Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

Over the summer I read, Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I really liked the book a lot, and it is probably my favorite book that I have ever read in my life. It isn’t really like a book; it’s a graphic novel, which is a long comic book. I decided to read the book because I saw the movie. I really liked the movie a lot and it was one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen. I also found out that there are other graphic novels that were turned into movies. (Including 300, The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and V is for Vendetta. Also, the movie was very similar to the book. There were slight differences, but the only main difference was the ending, but I won’t give that away. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the book, and a lot of things that you don’t see coming. At times it is very confusing, and if you see the movie before your read you won’t have a clue about what is going on. The main story is that someone is killing the superheroes. This is about 20 years after all the superheroes retired though. It starts when someone breaks into the Comedian’s apartment, and kills him by throwing him out the window. Rorschach is the detective in the story. He goes to all the former superheroes and tells them what happens, and they don’t really do anything to help him. As the story goes on more superheroes and villains were attempted to be killed or they were killed. Rorschach and his partner, Nite Owl II, figure out that the person behind all of this was one of their friends and former superhero Adrian. (Ozymandias). They go to Antarctica, where he was doing all this, and he had a plan to kill the whole world. It was for a good purpose though. There were already many crimes happening and if everyone in the world was gone so would the crimes. It was a way of starting the whole world over. Adrian frames Dr. Manhattan, who is the only superhero out of them that had superpowers, and the world thinks it is Dr. Manhattan’s fault. So Dr. Manhattan ends up moving to Mars. They stop Adrian, but still his plan somewhat works, it did kill a lot of people. At the end of the book, I was amazed at how detailed it was. I really liked it a lot and I would recommend it to anyone who likes action, or stories that the plot turns around a lot. Watchmen is a book that defiantly needs to be read multiple times.

I’m almost finished reading, Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich. So far, its one of the best books I have ever read. The main characters are Seymour and Elliot.
The book starts out when Seymour is in middle school—in 8th grade. He is unpopular, and doesn’t have many friends. He meets Elliot, and Elliot tells him that he knows how he can make Seymour popular and admired by everyone. Elliot says that the reason he does all this is because he wants to keep himself occupied with a project.
Elliot is a very wealthy and mature character. He uses very creative and clever techniques to make Seymour better at sports, look better, and make people like him. Elliot even finds a way to make Seymour the student body president. Seymour is mostly happy about what Elliot is doing, but sometimes he has internal conflicts because he feels guilty because he is cheating.
This book uses foil characters, because for the most part, Elliot gives to Seymour, and Seymour takes from Elliot; they are opposites.
The part of the book that I’m at now is when Elliot gets Seymour into Harvard! So far, I really like this book. This book is creative, funny, and it allows kids my age to relate to characters in the book.

Monster by Walter Dean Meyers

In the book Monster, by Walter Dean Meyers, there are a lot of literary devices that makes the story the phenomenon it is today. The author uses many different tactics to manipulate the story into an edge-of-your-seat read. For example, the author’s writing style is in first person, so a narrator is telling the story. This narrator is Steve Harmon. Steve Harmon is on trial for murder, at the age of 16, something very shocking. This makes the story intriguing because you can read at the perspective of this boy who is on trial, which can be, at times, very nerve racking. But his writing style is not the only thing that makes this book memorable. The author also uses journal entries from this convict to develop suspense. As it states on page 59, “They take away your shoelaces and your belt so you can’t kill yourself no matter how bad it is. I guess making you live is part of the punishment.” This journal entry creates suspense because it takes you inside of the mind of a young criminal, which is very disturbing, but yet also makes the reader want to sympathize for this young man, because his chance to go to grow up is at stake. While Steve is in jail, it is often hard for him to keep his mind in the right place, and if it was me in there, I would too. The author displays this by including flashbacks of young Steve’s mind throughout the book. As it states on page 202, “It is a nice day on the outside. On the street below, people walk in what looks like a crisscross pattern across the narrow streets. On the corner there is a cart that sells food, frankfurters or sausages I guess, and sodas. People stand around buying what they want, then move away. It looks like something I would like to do, move away from where I am.” By using this flashback, the author has established that Steve misses his life at home and wants to get out of jail.
Using the actual experience of a troubled young teen, Walter Dean Meyers has created a very pleasing book.

The Rule of Three

In the book The Rule of Three by Megan Mc Donald, each of the three sisters has their own particular personality. The oldest sister Alex is an actress, the middle sister Stevie is a singer and a baker and the youngest sister Joey is very joyful and loves the book Little Woman. Each of the three sisters has their own unique relationship with each other and sometimes they show that through what they love best. For example, Alex always performs in front of everyone; she wants to always be the leader, but sometimes she can get really bossy. Stevie loves to bake cupcakes for everyone depending on how she feels about them at that time, and Joey enjoys reading Little Woman with Stevie. Each one of them has a passion for what they do, and they show that through everyday life.
When Alex hears that the school play will be announced on the school website later that day, she gets so excited. As she sits in her room she hopes it will be a romantic play like Romeo and Juliet. She imagines herself playing the lead. When she discovers that the play will be Once Upon a Mattress she is upset. She remembered that this is a musical and she can’t sing, but she is an excellent actress.
Alex soon went downstairs and told everyone about the school play that is really a musical. When she tells this to her sisters, Stevie gets an idea. She decides maybe she should try out for the play. She loves to sing, but she is all ready committed to be in a baking contest. Stevie has a tough decision to make.
Stevie chooses not to tell Alex that she is thinking about trying out for the play and when Alex later finds out there is even more drama because she sabotages Stevie. This is an internal conflict for both Stevie and Alex because Alex does not want Stevie to try out for the play even though it is something that Stevie is good at. Alex will do anything she can so stop Alex from trying out for the play or try to convince her not to go out for the lead.
I would recommend this book because it has a lot of drama. As the book goes on the tension builds and it gets more and more interesting. Whenever the three sisters have a group meeting or a big discussion it almost always ends up with drama. This book is interesting and that is why I think that people would enjoy it.

