Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Summer Reading

Over the summer, you were asked to read at least two novels of your choice.

1) Briefly tell me what you read, including the titles and authors.
2) I want to know what you liked about the books, what you learned and, more importantly, what matters to you about the book's content? How does it resonate with you?
Please do not give me a summary; I care more about what you took away from the book.

*Make sure to adhere to proper conventions and proofread your response. If, for some reason, you did not read two novels, tell me about two novels you have read and enjoyed and answer the above.

28 comments:

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  3. Over the summer I read; City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare and The Crown by Kiera Cass. In City of Heavenly Fire I like how she showed great personality of the characters. She made them have their own unique personality and none of the characters were the same. Also she explained the book in great detail it was easy to follow and understand what was going on. What matters most to me about this books content was how it taught me how to persevere and get through hard situations. In my other book, The Crown, I liked how she emphasized the importance of the little situations throughout the entire book. The thing that matters to me most was trusting your family and taking in all the criticism and not letting it get to you. Making sure you’re staying positive and happy.

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  4. Over the break, I read the books “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain and “His Majesty’s Dragon” by Naomi Novik. In “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” the story follows a child going on adventures and pushing through many conflicts. I enjoyed how the author gave great detail in his writing. He wrote the book using the accent of the area in which the story took place, which in this book was Missouri. From reading this book, I learned the term White-washing. This is a term for painting things white, like a fence or a wall, and it was a word that I had never heard of before. I also learned how to manipulate things i didn’t enjoy and make them look fun, so others will come try what I am doing, which makes me not have to do all of the work. I enjoyed that the book had a good storyline. The book contained many of the things I was wondering about myself, like what would happen if I were to suddenly disappear, which helped it feel more relatable. The book “His Majesty’s Dragon” was an alternate history book in which the Napoleonic Wars contained dragons used in the military. I enjoyed how the author added correct facts about the war into the book instead of just making things up. She included many things that made sense and was easy to apply into the story. Through this book, I learned of many battles that took place in the Napoleonic Wars that were mentioned in the book like The Battle of Cádiz. I ended up searching most of the battles online and finding a lot more about the events. These little details made the book a whole lot more realistic, and it was enjoyable to read.

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  5. Over the summer I read; All Summer Long by Melody Carlson. The reason that I liked All Summer Long was because it had adventure, and romance in it. I learned that no matter what is going on you should always go after your dreams. What I mattered to me most about All Summer Long was how it showed me that it doesn't matter how far away your dreams seem you can always their is always a chance. This book really left me wondering what is my dream that I can start going after now. My other book that I read was Unbreak my Heart by Melissa Walker. I really liked this book because it also had adventure and romance in it. I learned that sometimes to be happy you just need to disconnect yourself from social media. The thing that I mattered the most about Unbreak my heart was that you don't always have to be on social media to be happy, I used to think that you had to have all of the stuff that is in fashion in order to be happy, but after reading this book I realized that you don't need all of that stuff to be happy. The thing that resonated with me the most was how sometimes the things that you don't want to do end up being the best things.

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  6. Over the summer I read The Firm by John Grisham. This book personally intrigued me because of the mystery/crime element and how I felt like a suspect reading the book the whole entire time. The Firm taught me many lessons of life and choice. As, I read the book I slowly became more aware of the phrase;"Its too good to be true". I realized that money isn't everything and should never be a deciding factor for what you want to do in life. If the price is so seductive that no man in his right mind would ever turn the offer down then chances are there is more to the story. Another thing I discovered while reading the firm is to not let others take advantage of your history and where you're from. Your still the same and are as just as silly as everyone else. The Firm truly made me want to go out and do what I love... If I'm poor but happy, that's all I need.

    Another book I read over the summer was Road Trip by Gary Paulsen. This book was fun because it was constantly on the run for adventure. What I got from this book was how people take for granted every set of eyes they pass walking down the street or going to a restaurant.You should never feel like you're alone because their are always others out there looking for someone just like you. If you want companionship fight harder for it and you will stumble upon someone who can impact your life in a big way. This book connected with me because it made me realize that just because you're not popular or waved to 1 million times a day you still matter to others.

