Abby McKenzie 7B
English 
April 18, 2013



The book I am reading is called The Life of Pi. I read till chapter seven and my job was Illustrator. I drew a gate with one sheep and one elephant because it was the only thing that I remember. 

Fever 1793

________________________________________

I am reading the book "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson and this week I was the illustrator and read 54 pages of the book. Here is my drawring:

Abby McKenzie 7-B

English 

April 8, 2013 

By: Rick Jasper    
Title: The Late Bus
Pages: 106                                                      

                                                                                         The Late Bus
                                                           
                                                                I chose to read this book because it is a scary book. I thought this would be interesting because on the front cover there was shadows and a bus  that looked haunted. The book is about Lamar, he is one of the main characters. After the first bus diver past away.  Now Lamar has a new bus diver his name is Mr. Rumble he mask for his face because his face is messed up. All the girls that were coming onto the bus looked at him and covered there faces and said "Oh my gosh". I recommend this to anyone that likes scary books because it has lots of scary things. 

A Walk to Remember

Title of book: A Walk to Remember
Author: Nicholas Sparks

 This week I read the book called "A Walk to Remember". So far I read 60 pages and cannot wait to continue because the book is really good. The main characters in this novel are Jamie Sullivan and Landon Carter. They both go to high school in Beaufort, North Carolina. Jamie is a very joyful girl who doesn't have many friends but she is always there to help everyone. Weekly she goes to church and to the orphanage. Her father is the minister in the church. Landon Carter is probably the richest child in high school. He has good grades and he has many friends. Landon Carter is the student body president at their school. In the book somewhere at the beginning when they are suppose to have a dance, Carter doesn't anyone to come with. While he goes through the yearbook he sees Jamie. Because she is the only available girl he chooses to go to the dance with her. While they are at the dance they have a great time and for the first time Jamie dressed differently. I think that later in the book Jamie and Landon will be together. While I was reading I found many unknown words but I chose one that was very interesting to me. "He'd written his own sermons his whole life, and some of them, we had to admit, were actually interesting, especially when he talked about the wrath of God coming down on the fornicators and all that good stuff". The unknown words are sermons and fornicators. Sermons means a talk on a religious or moral subject. I cannot wait to read more and see what will happen!

The boy in the stripped pajamas

This week I have been reading a book called "The boy in the stripped Pajamas" it is by John Boyne. This book has 216 pages. I am reading a book where the setting is in world war two in Germany. This book is about a boy who is forced to move out of his house into a new house far away from his friends and school. They are forced to move because his dad works for the army and is forced to move. They move to a really nice house but it is very close to a concentration camp. The little boy does not understand what is going on and why the people are wearing blue stripped pajamas. I chose this book because I watched the movie and I really liked the movie so I got the book. The word I didn't know the meaning of is "Desolate". The sentence  I found it in is "The new house, however, stood all on its own in an empty, desolate, place and there were no other houses anywhere to be seen, which meant there would be no other families around and no other boys to play with, neither friends not trouble." (Page 11 John Boyne). The definition of the word according to wordnik.com is "adj. Devoid of inhabitants; deserted:".

Eragon

Eragon
Author- Christopher Paolini
Number of Pages- 484 pg

This week I'm reading Eragon. The book describes a young boy who found a dragon egg. The dragon hatches and the boy takes care of it until his house is burned by secret spies. He escapes to the towns scholar. Who tells him he is chosen to be the next dragon rider. I chose this book because I like historical fantasy.

Unknown Word: Wavered

Definition: To sway in one direction to the other.

Sentence: Soon the pebble no longer swayed and wavered in the air.
(Paolini 155)

Alice in wonderland

Title: Alice in wonderland
Based on the film by: Tim Burton
Number of pages: 236





I am reading "Alice in wonderland" which is based on the film. This is a book about a girl called Alice. She falls into a long hole while chasing a rabbit with a clock, during the party. After going down the hole for such a long time, she finds herself in a room with many doors on the wall. She tries all the doors with a key that was on the table, but the key was too small for the doors. When she was about to give up, she notice that there was a tiny door, and the key fit perfectly. But the door was too small for her, so she drinks some liquid that was on the table, which made her shrink. So she went for the door and stepped into the mysterious world, and the adventure begins.
I chose to read this book because I wanted to read some adventurous books, and this book was perfect for it.
Unknown word: guffaw
Definition: To laugh loudly
Sentence: I could hear the guffaws of my friends.

The giver

The Giver my Lois Lowry

179pages.


