Archive for 3/1/10

Mar 29, 2010

The Willoughbys -- By Lois Lowry

The Willoughbys

By Lois Lowry





IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK - THE WILLOUGHBYS BY LOIS LOWRY - THEN PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS BLOG ENTRY BECAUSE IT CONTAINS INFORMATION WHICH WILL SPOIL THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK. PLEASE CONSIDER NOT READING THIS ENTRY. THIS MESSAGE ONLY APPLIES TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK.I'M WARNING YOU!!

The second book that I read this year by Lois Lowry - one of my favorite authors... 
Usually, Lois Lowry would write funny stories (Anastasia Krupnik series) or mysterious, otherworldyish stories (Gathering Blue, The Messenger, The Giver, etc.). But this book was the differentest book from what she usually writes (I'm writing a lot of words that aren't really words today). It's almost a classicalish book. Like Sherlock Holmes without the bunch of sophisticated long words in it. You know, usually those kinds of books include statements that explain a lot, but the something that they are explaining is really obvious. And they use the same word or phrase a lot, but it isn't like in school, where you have to look it up in the Thesaurus to find a better word to replace it so it doesn't sound repetitive. Here's an example from the book The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry...


" 'Shouldn't we be orphans?' Barnaby B asked.
The WIlloughby children were seated on the front steps playing a complicated game to which only Tim knew the rules.
'Why?' asked Barnaby A, moving down a step because the rules said he must if he asked a question, and of course, 'Why?' was a question. "
                                          The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry               .

See? Of course, Why is a question, but why explain that, if we already know that? And a phrase that is used frequently throughout the book is "Old-fashioned." In the book, everyone, the narrator, the Willoughby children, and the Nanny, and most of the characters say that the Willoughbys were Old Fashioned. 

Here's a part of the story (I'll be skipping some parts, since if I didn't, it would be too long):

" Once upon a time there was a family named Willoughby: an old-fashioned type of family, with four children. ... ... ... Their lives proceeded in exactly the way lives proceeded in old-fashioned stories.
    One day they even found a baby on their doorstep. This happens quite often in old-fashioned stories. ... "
                                                  The Willoughbys, Lois Lowry 

You see? 
To tell you the truth, I didn't really like this book. It's not the type of book I would really like to read... Sometimes, I have to read such classicalish books, but usually, I like reading adventurish and exciting books. Usually, classical books that are boring are about a typical day of a person who lived a long time ago, and there would be some kind of small problem, but in it, huge, vocabularyish long sophisticated advanced words would be wedged between the sentences to make it that much less understandable. If only the words weren't so long, I would read them... But I guess that's how you learn, by challenging. And now that technology improved, I can use my iPod to look up words on my Dictionary.com app. I don't have to look through the huge textbook of words when you can just type it in. Though I think technology is going a bit too far...
Anyway, I think it was a good book, but to me, not really... Not the kind that I would like... But a good read anyway... I even wrote a book report on it. The ending was weirdly funny, since all four of the people's names were Barnaby - Barnaby A, Barnaby B, Barnaby Melanoff Jr., and Barnaby Melanoff (the candy-maker millionaire). But I think the story jumped to conclusions a little bit. How Mr. Melanoff's son got to his house. The story "made way" for him to easily get home. But all in all, not a bad book...
But I would rate it a 3.75 (out of 5, of course not 10...) from my opinion, though I'm sure there are lots of people in this world who absolutely love this book...
not that I don't like it or anything...


THIS WAS A BOOK REVIEW ON THE WILLOUGHBYS BY LOIS LOWRY


PLEASE RATE THIS BOOK!!! JUST RATE THIS POST. IT'S UNDER THE END OF THIS POST... pleaseeee

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Mar 13, 2010

Blue Noon - by Scott Westerfeld

Blue Noon

By Scott Westerfeld

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK - BLUE NOON BY SCOTT WESTERFELD - THEN PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS BLOG ENTRY BECAUSE IT CONTAINS INFORMATION WHICH WILL SPOIL THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK. PLEASE CONSIDER NOT READING THIS ENTRY. THIS MESSAGE ONLY APPLIES TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK.I'M WARNING YOU!!

Just so you know, this is, as you may have guessed, one of the Midnighter series. And another just so you know, I finished reading this book.

This is a book series I have been reading for some while, so I don't think I have to explain anything about the characters. If you don't know and this is the first time reading about this, I would suggest going back to the first Midnighter book. It's probably in the February file in the side bar with the title that says " 'Bookworm' organization! "

As soon as I saw the title and the cover of this book, I just had a feeling that there would be a problem (duh) and that the problem would be that the secret hour would come in the middle of the day, not the usual midnight.

