Hey new Excel 10 students!
This is Mr. Wickersham, one of your Excel teachers. We're excited about the upcoming school year and hope you are too. Ms. Zimmerman and I have sent you that letter to get you thinking about reading and writing before you get started in school on Tuesday, Sept. 5. You must post on this website before class begins on Tuesday, because this is your first assignment.
First, tell us about a book you have read this summer.
1. Give us the title and author;
2. Next, provide a short paragraph summarizing the book;
3. Pull a meaningful quote out of the book and explain why it's important to the story;
4. Who do you think is the intended audience for this book and why?;
5. On a scale of 1 -5 (one being awful, five being terrific), what would you rate this book and why?
In order to comment on the blog, either press comment or post a comment at the bottom of the blog. Then, a new page will appear and on the right hand side of the page, you'll have a box in which to type your assignment under Leave your comment. You do not have to sign in or create an account, but just put your first name with the first initial of your last name (i.e. Geoff W.) at the bottom of the page. (Once we get to know everybody, you won't need to leave the initial of your last name except for the 4 Joshes, 2 Stephanies, 2 Matthews, 2 Seans, 2 Jordans, and 2 Nicoles that we have. There are 61 students in the class). We only use first names for privacy reasons. After you are finished typing your assignment, scroll down the screen to where you'll see a word verification box. It will look something like YYPKW in wavy letters. You need to do this to make sure that you're not a computer program trying to post spam on the website. Then press preview and change if you want to, or press publish.
You will not see your post on the screen right away, because either myself or Ms. Zimmerman have to approve the post before it goes on the website. If you don't see your reply posted within a few days, try it again.
Thanks. We look forward to working with you.
Mr. Wickersham and Ms. Zimmerman
"After a hard day's work diggin' up the sod, we're ready for chow."
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
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I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Wicked tells the story of Elphaba aka. The Wicked Witch of the West, who you find out isn't truly wicked. The story starts before Elphaba is born and follows her life all the way to her murder by Dorothy. In between this she has to cope w/ her skin ailment and the rumors surrounding it. She finds comfort, friends, and her passion at college, but her never ending quest of questioning the nature of good and evil has gotten her into a lot of sticky situations.
"'The real thing about evil,' said the Witch at the doorway, 'isn't any of what you said. You figure out one side of it---the human side, say---and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. It's like the old saw: What does a dragon in its shell look like? Well no one can ever tell, for as soon as you break the shell to see, the dragon is no longer in its shell. The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret.'" Elphaba says this on her way out from a dinner party where the main topic had been the true meaning of evil. This quote is important to the story because it states and emphasizes on the theme of the book which is the nature of evil.
The audience for this book is defiantly focused towards college students or higher. I say that because there were many parts in the story where I had to look up up to 3 words per page to understand what was being described or discussed. When ever I read it I had to have a dictionary right next to me. It started to get annoying, but the book was still good.
I would rate Wicked as a 4 1/2. The reason it’s not a 5 is because it took a while for me to get into it. The beginning had a really slow start. Other then that though, I really liked it. It had just enough suspense to keep you interested, but it also had parts that made you think.
Kate G.
Hello Excel!
The book I read was called “Murder off Mike”, By Joyce Krieg.
This book is about a talk-show radio host by the name of Shauna J. Bogart. She is spunky, peppy, and loves: drama, politics, and having fun on the air. What Shauna doesn’t expect is when “Dr.Hipster” another radio personality is murdered. Police say he committed suicide, but Shauna doesn’t fall for that! Now Shauna has to figure out who did the crime. It’s a great book.
“Welcome to the Shauna J. Bogart show, YOU’RE ON THE AIR!” defiantly is important because that is what Shauna always says when people are on the air talking to Shauna about something “Juicy”.
This book is towards teens 13+. It’s not a hard read, but the style of the book pertains to young adults or high school students. My grandmother even liked it, so it must be an “older crowd” type of book. Also the material such as politics and the humor used goes towards an older crowd.
This book is rated 4. It’s good, but not the best book I’ve ever read. I recommend it to people who like to talk a lot. And people who enjoy juicy conversations/stories. It’s a really fun book to read, and its always on “the edge” making you want to read more.
“SHAUNA J. BOGART IS OFF THE AIR!”
-Josh F.
I read Private by Kate Brian. Private follows a girl named Reed and her never ending desire to be part of the "in crowd" at her new private school. She comes from a small, middle class town and grew up with many family problems. As she soon realizes, her "not so rich" upbringing doesn't get her too far in this new wealthy audience. Once she meets the "bad-boy" of Easton Academy Thomas, she gets that much closer to her goal of fitting in. They immediately click and decide to get to know each other even better. Soon after, the "it" girls from the Billings dorm start befriending her. These new friends and this new environment turn Reed into a whole new person, someone she never thought she would be. Her relationship with Thomas and the Billings girls gets her into many interesting, and dangerous situations, that all make her a stronger and more successful girl.
There is a very important underlying theme throughout the book, and that is the fact that Reed it at Easton Academy on a scholarship. If her grades are not acceptable, or her behavior is out of line, she may find herself back in the town she grew up in, and never wanted to go back to. A quote that really gets this feeling across in the book was stated in the middle of the book and served as a turning point to the story. "One more round of grades like this and you will be put on academic probation. Your scholarship will be reassessed and the Board of Directors might begin to wonder if it made a mistake admitting you." After hearing this from her counselor, she really shapes up her grades and behavior and does everything she can to stay in this new world.
I would definitely say that this is more of a high school girl's book. It focuses on a lot of situations that one may come across in their high school years. I found this book to be really intriguing and never boring. I would definitely give it a 5 because not only was there always action going on, it was very believable and easy to relate to.
-Jordan H.
"Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown
The novel "Angels and Demons" begins with the main character Robert Langdon, a Harvard Professor of Symbology, being awoken with an urgent call that a man has been murdered and his expertise is required. The man that was murdered was named Leonardo Vetra and his chest had been branded with the word “Illuminati.” Vetra worked for a discrete scientific organization called CERN and had created a shocking but dangerous way to create anti-matter. However, the anti-matter is soon stolen and used as a threat by the Camerlengo (the Pope’s assistant) to lift the world’s faith in Catholicism. Langdon and Vetra’s daughter, Vittoria ventured to the Vatican in order to prevent the anti-matter from destroying the city. This novel was very exciting and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
“Rectifying science with religion has been my father’s dream,” Vittoria said. “He hoped to prove that science and religion are two totally compatible fields– two different approaches to finding the same truth.”
This quote is extremely important to the story because it recognizes the harmony that Leonardo Vetra intended by creating anti-matter rather than the havoc that CERN and the Catholic Church caused. Instead of religion and science being enemies, Vetra meant for them to coincide to discover the same truth. This was a philosophy that throughout the novel, the church and CERN were both to reluctant and stubborn to see.
I would estimate that Angels and Demons is geared towards those in their mid-teens or for adults as well. While the vocabulary is not too difficult to comprehend, the plot takes some turns that are sometimes hard to follow. Also, a degree of prior knowledge of both science and religion is involved as well.
On a scale from one to five, I would personally rate this book a four. It was an entertaining prequel to the "Da Vinci Code," and I enjoyed the cliff-hangers and I was kept on the edge of my seat. The plot was interesting and I even learned about the Vatican and the Catholic religion, as well as some fascinating scientific facts, such as rules of matter and atoms. However, I found the book to be somewhat bland and the constant cliff-hangers tend to lose their suspense after a while. Also, the plot was uncomfortably similar to the "Da Vinci Code" and I didn’t enjoy the feeling that I was almost reading the same book. Over all, I would recommend "Angels and Demons" to anyone looking for a suspenseful novel, however readers of the "Da Vinci Code" may be disappointed when they find certain aspects that are eerily similar.
Michael J.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
In the fifth book of the series, Harry Potter finds himself once again back in the Dursley's house for what he expected to be another summer exclusively to his small quarters and bann from the rest of the world. With an encounter and duel agaist Voldemort and his return the previous year, Harry had left no impression to his fellow students other than the fact that one student had died, and that he was fantasizing it all, as said by the Daily Prophet and other magazines. As the next school year approaced, Harry escaped his uncle's house and returned to Hogwarts, hearing of rumors of himself and how the Ministry of Magic would take more control over Hogwarts in an attempt to prevent Dumbledore from overthrowing the council with what they believed to be lies that Voldemort returned. Eventually, the Ministry stepped in, hiring a corrupt teacher who was known as the High Inquisitor and had the power to remove teachers she thought "necessary," to better the school according to Hogwarts standards. During this time of cruelty and disbelief, Harry had seen visions of Voldemort as though he were him, and, Harry could feel when Voldemort was pleased or when something had occurred the wrong way. This ability in-turn saved Arthur Weasley who had been attacked by a snake while guarding the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort's destination to retrieve something. Becauase of this ability, Harry was to practice Occlumency so he could keep these visions, and Voldemort, out of his head. Finally, after their OWL finals were finished, Harry had seen his God Father Sirius Black attacked, and responded by going to the Department of Mysteries where this occurred, but finding that only it was a figment of his imagination, but instead, he was surrounded by Voldemort's death eaters, who were waiting for Harry to pick up the glass sphere containing his prophecy, Voldemort's goal. In the end, with help from Dumbledore to defeat the Death Eaters and rid of Voldemort as he had later arrived, Harry learned of Voldemort's plans from Dumbledore and why Harry had had such little contact with the outside world and Dumbledore, whom he greatly depended on for advise. As the year ended, Hogwarts had retrieved all of its unjustly banned teachers from the Ministry, removed the High Inquisitor, and Harry left school for one of the first times, having everything that occurred explained. He was promised more contact with his friends as some of his adult friends went and had a word with his uncle at the train station about how his summer will be this year. For the first time in many years, Harry did not have as many worries on his shoulders of what the summer and next school year would bring, but instead, new that he could excite in his ability to see his friends, and know that his fellow teachers and students did not see him any longer as one who needed attention, but instead as someone truthful, and nothing but anxious for what the next year would bring.
"Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell (Ron, Hermione, Moody, Tonks, the Weasley's) them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around, and led the way out of the station toward the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley hurrying along in his wake."
This quote at the end of chapter thirty-eight really sums up the ending and shows Harry's appreciation of his friends looking out for him this summer, rather than leaving him in the dark like the summer before. Also, it finishes leaving room for the next book to pick up again during that summer and see how the Dursleys reacted to Moody's word with them on Harry's new treatment.
The intended audience for this book would be a crowd that loves an adventure but can remember events that happen earlier in the book and tie them with those that occur later, as this is a key skill in bringing the book together. These creates the book as an ideal one for readers finishing middle school and have done an apt amount of reading and are adequate at the skills necessary to sum up all 870 pages.
I would definately rate the Order of the Phoenix as a five because of its ability to lure the reader in with just the right amount of deatail to create an exciting, detailed plot that takes you on an adventure, all the way up to the climax, and back down to the ending, leaving an opening for the next book to start, making the whole series like one big chain link.
Seth S.
I read the book The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights. The book is about King Arthur and the story of his reign as King of England.
"What is this, that my own dear father and brother kneel before me?" This was the cry of Arthur when he is first recognized as King of England when he pulls the sword out of the stone. This is an important quote because it begins his reign as king.
The audience for this book is geared towards adults and college-age people. This is evident in the ways the characters talk, using the fancy language they did back then. Those who enjoy Shakespeare would also enjoy reading this book because there are similarities to the context and language used in both writings.
Overall i would rate this book a 4 out of 5, due to the fact that the book leaves a big cliffhanger (the book was left incomplete at the author's death). Otherwise it is a great book. Though I am not a fan of the whole medieval times thing, once you get into the book, it gets easier to understand, and more fun to read. There may be times where you need to stop and think about what is going on or what someone is saying, but lots of people would enjoy this book.
Geoff G.
I read "Next Summer" by Hailey Abbott. This book is a sequal of "Summer Boys".
This book deals with summer teenage love that always leaves your mind wondering. The three main characters are Beth, Ella and Kelsi. Kelsi and Ella are sisters and Beth is their cousin. They are refered to as the Turtle girls, which is their last name. Every summer the whole Turtle family vactaions to thier cottages in Pebble Beach, Maine. Beth has a boyfriend named George, they started dating in the summer in the first book. All that is on the Turtle girls mind is BOYS! They meet so many boys every summer and some of them end up dating all the turtle girls. This summer Beth gets caught between two amazing guys, Geroge and a new guy from this summer, Adam. She ends up making a mistake and seeing Adam while she was dating George, and George found out. Her summer was almost ruined but then her cousins, Ella and Kelsi, got into a huge fight that almost tore the family apart. But in the end George ended up taking Beth back and Ella and Kelsi made up and the family did not fall apart.
