Saturday, May 22, 2010

Are you having a reader’s block? Do you want an interesting, breath-taking book to read that will leave your mind spinning with wilderness? Well you have come to the right blog. Just sit back and read The Lovely Bones! It will be the closest book to realty that you would ever read. No need to fear, this mesmerizing book is savagely beautiful. But there is one thing you need to bare in mind. “Don’t start The Lovely Bones unless you can finish it. The book begins with more horror than you can imagine, but closes with more beauty than you could hope for.” I was completely absorbed with this story, and I do admit, it does get a bit frightening when you’re reading it at night. This book led me to tears which I find amazing.

This book was written in first person-in that case, Susie Salmon. Fourteen year old Susie Salmon was an average teenage girl until she got murdered on December 6th, 1973. She was adjusting to her new home in heaven, which wasn’t anything like she had imagined it. It was like her personal playground. As she is heaven, she is watching life on earth go on without her. We not only see the turmoil of her family and friends, but also Susie herself going through various emotions. We all think that once a person is in Heaven, they would not feel loss or pain, though 'The Lovely Bones' shows a different side. As Susie watches her family move through the years, she realises how much she herself has lost. Will the family uncover her killer before it's too late? Will Susie forgive and cross over? Read to find out!

From the first page to the last page of the book, I was fully interested in the book. It is so compelling and realistic that you just can't seem to put the book down. I struggled to stop reading in the middle because it totally captured my mind. It is extremely touching and emotional at the end which may be too hard for some people to take in. I found myself in tears for some parts in the book. It is certainly a book that stays with you long after you finish the last page. If you ask me, I would absolutely recommend this book to you! This book is probably more suitable for readers 12 and above because it contains some horrifying content that may scare little kids. It is certainly a book you would want to read. If you don't read it, you will regret it! Along with all the interesting text, it still teaches you a deep, important moral that many kids need to know, especially during your teenage years. So once again, I strongly advise you to read this book!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Rick Riordan - The Battle of The Labyrinth


book is all about Percy Jackson, a normal boy on the outside but a half god on the inside. He is the son of Poseidon the god of the sea. In this book he goes on a mission into a labyrinth to find a string that can guide you anywhere you want but in the end they just use a mortal girl because there main enemy Luke has stolen the string.
This is a great book in which they fight more enemies than ever.

Sam

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The Wild Girls-Pat Murphy


"I met the Queen of foxes in 1972, when my family moved from Connecticut to California..." This is one of Joan, or rather Newt's quote. Put yourself into the shoes of Joan. She dreads to moving to California but she is just a kid. Can she make the decision when she has a father with anger management? Of course not! She is convinced that her life sure is going to be miserbale in her new home. However, once she meets Sarah, who prefers to be called "Fox"and who lives with her writer father in a rundown house in the middle of the woods, she started to be more optimistic. That was when everything had changed.
Newt and Fox spend all their spare time outside, talking and fooling around, and soon start writing stories together. Believe it or not, that story gets first place in a student fiction contest! They start to go to a summer writing class taught by Verla Volante. One day, Fox gets a call from her mom. From that moment, Fox and Newt's friendship starts to fall and break apart. That was when everything went wrong...What will happen next? Will their friendship ever mend? Read this book and find out!
I really enjoyed reading this book because it was extremely touching. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about friendship, the power of this story.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning is the first book in the series: A Series of Unfortunate Events and the start of the horrible events that happened to the children of the Baudelaire family. This book, like the title of the series suggests, is entirely composited of unfortunate events that occurred to the Baudelaires.

Starting off at a nice and calm beach, Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire received the terrible news that their house and their beloved parents all perished in an terrible fire. In the will of their parents, it states that the enormous fortune that the Baudelaire family owned will be passed on to Violet when she comes of age. Since the Baudelaires received the terrible news, they have been entangled with unfortunate events that seemed to never end. As the Baudelaires struggle to survive they begin to learn more about a man named Count Olaf who is the man behind causing these innocent children their woe. The story of these children is carried on on the second book called A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room.

Although this book is only around 200 pages long, it presents an interesting story that will make you hungry for the next book. In addition, the way that the author writes this book greatly differs from other writers making the book interesting to read. Putting himself inside his own story and using a pen name called 'Lemony Snicket', I believe Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning is a great book suitable for anyone.

Monday, May 17, 2010

A Gathering Light Jennifer Donnelly

Mattie is a pleasant young girl. Like any other ordinary girl Mattie has a desire that possesses her. Mattie dreams of going to college and becoming a writer. These dreams cannot be pursued when her familial responsibilities are taking up her majority of time. Her dilemmas and choices are then reflected in the life of a young woman drowned in a lake, a woman that Mattie only gets to know through reading her letters. When finally the tales of Mattie and the mysterious path of the drowned girl merge, their stories beautifully combine in a brilliant and perfect conclusion.