This book was very exciting... And the wierd part was the "transformation" of Rex. And his personality change. It would be scary enough that he is half darkling, but too scary that he almost turns into one? or what would you call it? He gets all mad and gets all scary.

So, basically, the story is that the darklings made their own holiday, which just happens to be a day when the darkling time and the normal time come together. It is called the "rip," I think, in the book. In the midnight time, there are parts of Bixby where the midnight/normal time difference is weak, and some unlucky people get sucked into the secret hour. Of course, that's how darklings eat, if they get lucky. Well, the darklings made a holiday where this happens to most of Bixby, so they can eat all of the clueless people who are now in the "secret" hour. And it is up to the midnighters to save the people of Bixby.
Their plan was almost overreacting. Rex got all crazy about saving Bixby. But I guess that's how it is when you know that all of a sudden, ferocious animals, or creatures, would almost take over and eat a bunch of bewildered people.
And another thing. As you may know, Jessica became unconscious and gets trapped in the secret hour time. I thought, before they unveiled that fact, that Jessica would be dead. It was sad, even if Jessica didn't really die. And Beth (her sister) was really sad, too... Cool that now she knows about the secret, but her parents would be SO upset... And I was really tricked by the fact that Jessica didn't really die... Probably the author meant to trick the readers. But it would be cool to have such power to use electricity in your hand.
In the end, Melissa, Dess, Jonathan, and Jessica are going to "run away" and save the rest of the earth who will eventually be sucked up into the blue time. So, probably, the next books will be about "saving" the rest of the earth from being eaten by darklings. This prediction might be wrong, but I'm just guessing. And it sounds slightly boring that the next book will be about "saving the world." But who knows? Maybe it will be more exciting than I think...
Or maybe the next book won't even be about saving the world. Or maybe there is no next book, which I highly doubt... hopefully...

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Mar 12, 2010

The 39 Clues: Beyond the Grave by Judith Watson

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK - BEYOND THE GRAVE BY JUDE WATSON - THEN PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS BLOG ENTRY BECAUSE IT CONTAINS INFORMATION WHICH WILL SPOIL THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK. PLEASE CONSIDER NOT READING THIS ENTRY. THIS MESSAGE ONLY APPLIES TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK. I'M WARNING YOU!!

Just so you know... Some of the book entries will be only one blog entry long... I'm trying to catch my blog up here... Too behind...

Just a note, I hope you saw the big change in the blog format and everything. Just to the people out there who want cool stuff on their blog (if they have one), I would suggest going to www.draft.blogger.com/home ... You'll see...

Anyway, back to the main subject here. As you may know, The 39 Clues is a popular chapter book series which is currently (or so I heard) the number one popular series in the New York Times. I heard that about three weeks ago, so I don't know if this fact is still in effect right now. Well, it's about Amy and Dan Cahill, who are, well, Cahills. But the Cahills aren't just like any other person. All of the geniuses in history, even tyrants or anyone powerful - they belonged to the Cahill family. You name it, we find it. Ben Franklin, of course. Mozart - no doubt. From Thomas Edison to the famous Queen Catherine, they were all Cahills. Something special in their blood. And of course, each Cahill had four groups - the Janus (geniousness in the arts), the Lucians (geniusness in spyware and smartness and stuff), Ekaterinas (geniusness in inventions and so forth), and finally, the Tomases (geniusness in sports and etc.).
Dan (12 yr??) and Amy's
(14 yr)
branch is yet hidden, and they don't even know what branch they are in, nor do they know what they will face in a mission they are about to take.
And the mission is that they will be going all around the world gaining clues - 39 of them (duh, it even says in the title) - and they will face many dangers. Of course, what is at the end of the chain of clues is the mystery, but legend (and truth) claims that it is something that once you get a hold of it, it is like the whole world in your hands.

Well, enough of explaining... This is the fourth book when Amy and Dan go to the fourth clue in Cairo, Egypt. Well maybe not in Cairo, but in Egypt. And the main offender there is Jonah, the famous pop star from, as you can guess, the Januses in the Cahill family. As time passes with Amy and Dan on the mission, they find that they are related to fantastic people...
In the book series, Jonah acts as the punk, or more like the clueless, spoiled nerd in the whole group of Cahills who seem to actually know what they're doing, unlike Jonah. And he's terribly stunned that nobody in Egypt knows who da Jonah is, which proves that he isn't an international pop star.

