Monthly Review #2: The Last Song by: Nicholas Sparks

Hey everyone! Thanks for coming back to read my monthly review. Like I told you last time, I decided not to write about The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time. I want to write about The Last Song by: Nicholas Sparks. Just so you guys know, right now I am extremely tired and got home an hour ago and just finished dinner, so please excuse me if I made mistakes. I will go over this again when I am less tired and make the corrections, so for now, just bare with me. So lets begin my review.

For what audience(s) is this book intended, and how can you tell? (In other words, for whom would you recommend this book?)

I feel this book is more for teen girls because it has teen drama and romance in it which most guys I know don't want to read. There were parts in the book where I cried, but I can't tell you why because it would spoil it for people who have not read the book yet. The drama included people getting arrested, arson, love triangles, and the usual. Use your imagination if you don't want to read it, but it is a really good book. I recommend it to all teen girls. I mean, we all need a few tears now and then. I read so many books that made me cry and that tells me the author did a really good job writing the book because I was able to visualize it in my mind and it felt like I was watching a movie. I would cry because most of the time it was because the book was about teens who have been diagnosed with cancer or other diseases and died. Even though they all were similar, they were still different in their own way because they each had their own story to tell. So anyway, the guys might like the book, but I doubt it. They usually read about action or nonfiction, so I will just stick with the girls.

How would you describe the author's style of writing? What's your opinion of the style?

I like the author's style of writing in this book because in the beginning, he started out near the end of the storyline, and had the main character reflect on her events during summer that changed her life. Then he went back the the very first day of summer and from there, he alternated between characters. So it would be Ronnie (Short for Veronica and the main character), then it would sometimes be Steve (Ronnie's dad), other times Will (a guy that I'm not going to talk about), and once in a while Marcus (a strange and freakish teen). He alternates between the characters so we will get a feel of what each character is feeling. And as you continue reading the book, you learn about things that happened in the past or you see one event in different perspectives. It's like one moment your reading about how the church accidentally burned down, and later on in the book, you learn from a different perspective about how the church burned down by one of the characters (again I would love to tell you guys everything, but then you wouldn't want to read the rest). I personally like this style because it makes you feel that more than one author wrote this. And also when you read the book, you can tell how differently they all think. One moment your reading about girl stuff, and the next it's about cars or something.

Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth.

The character that was the most interesting to me would probably be Steve, Ronnie's dad, because no matter what situation he was in, he was always calm and he listened to his kids. He didn't judge them, he always believed them. He always does what's best for his kids. He let them do whatever they want because he knew they were good kids. They were responsible and smart enough to make the right choices. Even when Ronnie was arrested for something she didn't do, he stayed calm and listened to them. He's not the type of person who interrupts their children and grounds them without hearing their side of the story first. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer which spread to his pancreas and lungs. To keep his mind off of the pain, he decided to play the piano. He loves the piano almost as much as he loved his children. He used to teach at Juilliard in New York, and he was Ronnie's first piano teacher. She used to love the piano as much as he did, but when he 'left' his family, Ronnie's swore she would never play the piano again and that she hate it. So anyway, the proof that he loves them is that he was willing to give up playing the piano for her happiness even though it was his only source he had for avoiding the pain in his stomach.

I'm sorry if this is a really bad review. I warned you guys like a month ago that I am horrible at these kind of things. Plus the fact that I'm exhausted. If you guys are lucky, then I might come back and fix it, but for now it would have to do so I don't get a zero. So anyway, that's all I have for today folks. Come back in two weeks because this coming week is STAR Testing, so that means no blog. So in two weeks, I think it would be time to do The Journal Of Chloe Saunders (Part 5), but I'm not sure. It depends on if I'm at my dad's house, or my mom's. Oh well. We'll just deal with it when the time comes, so for now, wish me luck for my testing and see you in two weeks. Until then, see ya!

Book Review #3-The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time by: Mark Haddon

Hey everyone! Thanks for coming back to read part three of my Lit Circle Letter to Grant. Just a heads up. For the book review that is due Friday, I won't be writing about The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time by: Mark Haddon. I will be writing about a book I was reading independently and just found out I was able to do this. I so did not want to write about this book because I have nothing really to talk about. So anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading my letter to Grant. And for next month's Lit Circle Book, Grant and I will not be working together because he does not want to read the girly books I want to read, so I might work with Melissa. So now, back to my letter.

