The Hunger games

A couple days ago, I finished the first book the of the Hunger Game series. I have to say, it was one of the most interesting, addicting book I have ever read in my life. Katniss, the main character of the story has just won the hunger games along with her partner Peeta. They started the hunger games out by being enemies, but later realized that their strategy of falling in love would give them the games. But later Katniss found out that Peeta's love for her wasn't a cover, Katniss would have to pretend to love Peeta back. On the train home from the hunger games, reality hit them. Katniss would have to live her life as a lie, of being in love with Peeta. When looking over the book, there were so many hidden morals. I thought more about the book after I was done reading it then when I was in the midst of reading it. I love how it is something that you never really stop thinking about

Goose Girl

Goose Girl is a typical fairytale with a little bit of a twist. It is the normal princess with a mistaken identity story and disguised as a goose girl she meets the prince she was meant to marry, and the story closes with a close to fairytale ending, but it is more than just a fairytale. Since Ani was a princess, she never had to do anything for herself, she didn't have to try to make friendships, or work to do anything. But as a goose girl she has to form friendships, gain peoples trust, and work to eat and sleep. Because of these experiences she learns what life is like beyond the world of thousands of silk dresses and 3 huge meals every day, and when she does take her place as princess, she is more prepared to rule knowing what it is like not to have everything handed to you on a silver platter. It is a really good story for someone who wants a fairytale plot but with more meaning to the story than some fairytales have.

London Calling

I am currently reading the book London Calling by Edward Bloor. The protagonist in this book, Martin, is a lazy student who can't stand going to All Souls Preparatory, let alone as a "scholarship". On the last day of school, Martin and his two friends encounter an enemy and cause an incident that leaves one of them expelled and another as an "independent study". Meanwhile, at the beginning of the summer, Martin receives numerous, seemingly absurd calls from his grandmother about a little boy and a radio. Soon after these calls Martin's grandmother passes away. Before the funeral, Martin is given an old radio from his Aunt Elizabeth. After returning back home Martin investigates the radio and from there, reality and fantasy coincide to create the plot of this mysterious, suspenseful story concerning what Martin must do in order to help save a boy whom he has never met. I picked this book because of the author, Edward Bloor, who's writing I really enjoy and so far he has not disappointed me!

The Maze Runner

I recently started reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It's about a boy named Thomas who wakes up in a strange place with no memory of his former self. He then finds out from others who are also there that he is in a place called the Glade. He makes a new friend whose name is Chuck. Thomas is told that the Glade is in the center of a maze full of dangers that come out at night. He's told of the roles of the people and that there are creatures called grievers that live in the maze. While learning all of this he quickly makes an enemy whose name is Gally . He then accidentally stumbles into a room and sees what appears to be a person except pale and full of bruises and blood. He is escorted out quickly and is told not told go into that room. Night comes and Thomas follow Chuck to do something that Chuck and I personally find hilarious. They go up to a window by one of the houses and he knocks until someone responds. When someone does respond he jumps out and scares them, while laughing Chuck runs away, but Thomas doesn't know what is happening. The person that they scared comes out and it turns out to be Gally and that is when Thomas starts running. They escape and reach their home in the Glade. When morning comes Thomas is taken by one of the leaders there and is taken to see the maze. He also sees what appears to be part human and machine, but with no real shape. horrified Thomas screams but silences himself. He is then told that that is a griever and the grievers would kill them if not for the walls around the Glade. And that is how far i am

Today, I was reading a Star Tribune article about a man in Ohio who let dozens of wild animals, including lions, camels, bears, wolves etc. out of captivity before killing himself. Many of the animals were endangered, which is really, really sad because the Ohio police had to shoot 49 of them.

I think that it's awful that this happened. It's really terrible that the man was sad enough about his life that he felt he had nowhere to turn but my question is "Why release the animals?" He ended up leaving the animals to fend for themselves but if he had left them in captivity they most likely wouldn't have died. Over all the animals that were killed cost $5,413,500. That's a lot of money. Not to mention letting the animals go caused a lot of panic and was very dangerous to the people in the city. What do you think about his decision?

I have recently re-started (and am now almost done with) the book A Red Herring Without Mustard. I am in love with the Flavia de Luce series. Flavia is an 11 year old chemist who lives with her slightly strange and unconventional father and her 2 older sisters, both of which seem to despise her for no apparent reason. Flavia is extremely intelligent and often ends up being mixed up in murders. In A Red Herring Without Mustard Flavia gives shelter to a gypsy, then the next morning heads out into the fields where the gypsy set up her tent, and finds the woman brutally wounded and on the edge of death. The same day, Flavia is walking around in Buckshaw's (that's the name of the place she lives) garden and she finds a dead man hanging off of a statue of Neptune. It's all very scary.

In my opinion, the character of Flavia de Luce is not realistic. Although it is possible for a child to be as bright as she is she is not at all scared by death and is infatuated by crime, neither of which is a trait I have often seen in an 11 year old girl. But still, over all, this series is great and you should read them!

Harry Potter!

About two weeks ago, I found out that the BBC (Blake Book Club) was having a "Good Bye Harry Potter Party". In third grade I read the first three books, got scared, and decided I was done. Determined once more to read the series, I picked up the 4,000 or so page series.

I have noticed a pattern. Rowling writes in detail about the end of summer and the beginning of the school year, skims over fall, detail about Christmas break, skims right into spring, and the last quarter of the book is devoted to the last month of school. I've noticed that the most important part of the book comes in the last month of the story. I wonder if that is a coincidence. I also wonder whether Harry Potter realizes this.

Another interesting topic I believe, is Hermione's love and devotion to freeing house elves. Everyone keeps telling Hermione that house elves are happy where they are, but Hermione brings up the topic of Dobby. Dobby was the Malfoy's house elf and was treated "like vermin" he said. When Harry freed him, he was incredibly happy. I think this is because he was not treated well enough. It seems that Hogwarts' house elves are very comfortable where they are because they are treated kindly and fairly. Something else I noticed was that house elves are afraid that if they are freed they will not be able to find another family, and it will bring shame upon them. I feel really bad for house elves, but at the same time, if they are happy, to each their own.