Monday, October 31, 2011

Hatchet

Hatchet is an amazing book that I really enjoyed. It was written by Gary Paulsen who I personally think is one of the best writers ever. I enjoyed this book and could read it over and over again. It had a lot of "adrenaline rushing" parts that literally took your breath away.
It is about a teenage boy from New York named Bryan, who was on an airplane to visit his dad in Canada, when the plane went plummeting down to the ground. When Bryan woke up from unconsciousness, all that was around him were, a dead pilot, huge pine trees, and a bunch of flaming plane wreckage. He was from the city and knew nothing about the wild. All he had was a dull hatchet on his side that his mom had given to him earlier that day. He was stranded without anybody in a cold silent forest which was the first forest that he had ever been in, in his life. There he would either have to learn about the forest or die a cold lonely death to leave a frozen corpse for the predators of the wild to harvest on.
You will have to find out by reading this outstanding book
that is sure to astonish you. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 because of the the amazing storyline and the spectacular "real life" feel to it that will leave you wondering if you would have the willpower to survive this nightmarish and inspiring story.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Was the Schwa Here?







The Schwa Was Here, by Neal Shusterman was a great book. I suggest it to anyone that knows how to read. Also, for those of you who don't know what the heck a schwa is, I'll tell you (it's also on the front page of the book). The faint vowel sound in many unstressed syllables in the English language.Yay! This book is about a vowel sound. NOT!



The whole schwa thing is more symbolic. Anyway, in this book, an eighth grade :-) boy named Anthony (Antsy) Bonnano meets an invisible (kinda) kid named The Schwa. Now, he's not really invisible, its just that no one remembers him.For example, he always wears clothes that match what's behind him, his eyes match the background, okay, maybe he is invisible! So the whole time in this book crazy things are going on, mannequins being thrown in front of trains, Antsy dating a blind girl, riding in a helicopter.

The Schwa is really scared of completely disappearing, like his mom, so he keeps doing crazy things to get attention. Antsy and his friends call the Schwa's invisibility The Schwa Effect. They do quite a few tests to well, test it. In one he goes into a bathroom dressed as a cat with a sombrero singing The Star Spangled Banner as obnoxiously as he can. Antsy asks people if they noticed anything in there and they say yes. They think the plan has failed, until they ask people what he was wearing. "uhh... something furry?" or, "Possibly a hat of some sort." He really is invisible.



Then Antsy and the Schwa have girl trouble, get mad, unite, visit a butcher. It really jumps around a lot.This book talks a lot about modern issues, like disabilities awareness, old people awareness, regular awareness of people, the list goes on and on. The main idea was to make you pay attention to everyone, be nice, and don't put a giant billboard with your face on the freeway.



I really agree with what the author is saying here. Oh, speaking of that, I actually met the author! H said it was really fun to write this book. This is how he signed my book. " Stay Visible!". I thought that was great. I really loved this book and I think that the only people that shouldn't read it are people who own a walrus farm! A+!

Fablehaven Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull







This wonderful action-packed fiction book (Fablehaven Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull) is very exciting. The book is the final book in the Fablehaven series. Kendra and Seth Sorenson (the main characters) have once again gone to their grandparents house (Fablehaven) for the summer. Every summer for the past 5 years they have gone to Fablehaven. They had always hated going there before they realized that their grandparents property was enchanted. Through powerful milk from a magic cow they can see things that they couldn't with the human eye. They can see fairies, centaurs, saytrs, nymphs, demons, and many other mystical creatures. Each of the seven sanctuaries around the world contains an artifact that is nearly impossible to get to. You have to go through these trials and defeat deadly dragons, horrifying demons, terrible lions, ferocious tigers, and many more things to recieve the beloved artifact.

