Archive for 8/1/10

The Missing Series: FOUND by Margaret Peterson Haddix!!!!!!

I wrote Found in all capitals because it more fits the book. Sort of. Not found, but FOUND. And besides, the book says FOUND on the cover.

Margaret Peterson Haddix. Is one of my all time favorite authors. How could I have forgotten to put her on my list of favorite authors? (on the bottom right sidebar. scroll down to see.) She's the best Science Fiction/Spookyish story writers I've ever read. I don't mean R.L.Stein Scary. I mean, Haddix Spooky. You know? There's a difference between scary and spooky. Scary is more.. solid. I mean, scary is monsters, skeletons, huge people with teeth that bite into skin as if it were just cheese. Or... never mind. Spooky isn't monsterish things. They're ideas. Missing people, dissapearing things, moving objects, talking dolls (who look kind of spooky in a way), you know...

Her books are amazing. She's a master storyteller. Page turner. That's what they say, I think, in reviews. (I read them. Believe it or not, they tell you if the book's good. I mean, if there's the quote thing on them, that means its a good book. Boring books don't usually have that on it. I mean, other than what looks like boring information, it actually tells you that it's a good book. You know that? Try it someday.)

All of Haddix's books are amazing. Her recent series, other than this one, I mean, the one that's recent but finished, is the Shadow Children series. Even the title is spooky... go to http://www.haddixbooks.com/home.html for her official website: news for the latest books, and the Missing series, which I'm pretty sure she's writing right now.

Back to the Missing series. From the beginning, the book appealed to me. First of all, it was averagely thick. And second of all (this should be the first reason), it was Margaret Peterson Haddix's book. I hadn't read her books in a while. So I took it off the shelf of the summer reading section of the library. And, thirdly, the about-story thing on the book flaps were very exciting, appealing. And... It was the second book. So I looked for the first one. Found it. Get it! FOUND it. No, that's not funny. Anyway, I read it as soon as I got it. I think. I don't remember. I did read it within two days. You know, once I get a hold of a book I really like, I can't let go of it. I need to finish it before I look up and say, "Whah?"

I liked her idea. And the characters were good. The name Chip is funny, though. Reminds me of the book Disappearing Acts By Betsy Byars.. Meat. But anyway. The ending was kind of spoiled for me because I saw the second book first and I read the second book's story-about, which kind of told the ending of the first book. I knew more than I should.

The beginning was really cool.. spooky. I liked it. A great book, right from the beginning. Spooky and appealing.

It is so... good. The book. How first, they go to see the FBI person. Or whoever. I wonder if the FBI person even knows about the time travel thing. And then the JB person? I'll call him JB, because that's easier than, what.. Alzono Alfred Aloysius K'Tah or whatever.
And the letters. And the papers at the FBI person's office place. With the appearing and disappearing JB person.
I would want to be one of them. And I mean it. I wish I were some king on England, or an important person of history.
You see, the book, it's about these people from the future, they want to save lives from the past, horrific deaths that can go unknown as death, when actually, they've gone to the past and saved that person's life and made them back into babies and then put them in the future. But they started getting off track. I mean, they started taking royalty. Or children of explorers. Important people. And guess what! There's this other person, JB, who opposes that. They say it's going to change history too much and that everything will collapse. So JB, during one of the other people's missions, diabled the time machine thing. And so they landed in our time, and the thirty six babies were unloaded into our time, by accident. And Jonah is one of them.
Oh yes, I'd want to be one of them... Royalty, princess, or maybe... someone important.
I would want to try to call people, and see someone disappear and appear at will.

The book, in short, is awesome.
Ohhh just everything is good. Exciting. Even reading it over, I can't stop flipping the page.
And the encounter with Angela DuPure, one of the witnesses who saw the airplane (that had the babies) dissapear into thin air. Her theory with the Tachyon Travel error was pretty good. She said that some people were attempting the first of time travel, and the seats were filled with adults at first, but the time travel thing went wrong, so they turned "back in time" and became babies. But it was different. I knew beforehand, though, because thanks to me reading the about-story of the second book first.

And the cave part is very interesting, too. I mean, how they're out of time. But.. all of this time thing gets me confused. It makes me put down the book and think about it for a while before I get some theory that seems to match with the book and I start reading again. And the people. I wish I remembered who Jonah was. And who all the people are. It is kind of interesting. I would want to be like one of those people.
I won't tell you so much, but this is the greatest book yet. You HAVE to read it. PLEASE!!!!!!
Must read.
FOUND by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Father Figure by Richard Peck

           I thought it would be some innocent, heartwarming book that is the kind that would win the Newberry Medal... but it's kind of different. It's on the verge of modern classic and ordinary books. I don't know how to classify it. It was in the YoungAdults section in the library though.