The third part takes place after he finds out his mom is still alive. When I mean after, I mean way after. It starts out with him at the train station. It's obvious that he doesn't know what to do because you see him wandering around mindlessly and he doesn't know how to use trains. He's also afraid to ask for help since he doesn't enjoy communicating with strangers. Later on, a policeman finds him wandering around and helps him get money from his credit card, buy a ticket and get on the train. After a while, he finally made it to London and finds his mom, and his dad suddenly appears there and the parents start arguing about who deserves to take care of him.

That's all I can say because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who still hasn't read it. So all that's left to do is end the show for today. I hope you come back to read my monthly review. Until then, see ya!

Spring Break and Holocaust/Unity Week

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I talked to you guys. I had so much time during the Spring Break to sit back and relax. I stayed up all night watching my anime since I never seem to have enough time during the school year. I did about 1/4 of the homework assigned to me. Guess which assignment it was. One out of the two pages of worksheets my Chemistry teacher gave me. The other worksheet I saved for Monday when we came back from break during lunch. So let me explain how my week went. The first weekend during the Spring Break, my dad, step-mom, sister, step-brother, and I went to the cemetery to visit my step-grandpa's grave. We prayed and lighted in-scents (not sure if I spelled that correctly) to place around the grave. On Monday, I just hanged out and watched TV or anime. Same on Tuesday. Wednesday, I was forced to help watch my cousins at the movie theatre and watch, "How To Train Your Dragon". Thursday, I went to work at All Star. The kids had fun playing with my Chinese yo-yo and spinning plate. Friday I also had to work, but only in the afternoon. Saturday, everyone went to my Auntie's house to celebrate her birthday. On Sunday, I went to my uncle's house to attend a baby shower for twin boys. That was all I did for my Spring Break.

And just so you know, I will be continuing with "The Journal Of Chloe Saunders" every other week. Or whenever I am at my mom's house because at my dad's house, where I am right now, does not have Microsoft word, so it does not have the font I want to use for this story. The computer at my mom's house have it, so I will be typing it there. When I'm at my dad's house, I will find something to write about. But it would be really hard to find something to write about that reaches 500 words. Maybe I'll write another story which does not involve using Microsoft word.

This week was so easy because the sophomores got to miss periods 1, 2, and 5 on Tuesday to watch Schindler's List, and periods 3 and 4 on Wednesday to listen to Helen speak about her life during the Holocaust. Thursday, was kinda normal, except during our language class where we got to see the Foreign Language Talent Show in the Little Theatre. Today, The periods were shorter because of the Talent Show for Unity Week which was this week. I'm planning on entering the talent show at least once before I graduate. It's funny, the only times I performed on that stage was when I was in middle school at Lincoln, but now that I'm at Alameda High, I'm not performing on it anymore. If your wondering what I did on that stage, I did the Chinese yo-yo with Iris and Dionna.

That's all I have for you today folks! Come back next week and we can finally continue with, "The Journal Of Chloe Saunders". Until then, see ya!

Book Review #1 and #2-The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time by: Mark Haddon

Hey everyone! Book review #1 and #2 are together in one post because of Spring Break. I hope this book review is better than my other ones.

The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time, written by Mark Haddon, is about a fifteen year old autistic boy named, Christopher John Francis Boone. He is very intelligent because he knows every countries in the world and their capitals. He also knows every prime number up to 7,057. He doesn't react well with human beings, so he can easily relate with animals. One day at seven after midnight, his world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, killed with a garden fork in the middle of the lawn. The reason he is out in the middle of the night is because he enjoys the idea of being the only person in the world. So anyway, Christopher was initially accused of killing the dog. This accusation causes Christopher to embark on a path, following his favorite fictional character, Sherlock Holmes', footsteps and solve the mystery of the murder of Wellington the dog. During this adventure, Christopher learns about things he thought he would never have to face. He learned about the dissolution of his parents' marriage. Now he faces two problems. The crisis growing within his own family, and the problem of finding Wellington's killer. But later we discover that the two problems are related.

In the beginning, Ms. Shear's ex-husband was the main suspect. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Ms. Shear is the owner of Wellington. Oops, sorry. So anyway, He was the main suspect because he probably killed the dog to get back at Ms. Shear for previous issues. Christopher's dad did not want him, in any way, involved in the mystery, but later finds that his very own father killed the dog. The reason for his actions were because he wanted to get back at Ms. Shears. Ms. Shear's husband left her around the same time as Christopher's mother's "death". So, guess what happens when two very lonely and truly sad people of the opposite sex shares the same feelings. They get close, and I mean really close. But in the end, she showed more affection toward her dog than him. Christopher's father confiscates the book he uses to write down his clues and hides it. Christopher goes looking for the book and finds it, but also finds letter written to him by his mother. So the truth is, his mother is actually alive and is currently living in London. His dad had to fake the death so Christopher's feelings won't get hurt. She left them because she felt that she couldn't stay with them without hurting the ones she loved. She has a big temper while everyone else in the family are very mellow people. So what do you guys think will happen next. If you lived part of your life thinking that a loved one is dead, but later learns that they are alive and living somewhere else. What would you do? Duh, you would want to see them again, so that's what Christopher did. He went to London to live with his mom. So now he embarks on a new adventure. One that is more challenging because he has asperger's syndrome. For those of you who do not know what that it, it is an autism spectrum disorder, and people with it therefore show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests.