The most important quote in this book was, " I don't know what guy to choose." All the turtle girls used that line in almost every chapter.
This book is targeted for teemage girls. This book contains some innapropiate material, but most girls can relate. It is not a hard read but it is hard to stay focused on what Turtle girl that they were talking about. So you have to be really focused while you are reading this book and have no distractions.
I rate this book a 5 because teenage girls can really relate to it. The author uses so much detail that you might even fall in love with a character in the book. This has all the drama that a teenage girl faces on a day to day basis. This is one of thoes books for a girl that you just cant put down.
You just never know what guy the turtle girls are going to choose next!
-Julianne D.
I read Velocity by Dean Koontz, it was a thriller. This is also the second book by Dean Koontz that I have read; the first one was Life Expectancy.
Velocity tells the Story of a Bartender, Billy Wiles, a thirty something year old, who used to be a writer, He quit writing when his wife entered a coma which she has been in for the past three years. Looking at Billy’s background, you would never have been able to predict the future events of this book, and how Billy handles them.
The book starts off with Billy getting off of a shift one night and finds a piece of paper on his windshield. “If you don’t take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blonde schoolteacher somewhere in Napa County. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly women active in charity work. You have six hours to decide. The choice is yours.” This quote is very important to the story, because it is what starts everything off. He sees several notes over the course of this story similar to this one.
When his best friend, a cop Lanny Olsen is one of the victims of this killer, the story takes a large turn in the way it is written, this is the reason I enjoyed the book as much as I did. When he goes through Lanny’s house, he becomes much much more cautious, Billy becomes much more wary of everything he is touching, because Lanny was killed, and the killer didn’t leave any traces, and if Billy does, he will be held accountable.
This is one of those books that make you think, who the bad guy is, and what would you do if you were in a situation as bad as this.
I greatly enjoyed this book, and I give it a 5 / 5 and I believe this book is for High School students and Older; because of the plot of the book, the plot is very dark and eerie. If you like page turners, then this is a great book for you, I found that I needed to finish this book.
Sean T.
Ark Angel
By: Anthony Horowitz
The book Ark Angel is about a 16-year-old spy named Alex Rider. He is forced to go on “missions” by the secret British Government Agency M16. The mission he gets assigned to in this book is uncovering a secret plot to destroy the pentagon. Alex saves a multi-billionaire’s son’s life and his own from a secret terrorist organization. As a reward, Alex gets invited to travel the world with the billionaire. Little does he know that the billionaire is the person who is trying to kill him. In the end, Alex ends up saving the pentagon and resuming a normal life in London (or so we think).
“Nice night for a walk,” is a great quote because it portrays Alex’s sense of humor in bad situations and danger. Alex says this to a fireman right before he passes out.
The intended audience of this book could be people of the Alex’s age because it is full of modern adventure yet normal problems and themes that teens could relate to and enjoy. It could also be focused on a slightly younger audience where Alex is a role model to look up to.
I would give this book a 4 because it is the kind of book I love to read. It is filled with adventures and spies. However, I have read many books of this type and this was not my favorite one.
Posted By: Andrew S.
I read the book Bleachers by John Grisham
This fiction novel by John Grisham is the story of old football players from the town of Messina reuniting. Eddie Rake was the idol football coach of this small town and he is what made this town well known. He coached for 34 years achieving thirteen state championships and winning over 400 games. He is 72 and very ill and many people gather in Messina to see him on his last days. Going back to Messina are Neely Crenshaw and Paul Curry, co-captains of Rakes Spartans in 1987.They find old friends and meet new ones as the days go by waiting for Rake to pass away. They all tell stories of the days when they played for the tough, demanding Coach Eddie Rake.
“Neely’s senior year he completed thirty-one laps, almost eight miles, and when he fell onto the grass with the dry heaves he could hear Rake cursing him from across the field. Paul ran nine and a half miles that year, thirty-eight laps, and won the race. Every Spartan remembered two numbers—the one on his jersey, and the number of laps he finished in the Spartan Marathon.” The marathon means a lot to the players and shows how hard they work to be one of the Spartans.
This book is intended for avid fiction readers who have a slight interest in sports. This is also targeted for people who have also previously read and enjoyed other John Grisham novels. This novel does have some bad language in it, so it is appropriate for ages 13 and above.
I would rate this book a 4.0 out of 5 because it had a lot of very funny parts in it and then, towards the end of the book it got very sad. You get to understand the lives of very different people and how they interact with each other and that was cool to read about. I liked this book a lot and would recommend it to everyone who has a slight interest in sports.
Michael L.
'Ello...
I read Alta by Mercedes Lackey. Alta is book two of the Dragon Jousters Series. The book leaves off where the first book, Joust, leaves off. In the begining of the book the main charicter is still known as Vetch and one of his first trials is to overcome his childhood, and serf, name and become Kiron son of Kiron, rider of the dragon Avatre. It follows him through his return to the land of his birth, Alta, and through him training other dragon riders to have tame hand rased dragons and destroying a way for both sides of the war between Alta and Tia to have any untame dragon thus inraging the Magi. The Magi are the Magic wealders of Alta and have been using a forbidden magic which steals the unused years of life from dead or dieng people to give themselfs a false youth.
"'You call yourself Kiron, Son of Kiron' the Mouth said abruptly, although the boice did not break the silence so much as insinuate itself into the silence ans part it. 'So you have asked us to address you. And yet, you do not think of yourself as that person.'... 'I have been Vetch, the serf, far longer than I have been Kiron, the keeper of Avatre and dragon rider,' he (Vetch)said at last 'And yet, if you endter into your native land thinking of yourself as Vetch, your own people will treat you thuswise,' said the Mouth" In this quote, which is more of a dialogue, The Mouth of the Bedu, a desert dwelling people, is explaning to Vetch that if he continues to think of him self as Vetch the serf who is worth less then the dirt he was bound to, the people of his home land with think of him with just that much worth. However, if he begins to think of himself as Kiron, son of Kiron, rider of Avatre, and a lesser noble of which the dragon proves the rank then he will be treated with the amount of respect due.
I would say the intended audiance for this book would be upper Jr. High or Middle School to Collage students. There are many words that some lower Jr. high or Middle schoolers would not understand. Also, if the first book grabs you then the second and third are a must read. Although it is easy to pick up where you left off, say you finish the first book and dont start the second 'till a few months later, you wont have to reread the first one to know what happend that led up to the beginning of the second book.
I would rate this book a 4.5 mainly because there where some major typos in the copy I own which threw me off for a bit. Other than those it was a pretty good book. It had plety of suspence and I found myself reading at 2 in the morning and looking at the clock and saying to myself 'ok just one more chapter', 'just one more chapter', untill I had finished 3 or 4 chapters that way.
Tammer B.
I read Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen. Skinny Dip is a hysterical novel about a woman named Joey Perrone and her psycho husband Chaz. The story begins on the Sunn Duchess, a cruise ship, where Joey and Chaz are vacationing. One night, after Joey and Chaz had been partying, Joey Perrone's vacation took a turn for the worse. Her husband brought her out onto the deck, grabbed her ankles, and threw her overboard. Joey landed among the sharks where her husband hoped she would die.
However, Chaz had apparently forgotten that Joey had been an all american swimmer in her day. She swam as far as she could, hitched a ride on a barrel of Jamaican weed, and was rescued by a man named Mick Stranahan.
Joey and Mick became friends and decided to play mind games with Chaz. Im not going to ruin the ending for you, but i will say that Joey gets big time revenge on her homicidal husband.
"The specificity of the lie was important to ensure that the rescue operation would focus on the wrong swatch of ocean. The ship's locationan 3:30 am would have been approximately seventy miles north of the spot where he'd tumble his wife overboard." This quote explains to the reader that Chaz had given alot of thought to his murder plot. It shows Chaz's true colors. Because Chaz is so serious about the murder and so parannoyed someone will find out it wasn't an accident, the pranks the Joey pulls on Chaz are a million times funnier.
The intended audience for this book is teenage girls, and all adults. Teenage boys may like it..im not really sure. This is because there are many sexual refrences, a few sex scenes,and the language is tough to understand sometimes.
I would rate Skinny Dip as a 5 becuase it contained laugh out lound humor and i couldn't put it down.
Kelsey V.
The book I read was 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson. 13 Little Blue Envelopes follows Virginia Blackstone (aka Ginny) on her adventures through Europe. Her Aunt, a struggling artist, had lived in Europe and was very sick with cancer. Before she died, she planned a trip for Ginny and wrote her 13 letters explaining where to go and what to do. The letters also taught her a lot about her aunt, and most importantly, herself.
"Let's not be precious about it, Gin. We haven't talked about it so far, and it's about time we did. I got sick. I am sick. I will continue to get sicker. I don't like it, but that's the truth--and it's always better to face things head-on. Rich words coming from me, but accurate ones." This is a quote from one of Ginny's letters from her aunt. This is important to the story because it addresses the fact that she was sick and it also gives a good example of the lessons she teaches Ginny. She would always run away from things that got too comfortable and rarely faced anything. Getting sick teaches her this and she passes on her knowlege to Ginny.
The book is mainly geared towards high school students. It was an easy read, but there are some situations that would be better understood by older kids.
I would rate this book a 4. It was a little confusing at the beginning, but once I got into it, I liked it. I really liked the concept, but it wasn't the best book I've ever read.
-Rachael M.
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
A murder of one of the world’s top physicists, a stolen canister ticking down 24 hours before annihilating Vatican City, four missing cardinals from conclave, and an ancient satanic cult of science reemerging once again, claims responsibility for all. Robert Langdon awoke one morning with a phone call, begging him to prove the legitimacy of the Illuminati ambigram branded on one of the world’s top physicists. What he didn’t know, was that in the next few hours he and a marine biologist would be running around Rome, trying to catch a murder and save Vatican City. The war between Church and science has begun…
“Science and religion is not in this together! We do not seek the same God, you and I!”
-Camerlengo to Kohler
This entire book gets you thinking about the conflict between science and religion, who should be at fault and who is innocent. The murdered scientist, Mr. Vettra, was murdered for creating antimatter, proving the existence of genesis. The blame, it seemed, was to be placed on a thought to be dead group called the Illuminati. Yet as the twists and turns of this book happen, you find out that the camerlengo is the one to blame for everything. The church killed the man who proved the existence of God, four cardinals and planting an antimatter bomb in Vatican City to re-install faith in the people at a time when science was dominating over religion.
The intended audiences for this book are teenagers and adults, who enjoy action, mystery, controversy/drama, and some philosophy. There is some sexual content at times, but not too detailed, so reader discretion is advised.
On a scale from one to five, I give this book a 4.5. It’s filled with tons of action, racing across Rome and trying to find a killer, to near death experiences and trying to stop a ticking time bomb. It has a major mystery behind it that sometimes hints at the obvious answer, but then reveals all its real secrets at the end. It twists and turns constantly, never leaving you bored. However, the one problem I have with this book is that sometimes the twists and the book itself seem to never end. I think it’s a tad overdone. That’s just my minor pet peeve about it.
Abbie S
I read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells.
This factual book is an autobiographical book. The lady who wrote this book, based it on her own childhood. The beginning of the book starts out when the main character, Jeannette, sees her mom from inside a taxi cab that she is in. Her mom is digging through garbage cans just trying to find something to eat and bring home for her and her husband that will last them a couple days. It then takes you back to when Jeannette was a young girl about the age of 7 or 8. The trouble is that Rex, her father, is a raging alcoholic and can't manage to hold down a job or provide any income for his family. Jeannette and her brother and two sisters sleep in boxes on the floor, wear dirty and stained clothing, and go through the day without any food all the time. Because Rex can’t pay his bills, the family frequently gets up in the middle of the night and fill up the car with what they can and move on to the next town. Rose Mary, the mother, is trained to be a teacher but chooses not to work so that she can focus on her artwork. No one buys her paintings, but it is something she can enjoy while her husband is out wasting al their money gambling. She seems to have some kind of attention deficit disorder and has many projects in the planning stage but rarely accomplishes whatever it is she plans to do.
