Top Books of the Semester

I've read 10 books over the course of the semester. I'm going to rank all of the ones that I've completed and reviewed and briefly explain why I'm ranking them in the order that I am.

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (306 Pages)
This book has quickly become one of my favorite books of all time. I absolutely loved the story, the writing, the world, the adventure... really everything about it. Absolutely my top book that I read this semester.
2. Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (276 Pages)
Even though this was the second book in the series, it was better than the first in my opinion. I really love the idea of time travel and since they actually addressed it more in this book, I enjoyed it a lot. It had a lot of adventure and although it was darker, it was much more interesting in my opinion.
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (340 Pages)
Although this book was rather slow at times, I love the world and the story so much that it has to be near the top of my list. It was very exciting and compelling and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
4. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (345 Pages)
This book stood out to me because of how different it was from most of the other books I read. It had fantasy, but was quite realistic and just really interesting. Much better than the movie from what I remember of it.
5. Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough (292 Pages)
This was the first book in the series, but I definitely did not think it was as good as the second one. I really enjoyed it for sure, but it simply wasn't as exciting and did not have as much interest as it could have. Either way, it was a fantastic book.
6. Avatar: The Last Airbender- The Promise by Gene Luen Yang, illustrated by Gurihiru (240 Pages)
I was quite impressed with this one being that it was a continuation from the television series that I love so much. It was really quite good with the story and art style matching the show. It was actually a good story that kept me interested and I liked it a lot.
7. Haven: A Stranger Magic by D.C. Akers (144 Pages)
For being as short as it was, I really liked this book. It left me wanting more and although it was rather infuriating that the end was a cliff hanger and the next book is not out yet, I have to admit that it was quite good.
8. The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (224 Pages)
It did bother me slightly how much I saw this book to be like Lord of the Rings, but it was still enjoyable to read. The story was different in some ways and it kept getting better as I went along, so I still think it was a good read.
9. Every Day by David Levithan (322 Pages)
A lot of things about this book bothered me. It was a bit unrealistic and creepy at some parts and I ended up not liking or connecting with the main character too much. It was not terrible, but it's not my top pick for a book to read.
10. Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass (322 Pages)
I did not end up liking this book too much because it was written more for a younger audience. As much as I think this is a good book for younger people, it was so predictable and I disliked the characters so much that I'd have to say that it's my least favorite book that I read this semester.

Those are all the books I've read this semester. I'm also currently reading Wool and it's fantastic so far!

The Book of Three Review

Title: The Book of Three
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Pages: 224
Version: Paperback
Publisher: Random House, Inc.

I've finished The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander! I liked it a lot. I decided to read it while waiting for Wool to come in at the library. I needed a book to read and it was laying in my brother's room so I thought, why not? It turned out to be the perfect length for me to read while waiting because I finished it right around when my book came in. It's a story about about an assistant pig-keeper who ends up on a long journey after the pig runs away. Taran (the assistant pig-keeper and main character) winds up running into people along the way and goes on many adventures with them. From getting captured by evil lady Achren to getting sucked into a lake by dwarves, Taran experiences many crazy things along the way. So I really enjoyed this book. It's not very long at all, probably took me around 4 days to read when I didn't even read it for long amounts of time. For the amount of things that happen in the book, I'd say it's quite short. The characters were all very good and the story is well written. This specific cover is the one that I have on my book and I think it's rather nice. This story was extremely similar to Lord of the Rings to me. I noticed it very quickly while I was reading it. The pig escapes, sending Taran on a journey much like the ring sends Frodo on a journey. Gwydion is sort of a mixture of Gandalf and Aragorn. There is an evil sort of king, Arawn, of the dark land of Annuvin much like Sauron and Mordor. There is a lesser evil that has her own castle, Achren which I compare to Sarumon. In addition, the horned king (shown on the cover) and his riders remind me much of the Nazgûl in Lord of the Rings. Also, Gurgi is quite reminiscent of Golem except not as sinister. I was just drawing parallels between the two books most of the time. That being said, it is a different story and I enjoyed it all the same. It's very fantastic and epic and the story is really nice. For me, the story got better as it went on. It started great and got much better by the end. I would recommend this book if you like books like Lord of the Rings type of epic fantasy books.

