Scythe

                           
                                                                           5/5
I have recently finished reading a Young Adult fiction book title Scythe. This book was written by Neal Shusterman and takes place in a future world were there is no way to die or even age if you want. To keep the population from overflowing there are scythes who kill based on random facts. The book follows two teens, Citra and Rowan, who both hate the thought of killing people or people dying. This trait attracts Scythe Faraday who then takes them both under and apprenticeship which they will train from then on to be scythes. Having taken on two apprentices the one who does the best will be the one who gets scythe hood the other will return to normal everyday life. Follow the two as you discover the things going on in the scythe world and ask many questions as you read. Who will be the new scythe? How will the other get used to being normal again?

I like this book for the reason it took place in a futuristic world and how everything came into place. Between Citra and Rowans skills as scythes you always keep wondering who will win the test and will Scythe Faraday be pleased with who it is? I loved the book so much I already pre-order the new one called Thunderhead and will be expecting it early January. If you love futuristic book or maybe in the thought of being a scythe you should read this book. Overall it was a long good book who mostly anyone could into.

Somebody Up There Hates You

                                                                            5/5
I have recently finished reading a fiction novel called Somebody Up There Hates You, which was written by Hollis Seamon. The book follows Richard who will have to spend the rest of his life in hospice because he is dying of cancer. Richard is only 17 which makes everyone around him sad when he mentions the fact he is dying. Although cross the hall in the hospice is Sylvia, she also is on her death bed and is even younger than Richard by 3 years. They both might be dying but they have big plans ideas they hope they can accomplish, but Sylvia is the only one out of the two who thinks she can accomplish them. While Richard is just fine with dying young and doesn’t see what his actions to or what’s going on around them. As you read the book you ask tons of questions like what do these two do and what happned on Halloween and many more, the real question is will you read to find out?

I like this book because it reminded me that no matter what is going on you are still human and will make mistakes. Richard and Slyias relationship made me react in so many different ways I loved how they are so sweet with one another, but what they do is so risking for the both of them, which makes me so mad. Overall it might be only around 200 pages, but it was an amazing read that I would recommended to someone who can deal with getting mad at characters and just love a good read.

Carry On

                                                                           5/5
Wizards, witches, fights, and vampires are included in this Fantasy Fiction book that I haven recently read. The book Carry On, which was written by Rainbow Rowell, follows Simon Snow the prophesied hero of the magical world, Penelope Bunce the witch genius who doesn’t have the most power, Baz the vampire wizard who lost his mother to the people who  turned him into a vampire. We follow Simon and Penelope through the journey to defeat the Humdrum, who is taking magic from certain zones and those zones can never be restored. Baz just got back from being kiddnapped and is upset that he missed his mother during the visiting of the spirits. Follow them as they come together to figure out who sent the vampires to kill Baz mom that horrid night long ago and as they try to figure out who or what the humdrum is and why is it taking magic. Will Simon defeat the humdrum like prophesied? Will Baz tell them that he is a vampire? If you want these questions answered read this lovely book.

I liked this book for the fact it reminds me of Harry Potter and includes magic in a weird exciting way. This book might seem less me another weird magic book, but the 517 pages were worth all the time it took to read. The more you read the more you would think of who is the Humdrum and what the Mage, the head of the school and head wizard, is going and why doesn’t he help Simon. In all I recommend this books to readers who love magic, like relationships in books, and someone who likes a longer story.

1 Quarter Down

Quarter one has been crazy meeting new teachers, get used to doing school work again, and more importantly getting closer to my high school years. My classes are amazing the teachers I got this year are amazing, I’m always happy   going to their classes. I love the work they make us do and what they teach us so I’m hoping that since I have work harder my grades will show that.

Next quarter I want focus more on speaking during class time because I am a very quiet person, expect when I am with friends or at home. I want to keeping loving the work given to me and trying my best so my grades stay up. I also want to keep up with coming to class on time and prepared, I also need to make sure i have all the work I need for class finished and with me.

This quarter I joined Me To We which is an after school program that gives help to the community. I enjoy helping others and going to the meetings even though I have missed some to being absent and others for something else going on after school. I am  one of the treasures for the club, which means I handle to money. I enjoy this club and I am planning on really putting my time in this club and even join others.