            Jim. I thought, not even in a million years, would a parent bear to name their son Jim. It's such an.... old name. Like naming your daughter Beatrice, or... Barbara. I would want some exotic name that sounds cool or maybe an ordinary name, not an old one. But yet, this person's name is Jim. And Byron. that name isn't bad, but anyway, Jim was kind of old.
It made me think, constantly, before I corrected myself, that the setting was in some old Kansas cottage or something in the eighteen hundreds.
           I liked the book. I mean, the idea of the book. For one thing, it was nice to think of father and son reuniting, but... not for Jim. Jim had to go... Should I say? I have a weird feeling at the bottom of my stomach that some of you readers didn't read the book yet. And remember, rule number one if you want the book not to be spoiled, read it before I get a chance to spoil the ending. But then there are people who ignore that anyway. So I'll just say that what Jim did in the end was very unexpected, him going... never mind.
            I was happy that Byron... stayed. This is a good part of the ending, so I'm just going to spoil it for you. Anyway, it's your fault that you kept reading on after the previous paragraph warning you to read the book first. (Oh and the way I say how Byron stays might give you too much of a clue to how Jim ends. So maybe you should kind of forget what I said. Yeah.)

Enough with blaming and spoiling endings.
I thought that Marietta was going to marry Jim's dad. Or something of that sort. And that the family will be remade. Not that... Jim would want Marietta .. or something of that sort... It comes to the conclusion that boys at that age, whatever age Jim may be, may think ... weird thoughts...

My favorite character is Byron. Because he's so calm and can deal with such situations. And what's even weird is that my brother is also eight years old and he is very much not so mature (at this second, he's talking to himself when he's supposed to be finishing his work). Not that he's always talking to himself; he's just in a hyper mood right now.. but not that he's calm and mature, fully mature, either...

            At first, I didn't get that Byron's mother committed suicide. At first, I thought she somehow died in the car. Though I wonder how she killed herself in the car. Choked herself? Stabbed herself? What? Ate pills she secretly bought?
Never mind, I don't want answers to such... scary questions.

There's nothing much to say, now that I think about it.
It wasn't one of my FAVORITE BOOKS, as you can see, at the bottom of the entry, it doesn't have the label "favorites",,, but it was, a good book. Not what I'd call bad.
(Remember the Bill of Rights; Freedom of Speech)

Yes, I would suggest it to people... BUT not for eight year olds and that sort... They're too young (I guess) to read about serious death.
I guess I should end here.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter the Sixth Book. The Half Blood Prince. Though... I can see why it's called "The Half Blood Prince," but it doesn't have some big meaning to it. I mean, no, I meant, the Half Blood Prince was just somebody in Harry's Potions textbook that helped him with Potions. No, that doesn't make sense. I meant, usually, the book is named after the "objective" of the book, as in what Harry does that's the adventureish-facing-Voldemort thing. For example, the first book was the Sorcerer's Stone because, he had to get the Sorcerer's Stone. Then, he Chamber of Secrets, because he faced the Chamber of Secrets and met Voldemort's past. Then, the Prisoner of Azkaban, well, because, it was how they found the truth of the Prisoner of Azkaban. And, the Goblet of Fire, well... I don't get that... it could have been the Triwizard Tragedies or the Triwizard Tournament, to be very simple. Then, the Order of the Phoenix, because that was when it was re-organized and most of the book had some of the Order's missions weaved into the story (Mr. Weasley's attack... Department of Mysteries, 12 Grimmauld Place, etc.). 
Though, now that I think of it, maybe it was meant like that for a reason. Because it does seem to fit, yet there's so little related to what's actually in the book. I mean, besides the fact that he's using the Half-Blood Prince's textbook (which is dead helpful) and gives a good impression on Slughorn, there's nothing else. Most of it is the Pensieve, Dumbledore's theories of Riddle (not Voldemort, there's a difference), Suspicions of Malfoy (being a Death Eater), and... the Horcruxes. (and Harry's fate, sort of...)
Never mind, it's too hard to explain. I meant, it was kind of wierd, titling it the Half Blood Prince, almost like a little book on Severus Snape (technically a big book). But then, it's not all about Snape. Yes, that's what I meant. Forget the first paragraph of this entry, it's too confusing.