Haven: A Stranger Magic Review

Title: Haven: A Stranger Magic
Author: D.C. Akers
Pages: 144
Version: Kindle Ebook
Publisher: D.C. Akers

I've finished Haven: A Stranger Magic by D.C. Akers just yesterday. Let me just say right now that if you are thinking about reading this and you can read the books for Kindle somehow, you should just go download it now because it is currently free here. It was very short and very good which is probably why I finished it so quickly. I really enjoyed this book. It's about a sort of ordinary boy that sees a stranger outside his house one night. After that night, it seems like everything in his life starts to change. Like I said, the book isn't very long and seems to be just sort of setting up the story and also hinting at what will come next. That means that it ends with a pretty major cliffhanger which was fantastic, but also frustrating because the next book hasn't come out yet. I just want to know what happens next! The characters are all quite good. I like Sam a lot and his friend Travis seems to be really interesting although he isn't in the book that much. Sam's sister, Sarah is also interesting because after she was characterized as a mean, popular sister I thought she would just be that. But she's not. I don't know what's going to end up happening with her; perhaps she'll go on an adventure with her brother (at least that's what I'm expecting). I mainly just want to know what it going to happen with the whole other worlds/magic/Sam's parents' old life part of the story. I really love the whole idea of magic having to do with both the elements and the zodiac signs. I know that zodiac signs are associated with the elements so I'm guessing that it has something to do with that. I absolutely love the cover of the book as well. The colors are fantastic and the symbol for water on the front is really nice. It feels to me quite similar to the elements from Avatar: The Last Airbender except different in its own unique way. The symbol is close to the one for water from that too seen here. That is probably because that's the general symbol for water. I do actually really like the association that I make with Avatar: The Last Airbender because that is my favorite show and it's nice to have a book that somewhat relates that has a different plot. Anyway, I just really liked it a lot and can't wait for the next one. I highly recommend this book to people that like magic and things like that, but really if you're even slightly interested, I'd give it a go because it's free on Amazon right now.

Every Soul A Star Review

Title: Every Soul A Star
Author: Wendy Mass
Pages: 322
Version: Paperback
Publisher: Hachette Book Group, Inc.

I've finished Every Soul A Star by Wendy Mass this week. I'm going to go ahead and say right now that I think this book is probably geared towards younger people more near age 12. It's more of a middle school sort of coming of age book. That being said, it wasn't bad, just really not the best book for an older audience. This story centers around three main characters; Ally, Bree, and Jack. They are all very different people and by chance, end up meeting and becoming friends. Ally lives at the Moon Shadow campground and has for most of her life. She is the girl that is "different from every other girl". That leads me to Bree. Bree is essentially "every other girl". She is into clothes and make-up and wants to be a model. Jack is a slightly overweight kid that doesn't really have any friends. He has to go to summer school because he doesn't pay attention in class and spends all his time drawing and playing video games. Bree's parents decided to move to the Moon Shadow to take it over after Ally and her family moves away. Neither Bree nor Ally is happy with this. Everyone is at the campground for an eclipse. Anyway, I'll go ahead and say that I really did not like the characters much at all. And that was a big problem for me. Bree is one of the absolute worst characters I have ever seen in any book. I hated her for most of the book. She was so unlikeable and so superficial... I don't even really know what to say about her. The other two were fine, but they weren't really anything that spectacular to me. Another big problem I had with this book is that everything was so incredibly predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen throughout the whole book and I really didn't like that. That being said, this book had an interesting setting and some really unique things about it that mostly had to do with the setting and the fact that it is centered around an eclipse. About the cover, I actually really like it and I think it's quite nice for this book (even if the person on it doesn't really look human). So anyway, I would recommend this book to younger people maybe around middle school aged.

Every Soul A Star and Predictions

This week, I started reading Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. I am currently on page 259 of 322. This story focuses on three main characters; Ally, Jack, and Bree. They are all very different people, but they end up coming together at the Moon Shadow Campground for an eclipse. Ally lives at the campground and loves it there. She is home schooled and has a brother that she is very close to, Kenny. She is also very interested in astronomy and the stars and is very knowledgeable. Bree is one of the most popular girls in her school and dreams of nothing more than being a model. She doesn't really relate to her family much because her parents are scientists and her sister, Melanie is very smart and doesn't care what people think of her. So basically the opposite of Bree. Jack is a slightly overweight kid that likes drawing and science fiction books. He doesn't pay much attention in school and people tease him so he is supposed to go to summer school because he failed science. Bree is told that her whole family will be moving to the campground to take it over. That means Ally is being forced to move from the campground too. Neither of them want to move at all, but they end up being forced to no matter what anyway. Jack becomes friends with Ryan who is Ally's friend that visits the campground every summer. Ryan encourages Jack to start working out with him and Jack agrees. Jack meets Ally and Bree later sort of through Ryan. Ryan ends up really liking Bree because of how "hot" she is. Jack starts liking Ally because he thinks she is beautiful and smart. Since Jack is at the campground to get out of going to summer school, he is supposed to help with a special project to find exoplanets with his science teacher. However, his science teacher gets a call about his wife being pregnant and so Jack ends up having to do the whole thing himself with his friends. There is a massive storm the first day and so they end up hiding up in a shed on the hill they are supposed to use to look at the exoplanets. They continue with the experiment the next night and successfully take their data, possibly finding an exoplanet. This book is ok so far, but I think it's really meant for younger people because it's somewhat juvenile. I really really dislike Bree in this book which makes it much harder to like as well. We'll see how it ends though.

