Book Report on Hurricane Song

 

    This last month my class has been reading Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi. The book is about a boy named Miles and his father named Pops during hurricane Katrina. Pops is in love with music and Miles loves football. In the beginning of the story we learn that Pops loves music more than Miles. During the hurricane Pops and Miles are in the New Orleans Superdome. Inside there is a lot of gangs and no control, Miles and Pops escape to find that outside is no better except the smell. In that short time period Miles and Pops create a great relationship. The claim of the story is that you shouldn't abuse your advantages.

    In the Superdome gangs such as Cain's, took their advantages when people were scared and had to help, they took the people's money and lit their things on fire.They had the advantage of chaos because everyone was scared and out of control. Instead of trying to help Cain and his friends made even more chaos and more people became scared. This is how people in the Superdome abused their advantages.

    Outside after the hurricane there were a lot of stealing from shops and gunfights because there were no police. This is an example of abusing your advantages because when people evacuated people took things from shops with no police instead of trying to keep things safe. This is how people outside in New Orleans abused their advantages.

    In conclusion, Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi was a depressing book about hurricane Katrina and what damage it left to New Orleans, but it was also about Pops and Miles relationship. The claim though, is that you shouldn't abuse your advantages which is using chaos to get what you want instead of trying to stop the chaos. You shouldn't abuse your advantages because even though Cain's group got money, they were still beat up and maybe even killed because they abused their advantages. This is why you shouldn't abuse your advantages even if it seems like there is nothing to lose at the time.

Book Report on The Maze Runner

 

    This week I read the book The Maze Runner. The book is about a boy named Thomas who just appears in a box. When he gets out he finds himself in a weird place called the Glade and is surrounded by other Gladers. Thomas has forgotten everyone he knew in his old life and only knows the people in the Glade. He tries to get information about what is going on but many of the people don't give him advice. The next day Thomas is taken on the tour and finds out that outside of the Glade is a huge maze that keeps on changing. The only people who are allowed to go into the maze are the Runners because there are weird animal/machine things called Grievers in the Maze. Later that day a girl comes out of the box which is weird because a person only comes every thirty days and there has never been a girl in the Glade. Later that day when the doors to the Maze are about to close one of the leaders is stuck outside and Thomas goes into the Maze. They all survive and now the ending of the Maze is near so every night one boy dies. Finally Thomas knows how to get out of the Maze and with everybody's help he does it. The main idea is that you have to think outside the box. 

    Thomas had to think outside the box when he had to think of a way to get out. He did this by going through the changing on purpose to get ideas of how to get out. He also put wax paper on the maps to find letters to spell out the secret code in the Griever Hole. These are two ways how Thomas had to think outside the box. Thomas also had to have a teamwork to get out of the maze.

    He used teamwork when he was trying to get to the Griever Hole, he had to have a team because the other Gladers held the Grievers off while he got to the Griever Hole. In the Griever Hole he needed teamwork because the girl had to type in the words while he held off a Griever. Chuck, (who was the other kid in the Griever Hole) also helped because when they were about to die he found a button that turned off the Grievers and got them home. This is how Thomas needed teamwork.

    In conclusion, The Maze Runner was a great book that was about a terrible future but it still showed how basic things like teamwork can make huge changes. To be able to make the change you have to think outside the box too. Thomas was going to die but he thought outside the box and used teamwork and he got his old life back and didn't die. This shows that even in the future you have to use simple things like teamwork.

Book Report on Mockingjay

 

This week I read Mockingjay which is the final book in The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. This amazing book is about a place called Panem, or what used to be North America. Panem was split into 13 districts, with the Capitol ruling over all of them. One day, the districts rebelled against the dictatorial Capitol. Unfortunately, the Capitol won the war, and district 13 was destroyed. To keep a revolt from ever happening again, The Capitol set up The Hunger Games, a disturbing game in which 24 children had to fight to the death with all of Panem required to watch. The main character, Katniss, a survivor has won two of these games with her companion Peeta. In this book, Katniss becomes the leader of the latest rebellion against The Hunger Games and the Capitol. She and all the other rebels are determined to fight for their freedom.
  

Throughout the story, Katniss has grown and matured in so many ways. She stepped up to the challenge of becoming the "Mockingjay", or the leader of the rebellion. She went through so much pain mentally and physically being in the Hunger Games, facing The Captiol, witnessing so many deaths, and still she remains a tough determined girl.

In the book, Katniss's sister Prim dies. Katniss loved Prim more than anyone in the world and when she died Katniss still had to be the leader and the face of the rebels. This is an example that she went through tough times and still had to be strong. 

In conclusion, The Hunger Games series is a great trilogy and when you read it it gets you hooked and you can't stop reading until you finish. Suzanne Collins is an excellent writer, and although it may seem  violent, I highly recommend it.

Book Report on The Running Dream

 

   This week I read the book The Running Dream by Wendlin Van Draanen. The book was about a girl named Jessica who lost her foot in a car accident. Before she lost her foot she was a runner and was heartbroken and knew she couldn't run again. After a quick recovery she learns she could get a prosthetic running leg like Oscar Pistorious. She starts to believe she could run again and her track team starts doing bake sales and car washes to raise enough money to get the leg. In the end they raise enough money and Jessica runs again. I think the main idea is that you should always believe.