The artifacts can do many amazing things. For example one is pretty much sand in an hourglass that can make you (once poured) stay the same age/be immortal forever. There are seven artifacts total. All of them combined make the key to open the horrible demon prison which holds the worlds most powerful demon ever, Zzyxx. With him you would easily take over the whole world. The Sphinx (the bad guy) wants to open dreaded Demon Prison so he can take over the world. So what does he have to do? He has to collect all seven artifacts to open the prison and conquer the world. Thats why he's the bad guy. Kendra, Seth, and their grandparents will not let him take over the world without a fight. In the last book the Sphinx decided to kidnap Kendra and Seth's parents so that he could trade the parents for artifacts. But giving him the artifact makes him that much closer to conquering the world.

So in this book the Sphinx has five of the seven artifacts and the Sorensons have the other two. Seth (while trying to retrieve one of the lost artifacts) was kidnapped by the Sphinx and his team of people who went out to get the same artifact that they were going for. The Sorensons sent out a rescue team to retrieve Seth and his parents. They failed and are now in huge trouble and desperately need some sort of miracle so the Sphinx will not rule the world. Luckily Seth with the help of a unicorn cell mate escapes and steals the artifact that makes you teleport and the one that heals you/ immortalizes you. He finds his way back to Fablehaven and uses the healing artifact to help heal his demon friend Graulas (who was very sick). He had trusted Graulas but Graulas betrayed him and killed one of his friends. Seth is desperate and needs help. While Seth was escaping, Kendra was imprisoned. Kendra still didn't know if Seth was alive or not. She hadn't seen him since they sent out to retrieve the artifact at Obsidian Waste. Anyway Kendra meets the unicorn named Bracken (the same one that Seth met) and figures out Seth has escaped and is still alive. Bracken has not been outside of the prison for over a life time and can't wait until they escape. So he set up a plan to escape. They escape almost the same way Seth did, and found Seth. Even with Seth and Kendra out of the prison, the Sphinx is almost set to unleash the Zzyxx. Almost all hope is lost. The world is coming to an end. The time has come for Kendra and Seth to save the world...

I really just love how the author wrote this. The suspense after almost every chapter was almost too hard to bare. I stayed up a couple nights until almost 12:00 a.m. reading this book! I couldn't have wrote the book better myself. Except for maybe the ending but I can't tell you much about that because it would give the end of the book away. I really wish that his parents wouldn't have been taken away in the first place because they didn't have a clue about the whole "Fablehaven" thing in the first place. It didn't really make sense and didn't have much to do with the book in the first place. Brandon Mull makes it feel like you are really there. He also makes you relate with the characters feelings and actions. He has done that throughout the series. Also most books that talk about saving the world are kind of cheesy and unrealistic. Sorry but that doesn't happen in this book. It seems like it could be real. I really am not just saying that to make the book look better than the rest because it really isn't cheesy. I don't think any of you would know of a book where the parents were kidnapped.


I loved this book and really suggest you all read the Fablehaven series including this book. By the way you probably want to read the first four books before this one or it will not make sense at all! I think this is really one of the best books I have ever read. A

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince


Harry Potter, the chosen one, the boy who lived. All names for the hero in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth book in the Harry Potter series. Written by J.K. Rowling this exciting fantasy book has action, love, jealousy, hate, and of course Magic.

Harry Potter's parents were killed by the darkest wizard of all, Lord Voldemort, at a young age. Harry was then raised his non-magical aunt and uncle until he was sent to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A the young age of eleven, Harry not only finds a home here but makes some awesome friends like Ron and Hermione. Through 5 years of Hogwarts Harry learns a lot about magic. He also learn to be an amazing quidditch player. He also has a few close shaves with Voldemort that almost result in his death a number of times.

He enters his sixth year at Hogwarts after learning that he has to be the one who kills Voldemort. As a result of this Harry and Hogwarts headmaster, Dumbledore, set out to find out as much as they can about Voldemort and his past as to find a weakness. Harry has also suffered the loss of his newly found godfather who he watched be killed the previous year.

This book is interesting because of how detailed it is. It shows exact test scores, gives good information on the classes that Harry takes, and makes it feel like you are in Hogwarts castle with Harry. There is also a lot of drama to make the down parts of the story seem more exciting. Like love wars and friend fights. It even has great action that gets your blood pumping like quidditch matches, and wizard duels. It also has a decent amount of love in it for all you romance fans.