Now for the question of the week. Prediction is one of those reading skills that teachers all over America force on students. For some, this skill/obsession seems to happen naturally; for others, they would rather let the story unfold as it happens. What type of reader are you? Do you predict what's going to happen? Do you ever stop reading just so you can formulate predictions based on the story so far? How far do you take your predictions? Are you like me and let your predictions overtake you so that you HAVE to read the last page to see if you're right, or do you avoid reading the last page at all costs because knowing the ending ruins the story?

I would say I can definitely predict how a book is going to go sometimes. I don't go out of my way to predict what's going to happen or see if I'm right or anything, but I do think about what's going to happen next if I have some sort of good idea. I never really let prediction take much of a role in my reading though. It's not a very important aspect to me, I'm perfectly content with letting the story unfold as I go. I also don't really care if I'm right or not because of this, it's just not that important to me. I read to experience the story, not be right about what happens in it. Reading the last page isn't something that I usually do either unless I'm really bored with the book and wondering where it will go. I mean obviously I have to try and predict what will happen in books that I read for school usually because we have to analyze it so much, but when I'm reading for pleasure I really don't.

Every Day Review

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Pages: 322
Version: Hardcover
Publisher: Random House, Inc.

This book is about a person called A that wakes up in a new body every day. Essentially, he falls in love with the girlfriend of one of the bodies he inhabits. He ends up not being able to let her go and so decides to try and convince her to work out a relationship with him. The whole book is really about them seeing how this relationship can possibly work. I ended up reading this book in about three days I think. I finished it pretty quickly. At first, it took me a little while to actually get into it because I felt like I had to get used to the author's writing. For some reason it just seemed a lot different stylistically compared to books that I normally read. I decided to read this book because I thought the plot was a really cool and interesting idea which it definitely was. However, in the beginning of the book it starts out with sort of introducing A (the main character) and shows him in a guy named Justin's body. After A meets Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon, he realizes that Justin doesn't really treat her right and so tries to make his day with her really special, hoping to change Justin. Over the course of this time, A somehow completely falls in love with Rhiannon. I personally had a problem with this. I simply do not understand how he fell in love with her so deeply in a day. It seemed really unrealistic and strange to me. After this, he tries to go and see her whenever the body he is in is convenient to get to her. This seemed a bit... creepy to me. He knew her for one day, she has a boyfriend (whose body he was in), and yet he wants to see her and almost stalk her in a weird way. Soon problems start to arise and A ends up telling Rhiannon about his situation and confesses his love for her. Her character seemed to take it somewhat like a normal person would so that was good. Later on in the story, there is sort of another subplot happening while this romance plot is going on. I honestly don't really know why they put this other subplot in, it ended up not really going anywhere at all and didn't actually add much to the story. It would have been a really interesting addition if it had actually had some sort of role in A's life, but it didn't. This brings me to my biggest problem with the story. The ending. It did not satisfy me at all. It left so many things up in the air and yet it doesn't really seem like it can be continued. Basically, I didn't like the ending at all. In addition, the book was slightly inappropriate at some parts which I was not a fan of, but it wasn't terrible. Also, the cover is pretty nice, but I personally am not a big fan of the yellow that they tinted everything. Anyway, this actually is a pretty good book. If you like semi-unrealistic romance with a cool sort of underlying issue then I would read this for sure. However, if you want a really fantastic ending, I'm not sure this would be the best book to read. The ending makes sense, but.... just see for yourself.

Challenge 8- Once a Witch and Always a Witch Review

Title: Once a Witch

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Pages: 292

Version: Hardcover

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Title: Always a Witch

Author: Carolyn MacCullough

Pages: 276

Version: Hardcover

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

So I just finished the second book of this series today. I originally read the first book because I read a review on Katie's Book Blog. The series consists of two books (Once a Witch and Always a Witch). I figured it would be best if I did a combined review for both of them. First of all, here's a bit about the books. Tasmin Greene comes from a family of witches and the night she was born, her grandmother predicted that she would be the most powerful of them all. However, Tasmin's Talent (specialized magical power) never showed up. She was somewhat of an outcast in her family because of this. Since she is "normal" she decided to go off to a boarding school in Manhattan to get away from all the magic. One day while she is at home working in her family's shop, a man comes in looking for her talented sister, Rowena. He ends up mistaking Tasmin for Rowena and asks her to find an old family heirloom for him. This strange request ends up sending her on a journey through time that unlocks secrets about her family and herself. I absolutely adored these books. I would say the second one was my favorite out of the two, but is definitely a lot more sinister and dark than the first one. I really liked the characters in the book which was nice. Tasmin is quite dynamic and I found her very interesting as a main character. The enemies of her family were also quite good even though they were truly evil people. Tasmin's sister, Rowena was also a really strange sort of antagonist to Tasmin. She was crazy and bitter, but did end up being important at the key times. And she also proved to be a major problem in the first book (not that it was her fault). As far as the story goes, I loved it. The first book was a lot of background and building up to everything in the second book. I would definitely say that the second book is much more exciting because most of the key events happen in that book. Once a Witch was necessary and also great though. The second book goes faster overall. I couldn't put it down. I actually had to make myself stop reading it so I would still have something to read while I was waiting to get my next book. It was fantastic. It has romance, time travel, magic, and some great enemies. I really did love this series. I also really like the covers quite a lot, the colors are nice and reflect the feeling of each of the books rather well I would say. I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a pretty fast read and likes the things I mentioned above. I don't know if I can say much more without giving away some of the plot so I'll just leave it at that. It's a great series. I love it. Read it.