An important quote in this book is a quote that is in the very beginning of the book. Her mother says, "You want to help me change my life? I'm fine. You're the one who needs help. Your values are all confused. You're way too easily embarrassed. Your father and I are who we are. Accept it." Her mother says this when she and Jeannette are out having lunch after seeing her mom out on the streets in the garbage cans. Rose Mary is telling her daughter that she and Rex are happy with the way they are living right now. Sure somethings could be better and they could have more money, but that is not what they need. They just live life to the fullest no matter what conditions they may live in.
I think that this book is intended for anyone that is in high school or older. It shows us how people live and what problems they and their families go through. The alcohol abuse is a big part in why I think that this book is not good for middle school kids to read. I also think that some older women and men may be able to relate this book to their childhood, depending on what time they grew up in and where.
Overall, I would rate this book a 4 out of 5. In the beginning, I couldn't put it down becuase there was always something about to happen that could change the whole book. I like how it shows how people lived and how lucky we are and what we have. However, a chapter or two in the middle got a little dull and boring with the constint moving out of town and having the same things happen over and over. This book is one that I would seriously recommend.
Nicole M.
One of the many books I read over the summer was “A dirty job”, by Christopher Moore. This book is about a guy named Charlie Asher a second hand storeowner who accidentally becomes a “death merchant “ he collects souls and distributes them to the correct people. Charlie has to put up with sewer harpies taunting him and trying to kill him every day. One important quote is “every day I lose a little more of her” it is important because it is referring to his wife who passes away in the beginning of the book. The intended audience for this book is teens and up because it is very complex and uses very strong language. I would rate this book a 4 because it has a great plot would recommend it to anyone who is likely to die.
Josh T
"The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks
The Notebook is a wonderful, heartwarming tear-jerker. The story is about two teenagers, whos summer fling turned into something more than what they could have imagined. Noah and Allie fell very much in love and spent every waking moment of summer together until it was time for Allie to go back to school. After that summer, they both parted ways and started differnt lives. One day Allie saw a picture of Noah in the paper, and even though she was already promised to another man, decided to pay him a visit. The long forgotten sparks flew between them once more, they were in love all over again. Allie then had to make the hardest decision of her life; to turn around and go back to her very much stable life, or to come back to Noah, her first meaningfull love.
"I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough." This is the most meanifull quote in the story because the way their life is written, makes Allie and Noah's life seem perfect. In reality, all they simply did was find the most beautiful thing there is in the world, love. It also shows to others that people dont need to be successfull or famous in order to be the happiest person alive.
This book is intended for teens and people in their twenties. Thats the most common age where people find themselves falling in love. I think this book just really shows that fairy tale endings can happen to anyone.
This book is a total 5 on a scale from 1-5. I think it has every little bit of proof anyone ever needs to have to believe in true love. It shows that destiny works in mysterious ways, and if you are ment to be with someone, you'll end up with them in the end. This book was great, and i strongly recomend it for people my age because it truly moved me.
Lisa R.
I read the book Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is about a high school prom. A teacher from the high school took all of the earnings for prom and ran off with all the money. Ashley Hannigan, the main character, hates the idea of prom. However, her best friend is the head of the prom committee. The prom committee freaks about prom because their plans were ruined when the money was stolen and somehow Ashley Hannigan gets roped into putting the whole dance together. In the end, she made the night a legend with a little help and everyone had the time of his or her lives.
"Once upon a time there was a girl who got a life." this quote is important to the story because throughout the story, Ashley was kind of a "nobody". After all her hard work and dedication that went into the dance, she became someone that everyone loved since she did such a great job. Ashley finally had the life that she wanted.
Laurie Halse Anderson intended the audience to be in high school or older. This is because it's about a high school dance and high schoolers’ can relate to it. There's also a lot of adult humor that even parents would like. It's good for anyone in high school and above.
I rate Prom a 4 because I have read better books before, but this one was pretty good. It did take a while for me to actually get into it and that's what I hate most about books, but towards the end it got to be extremely surprising and humorous.
Haley B.
This summer I read Bringing Down the House by, Ben Mezrich. Walking through the huge entranceway to the casino, Kevin was one of six mathematical geniuses coming from MIT working together as a team. From the notorious back rooms of casinos, to the six decks of cards being used on the felt-covered shoes, the students and former students of MIT used advanced methods of card counting to play the only beatable game in a casino; Blackjack. Together the team took over one million dollars. Even though what they do seems like cheating, after reading parts of this book, you soon realize that it is completely legal. Even though Kevin is not his real name, all of the experiences in this book are.
In this book there are two very meaningful quotes that stick out at me. The first describes how Kevin’s double life is to him. “Kevin’s world became a schizophrenic blend of grey reality and brightly colored fantasy.” His real world was so boring and bland to him that he even started to believe that he couldn’t survive without his blackjack life. The second quote is this book that sticks out at me is when Kevin was bared from his first casino. “Kevin felt anger building up inside him⎯but he remembered what Micky had told him. If they ask you to leave, you leave. Still, it seemed so unfair, so un-American. He hadn’t cheated. He had used his brain to beat the deck.” After this had happened to him, Kevin started to realize but not accept that what he was doing wasn’t going unnoticed.
This book has some events that would cause it to be PG-13 if it were a movie. Personally I think that if you like to imagine yourself having a more risky side of you or like gambling, then this book is for you.
On a scale of 1-5 (one being awful and five being terrific), I would give this book a five. I thought that it was a great read. It really pulled me in and kept me reading on and on. I just couldn’t put it down. The writing is fairly easy and it is only 257 pages long. It was a New York Times Bestseller and was even advertised for on ESPN. This book of the MIT students taking Sin City for what they could was truly phenomenal.
Henry M.
This story starts from the end and looks back at Jack’s journey while in prison and the horrors that come with it.
This summer I read the novel Hole In My Life, by Jack Gantos. This book is an autobiography focusing on the early adult years of his life. You might be familiar with Jack Gantos because he is an award winning children’s author. In this book he explains how his life spun out of control and how he got back on the path to a successful life. The majority of this book focuses around the year 1971 when Jack sailed a two man ship, containing two thousand lbs of hashish, from St. Croix to New York City. Jack’s fail proof leave a crime ridden community and make some quick cash along the way was terribly flawed. Jack and his ship mate, Hamilton, were unknowingly set up to fail from the beginning because their New York contact had already been arrested and turned on his partners in order to receive a lighter sentence himself. The book traces Jack’s life from this point and is a funny, touching and interesting read.
“Everyone in prison has a story about how they were caught.” “I loved those getting caught stories, and they were among the first ones I wrote down in my secret prison journal.” Throughout Jack’s life he had been an aspiring writer who was never without a journal. When Jack was set to jail his dream to write almost seemed to die. Once Jack received his first few books from the jail library and a pencil from the mailman he wrote down every interesting event that took place during his 15 month sentence within the margins of The Brothers Karamazov. As Jack explains, his journal was the only thing that separated him from the other prisoners because it seemed to be the one thing that kept him sane. Throughout the story Jack was always trying to find inspiring things to write about, so he would travel to where certain authors had written some of their most popular books. Every journey turned out the same, he found himself writing about the boring scenery and the author who had written there, nothing that really got his ideas flowing. While in jail Jack was surrounded with ideas and things to provoke his creative mind. Jail, the worst possible experience in ones life proved for Jack to be the thing that really turned him into a writer.
Jack Gantos wrote this book for a young adult audience. This book won the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, the Robert F. Siebert Honor Book Award. Both of these honors are given for excellence in young adult literature. Young adults are the intended audience for this book because of it’s references to drugs and the darker side of life. Also, young adults can learn from the mistakes Jack made and that even some of your worst decisions don’t mean your life is already over.
On a scale of 1 to 5 I would rate this book a 5. Hole in My Life was one of the most captivating books I have ever read. I found myself unable to set the book down and really wanting to read at night. Jack Gantos’ writing combines humor with adventure and suspense which keeps the reader asking for more. I highly recommend this book to even non readers like me because it’s a great story with important life lessons.
-Chad K
After it spent a couple of years on the bestseller list, I finally picked up The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. It turned out to be an exciting thriller that was fun to read.
When a curator at the Louvre is murdered, the main character, Robert Langdon is called to help. As a religious symbologist, he is asked to decode a mysterious message left by the victim, Jacques Sauniere. Sauniere was a member of a secret society that supposedly guarded the location of the Holy Grail. As he is dying, Sauniere has to find a way to safely pass on this information to the right people, his granddaughter Sophie Neveu and Robert Langdon. Langdon and Sophie end up following a trail of clues that are hidden in artworks of Leonardo DaVinci. They desperately try to solve the mystery before a radical group of the Catholic Church gets a hold of the information and destroys the secret of the Grail forever.
“It is the mystery and wonderment that serve our souls, not the Grail itself. The beauty of the Grail lies in her ethereal nature.”… “For some, the Grail is a chalice that will bring them everlasting life. For others, it is the quest for lost documents and secret history. And for most, I suspect the Holy Grail is simply a grand idea…a glorious unattainable treasure that somehow, even in today’s world of chaos, inspires us.” This quote is important because in the end, we realize that we do not know what the Holy Grail is. It may not even exist at all, but the search for it has inspired people for centuries.
The target audience is anyone of high school level or higher. There are some difficult concepts to understand throughout the story. It’s especially appealing for those who are interested in the religious aspects of the book. It’s more than just a murder mystery
I would give this book a five because it kept my interest from the very first chapter. The chapters were quick and always ended in a “cliffhanger”. The author also alternated storylines between the chapters, which made me want to continue reading. This book gives you a lot of ideas to think about, many of them controversial. I know this is a work of fiction and some of the claims have been proven false, but Dan Brown was very persuasive in the way he wrote this novel.
-Stephanie A
The book, Fever 1793, written by Laurie Hasle Anderson was the book I chose to read for this ‘summer’ assignment. I can honestly say I actually enjoyed reading it while also learning at the same time. While reading this book, I felt as if I was on the journey with the characters.
Basically, this story took place in a small town in Philadelphia in 1793. The Cook family lived above their own little coffee house which had the best coffee in town. Everyone from all over would come and enjoy their coffee and treats. Everything was going smoothly until Mattie’s (Mattie Cook) best friend Polly, passed away from a high fever that was traveling throughout their town. As days went on, many people became very ill from this fever and many died. Mattie’s mom was trying her best to have Mattie go to a safe place so she sent her off with her grandpa. As the story goes on, the family suffers many tragedies due to this deadly fever.
“Let’s not let the death of our loved ones kill us all, for it’s the fever we need to hide from”, stated the grandfather. This quote has a strong meaning to the story because people all over the town were becoming sad and not living their normal lifestyles. Grandpa was trying to tell everyone that they need to keep a quality of life and not focus only on death.
I think that the intended audience for this book would be kids about the age of 14-15. Much of the information I read throughout this book, I had learned in my freshman year of high school. It was a help because I could learn more and relate to what I already knew about diseases from back then.
I would rate this book a 4. The author could have made the ending a little better than it was, with more information on how the family was doing after their mother’s death. At some points in the book it was very slow, but at other points, during Mattie and her grandfathers trip, it became very suspenseful.
Emily W.
The book I selected was called, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon.
Christopher, a 15 year old male, is autistic. He knows every prime number up to 7057 and loves to practice math. He detests the colors yellow and brown and doesn’t understand people’s feelings. One day, Christopher finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, pierced with a garden fork and is blamed for the killing. He is determined to find the killer and starts his detective work. Christopher then discover’s his parent’s marriage problems during his investigation. He tries to deal with the problems and that’s when Christopher’s thoughts and workings are shown. Christopher’s incredible mind makes us feel like we are part of his journeys and struggles.
“And then I will get a First Class Honors degree and I will become a scientist.
And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery of Who Killed Wellington? And I found my mother and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.”
This quote is striking because Christopher still has goals and dreams for himself after he overlooks all he has gone through. He is confident and believes he can achieve his goals. Christopher went through tremendous obstacles and adventures with his autism and that shaped who he is today.
I believe this book is meant to be read by young adults and adults. This book might be difficult to understand for children 12 and under because Christopher is autistic and has a different way of thinking. If you want to gain more knowledge about autism, then this is the book to read. This book humorous aspects and is fun to read.