This book is mostly about Harry and Dumbledore (and Hermione and Ron, but they're not the main storyline), and finding out about the horcruxes. Professor Slughorn was a very important part of this book, seeming he was the one that gave Harry the Felix Felixis and the one that told Riddle about the horcruxes and knows Voldemort's past very well. Though I'd wonder, how a Slytherin Head of House would be... nice. You know, you would expect all Head of Houses for Slytherin to be at least a bit mean, maybe a previous long-time-ago Death Eater. I guess Slughorn is a bit different.
The most interesting parts were where Harry would go in the Pensieve with Dumbledore to explore Voldemort's past. It was very suspenseful, because you would flip the pages to find the next part with Dumbledore and count the pages and hope time would fly. (This is where the REScale goes up.)

And a whole another subject.
Sigh. Death.
Should I say who? No, I choose not. I'll say *** every time I must mention his/her name. So people who've read it, they know, and people who haven't, well, maybe you might get a clue, but remember, YOU MIGHT BE WRONG. So don't go telling people that Hermione has died or something (not that she is, don't go telling people she is dead). 
I feel bad for Harry, it's a great loss that *** died. The whole school might be in danger from now on... Or not. Or yes. And especially that they need to find a new ___ to replace ***, which I'm sure is very hard to do.
(oh, no, I'm revealing too much...)
And the students will be sad. But I bet Malfoy might jump with glee (and Crabbe and Goyle would stupidly gurgle along with him). But then, he's a Death Eater now, so I don't know if he'd jump with glee. Maybe think, Ooooohh, the Dark Lord's plan is going perfectly, he has a clear battle now, it's an automatic win for the DARK SIDE MUAHAHAHAHAH... or not. I think, Malfoy, as old as he gets, is still the immature coward that will always be... immature and annoying (and mean, obviously). But, I never thought he'd be ordered to do such thing. Maybe he hated ***'s guts, but never to kill ***. He'd thought that *** was very... not a great ___, but never ever ever to kill ***. But then, it was orders from Lord Voldemort, which Malfoy must obey if he values his precious life. I kind of knew *** would die, because of the people around me in school, some, who, as soon as they hear I'm starting to read it, tell me the ending of who dies and who marries whom and the whatnots. It spoils things. But I never thought *** would die in the sixth book. Never, because I thought it would ruin the ending, with *** gone, Hogwarts won't be the main-ish part of the story, since they have to find Horcruxes. I thought, then, what the two inch of pages was filled with, if  *** was gone. If only I knew the format of the last book. 
Not to get off topic upon writing (typing) about the last book...

Horcruxes is an evil thing. To split your soul into two. How... disgusting and... evil. No, not bad, evil. Just the thing you would expect Voldemort to do.
Now that I think of it, Voldemort might be a coward. Cowards look to power when they're scared. So Voldemort was cowardly toward death, then, he came up with the seven Horcruxes, and now, he has people of his own to follow him because of his evilness and his power over the Dark Arts and ability to kill with ease (I guess killing someone highers his pride).
Or not. I don't know. 

I wish I was a witch. I wish I was in Gryffindor, where the brave is prized most. Though I might be put in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Where do you think you'd be in. ten out of ten, I bet, nobody'll say Slytherin, unless you're seriously mad in the head. I wish a lot of things, don't you?


But then, you never know, it might be real. Harry Potter could be real. Don't say I'm absurd, I'm serious. Because when you think of it, even in the book the people won't believe you if you said witches and wizards were real. They hid themselves from Muggle view. So Muggles had no clue their brilliant (or queer) next door neighbor was. They're like the real world, right here, where if someone wrote a story about wizards, you'd say, fantasy, no doubt. But then, they're hiding themselves real good, so good that you'd think they're just fantasies.
Have you ever thought of that?

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck

Such a sad book, and it reminded me so much of a long time ago classic for younger ages - Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. As it says on the cover, it's a modern classic... at least I can read it.

If Robert's age wasn't mentioned, you would think he was about sixteen years old. Because they keep saying he's going to be a man, he has to take over the farm, he has to do things for himself... but he's only thirteen! Though, maybe, thirteen is a big change or something. I don't know. Maybe.

Long ago, they must have thought religion a big part of life. Yes, in Social Studies/History class... religion was important. He was Shaker, wasn't he? Went to church every Sunday like we do, went to school, took care of the farm...
He thought strongly of sin. As bad. He'd say, "... as bad as sin..."And there was the Shaker book. The Shaker law. (I keep thinking Quaker when it's Shaker).