Challenge 7- The Hobbit Review

Title: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Pages: 306
Version:  Paperback
Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group

What can I say about the Hobbit? It was absolutely amazing. I probably even enjoyed it more than Lord of the Rings which is really quite astounding to me. The Hobbit is much more fast paced and exciting compared to Lord of the Rings. It doesn't ever seem to drag on at any parts while Lord of the Rings definitely did. The overall story was very interesting and learning how Bilbo found the ring was quite cool to me. I love all of the dwarves as well, they are all very dynamic and unique. In addition, the interactions with the people that they meet along the way are fantastic. I really loved the whole section of meeting with Beorn in the forest. One thing that actually surprised me though was how little Smaug seemed to be in the book. He was obviously a major problem, yet it seemed to me he had come and gone so quickly. The biggest part of this book was definitely the journey, not really the final goal of the great wealth lying beneath the Lonely Mountain. Luckily, the journey was full of twists and turns and all kinds of exciting adventures. Having seen the first movie already before reading this, I did end up comparing it to the movie. It was strange how the crazy old wizard Radagast was in the movie quite a lot while he was simply mentioned once in the book. I thought it was really interesting to see that parallel and how Peter Jackson essentially took Beorn out of the movie and implemented Radagast instead and made an entirely new character. I am really excited to see the next movie when it comes out to find out what other things they decide to change and do differently. The book is beautifully written overall which is, perhaps, not surprising considering it is written by J.R.R. Tolkien. His talent to create this amazing world that is completely new and has such depth is absolutely astounding to me. I also greatly enjoyed the fact that Gandalf was in this book (and in fact, is on the cover of the version I read, shown above) considering he is my favorite character. The songs and poems that were carried along through Lord of the Rings as well were a nice touch and tie together of the books. I really like his poems and songs quite a lot. In fact, the Misty Mountain song at the beginning of the book translated over to the movie is absolutely incredible. I think they did a fantastic job of transferring that song from the book to an actual song and captured the whole mood of it very well. Overall, I strongly recommend this book to almost anyone, especially if you liked the movie. It really is fantastic and probably one of my favorite books that I have read in a long time.

The Hobbit and New Book Releases

This week I continued reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm nearing the conclusion being that I am on page 235 of 306. I'll probably finish it up in the next few days. So form where I left off last week, the company ventured into the forest and met Beorn, a solitary shape-shifter that lives and associates mostly with animals. After telling their tale to him, he offered to help them by giving them a place to sleep and supplies when they set off. They end up getting to the edge of the forest where Gandalf leaves the party and Bilbo and the dwarves are forced to venture into a dangerous forest without him. They continue on the path for most of the way as they were warned to, but eventually out of desperation, leave the path and end up getting split up. All of the dwarves minus Thorin are taken captive by spiders, but Bilbo- who had been on his own- finds and rescues them. They venture forth and realize that Thorin is missing and then they all get captured by wood elves. Bilbo however, uses his ring to disappear and simply follows them. They are all locked up in cells and Bilbo ends up finding out that Thorin is there as well having been captured. Bilbo finally thinks of a plan to free them and they execute it one night and end up escaping floating down the river in barrels. They come to another town and are helped there. They rest for a bit and are given supplies. At this time, it has finally come for them to make the final trek to the Lonely Mountain. They arrive and search all over for the secret back door entrance to the mountain that was depicted on the map left by Thorin's father. Bilbo ends up finding it after many long days of searching. Once they all get up there, they cannot figure out how to open it for many days. Bilbo also figures this out when the sunset creates a shadow so he can see a keyhole in the mountainside. They open the door and Bilbo goes in and with the help of his ring, steals a single piece of treasure while Smaug, the greedy dragon, is sleeping. The dragon notices it is missing when he wakes up and gets very angry. Bilbo goes the next day to steal more of the treasure, but Smaug is smart and is only pretending to be asleep. Bilbo notices this and they have a talk, then Bilbo leaves. The dragon is so angry he searches for them on the mountainside, but they had hidden inside the tunnel and closed the secret door. The door ends up blocked from the outside with the damage Smaug caused and the only way out is through the dragon's den. The dragon has also left to take revenge on the nearby lake town for helping the company.