That's the end of my book review. It really is a good book. I encourage all of you to read it. The only part I don't like is the fact that they murdered a dog because I am a huge dog-lover. But other than that, The book so far is great. I hope you come back next week to read about part 3. Until then, see ya!

New New Statement of Purpose

HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!

Hey everyone! This is an assigned blog post, so that means you'll have to wait until next next week to read about Chloe and her other roommates. I'm not writing a blog post next week because we are on spring break. Yeah! Today felt like it would never end. The clock was slower than ever. And the teachers had the nerve to give us homework during our break. Can you believe this. Homework on our break from school. How can that possibly be a break. Are they trying to ruin our lives? I'm probably going to wait until the very last second to do them. Oh well. I don't know what's going on in my teacher's head, but I'm not going to let it ruin my week of no school, so anyway, the blog post this week is about my goals for the 4th quarter. What I plan on doing differently, what I'm going to keep doing, blah blah blah. The usual stuff. So I might as well get through this and get on with my spring break. I plan on hanging out with my friends except for Thursday and Friday when I have to go to work. But anyway, I'm going to have as much fun as possible. I so don't want to go back to school and have to take the STAR testing and my chemistry final. I'm going to hate it. Oh yeah, I forgot about my blog. Sorry about that. Here's my goals for this last quarter.

My goals for this quarter is to continue with "The Journal Of Chloe Saunders" and maybe try to write my own book. First I need a topic where there is a lot of things to talk about. Make the characters for my book, and also figure out a storyline. It will be a very difficult challenge, but it will greatly improve my writing skills. If anyone has any good topics, please post them on my comments. That will greatly help me improve my writing. I read so many books, I feel I can actually write a good book, but that won't happen without practice. I will surely hit a writer's block along the way, but eventually everything will all work out.

I guess I will try my best to continue doing this even when the school year is over. It probably won't be as frequently as now, but I will try my best. I hope you guys will continue reading my blog. I love reading about magic and romance, so most likely I will write my stories about that. It will be interesting how I will do that. That's all I have for you folks this week. Please come back in two weeks to read The Journal Of Chloe Saunders (Part 5). I will be introducing some new characters to you. So be sure to comment my posts. I want to know what you think about my posts so far. Have fun during your spring break and see you in two weeks. Until then, see ya!

Monthly Review #1-Wild Magic by: Tamora Pierce

Hey everyone! I forgot to tell you last week that this week, instead of a weekly blog post, I will be posting my first, monthly book review. Like I said last week, I suck at summaries, so please go easy on the critiquing. Enjoy!

The book, "Wild Magic", written by Tamora Pierce, is about a 13 year old girl named Veralidaine Sarrasri, but everyone calls her Daine. She lost everything when a group of bandits came to her town in Snowsdale. They killed her mom, grandpa, and all of her animals. Daine and her horse, Cloud were lucky enough to be out of the house at that time, so they survived. She then began living with the wolves and she started changing into one. They tracked down the bandits and killed them. Will Daine ever find a home again? Will she ever be able to trust humans again? This book tells the story of how a girl lost everything. She went on a journey, made some friends, and learned things about herself she never would have known if she didn't leave her town.

Cloud slowly started trying to get the old Daine back step by step. After a while they finally found her. They left town because all the towns people were trying to kill her. They went to Cría and met Onua. She got a job and left with her and her ponies to Tortall. Once they got there, she learned that she was gifted with wild magic. Wild magic is in everything. It allows her to communicate with animals. She can command them, but doesn't because it's not right. They later went to Pirate's Swoop and after a few days, were under attack. The Carthaki mages, the ones who are attacking Daine and her friends, opened a portal through the Divine Realms to bring back more Stormwings to fight for them. In the process, they accidentally sucked a pregnant Dragon through the portal and killed her baby. She had the animals attack the Carthaki, making sure they have bad food and water. They also made sure they didn't get a wink of sleep. She then went down to the water to ask the whales to try and sink the barges out in the ocean. They refused because they are pacifists and believed fighting and killing is disgusting. Once she got back, they continued to fight. The dragon helped sink and destroy the barges, but was killed in the process. Before she was killed though, she sent Daine a picture of a cave in the northwest mountains. The next part I can't tell you because it's a spoiler, so your just going to have to read it yourself. What I can tell you is that the next day, Daine, Numair, Alanna, and some other knights went to the cave and found the baby dragon, Skysong. Daine became the baby's new mom. In the end, she still got to keep her job with Onua, even though her duty is to Skysong. She was even offered to live in the castle with King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Then George and Alanna fought for Daine to live with them at Pirate's Swoop. And Numair said she should live with him in his tower since she is his apprentice. So in the end, she ended up having too many homes when she started out with none.