The Outsiders Book And Movie Comparison

 The Outsiders movie and book had many similarities and differences, I will be talking about there similarities. One similarity is that when Cherry asks Ponyboy about Darry he still gives her the same response and Johnny says the same thing back. Another similarity they have is Cherry still asks Ponyboy not to take it personally when she doesn't talk to him at school and asks him to not talk still. Also Bob still dies at the hands of Johnny because he wanted to save Ponyboy from drowning to death. Ponyboy still tells Johnny the Stay Gold poem while they look at the sunset in both the book and film. Those are the some of the similarities between The Outsiders book and movie.
      The Outsiders also has many differences between the book and movie. One of the differences is that Dallas is a brunette in the film while in the book he is a blonde. Another differences is that in the book Johnny, Ponyboy, and Two-Bit go to the lot after the girls get picked up, but isn't the movie they get to the front of Johnny's house and only Johnny and Ponyboy end up going to the lot. Also in the book Ponyboy gets slapped by Darry which causes him to run away in the film Ponyboy gets pushed down by Darry which cause him to run away.  These are the differences between the film and the book The Outsiders.
    The director of the film could have tried harder to see that they follow the book. Also the director could have hired actors who looked more like the characters or used dye or makeup to help. Johnnys actor could have been a bit more shy and scared while acting like the book character. Also the director should have made sure that the scene involving Ponyboy and Darry should have followed the book exactly because it was an important part of the book and the shouldn't have changed that. Also Dallas could have showed his sadness towards Johnny's death a bit better and his death could have been better placed. Those are some of the things that I think the director and actors could have done to make the film better.

Going Beyond The Outsiders

The text I read was titled, "Healing 'Brick City': A Newark Doctor Returns Home". The connection that I felt it had to "The Outsiders" was to value your education and to not fall to negative peer pressure. This common with Ponyboy valuing his school life and always reading, but towards the end he starts to think he has to be a hard core greaser and forget school. He receives so much help from the gang and his brother but it took a project that he could write his feelings in to motivate him again.

An example from the article that made me think of Ponyboy school life is the line, "And I always has hopes and aspirations of doing more with my life, but I often say you can't aim for what you can't see. Growing up, I was surrounded by so much negative peer pressure and negativity, it wasn't long before I became a part of that fabric."  This connects to The Outsiders because when Ponyboy was about to go done the wrong road with education because of what was going wrong around him, he got flipped around to go down the right road. Ponyboy was acting more like other greasers instead of caring about his grades and wanting to leave the hood. His brothers and his friends help him realize that he can escape and to aim high and not give on his dreams. This is just one piece of evidence that shows how they both value education.

Another example from the article states, "And I started back in high school and... earned straight A's in high school, went to college, and went down a different side of the fork in the road towards education." This connects to The Outsiders because Ponyboy realized in high school he can have a better life and started to work for it. He also realized he had to go down the right path with education but not forget his past along the road so he wrote about it. Also the other characters in The Outsiders didn't value their education for one way or another and most of them don't have a good job most don't even understand simple things like poems. Ponyboy went down a different path than the other greasers and he needed help to stay down that path, the path that would lead him to a better life.
   
Overall they are connected through the fact education can change lives and help people go down the right path. Though I do prefer The Outsiders way of portraying that from showing drop-outs and Ponyboy almost becoming like other greasers. The second text was more of the negative look on how education can change lives and was as specific as The Outsiders was. Though both text are inspiring to students and maybe some adults to value their education because it will change your life for the better. In the end they value education and tell us we should value education too.

Say What You Will

4/5

Do you like books that include drama and even between relationships? Have you ever thought how life would be through someone’s else eyes? Well the book I have recently read ,that was young adult fiction, and  it was called Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern. It was about a girl, Amy, with a walking and speech disabilities who happens to be a genius. It also included a boy, Matthew, who had severe OCD who was the only one who ever spoke the truth to Amy. It’s their senior year and Amy want her fellow students to help her during the school day instead of aids to prepare for college. Through the last year we see drama and love blossom between the two, but which one will prevail. You have to read to find out this story and I recommend this to anyone who loves to love book characters and hate them too, because this story has both. The things that the two went through may it be Amy talking about how she wants to be normal or Matthew denying he has OCD and doesn’t want to get help, the story had so many interesting parts that are worth reading. You automatically notices things that make you love certain characters and hate others, you will end up looking at the book and thinking so much about what just happened.

Dragons Exist And We Can Beat Them

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten." - Neil Gaiman

This quote really sticks to me because the dragon can be anything, it could be horrible thoughts or a rough patch in someone's life.  Mainly it connect to me through the idea that they can be beaten recently my life has been more stressful and even a bit more sad, but I can over come all of the suffering. I have very few attachments that make me smile every single day and I recently lost one of them, it might be silly but it was my cat. He made me smile every single day if I needed a reason to be smiling and he couldn't judge me for thoughts if I had anything I wanted to speak out. It also connects with the fact tons of people have bad thoughts going on in their mind and they need to know that it is possible to beat certain thoughts. That's why this quote connects to me.