My Favorite Place to Read

Article posted September 15, 2010 at 04:26 AM GMT0 • Reads 61

My Favorite Place to Read

When I want to read, I find a place that’s cozy, spacious and quiet. In my house…I don’t thing there’s a lot of those places accept…my closet! A lot of people I know don’t read in their closets but I do because even though it doesn’t have a door, it’s big, quiet and decorated. My closet isn’t the size of an average bedroom closet. It’s about the size of four tables from the R.M.S. library. Inside my closet there are three chairs, my cabinet full of clothes, mirrors and pretty soon it will have some of my drawings on the walls. Another reason why I like reading in my closet is because it makes a great hiding place. Someone can look for me in my room, walk right pass where I’m sitting in the closet and not even notice that I’m sitting there. That’s why my closet is my favorite place to read.

Like None Other

Article posted October 8, 2010 at 09:47 PM GMT0 • Reads 43

If I had to pick one book to read for the rest of my life, I would pick either One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies or Heaven Looks a lot like the Mall.

One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies is a book about a girl named Ruby whose mother dies, leaving her to live with her rich movie star dad, Whip in L.A. You’d think she’d be happy about moving in with her movie star dad, but she’s not. In fact, she hates her dad because she “thinks” he was never there from the start. Later in the book she realizes he’s not such a bad guy, finds out why he was never there, and discovers his secrete too…

Heaven Looks a lot like the Mall is about a girl who dies by getting hit in the head in gym while playing dodge ball. When she wakes up, she finds her self in the mall! During the book, she’s visited by a mystery boy who has nails sticking out of his head. He takes her back in time and she sees all of the things she has done and eventually finds the meaning of life. As soon as she finds out the meaning of life, she wakes up in a hospital bed with her mother beside her. I suppose she was having a dream…





The reasons I like both of these books are because they have a little comedy in it. Another reason I would read one of theses books for the rest of my life is because, one book is big, and the other is small. If I didn’t feel like reading a long book, I could pick One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies and if I felt like reading a long book, I could read Heaven Looks a lot like the Mall. I think the real reason why I like theses books the most is because they’re teenage girls and I can relate to them or understand how they could possibly be feeling. The books are written so well that if kind of fells like you’re apart of the story! That’s why I would read either of those books for the rest of my life.

Vacation

Article posted November 21, 2010 at 08:41 PM GMT0 • Reads 58

Vacation

If I was to take a vacation to any setting from a book, my first choice would be to Narnia (after the war with the witch). Narnia, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is about Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter Pevensie. It all started when they had to evacuate out of the country due to a war. Once they got to Professor Digory Kirke’s home, they decided to play a game of hide and seek when Lucy found a room with a Dresser and decided to go inside it to hide. As she went further and further into the closet she found a new world, Narnia. She showed her brothers and from there their adventure began. They batted the evil White Witch and helped restore peace to Narnia with Aslan (A talking lion, the king). Once they restored peace to Narnia, everything was perfect and they became princes and princesses’ of Narnia.

I would like to go on vacation to Narnia because after they won the war against the White Witch, everything looked beautiful and perfect. Mountains, beaches and everything else you could imagine. (From the movie’s view) it looked like paradise. It also looked like it could be on an island and most islands are beautiful. That’s the reason why I would like to visit Narnia.

Another setting would be from the book One of Those Hideous books Where the Mother Dies. That book is about fifteen-year-old Ruby Milliken and her movie star father, Whip Logan. It all started when Ruby’s mother died and was sent to her father’s mansion in California to live. She has never met her father and really isn’t excited about meeting him now. From her knowledge, he’s never wanted her and so she doesn’t want him (but that’s not exactly true). No matter how much Whip does for Ruby, she still seems to hate him until and earthquake occurs and he spills the whole story out.

I would like to go to this setting (in California) because of previous knowledge of California. From what I know, it’s beautiful and there are a lot of famous people and sights and beaches that I would love to see. I would especially love to live by Whip Logan because he lives right next door to Cameron Diaz In Beverly Hills. Another reason it would be cool to visit California is because of Hollywood. California just seems like one of those places you have to visit, like New York on New Year’s Eve. It seems exciting and that’s what I like and why I would like to visit there.

The Last setting I would visit is the setting from Lord of the Flies. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who crash land on an island with no adults. Together, Piggy, Ralph, and Jack try to find help so that they can get off of the island. Piggy (probably the smartest out of all of the boys) isn’t treated with a lot of respect. The group made a rule that whoever has the conch (a shell) has the right to speak, but whenever Piggy wants to talk and has the conch, no one listens to him and really doesn’t care what he has to say. Ralph (smart but uses Piggy’s ideas to make better ones) is the voted leader of all of the boys. He was voted because he brought all of the boys together and had the conch. Jack (the mean careless type leader) and his choir are the hunters. While Ralph represents democracy, Jack doesn’t. He wants to be in control of everyone and everything. Together, all 3 boys have to work together to be rescued.