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  7. Over the summer I read 2 books by the author S.E. Green. The 2 books I read was Killer Instinct and Killer Within. Killer Instinct is about a girl named Lane and she has a addiction of looking at serial killers. Her mom is a FBI agent and is on a hunt for a serial killer that has been on the loose for 13 years. I liked this book and the plot behind it. Even though this plot is unlikely is shows me how weird people can be and how society treats this issue. This book taught me how this idea is wrong and not right. What matters to me about this books content is that the ideas in the books like this is wrong but they can be good to read.
    The other book I read by the same author, S.E. Green was Killer Within. This is the sequel to the book Killer Instinct. The sequel was about Lane found out that her mother, FBI agent, was the serial killer that the FBI was looking for for 13 years and Lane killed her. Now, Lane has to figure out who is running a fan page about Lane's mom,the murderer. What I liked about both books is the detail the S.E. Green put into the book and how vivid it was to picture at times. Also, what I liked about the books is how the author makes the personalities stand out and show you what the character means. What matters to me is the author did make the book enjoyable and not sufferable. She put hard work into it so many audiences would enjoy it.

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  8. Over the summer I read 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties by Garth Nix and Sean Williams. I liked that I was reading a book that was written more than one hundred years ago. Knowing that made me feel something that I can’t describe. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea has fifteen questions at the end of the book to think about, which I liked. I think a lesson that I could take away from this book is that there is so much to learn about the world we live in that if a chance to learn is not taken, then we wouldn’t gain more knowledge. Spirit Animals: Blood Ties is the third book in the series Spirit Animals. I like that each chapter has a different perspective. With a different perspective in each chapter, the story is more fun because all the characters are included. It’s not just one perspective throughout the whole story. A lesson I could take away from this is that teamwork helps a lot. Meilin, Rollan, Conor, Abeke, Tarik and their spirit animals have to learn to work together to defeat the Devourer/Conqueror. Blood Ties has a lot of action in it. I like books that have action and/or mystery.

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  9. This summer I read two very different novels. I first reread The Outsiders written by S.E. Hinton and read The Martian by Andy Weir. I really enjoyed The Martian more than I expected. Something that made this book surprisingly likable was the humor that the main character, Mark Watney, expressed throughout the 27 chapters. Even when Watney was stuck on Mars for over an entire year, he was able to laugh about some of the stupid mistakes he made. I also enjoyed how much information was in the book, it was very clear that the author did his homework on space in order to make the book as realistic as possible. Something very important that I learned while reading this book was that communication is key (as stupid as it may sound). When Watney did not have communication with NASA for the first half of the book, it made things much more stressful for even the readers. When Watney found out how to gain communication with NASA, things got a bit less tense, but really, he was still stuck on Mars so how relaxed can things possibly get? But all jokes aside, no matter the circumstances, communication is very important when it comes to gaining information from other parties. Whether it be as broad as Mars to NASA or as direct as person to person.

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  10. Over the summer I read Halo: Cole Protocol by Tobias S. Buckell and Halo First Strike by Eric Nylund. I liked how both books were full of action and how much destruction and despair were in the books. I really liked the themes given in these books In Cole Protocol The theme was leave no man behind in this book the main characters had to evacuate millions of people while fighting an alien invasion they had to make sure everyone was safe before leaving themselves

    In the First Strike the theme was sacrifice the main characters had to take the fight to the aliens to allow earth to have time to prepare for the income alien onslaught both of these books had great themes that showed to put your life n the line to protect others.

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  11. Over the summer, I read two novels that where written by the same person. The first novel I read was Flight by Sherman Alexie and my second novel was The Toughest Indian In The World. I liked how both of the books where very intriguing to me. Flight was intriguing to me because it had lots of action but jumped around in time periods and showed how the world was in each time period. I thought it taught a lesson on what people used to do and how each persons mind can think differently. It taught me how to me more aware of whats happening in the world and things that people do to try and change it. Also, I thought The Toughest Indian In The World was intriguing because there was a lot of different aspects on life and how different cultures live in the world today. It talked a lot about how people can be so aggressive toward each other and how to stop that aggressiveness in the world. I liked how it talked about indian families that had trouble but they always found a way out of it. I read these two books because I have always loved reading Sherman Alexies' books and how he makes them focus on the world in past and present.