I'm guessing Learning with a capital "L" is the name of the town? Or something else... I don't know, actually. It sounded like the town's name, the way they would say Learning. In Learning, ... , they would say. Or something along those lines. Or maybe some kind of type of school for Shakers...?                    (I don't know... If you have any idea, please comment. I really need to know. ).

          The beginning was quite appealing. Sort of. The cow, and how he got hurt bad while he was "helping" the cow and the to-be newborn calf. It was scary, thinking of your hand in a cow (trying to save it) and it chews on your arm as if it was some especially hard stick of gum, chewing as hard as you can, running around, kicking you...
I can't even imagine it.  Nor will I ever want to. The mere reading of it makes me wince (oh no, it reminds me of a particularly gory part of the book Where the Red Fern Grows, when the Pritchers or Pritchard or the Prit-somethings... .. ... .... ... read it yourself.)
The mere reading of it makes me wince...
          It reminded me so much of Charlotte's Web that I wondered which book came first, and if one did, if the other author read the book and happened to get the idea of such story. Maybe. Not that I'm accusing anyone or anything, but it just comes to your head,,, you can't help it. Both pigs, both enter a contest, both win, both main human characters' parents work at a farm... Both have to "achieve" something to survive...

          Pinky was so cute... I could just imagine her, pink, small, moving around, following Robert around as if she were Robert's shadow... Sometimes, I wish I were Robert.
But sometimes not.
          There were many sad things in the book. For one, there was Hussy, the dog who got weaseled. That was quite a sad one. How he dies... poor Hussy. I wish he lived. And the two other deaths. ...
          The Rutland Fair was very obvious. Because first of all, Charlotte's web. And second of all, modern-classics in such format... they always win one way or another. 

There was one confusing part that I didn't get clearly. I didn't get why there was that part... kind of irrelevant to the storyline. Chapter Eight, I think. With Sebrig Hillman's dead daughter. I don't know... I didn't get it much. Don't think it was so important either. But in this book, there was so many deaths... I wonder if that has something to do with the story or maybe something to do with Robert growing up.

          Robert's misunderstandings of words was quite funny. For example, Chapter six. Aunt Matty and the Report card... funny enough how Aunt Matty spazzes out from a D in English, and funnier still when Robert mishears tutor for tooter. And how he laughs on, imagining his aunt, blowing up her cheeks, playing a tooter. And when she asks what the subject (of the sentence) is, he answers, English. And how in the end, " 'Next time,' said Aunt Matty, 'I'll teach the pig.' " Really funny.
          But, it's sad. How Pinky has to die. It was too descriptive, how Pinky dies. I wanted to skip that part, slam the book shut, imagine that Pinky wasn't dead. I'd thought that Pinky wouldn't die. Turns out, happy endings aren't always.
          And the death of his father, that was sad, too. He'd have to take care of the farm himself. Fatherless for the rest of his life.

          Reading this book makes me thankful. Thankful that my parents aren't going to... to... early. And that I have a proper education (actually my town is a very highly educated town so it's more than that...) And that I don't have to work every day in the farm (though I wouldn't mind if I had to) and that we have good doctors and ambulances and.. You get the point. I'm thankful that I have a wonderful mother and a funny dad and a brother and nice friends and that I... had a nice summer.
Aren't you?

The Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney

Here, the main character is not only Janie, but also Reeve. Reeve acts as the bad character here, instead of Janie, who was in the previous book.
But when I say bad, I don't mean, killing, cruel, ugly bad. I mean, just despicable. Just hated.

The moment he began saying it on the radio, I knew he was in for some huge trouble. Janie has to find out. It has to be part of the story. And it was.

Though, I do admit, the way Reeve was saying the story on the radio, it was quite exciting. But then, giving all this inside information, as Jodie said, the part that really hurts, he told that to the world (or just Boston, but all the same). For entertainment. What would Janie say? What would the Springs say? Or rather, what would they do? Reeve's stupidity continues on until he faces... he faces Janie.
          She and Jodie says, quote: " 'We can drop in on Reeve, too.' 'Unannounced,' said Jodie, 'We'll catch him with some gorgeous college girl.' " But actually, it's worse. She's sold out to the world, her inside story she's been trying to hide and forget and start over with. On the radio, going toward Reeve's college, she hears it.

          How angry she would be. And how ignorant Reeve was. It's better having a hard time and messing up the radio than breaking someone's heart, selling someone's story to the world (actually to the city).
          And yet, he had enough spunk to go to the hotel and beg for apology. Well, sorry Reeve, apology not accepted, because how would Janie forgive him? How would Janie forgive them? How would Jodie forgive him? For what he's done? He was lucky enough that the radio station only had signal in town. If it reached New Jersey, or Connecticut, that would have been worse.
The image of the nice, funny Reeve turns into a total jerk, is a shock for Janie and her family.
          But yet, she forgives him, in the end.

