Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Book retelling


                           Wurhering Heights Book Advertisement
                                          By: Brittany Aiello

Heathcliff is a wealthy man with everything he’s ever wanted money, carriages, things, except he is missing one thing, the love and affection of the women he loves. What lengths will he go to win her over?

Genera- Romance, drama, realistic fiction/historical fiction.

Author- Emily Bronte

 I recommend this book for girls mostly for the romance and drama but boys could possibly learn a thing or two from Heathcliff.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Alternatives to Drilling in Alaska

 Author’s Note: If you went up to a person and asked them if they think it was ok to drill for oil they would give you one of two answers, a yes or a no. They would also give reasons why they chose that answer. Well, that is exactly what I am doing in this next essay.

There has been a lot of debate between the democrats and republicans about whether or not to drill for oil in Alaska. The republicans think we should because it could dramatically lower the price of gas and oil but the democrats think we shouldn’t because it could destroy our wildlife refuges. Well, I am one of those people who don’t want the republicans drilling for oil. 

If we did drill for oil all wildlife refuges could be disturbed and animal lives could be destroyed, leaving animals in danger of dying or even worse extinction. Also, the drilling might not yield much of anything, thus leaving the ground damaged and not able to grow any plant life for a long time. Another reason why we shouldn’t drill is because it could potentially take years to get a significant amount of oil to even use. Sure if we drill for oil it could employ many more people but at what expense? Our wildlife, our lives and even our children’s lives in the future. 

Instead of drilling for oil we should come up with more efficient ways to get around in our cars and any other source of transportation. Like solar panels, if we used solar panels we would be saving large amounts of gas money and we wouldn’t be polluting the air with as much carbon dioxide. We could also charge our car batteries; many people around the world are already using this method and are saving so much. 

I hope the republicans don’t drill for oil in Alaska’s wilderness. The consequences of drilling could be catastrophic. Endangered animals, rare plants, and even a part of the Inuit cutler could be utterly destroyed. So please, leave the refuge alone.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Character Development


“Where Am I? Who am I? Why am I so scared?” These are the words of Thomas from the book Maze Runner By James Dashner. Thomas was taken by W.I.C.K.E.D as a test subject for a major disease; throughout these tests he develops and becomes stronger as a person.

In the first book Maze Runner Thomas is very feeble and unstable for what he is about to face. First, he finds himself in a small dark box and is scared out of his mind. He is trying very hard to comprehend what he is doing there. After a certain period of time the box opens and he finds himself among many teenagers and some adults in a forest area. Many of the teenagers try to prepare him for what he is about to face; Thomas in neither physically nor mentally ready. Once the first test starts he starts to doubt himself and his self-esteem is damaged, but as he goes on his friends help him regain that and Thomas and his friends past the first test, but Thomas is still trying to get the movement of everything as he now is going to face The Scorch Trials.


 In The Scorch Trials Thomas has regained his self-esteem and is now ready to face anything. Although he starts to question his mental stability when he sees how fast his friends are dying out. In this mental state he starts to become delusional and very moody to everyone and he starts to think that everyone there is going to kill him. He then started going on a rampage trying to injure as many people as possible so they wouldn’t hurt him. As this is going on, his friends devise a plan to help Thomas and what they come up with is very bad but it works. One of his friends pretends to commit suicide I front of Thomas. Thomas then snaps out of his mental state and tries to convince his friend not to do it. Once the friend sees that Thomas is back to normal they continue through the trials. By the end of the book Thomas is now determined to get out of here and try to continue his life back home, but alas, there is one more thing he has to do in The Death Cure.

The book The Death Cure Thomas and a couple of his friends have made a plan to get out of this facility and back home. Once inside, he is concealed in a cell and he waits there for a number of days. Throughout this period he goes through many stages: he becomes depressed; delusional; he starts to hear voices; he becomes suicidal and then he becomes enraged, but throughout everything he can’t help but think of his friends and family. This in turn, gives him courage; strength and determination to get out of the facility. After awhile he is released and he commences with his plan, but somehow the guards at W.I.C.K.E.D find out he is planning an escape and try to prevent him from escaping. Thomas being determined as ever, he and his friends get out and start a new life.

Many kids go through life where they have to problem solve just like Thomas. They also may have mixed emotions or may go through something tough. From reading this book, kids could learn how to handle these situations.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Divorce


Author’s Note: You hear about or see kids who are struggling with divorced parents. How hard it is on them and their life. “Nightshade” makes a real connection with kids all around about how hard it really is for these kids.


Many children, like myself, have divorced parents. In the book “NightShade” By Andrea Creamer, the author tells readers how hard it really is for these kids and their life being stuck in the middle of an endless or civil battle.

Kids go through many stages and may act very different every day. Most kids act like they are content with their life but the reality is that they are very sad and worried. That’s what happened to the main character, Natalie. Some kids take their worries to school and they don’t focus on their work and are depressed all day. That’s another thing that happened to the main character, she was always depressed and not focusing on her school work.  Other kids take notice of these actions and don’t say anything or even ask ‘what’s wrong?’ The parents have an affect on the kids emotions as well As you might know, this problem also affects their life in general.

Children are missing out on their childhood life because of their worries. Some also seem to blame one or both of the parents for the divorce. Kids start to hate their parents telling them that one of them wasn’t good enough to the other or they mistreated each other. Natalie did the same thing, she started to yell at her mom for the separation and to make matters worse, Natalie's friends sided with her! Friends also might interfere with your problem because they care.

Friends are a good thing to have when experiencing problems. Friends listen and they try to give positive feedback. When the Natalie was going through this, her friends helped her and tried to understand what she was going through. All friends might not want to know but most friends try. Just like my friends did; not all of them wanted to know but they cared. When I was going through the similar problem; my friends where always there and they saw how hard it really is to go through something like that.

I and many others have struggled with this little problem, but we manage to live through it and conquer the world and hope people understand.

Monday, December 12, 2011

"Winter Garden" book analysis

Author’s note: My parents say that in a family at least one person keeps them together, in this book it’s true. Kristian Hanna’s “Winter Garden” shows that when the glue is washed away, all of the pieces fall apart.
         In the book “Winter Garden” a family falls apart when a loved one dies, but when Meridith and Nina try to bring the family back together through their mother Anya, they find out more than they bargained for. When I read this book I felt mixed emotions; happiness; excitement and suspense. These emotions came by in many ways, such as happiness for both characters when they got to see their father, excitement for when the fairy tale began and suspense, for when Anya neared the end of her story. 
         I made a lot of connections with some of the main characters. I feel that if anyone reads this book they could make at least one connection with any of the characters, whether it be with family, or a relationship or even with kids. Most of my connections were with Meridith and Nina for the happiness and sadness in their life.
         I recommend this book for curious readers and adventurous readers who want to learn a little more on what it was like back then in St. Petersberg