This week i have been reading the giver by Lois Lowry. I am almost at the end, i am on chapter 20. In chapter 20 Jones is very shocked in finding out that his father releases children and he just can see his father so the giver asks him if he would like to stay with the giver for the night. The giver explains that it's part of his fathers job and it is what he is instructed. Fiona is also being trained to release the old but she doesn't really care. Jonas is very sad and feels like the world he lives in is a mess. The giver and Jones make a plan to let the memories free to the people. If Jones leaves then the memories will be released. Last time the memories were released everyone went crazy so this time the giver will stay to help the people handle the pain and the memories. The giver can't come and there can't be another receiver because the only person with clear eyes is to young. The giver also tells Jones about hearing beyond, which is when they can hear music, Jonas still hasn't heard beyond but the giver will give him a memory of that before he leaves.
Jonas receives memories of things that might help him on his journey and the giver and Jonas have a plan. Before the ceremony Jonas will write a note to his parents saying he is going to ride his bike. He will leave his bike next to the river and go to the Annex, the giver and Jones escape and the giver will go to the ceremony and tell everyone Jones is dead and then the memories will be released. Jonas begs the giver to go with him but the giver says he wants to be with his daughter, rosemary.

Emphatically
 page:157
Jonas shock his head emphatically
definition- in A forceful way.

The Giver

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry\
Pages: 179

I have not yet found the chance to start reading the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the second book in The Hunger Games series, after the 3rd quarter book project. Because I could not start a new book, I am trying to finish The Giver. The Giver is about a 12 year old boy named Jonas who lives in a community which is an utopia according to the author. In this community, because of sameness, people cannot see in color, no emotions, climate control and others. There is one Reciever in the community, which is who holds all the memories that other people do not have. As Jonas is selected as the Reciever, he learns many things by recieving memories from the Giver, the previous Reciever, such as the fact that people in the community gave up all the good happy memories in order to give up on the bad, painful ones. I knew about this book and started reading it because The Giver is a part of my class and my english unit.

New Word: Puncturing
Sentence: To his surprise, his father began to carefully direct the needle into the top of the newchild's forehead, puncturing the place where the fragile skin pulsed.
Page: 149
Definition: to pierce with a pointed object or instrument



The Alchemy of Stone

Title: The Alchemy of Stone
Author: Ekaterina Sedia



Number of pages: 291
Right now I am reading The Alchemy of Stone which is about an intelligent automaton named Mattie, she is skilled in uses of alchemy. She finds herself in the middle of the conflict between the Gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. She discovers dangerous secrets and things she should not know or keep hidden, these things do not go well with the Mechanic who created her, Loharri. Most would be fine even if he knew the secrets but he holds a key, the key to Mattie's heart...literally.  
I choose this book to read next because of the title but also what the summary of the book was about and I found this book sounding very interesting so I decided to try it out.
The fir4st unknown word I found in the book was: Automaton= a self operating machine or mechanism especially a robot.
Sentence: "Her attention was diverted by several automatons filing into the hall, their metal feet reverberating on the hollow floor of the sepulcher."

Twilight

Name of Book: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Number of pages: 498

This book is about a 17-year-old girl named Bella Swan who moves to a small rainy town named Forks which is located in the north west of Washington State(to live with her dad) from sunny Phoenix where she lived with her mother. When she arrived to Forks she her dad was waiting for her. He also buys her a truck as a homecoming gift, which makes Bella feel a bit better about this gloomy place. Soon she starts going to her new school in Forks, which is very small compared to her old school, and everybody tries to be friendly with her because she is the "new girl". At lunch she sits with her new friends but as she looks around the cafeteria she sees a table with 5 students who look somehow separate from the others. She finds out that they all live with Dr. Cullen and his wife. In biology class Bella has to sit next to Edward Cullen, who was acting very strange; he was sitting as far away from Bella as possible and didn't say a word to her. The next few days he doesn't appear at school and Bella starts to wonder about who the Cullens are. I chose to start reading this book because it is quite famous and I wanted to find out what it was about.

The word I didn't know was : idly. Sentence: I wondered idly what kind of gas mileage the truck got... and shudderd at the thought (page: 38) Definition: To pass time without working or while avoiding work. Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/idly

Johnny Cash by Reinhard Kleist

Title of the Book: Johnny Cash

Author: Reinhard Kleist

Number of Pages: 209


 This week, I am reading a really interesting book- comic about the whole life Johnny Cash.

Johnny Cash is a really famous musician. 

This book explains with many details the life of Johnny Cash from when he was a kid until now.

If you would like to learn about his life when he was young, how he became a popular musician, what is his life no like you should read this book.

I chose this book because I listened to some songs of Johnny Cash so I wanted to learn about his life and how he became famous.

There is not any new words for me in this book, because I am reading it in Greek and it is comic so simple words are used it it.

Dnevna Straza

Author: Sergej Lukjanjenko

Pages Read: 95/380

I am reading book called Dnevna Straza. It is a Serbian book about girl called Alisa. She is the main character of the story. Her task is to protect innocent people from evil monsters such as werewolf, vampire, evil wizards, etc. Now she needs to fight one of the strongest wizards of all time. She has friends to help her and she is totally prepared for the task. I think that she will destroy wizard.