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  12. Over the summer I read the first two books of the hunger games trilogy, “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins. The thing I liked the most about the books was how the unexpected would always occur. Just when you thought things were going to get better for the character(s) the author would throw something else into the plot to make things more interesting. Though these books are an extreme example, I think the Hunger Games series shows what could happen if we let our society get out of control. I'm not saying the Hunger Games are going to happen but I believe the author was trying to prove that we need to keep society in control so war and other events don’t break out. Alos, I think the books show how rebellion can get very out of control, for example, in the second book “Catching Fire” the districts were in rebellion from the Hunger Games and things got out of control. The thing about these books that resonated with me the most was how sometimes you need to be brave and take risks especially to help those around you. Just like how Katniss took her sister's spot at the reaping which was very courageous.

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  13. Over the summer I read two books, one called 'Just One Year' by Gayle Forman and 'The Princess of Idaho' M. Molly Backes. My personal favorite out of the two was 'The Princess of Idaho'. Surprisingly, even with the cheesy name it was amazingly written. Senior in high school goes off to France after being in a terrible accident while drunk driving, leaving the other three in Idaho and left in a state of shock. At the end of tech summer she flies back to three hate filled friends who find her to have just run away after the accident. This book battles with relationships, drunk driving, high school, and homosexuality. I really enjoyed this book because it showed how even after the toughest things happen to you you can grow from everything and get through it if you stay strong. This book really showed me how the smallest things can affect what you can do and how you can express yourself through writing and not just your appearance or spoken words. I loved how in this book they made it into a realistic situation, everything in the book is realistic from the start.

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  14. Over Summer I read two books. The first book I read was The Duff. The author of the book is Kody Keplinger. What I liked about the book was that it was not like any usual book you would read. It has a very different perspective and it was funny to read. I saw the movie first so I really wanted to read the book. What I learned was that you should not make fun of other people based on the way you look. Especially around your friends. In the book the main character was given the name “The Duff,” by the “hottest” boy in school. He used her to get to her friends because that is what the The Duff is. The (designated, ugly, fat, friend.) In the end the main character and the boy started dating. The second book I read was Unfriended. The author of Unfriended is Rachel Vail. I liked this book because in every chapter it was written in the perspective of the group of friends in the book. I learned you should not just “throw away” your friends because someone knew walked into you life was more “popular” than you. You should always make sure to watch out for people who are true friends and aren’t true friends.

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  15. Over the summer I decided to change up the genre of book I normally read and read memoirs. I read In Real Life by Joey Graceffa and You’re Never Weird On the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day. These are two celebrities that I love and I thought reading their books would give me a deeper understanding of their lives. They were both very different and I enjoyed many qualities about both books.
    What I liked about In Real Life was that I could relate to many of the problems the author Joey had as a kid. Like everyone, his family had problems and he struggled through most of his teenage life. I really liked how I could connect with the author and understand what he went through because i’m going through that right now. I also really enjoyed how he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and tell us everything that happened in his life.
    I liked so many things about the book You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). The author Felicia Day is a very funny person and I really enjoyed how she put herself into the book. The way she wrote the book made it feel like she was actually talking to you and she included the struggles she had to go through to get where she is today. The book was also filled with lot’s of inspirational messages and I loved how it made me know that even the most famous people like Felicia struggled to get where they are today.
    The authors of both books included the struggles they went through in their lives and I learned an important lesson that we are all human and even though you may think famous people’s lives are perfect, they’re not. I also learned that everyone has a story and you never know what the person sitting next to you has been through. Although these lessons might not seem important, they are very important to me and after reading these two books I will never forget them.
    These books both told totally different stories of two different people’s lives and they both had content that really mattered to me. What mattered to me in the book In Real Life was that the author told the message you’re not alone and there is always a bright light at the end of the tunnel and one day these problems will be over. That really matters to me and I think it was a wonderful message to get across to people. What mattered to me about the book You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) was that the author really cared that a message was sent to the readers and the author really tried to send positive messages that would help people.
    After reading these two novels I have learned a lot about human struggles and the lives of the authors Joey Graceffa and Felicia Day. The messages that the authors sent through the books will be with me forever and I will always be able to connect with them and deeply understand their lives and what they’ve been through as people and as authors.

