homeless shelter where they can stay at. And when the people in Ghana don’t even have an education and not even clean water to drink from.

Tell me exactly who needs help more? The U.S. where we can provide nutrients and a bed for the homeless (I’m not trying to go against the U.S. or anything but I think we could do better that that) or Ghana where little children have swelled up bellies because they don’t have food to eat so then their bodies eat all of the fat in their bodies and then starts dissolving the stomach muscle causing it to look really swelled up. And when Ghana doesn’t even have clean water where they can drink out of and instead of that they have dirty contaminated water where worm like creature live and then when the water is drunken, the worms grow in the stomach of children. This devastates me so much that I feel like making a bigger difference but don’t know what else to do but to donate money to the school.

It’s only a dollar people or even some loose change would go as far as to provide food for the people over there. It just makes me so angry to here that people don’t want to donate money because our people need more help. I mean we are trying to help people in the Katrina incident or the homeless or even the abused ones. And even kids with enough money to go to school; go the distance for a good education because they want to be successful and have a decent living. But all I’m trying to make my point across is that one dollar can go so far to change someone’s life. And in other countries 1 dollar can feed up to 20-30 people, where as a dollar can barely buy water over here in this country. It really doesn’t make a difference of whose people we helping because we are all the same so why not help the same people? What did they do to deserve the kind of disrespect they have from you (this goes to the people who don‘t care)? What makes them so different except fact that they live in another country, language, culture, or environment?

This really disappoints me to hear people being so greedy as to have the money themselves. What can losing a dollar do to you? And I not very “rich” myself but I do try to help them. Thank you for your time on reading this and please comment me back about this if you have any questions or arguments.

♥Beating Heart♥

This book is very good! I started it yesterday night and im already done. This book is small and kinda goes short and i wanted to read more when it was over to see what happened to life after. This book is about a senior who moves to a new old big house with his mom and little sister. He soon starts having dreams about this girl. it turns out that this girl used to live there and then died. the workers who were working on the house found a steel box that had pictures and history of this girl and her family. What happened to the girl is soon to happen to this boy and his girlfriend. sorry you will have to read the book for more.its only 244 pages and most of it is in like a free verse poetry form.♥

Soldier Boys!!

Today I got this book. And I finished it today! It was really good. It was about two 17 year-old boys. One an American, one a German. The book switches from boy to boy as they travel with the army during World War 2. It switches from their viewpoints as the war goes on and they experience real war action. Once again the book is a little graphic but its the truth about how war really is. I thought it was really weird to hear the German kid talking about killing Americans and fighting for Hitler. Eventually though these two characters will meet in battle not knowing one another. It's a really interesting how their stories intertwine. It's another great read!

♥CrAnK♥

I heard alot about this book but i wasnt for sure if i was gonna like it. But i was wrong! This book is really good. Until the end i never knew that the whole time they where talkin about meth. well here is a summary of the book: Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, Kristina disappears and Bree takes her place. Bree is the exact opposite of Kristina -- she's fearless. Through a boy, Bree meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul -- her life. Well i finished this book in one day which was yesterday. It is a very good book i encourage you to read it very soon if u havent already. this book is 537 pages it just hooks you in like a fish to a worm.
well you need to comment me and tell me what you think!♥

§hakespeare

Well, we are finally over with to kill a mockingbird and i must say it was really good, one of my favorite readings. Now we are going to read a "play" ,as Ms. James would call it, that I'm not to fond of. Shakespeare. I don't know, I've heard some good things about it from the girls, but all the guys said it sucked and they gave away the ending for me. That's OK because I heard it was just a bunch of gibberish. Hope you all enjoy this picture I found see you guys in class.

Later

Double Helix

I started reading Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. The book is okay so far. The plot seems pretty good but the story isn't written that well. It doesn't seem like the author is that great. Apparently she got the Edgar Award though so I guess she can't be that bad.

A Thousand Years

The book that I'm reading right now is I Have Lived A Thousand Years. This book is about the author when she was a young teenager in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. This book is so good because you get to hear the voice of someone who survived the Holocaust. Her story is a real miracle. One of the guards actually saves her life by telling her to tell the next guard in line that she is sixteen. If she would have said her real age, then she would have been sent to the gas chambers with her aunt. Instead she was sent to do harsh labor.

