Eden

 **The Red Kayak By Priscilla Cummings (Summer Reading)**   //Red Kayak// by Priscilla Cummings is a book that questions making the right decision and doing the right thing. Even though this book is fiction, it has very realistic life like problems and conflicts. Within the book it says it is a young adults novel but, I think it could be for young adults and up because of its’ valuable lesson. This book is mainly themed around like what I said before, doing the right thing and making the right decision, when Brady and his friends J.T. and Digger see the next door neighbor out on a kayak with her son when the weather wasn’t so good, and they never warned them because of bad relations with the father. While Brady is in the middle of a class the principle pulls him out because his dad is there with some bad news and he said, “ Carl called. Somebody’s missing on the river, maybe the bay. He wants us to come help look.” Brady knew right away that it had been the neighbors on the kayak and suddenly guilt came over him. Brady and his dad went to go help find them and they had found the woman, Mrs.DiAngleo, but then Brady found the little boy Ben, passed and he had been too late and when they got him to the hospital they had a pulse but he died regardless, leaving Brady feeling much worse than he had been.

I think the book tells a really good story personally. The plot of it was definitely convincing and I actually caught myself checking to see if it were based on a true story or not. This story kept you reading and you couldn’t close the book. To some people when he is talking about his guilt it may bore them but my mind never wandered once throughout this story. This story takes place in a town near the Chesapeake Bay. The setting does make the story exciting because it is near the water and since it is a small town everybody know everyone pretty well so when Brady rescued Ben it had been a really big deal. Even though this could happen in anywhere in the world I personally liked the setting of the Chesapeake Bay because of after Ben died in the River I think it would not have been the same if Brady wouldn’t have been able to go boating on that river for a while.   There is a theme, problem, and conflict in //Red Kayak// . The theme we have already established as doing the right thing, making the right decision, but the conflict is that Brady eventually finds out that J.T. and Digger drilled holes in the kayak to make it sink. So this brings us to our problem and part of our theme, Brady is conflicted on whether he should tell his parents or keep his friends safe and out of trouble. This book set out to tell the reader that even if it’s going to hurt to do the right thing that it needs to be done no matter what and show integrity. I think that Priscilla Cummings achieved this goal well. I connected to Brady very well because I have been in situations where I had to do the right thing even though it was going to get my friend in trouble and who hasn’t been in a situation like that? I think all the characters developed throughout the story because Brady learned a lesson of integrity, J.T. and Digger learned that there is consequences to irresponsible actions so I think they all abruptly became mature by the end of the book.