I think that one of the main reasons that I think this book is so good is because it has many mysteries that are not solved until the end of the book. Like the mystery of who the Half Blood Prince is, the mysterious person whose old textbook has tons of helpful tips in, and the mystery of what Draco Malfoy is up to.

One of the opinions that the author has in this book is that love is a powerful thing. I agree with this because of what love can do to people. All over people die for people or things that they love. It says that Harry's biggest advantage over Voldemort is that Harry can love. Yes it can lead to bad things, but pure love will always be that, pure. Harry is fighting for the good of all mankind so that everyone can continue to live in peace and love. Which is far better than what Voldemort is fighting for, power.

This book also mentions that tyrants everywhere create there own enemies. It also says that evil can never be truly vanquished but only can be kept at bay. This also means that good can never be truly vanquished too. I think that this means even today there will never be an all good or all bad world. It will always be in between somewhere.

"In spite of all the temptation you have endured, all the suffering, you remain pure of heart." -Professor Dumbledore (page 511.) This book shows that we always need to be courageous in fighting evil and staying pure, so that love and peace can continue around the world. If you start reading this book, be warned, you will not be able to put it down.

Heaven is for Real






Heaven is for real is an extraordinary story about a young boy who went to heaven and came back. Colton went through an emergency appendectomy and survived. When Colton arrived home from the surgery his mom asked him if he remembered being in the hospital, he then described what his parents were doing in another part of the hospital during his surgery. Colton also described his trip to heaven. The way he described heaven matched exactly to the descriptions in the bible, even though Colton cannot yet read. This story started to answer the big question, "What will it be like after we die?" It gives you a glimpse of heaven. I really enjoyed this book. It is very heartwarming and I believe that Colton really did go to heaven and come back. I really recommend this book. I like the way the author described it. It made it feel like I was really there throughout the whole book. I would recommend this book to anyone who needs a book to read!

The 13th Reality: The Journal Of Curious Letters

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The 13th Reality is a brilliant book written by none other than James Dashner. This book could fall under quite a few genre categories, fiction, sci-fi, or mystery. So what exactly is this book about? In The 13th Reality Atticus Higginbottom, or as most people call him "Tick", Is an average kid who commonly gets bullied. Until the day he receives a strange letter, Sent to him by a man who calls himself M.G., telling him "dangerous, perhaps even deadly things are coming your way" Tick then begins his quest full of suspense and moments that made me even worried. Tick meets many strange people as his quest continues, Such as Mothball, (You may think her names silly, but it's not nearly as bad as her sister's name, Toejam.), and Rutger. Both of which working for the mysterious M.G.

This book was certainly memorable, with such unique attributes and full of great mysteries and riddles that keep you thinking for a while. With 417 pages this book should keep you busy for a while.
This book certainly stands out to me from the other books I've read, because the writing style of James Dashner are so unique and suspenseful it's hard to put it down when you begin to read. But what really stood out to me was the scientific view of the book. Unlike our friends at Hogwarts, Just about everything unrealistic in this book is explained in a scientific way that seemed to make quite a bit of sense to me. That made me quite happy, seeing as most books and movies never explain these things.

All in all this book gave me such a thrill, even after reading it several times, which is hard to find in books these days. I would definitely recommend this book to ANYBODY who is looking for a great book. A+

