Stuart Scott was one of the best of all time ESPN analysis. He was always energetic with great incite to whatever he covered. Many people voted him the best of the best. In his book he is telling us what it is like to be battling the beast of cancer. He continues to go back to the point of being there for his daughters. He says that his main goal was to get to each of his daughters weddings so that he could walk them down the aisle rather than some uncle. He goes by day by day telling the reader that when you fight cancer you begin to realize how little events such as driving your daughter to a friend's house is very important to you. He goes on saying that every day could very well be his last and how you have to make the best out of everything. He says "When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, and the manner in which you live." He and his family praise every moment they have together. Stuart Scott does not end up achieving his goal to be with his daughters, but he left a mark on how life should be treated when cancer strikes.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/12118296/stuart-scott-espn-anchor-dies-age-49

The book Mirrors, by Ted Dekker, is the second book in the "Eyes Wide Open" book series. Christie and her friend Austin have been placed in a hospital for people with special needs, even though they don't have any. They have daily rehab sessions and they don't take it easy on them. They both are split up and trying to find different ways out. Austin was placed in the hospital because he saw the activities director holding someone captive and the director entered him into the system so he wouldn't get discovered. Christy was thought to be the missing patient, and since she had no ID on her, she was submitted into the hospital. Will they ever get out of the hospital? If they can prove themselves or make people see what the activities director is doing, then maybe they have a shot to get out, or they'll just stay and be called Crazy the rest of their lives. Click on the link to see what a typical room looked like in a special needs hospital.




http://www.emmc.org/uploadedImages/EMMC/Internet/emmcorg/Images/ICU-room.gif?n=2407

The Darkest Minds

I recently finished the book, The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. It is about a 16 year old girl named Ruby. She is taken to a government "rehabilitation camp" where kids who survived the disease called IAAN are taken. These kids, as a result of IAAN, have super powers. The Green are extremely smart, the Blue can move things with their mind, the Yellow can control lightening, the Reds can control fire, and the Orange can control minds. Ruby is an orange. After escaping camp, she runs off and joins a group other escaping kids who are looking for East River, a safe haven for all the colors. The kids names are Zu, Chubs, and Liam. Liam and Ruby have an instant connection. The group becomes an inseparable group of friends that always stick by each others side. They are willing to sacrifice their own future for one another. There are two books after this one: Never Fade and In the After Light.


http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-the-darkest-minds/?gclid=CjwKEAjwvPepBRCoqo37teOD1XsSJAC7v6WQGhq6XsU-rqLtPhXD25-iL4zbhugPrHzHfTxfs4tibhoCD9rw_wcB#gsc.tab=0

Speak

Speak is about a girl named Melinda who is a sophomore and is having a rough time emotionally in school because she got raped at a party she went to by a senior. She has a hard time going through school because many people look down, and make fun of her because of what happened. Since she doesn't really have any friends she gets herself into trouble by stealing late passes because she can't bear to be around people. People try and help her but she just won't speak. The book is ultimately about her struggle through school. I enjoy this book because she started off so weak and gained confidence day by day and that's something that I admire. She had a lot of struggles to go through but she got herself out and re-gained happiness.

If you or someone you love are dealing with similar issues, click here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/rpe/

Skeleton Creek: The Crossbones

Skeleton Creek: The Crossbones

Ryan and Sarah have solved one mystery... only to find themselves trapped by another. At first it seemed that the Crossbones was a secret society limited to Skeleton Creek. But now new facts are being unearthed -- with new dangers attached. Ryan and Sarah encounter a man named Old Joe Bush, who is supposed to be dead. But, When Ryan and Sarah are in the Gold Dredge in Sumpter Valley, Oregon, the ghost of Old Joe Bush pushed Ryan through a Railing and hurt him. Everything else is explained in the videos of the hyper link. Have fun watching Skeleton Creek: Crossbones.

Sword of the Rightful King

Newly crowned King Arthur rules the kingdom, but not the peoples hearts. until he proves his worth this power will be in question. Too many people want him to be dead, and treachery is everywhere. So the wizard Merlinnus secretly creates a test for King Arthur. A sword in a stone is discovered a stone that bears a legend promising that whoever draws the sword shall rule England. If all goes according to the plan King Arthur will draw the sword from the stone (with the help of Merlinnuses magic of course.) and then the people will at last hopefully rally around the young king.sword of the rightful king link

QB1 by Mike Lupica Justyn Segarra

This awesome book is about a football loving family who literally lives the game of football. Throughout their ancestry, many great grandparents of the Cullen family were known for being excellent NFL quarterbacks. Jake and his all-star brother Wyatt are both great QB's following the footsteps of their father Troy Cullen. With his father favoring Wyatt all of the time because of his record breaking play, Jake begins to feel a sense of exclusion as Wyatt is and always has been Troy's favorite QB. This pushes Jake to become as good, maybe even better than Wyatt as Wyatt begins to struggle in college.  Jake then single handedly takes the Granger Cowboys (Texas) to victory in the state championship. Because of this, Troy Cullen starts to even out the favoritism and realizes he's been almost neglecting Jake for most of his childhood. Because of this,  their family is unified greatly and both Jake and Wyatt Cullen become two of the best QB's of all time, surpassing their father's footsteps and becoming football legends.

Claws Of The Crocodile

 In the book, Claws Of The Crocodile, by Bear Grylls a boy named Beck Granger follows a strange clue to the town of Broome in Northern Australia where he finds out a secret about his life that changes the way he looks at most of the things around him. This is just the beginning of an adventure that will force him into some of the hardest survival challenges he has ever faced.  The search for the clues take Beck into outskirts of Australia where he has to fight raging storms, dangerous crocodiles and savage civilians that would stop at nothing to stop him, and to find the man with the answers to all of these clues and Beck's questions.  This is a gripping Australian adventure packed with real survival details and dangers at every turn.

Return To Paradise

             Return To Paradise, by Simone Elkeles is a romance novel about two seniors in high school who are on and off with each other and their relationship together. "Caleb Becker left Paradise eight months ago, taking with him the secret he promised to take to his grave. If the truth got out, it would ruin everything". Everyone thinks Caleb hits Maggie while driving drunk but that is not the truth. The two teens are surprised to reunite with each other again after the accident. They reunite together at a RE-START program, which is for teenagers. It is a month long program where teens talk about the ways their lives were and/or have been changed because of reckless driving. Everyone wants to keep them apart, but when they end up in a van together for the first time in a year,with four other kids and a program counselor, things start to become worse. Only Maggie and Caleb know the real truth about what happened the night of the accident. When they tell everyone the truth about what really happened, no one believes that Caleb's sister really did it. They still think he was the one that did it.http://simoneelkeles.com/

things not seeen

Bobby Phillips wakes up one morning to find that he's become invisible. He tells his parents about the whole thing. the can't do anything so they leave him home alone. Because he's left home alone, Bobby  goes to the library, where he runs into a blind girl named Alicia who is the one person who can't tell that he's invisible. they hangout one day and he has to reveal to her that he's actually invisible. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/invisible bobby doesn't go to school. he stays home and go to the library. Alicia and bobby hangout the next day. bobby hang out with Alicia more and more. his mom doesn't like them hanging out. booby one day takes a nap and his mom doesn't know where he is so she looks in his room and he is startled to find that Bobby is there. they can see him. Bobby wants to break the news to Alicia in person.  she seems happy for him, but out of nowhere she gets mad, runs up to her room, and slams the door. she just feels that he'll leave her behind now that he doesn't need her. ymorehttp://www.lovecalculator.com/ she told him that and he runs to her house and tells her he loves her. http://www.lovecalculator.com/

Impulse

The book is about a couple of teenagers who have depression and mental problems and most of them have tried killing themselves. There parents have all shipped them to a treating system where they try to get help and to get better. A lot of the kids are having trouble fitting in at the new place and some are even getting into fights with each other. They all have stages they have to go through until they can graduate to leave the treatment center. While they stay there they also have to go to school and can even get a diploma. I think the book was really good and it gave a really good story behind it.

 click here if you or someone you know has depression.

