Summer Reading Entries (8/30/10)

The Red Pyramid

I just finished reading The Red Pyramid by Rick Roirdan. THe book is a bout how Carter and Sadies dad releases the egyption gods into the mortal world killing himself and making Carter and Sadie "host" Horus and Isis. THey must save the world from the choas of Set before the entire continent of N. America is destroyed by a gigantic pyramid. They do manage to stop Set with the help of the gods but in a way that makes the ending sastisfing and a pleasent suprise. I thought the book was really good and woud rate it a 5 out of 5 because of great characters and a great endng.

AV

The Battle Of Jericho by Sharon Draper


I've been wanting to read this book since I saw a classmate give a book talk on it a few weeks ago. It seemed like a book different from the books i usually read, so i gave it a try.


Jericho and his cousin Josh are thrilled to be asked to pledge for the Warriors of Distinction; the most popular club in the school. The Warriors of Distinction do toy drives and other things to help out people in their area. There are Fifteen pledges, fourteen boys and one very tough girl named Dana. The pledges are referred to as " Pledge Slime" and must call the members of the club " sir" and " master." The activities the pledges are forced to complete, after committing to several requirements and conditions, are supposed to prove their courage and help them learn to work as a team. But as the secret meetings continue and the things the pledges are forced to do become more and more horrible, Jericho begins to feel very uncomfortable. But not uncomfortable enough to break the vow of secrecy. Jericho amazes even himself by his willingness to sacrifice an amazing opportunity and even his own safety to get into the Warriors of Distinction. But the last thing the pledges are expected to take the " Leap of Faith." This means they must jump out the second story window of a building and land on only a mattress and a few pillows and scraps of rubber. Josh is the last to go. Although everyone before him landed safely, with the exception of one broken arm, Josh spins in the air, away from the semi-safe mattress and hits his head, hard, on a rock. He is dead.


The beginning of this book is pretty much what i expected, but the ending surprised me. I expected Jericho to end up with the girl he liked, but though he was with her during the majority of the book, they were not together at the end. I also never expected anyone to die. From the back of the book, i could tell that the Warriors of Distinction were going to get into some trouble, i never expected them to pressure the pledges to do anything as dangerous as jumping onto a mattress with some pillows and blankets on it. I also thought that it was interesting that Josh was the one to die. Most books end in a place of happiness and contentment, and although this one ended in a moment of temporary happiness for Jericho, him playing his Trumpet in honor of Josh, it is still an ending of discomfort and pain. In the other books i've read about death, the author reflects more on life going back to something near normal after the death, but in this one, there was no real reflection other than a brief conversation between Jericho and some of his friends about Josh's death.


My favorite part of this book was a brief conversation between Jericho and a boy at his school named Eric, who was bound to a wheelchair for life after falling off a fence he was planning to jump off of with his friends. It is about Eric and his wheelchair and how he has come to live with life like that. I predicted, after getting to the point in the book where Jericho and the rest of the pledges discover that they are being pressured to jump out the window and onto the mattress, that Jericho would refuse to jump because of what had happened to Eric, so i was surprised when he didn't make a choice like that. I wonder if Jericho had any regrets about jumping and convincing Josh to jump because he could've prevented it by sharing with Josh what happened to Eric and deciding not to jump. That is an example of the kind of reflection i would expect to see at the end of a book.


I would rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 because i think it would've been significantly better if the author had given more information about how Jericho and his friends moved on after Josh's death. I recommend this book to people in eighth grade and high school because some of the concepts in the book are a little difficult to comprehend.

ZR

Summer Reading Entries

The House of The Scorpoion by Nancy Farmer

This book is about a boy named Matt a clone of El Patron. El Patron is the lord of a small country called Opium which is in the middle of the United States and Mexico. While Matt is growing up he is discriminated against because he's a clone. El Patron loves Matt like a son because Matt is basically El Patron. One day El Patron gets sick and he needs a heart transplant from Matt. So Matt runs away to America. Life was rough in the beginnig when he first arrives in America.  Later he makes friends that became his family.

