May 5, 2008 "Gathering Blues"

I just started reading the book Gathering Blues, by Lois Lowry. It is the last of my three books for my author study. The book starts out talking about Kira who is crippled on one leg. Her mother just passed away from a sickness and she’s sitting at the grave site watching it. She is all alone and doesn’t know what is to become of her. I’m not really far in the book. Remember I just started it today so I’m trying to get use to it. I really like how the author started the book out though. I was drawn into the book right away. I also do remember Kira from the last book I read and that’s what made this book so much more interesting.

May 2, 2008 "Shadow Spinner"

I finally finished the book. In the end Marjan ends up going back to the storyteller to finish the story. Everything they planned falls apart and they have to find a different way to get back into the harem. Soon Marjan and the queen's sister get in thanks to a couple of musician. After that everyone that was involved get caught and Marjan has to go and bail them out by telling the truth to the Sultan. She saves everyone and The king decides in the end to stop killng girls. Marjan escapes and is able to leave the harem finally. I really liked the book. It kept me wondering what would happen next. I love the ending because I like endings that are happy and everyone gets what they want.

May 1, 2008 "Shadow Spinner"

Marjan was telling stories to the little kids in the harem and soon she was called to meet Shahrazad. The Sultan's bride had run out of stories to tell him and needed a really good stories to keep him entertain so she could live. The bride has asked Marjan to help and thankfully Marjan is able to help, but to her surprise the Sultan knows the story. He is very impressed and wants to hear the rest of the story. Shahrazad orders Marjan to come live with her and asks her to finish the story, but Marjan doesn't know the rest of the story, which leaves the bride with nothing. Marjan is desperate to help her and doesn't want the bride to die because of her fault. Shahrazad is able to push the story for three days, but they couldn't find anyone who knew the story. They set out plan where Marjan would go out and find a bazzar who knew the story. The problem was that no one could leave the harem so they would sneak Marjan out.

April 30, 2008 "Shadow Spinner"

I just began to read the book "Shadow Spinner," by Susan Fletcher. In the beginning it starts out with a girl named Marjan who lives with her aunt and uncle. She is partially crippled on one of her legs. At the beginning her aunt goes to the Sultan's harem to sell jewelary to the ladies there. The only thing that was on her mind was to meed the bride of the Sultan, Shahrazad. Shahrazad was like a role model to Marjan because she had stopped all the killings of the Sultan for about two years now. The Sultan's first wife had cheated on him so he was so hurt with anger that he started killing off everyone lady he married. Everynight he would kill his bride, but Shahrazad was able to stop the killings by telling the Sultan stories before bed time and not finishing them. Then he would let her live so he could hear more stories.

April 29, 2008 "Messenger"

Matty and Kira have finally reached the center of the forest, but are so worn out that they can no longer continue. Leader decides to go into the forest and help them. When he enters he is attacked by the vines and cut by the branches. He then calls on Kira with his gift to tell Matty to use his gift. Matty is so weak and doesn't think that he'll have the strenght to use his gift, but out of no where his hands start to shake. He begins to heal the forest and the village. Everything that once was has gone back. All the people who changed have returned to their normal selves, but for Matty it ends for him there. He uses his gift to heal others. He ends up dying at the end of the book, but he receives his new name, which is "Healer."

April 28, 2008 "Messenger"

Matty and Kira have just left her village and entered the forest together. What they don't know is that danger is ahead of them and maybe deathly. They both run into obstacles with the forest. In the book it talks about both Matty and Kira having a gift to do things. Kira uses her gift to guide them through the forest and to see what is happening. Matty and Kira are really close to the center of the forest, but they have been attacked so badly by the forest that they can't go on. Both lay down to rest and are so weak that they have given up.

April 25, 2008 "Messenger"

Matty has just left the village to go put up sign for visitors or new comers. He is sadden but determined to get them all up. He makes it through the forest, but it was a rough journey. He was able to put up all the sign, but he had one last thing to do. He was to convince the blind man’s daughter to come back with him. He had made a promise to bring her back before the three weeks are over. After the three weeks no one would be able to come into the village anymore. Matty has just arrived at the blind man’s daughter, Kira’s, house. He is tired, but he sees her suffer due to a handicap leg. She needs to use a cane all the time and so he thinks he can heal her with his power. I’m at the power where he is thinking about healing her, but knows that it will take a lot of energy out of him to do so.