If I Stay

     The main characters in the book are Mia and Adam. Adam is Mia's boyfriend. Mia and her family get in to a car accident. Her family is rushed to the hospital. Her parents passed away and so did her little brother. She is in a coma and she has to decide if she wants to stay or leave. She doesn't know what she wants because her whole family is gone but Adam and her best friend is still here and she doesn't want to leave them. She has a hard time deciding what she wants to do. A movie was made based on this book.
Click here to see movie trailer

tweak by nic sheff

 In the novel Tweak Nic Sheff is addicted to a lot of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. He used to be alone when he would do these drugs but one day he meets this girl named alexia whom started doing these drugs with him. One day his life took a turn for the worse, he loses all his money in his bank account when he picked up more drugs the dealer watched him type in his bank number. Nic Sheff is actually the author in the book and the person so this is a non fiction book . Towards the end of the book he overdoses and he comes very close to death and that is when he decides to get clean and step away from his old life a changes his life  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sheff

Trapped by Michael Northrop

                              Trapped is a book about high school kids getting trapped in their school alone during a terrible, horrid snow storm.  They must fight to survive against cold, hunger, and thirst in the fight against the blizzard. They must find a way to get help once they realize that the building wont stay standing much longer.  After the first collapse of the roof, everyone panic's and realize that they need to send someone out into the deadly snow for help.  The first person that goes out gets killed straight away due to a malfunction in their idea of a "snow cart".  The main character, Scotty Weems, makes a rash decision to go out alone on a search for help.  Knowing its going to be dreadful, he bundles up and fights the storm.  In the end, He saves himself and his friends in a terrific ending.

Heat By Mike Lupica

  In the book Heat by Mike Lupica,  In the beginning there was a 16 year teenage thief named Ramon. Ramon was the smartest 16 year old in the south Bronx. Although he was the smartest he wasn't in school, he treated school as a hobby. Ramon was not the laziest but he was still lazy. Ramon hated the idea of work more than school so he preferred to occasionally get his spending money by stealing peoples purses and handbags. Ramon was really fast that no police man could catch him. Ramon felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and that moment he fell down as if someone tackled him. This is where it all starts, a skinny, long boy named Michael Arroyo. He has a arm that throws a fast ball like no other kid his age. Michael's papi wanted Michael to get to the Little League World Series so bad more then Michael even wanted. His brother Carlos had  to his night job, he lied about his age so he could work, they were living alone at the moment so he need to get a jobs. He was recently orphaned as his father died shortly after their arrival to America. He was left to survive with just an 17 year old brother here in America illegally. His pitching is so amazing it hard to go unnoticed.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent is the second book in the thrilling Divergent trilogy.  It picks up where Divergent, the first book in the trilogy, left off.  At the end of Divergent, a big war has taken place between the factions in the city where Tris and Tobias, two teenagers, live.  There are five factions plus the Factionless, and you will fit into the one that lives by your greatest quality (honesty, selflessness, intelligence, etc.).  Tris and Tobias are both "Divergent", meaning they do not fit into one particular faction because they demonstrate the attributes of several factions.  According to the leader Jeanine of the Erudite faction (the intelligent one), the Divergent are dangerous and a threat to society.  Jeanine also wants Erudite to run the government, not the faction of Abnegation.  This is why a big war breaks out in Divergent.  Tris and Tobias end up surviving the war, and they escape to the Amity faction outside the city where it is safe.  This is where Insurgent picks up.  The two know they won't be safe in Amity for long because Jeanine sends people out to capture or kill the Divergents.  After a few days in Amity, Jeanine's workers come looking for Divergents there.  Tris and Tobias are forced to flee immediately and almost risk their lives trying to escape.  They make it back to the city and visit the Factionless.  The leader of the Factionless is Tobias' mother who he never talks to anymore.  The Factionless want to rise up and rebel against the Erudite to gain control over the government.  Tobias' mother wants to team up with the Dauntless because they know how to fight and all together they would outnumber the Erudite.  Tobias' mother betrayed him when he was little, so he thinks she's just trying to use him and the Dauntless only for her own good.  So, they soon leave Factionless and go to the Candor faction to find the other Dauntless (who aren't traitors to Erudite) who are seeking safety there.  Meanwhile, Jeanine begins gaining more and more power using her dangerous simulations, and she continues killing Divergents.  Tris and Tobias have a close encounter with a Erudite worker trying to capture or kill more Divergents, but they fight him off.  Eventually, the Dauntless go back home to their compound.  The two have another meeting with Evelyn, and she asks the same that she did before of the Dauntless.  Tris doesn't think it's a good idea to team up with the Factionless, but Tobias thinks it would now be a good idea.   Tris is tired of battling the internal conflict of her grief and guilt which began in Divergent and all of the innocent killings happening by Jeanine.  She decides to turn herself in because she is one of the most powerful Divergents.  She is one that Jeanine has been searching for the most.  Tris and Tobias are in love, and Tobias told her not to turn herself in because she would be killed by Jeanine.  Tris ends up going anyway because she is done battling with herself and seeing other people die, even though she is in love with Tobias.  When Tris' death is about to come, she realizes that she does not want to die and she just wants to be with Tobias.  When he tries to save Tris, he gets captured by Jeanine too.  Peter, originally from Tris' faction who then became a traitor to the Erudite, saves Tris' life because he felt that he owed her for previously saving his life.  Tobias then realizes she is still alive in the Erudite compound.  He leads Tris and Peter to safety when they all escape, and then...
(Read the book to find out what happens next!)
I highly recommend reading this well-written, electrifying trilogy written by Veronica Roth.
Click here to watch the trailer of the movie Insurgent.

