Toad Rage by Morris Gleitzman

   

     This six weeks I read Toad Rage by Morris Gleitzman. The book was first published in Australia by Penguin Books Australia in 1999 and the first America edition was in 2004. This book is fictional and written about a Cain toad and his cousin. The toads names are Limply and his cousin is Goliath. They go on an adventure to figure out why humans hate them so much. They want to put a stop to humans running them over.   

     The story is told in third person and follows Limpy and his cousin. The book starts off in a swamp near a highway. The highway is where the toads go to eat insects but get ran over by cars. Limpy did not understand why the humans were running them over. Limpy is scared for is family because he does not what them to die. Limpy has a collection of dead relatives in his room and he did not want to ad his mom, dad or sister to it. Toad Rage is a comedy book and an adventure novel. After reading the book I feel that it was fit for children. Morris Gleitzman kept my attention by keeping Limpy and Goliath in danger. The author’s style is to keep the character in danger. This keeps your attention by wanting to know what happens next. The author also keeps your attention through humor but sadly it's not that funny.

       This book affected me because every time I see a toad it will remind me of this book. This book didn't change any ideas about toads because I didn't think much about toads anyways. Throughout the book the humans judge toads by their looks and not how they act or who they are. I personally do not judge people at school on how they look but on who they are. This book did not bring up any memories of other authors or books, because I do not usually picked this genre of book.    

         This is a good book if you like funny adventurous books. I thought the ending could be more creative because Limpy never solve the problem of humans hating them. They only solve the problem of being squashed by cars. They did this by pole-vaulting out of the way of cars. I think the book would have been better for a younger audience.

    

  

Trey Wood   

Dec 18/2013

 ***3/5

Point Blank - Anthony Horowitz

       This six weeks I decided to read Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz. The first publishing date was in 2001. This book is an action adventure book. This book is about the adventures of a spy named Alex Rider. Alex finds himself in another job from MI6 Secret Service headquarters. An investigation into a series of mysterious deaths, leads MI6 wanting to learn more, so they send Alex Rider to the case. The people that died were all multi-million and billionaires, that all had 14 year old sons. They sent their sons to the elite prep school for rebellious kids.

       The story is told in 3rd person. Alex. The intended audience is meant for adolescents. It is because it uses world choice that adolescents would know how to use. Point Blank is a  action and adventure book. This book is about a boy that is a spy and has to solve why important people are being killed. The author kept me interested in this book by having very interesting story lines with the characters. 

      This book did not effect me. It did not effect me because it didn't relate to what is going on in the real world. This book reminded me of the James Bond movies. And other action adventure movies.

        I enjoyed this book. There were a few things that I did not like about Point Blank. I did not like how the story started. I thought that Anthony Horowitz should have added a little more information onto the beginning because when I started reading it I was confused at what was happening. Although I did not care for the beginning of the book I would recommend this book to any person who likes action and adventurous book.

Ben Jankowsky 

12/17/13

RATING: **** 4.5/5

Brain Jack - Brian Falkner

This six weeks I decided to read another book by Brian Falkner called Brain Jack. It was copyrighted in 2009. It is a fiction book that takes place in the future. Brain Jack is about a boy named Sam who is a genius when it comes to computers or computer programming. But more specifically hacking. It takes place in Manhattan with his friend Fargas. One day Sam and Fargas decide to pull of one of the biggest hacks in history. Telecomerica. All they wanted were some neuro-headsets with new high-tech computers. Sam and Fargas went in and out undetected. Until they were invited to a hackers convention where the received directions to a different hacking convention. You have to hack your way to that convention. Only the best hackers get in to that one. And Sam was the only one...

This story is told in third-person. I believe that it is third-person omniscient because the author uses context clues as to how the specific character is reacting to every situation. The plot is centered around Sam eventually being caught and asked to be recruited to work for the government. After the government found that Sam had hacked Telecomerica, they wanted him to work for them. They could use his type of skills. They want him to help keep the bad guys out of the important areas in the U.S. government. The intended audience is probably Teenager or even young adult because some of the topics in this book may seem tedious or, on the contrary, extremely intense. This book is definitely science fiction because of all the new technology introduced here. It may also have some action mixed in with it because of the intense fighting scenes. This book got me lost in the different scenes like trying to stop a plan from flying in to the pentagon with a computer!

