2. Montana 1948

      I am reading Montana 1948 by Larry Watson. I am currently about half way through the book. Last time I blogged, I had basically only talked about the introduction of characters. A lot has happened since then. Basically, while Marie is sick, she has Uncle Frank check up on her, but when Uncle Frank goes in the room alone with Marie, she freaks out. Marie is screaming and is calling for David's mom (Gail). After Uncle Frank leaves, Marie tells Gail that a lot of her Indian friends have been taken advantage of by Doctor Frank. This of course shocks Gail because her brother-in-law is raping innocent women. There is a lot of dramatic irony because when Gail tells her husband, they don't know that David is listening. David knows everything that is going on, but no one else knows. Later, their family goes to David's grandfather's house and David's father confronts Frank about it. He gets upset and does admit to doing it. David's father says, despite being a police officer, that he will not release his secret. Gail disagrees with this. She believes that he should be busted. About a week later, after an afternoon of fishing, they come home and find Marie dead. This, of course, hurts David because he loved her. He also knows a serious secret that he isn't supposed to know which makes him feel guilty. 
       I think this book is good, but it is also kind of weird. The moral of the story isn't very clear yet, so it's hard for me to tell if I will like it.      
       To be honest, I have no idea why the author wrote this book. I have no idea what the moral of the story is yet. I believe that once I know the moral, I will be able to see the author's purpose in writing the book.
       If I had to take a guess at what the theme is, I would guess courage. It might have something to do with him having to admit the secret he knows. This will be extremely difficult for David because of his shyness.
      The best character so far is David. He knows a lot of secrets, but is kind of a shy a guy. It will be interesting to see how he grows because he will eventually have to let go of the secret he knows. I have seen a small change in him when he is making plans to tell his father what he knows. Before, he had no intentions of letting his mother or father know that he knows about his Uncle Frank's wrongdoings.
      "This was my chance. I could ride along with my father and, when we were alone, tell him what I knew." This demonstrates that David wants to tell his father that he knows everything, even though it will be really hard for him. It is important because it shows a little bit of the change he is starting to go through.      
      The only question I have about my book is what is the theme? I will have to keep reading to find out.

Jarrett Stalllman

4/19/2012

ms. Neilsen

English 9

     I am reading a book called "Finding Alaska". This book was written by John Green, I am about half way through this book right now.

    So far in my book Miles Halter who lives in Florida and he hates it there. He has no one to hang out with and is a good student. So he moves into his dads old high school, called Culver Creek. This is a private in Alabama and he will be staying there and only come back on holidays. So he get there and meets his room mate and his name is Chip Martin but every one there call him "the colonel" because he is the king of pranks there at Culver Creek. There principal is the called the Eagle and is a very mean principal. The second person he meets is Alaska a beautiful girl that he just falls in love as soon as he walks in her room. Some things they do so far is go and they always smoke cigaretts at the smoke hole and one day they get caught by the Eagle and have to go to "court". Now the Colonel is determined to find out who ratted them out because the kids at Culver Creek hate rat. He never finds out but the next day at 12:00 A.M while the Colonel is out of the room Miles gets taken by the kids called the "Weekday Warriors" and taken down to the lake and is taped up from head to toe and thrown in the lake and the only words the kids said to Mile was we don't like who ever hangs with the Colonel. Then thanksgiving comes and everyone leaves the dorms besides 10 kids and 2 of them where Alaska and Miles. And Miles is in love with Alaska and all he talks about but Alaska has a guy in her life who she really loves. So once everyone leaves Alaska takes Miles and they break into the "Weekday Warriors" dorm stealing all of the acohol and inappropriate magizenes in there dorm rooms.

 

 Now I don't read very much but I love this book and because of this can not put it down and just want to keep reading and reading it to find out what happens with Alaska and Miles and not to mention what kind of trouble the Colonel gets into. 

 The theme of this book is what we kids like to say is yolo (you only live once) and to live life to its fullest. Life is short and sweet make the very best of it and live every day like it is the last one and never look back on the bad and live up the good ones.

  I think the Colonel is the best character because you never know what he is going to do next. He has grown in this book because he felt he needed his "girl" just to yell at and she would fight with him. But they broke up now and now he knows he never needed that in his life.