April 24,2008 "Messenger"

Matty is becoming more frustrated with this new village he has learned to love and adore. The people in the village are not the same people he met when he first came there. Now they want to stop visitors and newcomers from coming to the village. They’ve become more selfish and want things for themselves. A petition was just made to keep out new village members. Matty is frustrated because this new group of people recently arrived to live in the village. He met a woman from that group of new people and she has told him some terrible news that saddens him. He wants to help, but soon the petition is passed and he is sent by the leader to hand out flier to other villages to let them know. Before he leaves the blind man, who he lives with, he made a promise to bring back his daughter before they start closing the entrance for visitors and new people. Matty faces the danger or the forest because he doesn’t know what will happen, but is determined to go. The leader has told him not to go, but he doesn’t want to let the blind man down.

April 23, 2008 "Messenger"

I am at the part where Matty has just gotten a puppy from the schoolteacher's daughter. He couldn't figure out a name for it so he went to the leader for help, since he did give people their name, and he named it "Frolic." While he was over at the schoolteacher's house he finds out a bit more about the trade mart and what people really trade when they go there. The schoolteacher's daughter, Jean, tells Matty that her father is changing and it's all thanks to the trademart. He is changing for the worst. Matty has become curious about the trademart. He knows that something is terribly wrong with the trademart, but he can't do that until he finds out what the outcome of the trade off is.

April 22, 2008 "Messenger"

I am half way done with the book. I’m at the part where the main character, Matty, is learning about his powers and what they can do. He also is noticing that people in his village are changing in many ways. He is investigating why people are changing physically and mentally. He goes to the trader mart where people come and trade for things they want, but he soon finds out that they’re not trading physical things; instead they are trading themselves or who they are to trade for something in return. The book is becoming more intense and I’m more interested in it that before. I like how mysterious and different the author has written this book.

April 21, 2008-"Messenger"

In the “Messenger” I don’t feel as confused as I do when I read the “The Giver.” I have more of a sense of understanding and I kind of, surprisingly, like the book. I am at the part where the main character, Matty, is talking about the village and learning about the leader of the village. Nothing big is really happening. He’s just helping the schoolteacher’s daughter take care of her sick puppy and dog. I hope this book will get more intense. I notice the relationship between this book and “The Giver.” The main character from “The Giver” is in this book or the author is just using the same description for this book. I’m not very far, but I hope the book gets better.

April 18, 2008-"The Messenger"

The next book that I’m reading is called, “The Messenger.” This book is similar to, “The Giver,” which isn’t a good thing for me because I wasn’t fond of, “The Giver.” I might have some trouble finishing the book. I had a hard time just understanding the first book hopefully this book will be a lot better. “The Messenger,” seems to be more of an interesting book and has more suspense to it. I’m kind of looking forward to reading this book.

April 17, 2008-"The Giver"

I finally finished reading “The Giver.” Personally, I didn’t really like this book. I was abnormal and weird. Things didn’t seem right and it was just weird for the old guy to touch the boy and give him powers. At times I would think the book was getting better and I became curious at some parts, but overall the book really stunk! I wasn’t really interested in the book to begin with. I’m the type of person who likes books that they can relate to life or seems reasonable. I didn’t understand some of the parts and most of the time I was wondering what was going on during certain parts of the book. Also the ending wasn’t that cool. I was expecting something big or awesome to happen, but it just ended with me wondering what happened, which is pretty sad. I had no clue of what really happened and I wanted to know. Overall I thought the main character was brave, loving person. I agree with the council for picking him. He was a character that had heart, integrity, and passion. My favorite part about the book was when he took the baby Gabriel with him, because that is something I would have done.

April 16, 2008-"The Giver"

I finally have a book and I just finished the first two chapters. The book starts off kind of plain, but I hope it gets interesting soon. I'm starting to get bored of the book, but I'm still kind of curious. The main character in the book, Jonas, has a curious mind and wants to know more. I think the author gave Jonas this curiosity to move the reader through the book and keep the reader on his/her feet. Making them want to read more and be anxious about the book.