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan


"The Red Pyramid" is the first book of The Kane Chronicles and a non-fiction book by the famous Rick Riordan. This is a book about a brother and sister, Carter and Sadie, who eventually figure out that they are supposed to save the world. Carter and Sadie aren't like any ordinary brother and sister, they only get to see each other once every six months. Then on one of their visitations their father, Julius Kane, releases all five gods which are: Osiris, god of the living, Isis, goddess of magic, Horus, god of kings and the sky, Nephthys, goddess of lamentation, and Set, god of chaos and destruction. Though saving the world isn't hard enough, the only way is by defeating Set, the god of chaos and destruction.
On their journey they discover that their trapped father and deceased mother were Egyptian magicians. Also that they(Carter and Sadie Kane) have the ability to cast spells to do extraordinary things. Luckily Carter and Sadie also discover that they are descendants of pharaohs Narmer and Ramesses the Great and that they are hosting gods.(Which means that they have been chosen by the god to be their mortal body.) BIG SURPRISE!!!
I enjoyed reading this book and eventually loved it by the end. This book is unique because you have to keep reading for new information based on Egyptian myths and legends. This is a very exiting book that makes you wonder what will happen next. I don't really agree with all of the author's ideas, but you have to give him a little slack because at the beginning of the book it clearly states that the book was written from an audio recording.(Yes, I know, confusing.)

One of the main issues that the book brings up is would you rather save the world or a family member. I knew that the obvious answer would be the world but why. Why is the obvious answer the world? This book really showed me why the world would be the obvious reason by telling me even though you love that family member you have to save those innocent lives along with the one that you especially hate. This showed me that the obvious decision isn't all that easy.

Thoth, the god if knowledge said," Gods cannot live without the world and the world cannot live without the gods. We all have to live in harmony to make the world survive."

When you read this book, I strongly recommend that you pay real close attention to everything you read because it all comes into play.

Vampire Diaries By L. J. Smith

Do vampires really exist? In The Vampire Diaries, The Awakening, L. J. Smith takes us on adventure to find vampires, romance, and friendships that could last a lifetime.  This is the first of 6 books in the series.  This is an addictive fictional book.

Elena Gilbert was always the most popular girl at school. She had all the friends and got all the boys.  When the new mysterious and cute Stefan Salvatore comes to school, Elena is confused when he pays no attention to her.  She is bound and determined to change that.  Just as things start to go her way, Stefan’s older brother Damon comes to town and that’s when things start to get hot!

Since the arrival of the brothers, weird things have started to happen in the town of Fells Church.  People keep being discovered with their necks torn apart and nobody can explain why.  Elena finds herself in the middle of all of it.  That’s when the truth starts to reveal itself.

This is an awesome book.  It is a great way to escape from your everyday life.  Damon is the most interesting part of the story. The author doesn’t tell you much about him, only that he has an eternity to torment Stefan.  With all the drama that is in Elena's life, it leaves you hanging.  This is a very entertaining book.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  If you love vampires, or romance books, I recommend reading this book.

Even though this is a fictional book, the characters deal with real life issues such as; death, relationship problems, and other social issues that teenagers can relate too.  In my opinion, I think Elena is a super snotty stuck-up person.  It makes you think how not to act.  But she has also had a huge tragedy happen recently in her life, which may explain her attitude problems.  In real life, we don’t always know someone’s past and how that can affect their personality. 

This book is different from the other vampire books (i.e. the Twilight books, Vampire Academy Series) I have read.  I fell in love with this book after the first few chapters.  This is a great book to loose your self in. This book does have a few swear words, but it’s not really offensive.  If you want a super fun book to kill time with, I recommend that you read this book!  I give this book an A+.


Note: The book is entirely different from the series on CW. 

Delirium Lauren Oliver



"They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things; it kills both when you have it and when you don't" -Lena Haloway

Delirium by Lauren Oliver is a post apocalyptic, romance, all around amazing novel. I loved the way this book kept me thinking. In this book this book it's about 200 years into the future and America has concluded that love is a disease they call it amor deliria nervosa.The government decides your future. The boys and girls are kept separate for most if not all of their childhood. At the end of their senior year in high school everyone has an evaluation. In the evaluation they ask questions to determine who you will marry and if you are in danger of contracting the deliria. When you turn 18 you get a procedure and it cures you from ever being in love again. Most people believe this is what's best but those who don't are called invalids. The invalids don't believe in the cure so they have escaped to live in the Wilds. The Wilds are all of the area that lie outside of the fenced off cities. They often infiltrate the city to try and convert people to their movement.