Now for the question for this week! This week, one of Ms. Motter's favorite series releases the new (and last) book in the series. When the last few books of Harry Potter were released, book stores and publishers made a HUGE deal having all night book parties with costume contests and other fun activities building up to the release of the book at midnight. Is there a particular title that you have been or are excited to be released? Do you think more people would get excited about reading if bookstores and publishers did big premier parties? Do you think more could be done to encourage reading when the movie version comes out?

 Previously, I was very excited for the last few books of the Maximum Ride series because of it being one of my favorite series. I woke up and went to the book store first thing to buy it and ended up  reading it all day and finishing it. I haven't really been keeping up with too many authors or books that are coming out recently. I plan to begin getting back into it after I finish The Hobbit though. Other than that, I can not really remember any that I got really excited for. Maybe because I always seemed to end up reading books that already had all the books in the series out. I think that the midnight release parties that they do are a really cool idea and I would love to go to one if I was excited about the release of a new book. I personally have not actually been to one though. In general, I'm sure if it is a widely popular book, premier parties would be wildly beneficial and fun. If it was a less well known book, then it probably would not work as well. Premier parties could definitely help encourage people to read the book just because they're a fun thing to do and it is awesome to be around other people that are as enthusiastic about the book as you are. As far as movies go, I think the fact that they make movies based on books encourages people to read the book before seeing the movie (or after sometimes). If a book is being made into a movie, it is usually fairly popular already so I'd say it usually just shows more people how it is so great that it's being made into a movie (and maybe they should read it if it is so good). The only thing I can really think of doing to encourage reading the book more is to make a bigger deal about the fact that the movie is based on a fantastic book. Maybe put something like that at the beginning of the movie instead of just saying something like "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix- based on the book by J.K. Rowling" (which is essentially how it is now).

The Hobbit and Social vs. Individual Reading

This week, I started reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien I am absolutely loving it so far. I am up to page 112 of the book and it is quite fast paced and exciting. So far, Bilbo has been taken on a journey that he really did not want much to do with. He is traveling with dwarves and Gandalf and will be acting as a burglar. They then traveled on to Rivendell and stayed there for a few days before moving on with their journey. The company went on up the Misty Mountains and encountered trolls that tried to cook and eat them. Gandalf then saved the day by distracting them long enough for the sun to come up and turn the trolls into stone. They found the trolls cave and acquired some Elven blades that were stashed away there. They moved on into the mountains and hid in a cave from the storm that was going on outside. While they were sleeping in the cave, goblins came through a secret entrance and took the dwarves and Bilbo to their city in the mountain. There, they ended up being saved by Gandalf, but they got snuck up on and Bilbo somehow woke up in a dark cave. He encountered a creature called Gollum and they had a riddle contest for Gollum to show Bilbo the way out of the caves. Bilbo finally wins the contest by asking what was in his pocket. Bilbo found a ring on the ground and put it in his pocket previously. This belonged to Gollum and he suspects that Bilbo stole it. Bilbo puts the ring on a disappears while Gollum is chasing him and Gollum tries to find him by searching near the entrance which leads Bilbo out. Bilbo has some troubles leaving the goblin city, but squeezes out the door barely with the ring on. He then ends up happening upon the dwarves and Gandalf near there and they set off at a quick pace so they can escape the goblins. They end up coming to a great forest and happening upon wolves so they climb up trees to escape. Alas, the goblins are coming and soon arrive to get them out of the trees. However, the day is saved by the great eagles who pick them out of the trees and take them to their nest.

Now for this week's question! Historically, reading tends to be a pretty solitary activity--we usually read books independently and don't often read when we are with others as it can be considered anti-social behavior as you aren't interacting with the people around you. In recent years, that seems to be changing a bit with the creation of book clubs, social media groups like good reads, book blogs, and even reading retreats where a group will go on a retreat with a group of people and spend most of the time reading. Explain whether you believe reading is best left a solitary activity or whether you believe making it social encourages more people to read.

 Reading is definitely a solitary activity. The actual act and experience of reading a book really can not be a group activity unless a book is read aloud. However, talking about opinions and experiences with books can be a group activity. Sharing feelings and things about a certain book can be social and change the experience with books. Even some sort of book group that all reads the same book and then talks about it can be a social kind of thing to go with the independent reading of books. Actually reading something is always individual and personal though. I think that sharing opinions of books is really interesting and different though. Getting to hear what other people think compared to what you saw, heard, and experienced is actually quite cool. So I do not think reading is a completely anti-social because it is something that can be discussed with other people. The act of reading a book is individual though because it cannot be shared unless a book is read aloud.