AB

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

This book is about two kids named Carter and Sadie Kanewho are brother and sister. They are seperated when their mom died. Carter lives with his father a famous Egyptologistand travels all around the world. Sadie lives with their grandparents in London. Sadie only gets to see her father andbrother two times a yeat. During their visit on Christmas Eve their father tries to bring back Osiris the Egyption God of
the Dead. Instead he brings back five Gods. One of them was the Evil Red Lord Set. Set entombed their father and announced his plan to wake up all the Gods become king and destroy the world. On that day not only do they lose their father they meet their father's brother Amos for the first time. Amos explains to them that their ancestors where powerful Egyption magicians. They even find out that they have powers of their that their parents where magicians. Carter and Sadie have to rescue their father and save the world from the Evil Red Lord. They have some help along the way from other Gods. At the end they have to make the very hard choice of sacrificing their father's life in order to save the world.


AB


A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L' Engle 
This book is abou two children named Meg and Charles Wallace their friend Calvin and Mrs. Whatsit.
Charles and Meg's father have been missig for a little more than a year. The thing is their father is not
lost on earth, he's lost in a different dimension. Mrs. Whatsit came out of a big dark cloud. She claimed
that there's a wrinkle in time and that's how they'll find Meg's dad. The universe is in danger by something thats shaped like a giant dark cloud. Planets are getting sucked up including the one that Meg's and Charles father is on. Mrs.Whatsit transported them to the planet Meg's father is on. The dark cloud took over Charles and led them to Meg's dad. Everybody except Charles escaped. So Meg goes back to get him because thats her brother. Meg gets him back to earth. I like A Wrinkle in Time because it's interesting and has a lot of action.

AB

The Battle of Jericho by Sharon M. Draper

This book is about a 16 year old boy named Jericho who is invited to pledge in the Warriors of Distinction along his friend and cousin. They are all excited because the Warriors is the most popular club in school. At first the task to get in the club are all fun and games. But then, the task became risky and dangerous. So dangerous that it takes the life of his cousin Josh and his friend Kofi gets injured. Jericho regrets joining the Warrios and some of the choices he made because of the pain it ends up causing him.

AB

One more week!

One more week to get your summer reading entries emailed to me.  After next weekend, I will not be posting anymore on this site so get them in as soon as possible!  Here are three more summaries.  Enjoy!

A Wrinkle in Time

Sorry that it was so long inbetween letters but It took me a long time to finish this AWFUL book.This book is incredibly weird having a five year old kid "who can sense things about others" and all the characters say things randomly like "Gaurdian Angels". The book is about how Meg has to save her father from the awfully perfect planet of Camotz andhow she also has to save her brother Charles Wallace from IT using the power to love. There was about six pages in the whole book where was actually interested. Not only could I easily put the book down I didn't want to pick it up at all. And for all the reasons I just listed I rate this book 2 stars out of 10.

AV

A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time is written by Madeleine L'Engle. It is about a family who's dad went missing on some trip for the government. There dad was part of a group of scientists who discovered how to tesser, add the fifth dimension to the other four and you can travel through space. So that means that a straight line is not the shortest distance between two points. Their dad tessered somewhere, but no one knew where. The children don't even know that he tessered in the first place. But three creatures have a idea of where he might be. So they take two of the children, Meg and Charles Wallace, and one of the childrens' friends, Calvin. Then they tesser to the place where Mr. Murry is captured by IT. IT is a evil Dark Thing and is eating small planets and hypnotizing everybody on the planet. Mr Murry has been fighting IT for a while and when the children come he is able to escape but Charles Wallace is hypnmotized by IT. Meg has to go back to the dark planet and rescue Charles, she is told that she has one thing that IT doesn't have but she can't figure it out. After a while she gets it, love. IT doesn't have love. She saves Carles by telling that she loves him. Then they all tesser home and the Murry family has a father again. I enjoyed the book.