I chose this book because this book is the second book in the serial. Since I read first book called Nocna Straza, no I am reading Dnevna Straza. Next book I will probably read is Straza Sumraka.

Unknown word: Inkvizacija

Definition:   naziv za niz originalno crkvenih pravosudnih institucija, a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church

Page: 93

Sentence using the word: Inkvizicija kaznjava nepojavljivanje pred Tribunalom.

Ziveti Slobodno

Title: Ziveti Slobodno

Author" Nick Vujicic 

Number of pages: 242

I read 50 pages more, and I enjoyed reading this book. This time, Nick wrote about humiliation. When he went to his old school, nobody wanted to hang out with him, or spend any free time with him. He knew how to fight, but still, they looked at him like helpless guy. Nick always wondered when is he going to have a girlfriend? Nobody wants to have a boyfriend without hands or lags, right? He was depressed, and he thought that nobody likes him. One day, he decided to kill himself. There wad a high chair in his house, and he was small. He decided to jump off the chair and break his neck, so he could die.  Fortunately, his mom heard some noise and she came and saved him. 

Nick met a lot of new people that have the same problem as he does. He gave them support, and he spread all the happiness and positive energy that was inside hi, to them. On Hawaii, he met one girl. She didn't have one hand, because when she was 13, and while she was surfing, shark cut and ate her whole hand. Nick went surfing with her, even though he didn't have extremities. Wow!

And the last thing that he talked about was how thankful he is to his whole family. Whenever he had a bad day, his family was there to cheer him up. His family was there to support him in very hard situations, and gave him help whenever it was needed. 

How did you choose what to read next?

I will continue reading this book, because I still didn't finish it. 

Unknown word

Rublje. 

Rublje means underwear, and I didn't know that till know. :) 

I NEED TO SHARE ONE GREAT NEWS WITH YOU. NICK BECAME A FATHER!!!!!! HERE IS THE PICTURE OF HIM AND HIS SON. 

The Giver

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Number of pages: 179

This week I was reading The Giver from chapter 17 to chapter 23 (the last chapter). Since we had for homework to finish the book I decided to summarize the last seven chapters. ;) This blog post is kind of short summary so if someone wants to refresh his memories and read the summary of the last 7 chapters lets read this blog post. ;)