I absolutely loved this book, and I rate it a 5. I enjoyed learning more about autism. The book had some humor which was entertaining, but still showcased seriously the autistic mind. I was intrigued by Christopher’s ability to excel in math, having a photographic memory, and possessing life long goals. I appreciated the illustrations throughout the book because it really helped me understand Christopher’s thoughts. Overall, Mark Haddon’s honest and moving book is like no other book I have read and that makes it so terrific!
Michelle U.
Gossip Girls by Cecily von Ziegesar
Gossip Girls is a story about some of New yorks upper east side typical wealty people. a lifestle that they think is normal and common. People that attend some of the worlds best boarding and private schools, for some of the best educations. Where money isn't an issue. But some people learn that money cant buy you eveything. Like friendships. Serena Van der wooden the books main character discovers this the hard way.
A meaningful quote from the book is: "Welcome to New Yorks Upper East Side, where my friends and I live and go to school and play and sleep- sometimes with eachother. We all live in apartments with our own bedrooms and bathrooms and phone lines. We have unlimited acdess to money and booze and whatever else we want, and our parents are rarley home, so we have tons of privcay."
This book is intended for teenage girls because of the lifestyle they are living and the things that happen in the book. Its something that some teenage girls dream about. And wish that they could be living the a luxe lifestyle.
i would rate this book a 4 because it caught my attention from the first page of the book. It was an amazing book and i would recomed it to every teenage girl. It has so many stories that are smiliar to what we go through everyday and all the gossip and al the drama. its truley an amazing book and i loved it.
Nicole S.
Great range of books, guys. I'm reading Glass Castle right now. It's sad but also an amazing portrait of how resilient kids are. I also loved Curious Incident with the Dog in the Night Time. HP and the Order of the Phoenix is my favorite of the six books and I really can't wait until next summer for the movie.
I've read both Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons and thought A&D is better but the ending is hoaky. I've always wanted to read Wicked but never got around to it.
Sorry if I haven't commented on your book. I haven't read everything that's out there, but your descriptions sound pretty interesting.
The book I read was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince By J.K. Rowling.
This sixth novel in the Harry Potter series takes a darker and more serious turn than its predecessors. Harry is older, wiser and more determined to hunt down Lord Voldemort. He becomes captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. While the main plot is sluggish to pick up steam, the beginning of the story demonstrates much more confidence in Harry’s character. The sixth book in this sequence brings depth to characters that were looming in the shadows from the beginning of the series. If you enjoy the essence that is the Harry Potter series, this book is sure astound you.
The quote I chose is between Professor Slughorn and Harry. I believe this is one of the most pivotal quotes in the book.
“I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory”
“You are the Chosen One?”
“Of course I am”
“But then . . . my dear boy . . . you're asking a great deal you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy-”
This quote marks the turning point in the story. Harry now has the upper hand in negotiating for a memory that is curtail to the ultimate destruction of Voldemort.
This book is geared to young readers and adults alike. It combines mystery with teen romance, action, and drama. Any young adult interested in these topics would find this book and the whole series fascinating.
I would rate this book 4 because of the slow plunge into the main plot. Once the plot was in gear, the story took off. The mysteries keep you guessing and engaged. The book becomes addicting after a few chapters because of the well thought out pace and rhythm. From the avid to the casual Harry Potter fan, this sixth Harry Potter book will not disappoint.
~Jared P.
Hey Everyone, I read "Now You See Me..." by Rochelle Krich
This book is about just married Molly Blum, a crime reporter, and author of a new hit book based on some crimes she investigated. She spends her days signing autographs and relaxing, but soon after she begins her book signings her suspicions are raised when she constantly sees the same fan watching her many days in a row. Soon the fan, Reuben Jastrow, confesses he needs her help finding his daughter, Hadassah, who has run away from home with somebody she met online. She agrees, but soon finds the twists to this story never-ending. After many tipoffs, a chance for revenge, a possible marriage, a suspicion of a planned double suicide, the return of the missing in the same night the initial suspect, Greg Shankman, is murdered, and Hadassah's dissappearance again, the puzzle peices finally come together to reveal Hadassah's internet lover, and Murderer of Greg Shankman.
Quote:
"'The face...tells a secret.' It's an old Yiddish proverb that I have found to be true more often than not. But you really have to see a face to read its secrets."
This quote was said by the character Molly Blum, and shows its importance to the story in many ways. As an investigator, Molly has to read the faces that tell her their stories. She understands that a face shows happiness and excitement, but it can also show guilt, sadness, and resentment. She has to be able to tell a lie from the truth, which sometimes comes down to the secrets shown in facial expression.
This book is intended for the mystery lovers, but also people who keep an open mind about different religions. The book shows several Hebrew traditions and practices, while incorporating a lot of Hebrew terminology. Anybody who loves a story that has several unexpected twists and makes you never want to stop reading it will love this book.
On a scale of 1-5 I would rate this book 4.5. This book is thrilling and never made me want to stop reading it. The twists that the author put into the book only made it more irresistible for me. I found the plot to never get overly exciting or boring, but a balance of memories and exciting occurrences. The only thing I found that could have been better was the Hebrew terminology. Although some words were explained, others made you go to the back of the book and look them up in the glossary. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book very much.
Anna S.
The book I read was Night Hoops by Carl Dueker. This book is about to boys who are both going through hard times. At first they hate each other, but when they both make the high school basketball team the become good friends. Every day they play basketball in Nicks backyard. This keeps Trent out of trouble because his family isn't doing so well. His brother was about to be put in jail so he ran away and tried to start a new life. Basketball also helped Nick because when he was playing it kept his mind of his parents divorce.
"So he looked out ofr you when you were little. Okay? Nobody's arguing. He was a good brother. But that was a long time ago, Trent. You Can't mess up your life Because Zack gave you pretzels and a can of coke twelve years ago. It doesn't make any sense." This quote is meaningful because it shows that just because someone did something for you before, it doesn't mean you should just throw your whole life away for them. You should help them however you can, but it is not wourth ruining your life.
This book is for young adults. It was not hard to understand but still dealt with many important issues. Many of the issues can help other young adults out in making better decision's in these type of situation. The book also shows the saying don't judge a book bye the cover because Trent Dawson looked mean and unfriendly but Trent and Nick ended up becoming good friends.
I rate this book a 4 because there were many things that a lot of young adults can relate to what is hapenning. Especially with Nick's parents getting divorced and Trent's house just being crazy. Also being faced with a hard desicion that could affect the rest of your life.
Josh S.
I read Animal Farm by George Orwell. Animal farm is a novel that projects a russian revolutionary period. All the animals in manor farm gathered to hear old major give a speech. his inspiring speech talked of a theory called animalism in where animals are free and have their own community. soon the animals overtook the humans at manor farm and renamed it "Animal Farm." Soon the animals developed a government and a new system of living. they lived by seven commandments that kept the animals in line. The pigs, being the smartest of the animals made all of the important decisions. The animals figured out a way to harvest, get electricity, and live complete lives without human involvement. Animal farm was a fully functional farm and seemed to be a utopia for the animals, but behind the scenes, there was quarreling between the pigs and soon it left only two elder pigs left. Months became years on the farm and soon the pigs had changed the seven commandments to one that read "all animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The story comes to a conclusion with the heads of the farm changing the name back to "Manor Farm" to be more politically correct. The pigs began walking on two legs, and the farm became just as corrupt as when humans ran it. In the end the pigs are having a conference with the humans and the animals looking in could not decipher which were pigs, and which were humans.
"four legs good, two legs bad" said Napolean and Snowball to the less clever animals to teach them that humans are enemies.
i would rate this book a 2 on the rating scale. the reason i would rate it this low is because it was so unrealistic. The author tried too hard to make the animals seem like humans.
Kaelin Roberts
9-3-06
One of the books I chose to read over the summer was called Laguna Cove By: Alyson Noel. This book was about a girl named Anne whose parents are going through a divorce. Anne is forced to move to Laguna Beach, California with her father and his new hired Spanish maid. Anne goes through many trials and tribulations just because she is used to being a “city girl.” Everything from the way she dresses, her attitude and her lack of surfing knowledge seems to be a problem for Anne. However Anne’s father hires a young boy about Anne’s age to help him in his business, he helps Anne meet new people and she quickly gains many friends and the attention of a certain boy. Out of all the new friends Anne gets she cant stop thinking about the one girl, Ellie who hates Anne because she feels that Anne is stealing her life. She explains that Anne has taken her boy, surfing, and all her friends. In the end they were neck and neck for the title in a surfing competition. Finally Anne pulls it together and realizes surfing is what unites people in the west coast and it is so much more then it seems. My favorite quote from this book was “that’s it she wont embarrass me anymore.” I liked this quote not for the quote itself but simply because it was huge turning point in the book. This was the point when Anne stopped getting walked all over by Ellie and gave her a taste of her own medicine. This was so big because now Anne was in control and it basically made Ellie sad for the rest of the book. If I were to rate this book on a scale of 1-5 I would rate this book a 5. I loved it. I thought this book would be about girl gossip and expensive things, which I don’t like. However it turned out to be great and about real high school like and surfing. Overall Laguna Cove is a great book and I highly recommend it.
I read the book The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks.
This book is a love story about a fireman, Taylor who falls in love after rescuing a mother and her lost child in a car accident. Taylor has had many relationships in the past but always ends them when they start to become to serious. Although this time he may be willing to forget his past and look into the future to finally make a commitment to someone.
"You’re going to come across people in your life who will say all the right words at all the right times. But in the end, it’s always their actions you should judge them by. It’s actions, not words, that matter." This quote is important because even though people charm you with their words, its how they treat people that counts.
This book is intended for teens and adults. It was a very easy read, but I would definatly say it would be a better book for girls just because it is a love story.
On a scale from 1-5 I would rate this book a 5 because I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a very good book that people could easily relate to. It took you through their lives as they learned more about each others pasts and tried to make the best of it.
-Molly T.
Josh S.
1. Title – Ellen Foster
Author – Kaye Gibbons
2. This book was about a small girl that has gone through a lot of trouble to finally find a family. It starts off with her living with her mom and dad, and her dad is a crazy person. She thinks of ways to kill him but does not end up killing him. The first line of the book is, “When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy.” Throughout the book many of her guardians pass away. First, her mother passes away. She dies because she is very sick, and her husband (Ellen’s dad) does not take good care of her. He is an alcoholic, and does not care about the family. Ellen is very sad that her mother died, and that she has to live with her father, so she decides to run away. This begins her journey of trying to find a place to live. She lived a little with a friend from school, named Starletta (who was black), but then she moved on. Then she went to her aunt’s house, but her aunt said that she wasn’t expecting Ellen to live with her, so Ellen left there. Then, the school arranged a small stay at the art teacher’s house, which Ellen really liked, but the art teacher had moved to another location, so Ellen had to find another place. Finally, she moved in with her grandmother, but Ellen hated her very much. While she was living at her grandmothers house, he father past away from an alcoholic related issue. Surprisingly, Ellen was not as happy as she thought she would be. She compared it to a celebrity dieing. The next person to go was her grandmother, and since Ellen was not too fond of her, she did not really care. The next person that Ellen moved in with was her aunt Nadine, but also Ellen did not really like her either. Finally, one day at church, Ellen found her final mother. She was the head of a foster home, so Ellen moved in with her, and loved her. Also, the book ends with her best friend Starletta staying for the weekend.
3. A meaningful quote from the story that I chose is as follows. It is on the last page, and is, “I came a long way to get here but when you think about it real hard you will see that old Starletta came even farther.” This quote is very important to the story, because it hints at one of the smaller themes of the story – racial discrimination. Ellen had thought that she had a very hard life, but then realized that it was much harder for black people to get along in life, like her friend Starletta. Ellen realized that Starletta has had more hardships and adversity than her. She realized that it will take much longer for Starletta to get over all of the racial discrimination than it will take Ellen to get over what she had gone through.
4. The intended audiences for this book are people who need to realize how hard life can be, even if it has not been that hard on them.
5. I think that I would probably rate this book a 4.5. It had been one of the books that I really enjoyed reading, because I really constantly wanted to read more to find out where Ellen would go next. I thought that this book was very good.
The book I read was "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner takes place in Afganistan. The story follows a young boy, Amir, through his childhood in Afganistan, through his teenage and adult years in America, and then returning home to Afganistan at the end of the book. Amir seems to fail at ever being good enough for his father, his friends, and the Afganistan culture. Throughout the book he learns what it takes to fulfill these titles.