      Evidence of this from this book is when Jessica saw a video with Oscar Pistorious and believed she could run again. In the beginning of the book she didn't think she could walk again but now she was believing she could run. Jessica's track team never stopped believing even when they found out that the running leg cost $20,000. If the team gave up then Jessica would never run again. this is why i think that the main idea is that you should always believe.

     Some other evidence from the book is when at the end, Jessica wanted to pull her friend who couldn't walk 10 miles so she could feel what it was like to cross the finish line. Jessica had to pull 100 pounds (her friend) when she was only 130 pounds. Without the determination and belief Jessica would never have made it. This is evidence that the main idea is that you should always believe.

     In conclusion, The Running Dream showed me that you should always believe because without Jessica and her team's belief and determination the running dream would never have happened. If they didn't believe Jessica would never have run and her friend would never have crossed the finish line in a race. Without belief nothing would have happened.

Poem Report on The Road Not Taken

     This week my class read The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. The poem is about a person who comes to a fork in the road and has to make a decision about which way to go, even though he cannot tell which might be the better choice. He looks down both roads as far as he can but still can't see what is a better choice. In life you have to make choices that you don't know what is the better choice and you can't return to make the other choice.
    In the poem it said "two roads diverged in a yellow wood" which is a metaphor that means that in your life you will have to make a decision and take it. Sometimes the choices won't be easy and you will want to "look down as far as I could" which means you will try to look into each choice to see if one is the better choice until you can't look any farther. This is why I think in life you have to make decisions.
     An example of not coming back in the poem is when it said "I doubted if I should ever come back" shows that after making your decisions you won't be able to make the same decision again even if the decision you made was bad, you just have to live with your choice. It also says that "yet knowing way leads on to way" which also shows that you have to live with your decisions. This is why I think that you can't return to make the other choice.
    All in all, The Road Not Taken was a great poem that was about a man who is at a fork in the road, but the metaphor is that in life there will be hard decisions you will have to make which is like the fork in the road. You want to look down each road or in life try finding out which choice is better. Then in life once you make your decision you can't go back and choose the other choice. This is why I think the main idea of the poem is that you have to make hard choices in life and you can't go back to change your choice.

Book Report on Tangerine

     

     This week I read a great book called Tangerine. The book was about a boy who has thick glasses and is not respected as much as his brother who is a star football kicker. The reason why the boy, named Paul has big glasses is unknown until the end. As Erik the football star meets new friends strange things have happened including the death of Paul's friend's cousin. I think that the main idea of the book is that you shouldn't keep all of your secrets to yourself.

    An example of this is when Erik and Arthur stole a lot of jewelery from people and they kept it to themselves. Later when they were caught, the townspeople didn't like that they stole and that they didn't turn themselves in. This shows that you shouldn't keep everything to yourself because if they hadn't kept it to themselves then they wouldn't be in such big trouble.

     Another example of a lie in the book was when Paul's parents told Paul that he has glasses because he had stared at the sun too long. What really happened was that Erik had sprayed spray paint into his eyes but the parents didn't want Paul to know and hate his brother. This is another reason why you shouldn't keep all secrets to yourself because now Paul hates Erik even more then he would have if his parents told him earlier.

     In conclusion, Tangerine was a great book that showed me that you shouldn't keep all of your secrets. Some examples of this are when Erik and Arthur stole and kept it to themselves and got in big trouble and when Paul's parents lied to Paul and kept the reason for Paul's bad eyesight to themselves so he wouldn't hate his brother. The book makes me wonder, if everyone had been more open in the past would Erik and Arthur not have gotten in trouble? Or if Paul's parents had told Paul, would Paul not hate his brother now?

Book Report on Dunk

    This week I read the book Dunk. It was about a boy named Chad who lived near the New Jersey boardwalk. One day early in the summer, he and his best friend Jason walked past the dunk tank on the boardwalk. The bozo was insulting everyone and got them to try and knock him off the board. After that Chad wanted to be the bozo. Later in the book Jason gets sick and almost dies, the bozo named Malcolm is his neighbor and a girl Chad likes almost gets arrested. I think the main idea of the book is that anything can happen.

     I think this because in the book Jason (who is really fit) just randomly gets sick and is acting weird and passes out. Then the cops see Jason and think he's on drugs so Jason and Chad get arrested right in front of the girl Chad likes. This shows that anything could happen because Jason was playing volleyball at one moment and then the next he is going crazy and getting arrested and eventually goes to the hospital.

     Another reason why I think that the main idea is anything can happen is because when Chad was about to ask out Gwen, the girl he likes, he finds out that Anthony is dating her. Anthony is a thief and does drugs and now he just met Gwen and Chad doesn't want Gwen to become a drug addict. Then after that Gwen tells Chad that she is going to a party at Anthony's brother's house. Chad knows that Anthony's brother is a drug dealer and that they were going to get caught and everyone was going to get arrested so he told Gwen not to go. After that Gwen didn't go and everyone at the party was caught. This is another example of the main idea that anything could happen.

     All in all, Dunk was a good book and showed me that anything can happen. It showed me this when Jason got really sick and almost died while Chad was falsely accused of using drugs. It also showed me this when Gwen started dating Anthony and would have got arrested if it wasn't for Chad. Because of these incidents, I think that Dunk was about that anything can happen.