 Alaska says to Miles  "This is so hard sitting here alone in my dorm with an amazing cute boy, while my boyfriend is sitting back at home" the reason this is important is because it give Mile a hint Alaska has feelings for him.

  I have one question and that is WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?

 

2. Avalanche

            Right now I am reading the book Avalanche. It is by Arthur Roth and I am on page 106. So far in the book the main character, Chris, Is stuck under feet of snow. Right now he is at day five. He is on his last half of his grouse left and then he is out of food. For water he is just eating snow. Then while digging in the snow he found a branch of a tree that is long enough to stick out of the top the snow cave. In one of his dreams he remembered that his old compass has a mirror on it. He then took out the mirror strapped it on the stick and stuck it through the top of the snow. He has to rotate it once and a while so that it makes a flash and maybe his rescuers might find him before he dies from starvation and the cold.
            I think that this is a really good book because it has a faster pace to it. There is always something happening, which also helps the book move faster. Then when you start to get into action in any book then you can't set it down. So for me this is a hard book to set down each time I'm reading it.
            The reason I think the author wrote this book is to show to show that brothers are really closer than they are. They will always love each other no matter how big of a fight they get in. Maybe he had these moment with his own brother. I think the theme of this book is survival because it is about a boy trying to survive under feet of snow. That here are some ways to survive if you were ever stuck in a situation that Chris is in. My favorite character in the book is Chris because he is the only character that I really been able to make connections to. Through the book he has grown a lot. He has had time to think about he little things in his life. Like that he and his brother, Terry, may fight ,but he will always wish the best for him. A question I have in this book is will Chris make it out of the snow before he dies so he may tell Terry how much he really admires him.

1. The Lucky One

     I'm am reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  I am about half-way through my book.  I started reading it because of Tiffany's recommendation.  So far, Logan Thibault, the main character and a former marine, has been on a cross-country journey in order to find the girl in a picture that he believes keep in alive in Iraq.  After figuring out what he could from the picture he made his way to North Carolina and asked around about the girl.  Eventually, he found that she works at a kennel with her grandmother and they are looking for employees.  Logan takes the job and ends up befriending Elizabeth (the girl from the picture), her son Ben, and Nana (Elizabeth's grandmother).  However, Elizabeth's ex-husband is still interfering in their lives.

     I think this is a really good book.  I like how the perspectives are changed so that you see what each character is like and it keeps it interesting.  I think the story is interesting too.  I like Nana because of her sayings and how she is such a good judge character.

     I think one of the themes is destiny.  Logan had a friend Victor who strongly believed in it and because of that Thibault met Elizabeth and has finally gotten out of the slum he's been in.  It pops-up frequently in the book and Thibault tries to understand what his role is and why he's there.  I think the author wrote the book because that's what he enjoys doing.  It is a way for him to connect to people and get his ideas out.

     I am excited to see how things work out between Elizabeth and Thibault.  I wonder if Thibault will figure out why he's there and what will happen with Clayton (Elizabeth's ex).

3.) Beauty

        I am reading the book Beauty, by Robin McKinley. I just finished the book and  am glad I read it. Since my last post, Beauty has gone home to see her family and tell her sister Grace that her fiance, Robbie, has come back home to land. The Beast is sad to see her go, but lets her leave for a week. She goes home and realizes how much she really missed her family. Before she left, the Beast gave her a rose the would stay bloomed until the week was up. When the rose started to die, Beauty would know that the Beast was dying. When Beauty tries to return to the castle, she ends up getting there over a week after she left. She finds the Beast dying in his room and has to hurry over to him. He ends up being alive and okay. Beauty realizes that she loves him, and says that she will marry him. He turns into a handsome prince again and they are planning to get married that afternoon.  Beauty's family shows up with other people from the town and they end up having a double wedding with Grace and Robbie.

        I really liked the ending of the book, but I wish that it would have expanded a little more. I felt like I wanted it to go a little bit past them deciding to get married. I thought that the book overall was really good and interesting. It combined a lot of genres of books and kept the story line moving without it seeming really slow. I think that Robin McKinley wrote this book because maybe it was something that she could base off of herself. Maybe she modeled Beauty to be like her or somebody that she knew.