"But theft was the one unforgivable sin, the common denominator of all sins. When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Their is no act more wretched than stealing."
Amir's father sits him down and explains this to him when he was young. This quote is very important because it sets his morals for the rest of his life even if he doesn't always do what's right.
The intended audience is from teenagers to adults because the scenarios and events that take place are dramatic and graphic. The issues are heavy and would not be appropriate for a younger audience.
On a scale 1 to 5, this book is a 5 because it is very well written and keeps you wanting to read more. I recommend this book to be read.
Matt R.
Pam Munoz Ryan wrote the popular novel, Esperanza Rising. Esperanza is a teenage girl living on El Rancho de las Rosas in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Esperanza and her family are very wealthy in Mexico; she always got what she wanted. The night before her thirteenth birthday her father ran some errands in the early evening. And after a couple hours he did not return, and her mother and she started to worry. Then came the bad news, Papa had died when he was ambushed by bandits. Esperanza had a very hard time dealing with this horrible event; her papa had died the night before her birthday.
Mama could not manage the fields and the household anymore, so she was forced to move to the United States to a camp for migrant workers. Esperanza is not used to work, she has a very hard time understanding the idea that she had to work every day for food and do chores around the house. Then there is a dust storm that causes Mama to get very ill. She ends up having to stay in the hospital for a couple months and is very close to death. Esperanza sticks it out and works very hard every day to pay for hospital bills and helps pay for her grandmother to come to the United States with her and her family.
This book, in my opinion is intended for young teenage girls. It teaches them that you can’t have everything you want and sometimes you actually have to work for things like food. “Esperanza smiled, knowing that Abuelita wasn’t talking about flowers at all but that there was no life without difficulties,” (page 14). Esperanza learned this after her father had died, and I think that it is good to know that there all difficulties with everything you do but if you work through them things will get better.
I think Esperanza rising sends a good positive message to young girls. I would definitely recommend it to anyone that has had to work for things in there life or has had something bad happen to them. I would rate this book a 5, it teaches girls a very im portant lesson in life.
Lauren T.
Teen Angst? Naaah...
By: Ned Vizzini
Teen Angst? Naaah... is an autobiography of the author Ned Vizzini, who also wrote books such as Be More Chill and It's Kind of a Funny Story, from his early youth all the way through high school. He writes about his funny and weird experiences with school, girls, popularity (or not), cliques, Nintendo, and just trying to fit in. Pretty much what every average boy goes through in his life. Ned Vizzini was interested in writing from a young age and went on to attend New York's best public high school, Stuyvesant. The moral of the story of his high school experiences is that they made him who he is today, even if he was sometimes miserable.
“’Okay, shhh,’ Dad said to me putting his hand on my shoulder. ‘Let’s not fight over the Nintendo. We don’t need to make Mom mad… go on, just gape at that screen and be happy.’ So I did. For the next five years.”
This quote is important to the story because it happens in almost every child’s’ youth. They argue with a sibling about Nintendo or dolls or something that makes the other jealous. It is almost like a coming of age or a chance to mature.
The book Teen Angst? Naaah… is intended for kids in high school. If you were any older or younger the book would not be as relatable. However, the book was easy to read. Clever puns and jokes hold your interest. I really enjoyed it.
I would rate the book a four out of five. It was good but there were a few parts of the book that were very tiresome to read, however the majority of the book was great. The book was intertaining to read and easy to enjoy. From the Authors family life to his high school experiences, he really seemed to know what he was talking about.
-Andy L.
Out of Order by A. M. Jenkins is about a boy named Colt Trammel, who loves baseball and his girlfriend Grace. Colt isn’t the smartest kid in the grade, but he also doesn’t try. Colt says to Grace the he loves her. Grace doesn’t believe him and she says that she doesn’t want to see him for a few days.
In those few days, Colt can't think of anything other than Grace, during school, baseball, and just sitting home after school. That is the life of Colt Trammel. He always has something in his head to make him do badly in school. So then this girl named Corrine is his new lab partner in biology. She has green hair and acts like no one else is in the world besides her. She is also put in Colts fifth period assistant class. He becomes close with Corrine. And she tutors him in school and he does better in English where he struggles in poetry.
Colt and Grace go through their rough patches and then she finally breaks up with Colt. Corrine asked Colt if he needed any thing and he agreed to a date
with her. He ended up seeing that Corrine wasn't really the kind of person who thinks she is the only one in the world. She cared for Colt.
“‘I didn’t really go there, but it’s a vacant lot that used to be a baseball field.’ I can't help it if there’s a nasty edge to my voice. ‘Or not even a field, really. But it was there when I was little.’”
This quote was really important, one, because it helped Colt see more about poetry to help him pass English. And two, it helped him see what life is all about and how things change very quickly.
This book is intended for high school kids that are mature enough for this book.
Scale (1-5): 5. This book was very interesting. And it made me want to read it all day. It told many lessons. And the book made me think a lot about my life. I think that everyone in this class should read this book.
JJ B.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom was very enjoyable reading for me. The novel starts off with what seems like an ending, the death of an 83-year-old man named Eddie in a tragic accident at Ruby Pier, an amusement park he works at. Eddie then goes to heaven, where he must meet five people who had some type of impact or involvement in his life. Upon first entering heaven, he is very disappointed with himself and feels as though he led a pointless life. However, as Eddie meets each individual he learns valuable life lessons and finds meaning in his life, as each person teaches him a different lesson for a different aspect of life. He gradually realizes how important his life was, and how interconnected all people are in the world. Eddie finds things out about himself and people close to him, and this new information helps him understand even more why his life went they way it did. In the end, Eddie takes all of what he has learned and is content with his life so he can carry on in the afterlife.
A meaningful quote in this book is “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” This statement shows importance throughout the story since the main character Eddie makes many sacrifices throughout his life that he does not realize were very important decisions. He seems to regret these sacrifices as he feels they were pointless and when to waste. Then, once he reaches heaven he is showed how they impacted the lives of others so greatly and how in life everyone must make sacrifices.
The intended audience for this book is for anyone over the age of about thirteen. Teenagers and adults can most appreciate this book because they can relate most to the events and feelings displayed with their own life experiences. Younger readers may not fully understand all of the events or get the same meaning out of things as older readers would, simply because they do not have enough experience or knowledge in life yet. However, teens and adults can both relate because they have seen enough of the world to comprehend the ideas being focused on. Also, the novel’s messages easily reach out to the older readers and can display meaning in their everyday lives.
On a scale of 1-5, I would most definitely rate this book a 5. I loved every minute of reading this book, and once I started I could not put it down. It is a very fast read, and the author sets it up so that you have to keep reading because you just have to know what is going to happen next. Not only was this book interesting and very well-written, the messages the author displayed were very inspiring and really made me think about life. This novel opened my eyes more on the ideas of life, and how easily we all overlook the little things that actually have great importance. It is a sad book, but at the same time sort of uplifting and it did make me feel good. There is not one bad thing I can say about this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fast read or just an overall great story.
-Kristyn L.
I read "Under a War-Torn Sky" by L.M. Elliott. This book is about a 19 year old farm boy who takes his stand in front of enemy lines during World War 2. He is a pilot, butwhen his B-42 bomber is shot to the ground hieal journey begins. When he has to travel through towns,hide in secret places in houses and barns. And if he is cought...well no telling what they would do to him.
A quote that i picked out from this book reads..."Somehow, on that clear, cold morning when his enemy had chosen to spare Henry's life rather than kill him the journey seemed completely possible." I picked this quote because in World War 2 if you came home alive you were one lucky person. Because Germans showed no mercey, at least most of them didn't.
This book is intended for anyone that wants to embark on a journy through World War 2 with out actually being there. If you read it they tell a story of someone so well that you feel like your in the war.
I would rate this book a 4 because although it tells a story of a fictional person on a real life journey through the war, it still has some fictional parts. such as when the german spared Henrys life. In real life he would not spare anything. But over all the people staying in other peoples houses was real, and if you encountered a nazi or switzerland guard you would be done to.
Ryan B
I read the book Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich.
The book was a very intense and interesting story. It followed the stories of Kevin Lewis and six other M.I.T students who under the wings of their mentor, Micky Rosa, learned how to count cards and beat Vegas. The students went through break ups and betrayal until finally they just counldn't play blackjack any longer.
In the book Micky Rosa said, "The most important decision a card counter ever has to make is the decision to walk away." This showed first of all how smart of a guy Micky really was. Also this was kinda of a foreshadow of the events that were going to follow. Many times during the book Kevin Lewis and the students should have walked away and didn't. This was a lesson that they all learned the hard way.
I'd say the intended audience for the book is anyone from the ages 13 and up. The book was sometimes a little "mature" but it was very easy to read and never boring.
If I had to rate this book I would give it a 5/5. I was always very into the story and never bored. I couldn't put the book down. The book had great imagery. I felt as I was reading that I could see the characters and story playing along on my head. I enjoyed this book very much and would reccomend it for anyone in search of a good read.
By,
Robbie H.
I read the book Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich.
The book was a very intense and interesting story. It followed the stories of Kevin Lewis and six other M.I.T students who under the wings of their mentor, Micky Rosa, learned how to count cards and beat Vegas. The students went through break ups and betrayal until finally they just counldn't play blackjack any longer.
In the book Micky Rosa said, "The most important decision a card counter ever has to make is the decision to walk away." This showed first of all how smart of a guy Micky really was. Also this was kinda of a foreshadow of the events that were going to follow. Many times during the book Kevin Lewis and the students should have walked away and didn't. This was a lesson that they all learned the hard way.
I'd say the intended audience for the book is anyone from the ages 13 and up. The book was sometimes a little "mature" but it was very easy to read and never boring.
If I had to rate this book I would give it a 5/5. I was always very into the story and never bored. I couldn't put the book down. The book had great imagery. I felt as I was reading that I could see the characters and story playing along on my head. I enjoyed this book very much and would reccomend it for anyone in search of a good read.
By,
Robbie H.
The book I choose to read over the summer was called Animal Farm By: George Orwell. Animal farm is a book about a variety of different animals that are treated very poorly on Mr. Jones' farm. Mr. Jones and his men don’t really care about the animals and work them extremely hard with very little food. Old Major, a pig that is highly looked up to by all the animals of the Manor Farm called a meeting one night. Old Major told the animals that he had a dream that soon they would live on a farm with no more humans. The animals were so excited they could hardly wait until that time came. The only problem is, is that they would all have to work very hard to make this dream come true. Old Major taught all the animals a song that his mother used to sign to him when he was little called the "Beasts of England". The "Beasts of England" described how their dream would come true and they would be able to live in peace and harmony. A few days later after Old Major's speech, he passed away and three younger pigs took control to start the rebellion. The three pigs Snowball, Napoleon, and Squealer created a philosophy called Animalism. In animalism, there are seven rules or commandments on how the animals of the animal farm should and will live. A few days later the day came were they found themselves battling Mr. Jones and running him and his men off of his land. Due to their great achievement they decided to rename the Manor Farm to what is now called Animal Farm. The smarter animals of the bunch learn to read and write and soon teach others on the farm that is capable to do the same. Snowball and Napoleon come up with all the ideas on the farm and try to make it better for everyone. The only problem is that they can never agree on anything. Whatever one wants the other thinks it’s a bad idea. One night at their weekly Sunday meetings Snowball brought up the idea of creating a windmill on the farm so that animals wouldn’t have to work as hard. Of course Napoleon opposes that idea and all the animals take a vote weather or not to build the windmill. But before all the votes were counted snowball was attacked and chased out of the farm by nine puppies that napoleon had trained in the beginning of the story. Napoleon is now in complete control over the farm and he tells the animals that there would no longer be weekly meetings and everything from now on would be decided and voted on among the pigs. This would be because the pigs are one of the smartest animals and it would be for the good of the farm. Now after Snowball is gone, Napoleon decides that it would be a good idea for the farm if they built the windmill. They devote most of their time building the windmill and don't focus on growing and processing food. Their rations get shorter and shorter but the animals don’t mind because they believe that one day everything will be great. One night when all the animals were asleep a storm came across the farm and took out what they had completed of the windmill. Napoleon jumps to conclusions and decides that Snowball was back and he was the one to blame for the falling of the windmill. Napoleon is way out of control at this point and tells the animals if they have anything to do with Snowball they would be immediately be put to death. Each day Napoleon acts more and more like a human; he would do things that other animals weren’t allowed to do but would give a good enough explanation on why he was doing it. He always told them that it is for their own good. The seven commandments at this point were being broken by Napoleon. He was sleeping in human beds, drinking whisky, and trading with other humans at the near by farms. But Squealer who is an amazing sweet talker always made sure Napoleon sounded like the good guy and the best leader there is and ever will be. The farm got progressively worse and turned out to be a disaster. Animals died and eventually only a few remembered how the farm used to be. The seven commandments have now been reduced to a single saying. The pigs now were acting more like humans then they ever have walking upright and even accosting themselves with other farmers near by. They decide to change the name back to the Manor Farm instead of Animal Farm because Manor Farm is correct. As the other animals watch the pigs and the humans in the window it occurs to them that they can no longer tell them apart from a human or a pig. The ending was depressing as communism can be and it showed that even when dealing with animals that communism cannot work.