April 15, 2008- "No Book"

As of right now I am not reading a book. I tried to check out "The Giver," which it said was in, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the library so I am bookless. I really wanted to get my reading started so I can finish the book by friday, but since the book isn't that big, hopefully I can manage to finish it in time to write my reflection paper, which is also due on friday.

Friday April 11, 2008- "A Northern Light"

I finally finished the book. The ending was awesome and I am really excited for Mattie. She deserves it and I wish the author had written another book to go with this book. In the end of the book Mattie ends up going to college and leaving her past behind. She finally discovers the whole mystery about Grace Brown and what really happened to her. Mattie does not end up burning the letters, but instead helping Grace Brown rest in peace knowing the her killer is put away. This book is encouraging in away, but yet exciting. Everytime I finished a chapter I wanted to stop but the author left it so the reader would want to know more and read on. This book has really made me think of how much fun it is to read and I want to read more books. I'm eager to keep reading.

Thursday April 10, 2008- "A Northern Light"

As I continue to read the book the author continues to suprise with more clues about who the main character is and what is her purpose. She's still stuck in this broke down town wanting to get away, searching for a future. I want to yell at her and tell her how I feel. I want her to know that she should go to school and not let anything or anyone stop her from becoming a smart, successful, and independent woman that she is. Throughout this part of the book the author starts to mold and shape the character into a strong women. I can't wait to finish this book. The author keeps me wanting to read more and I don't want to stop reading.

Wednesday April 9, 2008- A Northern Light

The farther I read into “A Northern Light,” I am amazed at how much pressure the main character, Mattie, is under. I am at the part where Mattie is stuck plowing the fields, which should be a man’s job. She can’t seem to catch a break at all. Once things go bad her father just throws all the responsibilities at her and expects her to finish them. The book switches from one scene to another. The first one will start out with her at home and doing chores or at school reading. Later on it switches to her working at the Glenmore and trying to decide whether she should burn the letters and how she’s going to retrieve them without anyone noticing her. I think the author is leading the reader more and more into the story. Making it more intense, but leaving the reader with something to think about. I stopped at the part where Mattie receives a letter from New York, from her teacher, about her acceptance to the college there. Even though this is good news to her she still has to decide whether to listen to her father or do what her mother told her to do.

Tuesday April 8, 2008- A Northern Light

I just started to read the book “A Northern Light,” by Jennifer Donnelly. The beginning starts out with the main character, Mattie, put in a difficult situation already. They have just found the body of Grace Brown and Mattie recently had been given letters from Grace to burn, but she hasn’t don’t that yet. Mattie is confused and frustrated. She doesn't know if she should burn it or keep it. Then the author leaves us with that to think about and moves into before Mattie was put in that situation. Mattie is a farm girl who lives with her siblings and her father. Her mother had recently passed away and her older brother left them. She is now the oldest of the girls and forced to do all the house work and be responsible for a lot of things in the house. She has dreams and is a very bright girl, but her father is the only person in her way. She loves to read and write stories, her father doesn’t think she should even be going to school. Mattie is struggling with trying to convince her father to let her work at the Glenmore to help the family with money and go to New York. Mattie is a sixteen-year-old girl who has been put in a position with a lot of responsibilities, but her dreams are stopping her from those responsibilities.

Monday April 7th-Chocolate War

After finishing the book “Chocolate War,” I don’t really know what to think. I thought the book was interesting, but then again I hated the ending. I didn’t like how Archie got away with what he did. He should have been punished for every sick joke or prank that he pulled. I felt bad for Jeremy because he stood up for what he believed in and in the end he ended up getting beaten almost to death for it. This book is sick and twisted, but very interesting in a way. The title fit perfectly in with the story because Jeremy decided not to sell chocolate even after his assignment from the vigil. After that the vigil tried to get him to sell chocolate, but he wouldn’t. His refusal to sell chocolate started the war between him and the vigil. Overall I would give this book a five out of ten.