          Brian's story was a small "problem" of the story. You can barely call it "problem" because first of all, it's just him changing, breaking apart from his twinniness with Brandon, who probably will remain ignorant toward family problems. Though it was nice to read about Brian and Brandon. They were almost strangers in the other two books, just younger pesky brothers who were athletic (turns out it's only Brandon).

          My favorite part was when Janie was saying good-bye to Stephen in the airport, and how her dad was going along with her, and "a huge part of her grew up." It was so satisfying, seeing the good ending, the happy ending, in which she starts the hug, rather than her father stretching his arms out to start the hug himself.
I was happy she was sisters with Jodie, real sisters, sisters who go to Boston together and are always on the same side, never against each other.
I was happy she was with her family again (not literally, but spiritually, if you know what I mean), and was a Spring when she was with them.
I was happy she called her dad Dad and her mom Mom. I was happy she went to Mrs. Spring when she was in trouble.
I was happy she became Jennie Spring.




Any comments, questions, go to the new Readers' Forum page.I won't say much, because you have to see for yourself!

Whatever Happened To Janie by Caroline B. Cooney

There are three steps to do before reading this entry.

First, you have to know, before reading this book, that there's a first book, The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney.
Then, you read it. (Go on, to the library, Barnes and Noble, check your bookshelf...)
Then, you go to www.lovereadwrite.blogspot.com and then read the entry "Whatever happened To Janie by Caroline B. Cooney"

Done? Well, technically, you're not done, because you haven't read the whole entry yet. So...
here goes.


Here are the facts:
Janie, as you may know, (if you followed my instructions), was kidnapped. By Hannah, the girl, daughter of Frank and Miranda Jonstone (or Johnstone or Jonstohne or however you spell it). She joins the cult, a religious and very strict group in which once you join, you follow no matter what. Hannah somehow kidnaps Janie.
That brings us back to her kidnappance. Frank and Miranda Jonstone (or Johnstone or Jonstohne or however you spell it) doesn't know that. They think that Janie is Hannah's daughter. They change their name to Frank and Miranda Johnson and move to Connecticut (if they weren't already in Connecticut).

And now, this is all found out, and Janie is actually Jennie Spring, her family living in New Jersey. And now, her parents want her to come home, to where she should have been, for twelve years.
  
         I really wanted Janie and her family, her real family, to get along well, to be like a real family, to forget about the past. It was harder than I thought, "adjusting" to the new "environment." She wanted to be back with her other family. Anybody would. At first, I hadn't realized that, but what about you? What if you found out that your parents aren't your parents, they're a total stranger, and your real parents are living a whole state away, worrying about you all the time? Anyone would want their "real" parents, the one they grew up with, the one they loved, until someone told you the truth.
         I liked Jodie. She's like the "ideal sister." I don't have a sister, just a pestering brother four years younger, whom, even he would probably admit, you can't be best friends with. But then, I have a family friend, a very close family friend that we grew up together, she's just two years younger and we're practically sisters. I can call that kind of sisters, but then, a real sister would actually be different.
I'm guessing.
         Part of the reason I liked Jodie was because she was very loving. She loved her family, loved her brothers, loved Jennie -until she met her. I would have felt the very same. Angry, mad, to see my very sister, the one I was supposed to be sharing a room with, breaking my mom's heart, being selfish, mean to the family, acting like a stranger. Though I wouldn't have thrown a chair, but all the same.
        
         Every time Jodie and Janie or just Janie was acting very mean against the family, restraining herself from being Jennie Spring, I would wish, please, Janie, be Jennie, for once, make the family feel better, forget about the horrible past.
         Mr. and Mrs. Spring were very nice parents. In fact,  I would prefer them as parents rather than Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, if I had a choice between the two (though I'd much rather stay with my real parents). Mr. Spring is nice, and he's like a big teddy bear, always ready to be hugged. Mrs. Spring is kind, very nice, loves her children dearly.

         I was angry to read that she went back to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. But then I knew, there would be the next book, and I hoped that she would go back to her real family once and for all.
Don't you?