"In a graphic present-tense narrative, this Holocaust memoir describes what happened to a Jewish girl who is 13 when the Nazis invade Hungary in 1944. She tells of a year of roundups, transports, selections, camps, torture, forced labor, and shootings, then of liberation and the return of a few. . . . Horrifying as her experience is, she doesn't dwell on the atrocities. There is hope here. . . . A final brief chronology of the Holocaust adds to the value of this title for curriculum use with older readers".--"Booklist", boxed review.

Totally Joe

I just finished reading Toally Joe. It was all right. When i picked it up i thought, "wow, this picture on the front looks kinda awesome." I also thought that the story was about a girl. Haha. Cause when i read the inside, the guy sounded lie a girl. But it's really about a boy comeing out of the closet.

So i was sitting there, a few chapters into the book, thinking, "How the heck did i pick up a gay book?" I was completly stumped. It wasn't a bad book or anything, it's just i was sooo confused. Anyways i read the book and thought it made a really good point. That you need to just be yourself, bo matter what people call you or do to you. So i give it a 3.5 outta 5. So now i am working on Born to rock. It's kinda awesome.

Search And Destroy!!!

I just got done reading a book called Search and Destroy. It was awesome! It is about an 18 year kid in the 70's during the Vietnam War. He is not drafted but decides to volunteer! That's crazy. Who would do that in the Vietnam War? Well it's because he wants to get away from home and his dad. He wants to experience the real world and prove to his dad that he is a man. Anyway he signs up and does really good in the camps. Eventually he is apart of a 6-man group who go in and do secret operations. They set up ambushes and are the best at what they do. As the book goes on he learns about the horrors of war as he sees his fellow comrades die. The book is a little graphic about gunshots to the head and the body being torn apart, but that's it. He learns what war is really about and comes back home different.

I won't tell you what all happens while he is in Vietnam because I don't want to spoil it.

It's a great book.

Read It!

Favorite Book

Since we nothing to talk about for a while, I thought I could talk about one of my favorite books. This book is called Hawksong and the book is about love. I read this book in eight grade and still read it when I don’t have any other books to read. The book’s genre is fantasy/romance, and this book brought a new whole perspective to how good a book is. I had fallen in love with this once I have finished it and it made me want to read more. And there was a beginning to a new journey inside a new realm of imagination. If you don’t get it, it means that this book had made want to read more book like this and the fact that I have fallen in love with the book. Then I started to read more advance stories such as a book that has more difficult vocabulary words to improve my knowledge.

Okay, back to the subject. To make a long story short I’ll try to explain it so that it’ll be easy to read and understand.

The story begins with a war that has continued for many years. There is a girl named Danica who is about 18 years old and is also the princess of her country, the bird people, they have two forms that they can turn in to. And she wants to stop the war with the snake people because she had lost so many people, including her sister and brother, which she doesn’t even know how the war began in the first place. Then one of the snake princess comes to her kingdom and tries to tell her that they also search for peace and in order to take peace in hand they need to settle their problems in another land (place). So that each race will feel safe and don’t have to watch their back all the time when they are in the bird/snake land. So they attend the meeting with the help of another race the tiger people. And they try to settle it there.

But the snake kingdom has another prince, Zane, who is about 19 years old and is also there to make peace with the other race. So then they ask the tiger people for help and for advice to stop the war because he also lost so many loved ones. When the tiger people got an idea it was for Zane to marry Danica and to unite the two countries.

Well since I’m taking too long you should read the book because I recommend it and it really is a good book. It has so many conflicts with the two countries that you think it will never end and when you finish you’ll want to read more. Her other books that are a continuation to this good but not good enough to were you’ll want to read it again like this book will make you. Well my advice to you if you finish reading this book is to not read her other books. I personally think the latest book is bad. Her other books, not the continuation, to this book is good though.

Here is Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' website if your interested in finding what her other books are. Sorry for taking so long. Bye. And do read the book. Bye, bye.

Who would think what?

YAY! We're completely finished now with To Kill a Mockingbird!

When we did the survey yesterday in class there were many quotes, and you could answer true or false for each character about which you though they would agree, or disagree. One of the quotes that caught my eye, and the character was.. "Girls should act like girls." For Aunt Alexandra's line put true, because she DEFINITELY agreed with this quote, by the way she treated scout. She would tell scout that she needed to wear dresses more, and start acting like a lady, rather than wear overalls and play outside all day. Scout, would disagree with this quote I think, because she loved being comfortable in her own clothes and playing with Dill and Jem.





