Recollections of a Better time

I kinda really miss this class. I learned a lot and life was so much simpler back then. Apologies for the sudden nostalgia.

Rx Book Recommendation

Hey you! It’s Thyme you’ve read the book Rx. I say Thyme, because that is the main characters’ name. I think you should read the book because it portrays a typical teenage life. Also, I would recommend this book because I think that many of us American young adults will understand what the author is trying to project.

            People will be able to connect this to their own life and experiences. The book Go Ask Alice is similar to the book Rx because they both deal with teen drug abuse. This book is very interesting and it draws you in page by page, chapter by chapter. (Trying to be like Hannah right there.)

           

            I liked this book and many others would too, because the parts of some of the chapters were really funny yet true. They were kind of ironic, because North is kind of druggy too…haha.

           

            The only part of the book that I didn’t like was that Thyme and her friends were pressuring people into using drugs, which I thought was unfair. I do not think using drugs should be acceptable to any person.

           

            I am really hoping that you read this book now because of my recommendation, and I hope that your reaction will be similar to mine. HUGS NOT DRUGS!

just there by: me

She was just there

That one girl

She had people to talk to but none really to call friends

She was pretty

With sapphire eye

And straight dark blonde hair

No one asked her out though

She was just there

She sat alone at lunch

But no one cared to go sit by her because they didn’t want to leave their own circle of friends

She wasn’t sad just lonely

She was just there

In the hallways she walked alone clutching her books tight to her chest never seeming to want to let go

People would walk by

Possibly say hello or hi but that was it

She was just there

She sat at home doing her home work

Wishing she had a friend to study with

A pal, a companion, a good buddy

But she said to her self

I’m just here

I’m just here

Smiles to go by: Jerry Spinelli

Smiles to go part 1:

            Most kids these days are act before you think. Well Will Tuppence isn’t. Sure he’s a normal 9th grade kid that likes to skate board, and play monopoly with his two best friends Anthony Bontempo (B-T) and Mi-Su. But inside he is much more.

            He is a thinker that’s how you could describe him.  He is kind of a science geek and loves to look out in the night sky and see the stars. In fact, he wants to be an astronomer. He is highly skilled at chess and has won a trophy for winning a chess tournament. But in his world things that don’t seem important to you are important to him. For instance proton decay.  This is a big deal for Will because it means that nothing lasts. He used to hang out with his neighbor and he was a science person and always shared his discoveries with Will.

            He has a little sister named Tabatha, Tabby for short. She is always finding different ways to bother him. He thinks it’s just to bug him. But that isn’t the case. She just wants her older brother to give her attention and love her. This show that Will is a little oblivious to what is going on with his relationship with his little sister.

            You know that girl Mi-Su. Ya. Well Will has a crush on her. It’s true throughout the book Will develops feeling for Mi-Su after he goes to a star party and sees her and B-T kissing. He thinks up all these plans and thinks of what he would say so he would be able to kiss Mi-Su.  He finally succeeds but finds out that she is going to prom with someone else.

            Since the new of the protons death Will has been seeing little flashes of light places he goes. He thinks they are protons disappearing one by one. His fear is that one day he is never going to be him, no pieces left of Will Tuppence, no atoms, no protons, no nothing. I still don’t understand this side of Will, but I think that’s what he is getting at.

            When Will’s sister tabby tries to skateboard down this very steep hill and ends up in the hospital. Will is all tangled up in emotions.  He is sad and shocked with the tabby situation; he is in “love” with Mi-Su and still wondering if his best friend B-T has feelings for her as well. His sister recovers fine and Mi-Su skips prom to stay with Will and help him with his sister.

Smiles to go part 2:

            It seems there is always a conflict going on between Will and his sister Tabatha, Tabby for short. She does things she is not supposed to be doing like when she put sweet potato in the toaster while will was on the phone with Mi-Su, or when she screams mischief night! Before Halloween because she isn’t allowed to go trick or treating on Halloween. she runs around her house causing well you guessed mischief. These are just some of the things Tabby does to Will, poor innocent Will.

            Is there a reason for this? Why is Will put through all this touchor? Well Will finds out at the end of the book that Tabby doesn’t think Will loves her and she want attention from him but he doesn’t give her any. She is always dropping black jelly bean in the trash can because she knows that they are Will’s favorite. What Will doesn’t know until his mother tells him later in the book is that after Will leaves the room Tabby always takes out the jelly beans, cleans them off, and puts them in a jar which she is going to give to Will on his next birthday.

After Tabby got out of the hospital Will had a different attitude towards her because he got her side of the conflict and he then let her hangout with him and then she doesn’t bug him as much.
            I think the conflict was solved. Will and Tabby are friendlier to each other and are more loving. I think what Tabby does to get the attention she wants is what almost what all younger siblings do to their older siblings because that way just seems logical to them. And Will reaction to it was reasonable and again how almost all of the older siblings react to their younger siblings pestering.

