Percy Jackson and The lighting Thief: Week of 12-16-13

Title: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Pages Read: 0-Finish (175)
Prompt: What motivates the main character

     What motivated Percy Jackson was his mother, friends, and bravery. Percy Jackson's mother was taken from him . So he starts a journey to find his mother. He is determined the entire journey not to give up because of his love for his mother. I think for him that was the main motivation because she is the most important person in the world for him. He would stop at no cost. The determination to get his mother is partly what keeps him alive in the story.
     Another thing is his friends. Grover and Annabeth.  They decide to go along with him on this journey. For Grover he feels it is his job because he is Percy's protector. For Annabeth she thrills for an adventure where she faces danger and real life situations instead of just simulations like they have at the camp they live at.
     Percy is extremely brave throughout the book. He learns to use his powers more and more. He figures out how to control the powers and save both his and his friends lives. He faces so many mythological creatures that sound like pure monsters that he must stand up to and kill. I really enjoyed this book because it contains a lot of action so you don't get bored. I like how descriptive Rick Riordan makes everything so that you have a clear picture and understanding of everything that is happening in the book.

Full Moon Horror: Week of 12-9-13

Title: Full Moon Horror

Author: Jason Strange

Pages Read: 1-78

Prompt: Describe the setting’s time and place. List the clues that helped you identify the

setting.

     The place this book takes place in is in the forest. I know this because in the book they say they are in the forest. They also say they are in the middle of know where, and that they are scared.

     First they say they are in the forest. They are driving back from a lake. One of the characters says "We are in the middle of the forest" while they are driving on the road. Another clue I had was that they seemed to be in an empty area. There was no houses except for one very, very far away. They are all lost. And one has been sent to walk back miles to go get gas because the car ran out of gas. It started raining and they took shelter under a little cave area. I know its in the woods at this point because caves aren't in plains or in swamps.

     They also seemed really scared. I could connect this to my experiences because I always feel like its a more scary or creepy environment in the forest or in the open plains. I also know that a lot of scary movies or books have settings in the forest or in an abandoned area. They are extremely scared because they are attacked by a boy that turned into a werewolf.

     So they were almost eaten by the werewolves. One of the friends was scratched and was bleeding. They were able to escape from the pack of werewolves and the people who were trying to feed them to the werewolves. Then as they are driving away the friend says he is hurting. They said they would get hime to the hospital right away. He said it wasn't the cut marks. He said it was his stomach and that he was feeling sick. Then a scream came from one of the friends. The friend had turned into a werewolf.

The Giver: Week of 12-2-13

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Pages Read: 114-Finish

Prompt: After reading, I wonder…

     After reading the Giver I wondered three things. I wondered what happened to Jonas and Gabriel, what happened to the village, and how the village will change in the future. First I wondered what happened to Jonas and Gabriel. I was confused on the ending. Then the socratic seminar got me thinking whether it was a hallucination and he died or thats what elsewhere truly looked like. From my opinion I think thats what elsewhere is. I think it was kind of a hint how they had a special day off and it was snowing, so I thought that it was Christmas and people were celebrating like in the memory Jonas had. 
     I also wonder what happened to the village. I also thought about how many people received the memories. I think that the people were frightened to find the two of them missing. Then I think they went into total panic when the memories began to return. I believe that the Giver was gonna give the elders advice that will change the village so that it is more like Jonas would have wanted it. I also wonder how they get the memories back out of the people who receive them.
     The last thing is how the village will be in the future. How long will they wait for the next receiver? I think that the next receiver will be closely watched and have very strict rules since the past two receivers left the village and returned the memories. I think the elders will decide to not release babies at least, if not get rid of releases unless someone is in extreme pain or it is an old person who wants to be released. I think they will do that because the Giver will tell the elders that part of why Jonas left was because Gabriel was being released and because he felt hatred for the community and felt like they were hiding lots of things from him.

The Giver: Week of 11-25-13

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Pages Read: 65-114

Prompt: describe the setting – when and where what you are reading takes place.

     The setting of where this book takes place is somewhere in the future. I know it is sometime in the future because the Giver and the Receiver (Jonas) are seeing memories from the past. Jonas learns about sledding, color, weather, and things that we have now. The Giver and Jonas are the only ones that know of these things. The community is very secretive and simple.
     They are in a Utopian society. I know this because everything is controlled by the elders who is like the government. Everything there is controlled. For example they know not of what lies beyond their community. They do not know about the past or about color and competition. They are all contained. You can file for a partner. And then you file for a child. They are allowed one boy and one girl. 
     I have found this book pretty interesting. I find it weird that the people know nothing about what lies beyond or about the far past because in our time we know what lies beyond our community and we know all about our past. I would not want to be a receiver or giver because I would not want all those memories of pain no matter how many good memories I would have. So far I have found the book okay.

The Giver: Week of 11-18-13

Title: The Giver

Author: Lois Lowry

Pages Read: 0-65

Prompt: •Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it

is the most important event.