I also started a new book called "Uglies" it's really fictional, but i like it alot because I notice that it gets me sort of lost in the book. Anyways, I hope you all had a great spring break and everything:)

Rucker Park

That is Sebastian Telfair, number 12 playing at Rucker Park in New York. Rucker is famous for being THE place to play street ball. He played there in high school and im reading a book on him called "The Jump". It is about going from High School straight to the NBA. It takes about his coaches, teachers, players he battled against on the court, and the hardtimes he went through. I havent finished it yet, but so far it is really good. Man he is a balla!

Good or Bad?

So what we did today in class gave me a better understanding of what happened during the attack and who did what during the attack. The ending had really confused me when I first read it but now that I got to talk it with the rest you guys in class I got to have a better understanding. Especially the part when Scout had said that it would be like shooting a mockingbird, at first I didn’t really understand what she was talking about but now that I understand the whole situation in the end I was really shocked by the resolution.

Then what we talked about in class got me thinking that maybe it is necessary for citizens to take the law in their own hands. But I can see how Heck Tate was trying to defend Boo Radley, now that I have a better understanding of course. So then I think it is okay to “bend” the law a little then and there when you think that the law is doing the wrong thing, but of course you have to find the difference between doing the good thing or the bad. So to my conclusion I think that it is important to tell whether you are doing the good or the bad.

OH books!!

Everyone seems to have a new book they are reading. I dont yet. I am trying to find one, but im having difficulty... help?
haha

But I did have some extra time to look on the internet a few minutes ago, and came across this.
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

This quote makes me think a lot! Not only does it relate to us, (our highschool) but even to adults. You can see the "dumb blonde" girls flouncing around and saying stupid things because they feel the need to "have to say something." But a true WISE person would only talk with the true need of having something to say.
How many of us only talk when it is necessary?
I dont know anyone like that. We all seem to not think things through before going for it. I have seen a lot of horrible things come from people just blurting whatever they feel.

I think we should all anyalyze this quote and really think about what it is saying.
Wisdom is a choice.
Take it! :D



Byyyeeee
and Goodnight :DDD

skinny

I'm starting to read this book, it's called Skinny by Ibi Kaslik.

Here is what the book is about...


Holly’s older sister, Giselle, is self-destructing. Haunted by her love-deprived relationship with her late father, this once strong role model and medical student, is gripped by anorexia.Holly, a track star, struggles to keep her own life in balance while coping with the mental and physical deterioration of her beloved sister. Together, they can feel themselves slipping and are holding on for dear life.


This honest look at the special bond between sisters is told from the perspective of both girls, as they alternate narrating each chapter.Gritty and often wryly funny, Skinny explores family relationships, love, pain, and the hunger for acceptance that drives all of us.

i hope i like it, so far i do but I'll have to see. :)

Well. its over!

Not only have we finished To Kill A Mockingbird, but spring break is over. It is really depressing. I had tons of fun down in Florida, what did you all do?

Now that we have no required reading, I think I am going to check out some of the books introduced to us at the beginning of the year.

I think that Crank sounds really good. I was told it was better than The Burn Journals, which i thought was amazing!

Well i hope you all will comment this blog and tell me what you are going to start reading!

OKKKKK BYE!

Smack!

Over the break I read a book called Smack. It was about two runaways, a girl and a boy, who live in England. They run off to Bristol. Eventually they start living off a squat. A squat is an abandoned building that is taken up by someone and used as a living place. Many people that live on the street live in them. The book is about how these two 14 year-0lds start to live on the street because their life at home is bad. The two kids attend a party and meet these drug users. They decide to go live with them. Basically this book is about how the two runaways get hooked on heroine, or smack as it is called on the streets. The book is pretty depressing and graphic and mature when it comes to prostitution/drug use etc. The story is how they start living the street life then finally how they get out of the drug life and back to normal. It is sad and depressing like I said, but it really shows a different life and how some people choose to live. That is why I read it. I thought it was interesting. Well that's all I got.

The Jump

Well over spring break i went to Branson and then to Kansas City and i took a book to read. I read "The Jump-Sebastian Telfair and the High Stakes Business of High School Ball". So far the book is good because I like basketball, but it started out kinda slow. It was just about his family and other people and then the politics of being a penonon from like the 3rd grade. The book is about a young point guard and like growing up in New York. It is a really good book and if you like basketball then you sould try to get your hands on it cause it is sweet.