I'd recommend this book to people who are interested in learning new vocabulary because every chapter of this book introduces a new word, Mattie's word of the day. in my opinion I think that this book is extremely touching because this book describes things to you in the most detail. This book can also relate to other peoples life including mine.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

The Knife of Never Letting Go - By Patrick Ness

At first glance, The Knife of Never Letting Go appears to be another coming of age story. Todd Hewitt, the last boy in Prentisstown, is one month from entering manhood. Sounds normal, right? Add in the fact that there are no women in Prentisstown and everyone can hear each other's thoughts. Not normal at all.

After finding something Todd never expected to find- a girl, his life changes entirely. Before long, Todd, his dog, Manchee and Viola, the girl, must escape Prentisstown. With only a knife and some vague directions from an old map, he must embark on a perilous journey to uncover the truth of Prentisstown and what it really takes to be a man. He discovers that what he knows might not always be true and the truth can be false.

The creation of Todd's world is very cleverly done. The author created Noise, the term used for men's never ending stream of thought. The fact that Todd's thoughts cannot be hidden form other's allows the book to build up the element of surprise and suspense.

After I finished the book, I was emotionally exhausted. The ending was very unexpected; it was like a punch in the stomach when I finished. I anxiously await for the next book to come out

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan


Percy Jackson, a nearly 16 years old half-blood had come to replace Harry Potter to save the world. After killing monsters for 3 years, he meets up with the worst Titan ever, Kronos and his army. He has to defend the Empire State Building (the Olympus) and prevent western civilisation from dying. If western civilisation dies, all the gods and people in America will die. To prevent this, Percy must first prevent them from boarding into Manhattan directly by destroying their ferry, the ship which contains most of their troops and which is capable of going to Manhattan directly. Then he will have take the campers in camp half-blood to Manhattan and separate them into different groups which will defend each bridge and tunnel blocking the Titan's force from coming in. However, they only have 40 campers and they are missing the Ares campers (the god of war children), the best fighters of camp. They are mad at the Apollo campers (god of the sun) for getting the flying chariot causing them not to do anything at all . So anyway, the Ares campers will just watch their fellow friends die and the western civilisation collapsing. Also, the gods are busy trying to kill another threat, typhon so the gods wont be helping the campers. Will Percy Jackson lead the campers to victory or to their graves.

I like this book and the series very much. People may think this is like Harry Potter, well is different and in my opinion is much better than Harry Potter. I will recommend this book to who know or what to learn about Greek Myths. PS: please read this book after you finish the first 4 book of this series.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Plain Truth By Jodi Picoult


This book is about how a dead infant found on an Amish farm shakes the entire community. An eighteen-year-old, unmarried Amish girl, Katie Fisher, is accused of murdering her newborn baby. As the police investigate the death, they discover that the baby was not stillborn, but died shortly time after birth. Katie Fisher is charged with murder of her new-born son. Ellie Hathaway, a distant relative of Katie, reluctantly accepts the case. If you want to know the rest of the story, you will have to read the book.

I think the book Plain truth has a very surprising plot. The author Jodi Picoult understands a lot about the Amish people to make us understand the irony and the impossibility of Plain folk facing our legal system. It is a great story about values and choices and cultural assumptions. I highly recommend this book. It's a good legal drama with keen psychological study of a unique culture. Jodi Picoult's novel is very readable and you can’t stop reading it after you started. There is so much more about this story than what I wrote in the paragraphs, so you got to read it!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

RULES by Cynthia Lord

Twelve year old Catherine yearns for a normal life and a normal brother, this is nearly impossible for her with a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She had spent years trying to teach her brother David "rules" such as 'keep you pants on in public' and 'if someone says hi to you, you say hi back' in order for him to be able to blend in with the scociety.
One summer, Catherine meets Jason, a boy from the clinic for occupational therapy. Catherine finds he is a suprising type of new friend, partly because he has a speaking disability and moves around on a wheel chair, and partly because he is the kind of understanding friend she had always yearned for. Catherine also meets Kristi, a next door neighbour she had always wanted. Everything seems fine until Catherines own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and she is forced to think: what is normal?
From this book, i learnt that judgment about a person cannot be made unless you really get to know them. Some people (e.g.~ people with certain disabilities) are often judged too harshly. A good is example from this book is when Kristi (Catherines new neighbour) first meets David and purposely points out to Catherinethat even normal brothers are a pain. This book overall was not only a easy book to understand, but it was also enjoyable and taught me many new things. I am sure everyone will be able to learn something from this book and I recommened this book to people of all ages.