Snakehead by Anthony Horowitz

               14-year-old Alex Rider was recruited by Britain's intelligence (spy) agency, MI6, upon the death of his uncle, who was his legal guardian as his parents had died in Alex's infancy and was a spy working for Britain. At the start of Snakehead, he had worked for MI6 on four separate missions as well as for the Americans' CIA twice - in fact, he is just landing in Australia at the end of the latter when Australian secret service wants him to work for them by sending him into an illegal immigration pipeline operated by the extremely dangerous Snakehead triad groups of the far east. At first, Alex is entirely against it; every mission he had been on had put him in more and more danger then the last, and some of the enemies he was making along the way were already starting to come back around, and he had uncovered information about his parents' murder (his father was also a spy) that only left him in a deep confusion. But once he finds out that a godfather that he never knew and had known his parents would be working with him, Alex takes the mission solely to get answers about his past. He and his godfather known as Ash are disguised and Iraqi refugees and sent through the process of immigrating to Australia. From the beginning, there were problems; Alex had seen someone tailing them but wasn't sure if it was an issue, the men who had been supposed to give them the false papers necessary to get out of the country were suspicious and tried to get Alex killed, and a major center of business for the Snakehead was destroyed as a result. Yet somehow Ash manages to get the two of them to the boat that would take them to friendly territory. This was because he was actually a double-agent working with the Snakehead, and Ash ended up giving Alex away to an old enemy to save his own life. Alex discovers that this enemy was trying to detonate a bomb under the sea in a fault line that would create a tsunami big enough to wipe out the entire west coast of Australia, and he was doing this to kill an important group of people while making it look like an accident. Alex manages to escape and tell the secret service, only to find himself sent back in with a task force to find and defuse the bomb, as well as bring back Ash if he found him. Alex ends up detonating the bomb before it is deep enough to do any damage, the shock wave kills his enemy, and Ash is shot and killed on the process.
                 Anthony Horowitz's usual fast-paced style is seen here as it is showcased in every book in the Alex Rider series. One of the things that makes this unique series so special is that all of the crazy diabolical things the bad guys do are actually terrifyingly possible. In this case, if a bomb was sent into a fault line, it could create enough energy to push apart the tectonic plates apart, causing an earthquake. the shock wave would also create a small wave on the surface of the ocean. Given the right time of year, however, the moon and the sun would be in just the right places so that the gravitational pull that creates tidal waves would be at its strongest. See where this is heading? The three-foot-tall wave created by the explosion would be carried toward the coast, and would be six stories high by the time it reached land. A thorough explanation can be found at this link: http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/ask/tidalwaves.htm

Paper Towns by John Green

Meet Quentin Jacobson--a senior in high school from Orlando, Florida who doesn't have a high social status. He hangs out with the band kids and likes to stay in rather than go out. Now meet Margo Roth Speiglman--the adventurous girl that lives next-door to Quentin. The two were friends when they were younger, but grew apart. Margo loves mysteries. She would just leave some nights and leave clues for her parents as to where she went. She's popular, has the perfect boyfriend, and is always the talk of the school with her little adventures. At least, that's what Quentin sees. But it's really the opposite of what's going on in Margo's life. One night, Margo arrives at Quentin's window asking for his help. Quentin obviously agrees and they set off on their adventure. They stay out all night completing these tasks that Margo says she must finish. The next day, Margo is no where to be seen. She ran away again. Her parents don't care, they took it upon themselves to change the locks on their houses so she couldn't get back in. But Quentin cared. A little while after Margo disappeared, Quentin started finding little clues from her. They led him to a run-down strip mall and a bunch of pseudodivisions, or unfinished and abandoned subdivisions, which he interpreted to be what Margo called a "paper town". When all hope seemed lost, he tried one more time. He found an article about a "paper town," which he found out was a fake town that companies put on maps so that they knew if someone had copied theirs. The article was about how someone had built a general store in a "paper town", Agloe, New York, and how the population was zero. Someone had commented on the article that the population would be one until a certain date. Quentin knew it was Margo because of her little quirky habit of capitalizing random words. Quentin had one day to get to her in time before she left, and the day in which he needed to leave was graduation day. He skipped graduation to go and find her. When he got to Agloe, he found her in the worn-down general store. Margo told Quentin that she didn't want him to find her and that a paper girl belongs in a paper town. Margo told Quentin that she was headed to New York. She told him of the book she had been writing since she was little of the adventures of the two and how Quentin would be the hero and how she thought he was a super hot. She told him that she could never go back to Orlando, that she wanted to travel. She says that Quentin can come with her to New York, but he says he can't because he has a whole life their that he can't just drop. Margo said that she understood that he couldn't go and Quentin said that he understood that she couldn't return. In the end, Margo and Quentin...

Read the book to find out what happens next!

The Notebook

The book I am writing about Is going to be the notebook by Nicholas sparks. In this book a boy named Noah is working a carnival and sees a young and beautiful girl named Allie.  Eventually the two of them fall in love and start a relationship.  After they start their love story Allie goes with Noah to a house that Noah wants to buy and flip to make it more appealing.  On the other hand, allies parents do not necessarily approve of their love because of their social classes.  Since Noah can't see her he writes her a letter every day for a year and gives them to her mother.  However, the disapproving mother doesn't tell her about the letters and disregard them. Eventually Noah and his friend decide to join the army, and Allie is given the job of a nurse for the army.  Sadly Allie meets another guy who she took care of when he was injured and starts a relationship with him and he finally proposes.  Noah then buys the house they were in earlier in the book and Allie sees it in the newspaper and questions her love. She is split between whether she wants to spend her life with the guy she met in the war who she is engaged to or Noah her one true love.

If you would like to see the movie trailer you could find it here

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner is the kind of book you get very into. The book has lots of action to it to make you get more into the book. Thomas is put into a field with other boys with a maze on the other side if the wall with creatures that can kill them. Each day the maze changes and runners go in to find away out of the maze. As the book goes on Thomas becomes a runner as a new kid and finds a way to get them out. When they get out of the maze they find out the world is not the same as it used to be and they are taken to the new world as they know it.

Throw Like A Girl

Throw Like A Girl is an autobiography by Jennie Finch.  Jennie Finch is an olympic softball player for Team America and in her book it explains her journey and lessons she learned leading up to and after the olympics. Jennie taught that there is room in sports to be different even though it doesn't seem like it.  There are girls who show up to get dirty and play hard and there are girls who show up with ribbons in their hair looking nice, but still play just as hard.  She calls these girls "pink girls". She also shares an experience of hers when her travel coach in middle school told her that she was not a "championship pitcher".  This did not discourage her however she decided to show him up and prove to him and to herself that she was way more than a championship pitcher, a 2 time olympic pitcher.  She also explains the importance of her fans and all the support she receives at home, she shows this by providing camps to help young girls become better pitchers or any type of softball player.  Jennie Finch is an inspiration to many girls and I hope one day to be an inspiration to others as she is to me.