Another conflict in the book is between Will and B-T. Will think he has to kind of put up a fight because he wants to go out with Mi-Su. B-T kissed her and that triggered Wills thinking, and he found out that he liked Mi-Su. B-T on the other hand to him the kiss was only a onetime thing. Will didn’t know that so he felt that he kind of had to be sneaky about trying to kiss Mi-Su. I think there would have been no conflict if Will had known that B-T didn’t really like Mi-Su like that and that the kiss was only a onetime thing.

The House of the Scorpions book report

The House of the Scorpion part 1

            In the book The House of the Scorpion the main characters full name is Matteo Alcrán, Matt for short. He is a clone and so most of people in the book are disgusted by him. They think that clones are disgusting creature that bark and droll. That is because most clones are. Except Matt, He is a clone that doesn’t droll and barks because at “harvesting time” his intelligence wasn’t dulled by one of the doctors. Other clones have their intelligence dulled when they are “harvested.” Matt is the only smart clone out there even though it’s the law that clones have to have their intelligence marred. He is the only smart clone because he is a clone of El Patrón one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, and so because he is rich he was able to stop his mind from being abated.

            Matt is a person who is exceedingly smart. In the book, it was established that he was able the read 10 year above his own and he could do math that astounded El Patrón. He is also a loyal friend because in the book, when he was trying to escape the plankton growing factory he kept remembering that he had to bring his friends Chacho and Fidelito with him. He also took a beating that was supposed to be for Fidelito. It would have killed him because he was so skinny and weak and his little body wouldn’t have been able to take the beating. Another great quality Matt has is that he is courteous. In the book the orphans say that Matt acts weird because he uses manners and talks differently. Matt is also a little bit insensitive because whenever María (his girly friend) was crying (which happened a lot) he was thinking she cries too much and stuff like that.

            The book doesn’t say much about Matt’s physical appearance. I, however picture Matt as an average height guy with brown hair. He is told in the book that he doesn’t have a mother. But he did have a person that raised him as if he were her son. Her name was Celia. Near the end of the book though, Matt mentions Celia to his friend Chacho and Chacho asked him who she was. That then, Matt realized that he had had a mother. It was Celia. Matt also had a body guard whose name was Tan Lin. Tan Lin soon became a father figure because he cared for Matt and helped Matt escape from being killed by El Patrón. He turned out to be a great person and Matt seemed to admire him.

The House of the Scorpion part 2

            In the book The House of the Scorpion there were a lot of times where symbolism was used. The main symbol in the book was the scorpion. It was uses in the book when Matt and María are in the secret passages in El Patrón’s mansion. When María makes the flashlight light get red they see a scorpion (that activates secret doors to open) on the wall and it only will open if it is El Patrón DNA is touching it. Matt being El Patrón’s clone had the same DNA as him and was able to activate the secret doors. Another scorpion appears after El Patrón’s death when Matt was in a rocky part of the terrain at sunset when the sky was all red. He saw a scorpion on a rock and he presses his hand against it and it opens a secret door to El Patrón’s “dragon hoard.”

 In the title The House of the Scorpion it is referring to El Patrón’s house, so it seems to be that El Patrón and his family are the real scorpions. Evil yet cunning with the power to be able to kill El Patrón I think is the main scorpion. That is why all the scorpions on the wall were for El Patrón use, but he never thought that Matt would be able to use them against him. El Patrón died when he was 148 because he had 8 other clones before Matt and he had taken their hearts and other vital organs so he would be able to live on.

            I think that is the big picture with the scorpions. Although El Patrón was evil and twisted, he also had a good side. He gave Matt good advice with the getting your bodyguards from another country and knowledge about life that were vital to Matt as the book went on. Like at the end when Matt was thinking about where he should get his bodyguards he remembered that think that El Patrón had told him about getting them from a different country so they don’t turn on you as easily as they would be able to if they weren’t from another country.

            The word alacran which is most of the people who live in the house is there last name means scorpion in English so most of the people that live in the house like Mr. Alacran are scorpions except Matt because his name is what El Patrón’s name is.

Choice Book Report: Kyle’s Island

Kyle’s Island Book Report

Part 1:

There are a lot of words to describe the main character Kyle in Kyle’s Island. He is not ugly because his sister says “” you (Kyle) two have always been the good-looking one...””  Also he is also introvert because he likes to be by himself some time when he fishes. Another word to describe Kyle would be affable. Kyle is affable because he hangs out with his little brother even if he doesn’t was to; he also doesn’t let josh (his little brother) see him win he is snickering at him.

Kyle’s cottage is very important to him. He has a twin so his mom said they could each pick a day to have all by them self. Kyle picked one in the summer so he could celebrate it at the cottage. And his mom is trying to sell it because she won’t be able to pay to bills for the cottage and their original house, so Kyle is sad that that summer would be his last summer there at the cottage.