        I still think that the theme of Beauty is that it is what's on the inside that counts. I think that this comes out in the book because even though the Beast is extremely ugly, Beauty still falls in love with him because he is a kind person and loved her. Also, Beauty wasn't very attractive at all before she went to live with the Beast. Her family and people in her town love her and respect her because she is so kind hearted and full of life. I think that the best character is still Beauty because I admire how she fell in love with the Beast despite how he looked. She was very cautious at the beginning of the book, but she learned to love and open up. She also had a very low self-esteem because she was ugly, but it got better after she realized that she wasn't that bad looking.

         I think that an important quote would be when Beauty says, " It's magic, it'll fade away. It's not possible." This shows that Beauty didn't always believe the truth and only thought what she wanted. People today often are too closed minded to things and need to believe a little to make life better. Beauty thought it was just magic. I'm not saying that people in reality believe in magic, but more that they need to open their minds to the possibilities.

        I don't really have any questions left because they were all answered at the end of the book. I just want to know what happened after they got married. I wish that the book said something about this or McKinley wrote a sequel to Beauty.

4th quarter post 1

Right now I am reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling. I am about half way through the book. So far Harry and Ron have almost been expelled from school from flying a car to school and getting caught.  Other than that not a ton more has happened. Harry and the group are just settling into class right now. The school also has a new profesor Gilderoy Lockhart who is a total airhead and thinks he is the best thing to walk along the earth. I think it is good because it is never boring. I mean it is not super exciting quite yet, but the author sneaks in little details to make everything somewhat exciting or dangerous. I think the author wrote this to continue the series and to express her imagination. There is no doubt that the theme is fantasy. Almost everything in the book could not happen to the average human-being. I think that the author is trying to get readers to open their imagination and top shoot for the stars. I think the best character so far is Gilderoy Lockhart because the author does a great job of getting him under your skin.  J.K. Rowling develops him so well, it wants me want to go into the book and punch him. He has not change at all, he is still a gigantic airhead. "

Post One of The Member of the Wedding. Carlyn Haassssss!

I am reading my classic book, The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. I am about of a fourth of the way through it and it is just boring as all get out. Just awful. It's about this 12 year old misfit during World War 2 who hates her life, and her brother comes home with his bride to be and announces he is getting married next week. For some reason, not sure why, she is mad/jealous about it. The wedding is on Sunday and she's mad, but excited for it...? It's not a good book. I have no idea why the author wrote this. Maybe to teach us about jealousy? Or how everyone has troubles growing up? I have no idea what the theme is.
This is a quote from the book that I thought was pretty messed up, but memorable: "He smelled like a sour little rose. Frankie leaned down and licked him behind the ear." She just licks her little cousin while he's sleeping. Maybe if she wasn't so creepy she wouldn't hate her life so much.....
I have lots of questions about the book at this point: Why is she mad her brothers getting married? That doesn't make sense to me. Why did she start stealing things? Is the whole book just going to be her wallowing in self-pity?
                                                               ----CARLYN.

Blog 2 Taite Gallagher: Catching Fire

Right now I am still reading Catching Fire by Susan Collins. So since my last post there has been a lot of new things in the book. Now we know that there was a district 13 that was nuked and destroyed, Katniss moved into her new house were the winners of the hunger games from district 12 live, and there is going to be another Hunger Games that both Katniss and Peta have to be in.

The book overall is turning out very good. It has the drama because of another Hunger Games and finding out about district 13. Not a lot of action yet though but it's probably going to come later in the book. The author wrote this book because of mainly Katniss, and how she sets a good example for what a older sibling should act like and the responsibility that they might have to take.

The best character right now is still Katniss. She has really developed as the main character in standing for what she believes in. An example is when the president of the districts(President Snow) comes to talk to Katniss, she is not afraid to tell Snow that she does not like him and she even straight up tells him that one day she will kill him.

The theme of the book is Loyalty. Katniss stays loyal to Peta in the first book and doesn't go against him ever. She is also loyal to her sister because Katniss told her if she got her name drawn to go to the Hunger Games then Katniss will volunteer for her. And she does. I can't wait to find out what happens next in the book!