Chapter 17

Jonas isn't taking his pills any more. He is also seeing colors everywhere. There is some holiday in the community and Jonas wants to find Asher. He sees him playing with some other kids. Jonas sees that they are shooting each other and realizes that this is some kind of war and he doesn't want to play the game. 
At dinner Lilly is telling to others what had happened that day. She is so excited because its almost December and she is gonna turn nine so she will get her own bicycle. On the next morning Jonas's father says that the twin will be born and they have to decide which one will be released. He later explains that releasing doesn't mean going Elsewhere, as Jonas is thinking.
Chapter 18
Jonas is talking with The Giver about release. He knows he is not allowed to ask for release because that was in the rules. They wrote the rules ten years ago when the last receiver asked for release. Jonas is asking about the last receiver and The Giver says her name was Rosemary. She was really smart girl and The Giver loved her. Because of that, The Giver was giving her only happy memories. But one day he decided to start giving her more bad memories, however not painful. After that she was no longer happy. One day she just kissed The Giver on the cheek and left. No one saw her again. :( Jonas starts thinking about what had happened ten years ago when the memories were given to the community.
Chapter 19
Jonas  is telling The Giver about the releasing of the twin today (from chapter 17). He wishes he could see the releasing. Although the ceremony of releasing is already over, everything is taped and Jonas can watch the releasing whenever he wants. Jonas is watching the releasing. On the video he sees his father holding the babies and weighting them on a scale. Jonas's father then, hands the heavier baby to a nurse so it can be taken back to the Nursery. Then he gives the baby a lethal injection to a vein in the forehead. Then he drops the dead baby into the garbage. :(((
Chapter 20
After the terrible video that Jonas saw, he doesn't want to go home. The Giver says he can stay for that night. Jonas is confused. He is thinking that his father has been lying to him even though, he is just following the instructions. Jonas then, is asking The Giver if he had lied to Jonas. He says no and then Jonas is asking about how would Fiona react after she understand that her job includes releasing of the old. The Giver says she already knows. 
Later, The Giver and Jonas are thinking of a plan because they both know that things can change. The memories are made to be shared. 
Jonas has to escape from the community and to go Elsewhere. As he goes there, the memories will be shared in the community. The Giver will be there to help the people deal with them. After that, the Elders will try to find a new receiver but The Giver knows that there isn't anyone who is ready. 
As they are talking, Jonas wants to know about how the Giver was chosen. He explains that he wasn't seeing beyond (which means seeing colors like Jonas is seeing red) but hearing beyond (which means hearing music). The Giver wants to transmit some to Jonas but he refuses. 
The next days, as Jonas is supposed to receive memories of courage, he is making the plan in his head. He is thinking about how the night before The Ceremony of Nine (receiving bicycles) he will sneak out of his house and he will leave his bicycle and clothes near to the river. Then he will go to the Annex where The Giver will be waiting for him. Jonas's parents will see a note from Jonas and they will wait and wait and finally they will be supposed to go to the ceremony without him. Later they will find Jonas's clothes and bike near to the river and The Giver will say he was accidently drowned. 
Jonas asks if The Giver wants to come with Jonas but he says that he wants to be with his daughter Rosemary.  
Chapter 21
We all think the plan is going to work but definitely it doesn't work because Jonas is forced to flee. Two weeks before the ceremony Jonas takes his father's bicycle and starts riding it during the night. But why is he forced to flee?? While he was eating his dinner his father announces to his family that Gabriel has to be released the next day. Jonas doesn't want that to happen so he takes Gabe with him. Through the daily hours Gabe and Jonas are hiding and mostly sleeping. They are traveling during night because through the day, there are low-flying search planes with heat-seeking devices. Jonas is also noticing that his memories are fading as he goes further. That is what The Giver was saying. When Jonas is going further and further the memories will be returning to the community. 
Chapter 22
As Jonas is traveling he sees changes in the road. At one moment the bike hits a stone and Jonas falls down. Gabe is okay but Jonas hits his ankle. Since the planes are not coming any more, Jonas starts traveling through the day. 
Later Jonas and Gabriel are seeing birds and animals. But as they are traveling, they are starving. Jonas is making a net and catches two fishes. 
Later, they see a hill but it starts raining. They are cold and freezing and Gabe starts crying. Jonas no more cares about himself but cares about Gabe. 
Chapter 23
It starts to snow. Jonas is taking Gabe into his jacket to keep him warm. Then Jonas leaves his bicycle because he no longer can ride it through the snow. Jonas starts transmitting a memory of sunshine to Gabriel but soon, they are cold again. 
Later, Jonas starts feel happy. He is thinking about Asher, Fiona, Lilly and his parents. And The Giver! He knew he was almost at the top. This memory of the hill was of his own. Then Jonas sees the sled he had received the first day of his training. He begins to surge down the other side of the hill. As they are approaching the end of the hill they can see lights everywhere. Soon they can hear music for first time. They knew they will go on better place full of love. Then Jonas hears music behind himself. He thought that was only an echo ...
Unknown word:
yielded - Produce or provide (a natural, agricultural, or industrial product).

After countless tries, the net yielded two flopping silvery fish. (page 172)

Being-Kevin Brooks

Title: Being

Author: Kevin Brooks

Picture: 

# of pages read: 101

This week, I am reading "Being" by Kevin Brooks. I have read 101 pages, but the beginning sounds like a horror story to me. In the very beginning, the story starts with a boy waiting for his routine examination in the hospital. The boy's name is Robert Smith and he was not nervous for his examination. But, when the doctors snake the telescopic tube down Robert's throat, what they discover doesn't make medical sense. This was how the book started. I don't want to explain more since horrendous, bloddcurdling, things happen before robert runs away from the hospital. I chose this book since I know some other books by the same author I had read such as "Lucas", "iBoy", and a book I want to read "Martyn Pig".

Unknown word: Sedative
Page #: 10
Sentence: "The anesthetic we use is very light, not much more than a sedative, but it's often enough to render the patient unconscious."
Definiton: tending to calm or soothe.

2.

allaying irritability or excitement; assuaging pain; lowering functional activity.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sedative?s=t

Legend of the Dragon Realm

Legend of the Dragon Realm
Richard A. Knaak
321 pages


Right now I am reading this book about the race of humans and dragons. It is where dragons rule the earth and humans are serving them. The most powerful one is the ice dragon. He decided to not destroy the kingdom unless the humans would obey him. The reason why I chose this book because it has an interesting cover and art.

Intermingled: To mix or to be mixed together. The workers intermingled with fishmongers, traders and customers.

Goosebumps: My Friends Call Me Monster

Nikola Ristovic

Grade 7A

07/04/13

Sonja Stanisic

Goosebumps: My Friends Call Me Monster

Author: R.L. Stine

Number of pages 160 (this is not my book for book report)

Picture:
               

The book I am reading is from the series of Goosebumps Horror-Land and is called "My Friends Call Me Monster". This is just temporarily until I choose a new Novel. The unknown word is Civic and the meaning of the word is " a kind of blue". the sentence I came up with was I wore a civic blue shirt.