North of Beautiful

        Terra is a beautiful girl with an unfortunate marking that makes her different from every other typical teenage girl. She has a certain type of birthmark on her cheek called a port wine stain. Nearing the end of her high school years, Terra has a strong desire to get as far away from her small town as possible. Her controlling father doesn't help this matter. He is the only one keeping her from going, and he is one of her reasons to leave. Also, she is sick of living in a small town where everyone knows one another and she is judged based on her appearance.
        After having countless removal treatments in an attempt to fade or even get rid of the mark, Terra doesn't want to keep being let down by yet another failure. But when a doctor visiting her school convinces her that there is a new discovery that will almost definitely be able to remove the stain, she is stumped. What if it actually works and I can be normal again? This question was constantly running through her head. Once Terra finally reveals this magical treatment to her loving mother, she is all in. They drive hours together to reach the hospital where the treatment is taking place.
       Following the nerve-racking procedure, Terra's face is throbbing with pain, yet her hopeful mother remains optimistic. During their long car ride, her mom wants to get off the road and stop for coffee. On the way, a completely unexpected accident occurs that steers Terra in a completely opposite direction. Jacob is a unique, goth boy who totally takes her by surprise. When he turns Terra's world upside down, she is left questioning her plans for her future.

A Storm of Swords

In the book A Storm of Swords, by George R.R. Martin, (which is the third book of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series so there will be spoilers) the setting takes place mostly on the continent of Westeros (a detail map here, it is the continent furthest northwest). Robb Stark, King in the North, has returned from battle in the south and is marching north to retake The North and Winterfell, after it had been put to the torch, from the Iron Men, who had captured it while Robb was at war in the South and had taken most of his force with him. In the south the Riverlands are being watch over mainly by the Tullys from Riverrun, guarding Robb's rear from both the Lannisters and their new allies the Tyrells and the Dornish Men.  All the while Stannis Baratheon is on Dragon Stone "licking his wounds" after a grievous loss on the Blackwater while attempting to put Kings Landing under siege. While the people of Westeros tear at each other, in the west, Daenerys Targaryen is amassing a army from the free cities to reclaim her birth right to the Iron Throne in Westeros. There is the main current events.  It seems very complicated but once you start reading it gets easier to remember all of the houses and characters.  The story is one full of betrayal, turn cloaks, death, and marriages.  It is almost impossible to cover every story line of every character. The book is written in and multi character point of view with the characters of focus changing every chapter.  But this is to be expected when you play The Game Of Thrones.

Mockingjay

     I've only recently started Monkingjay,  but it grips me with suspense just as the other books in the series have. So far, Katniss is in District 13 working with the rebels after she was rescued from the previous Quarter Quell.  Though Katniss is helping with the rebel attempt against the Capitol, she is definitley not at her strongest right now.  At this point, Katniss is definitely displaying symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  PTSD  Her PTSD from her two Hunger Games have affected her judgment and her ability to deal with emotional stress.  She is still a heroine, but is much more broken.  Even now, in her attempt to save Peeta, she seems scattered and lost at times.

     I definitely like this book as much as the past two books in the series.  I recommend the book and the series to anyone who hasn't read it already.  Here is another link for those who would like to know more about Mockingjay.

The Enchantress Returns

               The book The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer is the second book in the Land of Stories series. It was about two twins, Alex and Connor, who lived in a small house with their mom, Charlotte, but could get into the world of fairytales. At the beginning of this book, the twins found out their mom, Charlotte, was in love with someone she worked with, named Bob, and that he wanted to propose to her. He came over to their house and bought them dinner to surprise Charlotte when she got home from work. That was the night he was going to propose to her, but she didn't come home. Many hours later, the twins grandma came to their house from the fairytale world. She told them that Charlotte had been kidnapped, but she didn't tell them where. She also brought many people from the fairy tale world with her to protect the twins' house, but they didn't know why. Their grandma left without giving them enough information. It was diving them crazy, to not know what was going on, so they snuck out of their house and went to the fairytale world themselves. When they got there, they met up with their friends from the last time they were there, Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk and Prince Charlie who was under a curse that made him look like a frog. They told the twins what was going on in the fairytale world. They told them that the Enchantress was trying to take it over and that nobody could stop her. Luckily Connor had an idea. He had found out about a wand that could make anyone invincible. The wand had to be built out of the six most prized possessions of the six most hated people in the fairytale world. They took the Evil Queen's magic mirror, the Sea Witch's jewels, the Snow Queen's ice scepter, Cinderella's stepmother's ring and the harp from the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk. The wand would be finished once they took the Enchantress's most prized possession, which was her pride. The problem was, right before they had a chance to talk to her, the Enchantress imprisoned everyone in vines except for Alex. Alex did end up defeating the Enchantress in the end and she and Connor became heros in the fairytale world. Charlotte had been imprisoined by the Enchantress the entire time and had been saved when the Enchantress was defeated. Finally, Bob proposed to her in the fairytale world and they had their wedding there. 

For more information on the Land of Stories series, click here. 

The Maze Runner

Recently I have just finished the book The Maze Runner, by James Dashner. In the beginning of the book Thomas comes up into this mysterious new world through a "box" and he see's some people he is very unfamiliar to.  They are all referred to as the "gladers". Once a month a new gladder would come from the box. None of them have there memory from before they were put there, except for their names. They were all put inside the maze for a reason but they don't know why and they can't find a way out of it, until Thomas comes into the picture.  The moment that Thomas comes out of that box everything changes. First of all, the first girl ever come out of the box with a note in her hand that says "She's the last one. Ever."  That really spoked them all a bit.  Then a bunch of really exciting things happen, like the walls of the maze don't close at night for there protection so then the creatures from the maze come and attack them.  Also at the end of the book Thomas finds the code for the maze and they all get out, but they find out the harsh reality of the outside world, and the reason why they were put in there.  Currently I am reading The Scorch Trials which is the next book in the series. So far I am really enjoying it.  I really, really, really enjoyed reading The Maze Runner and I would also recommend it to anyone that is reading this.  I also really liked the movie. The movie is a little different than the book, but all movies are different. click here if you would like to watch the trailer

The Last Song

I just recently finished The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. If you are really interested in romance and fiction novels, Nicholas Sparks has a large selection of that genre that you should definitely look at! The Last Song tells a story about a seventeen year old named Ronnie Miller who's parents got divorced and her dad moved to a small town in North Carolina. Ronnie is a very talented piano player, just like her father. When she went to visit her dad, she met many different people. Most of Nicholas Sparks book's are eventually turned into movies. My favorite part about reading his books are watching the movies when I finish the book and comparing them to the novel. I highly recommend reading The Last Song because you will have many different emotions reading it. One moment you're smiling and the next minute you are feeling sad. The text is written so deeply that it makes the book very interesting and hard to put down. I totally suggest reading this book because you can even watch the movie when you're finished! Below is the movie trailer and a summary of the book so you can get an even better feel about this amazing novel!

nicholassparks.com/stories/the-last-song/

www.goodreads.com/book/show/6400090-the-last-song

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZH0Nf4KLBo

Wonder

Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, is a book about a young boy with a facial deformity. I have only begun this book, but so far the boy, August, is going to school for the first time. With a face that malfunctioned at birth, he had never gone to school because of being looked at oddly or being treat differently. But August and his parents feel that he is finally ready to go to school. Even though he is extremely nervous, he enjoys being at school and only had one... not so great encounter about his face. I'm very excited to see how the rest of this book goes, it's great so far!