     The part that I found most important was that he was skipped in the ceremony of the Twelves.
I thought this because it left you wanting to find out, he gets his job, and its a special job. After I read the part that he had been skipped I was surprised. I wanted to find out why and what happens. It made me keep reading the next chapter.
     This leads to the "Special Job". He goes up and is selected to be the next "Receiver of Memory" I'm still not entirely sure what that job is. I want to find out if he is separated from the community more or what. The thing that I did catch was that the Elder said he can see ahead to the future. I was wondering what they might use him for and if he will learn any secrets.
     Overall I think the book is okay so far. I think i is a really weird community they live in. I would not want to live in a community like that. I think it would be weird and not fun because there is no sports or competition and everything is selected for you. I think its dumb that everyone is with like a group of people that are all the same age because there are some kids that are months and almost a year older than some of the kids in the group. I hope I end up enjoying this book.

The Book Of Basketball: Week of 11-11-13

Title: The Book Of Basketball

Author: Bill Simmons

Pages Read: 0-39

Prompt: Analyze what motivates the main character’s behavior.

     The things that I felt motivate the main character was his Dad, NBA players, and his love for the game of basketball. First he is motivated to go to NBA games. His Dad gets his hands on Celtics season tickets. At the time the tickets were very cheap compared to prices now. His Dad takes him to the games.

     Then the NBA players. The best players would face off. One of them was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The person telling the story is white but wants to be black so he can be like the best players of the NBA. So he would write Jabbar on his papers instead of his name.

      This story is basically about a boy and how basketball influenced his life. His Dad got the tickets and he immediately fell in love with the game. He is watching his favorite teams. He eventually got to watch the players warm up and get to pass them the ball if the ball came towards him because he got to stand right by where they practiced.  

The Tell-Tale Heart: Week of 11-4-13

Title: The Tell-Tale Heart

Author: Edgar Allen Poe

Pages Read: Whole Story

Prompt: Summarize what you read

     The first thing that happens is a man telling about the story of how he killed an old man. It starts with the reason he kills the old man. He tells about his eye. How it is a demon eye. It startles hime. There was nothing else it was just the eye. It started off with hime watching him for several nights. He watched him every night for a week until on the last day...
     He was watching and he made a noise that startled the old man. He cried out "Who's there?". The old man sat on his bed awake. He tried to calm himself by saying it was just the floor boards. Then the narrator heard the old man's heart. It was thumping. It grew louder. Until the point where he got the old man, the old man shrieked, and the narrator pulled the bed over him and suffocated him with the bed.
     Next the narrator dismembered his limbs and hid them under the floor boards. Then came a knock at the door. It was the police. The officers said there were reports of a shriek from inside the house. They came in to investigate. The narrator acted rather cocky. He took them to the room where he killed the man and pulled out chairs for them to sit. The narrator sat on the floor boards that contained the limbs underneath. They talked for a while until a noise got into the narrator's head. It was a thumping noise. What was it... It was the sound of a beating heart. It grew louder by the second but the officers did not hear a sound. It drew the narrator crazy. Until he finally confessed to killing the old man and hiding the limbs under the floor boards.

Unstoppable: Week of 10-28-13

Title: Unstoppable

Author: Tim Green

Pages Read: 261-finish (353)

Prompt: •Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it

is the most important event.

SPOILER ALERT

     The most important event of the story for me was when Harrison got hurt at his practice. The first reason was because it jeopardized the whole season. They had worked so hard as a team. He had done so well as the running back for their football team. It was the practice right before the championship. He tries to shake it off and ice it but it is constantly bothering him. So he goes in for in MRI.

     The next reason I thought it was the most important event was because he went in for an MRI and they found he had a tumor in his knee. That because he got an MRI it saved his life. The thing is they had to remove his leg from the knee down. This changes everything because now he has to train and exercise and go through chemotherapy just to be able to walk with a fake leg.

     The final reason was because it showed how much his parents now loved him. His Dad asked him to start calling him Dad instead of Coach. His Dad told Harrison that they were going to fully adopt him before any thing is done to take away the tumor in his leg and go through chemotherapy. They had an old friend come to help him exercise and maybe one day play football again. It showed how much dedication and love Harrison's parents had for him. And that was truly what Harrison needed at the time.

Unstoppable: Week of 10-21-13

Title: Unstoppable

Author: Tim Green

Pages Read: 184-261

Prompt: Analyze how your feelings change as you read this story and why.

                     SPOILER ALERT

     First in the beginning of the story my feelings were sympathy because the main character, Harrison was being mistreated and abused by his foster parents. They would make him work all day and would wip him if he did anything wrong. Then it only got worse. He got separated from them and was sent to a juvenile facility where he found out his birth mother had passed away.
     Then I felt very happy and excited. This was because he was sent to good foster parents who cared about him and really love him. He joins the football team and he is a star. They made it to the championship. That week before the championship he gets hurt. He gets sent in for an MRI and then my feelings change again.
     My feelings get to anticipation because they find out he has bone cancer. The had to remove his leg form the knee down. A friend of Harrison's Dad who he was in the war with also lost his leg and is helping Harrison get through the whole process. He helps him exercise and he is going through chemotherapy and the whole process of it. I am anticipating the finish of the story.