There were many surprises and twists in this story and it always kept you reading and I was really surprised when J.T. and Digger did what they did. The chapters always had those annoying cliffhangers that bothered you until you read the next page which happened to me very frequently in the book. The teenage boys spoke like teenage boys and the parents spoke like parents in this book and all seemed natural, and believable. If I were to give this book a star rating I would give it a four out of five because I really did like it because the characters were likable, it was exciting, it was sad, but it had a good ending and it was well written. Well, done Priscilla.  **The Time Machine By H.G. Wells (Summer Reading.)**  The book that I choose to read is //The Time Machine//  by H.G. Wells. The Time Traveller is the main character, he invites several people to dinner one night and shows them his model of a time machine and discusses with them that he has a theory that it is possible and then has them over again a couple days later so he can tell them the story his time travelling adventure. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//The Time Machine// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was definitely under the genre of fantasy, although it did have a tint of action and adventure in it. Even though it is only 102 pages, I would suggest this book for a high-school grade audience because of its’ complex vocabulary. I also think that a more mature age group would better understand the logic of the Time Travelers’ theories. Sometimes I felt as though the book could drag on, there were also parts that made me not want to put down the book for anything. One of my favorite parts is when the Time Traveler is very late for dinner and when he finally arrives looking very grotty and unkempt, he simply sits down and starts eating without a word while his guests start to question he simply ignores them and then when the narrator asks, “One word, have you been time traveling?” <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Time Traveller responds with, “Yes.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I think the book does tell a wonderful story but it is just a little difficult to keep up at times. Some parts of the plot I think are believable, but then at other times I feel like it can be a little...odd, but then again I do read it and look at it as a fantasy novel. For example, when the Time Traveller is in the future and discovers the Eloi and the Morlocks, I still don't understand how humans could possibly evolve into two groups who speak a completely different language then any of us use today, let alone the Eloi are kind of like tiny people who dance around in the sun all day and live in fear of the Morlocks, who are huge ape-like creatures that run machines underground. I found that the only times it was hard to concentrate on then book was when he would go off track of the story to explain his theories of how the future was what it was to his fellow guests. Also the way it was written, since it is quite an old book, it could be kind of hard to read sometimes and my mind began to wander at that point. I do love the setting of this book though, because it goes so far into the future and not just a couple hundred or thousand of years, he goes all the way to 802,701 AD, and even goes further until the air is too thin for him to breath. This setting definitely made the story have a little more pizazz to it. The setting of this story 802,701 AD, made some characters in the book not believe he was time traveling because it was so far into the future, and the idea itself is an overwhelming thing to believe.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The problem of this story was when the Morlocks hid the time machine after the Time Traveller had arrived while the Eloi were welcoming him to their land. The Time Traveller had been stuck on this strange new world and while he was there had to find his time machine and get out soon, because the longer he stayed there the more he found out about why the Eloi acted as they did and hid at night when the Morlocks would come out. I think the author H.G. Wells set out to tell the world of an adventure if a man had a time machine and I think he accomplished it very well. I connected very well with the dinner guests of the Time Traveller because I was just as curious as them about how time travel worked and I was very interested to hear the Time Travelers’ story. The Time Traveler definitely developed throughout this story because he started off as a curious scientist wondering what it would be like to travel through time then he ended a determined man to make people believe time travel was possible. I could really connect with the narrator well because he was the only one who went back to see the time traveler because he believed his story, and I would have done that exact thing.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> H.G. Wells, in my opinion, has a very edgy writing style. Most of his chapters did not have cliff hangers, but you still wanted to keep reading. There were surprises in his story like when his time machine went missing, and he could barely communicate with anyone. H.G. Wells, made the characters believable in certain ways by making them all very different and have multiple opinions at a dinner party, making the dialogue flow. If I were to give this book a star rating, I would give it a three out of five. I did like the book, it just made me confused at some parts. H.G. Wells wrote this very well and cleverly, since this was the first novel to experiment with the idea of time travel. I would definitely read this book again when I am older to see if I get the more detailed parts of it. If you are looking for a book that has adventure and excitement in it with a scientific twist, then you would love <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//The Time Machine// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by H.G. Wells. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">** //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (1st trimester) // ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 36pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For my trimester reading log book, I chose //The Secret Life of Bees// by Sue Monk Kidd. The main character in this story is a fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens. However Rosaleen, her African-American maid, who is also a mentor of sorts to LIly, accompanies Lily throughout this entire book. This Book takes place in Sylvan, South Carolina where LIly and Rosaleen live with Lily’s father T. Ray. T. Ray is a peach farmer who is cruel and ruthless when it comes to Lily. He often forgets her birthdays and couldn’t care less about her. Lily does not have a mother because she died when Lily was an early age. Lily decided that she has had enough of T. Ray and she decides to take off to Tiburon, South Carolina, a city that she had seen on the back of a black mary picture of her mother’s. When they arrive there they find the Boatwright sister’s house and stay there for a while. I think the book tells a good story and I think it is pretty believable. It takes place in the 60’s, when African-Americans did not have all of their rights yet, which helped make they plot believable. Sometimes, I thought it as a little difficult to stay on track because Lily has a lot of detail in her thoughts, and sometimes they were pretty pointless details and I could trial off into my thoughts. I think the theme of this book is empowerment. This goes on throughout the whole book in different ways. The African-American Boatwright sisters, showed empowerment in the way that they were very successful and didn’t let their race stand in their way. Lily showed empowerment by breaking off of T. Ray’s grip once and for all, without looking back. The characters were very believable. They all had a special kind of friendly connection with each other and Lily eventually grew to love August, one of the Boatwright sisters, like a mother. I think that Lily developed through the story by developing a sort of maturity while she was working for them. Rosaleen too, developed in the way that she grew to really like the Boatwrights when in the beginning, she didn’t really approve of them. There were definitely surprises within the chapters, that kept the story interesting, but the chapters did not really end with cliffhangers, and sometimes you would get bored and just put the book down for a minute. The dialogue was very natural seeming between the characters, it always seemed to flow right and you could practically har the characters accent in your head while you read. In conclusion, I would give this book a three out of five star rating for this book only because I thought it would drag on for a little while and get a little boring. However, I did like the story lines they were always very interesting and made you want to keep reading. I would recommend this book to fifth grade and up, because it has some really good morales in it as well as a nice told story.