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23302416-wonder
This link gives a summary and reviews and questions about the book. From what I saw, the book seems to get really good and I can't wait to finish it!

A Summer Life

I very recently started reading the book "A Summer life" by Gary Soto and so far it is very good. Although I have not read a lot of the book, I noticed the titles of the chapters go along with the stories that take place through-out the chapter in some type of way. It is basically a collection of 39 stories (39 chapters). It starts off with his childhood and I have a good feeling that it will go out through-out the teenage years and maybe into adult years.

If you want to read reviews on the book: http://www.amazon.com/A-Summer-Life-Laurel-Leaf-Books/dp/0440210240

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse is the third book from the Percy Jackson series that starts with Percy, Annabeth and Thalia that are demigods the children of The Olympian gods plus Grover who is a , go to a military school to help Grover. When they arrive they realize that there are two powerful demigods in the school but when they try to sneak the kids out every thing goes wrong and they get attacked by a Manticore that was working in the school in human form. Then with the help of the goddess Artemis and her hunters they get the kids out safe but when they take the manticore down both Annabeth and the manticore fall of they hill and disappear. In the quest they realized about the The great stirring that will cause all of the biggest and the most dangerous monsters plus the Titans led by the evil Titan lord Kronos that have been sleep or considered dead or hiding will to rise and take over Olympus and rule the world. Than after everyone except the goddess go back to the camp with the help of Apollo the god of sun, the The Oracle of Delphi tells them that the goddess Artemis is in trouble and she has to be saved by a group of demigods and hunters "Five shall go west to the goddes in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain, The bane of Olympus shows the trail, Campers and Hunters combined preval, The Titans's curse shall withstand, And one shall perish by a parent' hand". So 5 people are chosen, 3 Hunters and 2 Campers, and they have to go find the goddess. Percy that was not included in the group of the 5 has to find Annabeth and save her from trouble and try to stop the great stirring and Kronos.

The Power of Six

The "The Power of Six" by Pittacus Lore, was one of the greatest books I have ever read. The story tells about how Aliens are sent to Earth from a distant planet to protect and train to defend themselves and their planet From alien killers called Mogadorian's. Number 4, John Smith, finds another member of the group to defend the planet, #6. John and #6 start traveling looking for other members of the group but run into a few problems along the way. They are attacked many times by Mogadorian's and barely make it out each time. But eventually, the Mogadorian's do not leave empty handed. During one of the attacks, They manage to steal John's chest which contained many things to help him train himself and defend the planet. John wants to go after his chest but #6 disagrees with him and says that they should go to South America because #6 learns some interesting news. She believes that she has located another member of the group and thinks that they are in trouble. So in the end, John and #6 part ways temporarily while John goes to get his Chest back and #6 goes to South America. John arrives in the Mogadorian's headquarters in Virginia. But very disappointingly he finds that his chest is not there but he finds someone very special. He finds another member of the group, #9 who was imprisoned there. They manage to escape and off to nines former penthouse that he lived in before he was imprisoned. But the most surprising thing that John finds out about nine is that he has one of the powers of the ruling leaders of Lorien (planet the group came from), Pittacus Lore. Upon all that, #6 meets up with another member of the group, #7 in South America where they are again attacked by Mogadorian's. But now with two members of the group, they were able to make it out alive. Now in the end both groups of members are on their way to a specific location to find out what to do next and how to find the others.

Crank

Kristina Wager is a good high school student. She's a seventeen year old who gets straight A's and has a lot of friends. Her parents are divorced and her mom has remarried. Her dad moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico so she decides to go visit him for three weeks during her summer vacation. While she was there she finds out that her dad has gotten back into his old habits and is not the man she was hoping to see when she got there. She is stunned to see where he lives. A small apartment complex with roaches all over the kitchen. While she was exploring more of the apartment complex she meets a boy named Adam, but everybody calls him Buddy, and falls for him immediately. Her dad works at a bowling alley and one night she decides to go to work with him since Adam will be there. Shortly after her arrival she finds out that people don't actually bowl. They get high off of cocaine (www.methproject.org/) and flirt with each other. When Adam invites Kristina to get high with him she says yes and gets hooked on to it immediately. After she comes home from New Mexico everything is different. She doesn't have an appetite anymore and she can never sleep at night until she crashes. Once she crashes her brain instantly tells her that she wants more and she will do anything to get it. At her stepdad's family get together she meets as guy named Chase and another one named Brendan and forgets all about Adam. Her and Chase get high together and a few days later so does she and Brendan and she does some things that she never thought she would do. Her actions result in her getting pregnant but instead of Chase being the father it's Brendan who wants nothing to do with the baby. Kristina was going to get an abortion but instead she decides to have the baby and raise it herself with the help of her parents. In the end the baby is healthy and happy and Kristina is working on getting rid of her addiction. (If you are addicted or know someone who is abusing drugs go the this website to get help http://www.newportacademy.com also talk to a parent of guardian and make sure that they have your support).

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien is about Mrs. Frisby, who is a widowed mouse with 4 small children.  She lives in an underground house in the vegetable garden of Mr. Fitzgibbon.  She lives in an underground home in a cinder block, and must move to their summertime home before her and her family are killed. Unfortunately she doesn't have much longer to move and her youngest son Timothy comes down with pneumonia. She goes to Mr. Ages, while also trying to avoid danger like Dragon, the Fitzgibbons cat, who will eat her in a heartbeat if he could, who gives her medicine to give to Timothy. She finds Jeremy the crow whose foot is all tangled in string. She help frees him, and he says he owes her. After three days, Timothy is feeling better, but he cant breathe in any cold air or his pneumonia will come back even worse. Since she cant move him, and moving days is five days away, she finds Jeremy and asks him what he can do. He helps her to find an unlikely person, the owl, to ask him for help. The owl tells her "You must go to the rats." He means the Rats of NIMH, a breed of intelligent rats who are able to help her with her problem. Timothy survives and her and her family make it to their summer home, all happy and safe. It was made into a film in 1982 as "The Secret of NIMH", which is an adaptation of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. You can see some of the characters, but its not necessarily the same as this book, but again, its an adaptation. Click here to see the trailer.

The Kill Order

What would the world look like if Solar Flares had struck it and a mysterious disease called the Flare was infecting the Earth? This is exactly the world that Mark now lives in. Along with Alec, a military guru, Trina, his best friend, and a few others, Mark tries to survive his new world and the Flare. When the Flare suddenly gets into the heads of his friends and drives them insane to the point of death, they know that it is very dangerous. With just a breath of the same air or a gentle touch of an infected person  you can contract the Flare. One other thing, the Flare is somehow being spread by people in Bergs, much like a hovercraft, who shoot random people with blow darts containing the Flare. So far the book is a bit slower than the previous books in the series,

but i feel like it will pick up soon.