Never Cry Wolf

1.Never Cry Wolf

2.Farley Mowat

3.I am about one fourth of the way done with the book.

4.Mowat is a man that is very interested in life. He has gone to many schools and studied about animals. He went to an ottawa tribe to study as well. Mowat's first assignment has to do with wolves. This is one of the harder tasks because he could die. He has been transported to a remote area. Now he is looking for another flight to go even farther into the wilderness.

5.So far the book is okay. My attention has not really been grabbed yet, but its still early on in the book.

6.I think the author wrote this book to show the life of a wolf, or maybe they just really like wolves.

7.The theme is wolves, and the idea is to show how amazing they are.

8.Right now id say the best character is Mowat because he is really the only main one.

9."The wolf Lieutenant Mowat is your problem!" This is showing what assignment Mowat will have to do.

10.I am wondering what is he going to be studying about the wolves?

by Adam Nelson-Ockenfels

Never Cry Wolf

1.Never Cry Wolf

2.Farley Mowat

3.I am about one fourth of the way done with the book.

4.Mowat is a man that is very interested in life. He has gone to many schools and studied about animals. He went to an ottawa tribe to study as well. Mowat's first assignment has to do with wolves. This is one of the harder tasks because he could die. He has been transported to a remote area. Now he is looking for another flight to go even farther into the wilderness.

5.So far the book is okay. My attention has not really been grabbed yet, but its still early on in the book.

6.I think the author wrote this book to show the life of a wolf, or maybe they just really like wolves.

7.The theme is wolves, and the idea is to show how amazing they are.

8.Right now id say the best character is Mowat because he is really the only main one.

9."The wolf Lieutenant Mowat is your problem!" This is showing what assignment Mowat will have to do.

10.I am wondering what is he going to be studying about the wolves?

by Adam Nelson-Ockenfels

2.) Beauty

        I am reading the book Beauty by Robin McKinley. I am about three-fourths done with the book now.

        Since my last post a lot has happened. Beauty has gone to live with the Beast in his castle so that she could spare her father's life. She was terrified at first and wouldn't even touch the Beast. She's gotten over her fear and has learned that she is very fond of him. The castle is enchanted so everything obeys Beauty and serves her needs. She can always feel two "breezes" when she is in the castle and has learned from the Beast that they are invisible maids. Their names are Linda and Bessie and they take care of her in the castle. They often talk to each other about the enchantment but are never clear on how it got put on the castle. Beauty can hear them talk even when they think that she can't. Beauty has had a couple of meltdowns when she really misses her family. She hinted to the Beast that she wanted to go home, but he said that he couldn't let her. She fainted and later ran to her room. Now, Beauty doesn't know what she would do even if he let her go. She would want to see her family but couldn't leave him alone. This shows how much she likes him now. Also, after dinner every night, the Beast asks her to marry him. Beauty always says no even though it hurts her to deny his offer.

        I really like this book now and I think it is very interesting. It has gotten a lot better and grabs my attention. Now that I am towards the end, it is hard for me to put it down sometimes. I thought that it would be a lot like Beauty and the Beast, but it is a lot different and has a lot more detail than the movie. I think that Robin McKinley wrote this book because it was a good way to combine romance, adventure, and action into one. Maybe she based Beauty off of herself or someone she knew. I still think that the theme is that beauty doesn't always mean anything. Just because you aren't beautiful, doesn't mean that you aren't a good person or someone worth getting to know. I think that McKinley wanted her readers to think about this because it is a good lesson and possibly something that she really believes in.

        I think that the best character is still Beauty because she is so kind and courageous. Even though she goes through so much pain in missing her family, she know that she can't leave and accepts that. She also doesn't hate the Beast just because he is ugly. She looks deeper than how he looks and is starting to love him. She has grown a lot in many ways. Beauty is more thoughtful now and feels more and more empathy for the Beast. She doesn't want to hurt him and always apologizes when she realizes that she was wrong or ungrateful for is care toward her.