Hoot

Not once, not even once, not even in tiny little lettering, hidden in page 134, in the bottom right corner (don't be dense enough to actually check), not even, once, was hoot mentioned in the book. I think. (If you do, well... oh well.) Not that I remember. And when it comes to books, I can almost never forget. (Please note that nobody is perfect therefore I myself am not even sure if I have bookographic memory )

I was smiling almost all through the book. Never mind, not through the WHOLE book; that's a wierd image to put in your head, but anyway, do you know how good it was? I woke up, deliberately, thanks to my loyal alarm clock, to read it. At eight or eight ten or eight thirty or...  around eight. In the morning. And I finished it in two days.

Such a great book.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is at the level. It would make you laugh. Beatrice's unexpected loyalty, Roy's sarcastic sense of humor, Dana's stupidity, it all weaves into a funny, hilarious, but yet, a story that can wake you up.

At first, I didn't want to read it. I could have read it a long time ago, when I was looking around. The cover was appealing. Two eyes and an upside-down triangle. Hoot. But then the back cover, the one that tells part-of-the-story, it wasn't that appealing. No, it was unappealing. To me. First of all, potty trained alligators? Snakes with unusually sparkling tails, whatsoever. It sounded like some kind of educational book about the Everglades.
Turns out you can never judge a book by its cover, and that means the back cover and the flaps included.

I liked Beatrice because of her unexpected loyalty. The first impression of her bumping into Roy on the school bus and then being all mean during lunch to not go after the running boy, you'd think she'll never care about him, tell him a thing, or even, negotiate, as Roy says, like civilized people. (I'd thought Roy'd have some missing front teeth by that time, but suprisingly, Beatrice could hold her temper, maybe pour it onto her mooshed sandwich.)

I knew right on that Beatrice had something to do with the running boy. She was so... sensitive about Roy's curiosity about him. Obvious. But never, had I thought, she would be... siblings with him.
          My favorite parts were where Roy, so bravely, "negotiated" with the bullies. Beatrice and Dana. How he dealt with Beatrice in the lunch room, and Dana a few times,,, (hilarious)...Especially the first accountance with Dana at his house. When his mother found out Roy was the "little twerp who messed up his face."
         The best parts were the parts where Roy was in the story. The parts with Officer Delinko wasn't as great.
          I want to be like Roy. He's so... brave, as in daring. And righteous. He's an expert on dealing with thugs or ruffians like Dana. Though I can't believe he has that much power to mess up Dana's face.
 The story's so Random and Funny. I know why, though. I think I know why. 'Cause there's a lot of funny situations.
         The names were funny, too. Actually, only Chuck Muckle. I thought it would be a good name for a clown. If you switched the first letters. Muck Chuckle. Just saying it out loud makes you laugh.

         My favorite part was when Beatrice and Roy and Mother Paula and all the others holding hands, blocking the Chuck Muckle dude from un-digging up Mullet Fingers (Napoleon Bridger Leep). It was so... satisfying, to see them all stand up for what's right and block what's wrong.
        It kind of seemed surprising that so many kids would show up just for owls. But then, that's good, and it shows they all care.
    
I wondered, if news reporters were like that. Because on TV, they seem so... professional and unlikely to be nosy and all that. You would think they just get to the facts, don't bother you, and leave. You would think they'd get all the details right and they're always telling the truth and only the truth.
But in the books, they're always the nosy ones and the ones that make it seem as though they were NOT to blame, as much the damage they did themselves. For example, in Hoot, the news reporter, in the end, said they knew no such thing about how there were owls living in there. Obviously, they knew.
         And, there's the movie Hoot, based on the book Hoot, and it was made in 2006, and I'm having a hard time finding it. (Anyone who knows where to download it without making any usernames or that sort, please tell me!!!!) But anyway, the information is here just so you know, so if you've read the book, always try watching the movie!

         I hope people become to be more like Napoleon Bridger Leep (Mullet Fingers), Beatrice, or Roy, by caring for the environment and standing up to it no matter what the obstacles are.
For one, watching CNN will be more exciting, and for another, the environment has more people on their side, meaning less pollution and less garbage and litter.
      Hope you people out there, learn your lesson, if you did litter or do any of the ignorant things many people do (let's hope I'm wrong, that actually, not many people do this...).