This book made me realize that your reasons for doing things can change in an instant. Like when Sam went from using his skills to get unlimited money, to working for the government to try and protect our countries deepest secrets. It makes me wonder how do people get these types of skills. This book is a mix of James Bond and The Project.

This book is definitely one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It is so cool to see every scene happen in your head with the authors word choice. One thing that I did not like though was the absence of some information. But after reading this book, I can't wait to read another one of Brian Falkner's books!




Seth Silva
12/18/13
4.2/5

Russ the muss TPB

                                       The Princess Bride

    The Princess Bride is a fantasy romance novel the was publish in 1973 and was published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. The book was written by William Goldman, it is a 493 page book. So in the book their is a girl named Buttercup. She lives on a farm in the country on Florin where she verbally abuses a farm boy named Westley. She is always making him do all her chores and he would always say "As you wish" but he was trying to say "I Love you". After a wile she realize that she is deeply in love with him. and so he goes looking for money so they can get married. But then she herd news about Dread Pirate Roberts has attack the ship he was on and she was vary sad because he might never see her true love ever again. The book has a lot of fight scenes and lots of challenges for the hero to try to solve. 

    The book is written in first person. So the plot of this book is boy and girl love each other, boy goes to get money and gets attack by pirate and girl get sad. Girl get kidnap by a ghastly gang then turn out the boy was alive and goes to try to save the girls and he makes friend along the way. I think this book is intended for kids 12 and up. this book genre fantasy romance and this book fits in to it because it has a love story between a boy and a girl. The author keep me interested by having a lot of fight scene that was very cool. The author style is writing the whole story in one book like their is chapter but it just continue on from the last chapter.

     This book has not affect me. I did not change any of my ideas because of this book. It fits in with how i see the world because i know that you can find a true love in your life and in the book the girl find her true love. No it dose no bring up memories of other book i have read. 
     I don't have a lot of bad things to say about the book. However i would say the book is a little long. I would recommend that you don't try to read this book to fast because their is a lot of things to take in with all the fight and challenges.

Minhkhoi hoang/ Russell Hoang 
12/18/2013 
Rating: 4/5  

The Eleventh Plaugue - Cooper Geier

Cooper Geier, Period 1, December 17

The Eleventh Plague

By Jeff Hirsch

The Eleventh Plague is about a teenager named Stephen Quinn trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic America. It's copyright date was in 2011. It has many plot twists so don't get attached to anything. When Stephen's Grandpa dies and his Father falls into a coma, Stephen will do anything to get his dad up and working again, even if it means leaving him in a dark house to go along with strangers. This book's theme is to never stop believing  in yourself.

The story is told in Third Person Omniscient, because you see what Stephen is thinking, and what he is doing, however he isn't telling the story. When Stephen's Grandpa dies, he and his dad go out searching for a permanent house to stay at. But when his dad falls into a coma and Stephen is confronted by strangers, he has no other choice but to follow them to their town and hope for medicine. The intended audience are boys from ages 11-15. The Genre is Fiction, and the book fits into it by putting the reader in a post-apocalypse scenario. The author kept me interested by including a lot of action and plot twists. The authors style is a lot of action and plot twists, and it definitely kept me interested.


This book told me not to give up, and I have done better since then at that. It did not change any of my ideas, but I think that the scenario portrayed in the book could very well be the one in real life. This book reminded me of The Maze Runner series.


Although this book was good, it was also very dark. In the first few pages, Stephen's grandfather dies, then in the next few, his dad goes also. However, all of these did add up to the capability of a lot of plot twists in the conclusion and the middle of the book.