        I think that a cool quote is, "You may think what you like of course, butI shan't give up and neither will he." I think that this is a good quote because even though thinks look impossible for the Beast ever turning back into a man, Lynda won't give up because she believes anything s possible. I think that a lot of people would benefit from think like this because it helps brighten how you look at things.

        I only have a few questions that I think will be answered at the end of the book. One is that I want to know if Beauty will ever leave the castle and return home. I also want to know if the Beast will ever turn back into a man. Lastly, I want to know if Beauty will ever actually see Linda and Bessie.

1. Avalanche

         This quarter I will be reading the book Avalanche. It is by Arthur Roth and I am on about page 60. So far in the book the main character is, Chris, who is living in his older brother's shadow. His brother, Terry, is an all-star in all the sports he does and wins their father's love. Then one day Chris decided to go hunting for grouse and on the way home he spots a coyote. Terry has never shot a coyote so he thinks if he does he could win over some of his father's love. When the gun goes off it triggers an avalanche that buries him in feet of snow. So far he has made it to day tree and is wondering if anyone will find him.
        I like this book a lot better than the last book I read. The last book was a slow paced book and nothing really happened until the very end. This book I sat down and just started flying through the pages because it had action already happening since the first chapter. I think that this will be one of my favorite books once I finish it. The reason I think the author wrote this book is because it shows that you never know when your life could be taken away from you and maybe you had said things or done things that you wish you could say sorry, but can never do it. Then that might be how a person remembers you from. Like how Chris and Terry always fight over who is better, but inside they truly love each other and hope for the best for both of them.
        The theme of this book may be survival because it is a story about Chris who is trying to survive under feet of snow. Show what a person could do when trapped in a small cave like place that you can't escape. My favorite character in the book has to be Chris because he is the only character that they really talk about. So then he is the only one that you learn about. I kind for feel sympathy for him because he has to live in his brother's shadow and that must be awful. So far he is realizing that all the things he had said or done to Terry he might not be able to take back. So he is striving to survive so he can make amends with his brother.

1) Trance

     I am reading Trance by Linda Gerber, and am about one-fourth of the way through the book. Basically, the book is about a girl named Ashlyn that has visions of things before they happen. The visions never make sense so she has to figure them out with her sister Kyra, who also has these visions. While in a "trance" they write down a bunch of numbers, and they have no idea what they mean, so they have to try to figure them out. One day Kyra had a vision of Ashlyn and her mom getting in a car accident, but Ashlyn doesn't believe her. Later that day they get into a car accident and the mom dies. Ashlyn blames herself for what happens and so does Kyra. Kyra moves out and Ashlyn is left alone to figure out the strange visions she keeps getting.
    I really like this book! I had to force myself to stop reading until I did a blog post. The book is just so interesting. It's such an easy read and it never gets boring, something interesting is always happening. It starts out by making you ask question that you have to keep reading until you find out. Like how her mom died and what happened between her and this boy Nick, that makes her hate him, but still like him, at the same time. It's so hard to put down. The authors motivation for writing this novel was to  make you realize just because you have something "different" about you, it's nothing to be ashamed about. For Ashlyn, she goes into these trances and everyone thinks she's weird. Even her own parents are ashamed of her and her sister because they had this ability. Kids need someone to relate to if there in this situation. To show you that the something "different" about you might help you in the future. This also could also be the theme of the book.
    My favorite character would have to be Ashlyn or Gina. Gina is a pregnant girl that Ashlyn works with at the mall. She says whatsever on her mind and tells you what she thinks. She just a very real person. At first she is kind of rude and snobby, but after a while she is really nice and you get to know the real Gina. Thats how her character developes over the course of the book. I also like Ashlyn because she has these trances. I feel a lot of empahy for her as well. She only has one friend, her mom is dead, her dad is always traveling for his job, and she is all alone.
   "Even though at the time we didn't understand what kind of power our ability held, we knew. Our gift was no longer a gift. It was a curse." This is an important quote because she realizes her special ability is not something she should be proud of. It something to hide and dread. Something to be ashamed of. Something even her parents are ashamed of. I  have a lot of questions about this book. Will she fall in love with this guy Jake she meet? What happened between her and Nick? What is the trance about? Will the trances ever stop? Will she ever get a hold of Kyra? So many questions, but know I can keep reading.
 