Long Life The World! (and books)

The Once And Future King


I'dn't (it's a contraction of a contraction... I had not ) read the REALLY classical books in while, so I'd forgotten how... hard it was. 
I'd read the Memoirs and ... of Sherlock Holmes... Fine. Not really, if you don't count quitting on the second page as reading it...
It had about ten words per page that were absolutely probably in another language. I could almost guarantee it. But then, when you look it up... that's different.
Anyway, this book, the first impression I got was... it's long. Well, most old-classical books are long. Thick. Cover to Cover fully in an almost different language. The only reason I'd gotten it from the Library was because of the countless number of books that had small mentionings of the characters from this book (or legend, whatever you may call it). Lancelot, King Arthur, Merlin (in the book I read it's spelled Merlyn), Morgan Le Fay, and you also probably know these as familiar.
At first I thought it was just an idea, a book, that was so famous that it was known around the world, made into movies, dramas, worked its way into other books, how Harry Potter does. But no. I'm pretty sure King Arthur is like a Legend or something of that sort. In Wikipedia, I'd read that it was, quote, "...a legendary British leader who, according to Medieval histories and..." [for full article go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur ]. Yes, he was a fictional part of true history.

I'd like to read another book that's not so... old-classical. I have made up terms, you would see, the REScale, and literary genius, and you know... old-classical is one of them. There are classical books, like Where the Red Fern Grows by ... I forget... sorry... (one of my favorites, it's such a sad book ), and probably A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert N. Peck, and... You know, understandable classicals. Those I call just Classical. But then, there's stories such as this very one, The Once and Future King, Sherlock Holmes and..., Around the World in Eighty Days, (I quit that one after many attempts to decipher the writing), and those,,, are... old-classical. Not just classical, old-classical. Meaning, they were probably written a long time ago, so there's the type of writing that keeps the book from being... enjoyable. That's partly why I don't really like classical books. Because we only know of the famous ones, and they're all old-classical books.

And, King Arthur didn't just become King Arthur. That's what I will be talking about. You know, I figured, this book is so long, it would take me at least five blog entries to actually write what I felt about this book. And the usual. But then, I barely understood the last book (or part, you would call it) of the book, and that's why I quit reading it. Save it for some other day in my life, when I'm able to understand it, at least.
I'm writing a blog entry on his childhood, the first part. 
At first, I was wondering who in the world Wart was and who Kay was, and why I was reading about them when the whole point of getting this book was to read about King Arthur. Then it said Wart, named from his original name, partly because his name rhymed with it. I, then, easily assumed that it was the name Arthur being mentioned, and Art rhymed with Wart, so I knew I had the right book. At first, it was boring, full of alien words, confusing, and I didn't even know what it was talking about (the first sentence confused me for a while). I constantly turned on my iPod for my Dictionary.com app to find definitions. But soon, everything was okay, and I was even able to read to myself, not read aloud. That was when, about, when Wart meets Merlin for the first time. Merlin added some spice to the story. It made it un-boring (I think that's why I stopped reading in the end; Merlin was captured by Nimue). He and Archimedes, Merlin's talking owl. 
I liked Merlin's lessons best. It was fun, just reading about it. The ant thing (it was funny, "insane ant on square...", the badger, as the last, and many others. Yes, the swans, I think, or the birds, or the ducks, somewhere around that sort, that one was my favorite. It told Wart how silly war was. Not silly, but how... bad. Never fight amongst your own kind. But yet, look at current events... 

I was so angry when Kay lied to Sir Ector that he was the one who got the sword. I knew, at once, before, when it was being mentioned, when King Pellinore, was slowly talking about the sword. I knew it was Wart who would get it, seeming he was the main character AND the title was The Sword in the Stone.

 Great book. Sort of. If you could understand it. I would recommend it if you could read Sherlock Holmes or the hard sort. old classical.

Nothing But the Truth

          I didn't like this book. No, actually I did. I just didn't like some characters who were horribly mean to Philip. I'm not going to say who, what, or why, because that'll ruin the ending.                  
          Yes, it would. I didn't expect this kind of ending, you know... Usually, one would want a happy ending, if not, a mysterious ending. Not a saddish ending.


          Well, the ending wasn't what I'd expected. The book gets very frustrating in the middle.
          It starts out very everyday-like. You know, the usual. Go to school. Go through classes. Survive Narwin's classes (Miss Narwin is the English teacher). Ask to try out for track. Go home, etc.
Philip does just that. A normal kid, going to a normal school. Even better, he's one of those born-for-track people. He has to try out for track, even the coach says so.
          BUT.
          He fails English class. Miss Narwin thinks Philip has potential, only if he even tries to pay attention during class. Philip despises it. Tries to get some fun out of it by making some jokes when the teacher asks questions. One thing Miss Narwin hates, is not taking English seriously. Unfortunately for Philip, he does just that. 
          so, back to...
          BUT.
          He fails English class. He does have potential, if he tries. But he doesn't. So, in the exams, he fails it. 
          AND.
          SO,
          So... He doesn't really care, just says Narwin's got something against him, and gets over it. 
          BUT. 
          When he tries out for track,
he doesn't.
Can't. Because... he has to get at least passing grades.
Here's his term grades:


Math     |  A
Biology  |  B-
History  |  C
Health   |  B
English  |  D


There's the problem. Highlighted. In yellow. A D in English.
As Coach Jamison said,
"The one that really hurts is here. English. Now, if you could have gotten that up a notch. Just a bit. Even a C minus. But a D isn't -by the rules- passing. So I guess we have a problem."