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  16. Over the summer I read two books. The first one was called Revenge of The Girl With The Great Personality, by Elizabeth Eulberg. Another book I read, was called The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey, by Ann M. Martin. What I liked about both books, was that they were both easy to understand, and read. Something I learned from both books was that there can be hard times, that you just have to ask someone for help. The thing that matters to me most about both book's content was how easy it was to follow along with the books. How I resonate with both books is that I find it hard sometimes to understand what somethings mean, or picture the right image from the text.

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  17. Over the summer I read P.S i Still Love You by Jenny Han, and The Fill In Boyfriend by Kasie West. I enjoy both books. P.S I still love you was the first book I read. This book was a romance high school novel. This book was confusing and to understand. Your attention had to go to the book to understand what was happening. This book starts out one way and get changed completely in the middle and at the end things in this book go very back and forth. She starts out with a fake boyfriend when that's not exactly how it ends. The second book I read this summer was The Fill in boyfriends. The Fill in boyfriend was about a girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend so found a fill in boyfriend to show to her friends. This book was easier to understand. I enjoyed the detail and events that occurred. The Fill in Boyfriend was a good book that described a good friendship with people. The way she thought her friends just didn't believe her made me think about a true friendship. Both books I read this summer were interesting and fun to see what happened next.

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  18. Over the summer I read Woods Runner by Gary Paulen and The drowned River by Kritopher Reisz. I enjoyed reading both books because they both made me want to keep reading more. They were so interesting. The first book I read was Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen. This book was hard to put down because there was so much action and survival times. The parents in the book got kidnapped and The Main Character has to track them down and urvive the wilderness. The second book was The Drowed River by Kristopher Reisz. This book was spooky and involved people believing in ghosts. A young girl drowned in a river and comes back as a white ghost. It was hard to put the book down because the detail and description was unreal. Also it was a mystery to see if she was real. These two book were really fun to read because of how the story described them. They were both great books and I would recomened them to any of my peers who like action and mystery.

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  19. Over the summer, I read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I really enjoyed each book and after reading both the books, I was able to reflect on what I learned from reading the books. In The Outsiders, I really liked the comparison of two very different social groups and how they interacted between each other, the Socs and the Greasers. The Socs were the preppy class and generally, the wealthier group of people while the Greasers were the a lot less fortunate rag tags of society. They were opposite and didn't get along which led to lots of conflicts in the book. Reflecting on the book, I learned a lot about the truths of friendship and family, specifically the hardships and realities of it all. The book really gave me a new perspective on how this world isn't perfect and will never be and that sometimes you have to look at the simplest things and enjoy them the most. On the other hand, I read Into the Wild where it illustrates the journeys of Cris Mccandless until his death. I learned a lot from this true courageous story and how a man can survive in the wild. But overall, I learned a lot from each of these books and will always remember them.

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  20. Over the summer I read If I Stay by Gayle Forman and I know what You Did Last Summer by Lois Duncan. I enjoyed the books a lot especially since I had seen both movies before reading the book and thought they were better than the movie. In If I Stay I learned that it's important to keep trying. In the book Mia is close to dying and wants to give up but once she sees how many people care for her she knows she should keep trying. In I Know What You Did Last Summer I learned that it's good to tell the truth of what you did or tell someone what you did because if you don't you could get into more trouble than you already are in.

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  21. Over the summer, I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Call of The Wild by Jack London. In both the books I read the main charters had many difficult situations to go through. In the Book Thief, the story takes place during the Holocaust, and there are many novels set during that time period, but The Book Thief is told from a different perspective. It was also told from deaths point of view and during the Holocaust death was a very busy person. Death also had to see what everyone went through, the message I got from that was to, put yourself in other peoples shoes and look at things from a different perspective. The family in this book houses a Jew in there basement,if caught they would be killed, but they knew if they were in the Jew's situation that is what they would want. Evan in tough situations I am going to try and put myself in someones shoes. In Call of the wild, It is told from a dogs point of view. Buck was a sled dog and had crazy dangerous journeys through the Klondike. He lost owners, sled mates, and his regular dog life but he kept on his feet and kept pulling along. Buck took it one day at a time, I learned that your goal should be to make your day better than yesterday, and every day is a fresh start. No matter how hard the day was, you can still bounce back. I would read both of these books again, because it changed the way I looked at different situations and that I should be grateful for the easy life I live.