This story follows a girl named Lena Haloway. She's only 95 days away from having her procedure and she's grateful. Her whole life has been plagued by the deliria. Her mother committed suicide because of it. Sense then she has been living with her aunt Carol. Carol has been prepping Lena for the evaluation for months. Finally when the day comes her best friend Hanna says,"You know you can't be happy unless you're unhappy sometimes, right?" Lena finds this odd and it only adds to her growing anxiety. As the evaluation starts Lena begins to forget everything she's been practicing. Then invalids pull a prank by letting loose cows in the labs during the evaluations. Lena looked up during stampede and saw a man in the window smiling at her. Later she found out that all of the evaluation results were discarded.

Days later Hanna and Lena go out for a run and they end up meeting the same man Lena saw in the window during the evaluation. The three of them started talking and he said his name is Alex and that he has already been cured. He also claimed to never have been at the labs. In a secret way Alex gives Lena a message telling her to meet him at 8:30. All day Lena debates whether to go. After dinner she bikes down to the cove and when she gets there Alex is no where to be found. She runs into him again and they start to hang out and she figures it's okay because he's cured. One day at the beach Alex tells her that he's really an invalid and that he's not cured. Lena freaks out and doesn't want anything to do with him any more.

After their second evaluation Hanna and Lena have a fight because Hanna has started to listen to illegal music and going to underground parties. Hanna and Lena grow apart but Hanna still invites Lena to come. On a night of one of Hanna's parties it's a raid night. A raid is were officials come through and check for signs of the Deliria and such. Lena goes up to the party to warn them but as she arrives the police barge in. It's brutal and bloody. Lena gets bit by a dog and guess who her savior is. Yep, Alex. He helps her and then Lena realizes she has fallen in love with him.

Alex and Lena begin to meet in private. Lena finally understands that being in love is the best feeling. Lena soon tells Hanna and everything goes back to normal. Until that is someone finds out. They lock Lena away and Alex comes to rescue her, but they have the whole city on their tails. They run for the Wilds. Will it work, you tell me.

I found myself agreeing with a lot of what the author was saying. Love is kind of like a disease and maybe the world would be better if it wasn't around. Then I also got to thinking that all of the people I love now and that I've loved in the past would mean absolutely nothing to me. So I have come to a conclusion that love is a necessary evil.

I loved every second of this book! The world melted away around me when I read it. It is inspirational in a way to think that one day I might have someone love me enough to break all the rules to be with me. This book gives a hopeless romantic like me hope and I can't wait for the sequel. A+

Deathwatch



Deathwatch by Robb White is a suspenseful Realistic Fiction book that kept me on the edge of my seat from almost beginning to end. The story is about a young man, Ben, and his fight for survival in the sweltering, lifeless desert.
A wealthy middle aged man, named Madec, hires Ben, a college student, to show him where to find Bighorn Sheep in the desert. You have to win a lottery to hunt bighorn, and you can only hunt them for seven days. Madec brought Ben because he was close to the desert and knew where the sheep were. In return, Madec was going to pay him enough money to get him through about a year of college. When Madec mistakes an old prospector for a sheep and accidentally kills him, that's when Ben learns about Madec's dark side. Ben wants to report the accident, but instead Madec refuses to go into town and begins to hunt Ben to prevent him from reporting the accidental death. The story of how Madec hunts Ben and what Ben does to try and survive in the summer desert is very exciting and will get you thinking when you're done with it.
Although there aren't very many action packed moments in this book, it is intense the entire time. Ben is constantly in danger from lack of water, food, and shelter, and, of course, Madec. It was very interesting to read what Ben was able to use out in the desert where there is no water, food, nor shelter. The ways that Ben finds to use what little he has with him is very creative, and yet remains realistic.

I think that the book is a great read, and it really makes you wonder if someone would really do all of these awful things to another person. It was a bit hard to follow sometimes, though, because it would be talking about one thing and then suddenly switch to an another seemingly unrelated subject. Everything said does have a reason for being in the book, even if you don't quite understand it at the time.