When I first picked up this book, I thought, "This book might be okay. It should be good enough to help me pass the time." But after I started reading it, I just couldn't put the book back down. I read nonstop until I finished the book. I didn't get a wink of sleep that night, but it was worth it. I couldn't wait to read the next book, Wolf-Speaker. This book had so many exciting and fun characters. Cloud was my favorite. She is strong when it comes to protecting Daine, but she is also stubborn and funny. Daine is lucky to have her in her family. She is reliable and caring.

I love how Tamora Pierce animated the animals. The described each animal and creature so well, I could see them in my mind as clearly as night and day. They animal's personality is also what I would expect from animals if they were able to communicate with us human. The immortals she came up with, I never would have thought of half animal, half human type monsters. She is so creative. I promise, once you pick up her books, you just can't put it down until you read every single page she has. I even feel the same excitement from rereading her books, and I'm the type of person to read a book once, love it, and never pick it up again.

Tamora Pierce's talent in creating monsters is so wonderful. I can imagine her sitting at her desk and letting her imagination wander free, looking for the perfect monster or character that fits her needs. I can already anticipate on new, well thought out characters in her next books. I can't wait to see how she plans on continuing this story. But hopefully in her next book she is able to easily explain who is talking at the moment because sometimes I have to reread some paragraphs until I know who is talking. She puts a lot of dialogue in the book, but sometimes she doesn't say who said it.

If I were to be able to become one of the characters, I would be the dragon because I love the thought of flying high over the place. It would look so beautiful from so high up. And the thought of being a mage is so exciting. I've always wanted magic. It can be so beautiful, but at the same time, it can also be dangerous. The dragon can also change color depending on her moods. That quality, when I read it in the book, matched perfectly with the dragon. A dragon can be fierce and it can also be calm and proud. It is majestic and at the top of the pyramid in the Divine Realms. When reading the parts about the dragons, I could practically feel their hot breath going down my neck and back.

I can't really compare this book with her other ones I read like, "The Circle of Magic series" or "The Circle Opens series" or "The Circle Reforged series". I love all her books. Or any book relating to magic. It's just so exciting reading about magical creatures that don't exist, but wish it does. I mean, who doesn't want to see a dragon or have a magical gift. I know I want to be able to talk or turn into an animal. Her books are all about magic, that's why she is my number one favorite author. I would love it if she read and commented on my blog about her. It would be a dream come true, but we all know that's never going to happen. But I can still dream. Anyway, her talent with paper and pen is magical. The way she can weave a story so magical, yet out of this world is real talent.

You can feel the atmosphere in the air change as you continue on through her books. She is one of my favorite authors and I hope she will continue to write more books for everyone to read in the future. Her books bring smiles of excitement to people's faces when they read. She was born to write stories for people to read and enjoy for years to come.

That's the end of my monthly book review. Please come back next week to read about Chloe and the other kids at Lyle House. Until then, see ya!

The Journal Of Chloe Saunders (Part 4)

Hey everyone! Thanks for taking your time to read part 3 of "The Journal of Chloe Saunders". Here's part 4.

I was getting out of the car when I got my first, real look of Lyle House. It's a huge white Victorian house perched on an over-sized lot. It has a yellow trim and a swing on the wraparound porch. I saw many pictures in the brochures, but it looks totally different up close. It actually looked like a normal house, instead of those with bars on the windows and doors, but it didn't feel like one. It feels like there's something wrong and dangerous about this house, but I'm not sure what it is. That I’m sure of.

The feeling I felt reminds me of the ocean. The waves looks nice and peaceful, but can easily turn into a dangerous storm at any moment. I mean sure it looked cozy, but that doesn't mean it is. My aunt and dad were beckoning me toward the front door, when two women came out of the house.