Cooper Geier

12/17/13

RATING: ***** 5/5

Yuening Li

1^st Period

December 17, 2013

Around the World in 80 Days

                Around the World in 80 Days was written by Jules Verne, and was first published in 1873. It’s a book about a nobleman called Phileas Fogg, who won bets, was rich, and traveled around the world in 80 days. He and Passepartout, a French nobleman, traveled together to experience the world and got a lady named Aouda. The theme of this book is that Fogg was anxious of running behind in his schedule and encountered Fix, an inspector that attempted to arrest him.

                This story talks about Fogg’s plan for his bet, the conditions while travelling, using spare time for other purposes, his experience throughout the trip, and dealing with Fix without any delay. The point of view is third person omniscient because the narrator could tell everybody’s emotions, thoughts, and conditions. The story started when Fogg made a bet to see if he traveled 80 days around the world. He used choices while travelling, such as rescuing Aouda, a lady from India, take a boat to Shanghai to reach Yokohama, and controlled a boat to Liverpool. He made track of his schedule to catch up to his plan and helped himself and Passepartout from getting delayed by the arrest warrant. After lots of burden and choice-making, Fogg, Passepartout, and Aouda made it on time. Fogg had won the bet and felt relieved. The intended audience is all ages. The genre is adventure; the book fits into this genre by having Fogg’s experiences and ideas mentioned. The author kept me interested and laughing with lots of characters’ humors, like Passepartout’s exaggeration, and I wanted to find out the result of Fogg’s choices and drastic changes outside of him. This is effective to the intended audience because it gives information about places and people around the world and had people interested to go to some of these places mentioned.

                This story reminds me to be wise while making choices like Aouda’s rescue, even if Fogg had some spare time. It also reminds me of “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?”, which is an awesome show and computer game is.

                The book made me feel excited because there’s tough conditions and I hoped Fogg would reach destinations on time. Overall, this is a fun story. I really like Fogg’s experience because there are plenty of good information of places and his plans to pass difficult places as quick as he can. I never felt bored but felt confident while reading this book.

Yuening Li

12/17/13

RATING: **** 4/5

Alex Rider: Ark Angel

 

For this outside of class reading project, I decided to read Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz. It was first copyrighted in 2006. It is about a 14 year old spy, Alex Rider, and it is the 2nd to last book in the Alex Rider series. Alex works for an agency, MI6, and when he saves a very wealthy business man's son from kidnappers, he instantly becomes friends with the child, Paul Drevin, and his father, Nikolei Drevin. He is invited to go on vacation with them to a private island, where the final touches to Nikolei Drevin's space hotel, Ark Angel, will be sent up in a rocket. Both of the Drevins, and Alex were all in for multiple shocks as they get to learn more about each other. The theme of the book is to trust your instincts, because they may save somebody, or something.

 

The story is told in 3rd person point of view. When Alex has himself kidnapped instead of the intended target of a wealthy business man's son, Alex comes face to face with one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world, Force Three. After he is rescued, Alex wants to find out more the Drevin's family, which brings shock after shock to the reader. The intended audience is probably teenage boys because there is a lot of fighting, high speed racing, and explosions. The book "Ark Angel" is a fictional-action book. The author keeps you interested by throwing in betrayals and unexpected deaths that make you want to find out what happened and why. The author's style is comical and serious. It does work for the intended audience.

 

The book made me think of what it would be like to have billions of dollars, almost getting kidnapped, and then betrayed by your only family and friends. I didn't change any ideas because of it. It fits in with my personal world view because it deals with terrorism, which is a real world threat, and rich people being mentally and physically attacked by enemies who wanted revenge and/or money. It reminds me of the other books in the series, and it also reminds me of James Bond because it deals with spies.

 

I love how Anthony Horowitz uses lots of different locations in the book, unexpected twists and turns, and the use of very creative gadgets that Alex uses in the book. I highly recommend reading this book to anybody 12 and up. I ended up reading the entire book in two and a half hours on a road trip because I couldn't put it down.

 

 

 

Nate Schrobilgen

12/18/13

RATING: **** 4.5/5