The thirty nine clues is an occupying, mysterious book series, and sad to say, (not really, it's a good book, but all of them are, that's why) this isn't any different than the other books in the series. I noticed that all of the books have the same format, just different "side" characters and settings, with a different surprise in each. They all have (of course) Amy and Dan, then a famous place, then another one of the Cahills who come to disturb their presence and run away, thinking that they got the clue, which it actually isn't... Maybe a previous ally (Alistar Oh, to be specific), and of course, the clue. And Amy and Dan get lost, which someone comes to find them, and they get back to their au pair, Nellie.

Overall, it was an exciting book. And the bad thing is, the library only had the fifth book when I needed to read this fourth book, so I ended up reading the fifth book instead of this fourth book. That slightly got me confused when reading this book. So now I have to read the sixth book. And I am REALLY dying to know what branch Amy and Dan are in... Aren't you????????? =D

Please rate this book from one to five. You can comment or rate it - it'll probably show up if you click the title of this post and at the bottom, the "write your comment" box will show up... PLEASE RATE IF YOU READ THIS BOOK! IT ONLY TAKES THIRTY SECONDS,,, or maybe 35, but PLEASE RATE ANYWAY!!
=D

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Mar 4, 2010

7TH BOOK - new book - Gathering Blue -- By Lois Lowry

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK - GATHERING BLUE BY LOIS LOWRY - THEN PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO READ THIS BLOG ENTRY BECAUSE IT CONTAINS INFORMATION WHICH WILL SPOIL THE ENDING OF THIS BOOK. PLEASE CONSIDER NOT READING THIS ENTRY. THIS MESSAGE ONLY APPLIES TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK. I'M WARNING YOU!!
I told you! I told you that by some time or another, one of my favorite authors will come up in this blog! And it did happen! (if you don't know what I mean, skim the side bars until you notice something that says something along the lines of "my favorite authors.")
Let me admit, this book was a bit short. A bit, as in, a little bit, not the sarcastic "bit" when you see your brother say that he can fly and he "flies" off of the second floor window and you say, "that was a bit too far, just a bit."
No, I mean, the literal meaning of bit.Well, it was a good book.
Oh, ... now that I look at it, it is long. Not too long, not the Harry Potter long or the Dictionary long. I mean the average 215-page long. It is exactly two-hundred fifteen pages long.

Gathering Blue
By Lois Lowry

The main character is a cripple. I'm not trying to be mean, of course not. Just saying. I feel bad for her. Her name is Kira. Usually you would spell it like Kiera or Keira, isn't it? Anyway, she is an orphan, and some people (especially a person named Vandara) wants her to go to the Field. The Field of something, I think, but I can't seem to find it in the book. It simply says Field. To my interpretation, the Field must be where they lay dead people (the cemetery or the graveyard).
I noticed that the author started with a small beginning and right into action. I don't know, but it seems all of the books I am reading (but the Midnighter series) jump right to the action and the plot. It doesn't flow smoothly and gradually into the plot. Sometimes, that is good, and sometimes, people don't like it that way. It is not good or bad in this book. Either way it would have fitted in this book. Just a something that I noticed...
Oh, did I mention that this book is in the future? But this is not the future I expected. Very not. In this future, the world was ended. Not literally, the type where the world is all messed up and people have to start civilization again. Well not all again, but to clean all of that mess up, because of either war and destruction or pollution. Well, here, in this book, the world was "ended," and civilization started again. Back to small villages, no cars, and they believed in beasts who killed people and were in the wild. By the way Kira sees everything, it is different. I noticed right away that the more syllables there are in your name, the higher esteem you recieve from the others. At first, you start with a one-syllable name, then two, as you grow, and then three, and if you grow up to become extremely important, four syllables. It was a rebuilding of the world.

I don't know if this book was the greatest I had read. It's an okay book. The idea and everything is great, but the ending was so sudden and unfinished. I like books that are "unfinished," since they leave a chill in you, making you wonder. But this just ended right when the best exciting part started. I sure hope the author made a second book to this book. Everything just happened. It made way for Kira and the plot to move along. Although some details were mysterious and interesting, I don't think this book is one of the best books she wrote. Definitely she wrote other great books, but this isn't one of them.
I wonder what will happen to Jo, and what will happen to Kira. I thought this whole book was about how Kira showed Jamison and the other Council of Guardians that they weren't going to get away with "using" the talented people and that Kira would almost rebel against them, showing everyone that sometimes, leaders did cruel things to get what they want. Usually, once you get into power, into big power, you may abuse it... And that is a bit what the Council of Guardians did. Not really. But it was cruel to kill those talented people's parents on purpose to get what they want. They could just give the child the equipment and tell them to do what they are to do, but never mind the parents, not kill the parents in order to have the talented person "all for themselves," to what I think the Council of Guardians are doing... I think so.