The Longest Ride

"The Longest Ride"  by Nicholas Sparks is an amazing book. I would read that book 100 times if I could. Luke was a big time bull rider he was on top of the world until he got injured in the head. A college student Sophia works so hard for school. She is going to New York City for an internship that mean the world to her. She has been in love with art every since she has been a little girl, this internship is huge for her and can help her go all the way with art. One night her seniority sisters asked her to come to a rodeo with them. After trying to convince Sophia she finally said yes. At the rodeo she meets Luke. through out the weeks they begin to hang out they become very close. After on date they were driving hope and saw a Car off the road. The old man Ira rolled off the road and crashed in to a tree. Once they get to the hospital Sophia reads letters that Ira had wrote to his wife Ruth many years ago. Ira and Ruth and Sophia and Luke both have the same life. They were both madly in love but have to get over a problem. Luke needs to stop bull riding or he could die. Ira was in war and had to not die. Ira and his wife loved art they had over millions of dollars worth of art hanging in their house. Once Ira had passed away they had an auction for his art work. The first painting was a picture of Ruth. Nobody wanted it for $600 Luke had bought the picture after signing the papers for the piece of art there was lots of chat in the other room. Turns out Luke got all the pictures with the one painting. Ira left a note saying  this picture is priceless so with that he got all of the painting. At the end of the story Luke pays off the ranch he has been living in with his mom and him and Sophia open a museum in honor of Ira and Ruth.  I really enjoyed reading this book and I recommend reading! click here if you would like to view the trailer

Boys Of Winter

Ryan McFadden                                                                                                          4/15/15
English

              The Boys of Winter, by Wayne Coffey, is about the 1980 Olympic hockey team going from a team with a bunch of college kids who cared about playing for the name on the back instead of the name on the front. Then coming together and beating the strongest hockey team that has won the Olympics 4 times in a row.  But the team itself won the Olympic gold medal by putting gin effort and trusting each other knowing where one another would be, that's the main reason they won TRUST. if you would like to know more about the 1980 Olympic hockey team click here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_Ice

Auracle by Gina Rosati

Anna Rogan has a secret which she has only shared with her best friend, Rei. Anna can astrally project out of her body. She can go to different places in the world and universe. She can also see people's aura. "My physical eyes are like sunglasses, filtering out the colors, but when I'm out here, the aura that emanates from every living thing is clearly visible to me. People, animals, and even plants are surrounded by this transparent bubble of color. Over the years, I've learned that the colors can tell you quite a bit about a person. Like right now, Rei is surrounded by this lemonade yellow, which looks nice,but it's the same shade of yellow my mom has when she's sold a house to someone and the loan falls through. Sigh." (Auracle by Gina Rosati) 

While her spirit is traveling different places, she witnesses the death of a girl from her school, and she sees one of her friends standing there. Her innocent friend is falsely accused for murder. 

When Anna goes back to where she left her body, she realizes she can't find it. The spirit of Taylor Gleason (the girl from Anna's school who was killed) took Anna's body. Anna is unable to go back into her body. She has to get back into her own body before Taylor ruins her life or someone else's.

 Once she understands that she cannot do this alone, she turns to her best friend, Rei, for help. "To me, faith is about trusting my instinct when logic tells me I'm an idiot." (Auracle by Gina           Rosati) Even though Rei told her not to astrally project, because he thought she might not come back, she did. She had to face the consequences, which were not being able to get back into her own body. 

Eventually, Rei and Anna find a way to get her classmate, Taylor, out of her body. 

The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard

All five girls-Ana, Caitlin, Julie, Mackenzie, and Parker- in The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard don't have anything in common besides one thing: they all hate Nolan Hotchkiss. He seems to rule everyone in the grade that goes to their school in Beacon Heights. For that a lot of people in this school dis-like him, but not as much as these five girls. All of these girls have secrets that only Nolan knows about. They all came up with a plan to kill him at one of his many huge parties. The next morning everyone got the news that he was murdered at that party last night, but the odd thing is none of these girls did it and no one knows who actually did. All of these girls are scared for their lives because he was murdered exactly the way they all once planned. Someone had to over hear them, took the idea, and now are going to blame those five girls. This is a problem because not only will it trouble them , but ruin their perfect reputations. All of these five girls hide their family lives, their troubles, and their emotions so they can all maintain the look of being "perfect". All those years of bottling up their feelings are for nothing now. On top of having the guilt now the girls are constantly being questioned by the police and other peers just because they were seen at the party. They all try to keep calm and hold it all in while they are under pressure, but who knows how long that will last. This book is filled with on going twists and turns that will make you never want to put the book down. To know more about Sara Shepard click here .

April 17th Blog

After Ira (age 92) gets into a car accident heading to where him and his late wife honey mooned, he is reflected back on all the memories him and Ruth shared. (Four months earlier) Brain, a professional bull rider, and Sophia, a college student studying art history, meet at a bull riding event that Sophia's best friend dragged her to. They quickly fall in love with each other nut come to find that true love isn't so easy. Both coming from such different worlds, they worry that their relationship is not going to work out. When Brian gets put into the hospital after a bad ride, It leaves him and his mom almost broke. They are on the verge of having to sell there ranch but neither of them know any other life than the one they have. He keeps riding because every time he wins a competition he earns money. it came to a point where Sophia wouldn't even want to know that Brian was going to another competition because she worried for him too much. Sophia doesn't understand why Brian would keep riding when he knows that is he gets hurt again he could died. While coming back from a trip up to Brian's cottage they see a car that has ran off the side of the road. As they approach the car they notice a very old man that is unconscious and has a weak pulse. They later learn that the mans name is Ira. After staying the rest of the night in the hospital they are able to visit Ira in his room. Ira was very confused and thought that Sophia was Ruth and asked here to read the letter he wrote for her. After reading this letter Sophia and Brian felt this strange connection with Ira. Later learning that he had died the next morning. Brian and Sophia were able to gather all of Ira's letters that he and Ruth wrote to each other. They realize that there relationships were almost the same. Ira and Ruth came from two completely different worlds and when Ira was sent off to the war Ruth worried about him everyday. Sophia learned that Ruth was very passionate about art just like she was and even own an amazing art collection. It was the same story separated by time. To learn more about Professional Bull Riding visit http://www.pbr.com/ for more information. This love story will leave you on the edge of your seat. I promise that you will not be able to put this book down.

Models For Week of April 13th Entry

Hi class! Remember that this week you are working off your reading self-reflection and adding a link. The amazing blogger at ReadingRants is excellent at adding links and writing super awesome entries about books she's read.

Check out her entry for the book Ms. Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona by clicking here. Remember, your purpose is to see how she includes links in her entries.


The second entry I want you to read deals with Gayle Forman's book I Was Here. As you read, pay attention to how she uses a quotation from the novel she's writing about in her review. Don't forget to see how the links here are a bit different than the ones in her other entry. Check it out.

Sensory Detail

If I Stay

"I hear the raspy, quick rushes of his lungs"

"I feel Adam's grip tighten, so that the grasp of his hand feels like it is holding my entire body"

"His face, illuminated by the lights, is blank, like someone vacuumed away all his personality, leaving only a mask."