B1 Call of the Wild

I am reading the book Call of the Wild by Jack London. I've read to page 42 out of 172 pages so far. In this book the main character is a dog named Buck. Buck was stolen and is growing very rapidly both in size toughness and mind. Buck was taken and is put into an environment that makes him uncomfortable and very timid. He learns quickly that this place does not serve up kindness instead dog fights happen to see who is the stronger dog. Most of the time the losing dog losses. Buck learns more and more to the point that he can win a fight or keep one from happening. New dogs come and learn the same but some aren't lucky to see the next day. One older dog comes in and he has no eye on one side. Buck approaches curiously and Buck about gets his head torn off. Buck finds out how to stay warm during the cold and how to protect himself. This book for me got off way to slow and still is slow but great detail and makes you feel like you are Buck. Other than being slow very good book. I think the author wrote this because he needed something to keep him company Jack London had a very bad life other than writing and making money but he was once a hobo and needed something to keep him up and that's why I think he wrote this award winning novel. I think the theme is that you need to be comfortable with the uncomfortable like how Buck is dealing with it and that everybody deals with it to. The best character is still Buck just his instincts and he knows when to pick a fight just makes him a hero and how he just is hopeless at once but pops back up and keeps going and quickly learns. He was a timid dog now he's a force to be reckoned with. A cool quote would have to be "My breed to time of wild dogs ranged in packs,through the primeval forest, and killed as they run them down." Currently I have no questions about this book.

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Keegan Paisley

Right now I am reading The first book in the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. It was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. I am about a quarter through thee book now and have met the exciting character Tom Bombadil who helps our hobbit friends through the forest. Sadly, Tom did not appear in the movie when it was released. The theme of this story is adventure and suspense, I am currently at the Prancing Pony Inn, where a strange man known as "Strider" stares at the hobbits. The best character so far is Gandalf. The wizard just has so many tricks up his sleeve that you don't know what's coming next. Gandalf has disappeared  to seek help from his friend Saruman. One of the most recent quotes is:

Frodo: What do you want? 
Strider: A little more caution from you; that is no trinket you carry. 
Frodo: I carry nothing. 
Strider: Indeed. I can avoid being seen if I wish, but to disappear entirely, that is a rare gift. 

This Quote is important because it shows that Strider knows of the ring and of its power and temptation already. Some questions I have are: When are the "Dark Riders" going to get to the Prancing Pony? and Did they sense Frodo when he put the ring on?

1.) Beauty

        I am reading the book Beauty by Robin McKinley. I've read a few chapters so far and it is mostly just introductions to characters and the background of things.

        So far, I have found out that the main character is Honour (Beauty). Everyone calls her Beauty because when she was little she didn't like her birth name and she wanted to be called Beauty. This is kind of ironic because she isn't really that pretty of a girl. Beauty has two older sisters named Grace and Hope. They all lived in a town with there father who worked on ships. Their father was very wealthy because of his job and they lived in a really nice house. Beauty's father lost his fortune when three of his ships went missing and had to move his family to a little house in the woods. One of the ships had Grace's fiance, Robbie, on it and they are guessing that he died. They moved to the little house when Hope's fiance Gervain asked them to move in with them. Now they just moved in and are trying to get to know people in the little town.

        I think that it is okay so far. Nothing has really happened that is exciting and it just talks about how the characters are feeling. I don't think it is bad and it is a little interesting learning about their family background. I think that Robin McKinley wrote Beauty because it could hit a lot of different genres of books. It is partially romance, mystery, adventure, and a little historic. I think the theme is that you should never judge a book by its cover. Even though Beauty isn't the prettiest girl, she still is very kind and tries to look on the bright side of things.

        I think that the best character is Beauty because she is very kind and positive. When she found out that they had to move away from their home because of money problems, she didn't get mad. She tried to look at the bright side and said that it would give them more time with family. She was also really kind to the young kids playing on the street even though she didn't know them.

        I think that when Beauty says, " I guess I'd better go do what he says," it is a good quote because it shows how much she obeys people. I think that this line is used in some way or another by everyone because people often do things even when they don't want to. Beauty does obey people and wants to do what is right.