When the part came up where Matt brought a "small present" and a"big gift," I knew that one of them was the indigo. But I didn't expect the big gift to be so - big. Matt is kind, but at the same time, slightly ignorant. Anyway, when the "mysterious man" came up and was very kind, I suddenly knew that it had to be Kira's father, otherwise it wouldn't make sense that Matt would bring a blind man just because of the blueness of his clothing.

And another question. It is kind of out of nowhere, but I'm still trying to figure out what "iffen" means. If? If then? I don't know, but I just skipped it when I came across "iffen." I know, it's out of the blue, but I just remembered, and decided to include it in this entry... In case you don't know what I'm talking about, one of the "iffens" mentioned in this book is near the end. In my book, it is the second-to-last page. But the publishing might be different, since it is all published differently with different font styles and sizes. I'll quote it:

" 'I bet you could carry him,' Matt announced in a solemn whisper, 'iffen you want to.' "
                        Gathering blue, Lois Lowry                                           .


Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5. Pretty good.
Please tell me what you think about this book by rating this post. So when it looks like you are rating the post, you are actually rating the book.
PLEASE RATE, IF YOU READ THIS BOOK!!

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Mar 3, 2010

6TH BOOK - Touching Darkness -- By Scott Westerfeld -- THE END

WARNING: TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT YET FINISHED READING THE BOOK. DO NOT TRY READING THIS BLOG ENTRY BECAUSE IT CONSISTS OF SOME INFORMATION WHICH SPOILS THE FUN OF READING THE BOOK. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS MIGHT CONTAIN SOME WORDS THAT WILL CAUSE YOU TO KNOW THE ENDING. THAT WOULD NOT MAKE READING THIS BOOK FUN, WOULD IT? SO TRY NOT TO READ THIS BLOG IF YOU DID NOT YET FINISH READING THE BOOK TOUCHING DARKNESS BY SCOTT WESTERFELD.


You probably were really mad that I suddenly finished the previous entry. I did that on purpose. Don't worry, I have good hand-eye coordination when it comes to accidentally clicking "PUBLISH POST" on the computer. I did that on purpose. Ended the previous blog suddenly. So you would be mad, for one... (no, just kidding), and for making it suspenseful. But it wouldn't be THAT suspenseful if you already read it... I mean, if you read past the part where Melissa says that Rex is a seer and he would be the next on the darklings' list of "who to capture."
I am going to end this book really quickly. Because... Well... I already read it a long time ago and I want to quickly get to my current book.
The book was scaryish. Especially when Rex turns into a halfling or whatever they call it. It surprised me. I didn't know that Rex would become a darkling. Halfling, actually. It must be scary to become a halfling. I had bad dreams for a long time. Usually the main character (or one of them) wouldn't switch sides in a huge "battle." Maybe not a battle, but you know...
And it was frustrating how I saw Dess know some information from Madeline and Melissa know some information from.. her powers, I guess. And how they didn't tell each other partly because they simply couldn't. If only they told each other. So they would find out the whole problem and reason more quickly. But it didn't happen.
And when Beth came into Jessica's room with reasonable reasons to how Jessica had been acting weird lately, I was really nervous. I was suspecting Jessica to somehow reveal the midnight secret to Beth. I would have been so guilty, I would have almost told her if I was Jessica. Good thing I wasn't Jessica in the book. Otherwise the whole midnight secret wouldn't become a secret anymore. Because I would ruin everything by spilling the beans!! Good use of an idiom there... =D  And speaking of Beth noticing things, it was slightly wierd how Jessica shoved Beth in the closet. Definitely. But I wonder how it feels like... Well this wouldn't make sense, but being both people at once. You look at one person, they're there for one second, but gone in the other. And the midnighter view, when you're in a long adventure and do whatever you want but there's this one person who is staring at you but partly isn't because they don't know they're staring at you because to them, time is frozen... How confusing...
I think this author has really cool ideas. Very unthinkable, but yet thinkable, because they are already thought of. Very good idea. One day, I hope to come up with an unthinkable but yet thinkable idea (because I thought of it...).

Overall, Touching Darkness was a good book. Very. And if you didn't read it (which shouldn't be), then I strongly suggest you reading it.
Good Bye for now!

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