          Philip blames it on Miss Narwin. Says she's got something against him. 




          Even worse. His bad grades make his homeroom teacher from the awesome Mr. Lunser to the horrible Miss Narwin.


          Every day, in the morning, on the loudspeaker, they announce the schedule and whatnot... the usual. And they play our National Anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.
          Philip hums along. What's the problem with that? Nothing. It's just a small thing, humming along. You know, when you hear a familiar song on the radio, you hum along. Nothing big. Nothing bad. What anyone would do.
Who knew such a small thing and a small misunderstanding could lead to such big things?


          As the loudspeaker turns onto the tape of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Philip hums along. Just as I'd said.
BUT.
          
          Miss Narwin is his new homeroom teacher. She thinks.. she THINKS he was singing loudly (actually humming) for disrespect to the country and to purposely disturb the class. He wasn't. Really, he wasn't, but why would a teacher believe that from a ninth grader who always makes her frustrated during class? So she says... Who's that? Philip?; I'm just humming; Just stop; Just humming; To the Assistant Principal's office!; Fine.
(please note that's not the exact words, just my words to show you how it happened)
          And now, the Assistant Principal, Dr. Palleni, says ...Its the rule. (Please know I don't like Dr. Palleni.) Because it's the rule; Against humming along?; Yes, Philip, on the memo-; is the memo the rule? Why-; Enough. Out. You broke the rule, and that's what you're here for.
(also not the exact words from the book)
          And he goes back, the next morning, he hums, again, because he sees no criminality in humming along to The Star Spangled Banner, Narwin hears, and...
Out. To Dr. Palleni.
          Back in Dr. Palleni's office.
All along, it wasn't the rule. Anyone can sing along, hum along, whistle along, to the National Anthem. But it seems Miss Narwin and Dr. Palleni (Dr. Palleni mostly) makes up these rules.
          Back in Dr. Palleni's office. For the third time. Three times sent there, you get suspended. Miss Narwin, doesn't see why he has to get suspended, she never saw improvement from suspension, but, Dr. Palleni says it's the rule. So....
          Philip is suspended. yes, for humming along to The Star Spangled Banner.


          And, then, there's the new election for the new Superintendent (I think, or some other place), and Philip's neighbor's nominated. And, Philip tells Mr. Griffen, the next door neighbor, about his Suspended-For-Humming-Along thing. And it seems, right at that time, Mr. Griffen was getting interviewed by the local newspaper reporters. Great timing, because now, his suspended-for-humming news is spreading over the town, someone reads it, it's now spreading over the city, and soon, before he knows it, he's getting telegrams from total strangers to keep singing along to the National Anthem and that Narwin should be fired, these people from other states, right across the country.
          And for some reason, he was singing along, not humming, he's in tenth grade rather than ninth, and a bunch of other things he knows that isn't true. And the whole country is mistaken for him being some huge nationality freak who sings the National Anthem for his country, not just to hum along. And, he's still suspended, he's getting all this attention...
   He's tired. He doesn't like fame, doesn't want it, but he can't help it. Can he erase millions of people's memories? no.
          The school is confused. Narwin tells the Principal that he was making a disruption during class, not humming along to the Anthem, and the Principal tells the Superintendent (before the election) that the boy wasn't singing, of course, not at all, never true, he was only making a rude disruption during class, bunches of newspaper reporters call, Narwin says he was making a disruption... 
you get how complicated it is...
And, yet, it's still not over.
His parents move him into a new school, a private school. But he doesn't
...


STOP.
I will STOP. Because I don't want to ruin your book. SO, read the book. This blog entry is not the book.




Just know,
I was really frustrated, during the book, how the millions of misunderstandings lead up to Philip's horrible fate. To him, it's horrible, I mean. I hate fame. I realized. I mean, I hate accidental fame. And misunderstandings.


Very frustrating book, but yet a good one. Just that I wish the ending was a bit less --frustrating.
I guess I'll have to think of my own ending. I'll be sure to make a happy one! What about you? Read Nothing But the Truth to see what I'm talking about!