I am a rock climber. Just because it is fun, doesn’t mean it is safe. One example is in this article that I actually read titled Climber Burns Hands In 80 Foot Fall. In the article, it talks about, a man who fell 80 feet. He shouldn't be alive. He is one of the lucky ones, most people who fall die. He was extremely lucky because he was disconnected from the rope, but he was still able to hold on to the rope and save himself from a sudden death. After reading this article, I realize that just because you have not experienced something like this doesn't mean that you will and it also doesn't mean that you won’t. After reading this it has helped me realize that you have to live your life to the fullest because you don't know when it will end.

Another article I read Climber Falls Soloing in Boulder Canyon and Survives the Night Alone made me realize how dangerous rock climbing can be. Brenna Fisch shouldn’t be alive. The nineteen year old college sophomore went climbing by herself last week up “The Owl”, a popular 5.7 crack climb up The Dome, a 200-foot-high granite cliff in Colorado. At about 6:30 pm, she fell and suffered a head injury, crushed her eye socket and forehead. She was found badly injured and was taken to the hospital about 12 hours later. This just goes to show you don’t do dangerous things alone.

Over the summer I read an amazing realistic fiction book called, Top 8, by Katie Finn. This book is about a girl named Madison MacDonald. She gets hacked while she is on a cruse for summer vacation with her family, but she only finds out when she gets home from the cruse. Everybody in the town has a friendverse and you can blog, chat, and inbox other people who have a friendverse account.
Madison goes on the cruse and comes back with these little gifts for all of her friends. The gifts are little clay lizards. When she gets home and she opens up her laptop, she discovers that her profile had been hacked. Madison has no idea who could of done this too her. Something that is on the friendverse website is your Top 8. Basically, the Top 8 on you’re profile is the people who you talk the most to and who you’re closest friends are. Your Top 8 is picked by yourself and when she comes back some of her friends are not there anymore because some of her friends have un-friended her.
Something that is unique about the authors writing style is that she makes some of writing as if it is the blog. When you are reading it’s like you are actually on the website because it shows the times that they are sent and the pictures of the people who posted them. In most of this book you are reading the inboxes that Madison gets on her friendverse account. Madison’s friends are surprised that she posted all of the secrets that here friends have told her online. Madison is so surprised when she see’s all of this written. Justin is one of the main characters along with Ruby, and Nate. Justin is Madison’s boyfriend but the hacker wants them to brake up, so he thought that they were broken up when she didn’t even know about it. Ruby is Madison best friend; they had been friends since they were in little. Nate comes mid way in the book, but they become really good friends as the book goes on. The day that Madison and Nate meet they go out for some gelato and pineapple pizza. Ever since that happened that was their thing to have gelato and pineapple pizza together. They both met because his parents came over one night to talk to Madison’s parents because they are family friends.
The author uses foreshadowing and foil characters in this book. One time that the author uses foreshadowing is with Nate. When Nate and Madison go out for ice cream and pizza that foreshadows that they might do something similar to going out and getting food or ice cream or it also foreshadows that they might hang out again because they are really good friends. How this book explains foil characters is that he shows that one character is getting hacked, which would be Madison, and the other foil character would be the character or person that is hacking Madison.
I would personally recommend this book to people because it shows you how you a lesson about how people need to be careful on the internet and watch you say online because everyone can see it and it never goes away. Top 8 is an outstanding book and I think that if you read it, you will absolutely enjoy this book. If you want to find out who hacks Madison, you will have to read the book!

Criss Angel, Mindfreak

In my book, Criss Angel, Mind freak, Criss Angel shares his philosophy of life and magic as he goes through suspenseful stunts and demonstrations. Criss does these demonstrations because he wants to make himself proud and accomplish these things. He isn’t insane. He proves that you can make your dreams come true and that anyone can do what they desire in life.
The unique thing about this book is that even if you aren’t into magic or illusion or think that you don’t like his look, he can relate and connect to everyone who reads the book. When Criss was only sixteen, his father died of cancer. Most of demonstrations are dedicated to his father for supporting him. Crisses brother, J.D., is his older brother who cares for him and looks out for him. Crisses mom, Dimitra, has gone through Crisses life with him and has helped him get to where he is now. When ever his life is at stake, it is a big risk for him, it looks to be very dangerous and it is but it is actually an art form, the art of escape.
This book is very inspiring book. When I was about seven, the T.V. show came on and I got hooked. At the time, that was when I started getting into doing magic. By watching him, I can become better. I can study the way he does magic to help my self learn magic. Sometimes I will notice a certain move he does and will know what he did, that is how I know I’m getting better every day.
Criss Angel started also around seven or eight and when he was fourteen, he would go down to Manhattan for a magic shop and he lived in long island. This very much like me because every once and a while I make a big trip to go to the city just for a magic store called Tannen’s Magic. He also started doing shows and later on in his life, he won a Merlin award and three Magicians of The Year awards. He now has his own T.V. show series. I would recommend this book to anyone, it is an inspiring cool fun book.