The one with the gray hair and wide hips came to greet us while the younger one's dour eyes followed my every move with her arms crossed like she was expecting trouble. The older woman was Mrs. Talbot, and she's one of the nurses. She gave the grand tour of the place. My room was white and yellow, decorated with daisies, smelling of hair gel. The far side had a twin bed. Over the bed on the wall were decorated with pages ripped from magazines. The dresser was covered with makeup tubes and bottles. The tiny desk was the only one left bare. My side was a sterile mirror image.

The tour was finally over and it was time for dad and aunt Lauren to go. I gave a hug to aunt Lauren ignoring the tears in her eyes and gave a sort of an awkward hug to dad. He kissed the top of my head and mumbled that he would stay in town and visit as soon as possible. He then pressed a roll of twenties into my hand.

I was tired, so as the nurses were putting my things away, I crawled into bed to sleep. The last thing I remembered was seeing dad's silhouette in the doorway with the younger nurse, Miss Van Dop, behind him with her face set in disapproval. My dad moved to my bedside one last time and pressed something soft in my hand and said, "Oops, I almost forgot to give you Ozzie. I wasn't sure if you would sleep without him."

Ozzie was my koala bear that I outgrew two years ago, banished onto my shelf. I buried my face into his soft and fake fur that smelled like home.

***

I awoke and saw that I was asleep for 4 hours. I heard someone snoring and looked over at the bed next to me. There was someone sleeping under the quilt. I turned onto my back and felt a tear roll down my cheek.

I was ashamed of myself. Dad and aunt Lauren didn't know what to do with me. Their actions are being carried out with the feelings of fear leading them. They were scared and they had every right to be. I was a freak with schizophrenia.

How stupid could I be? Ghosts aren't real, and yet I can see them. They look so real, how am I suppose to learn what's real and what's fake? I think the fastest way for me to get back to my normal life is to be the perfect patient they want me to be. All I have to do is keep telling them, "I want to get better. I know I have a problem, but I won't let it ruin my life. I will do anything to get better." I will also just pretend I don't see ghosts anymore, and try not to make a scene. If I treat everybody like they didn't exist, then I won't make a scene. I won't accidentally talk to a ghost and people won't see me talking to an empty space. It was a perfect plan.

Just then, there was a knock on my door. A voice, a lady’s voice, says, “Chloe, Liz? Are you awake?”

The figure on the bed groaned then said, “Now I am. And who’s Chloe?”

“She should be on the bed next to you.”

The girl sat up and looked at me grumpily. She looked like one of those teen models with her long, beautiful blond hair. I waved and said, “Hi, I’m Chloe. Chloe Saunders. I just got here today.”

The girl rubbed her eyes and said, “Hi, I’m Elizabeth Delaney, but everyone calls me Liz. Sorry if I sound mad. Normally I’m nicer, but that’s after I’m fully awake. Wait an hour then you can come see me and I’ll introduce you to the others.”

“OK.”

“Are you girls done yet? It’s time for school. Hurry up and get ready. Liz you know what to do. Chloe, just come out when Liz is ready and I’ll introduce myself. We’ll just talk about the rules and schedules here and then you can go back to bed or hang out in the pit. You won’t start your lessons until your teachers send in their notes and homework. See you in a few or I’m coming in to get you guys,” said the voice on the other side of the door.

I asked Liz, “Who’s that? And can you please refresh my memory on what the pit is. That would totally help a lot.”

“That was Dr. Gill. She usually forgets what she calls, ‘the minor details’, but we call it ‘the major details’ of most things. You’ll get use to it eventually. And what everyone calls the pit is the recreational room. There’s a very slow laptop, but you need one of the adults to log on before you can use it. You also need them to type a password in if you want to email someone. There’s also a T.V. with a playstation, a foosball table, beanbag chairs, and a lot of other stuff. Check it out. It’s a nice place to hang out, especially when you have it all to yourself. No one to hog the remote.”

As Liz was getting ready, we were telling each other about ourselves. I learned that she is 16 years old and very, and I mean very, talkative. And she was completely OK with telling me the reason she was in this place. She got straight to the point, “I have a poltergeist.”

I was starring at her and decided if she isn’t afraid of what other people might think about her problem, then I shouldn’t either. And isn’t accepting what I have part of my ‘perfect plan’? And now that I’m back on the topic, wasn’t I suppose to ignore everyone just in case they were a ghost? But then I realized how much I needed a friend in this place, so I simply banished that part of the plan and said, “And I have schizophrenia. Putting that aside now, shouldn’t we be going now?”

She stared at me for a second, smiled and said, “Yep, lets go. After my lessons, I’ll come find you and you can meet the others.”

She went to the door and left. I walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and dived in.

That’s all I have for you this week. Come back next week and meet the other teens at Lyle House. Until then, see ya!