The idea that one person could be so cruel to another was a very big part in the story. The book suggests that some people would go to extremes to cover up for what they've done. It kind of scared me to think that somebody might be desperate enough to kill twice to cover up for one mistake, rather than own up to it and face minimal consequences. I honestly don't think that someone would, or even could, go this low in real life, because of the extreme guilt that would come with the act. The book actually covers all of this, and is key to the storyline, which I thought really added some interest to it.

Overall, this book is awesome. It puts a new perspective on human morals, and it keeps you entertained all the way through. Although it was a bit unclear or hard to follow in some parts, it all makes sense in the end. I liked how it brought up almost all of the questions or "fake" things that you might see in the storyline, and the end of the book is really powerful, and it keeps you thinking about it for the rest of the day. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a short, suspensful read that will make you forget all about dinner(or at least until your mom yells at you for not coming the first time she asked) and immerse you into Ben's world of betrayal and danger. I'd give this book an A+, easily.

The Hourglass Door


The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum is an adventurous and romantic novel. Abigail Edmunds lives a normal life; great friends, loving boyfriend, and a happy family. Abigail is in high school and loves theater and english. She is the assistant director of her school play while her boyfriend, Jason, is on the stage crew. Suddenly, Dante, the new student pops into her life. Dante is so mysterious, Abby cant help but think about him all the time.
When Dante mysteriously shows up at Abby's house in the morning, he literally sweeps Abby off her feet, and she takes him to breakfast. The very next day at school, Abby starts to have intense headaches, and trouble hearing and seeing. At lunch Dante confronts her while she is eating, then realizes that she is having trouble. He leans over to her and says, "Don't worry Abby I will fix this." He touches Abby's arm and now she can see clearly. She looks around for Dante but he has mysteriously disappeared.
Later, Abby and Jason go to, The Dungeon, to hear a band play called, Zero Hour. Abby runs into Dante and tries to talk to him, but again he disappears. After the concert Abby and her friends get to meet the band. Abby is very interested in the tattoos on their wrists. The tattoos are dark chains, with a small clock, and no numbers on it. Later that night she cant help but think that the chains must mean something. Maybe even a connection with Dante and why he always wheres gloves that cover his wrists?
Later at the Valentines Dance at Abby's school, Zero Hour plays. Dante seems very frustrated that they're playing and recommends that they don't. But before they go on, Abby is outside trying to cool off, when she hears two men arguing. She looks towards the school and see's Dante holding Zo, the Zero Hour lead singer, up against the school wall by his shoulders. Both men look very serious. Then all of a sudden, Zo pulls out a knife and cuts across Dante's upper arm. Abby can just make out one sentence. Zo says, "We're not like them. We'll never be like them,"and walks into the school. Abby then runs over and tries to help Dante, she wants to call an ambulance, but he wont let her. He says that she can help him and he doesn't need an ambulance. Then when Dante goes home, and Abby goes back to the dance, Jason gets all upset that she left and he breaks up with her. She feels terrible, but also relieved. Her relationship with Jason was getting more and more complicated ever since Dante arrived.
Later on in the book Abby and Dante start dating, and Jason and Natalie start to like each other but are too nervous to even talk to one another. Abby thinks that everything will be O.K. but then Dante starts having problems with Zo and his band again. Abby then finds out all of Dante's secrets and why him and Zo always have problems. Zo knows that Dante cares about Abby, and then takes Abby and uses her against Dante. In order for Dante to save Abby he has to make a sacrifice that is incredibly dangerous and would break Abby's heart. In the end Abby has to make the tough decision.
I really like this book because of all the mystery and secrets. I especially like the suspense and action. Not knowing whats going to happen in the book and then being surprised is my favorite. The ending of this book leaves readers thinking. Luckily there's two more books of this amazing series of Abby's and Dante's adventures. This book is very well written and intense. I love this book and cant wait to read the second book. I recommend this book to anyone who loves romance, suspense and/or mystery. I give this book an A.