The Thief Lord Review

Title: The Promise
Author: Cornelia Funke
Pages: 345
Version: Paperback
Publisher: The Chicken House

This week, I read The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke. It is about two boys, Prosper and Bo, who have run away from home after their parents had died and ended up in Venice. They are looked after by a mysterious boy called the Thief Lord. Little do they know, the Thief Lord has a secret that will change everything. In the midst of all this, a magical adventure to a secret island will complicate things even more. I personally absolutely loved this book. I really haven't read another book like it before which made me interested in it from the start. The book is quite realistic in the beginning; I could really picture the kids walking the streets of Venice and sleeping in their hideout. The Thief Lord was very mysterious and interesting as is expected and I just kept wondering what he was hiding. As the book goes on and it tells more about the Thief Lord, things got even more interesting. The story had a slight shift or twist to focus on fantasy which I loved. By introducing new characters, the addition of fantasy to the story was very smooth and seemed to fit really well. In general, I just really liked this book a lot. It was nice to read something so different from what I usually read. I found myself wanting to read this book all the time which doesn't happen too often. Besides the actual book, I think the cover is really nice; I love the colors and the mysterious Thief Lord in the top corner, slinking around the roof tops. Another really interesting thing that I found out after I read the book is that it was originally written in German and then translated into English. It doesn't seem that way, it is very well translated in my opinion and I couldn't tell at all. Something that I really enjoyed in this book was that there were little drawings at the beginning and sometimes end of each chapter. I thought this added a lot to the book and with the writing, really gave it an overall style that I absolutely loved. The only thing that I did not like as much about the book was the ending. It was good, but seemed incomplete and almost like a cliff hanger to me (which kind of drove me nuts). Overall, the book was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend it to anyone that likes "realistic fantasy" kind of books.

Challenge 6- Avatar: The Last Airbender- The Promise Review

Title: The Promise
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Illustrator: Gurihiru
Pages: 240
Version:  Hardcover
Publisher: Dark Horse Books

This week, I read the series of graphic novels "Avatar: The Last Airbender- The Promise". It consists of three books and is a continuation of events after the television show. They also come as one volume with all three stories inside. The illustrations are absolutely fantastic and they stayed very true to the original show in my opinion. The style is extremely similar and the colors all add together to create the tone that the show originally established. The story was also really interesting; it made sense in relation to the end of the story the show told, but was unique. The dialogue between characters was quite good as well. The characters in the show were very established and unique by the end of the series and so it was a big task, but they pulled it off wonderfully. All the characters said things that were very true to their characters and it was really interesting to see them in a different sort of environment. The one problem that I had with the books was a couple of moments that almost lost that connection. There are some little phrases and things that characters say that don't seem to fit occasionally. It was subtle enough that it did not make the book any worse which is great. One other thing that bothered me was simply Zuko's character. This could be partially because he was one of my least favorite characters in the series, but I think he also changed slightly in the graphic novels. He seems even more unsure of himself than he was in the series if that's even possible. His indecisiveness is probably one of the most frustrating things about his character to me. Since he lacks so much faith in himself, he is easy to doubt, even if he is right. That was what I disliked most about the novels and it mainly is due to personal preference. I would really only recommend these books if you have knowledge of the original show even though they do partially recap at the beginning. It is only really effective if you know the story because its real purpose is to be a continuation. For anyone with knowledge of the show, I would definitely recommend it. Now I'd like to address the question of if I believe graphic novels should be held in the same literary regard as more typical books. I definitely think there is a difference between graphic novels and "normal" books. Reading both of them is a completely different experience considering that graphic novels are based on words and illustrations and books are usually just based on words. As far as quality of story, I would say that they are both really fantastic. Graphic novels have really amazing stories most of the time, they are just communicated in a different way than "normal" books. Essentially, I would say that they are very different to read, but I think that they are both of the same quality and should be held in the same regard. Neither is any lesser because of how it is told and they can both have incredible stories.

Challenge 9- Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Review

Title: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Pages: 340 without appendices, 490 with appendices

Version: Paperback

Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group

This week I finally finished Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. All I can say is what an incredible end to such an epic tale. All three of the books in this series are really fantastic (in both senses). It astonishes me how one man can create this entire world with new languages, races, and much more. But anyway, now to the book. This book was written extremely well, just like all of the other books in the series. The story itself is really exciting at certain parts, but can have other parts drag out for a long period of time which is a tad bothersome. Other than that, I really liked the book a lot. I was a bit confused at the end with the Grey Havens because it seemed like such a grand and final departure that I did not really know how to respond to it. Also, the fact that the very last sentence was essentially Sam just sitting down to real life was a bit strange. I did really like that it was showing that in such a unique way though. I liked hearing about the separate journeys of each group of the Fellowship. It seemed to me that Frodo and Sam's journey was short compared to all the other ones. This was perhaps because it seemed like they had much more going on in the land of Mordor than at Minas Tirith. Although, Minas Tirith had quite a bit going on too. Aragorn becoming the king and his transition into his new status was a really interesting aspect of the book as well. I think it was really nice to see his character development as the story went on. Gandalf has been my favorite character in the series from the start so it was also really nice to see him become so great in this book. He had to take on massive responsibility and it was interesting to see him grow so much. He also has the greatest beard and is a wizard so that's pretty cool. As far as the movie goes, I actually think that Peter Jackson did quite a good job with the adaptation of this book. There are obviously some differences because I have no idea how he could have possibly fit every detail of the book over a three(ish) hour movie. There was a part towards the end of Frodo's journey that was quite weird in the movie, but it wasn't a big part of the plot or anything. The movies as well as the books are one of my favorite stories of all time and I think they fit together very well. The story was translated very well in both medias. Essentially, the movie lived up to my expectations after reading the book and I highly recommend both of them. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I thought it was perfect to end the series. Well done Mr. Tolkien, well done.