<span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 48px;">[|http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Bees-Monk-Kidd/dp/0143114557/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289399243&sr=1-1] <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 48px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: 48px;">**The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch (second trimester)** <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For my second trimester book, I chose to read <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">//The Last Lecture// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by Randy Pausch. This is an auto-biography of sorts that is co-authored by Randy Pausch himself. The main plot of this book is about Randy Pausch, who was given months to live due to pancreatic cancer. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon, and he was given the opportunity to do a last lecture. Of course, Randy took this opportunity, and gave it his all. This book is about ho he accomplished that.

I think that this book tells a very good story, and a very good lesson as well. The plot was not at all forced, but was very memorable. It wasn’t hard at all concentrating on this book, and the only times my mind did wander off was if I was reflecting on a good memory that the book brought up. The setting is mainly in Randy Pausch’s classroom, where he gave his last lecture. It did kind of make the story more captivating that he was in his own classroom, teaching his own students about life lessons tat they will continue to spread for the rest of their lives.

The theme of this story is to make the most out of life, because even if you don’t want it to, it’s going to run out. Randy set out to do this as a mission before his life ran out. He knew that his kids were going to have to learn the lessons he taught in his lecture some day too, when he wasn’t going to be there anymore. This book was not to make you depressed, it was set out to make you look upon your life with great optimism to go places where you have never gone before and to fulfill your childhood dreams. I think Randy set out to do this, and succeeded big time, having over 12 million viewers watch his speech on YouTube.

I think that everyone should read this book at least once in their lifetime. I thought it was fun to hear about all the amazing things that Randy had accomplished, and how he approached his terrible prognosis with such a positive energy and attitude, rather than sulk around waiting to die. I highly recommend this book and give it a five out of five star rating. Even though the plot sounds depressing, it is really a great book full of positive messages and optimism. Excellent work Randy. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/1401323251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297863122&sr=8-1 **__<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hobbit __<span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by J.R.R. Tolkien ** <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> For my third trimester book review, I read <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__The Hobbit__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> by J.R.R. Tolkien. In this fantasy tale, a hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins is approached by the great Wizard Gandalf with an opportunity to go on an adventure. Hobbits aren’t very adventurous, when Bilbo is approached with this mission he politely denies the request. However, later that week, when Gandalf comes for tea, Bilbo suddenly has a whole crew of dwarves ready for an adventure. So as that night carried on, Bilbo finally decides to let go of his hobbit ways, and go on the mission and a burglar.

I did not think that this was a badly written book, it just was definitely not my type of book, due to it’s heavy fantasy genre. However, the adventurous bits were quite entertaining, and I think if you happened to like fantasy and adventure and have a big imagination, you would really love this book. I had trouble concentrating sometimes during the story, because I found it quite slow. The beginning is very slow, but if you persevere through it, you may find the rest entertaining. It is a bit hard not to have your mind wander though, because of the descriptive writing style of Tolkien. Although, again I stress, if you can read fantasy books, then you would love this. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">__The Hobbit__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is one of those books that you have to be committed to, or else you won’t be able to finish it.

If I were to give this book a star rating, I would give it two stars. This is strongly based on the fact that I have great difficulty reading fantasy genre books, but I also stress that it was very well written. J.R.R. Tolkien is a very descriptive writer, so it isn’t hard to picture everything that happens in the book, making it a little easier to read. He did a great job considering when he wrote the book. In conclusion, if you like adventure, action, and fantasy, this would be the perfect book for you to read. It is suitable for all ages I think, but you would most definitely have to enjoy the fantasy genre to truly love this book for what’s written in it. <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; display: block; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; white-space: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 15px; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-70th-Anniversary-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618968636/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305500671&sr=8-1