Fullmetal Alchemist best book of 2014

my favorite books of all time are comic books and mangas and Fullmetal Alchemist takes the cake for my best book of 2014. Here is a brief synopsis about how the series began.

The Elric Brothers (Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric) saw their mother dying on the floor with an illness and the doctors couldn't cure her and she died so the Elric Brothers try to find a way to bring mom back so they try Human Transmutation which is taboo among alchemists. in alchemy there is a law called "Equivalent Exchange" which states "To obtain, something of equal value must be lost" and when they tried to bring her back to life something went completely wrong, the monstrosity they made was not their mother it was........something else...... and the law of  "Equivalent Exchange" Began to take into place. Edward lost his right arm and his left leg and Alphonse lost his whole body but his soul was still there so Edward found a suit of armor and used his own blood from his lost arm and leg to make a blood seal into the suit of armor so he can transfer his soul into the suit and lieutenant Colonel Mustang hears about Edward and goes over there only just to realize that he is just 12 years old but he still recruits Edward Elric and calls him by his codename which was named Fullmetal and that's why he is called the Fullmetal Alchemist and Edward gets recruited to a State Alchemist.

Survival series by A. America

These 5 books in the Survival series was by far the best book series I've ever read.  I decided to write about this series because it was basically the only series i got into and couldn't stop reading.  The main plot of this series is the collapse of the government and power so people have to survive on their own.  Of course no one is able to do too well.  Morgan and his family and friends survive in their neighborhood, fighting off raiders that are desperate to steal supplies.  The reason I liked this series is because it had the survival theme in the whole thing.  I personally got really into the survival and military action in this book.  It got me on the edge of the seat when I was reading, and like I said earlier, I never wanted to stop reading the book.  This series will forever keep me interested in survival books of course.  But what will really stay with me is the theme.  The theme of the government collapsing and everyone going crazy because no one really knows how to survive without electricity, cars, or stores.  Its scary to think what would we do if it all happened to us.

It would be the end of the world maybe...

Transformers by Alex Irvine

I chose this book because it was fun to read and it had a lot of action. The story has a interesting plot and middle school kids would want to read this. I enjoyed the characters too.

The plot is about a war on the planet of Cybertron. The two main characters are Optimus Prime and Megatron they are fighting against each other in the war. They are both transformers and they can transform into vehicles. They are fighting over the planet.

What I liked specifically about this book was the book was action packed.It had war scenes. There was action in every chapter.

The part of the book that sticks with me is that machines would have a bigger impact in our society in the future

www.hindustantimes.com

Best Book of 2014

from all the books I read on 2014 I choose Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix, it was actually pretty hard to choose the best book between all of them but the harry potter series are different from all the books I have read because it makes you see you picture every thing in the book in your mind and gets you completely in the detail that is one of the reasons that made the book more than 800 pages, but it was pretty fun reading the book.
 The plot is mostly the people from the past books that are studying in Hogwarts which is a school for wizards and in this book there is a new person, kind of a bad one, named professor Umbridge that is going to irritate the kids a lot, but the most important is in the end when harry meets Voldemort again which I don't want to give away. I highly suggest this book for you to read during the summer, don'
t read it during the school year because it is long.
The thing I liked the most about the book is the way that the writer gives life to each character and how you can easily picture the whole scene in your mind.
I think the friendship that the kids have together that makes them more powerful than Voldemort makes me remember that friendships are more strong than many destructive forces in the world and how it shows that violence is not the answer.

Best book of 2014

              Out of all the books I read my freshman year, my favorite was 'If I stay'.

I chose this book as my favorite because I felt a connection with the main character, Mia.

            The book is about a girl named Mia who is the "outcast" of the family. Even though she is very loved by them, she still feels as if she doesn't belong because of the huge differences in their looks, music taste, judgement, ect.. This is also what I liked most about the book.

Feeling like we don't belong to certain group (or even our family) can heavily impact our decisions on some situations. When she is faced with the question to stay with her boyfriend or her family, this feeling has her confused and somewhat irritated. The thing that will always stay with me is even though she felt she does belong, she still tries. She still did what she loved and by the end excepted she was different than her family. Family is our first "group" we learn to belong in. When we start questioning that, a lot can go wrong.

Blood of Olympus

         The best book I read last semester had to be The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. This book capped off a magnificent spin-off series from the Percy Jackson books that I have followed from the beginning and it was a more than satisfying end to the adventure. The story tells of seven demigods, or half-human, half-God heroes, who are on the last and most dangerous leg of their quest to stop the evil earth mother Gaea from rising at the original home of the Greek gods, Mount Olympus, and unleashing absolute chaos.
          Between fighting corrupt gods and horrifying monsters, author Rick Riordan also shows how the relationships between the heroes, some more involved than others, were affected by the events and those prior to this part of the journey. From the start, the book has a fast-paced and humorous feel to it as we see the main one out of  several narrators, Jason, struggle up a huge hill thoroughly disguised as an old man in order to spy on a monster encampment in southern Italy. This cover, as would many other plans down the road, failed miserably, but they always have a big flying ship backing them up wherever they go to help get what they need and escape in the most hilariously violent way possible.
           At the same time, Greek and Roman demigods back in the United States were fighting over an ancient rivalry involving a 40-foot statue of the goddess Athena that was stolen from the Greeks during the early years of the Roman Empire. It was this statue that another narrator, Nico, was tasked with delivering back to the Greeks to end the rivalry so the sides could be able to co-operate against Gaea's forces. Being a child of Hades, he was able to teleport through the shadows, but it was incredibly taxing as it was; add a statue of that size, and the stress becomes ten times worse. Nico begins to slowly witness the essence of his soul draining away, and this brings on visits from old ghosts, literally and figuratively, including disturbing memories of a foggy past.
            The combination of these two story lines makes for a brilliantly laid out and perfectly illustrated tale that was only a classic example of what gave Rick Riordan a name in writing. One thing I will remember about this book and the author in general was his sometimes haunting sense of humor. The best example of this would be the death of a corrupted Roman leader named Octavian. The prophecy that gave the demigods an idea of their fate on this quest involved someone dying to accomplish a certain goal (which is all I can say without giving too much away). But these prophecies all have vague meanings, and one of the biggest factors of this story was the fear among the chosen seven about who was going to die, when it ultimately would not be any one of them; it would be Octavian. But the way he died at a cruel twist of comedy in it, because his final words before launching a very important catapult (still trying not to spoil it) were his boasting a about how he was going to be a hero, the savior of Rome, yada yada yada. What he didn't know, though, was that in his haste to load the catapult, he had entangled his robes with some of the payload that was about to be launched into the sky...
            This image depicts the excessive pride behind Octavian's thoughts and actions.

http://independista.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/hubris-gotohead-small.jpg?w=594

The best book I read in 2014 was A Feast for Crows, which is the last book so far in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. This was my favorite book because of the focus on the characters. The author did a great job at introducing new characters and giving the preexisting characters more development. The book picks up a little while after the red wedding in the previous book where a few major characters were killed. It follows the story lines of a few specific characters rather than all of them, which I liked as some characters which would have otherwise gone overlooked got to have more of a focus. It is hard to explain the plot of the book without giving away spoilers for the previous books, but it was always interesting and went really in depth about the politics and plans of the characters and the land in general. By far my favorite parts of the book were the ones where Dorne and the important people in Dorne were given attention. Dorne is a place in Westeros that hasn't been written about until this book which is why it is so interesting to read about. The character Arianne Martell was the most interesting part about it and they may be my favorite character in the entire series. Arianne is the next in line for the throne of Dorne after her father dies but it looks like her father is trying to prepare her brother to take over instead of her most of her story line so far is her learning to be more diplomatic and make better decisions about how to get what she wants rather than making rash decisions. The part of the book that will stay with me is when Arianne finds out that her father hasn't been trying to take away her claim to the throne of Dorne, but that he has been trying to plan to help the Targaryens take over Westeros. The book delves into the plot and shows everyone's plans and how they interact with each other like a knotted rope.