The quote that left a long-lasting impression on me was “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” This was because it is a contradiction. They say all animals are equal which means they should be treated the same but then they say some are better then others. I don’t believe in this at all and I think it’s wrong.
I think the intended audience for this book would be anyone that would like to learn or furthermore read about communism. I think anywhere from a teenager to an adult would enjoy this book greatly and by the end think that it’s very meaningful.
On a scale of 1-5 I would rate this book a 4 because the book was educational and interesting. This book helped me understand communism because it related it to something simple such as animals. I would recommend this book to someone who wanted to learn something about communism and the way it was intended to work and how it will always turn into a disaster even if it is in this case dealing with animals.
Katie Grundy
I chose to read the book "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Melinda's freshman year in high school was a period in her life that she wanted to go by as quickly as possible. She wasn't doing well in her classes and she had lost her best friend.She didn't have a strong relationship with her parents and pretty much everyone at school hated her because she called the cops for being raped at a party, which caused everyone to get caught for drinking. She thought that if she was quiet and didn't really interact with anyone then it wouldn't be so bad. When really she finds out that being silent is what got her in trouble in the first place. Later in the year her ex-best friend starts going out with the guy who raped her. Melinda tries to warn her, but unlike last time, she opens her mouth and speaks.
Mr Freeman:He hands me the box of tissues. "You've been through a lot, haven't you?
Melinda:"Let me tell you about it."
This quote is important to the story because it shows the transformation that Melinda went through. The fact that she is being open and is willing to tell her teacher everything that happened to her shows how much she's changed. She is no longer afraid of her past. Talking about it is the start of her moving forward with her life.
I would say this book was made for a young adult and an adult audience. I think that you have to have been a freshman before reading this book so that you can understand all of the struggles and hardships Melinda goes through. Even though it's a pretty easy read, if you haven't been to high school yet it would be hard to grasp the true meaning behind the story.
I thought this book was very good so I rated it a 5. I think the reason I liked it so much was because everything that happened really does happen in high school. It was easy to relate myself to some of Melinda's feelings and events she had to go through. I also liked how in the beginning of the book she acted and thought a certain way, but as the book went on I could see her gradually start to change. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading books in which they can compare their life to the character or other events in the story.
Elizabeth O.
Blonde Ambition
An A-List Novel
By: Zoey Dean
This book is definitely just a fun summer read and it isn’t an excessively easy read because of its challenging vocabulary. It does not really teach you much of anything but I thought it was amply entertaining. While the plot is captivating, it’s the characters that I love about this book. The main protagonists are four very diverse and vivacious teenage girls living in the ever glamorous Hollywood. I would say the character that the main focus is on, though it is almost equal would be Anna Percy, the new girl from the east side. She is a very classy, cerebral young lady that just moved in with her father and currently is dating Ben Birnbaum. Ben gets me to the next character, Camilla Shepphard, but everyone calls her Cammie. She is the most beautiful, and assertive girl in their high school. Cammie used to date Ben, creating a deep connection of loathing between her and Anna. Cammie would be nothing without her two best friends and side kicks, Dee Young and Samantha Sharpe. Dee was a 90 pound ball of well-intended perkiness and fun. Samantha, also known as Sam, was one of the richest girls at school and the daughter of a famous actor, Jason Sharpe.
This book, as all of Zoey Dean’s books from the A List series, takes place within a very short period of time. In fact, the whole book takes place within two weeks. It obviously must have a lot of great detail to fulfill an entire novel’s contents with such a diminutive time period. Sometimes I think too much detail distracts me a bit. The writer would go off on a tangent for three sentences or more about the type of lip gloss one of the characters was wearing. All the details about make-up and designer clothes is a little too “like totally oh my gosh like gag me with a spoon” for my taste. Over all, the general story line is very exciting. When Anna scores a job at Cammie’s Dad’s company to intern for the hottest new TV show, trouble is beyond expected. Reading about all the problems that these girls have and all the wonderful things that do happen to them just grab my attention in a cute and creative way, I give this book a 4 out of 5.
“Clark had sent his driver to pick the girl up in the valley. She wore low-cut cheap jeans that Cammie didn’t recognize and a black T-shirt with Teen Millionaire sequined over her nearly nonexistent breasts. Over the tee was a mini red pleather jacket—at least Cammie thought that was what the material was called—that hideous plastic shit made to look like leather. On her feet were pink Converse All Stars with pink shoelaces. The outfit alone sufficed to make Cammie want to lose her lunch.” This quote is about Cammie’s new step-sister, and she is a little less than thrilled that she has come into her life. This shows how materialist Cammie and all her friends are. As soon as her step sister walked in the house, she decided she didn’t like her because her clothes were not as expensive as hers. This is a main point of the book because things like clothes and fifteen hundred dollar Jimmy Choo shoes or a channel purse are so important to these girls, it’s almost comical.
Now, in my personal opinion, I think that this book captives the readers attention and makes him or her not want to put the book down. This is very true if the reader is a teenage girl, but for the football coach or your 65 year old neighbor with all the cats, I wouldn’t really recommend it. So, I would stick to the audience of High School girls.
Kristin T.
I read the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. This book is the author's account of his summit to Mt. Everest and the story of what really hapened during his descent in what was the deadliest season in the history of Everest.
"...I was siiting on the ice with my face in my hands and weeping like I hadn't wept since I was a small boy. I cried for my lost compaions, I cried because I was grateful to be alive, I cried because I felt terribe for having survived while others had died." This quote is important to the story because it helps to explain how someone can try to do everything humanly possible to help others and still save themselves.
This book is ment for high school kids and adults who like to read adventure biographies. It is a long book, 333 pages, and it is graphic in its decriptions of injuries and deaths that occur on the mountain.
On a scale of 1-5 I would rate this a 3 1/2. It was hard to get into but once I started to read it, it got exciting.
Tripp C.
Fallen Angels
By Walter Dean Myers
2.The book begins with a confused seventeen year old Richie Perry, a black high school graduate from Harlem. Unsure of what is to come he decides to join the army and fight leaving his mother and brother Kenny behind as he heads for Vietnam. On arrival he quickly makes two new friends named Jenkins and Peewee. When Jenkins is killed by a mine Richie begins to question himself on what he is really doing here. Soon after on a night mission Richie’s Lieutenant is killed after he is shot. This was the man who helped Richie get through each day. Richie’s world is shaken up, he does not know what to do. With the help of Peewee he realizes life must go on. There have been rumors that the war will be over quicker than people realize because of a treaty that might occur so everyone is fighting to stay alive. On a mission Richie is wounded and spends several weeks in the hospital recovering. There he thinks to himself how can I possibly go back and fight in this war, but after fully recovering he does return. When he returns they have a new racist Lieutenant who puts all the black people at the most dangerous locations off all missions. On a very dangerous mission Peewee is wounded and Richie’s medical file has been processed after they found out his knee was not in condition to fight in. After this incident Richie and Peewee are discharged from the army and sent home where they both look to make a new and better life for themselves.
Important Quote
3.“We spent another day lying around. It seemed to be what the war was about. Hours of boredom, seconds of terror. Said Richie
I feel like this quote really explains how Richie was feeling during the entire course of the book, on his downtime all he really thought about was getting out of the war and when it came time to fight he had to face the reality of being wounded or possibly severely hurt and this was very hard to go through each day, knowing that you might not make it through tomorrow.
4.This book is defiantly for kids in high school. There is some pretty strong language that would not make this book suitable for a younger group, some of the scenarios in the book are quite hard to understand. This book is defiantly intended for an audience of high school level and above.
5.If I had to rate the book I read this summer I would have to give it a 3. To me this book was not written as well as I thought it could have been, there were several times in the story where I thought to myself what is going on. I feel like they did not really go into detail on the major points of the book. On the other hand the book did have some strong points; I thoroughly enjoyed the action scenes and thought those were described quite well.
Max G.
I read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This the story of a girl, Jeannette, who lives with her mother, father, sisters, and brother. They never lived comfortably but they learned to survive with very little. None of the children enjoyed where they lived and they moved alot. Eventually they made their way, one by one, to New York.
"To the people walking by, she probobly looked like any of the thousands of homeless people in New York City." This is important to the story because many people look at the homeless and think nothing. To Jeannette it was her mother and father and the memories she had with them.
I dont think there is an intended audiance for this book. Any person can read this book and enjoy it. My mom suggested i read it after she did and when i finished it i thought it was a very good book.
I would give this book a five because it told a very good story and made me think about homeless people in a different way. Also it changed my veiws on my own family and how lucky I am.
Hilary B
Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Summary: A plane carrying a group of kids from Britain is shot down in the middle of a big war, and it lands on an island. Two of the main characters named Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell and use it to summon the other boys into one area. Ralph is elected as leader of the group and Jack, another boy on the island, is appointed as the leader of the hunters who will look for food. The boys explore the island and later decide that they need to light a signal fire to get the attention of passing ships. However, the fire ends up burning down the entire forest. Jack grows more attracted to the idea of power and eventually tries to overthrow Ralph in order to be leader of the group. While this is going on, the boys are afraid of the possibility of there being a monster or beast on the island that hides in the sea during the day. Jack, now trying to overthrow Ralph, gets his hunters to kill a boar, and they place the boar’s head on a stake. One of the boys, named Simon, encountered this bloody head and had a vision in which the head was speaking to him, saying that he exists in all men and that Simon will never be able to escape him. The name of the boar’s head becomes the Lord of the Flies. After this, Simon goes to the mountain where a dead parachutist has fallen, which the boys thought was a monster, only to find that the dead parachutist was not a monster. He goes back to the boys to tell him what he has found out but the boys, who were in the middle of a large chaotic feast, see Simon’s shadow and immediately attack him and end up killing him. Ralph and Piggy are attacked by a group of Jack’s hunters who then steal Piggy’s glasses. Jack and Piggy go to Jack’s fortress in order to try and reason with Jack, but Ralph and Jack end up getting in a battle. During the battle, one of the boys named Roger, rolls a boulder down the mountain, which kills Piggy and shatters the conch shell. Ralph barely escapes a bombardment of spears. Ralph hides away while the hunters look for him, burning down the forest in an attempt to get Ralph out of his hiding place. Ralph eventually comes upon the boar’s head and destroys it, and is eventually forced onto the beach, where he collapses in exhaustion knowing soon Jack’s hunters will find him and kill him. However, while on the beach, he sees a British naval officer who had seen the burning forest in his ship. Upon the hunters reaching the beach, they stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the officer. The officer asks Ralph to explain what has happened, and Ralph begins to cry because of all that has happened. All of the other boys then begin to cry, as well. The officer then turns away so that the boys may regain their composure.
Quote: What I mean is . . . Maybe it’s only us . . .” This quote is said by Simon while the boys try to figure out where the beast could be. Simon’s quote means that the beast is not actually real, but it is a metaphor for the evil that exists inside every human being.
Intended Audience: I believe that the intended audience is all teenagers and adults, because this book explains very important things about the human nature and why people act the way they do. It talks about the evil that exists in everyone and how it can affect a society.
Rating: I would give this book a 3, because although it wasn’t very interesting it explained some very important themes.
Zach Y.
I read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, by Ann Brashares. The book consists of four best friends who find a pair of blue jeans that magically fit all of them despite their varying sizes and heights. All of the girls were separated during the summer because some were visiting family members, working, or participating in exciting summer soccer camps. Each one of the sister's receives the pants for a certain amount of time during the summer and then ships them off in express mail to the next friend. At the beginning of the summer, the girls made a list of ten rules that you must follow while wearing the pants. An example: you must never wash the pants. The main goal of the traveling pants was to keep the girls in touch no matter how far apart they may be. After they returned from their summer trips they must document their adventures directly on the pants.