The reason why I would visit this island on a vacation is because just the simple fact that it’s an island. Now I’m not saying I would want to be stranded there but I would visit. It has a beach, fruit, and lots of other things. The boys even make a pool. Besides the fact that like four kids died there, it seems pretty cool. I could say I would like to visit because there would be no adults, but then I would be lying, how would I get food? The idea of visiting an island seems fun and those are the reason I would visit the island form Lord of the Flies

Up Up and Away

Article posted January 8, 2011 at 02:34 AM GMT0 • Reads 88

Up Up and Away

If I had to choose my top three best heroic characters from a book, I would choose Violet. Violet is from, a book called, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Violet is a 14 year old girl, who is sent from relative to relative. The reason why she has to live in so many different relative’s homes (along with her younger brother and sister, Klaus and Sunny) is because their house caught on fire and killed rich mother and father. The first relative they had to live with is their uncle, Count Olaf. Count Olaf is an evil man who is planning to kill the children and take their fortune. Every time the three kids manage to get away from Count Olaf, they move far away to another distant relative and end up managing to get right back in his clutches.

I think Violet is heroic because she saves her brother and sister multiple times from Count Olaf. Every time it seems they’ve gotten away, Count Olaf creeps up and ends up getting custody of them….again. It’s basically up to Violet and her brother to use clues to find out how they’re going to get away from, avoid, and get the police on Count Olaf. They also have to find a way to make sure the people they are telling, believe them. Then main reason I think Violet is heroic is because she uses her brain, common sense, and courage to keep her and her brother and sister safe.

My second favorite heroic character from a book would have to be Tianna, from the book The Lost One by Lynne Ewing. Tianna is a high school girl who has telekinetic powers. Tianna goes to La Brea High School in Los Angeles, California. She’s very smart, can sense danger, and always follows her instinct, which is a good idea in her cases. She’s the prettiest girl in her school but she’s known to be a run away. Did I mention she’s a Goddess?

The reason I chose Tianna to be my second favorite heroic character because she’s brave. I say that she’s brave because, during the beginning of the book, she had lost all of her memories and family and she still faced every demonic monster dude that came her way. Tianna is also smart. I think she’s smart because even t though things looked safe, she trusted her instinct and that saved her and her sisters (other goddesses). The final reason why I chose Tianna as my second favorite heroic character is because she saved her friends. Anyone who saves their friends to me is a good and heroic person.

My final favorite heroic character would have to be Mia from A Mango Shaped Space. Mia is a thirteen-year-old girl who has a rare ability to see sounds and letters in color. An example is, if she hears violin music, she might see silver balls cascading through the air. As a child, Mia always use to talk about how she seen sounds, until one day, she found out that only she sees them. The ability is called synesthesia. She got it because her grandmother got it.

I think Mia is heroic because even though she had a hard time learning French and math, she didn’t give up. I also think she’s heroic because when her cat died, (she felt like the cat was a part of her grandfather) even though she cried a lot, she didn’t give up. Mia’s very special and can kind of relate to others. She kind of relates to a kid that goes to her school. He always wears mismatched socks because he’s color blind. What I’m basically saying is that Mia was strong and that even though she isolated herself from everyone who loved her the most, she came back happy.

Evil Evil Evil

Article posted February 23, 2011 at 02:15 AM GMT0 • Reads 38

If I had to chose the most three evil characters from a book, I could do it easily because almost every book has a villain. My first most evil character (s) would have to be the boys from Darrow family . The Darrow’s are from the book The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton.The house of Dies Drear is about the Thomas and his family moving from North Carolina to Ohio into a historical house in which slaves once hide in.



I think the Darrows are evil for many things. I’m going to name two of them. One, They broke into the Smalls’ kitchen, broke tons of dishes, emptied there refrigerator and destroyed their kitchen by smearing the paste stuff all around everything in there. And two, they’re trying to scare away the Smalls from the house so that they can have the treasure ,hidden in the underground caves below the house…used for slave escapes.

My second choice would have to be Count Olaf. Count Olaf is from the book Series of Unfortunate Events. The book is about the Baudelaire orphans who are sent from home to home trying to keep/save their fortune and lives from their evil relative, Count Olaf. He , like Scar from The Lion King, will do anything to get what he wants. Even if that means killing them.



Count Olaf is evil to me because….. One, he’s trying to steal his relative’s fortune. Two, he has no feeling for them, even though they’re family and their parents died in a fire. Three, because he’s constantly trying to kill them. Four , he kind of stalks and follows them everywhere they go. And five because of what he does to try to get their fortune, like marrying the oldest (14 year old) Baudelaire child.



My last choice would have to be the nurturers from the community of The Giver. The Giver is a book about Jonas and the weird community he lives in. The community is basically robotic and planned out. They chose what job each person has. They chose the names of the children born. They also decide the gender, what house hold they are given to, and when a person is “released from the community”.