        I mostly just want to know what happened to Robbie. Since his ship was one that got lost, Grace is very upset and I feel bad for her. I also want to know who Beauty will become friends with and what her role is going to be in the family now that they don't have maids.

1. Montana 1948

      I am reading Montana 1948,  a classic novel written by Larry Watson. I am a little less than a quarter of the way through.
      So far, not much has happened. The beginning of the book is mostly background information and introduction of characters. Basically, I have met David (the narrator), Mom, Dad (a police man), Uncle Frank (a doctor), and Marie (called the housekeeper, but is actually a babysitter). What has happened so far is very minimal. Marie has an indian background and she gets sick. This upsets David because he is kind of affectionate towards Marie. He doesn't like to see Marie in pain. Whereas, David's father has no sympathy. Marie hates doctors and David's father is very racist toward Marie because he believes that the reason she won't see a doctor is because of her indian background. This is basically the extent of what I've read so far. David tells a lot of old stories about living in a small town and being compared to other people.
      So far, this book hasn't done much to excite me. I do have a good feeling about it though because there is a police man in the story. Police men often have stories to tell and I think there might be a little mystery inside this book.
      On the front cover of the book it says, "A beautiful novel about the meaning of place and evolution of courage..." This makes me believe that the message in this book is courage. So maybe the author experienced a similar situation and wanted people to learn about it. I am also predicting that courage will be the theme of the book. I'll have to wait and see.
      So far, the best character is David (the narrator). He seems kind of odd. He has a huge crush on his babysitter who is way older than him. I also kind of think of him as an outcast. David seems rather interesting. I definitely have not seen him grow or change yet. I will have to keep reading.
      David says, "Out of town I could simply be, I could feel my self, firm and calm and unmalleable as I could not when I was in school or in any of the usual human communities that seemed to weaken or scatter me." This is important because it seems kind of odd. I believe that David is shy and awkward around people, like an outcast.
      The only question I have so far about my book is what will the inciting incident be? Something has to get the ball rolling and make this an exciting book.

Ben Ranard Call of the Wild

The book I am reading is Call of the Wild by Jack London. He wrote this because he was a hobo. I am at page 50 about. So far the dog has gotten taken and he grows big and tough because he has had to fight other dogs. I think it is a little boring because the start of book are always like that. I think this was his motivation because he did not have anything. I don't know what the theme is yet. The main character is Buck the dog. He has grown up and has gotten stronger. I don't have any questions at this point. I don't know any quotations yet either.

Preliminary Posts

If you've just picked out a book and/or begun to read, please feel free to publish a preliminary post.  This is just a quick post that tells me what book you're reading and who wrote it.  You may also want to post a prediction or ask any questions that come up as you're looking the book over or reading the first few pages.

This does not count as Blog Post #1.  It might be easier if you make the title of your post  "Prelim. Post on >insert title here<."

Please go back to the first posts and re-read the criteria for this project (what you need to do in each post).  If you are unsure about anything, please ask.

Happy Reading!

Taite Gallagher Blog 1: Catching Fire

Right now I am reading Catching Fire by Susan Collins. My sister was the one that got me into this book because The Hunger Games movie came out and she wanted people to get into it. I have read 5 chapters so far. Katniss (the main character) is recovering from the games. She is heading back to the city for a celebration and a recap of the games. I think so far the book is fairly good. I say this because it's not as good as the first book was but i wouldn't say its terrible. I would just personally say it's not as action packed as the first one was. But yet its only the first 5 chapters so hopefully it will get better.

I think the author wrote not only this book but the entire series to show were we are going. Mainly showing how entertainment in the future will turn out. I think it's just a bunch of personal opinions, some I agree with, others I don't. The best character is Katniss because she is the main character and we get to see her a lot in the book. She is a young girl (in her teens) who volunteered to go to the hunger games to save her sister prim. So just in the first book you could see how she grew in responsibility. Another example is when Peta gets hurt in the games and Katniss defends him and aids him. I am not far enough in the book to see if katniss has changed a lot but in my next post hopefully I will be able to tell.

A question I have for the book is "why are we not hearing about Peta? Is he dead?" I hope I am able to find out!