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  22. This summer, I read "The End" by Charlie Higson and "United as One" by Pittacus Lore. These books were the ending of two great series.I really liked them because they were really suspenseful and action packed. They also taught me some interesting ways to write a story if I want to. The most imprtant thing these two books taught me was that teamwork and determination will go a long way.

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  23. Over the summer, I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Into Thin Air by Jon krakauer. Throughout both books I had read this summer they both were heart pounding thrill seeking books. In the book Into Thin Air it was about the journey of a group of people that had experienced a storm on top of mount Everest. it caused many problems and chooses that would them forever. In this story told through his own eyes Jon krakauer is a story that is hard to believe is even real. Into Thin Air really shows the human edibility to push through even things that they have no chose of changing. In the Book Thief the story takes place during the Holocaust.The Book Thief is told from a different perspective than most book around this time. It was told from deaths point of view and during the Holocaust. This a a smart though that takes a different angle around this because death really was the main purpose of the holocaust the effect or the outcome. I really take these books as a reminder of what humans and everyone goes through and that you just have to keep going and this is you school is a good example you just have to keep going.

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  24. One of the books I read; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. I liked the feel that I was in the future. I also liked the plot. Arthur Dent was rescued the second before Earth was destroyed. He was rescued by Ford Prefect, a man who is doing research for a new edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide. I don't think I need to learn anything because I'll probably never become a galaxy hitchhiker. But one thing I learned and what matters to me is that I should explore my Earth and meet new people.
    I also read; Stuck in Neutral by Terry Truman. I liked the plot of this book also. A boy named Shawn has a disorder that doesn't allow him to have any control of his body. He can think, but he has no control over anything. He can't talk, walk, or eat on his own. His dad is a famous poet who is thinking about putting his son "out of his misery." His brother and sister knows he understand life. But most people think he is dumb and doesn't have any sense of life. What is important to me and what matters to me is after reading this book, I learned that I should appreciate things more because in an instant, anything could happen to me.

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  25. I read two books over the summer. I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling and Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling. I liked both of the books I read. The Sorecers Stone was good because I liked how it was kind of setting up everything for the next books. For example it has Harry first attending Hogwarts and his journey to get there which I liked. What I liked about the Chamber of Secrets was how the story was kind of like a mystery. There were many clue leading up to the final battle. What I liked about both of the books were the final battles in both of them. I liked the action and the suspense that the books had. I didn't learn that much from reading these books. I learned that it would be really cool to be a wizard and go to Hogwarts for school. What this book taught me that mattered was not to give up. No matter how hard the clues or tasks got Harry and his friends were all ways working through it and succeeding. It taught me to work my hardest no matter how hard thing get.

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  26. Over the summer I read both Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton and The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien. Both books are classics and are fantastic when it comes to the content. With both books I liked the amount of imagination that was included in these books I also liked how the type of vocabulary the authors used kind of transported you right there alongside the characters. The one thing that I learned is that you got to give some things time like with Jurassic Park it was pretty slow in the beginning but then it really showed its true colors and honestly the one thing that is really important to me at least was this was the first time where I was Patient enough to give a book time. Normally I would maybe read the first couple of chapters and if something doesn't happen I would kind of just give up. So this shows me that I am capable of sticking with a book even if it puts me to sleep for the first half of the book.

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  27. The books I have read are Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Boy in The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. In these books I liked how they kept up the excitement and suspense and made me want to keep reading them. I learned from The Boy in The Striped Pajamas how people were treated in camps and I learned in Unbroken more about the war with the Japanese. In these books it tells me the courage of a man in the war and the friendship of two people that are different and what they are willing to do for the war or their friend.

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  28. Over the summer I read the books Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen and Death Cure by James Dashner. In the novel Brian's Winter Gary showed how important it is to be aware of your surroundings and be able to improvise from what you are giving. Gary used very descriptive details to make you get a very clear vision in your mind of what kind of environment Brian was put in. I really enjoyed the authors writing because usually I am not that interested in books but this book really stood out to me because in made me feel like I was their in the book. In the second book Death Cure, I learned how much you have to work with partners and teammates to accomplish something. It showed that when in a group all the members have to collaborate with each other and go through hard times to reach their end goal. I also really liked this book because I can relate to it because I am in sports and can relate that all of my teammates have to be in the same mindset to get something accomplished.

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