Even though I think the nurturers from the community are evil, someone else could argue with that. The reasons I think the nurturers are evil is because they kill babies. In the community, if identical twins are born…usually the small one is to be “released” and it’s the nurturers job to do so. To “release” in the community means to kill, but no one knows that accept for the Receiver and the Giver. Even though the nurturers technically don’t know that the shot that they give them in their vein in their head kills them, it’s the fact that they do it…and I would think they know that something is wrong because the baby stops moving. And those are my top three most evil characters.

My Myth

Article posted April 1, 2011 at 05:45 AM GMT0 • Reads 182

Madison and Poseidon’s Herbs

By: Madison Upshaw

Long ago in the village of Athens, there was a girl name Madison. Madison was beautiful with very long hair, she’s also smart, flexible, loyal, ambitious, and cheerful. She could be a bit immature and self-centered. Also, she fought for what she wanted but was very mysterious. She was almost like a ninja. Madison wore a mask that covered her nose and mouth, carried a katana sward, and was always seen with her pet husky. When she helped people, she helped them in the mist of the crowd. She helped anonymously because if the villains couldn’t catch her for revenge, they would go for her family and her family was the most important thing to her.

One day, Madison was very sad and distracted because her pet husky wasn’t feeling so well. She seen a woman being abducted and had no choice but to help her. Madison, quick and fast ,hurried to the woman’s rescue. She sliced the throat of one of the villains and as she did so, she swooped up the woman and took her to safety. Madison usually takes care of the whole villain group but that day, she didn’t and that’s where everything went wrong. The villain secretly followed her to her home village and that’s when he found her brother Jeremy and his home. He struck at night in a quiet room but his cries were so loud that Athena and Zeus heard it! When Madison heard his cries, she rushed to his rescue but was too late and unsuccessful. Furious, she ran up to the person who had killed her brother and sliced his head off too. She cried and cried , then she decided to ask her god, Athena, for help. Athena lived in the Parthenon temple and if she had to go there, she would. Her first option was to pray to her, and when she did, Athena told her to come to her temple because she wanted to see and appoint her in person.



Madison traveled for hours and hours and when she got there, Athena, standing tall and beautiful, was right at the door awaiting her. She told her the only way to avenge her brother was to go to an island and call for Poseidon . Once Poseidon arrived she was to ask him for a special herb that’s planted really deep into the earth. Athena warned her not to get distracted on the way because if she did, they distracters would take her off course and she would never get the herbs she need to avenge her brother. She also told her to leave for a while if he was angry for he would cause great destruction.

On her way to Poseidon’s islands she seen many weird and friendly creatures. She did not stop to talk to any of them for her mind was set and focused to save her beloved brother Jeremy. About four miles away from the islands, she was confronted by a evil looking creature. He tried to stop her and distract her and persuade to go a different way but it was impossible because little did he know, persuasion and manipulation was one of her best characteristics. Without stopping or slowing her pace, she persuaded the creature to leave her alone and go far, far away.



A few hours later, Madison reached the islands where Poseidon lived. She was so relived when she got there that she almost forgot what Athena instructed her to do! She called and called Poseidon’s name but he did not answer or come. She called his name for days and days. Creatures from near and far came and watched her. Some encouraged her to keep calling while others told her to give up and leave. Madison was now starting to get hungry and weak. She did not want to eat the fish in the water for she feared that it would anger Poseidon. Madison, now very hungry and weak, was about to give up when Poseidon rose from the water, bold, huge and strong. He look very enraged, someone had stolen something of his and he was ready to cause great destruction.



Madison, weak and tired, begged and asked for the herbs she needed to heal her brother. Poseidon was still mad. He had no sympathy for her. No sympathy for anyone. He hit his trident against the ground twice , causing great ground breakage, dirt and debris(earthquake).Madison, still sad from her brother’s death stood up to him (she was tiny compared to him) and demanded the herbs right then and there. Poseidon became even angrier. He hit the ground a few more times trying to intimidate her and scare her away but it did not work. She stood there, with all her might, and waited.



Poseidon’s anger slowly diseased and afterwards, he felt guilty for treating Madison unfair. Madison explained herself and why she needed the herbs and he granted it to her. He tapped the earth gently with his trident once and the ground rumbled slightly(aftershocks).Moments later, the herbs grew wildly out of the ground. He picked a few out and gave them to her. Madison thanked him graciously and set back to her home in Athens. On the way back, she stopped at the temple where Athena lived and thanked her. As a result of not giving up, Athena gave Madison the gift of confidence. She told her to use it hard times and not to get it mixed up with pride. After that she went back to her village. She found her brothers body and rubbed the herbs all over it. Seconds later she woke up and thanked her wildly for not giving up on him. He said he had been watching her the whole time. She smiled, hugged him and told him that he needed training to protect himself…just incase.