Dorothy Must DIE by Danielle Paige

Yes you read right, Dorothy Must Die. That's not a typo. A new series of books; written by Danielle Paige, have recently come out and they all revolve around The Wizard of Oz. This particular book revolves around how Dorothy returned to Oz and took over the Emerald Palace. She has turned eevviilll. Everyone and everything has become her slave. She runs the place.

So far I've read 120 pages out of the book, and they've gone by pretty fast. I think part of the reason could have been because the book has short chapters. So when I'm reading, I usually read one or two chapters more than I had originally planned.

The book starts out with Amy Gumm, the main character, describing her mediocre life, her dad who ran away with some girl, and her jobless mother. She describes how her life has been a complete mess. Then a few events later, which I won't reveal, she ends up in Oz. It is completely opposite of what she expected Oz to be and how it's been portrayed in media. As the day goes by, she finds out that Dorothy is responsible for this dichotomy.

She, along with her friends, make it her goal to. "Remove the Tin Woodman's heart. Steal the Scarecrow's brain. Take the Lion's courage. And Dorothy Must Die."

Concluding on all that I have read so far in this book, I would say, you don't have to be a Wizard of Oz fan to understand this book. Having seen the movie once and faintly recalling the events is enough.  The book starts off on a very catchy note and is a journey till the end... or at least till page 120. Let me know on what you think of this book just by reading this little appetizer; in the comments below.

Something to remember for Thanksgiving

By Mary Schmich

     When reading the column, I think Schmich wants us to feel like, no matter how little we give or receive, it's significance may be found out later in life. This is backed up by what Schmich said in her column, "... no matter how little you think you've gotten, you may understand later that it was huge." This shows that the quantity of items received may not be appreciated immediately, but later down the road the recipient may understand it's importance. 

     Schmich wants the reader to remember her personal anecdote because it is what occupies most of her column. And also because she connects the anecdote to her main message of the piece. "Off and on for years  since then, the vision of my father giving me money that was hard to spare had come back to me," this was said by Schmich in her column. This further backs up my point, because she says that the memory; that was hard to forget. is coming back to her. Here she connects her story to her message.

      The purpose of this column is to inform or to help the reader realize that little things can go a long way. The quote here is the same as the one used in the first paragraph,"... no matter how little you think you've gotten, you may understand later that it was huge." This... again shows that the quantity of items received may not be a big deal at first, but later down the road, the recipient may understand it's importance.

     The author incorporated a variety of paragraph lengths throughout the column. There are short paragraphs, there are long paragraphs... there are even one sentence paragraphs. For example, "Again, I turned around," was a one-sentence-paragraph. This variation in paragraph lengths shows us which part is important to understand and what Schmich feels should stand out. 

     What this column adds to our society is that we shouldn't we too greedy with the amount of gifts we want to receive... or the amount of gifts we think we 'deserve'. I feel like this goes along with any movie that features rich kids who think they deserve wayyy tooo much, but at the end they turn around and realize that they should be thankful for what they have. Overall this column teaches us to become a little more modest. 

So, do you agree with how I interpreted this column. Did you interpret it in a similar way, or was I way off? Let me know in the comments below!

     

     

     

MY SPRING BREAK!

Over this Spring Break, I decided to go study, work and basically 'school' free. Well, except this blog, and studying for Spanish... So, sorry Mrs. Leitsch but this one's not about a book :) This one's about what I did over Spring Break 2K15. 

My weekend was nothing but mundane. We went to a hockey game at the US Bank Arena. This was my first hockey game ever so I was pretty excited to go! It was the Cincinnati Cyclones vs Fort Wayne Komets. The cyclones was in the lead by 3-1 until the last 4 min of the game. I think they thought that they had the game in the bag, and they loosened up. But they probably regretted this, as the Komets caught up and the game ended in a 3-3 tie. But the worse part happened during over-time. Komets scored another goal to take the win! Let me tell you, I did not see this coming.

Lets jump to Wednesday, 3:00 am. My friend and I went to San Francisco; without any adults! We went from Cincinnati to Detroit. And Detroit to San Francisco. We arrived there by about 11 PST. And then we took an Uber to a Hop On- Hop Off tour bus. We visited most of the major attractions SFO has to offer. Some of them were Union Square,  Golden Gate Park, California Academy of Science, Palace of Fine Arts, China Town, Pier 39 and the daddy of them all, Golden Gate Bridge! We visited all of this within the day as we had to leave at 11 pm.  Over all this was an amazing trip, I met numerous people, and they were very kind and welcoming. 

When we arrived back in Cincinnati, both my friend and I were extremely tired and felt very jet-lagged. I slept around 11 hours that day. But I guess this is the price we both had to pay in return for 24 hours of fun. I definitely enjoyed this experience and I hope I can do something like this next year too. 