IP

Ender's Game

In the beginning Ender got this monitor in the back of his head removed after that he played a game. He was really good at this war game. Then the world was attacked by aliens for the third time. He got sent to battle school because he was good at the game. At the end of the book the world was in is hands. I like this book because it was fast pacing which I like. I would recommend this book to some one who likes a adventures book.  

MC

And they keep on coming!

The Battle of Jericho

The Battle of Jericho written by Sharon M. Draper is about a boy name Jericho; a high school student who is asked or invited to pledge for the club called Warriors of Distinction; a club that has the newest clothes, shoes and have the best parties. In the story Jericho is very determined to be apart of this club for those reasons. Jericho is forced to make choices that hes not comfortable with, just to be apart of this club. Stuff like, jumping out of two story windows, beatings, and do terrible stuff, just for this club. This club Jericho thinks is worth everything he has, and he will do anything to be apart of it. This causes him to loose his best friend and cousin Josh.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, and hoping to read November Blues, next in the story line.

-NA

Only a few more weeks left!

Summer is coming to an end and school is just around the corner.  Remember to send me all of your summer reading summaries so I can post them on this blog.  Here are two more fantastic write-ups.

The Red Pyramid
The Red Pyramid was written by Rick Riordan. The Red Pyramid is about Carter and Sadie Kane and is based on Egyptian mythology. Carter and Sadie are brother and sister but don't see each other much. Carter lives with his dad and Sadie lives with her grandparents (their mother died). Julius (their dad) is allowed one day every six months with his daughter. On that day Carter, Sadie, and their dad go to a British Museum and their dad trys to bring their mom back but releases some evil Egyptian gods instead and he is captured by the evilest one, Set. Carter and Sadie have to travel to Egypt then to America fighting Set's minions. Finally, they arrive in Phoniex where they battle Set, who plans to destroy most of the U.S., and rescue their dad. I'm looking forward to reading A Wrinkle in Time.

-IP

Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen

I just finished reading Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen. About a year ago, one of my friends recommended this book to me, so when I saw it on the reading list i decided to try it. And I'm glad i did.

The plot began when Roy, the main character of the story, sees a boy running beside the school bus with no shoes on. Roy is confused. Why isn't this boy on the school bus with everyone else? So Roy decides to find out. At first, his encounters with the shoeless boy are mysterious; obviously, the boy did not want to be discovered. But eventually, Roy and the shoeless boy become friends. Then, an article is printed in the newspaper about the building site for a pancake house being vandalized. Roy has a sense that the shoeless boy, called Mullet Fingers, is behind it. And he's right. Before long, Mullet Fingers shows Roy why he's vandalizing it...and he has a good reason. There is a nest of Burrowing Owls on the site for the pancake house, and the supervisor of the construction site knows about it, but simply does not care. So together, Roy, Mullet Fingers, and Mullet Fingers' sister, Beatrice, show the town the owls. In the end, they decide to, instead of canceling the construction, to move the site.

This book had a big impact on me. I'd never thought kids could make that much of a difference, but this book proved me wrong. I would rate it a 5/5 because the style of writing is sophisticated, yet it's written in a way that kids can understand. I recommend this book to my little brother because he likes books about animals, particularly books about saving them.

-ZR

More Book Reviews!

Battle of Jericho
In the battle of Jericho written by Sharon M. Draper Jericho, a teenager in high school, was asked to be a pledge of the Warriors of Distinction, a club that has the latest shoes, clothes, and the best parties, but to be officially a Warrior of Distinction you must go through numerous tests including toilet swirly, beating, and even jumping out of a two story window. In this book Jericho gives up the chance of a life time. Part of a concert and a chance to get into Julliard just to get into a high school club. He loses the life of his cousin and best friend josh to the club.
-FR

A Wrinkle in Time
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L’Engle is about two children named Meg and Charles Wallace. In this book their friend Calvin tags along to help Meg and Charles Wallace find their father but he is not lost in the mall or in the city. He is lost in another dimension. Meg, Calvin, and Charles endure many difficulties including getting to the fifth dimension and beating the It. They make many friends one the way to the fifth dimension and they all get a gift, for example Calvin had the gift of speech.
 -FR