Best Book of 2014

My favorite book of 2014 was Sold by Patricia McCormick.  I chose this book because it was one that I could not put down.  I never knew what was gonna happen next in the story.  Once I started reading I couldn't stop because it was such a well written novel.  Realistic fiction books are my favorite and this is one of the best ones I have ever read.  The plot interested me very much.

The story starts off with a thirteen-year-old girl named Lakshmi.  She lives in Nepal in a small hut with her family on a mountain.  The family is very poor and Lakshmi's family's crops are destroyed by a monsoon that hits.  Lakshmi is forced by her stepfather to take a job in the city to support her family.  She thinks she is going to be a maid and have a fairly nice life in the city, but her stepfather really sells her into prostitution.  On the way to the prostitution house, the person taking her there calls it the "happiness house".  She soon realizes there is no happiness present in that house at all, and her life will never be the same again.  At the prostitution house, her life becomes horrible.  The runner of the house, Mumtaz, is cruel and ruthless.  Lakshmi is told that she just has to pay off her family's debt that she owes, but Mumtaz keeps her for longer even after she has payed off her debt.  Lakshmi meets many new friends along the way that help her survive, but they begin to "drop like flies" (disease, being kicked out onto the streets, etc.).  She needs to escape, but when faced with that decision, she could risk everything,  

The thing I liked best about this book was the plot.  The story was a real page-turner.  It kept you on the edge of your seat because there was always something going on in the house.  Lakshmi hated the things she had to do in the house, but I like how she never gave up.  She was very selfless because she wanted to help her family.  Lastly, I liked the word choice of the author because it helped keep me intrigued with the novel. 

http://carolcooke.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/courage2.jpg

The part of the book that will stick with me is the courage of Lakshmi.  Lakshmi could've maybe escaped the house, but besides knowing that her life would be worse on the streets, she decided to stay there.  She decided to stay there because she knows her family is counting on her and she doesn't want to let them down.  I think this quote by Bethany Hamilton is a perfect representation of Lakshmi.  Of course she was afraid inside the house and of Mumtaz, but that didn't stop her.  In the end, Lakshmi's courage helped her to survive. 

Best Book of 2014

I decided that the best book of 2014 for me was Fallen because this is the book that stuck with me the most. Fallen is about a girl named Luce who has to live in a reform school, Sword & Cross, because of a tragedy that occurred at her old school even though she is innocent. While Luce is trying to get adjusted to her new life, she falls in love with a boy named Daniel Gregori who is known for his faulty reputation. Luce swears that they've met before but Daniel denies it only to tell her the truth as to why she feels this way. As things seem to be taking a turn for the worst and Luce can't keep her head straight, Daniel finally tells her about their past 'lives' together and he reveals who he truly is. Though things may be complicated now, Luce is completely oblivious to the dangers that lie ahead causing her, Daniel and a few of their friends to go on an adventure to save and protect Luce's life.


What I liked best about this book is that no matter how hard things get Luce continues to be optimistic and thinks that things can be better. The part of this book that will stick with me is when Luce's best friend, Penn, dies because she was killed by a woman who was not what Luce thought she was. This part will stick with me the most because Luce cared about Penn a lot and Penn's death is something that will haunt Luce for the rest of her life since she blames herself for Penn's death.





https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8pwzfrhUdCkAOTeJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIzZmlxbzhhBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMxMDE4ZTIwMWRmYzEwZTUyNDZkMGZlMmQ2MTVmNWFiMgRncG9zAzEzBGl0A2Jpbmc-?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dangel%2Bwings%26n%3D60%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-901%26fr2%3Dsa-gp-images.search.yahoo.com%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D13&w=900&h=747&imgurl=fc03.deviantart.net%2Ffs70%2Fi%2F2011%2F066%2F3%2Fb%2Fblack_angel_wings_by_marioara08-d3b3rx5.png&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmarioara08.deviantart.com%2Fart%2Fblack-angel-wings-200050457&size=263.6KB&name=black+%3Cb%3Eangel+wings%3C%2Fb%3E+by+Marioara08&p=angel+wings&oid=1018e201dfc10e5246d0fe2d615f5ab2&fr2=sa-gp-images.search.yahoo.com&fr=yfp-t-901&tt=black+%3Cb%3Eangel+wings%3C%2Fb%3E+by+Marioara08&b=0&ni=48&no=13&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=120qbje45&sigb=14aaibs9p&sigi=12j4jpj52&sigt=1168t2e0h&sign=1168t2e0h&.crumb=9Bd1YOB48Gj&fr=yfp-t-901&fr2=sa-gp-images.search.yahoo.com

Boys Of The Winter

Ryan McFadden                                                                                  


        Boys Of The Winter, what a book, the reason why I'm writing about this book is because this book is just so inspirational, for hockey player who are very dedicated to the game.  The reason why it is so inspirational is because of just one scene in the book. That scene is when the U.S. team is just created for the 1980  winter Olympics and Herb Brooks the head coach is coaching a bunch of college kids who went to different colleges. An when they face Norway just for a scrimmage they end up tying the game 3-3. Oh the was a mistake the boys weren't focused on the game, and it was embarrassing to watch, but at the end of the game Herb told the boys to get on the goal line. So that what the boys did and they were getting ready to skate until they got the point. An the point was after almost an hour of doing Herbies which you skate to the blue line back, red line back, far blue line back, and all the way down and back all of that in 60 secs. But the point was that the boys were playing individually or in other words still playing for their college, and Herb wanted to break that and let them know that they weren't playing for themselves or their colleges but they were playing for the United States of America.
        That part of the book will stick with me until my grave because it shows the crowd the scouts and the most important person the coach. The reason why is because in order for a coach to have trust in you, you have to prove to him that you are in fact a team player and that you don't just play for yourself but you play for your teammates, because your teammates are exactly like your family they always have each others back. But not only will that happen but knowing that you have done that, not only does the coach have respect/trust in you so do your teammates. But once you continue to play for yourself and not for your teammates or just for your team in general is the day your team stops working as a team, so that means you are wearing a jersey that doesn't mean anything at all.



http://youtu.be/Bb-hWG3cHMQ