At their cottage Kyle likes to do different things. He goes fishing. In the book he established that his grandmother and his father were the two main people who had taught him how to fish when he was a little boy. Kyle got two jobs while he was at the cottage. One was taking his neighbor out every morning to go fishing (except on Saturdays and Sundays), and the other was for digging up night crawlers and worms. He also had been wanting to explore this one island in the lake that his dad said was never really explored much, so he did. He found a little log cabin in the middle of that heavily wooded area. He also did the other things you would normally do at a cottage by the lake. He went swimming, played board games, and went  out on the boat. Things like that.

In the beginning of the book Kyle’s stated that his dad left his mom. Kyle seemed like he was wrestling himself with his own emotions. All throughout the book he tries to shut his dad off from his life. He says to himself, if he cared about us he wouldn’t have left. Stuff like that, but inside he knows that he misses him and wants him to still be there. He used to write to his dad he said in the book, but his dad never wrote him back. That was a contribution to Kyle wanting to shut his dad off.

Part 2:

            The book Kyle’s Island was a great read and I liked. To me it was one of those books that didn’t get boring after the first couple chapters. It wasn’t one of those books that you don’t even know what they are talking about. This book was much different, well at least to me it was. It was my favorite kind of genre (realistic fiction) and that’s probably why it wasn’t boring to me. I liked this book because it has a lot of relatable things kids our age know and feel. His parents are going through a tough time with their marriage and I bet there are kids our age that have the same problem. One of the things I liked about this book is when he takes his little brother over to the island with the small log cabin. Josh his little brother seemed like one of those little kids you would think is the coolest kid ever.  Another one would be the part where Tom (Kyle’s neighbor) and Kyle go out fishing and Kyle learns from Tom where fish will be on curtain kinds of days. I think that Kyle learned a lot that summer especially from Tom.  It’s a great book to just slip away to their cottage and it seems like you right next to them of watching from a distance. The writing in the book creates a mental picture in your head. That’s another thing I liked about this book. One thing I didn’t like about the book was that it seemed a little babyish because Kyle would have said “” hi butthole”” and who really says that? It had a couple of moments like that in the book but don’t let that discourage you from reading it. The book seems pretty new so I don’t think anyone else has read this book but they should.

            This book Kyle’s Island would be a great book to read. You could read it on a cold rainy day when you need something productive to do. It’s also good for reading in bed. While sitting up and semi covered, and your lamp above your head.

            I would highly recommend this book. I would recommend this book to people who like reading about stuff that could be real but hence the genre realistic fiction. Even if you like just plain old fiction you might like this book as well.

Memoir from my 6th grade feild trip to Powder Ridge

                After lunch I went back, oh wait, let me start from the beginning so you know the whole story. That year the 5th graders that were going into 6th got move over to the Jr. High School. I and I assume others were worried about field trips and if they would still apply at North, but thankfully the Powder Ridge one was still in motion. The day that I went to Powder Ridge was one of the most awesomely awesome days of 6th grade.

                It all started out on a gleaming day glowing in a sense anticipating on what was to happen. Teachers loaded the buses full of kids ready for the day to truly start.  The bus blustered and bellowed away as its wheels caressed the gravel underneath. Inside the bus I sat in the back with my friends. We slowly but, surly added to the noise level. Everyone knew when we were getting close. You could hear the talking dim; see less lips move, and almost all the eye pasted to the window watching for any sign of our destination.

                As soon as the bus stopped in the parking lot the silence was broken. Everyone started to stir and teachers had to intervene. They said the directions; I wasn’t really paying attention so as I got off the bus I just followed everyone else as they mobbed their way to the entrance.

                The place was enchanting. It smelled of fresh air, hot chocolate, and perspiration all mixed together. We sat in an open room with tables and chairs. Then the teachers explained the rules and what was all happening that day. They said that we were going to take a skiing lesson with a group of people and then take a test on the bunny hill. Then we were able to go down the green triangle hills (easy ones) and the blue square hills (medium ones) but not the black diamond hills (difficult one).

                We got started by walking down the stairs to get our skis. They creaked and groaned as we jostled down them. At the bottom we ambled past the cafeteria and into the room with the skis, boots, and poles.  

                I got my skis and boots and went to take my lesson. It only took about a half hour. Then I went to the bunny hill to take my test.  I pass the 2nd time and got to go up the ski lift. The ride up on the ski lift wasn’t as horrendous as I thought it was going to be. You could see skier and snowboarders glide atop the snow and ice. There were ski poles in the trees and a little yellow spot back there too. Hum wonder what that was from.

                At the top I went down a green triangle hill called the outback.  As soon as I started to accelerate I felt the slight breeze through my coat, the shouts of joy surrounded me with kids old and young zoomed past.  This was my first skiing experience and I still cherish it to this day.