"I'm afraid of not having enough time, not enough time to understand people, how they really are, or to be understood myself. I'm afraid of the quick judgments and mistakes that everybody makes. You can't fix them without time. I'm afraid of seeing snapshots instead of movies." Bailey said this as she was lying under the stars with Tibby. They shared a special friendship although Bailey was not one of the sisters. The quote showed that Bailey doesn't want to miss out on the fun events in life. She doesn't want to be involved in something and not have the time to finish it. As Bailey said it is not dying she's afraid of, its time, and not having enough of it. This quote really made me think about life, and how sometimes we take it for granted because everything is secure around us.
This book is for a very broad audience, but is mainly focused toward women. I know 9 year olds that have read this book, and I also know 50 year olds. I think that it is a good book for any age because the vocabulary is not that complex. Also it teaches lessons that people of any age can learn. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is about close friends, family, and making the best out of what you have.
I would rate Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants a 5. In my opinion, the movie does not even compare to the book. The book has so much more description and also several characters that I would have liked to see in the movie. I really enjoyed reading this book because I could relate it to events that happen in my life, and my group of friends. Everyone has different problems, but we all have to make the best of things.
Jordan R.
I read A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. A Million Little Pieces is about James Frey and his six weeks in Rehab. At first he thought being clean was hopeless because James was addicted to every major drug that you can think of. But after meeting a few people along the way, James proved himself wrong and worked through his addiction.
"Through the windows I see my Brother's gray truck, which is the type of fancy passenger Truck common in the Suburbs, sitting in front of the Entrance. I open the Front Door and I walk out of the clinic. I am free to go." James says this as he is being released from the clinic. This is important to the book because he is starting a new life from here on out. This symbolizes all the hard work he has put in to accomplish his goal of staying clean.
I think this book focuses on an audience of teenagers and older. Lots of the topics pertain to things that teenagers have to deal with growing up. But, I also think that adults will enjoy this book because they will appreciate some of the underlying themes.
I would rate this book a 3 1/2. The plot was really good, but it got kind of redundant. It was just his normal routine over and over again. My favorite parts were when he was with his girlfriend, Lily. It seemed that when he was with her you could really see into his heart and understand him better.
-Stephanie C.
I read "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. The Book is about a 13 year old German girl surviving in Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1945. The book is narrated by Death. You first meet Liesel riding on a train with her mother and brother going to Himmel Street. This is where she would meet her new foster parents. On the train ride there her brother died and was buried on the next stop. At the cemetery Liesel would steal her first book. This was the first of many books she would steal throughout the novel. Theses books were not only educational, but they were also a way of survival. In the book, Liesel makes many friends. But one was special. His name was Rudy and he acted like her boyfriend. They hung out together, played soccer, and even stole together. In this town, stealing was a way of life. Not only did they steal books, but they also stole fruits, candies, and many other “valuables” that helped them survive.
“’And if there are more raids, keep reading in the shelter.’” Papa (Liesel’s foster father) says this to her just before he leaves to fight in the war. This quote is important because it shows how important the books were. Whenever she would read in the shelters, everyone seemed to lose their fear of what was going on above the surface.
This book was probably intended for an upperclassman in high school or for college students. I say this because there were many words I didn’t understand, and in some parts I could not understand what was going on and why. Other than those few details I believe anyone could read it.
In closing, I would give “The Book Thief” a 5. Although it was a long book, it grabbed your attention and never let go. There were always new twists and turns and you never knew what was going to happen next. This has probably been the best book I have ever read. It was very well written.
-Sam B.
"Deadman's Bluff" by James Swain.
The book is about a father and son named Tony and Gerry Valentine that try to prevent cheating in the World Poker Showdown. The two get seperated because Gerry pursues a lead in Atlantic City. While Gerry was in Atlantic City he got involved in a cheating investigation and his friend's murder investigation. Gerry soon found out that the World Poker Showdown could be connected to the cheating in Atlantic City. Tony and Gerry finally figured out who was cheating and how they were doing it. Their only dilemma was that the tournament director would not let them bust the cheater because it would be bad for business. They were not going to let him continue cheating though so they confronted the cheater who was blind and told them that they would bust him publically if he did not play fair for the rest of the tournament.
After the tournament, the cheater was suppose to play a local gambler in poker for $500,000. This is where Tony and Gerry were going to get justice. They made the cheater play fair and lose $500,000.
A quote that I found meaningfull was, "Las Vegas doesn't gamble", said a surveillance manager. He was refering to how Las Vegas makes sure that they come out with a profit.
This book is for anyone who enjoys gambling and money. The language is a little explicit so it is definately not for little kids.
I would give this book a 3 because they were a few dull points in the book that were almost useless. A 5 is a book that you cannot put down and this was definately not one of those. There were also very exciting parts of the book that makes the book a 3. I am not a guy who likes to read, so for me to give this book a three is high praise.
Philip S.
I read Beach Road by James Patterson.
In the summer of 2003 there were three brutal and tragic murders in East Hampton, and two related murders in New York City. Although the horror of the murders did not even compare to the tension in the Hamptons leading up to and during the murder trial. Dante Halleyville one of the most talented high school basketball players in the country was framed for a murder that he did not commit. The story is told from several different points of views and people often lie. The story goes back and forth and always keeps you guessing who really is or are the killers.
“I was there that night,” says Dante. “What are you saying, Dante? You saw Feifer, Walco, and Rochie get shot? Are you telling me you’re a witness? Didn’t see it, no. Michael and me were hiding in the bushes, but I heard it clear as I hear you now. First a voice saying, “Get on your knees, bitches, then another, Feifer maybe, asking, “What’s going on?” Sort of friendly, like maybe this is all a joke. Then, when they realize it’s serious, all of them bawling and begging right up to the last gunshot. I’ll never forget it. The sound of them begging for their lives.” This is important to the story because it shows the reader that Dante did not kill the boys.
This book is intended for a more male audience. Ages 15 and up. There is a lot of violence, sex, and sports.
On a scale from 1-5 I would give this book a 5. I rarely like reading books and I could not put this one down. I managed to read it in 3 days and it left me guessing to the last minute. I absolutely loved it!
Daniel E.
I have recently been captivated by novels in the Science Fiction genre. I have always been fascinated by the famous elements of Sci-Fi movies: machines dominating the world and converting organics into DC batteries, evil cyborgs with laser swords in epic battles, and of course, robots. Robots, even before I could understand what a gear or wire was, have always been my favorite sort of humanoid. They are a testament of human achievement; a smug checkmark on the To-Do List of humanity. To be able to create a machine that can mimic mortal man in every aspect is a step shy of cloning itself, but much, much cooler.
So it was no surprise that I should fall victim to Isaac Asimov’s Robot Series. I had read I, Robot a year previous and it has since landed itself on “Derrick’s Top Ten Books Ever Written”, whizzing past its competition and diving straight for Number One. Its style was completely unique; its problems so complex yet with such simple solutions, and the idea of the positronic brain was astounding, to say the least. The Three Laws of Robotics were posted on the wall of my room immediately after its completion. This book was purely monumental, and so, of course, my mind urged me to read the other three novels.
On July 19, I received a copy of The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. My positronic threesome was complete. I then eagerly dove into the pages of the first book of the trilogy: The Caves of Steel. It begins on Earth in the distant future. Our planet is severely overpopulated with a total of 8 billion people. Massive, sprawling, underground “Cities” that take up the space of hundreds of miles have the ability to keep ten million people (at the least) alive in an agoraphobic, socialistic society. Everything is shared; from food to mass transit. As publicized as modern-day life is in the novel, privileges can be granted to those whom have done well in their work. Each person has a rating ranging from A-1 to C-10. Each rating brings another little bit of privacy into the person’s life. Plainclothesman Elijah Bailey has a C-4 ranking at the beginning of the book, and is offered an assignment from Commissioner Julius Enderby that would boost him up to a C-7. He must solve the murder of a prominent member of the Spacer community. Spacers are explained as humans who colonized the galaxy and left Earth behind. They are portrayed as a stoic people forged from pure, unrivaled logic, which is appropriate as they have endorsed robots as a major element of society, whereas Earth has harsh rules against them. Elijah accepts the assignment and is then notified that the Spacers have requested that he have a partner for the duration of the case; a humaniform robot by the name of Daneel Olivaw. Elijah himself is very duly against robots in Earth Cities, and is very reluctant to meet his new partner in the aptly named “Spacetown”, home of the Spacers. The robot Daneel has been created in the exact likeness of his creator, Dr. Sarton who happened to be the murder victim. The Commissioner had already investigated the murder previously and had told Elijah that there was no way an Earthman would’ve gotten in, but only an Earthman would kill Dr. Sarton. Elijah then presents several claims throughout the investigation of who the murderer could be, all of which are wrong. It isn’t until he discovers that his wife is a member of an Anti-City Culture organization, whose members are commonly known as “Medievalists”. He then traces, through her, a connection between Medievalists and Sarton’s murder, finally coming, through a fantastic act of deduction, that the Commissioner himself, Julius Enderby, was the murderer.
A quote from the book’s narrator struck me as terribly symbolic, not only in The Caves of Steel, but the two books that follow it, as well. “Each City became a semiautonomous unit, economically all but self-sufficient. It could roof itself in, gird itself about, burrow itself under. It became a steel cave, a tremendous, self-contained cave of steel and concrete.” This gives a perfect overview of exactly what a City is, explaining what Earth must put itself through in order to sustain such a staggering population. This is immensely important, as all throughout the trilogy there is a continuous theme of exploration and escape; of freedom and individuality against the conformed culture of the Cities.
This book, though not nearly as good as I, Robot, was still incredible. Though I was disappointed that it did not focus on the robots as much as Earthmen with robots in society, it sufficed. Some of my disappointment was spawned from expectation. The title of the series itself screamed the musings of the positronic brain and exploitation of humanoid machines to do one’s bidding. The book focused primarily on morals with robots and how resilience to change can be a major hindrance to human advancement. I was prepared for puzzles concerning positronic paths and robotic disagreements with the Three Laws. Instead I was handed puzzles concerning men who try to rebel in the name of xenophobia and robotic disagreements with the Earthmen society. Needless to say, I felt shortchanged, but nevertheless, Asimov created something amazing in this 270 page work of art. I rate it a 4 out of 5.
~Derrick H.
I read Beach Road by James Patterson.
In the summer of 2003 there were three brutal and tragic murders in East Hampton, and two related murders in New York City. Although the horror of the murders did not even compare to the tension in the Hamptons leading up to and during the murder trial. Dante Halleyville one of the most talented high school basketball players in the country was framed for a murder that he did not commit. The story is told from several different points of views and people often lie. The story goes back and forth and always keeps you guessing who really is or are the killers.
“I was there that night,” says Dante. “What are you saying, Dante? You saw Feifer, Walco, and Rochie get shot? Are you telling me you’re a witness? Didn’t see it, no. Michael and me were hiding in the bushes, but I heard it clear as I hear you now. First a voice saying, “Get on your knees, bitches, then another, Feifer maybe, asking, “What’s going on?” Sort of friendly, like maybe this is all a joke. Then, when they realize it’s serious, all of them bawling and begging right up to the last gunshot. I’ll never forget it. The sound of them begging for their lives.” This is important to the story because it shows the reader that Dante did not kill the boys.
This book is intended for a more male audience. Ages 15 and up. There is a lot of violence, sex, and sports.
On a scale from 1-5 I would give this book a 5. I rarely like reading books and I could not put this one down. I managed to read it in 3 days and it left me guessing to the last minute. I absolutely loved it!
Daniel E.
I read “The English Breakfast Murder” by Laura Childs. Theodosia Browning, the main character, is a volunteer for Charleston’s Sea Turtle Protection League. After completing her late night shift helping the newly hatched turtles find their way to the sea, Theo sits down for a warm cup of tea and gumbo from her tea shop. She spots a large mass bobbing in the water and curiosity overtakes her. A few minutes later, Theo finds herself swimming with a dead body. It just so happens to be Harper Fisk, a local antique and art dealer. Drayton, Theo’s friend and master tea blender at her shop, was good friends with Harper. Theo is determined to solve the case, for Drayton’s sake. Theo’s week soon fills up with special-event teas, filming of her shop, the Fashion Bask charity event, regular shot upkeep and her social life. It’s amazing she found time to go gallivanting all over Charleston to solve the case. Theo discovers all sorts of clues that’s get her nowhere. At the Fashion Bash, Theo is returning valuable buttons to the murderer’s office. Just moments after solving the case the culprit unexpectedly walks in on Theo. As hard as Theo tries, she can’t wriggle herself out of the sticky situation. Soon after Theo finds herself tied up in a closet with music blaring outside and no one knowing she’s missing. Theo desperately tries to get out of the closet, for there is no way of knowing when the culprit will come back and strike again.