Lord of the Rings: Week 4 and Books in School

I'm still reading Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King this week. I am currently on page 242 of the book and should be around 254 after tomorrow. So I have finally started book six which opens on Frodo and Sam where they left off in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Frodo was captured and taken by orcs, leaving Sam with the ring to attempt to rescue him. He goes forth, expected a battle with some orcs, but finds that most of them are dead from a disagreement between the two groups of orcs. He happens upon one that finds him and then goes running up the tower to inform his leader, Shagrat. Sam listens to them for a bit and then follows the messenger as he goes up to where they have hidden Frodo. He gives the ring back to Frodo and then gathers supplies for them to move on in their journey. They dress as orcs so as to blend in if seen. They then go on in their journey by jumping into a valley that will help lead them to Mount Doom by keeping them out of sight. The valley runs along a road and leads up to a middle point between two mountains. They travel to the mountains and then are forced to take the road through the middle. Luck is with them for a while, but soon a massive group of orcs comes swiftly behind them and spots them. However, the orc leader thinks they are deserters and tells them to get into the line and march. Frodo and Sam are weary and tried, almost unable to keep up with the swift pace of the orcs, but they manage it and are not found out. As they reach the destination the orcs were headed to, other groups of orcs come at the same side and since they all want to get in the gate first, a fight breaks out, giving Frodo and Sam an opportunity to slip away unnoticed. They rest for a bit and then continue on their journey, reaching Mount Doom soon after. They begin up the road, but Frodo is too weak to continue and Sam has to carry him. They then have an encounter with Gollum who wants the ring back and so attacks Frodo. The attack invigorates Frodo to fight back to protect the ring which essentially has full control over him now. They drive him off and Frodo has new found energy to walk up to Mount Doom. Right as he is supposed to destroy the ring, he says he has changed his mind and that the ring shall be his. He then puts the ring on and kicks at Sam's legs from behind.

Now for the weekly question: Many students find books assigned for class to be boring or uninteresting, yet others find those same books to be engaging, relevant, and wonderful. Does this response have more to do with the book being "assigned" or is there something else going on? What advice would you give teachers to help students engage with these books?

 I think that books assigned for class can have mixed responses mostly because of the different personal preferences for books that people have. Sure, the fact that students are being forced to read a book might have some sort of impact on their opinions on it, but I do not really think it influences opinions too much. For example, many students have to read The Great Gatsby for class. Many students enjoy that book for a reason that I, personally cannot understand. I found it dry and dull because of the amount of nothing that happened in the book. What it comes down to is different personal preference for a type of book. Where as I prefer very exciting, fantastic books, some people prefer realistic books. This happens in class all the time because it is unlikely that someone will like every genre of book that is presented to him or her. To attempt to engage students with books, it might be a good idea to provide interesting projects with the books or perhaps have a choice of a small variety of books that students can read. This way, the books will be more interesting for each student as an individual.

Lord of the Rings: Week 3 and My Reading Story

This week, I got to page 172 in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I didn't get too much further due to being sick for two days. In this time, Merry arrives in the city, greatly wounded. He meets up with Pippin and together, they travel to the House of Healing to get Merry help. The shadow has come for Merry, Faramir, and Éowyn. Aragorn hears of this and goes to help them. He ends up sending away the shadow and helps to guide all three of them back to health. People all over the city speak of the return of the great king. Later, the leaders meet and try to decide what to do in the war. They end up deciding to take a group of troops into Mordor. They then set off on this perilous journey, Merry being the only one of the company left behind because of his injury. As they descend into Mordor, fear grows as a heavy weight upon their shoulders until they finally arrive at the great doors of the Black Gate. Once there, the evil Mouth of Sauron (A terrible dark rider, servant of Sauron) rides out to confront the company. That is where I have left off for now. Next week, I will be reading about Frodo and Sam's journey with the ring as it jumps over to that after the switch to Book 6.

Now for the weekly question: What is your reading "story"? Was there a particular book that got you interested in reading? Did you family read a lot together? Did siblings read to you or did you watch them read? Was there a specific person who influenced you to read? How did you become a "reader"?