     In this blog I'm going to blog about a different kind of book that I'm reading. It doesn't have a story, characters or a typical plot. This is a book about increasing my vocab list and it helps people use more elevated words. It is called, Word Power Made Easy, by Norman Lewis. As we get older, we should be able to communicate our message clearly. As boring as it may seem, it has really helped me grow as a student and a reader. I've started to use more specific and mature words like extroverted instead of 'outgoing'. Philanthropic instead of 'he's a giver'. Anachronistic instead of 'old times'. 

I think this has been seen by my teachers too. Not so much of my math of science teachers but more like my English and Speech & Debate teachers.  On tests I use words that I normally wouldn't use and it's slowly beginning to crawl into what I say. 

     I would definitely recommend this book to any freshmen who would like to increase their vocabulary and just sound smart when speaking to a mature audience.  You can get this book at Barnes and Nobles for around $3 which is unbelievably cheap for something that can result in such an academic growth. Here is the link to the book:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/listing/2671223929072?r=1&kpid=2671223929072&cm_mmc=GooglePLA-_-Book_5To14-_-Q000000633-_-2671223929072

     I hope you at least give it a try. 

"I'm not going to describe what I look like, because whatever you are thinking of... it's probably worse."





     Over the past week and a half, I read the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I knew that this book isn't really recommended for a 9th grader but I've heard that it's a great book by many people and it's been on my bucket list for a while now, so I gave it a shot.

     In the book, there is a kid named August Pullman, and he has a deformed face. Even after numerous surgeries, the doctors can't seem to fix it. And he gets made fun of for that at school. He has lived through this his entire life. And it's not that other people are doing it to make fun of him, they do it simply because they can't control their emotions when they look at his face. Throughout the course of the story, you will read how he makes some friends, and spends some time with people who like him for his personality. And you will also find out how he comes around to being glad that he is 'different'.

     Now, a week and a half later, I'm really glad that I read this book. It's simply one of those books that titillates you and leaves a lasting impression. Wonder has been an easy read for me, and I was easily able to complete the book. Not only did this book make me think about our society, it changed my viewpoint on judging others and making fun of them. And I know that sounds a bit cliche and cheesy, but it really did. The book was written in such a manner that you felt like you would want to go up to August and give him a hug.  This book is an AMAZING read and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. You get grabbed with the story from the beginning and it's a type of book where you would loose track of time when reading it.

Dover Beach

     I'm really glad that we went over this poem in class! I had little to no idea on what this poem meant and why Ray Bradbury chose to include it in Fahrenheit 451.  I have 2 ideas why Bradbury chose to include the poem and why it made Mrs. Phelps cry.

     My first idea is, because it compares the reader's and his new bride's commitment to each other to Mrs. Phelps's marriage. This is why Mrs. Phelps cried. Although she wasn't able to completely understand what the poem was about, I think that she understood this key point and it made her break apart inside. I think she wanted that kind of relationship with her husband or at least one of her husbands.

     And another idea is because the reader in the poem, pretty much says to his wife 'no matter what happens, we will always be together'. And this part stung. Mrs. Phelps has gone through 2 marriages previously and is now in the third one. But a part that builds on top of this is her third husband; who is serving in a war said to her, 'If I die, you go on marry someone else.' This means that there is no commitment in their marriage. It's almost like a marriage is a joke in their society.

     This is, at least in my opinion, why Bradbury chose to include Dover Beach in his novel and why Mrs. Phelps cried after hearing the poem.

I'll Give You The Sun Pt. 2

     I haven't read too much of this book lately because I had my attention diverted towards Fahrenheit 451. But I did get to read enough to blog about.

     

     Where I last left off, Noah was a socially awkward kid with no friends, and Jude was quickly becoming a diva. But over the course of the 70 pages I've read, an enormous change has taken place. Noah is not a popular kid who has a girlfriend and is hanging out at a late night party (we'll get into that in just a minute), and Jude is now a girl who pretends to be a diva; but in reality, she has lost her popularity. 

     This galactic change in Noah's personality and social life has occurred due to  a guy who moved next door. He made a new friend who has just moved in to the house adjacent from his. And now they both hang out. Noah really takes pride in their friendship because he believes that the new kid is his only friend. Later it is revealed that the new kids name is Brian, and it turns out that he is the star of his baseball team at his boarding school. Where the students often call him "The Ax." This turns in favor for Noah as Brian's throwing skills are beneficial in scaring bullies. 

     As the days go on, the popular group of girls find out about Brian and they immediately find him interesting and attractive. They take Brian into their group and also take Noah along because they think they are a 'package deal'. Later as the summer goes on, Noah slowly opens up and starts dating the least knuckle-head of the girls. While this is happening, Jude is rejected and abandoned. According to her, Noah has stolen her friends.

     Now it is the day before Brian goes to his boarding school, and they are throwing him a party. At this party, some 'interesting'... events occur (which I can't say). And they keep playing some 'dumb' party games; you'd expect to see at a college party. 

     Right now the story has picked up in pace and I really like how the author has given each of the characters a special identity, through their clothing, description and especially their dialogue. I definitely think you should read this book. But if you already have, leave a comment on what you think of the book so far and if you like it :)