“‘He knew you were looking at [The English Breakfast Club] hard, so he decided to help things along, give you a little push.’” In this quote Detective Tidwell is talking to Theo after she solved the case. All of the clues pointed towards an English Breakfast Club member. It just so happens to be that the murderer knew Theo was going off of the possible motive that Harper had found some very valuable treasure at one on one of his dives. All of the English Breakfast Club members owned antique and art shops. However, Theo was set up and didn’t realize it until the very end.
This book is for people who love mysteries. It is also more for females, especially ones who love tea. The setting is in Charleston, so if you love the south this book is for you.
I rate this book a 3.5 out of 5. I really enjoyed it because it was a mystery as well as a fun and thrilling book. The characters were well rounded and very exciting. The only reason I didn’t rate the book higher was because the book had very few useful clues that would help the reader figure it out. I really enjoy trying to figure it out myself, so I didn’t like the unpredictable ending.
Megan M.
I have recently been captivated by novels in the Science Fiction genre. I have always been fascinated by the famous elements of Sci-Fi movies: machines dominating the world and converting organics into DC batteries, evil cyborgs with laser swords in epic battles, and of course, robots. Robots, even before I could understand what a gear or wire was, have always been my favorite sort of humanoid. They are a testament of human achievement; a smug checkmark on the To-Do List of humanity. To be able to create a machine that can mimic mortal man in every aspect is a step shy of cloning itself, but much, much cooler.
So it was no surprise that I should fall victim to Isaac Asimov’s Robot Series. I had read I, Robot a year previous and it has since landed itself on “Derrick’s Top Ten Books Ever Written”, whizzing past its competition and diving straight for Number One. Its style was completely unique; its problems so complex yet with such simple solutions, and the idea of the positronic brain was astounding, to say the least. The Three Laws of Robotics were posted on the wall of my room immediately after its completion. This book was purely monumental, and so, of course, my mind urged me to read the other three novels.
On July 19, I received a copy of The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, and The Robots of Dawn. My positronic threesome was complete. I then eagerly dove into the pages of the first book of the trilogy: The Caves of Steel. It begins on Earth in the distant future. Our planet is severely overpopulated with a total of 8 billion people. Massive, sprawling, underground “Cities” that take up the space of hundreds of miles have the ability to keep ten million people (at the least) alive in an agoraphobic, socialistic society. Everything is shared; from food to mass transit. As publicized as modern-day life is in the novel, privileges can be granted to those whom have done well in their work. Each person has a rating ranging from A-1 to C-10. Each rating brings another little bit of privacy into the person’s life. Plainclothesman Elijah Bailey has a C-4 ranking at the beginning of the book, and is offered an assignment from Commissioner Julius Enderby that would boost him up to a C-7. He must solve the murder of a prominent member of the Spacer community. Spacers are explained as humans who colonized the galaxy and left Earth behind. They are portrayed as a stoic people forged from pure, unrivaled logic, which is appropriate as they have endorsed robots as a major element of society, whereas Earth has harsh rules against them. Elijah accepts the assignment and is then notified that the Spacers have requested that he have a partner for the duration of the case; a humaniform robot by the name of Daneel Olivaw. Elijah himself is very duly against robots in Earth Cities, and is very reluctant to meet his new partner in the aptly named “Spacetown”, home of the Spacers. The robot Daneel has been created in the exact likeness of his creator, Dr. Sarton who happened to be the murder victim. The Commissioner had already investigated the murder previously and had told Elijah that there was no way an Earthman would’ve gotten in, but only an Earthman would kill Dr. Sarton. Elijah then presents several claims throughout the investigation of who the murderer could be, all of which are wrong. It isn’t until he discovers that his wife is a member of an Anti-City Culture organization, whose members are commonly known as “Medievalists”. He then traces, through her, a connection between Medievalists and Sarton’s murder, finally coming, through a fantastic act of deduction, that the Commissioner himself, Julius Enderby, was the murderer.
A quote from the book’s narrator struck me as terribly symbolic, not only in The Caves of Steel, but the two books that follow it, as well. “Each City became a semiautonomous unit, economically all but self-sufficient. It could roof itself in, gird itself about, burrow itself under. It became a steel cave, a tremendous, self-contained cave of steel and concrete.” This gives a perfect overview of exactly what a City is, explaining what Earth must put itself through in order to sustain such a staggering population. This is immensely important, as all throughout the trilogy there is a continuous theme of exploration and escape; of freedom and individuality against the conformed culture of the Cities.
This book, though not nearly as good as I, Robot, was still incredible. Though I was disappointed that it did not focus on the robots as much as Earthmen with robots in society, it sufficed. Some of my disappointment was spawned from expectation. The title of the series itself screamed the musings of the positronic brain and exploitation of humanoid machines to do one’s bidding. The book focused primarily on morals with robots and how resilience to change can be a major hindrance to human advancement. I was prepared for puzzles concerning positronic paths and robotic disagreements with the Three Laws. Instead I was handed puzzles concerning men who try to rebel in the name of xenophobia and robotic disagreements with the Earthmen society. Needless to say, I felt shortchanged, but nevertheless, Asimov created something amazing in this 270 page work of art. I rate it a 4 out of 5.
~Derrick H.
"The Children’s Story" – By: James Clavell.
This story is chilling tale about a young group of elementary school kids set in the time of a war just being lost. The story starts with a new teacher taking over the class by relieving the old teacher. The story shows how vulnerable kids minds are as new teacher begins to change the kids’ minds about things. The teacher asks them what is the use of the Pledge of Allegiance without knowing what it means.
The teacher continues manipulating them into changing their beliefs, like instead of praying to God, they are told to believe in “our leader”, and that God doesn’t exist. When she is caught giving out candy by one of the children as they pray to “our leader” she says: “Only I or someone like me can give you things. Praying to God or anything or anyone for something is a waste of time.” This is showing how quickly the teacher is changing the kids’ minds about how they think the world works.
The cover of the book says James Clavell’s "The Children’s Story…but not just for children". Although it is written very simply so that a child could read the book, because of the themes of freedom, indoctrination, and patriotism the intended audience for this book is high school and above.
I rate this book at a 4.5. The reason for this is that it makes the reader ask some important questions like: What does the Pledge of Allegiance really mean and why are children taught to recite it in school? Do we need symbols to remind us of our love of our country? Are student’s minds really so vulnerable?
Paris L.
Chase Rogers
1. Over the summer I read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird took place in the early 1800’s in Macomb, Alabama.
2. The main characters in the story are Atticus Finch, a lawyer and father of two children. His daughter Scout, the narrator of the story. Other characters are Jem, Dill (Charles Baker), Boo Radly, Bob Ewell, and Tom Robinson. At the beginning of the novel Jem, Scout, and Dill play the Boo Radly game. The kids were interested in Boo Radly because he was a mysterious neighbor of the Finches who had many rumors and myths about him throughout the neighborhood. The object of the game was to touch Boo Radly’s house without getting caught. Atticus took notice of the game and put it to a stop.
The second half of the story takes place in a trial against a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of the rape of Mayella Ewell. Atticus Finch took this case because he knew Tom was innocent and he wanted to prove a point to the people of Macomb. He wanted to show there is no difference between whites and blacks. During the case the Finch family was tormented because their father had taken this case. The people of Macomb were angry that Mr. Finch was representing a black person, but this did not stop Atticus Finch from trying to prove a point of equality. At the end of the trial the evidence was clearly in favor of the innocence of Tom Robinson, but he was still convicted. Even though Tom was found guilty, the truth came out about Bob Ewell. The father of the girl, who was supposedly raped by Tom Robinson, was humiliated throughout town. Because Mr. Finch had shown enough evidence that her father who tried to accuse a black person of rape but in reality he was the guilty one. Bob Ewell was so embarrassed he took his anger out on Scout and Jem. One night, after Scout and Jem’s school play Bob Ewell tried to kill them on their way back to their home, but failed because Boo Radly came out of his house and killed Bob Ewell with a kitchen knife. Scout and Jem got a quick view of what Boo looked like before he returned to his house and to be never seen again.
3. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”
“Sir?”
“-until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
~Atticus’s message to Scout is you can’t judge someone unless you’ve been in his or her position.
4. In my perspective, Harper Lee intended this novel for ages 13 and up because there is many complicated themes and valuable lessons a young reader might learn. People have a need to displace their own anger on other people without looking into themselves.
5. I would rate this book a 5 because I think the title of this book, To Kill a Mockingbird captures the essence of the message that Harper Lee was trying to express. The title of this book clearly is a metaphor relating to how the story unfolded and how it relates to everyday life. This metaphor means to not hurt or take your anger out on some person or thing that is not doing anything to you or is an innocent by standard.
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The story is set in the world of Middle Earth. The Dark Lord, Sauron, seeks out the One Ring, which would give him an immeasurable power. With this great power, he would be able to enslave Middle Earth and unleash an incredible evil. In the story of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins has stolen the ring from a hideous creature called Gollum. Bilbo passes the ring on to his nephew Frodo Baggins in the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo soon learns of the rings evil powers. He is burdened with a quest to destroy the ring. He must leave the comforts of the shire and protect the ring from Sauron and his followers. The fate of Middle Earth rests in Frodo’s hands. Frodo encounters many challenges along the way that he must learn to overcome.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” In this quote Gandalf is saying how we have no control over what is thrown our way, but we do have control over how to handle what is coming. Frodo wishes that he never encountered the ring and the journey that comes along with it but soon realizes that it is only his responsibility to destroy it.
The Fellowship of the Ring is directed towards a younger and more imaginative audience. An older and less imaginative crowd may feel that the novel is merely a fictional tale. For others, they become entranced by the novel and get caught up in Frodo's epic quest.
Personally, I would rate this book a 4.5. I could barely put the book down at the end, but felt that it was slightly prolonged. I felt as if the plot would stall at certain points in the novel. Although this made things more dramatic, it frustrated me. Besides this, I enjoyed the story and felt as if I was right beside Frodo while he went on his quest.
-Brian K
I read the book "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown.
This story is all about a high ranking Vatican official "the Camerlengo" who had a elaborate plan to rekindle a dieing faith. The plan included acting as an ancient satanic cult and killing a world renowned scientist as well as four cardinals. They killed the men and branded them with brands created by the original cult. The brands were ambigrams, meaning they were readable regular and upside down, the brands were the name of the cult “illuminati”, earth, air, fire, water. After the hired killer killed the scientist he stole a new creation of his which was antimatter. The antimatter was hidden near the tomb of St. Peter which was far underground the Vatican with a wireless camera showing the countdown to the security center. The little droplet of Antimatter when in the presence of matter would explode with enough force to destroy the whole Vatican. The Camerlengo planed to pretend to have an epiphany in the very last moments and run find the Antimatter then come out to St. Peters square filled with people take the antimatter up into a helicopter and jump out of the helicopter in just enough time to escape the explosion and using the parachute to land right in front of the basilica looking to have risen from the dead as Jesus did reaffirming peoples faith all over the world.
A man named Robert Langdon was called early in the morning having someone speaking about illuminati which he had written a book about he was asked to fly a hour away and see a body with a illuminati brand on his chest he reluctantly agreed and found him self half way across the globe speaking to the owner of CERN a huge scientific community. He was now on a hunt to find a ancient cult which he thought was gone, find a weapon he had never heard of, and Save the Vatican on the day of the conclave with a women who’s father was the man with the branded chest.
“’He hoped to prove that science and religion are two compatible fields-two different approaches of finding the same truth’”
This quote is said by Vittoria Vetra the scientist daughter speaking of how he could prove the big bang and the bible version of god saying let there be light were both true. Her father believed that science and religion worked hand in hand. In converse to many religious figures believe that science is killing and explaining all of the miracles of religion.
I thought this book was a great book. I could not put it down and I never would of thought it would end the way it did I highly recommend it. I definitely give it a perfect 5.
-John S-
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