Reading is not really something that was encouraged by one source. I got interested in reading from my parents and at school when I was very young. There really is not one book that comes to mind when I think about why I started reading. My parents read to me when I was young as well. I got more in to reading in 4th grade when my teacher read us books in class that I was very interested in. After that, I started reading some really fantastic books in Middle School that still remain to be my favorites today. I think I really found some genres of books that I liked mainly during that period and just continued on after that. I also started doing the summer reading program and read much more over the summer. I even volunteered at the library for the summer reading program every summer since the one before 8th grade. Reading has been such a major part of my life and has told me stories that I will never forget.

Lord of the Rings: Week 2, Here in Harlem, and Literacy Rates in America

This is my second week reading Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien. I am about 130 pages in at this point. From where I left off last week, Faramir goes off into battle, driven away by his father. Faramir then returns, but is gravely injured and his father, the king, essentiallly has a massive breakdown. He orders himself and his son to be burned alive together so that they may die together before the war takes them. Gandalf is the only one that can stop this insane order from being carried out. Since Pippin has heard all of this and is determined to stop it, he goes and finds Gandalf, who is about to go out into battle, and brings him back to the king to talk sense into him. The war is in full gear and the leader of the Nazgûl (or Ringwraiths) comes to the battlefield to try and strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. At this point, the Riders of Rohan arrive to the battlefield and are presented with the challenge of dealing with the Nazgûl leader. Théoden and Éowyn attempt to defeat him and manage to in the end, but only at the cost of Théoden's life and major injury to Éowyn. Aragorn also arrives to battle within this time period. 

This week, I also read part of the book of poetry Here in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers. I read about 55 pages of it. It was really quite an interesting book because the collection of poetry was extremely well rounded. There was poetry from people of many ages with many different professions. It showed the culture and lifestyle of people in Harlem at the time extremely well. I particularly enjoyed a poem that was multiple haikus by an artist that described the many colors of Harlem and how they shift over time.

Now to address the question of the week once again: Should America be concerned with decreasing literacy? What, if anything, can or should be done to battle this problem? 

I definitely think that America should be concerned with the literacy rate considering how much worse it is getting and even how bad it already is. Literacy is extremely important to be able to clearly articulate ideas to others and to understand separate ideas as well. Besides speech, reading and writing is the main form of communication in society and is essential to learn. Something that can be done to help improve the situation would be to make sure national standards in schools are higher perhaps and to at least begin teaching literacy to everyone at a young age. I suppose it would also help for people to be able to learn from experience through common communication. Reaching out and trying to teach people is probably one of the only ways that will help the situation get any better.

Lord of the Rings and Print vs. Electronic

I have started reading Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I am 85 pages in so far; it seems that this book will take me a bit to read because of its length and depth. The story begins with Pippin and Gandalf traveling to Minas Tirith and bringing news to Denethor of both the coming war and his late son, Boromir. Pippin then takes a tour around the city and Gandalf goes off to do some unknown task. The mark of the coming of the war then comes in the morning, Gandalf saying "No, when the summons comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn." (33). A great shadow then begins to spread over the land, showing that the time for war has finally come. Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Merry travel with Théoden who is leading the Riders of Rohan. Soon after, Aragorn, along with Legolas and Gimli, parts ways with the Rohirrim and Merry to travel through the Path of the Dead. Aragorn calls for the aid of the dead in the great battle against Sauron. Merry is tasked as Théoden's esquire and travels along with him on a separate path. They arrive in Dunharrow a bit later. Merry is supposed to remain behind there, but is allowed to go along to battle when a rider offers to take him in secret. Faramir returns to Minas Tirith and tells Denethor, Gandalf, and Pippin of his meeting with Frodo and Sam and their journey with Gollum. They talk also of the war and strategy and Faramir departs once again. 

Now to address the weekly question: More and more, American society seems to be making the shift from print to electronic. Whether it's books or newspapers or magazines, many Americans now get their reading material via electronics. What impact do you think this has on the reading experience? Do you prefer to read via print or electronic mediums? Is understanding or connection impacted by print vs. electronic? Will there be a time when print goes the way of the 8-track?

As society changes over to digital forms of print, many things are beginning to change in the way we perceive and experience books. For one, the new technology has made books incredibly more accessible. Having one device that can carry an entire library of books, yet be smaller than a notebook is actually quite astounding. Instead of flipping a page and hearing crinkling paper, you can simply drag a finger across a screen. Personally, I prefer print over electronic reading. Print has more character. The smell and the yellowing of the pages of old books tells an additional story that simply cannot be conveyed through electronic resources. I definitely see the upside to electronic reading though as far as accessibility goes. I think that when the time comes where electronic print becomes more prevalent, people will need to decide if they are willing to trade character for accessibility. As far as understanding goes, I don't really think it is effected by the method of reading. Connection is slightly different though. I think connection is partially changed by the character of actual print and there seems to be some sort of disconnect between the reader and electronic text.