Molly G S's blog

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles was an amazing book.  It was well written, intriguing, and ended happily which, as I say in all my book reviews, makes a book great.  “‘Go home to your wife and kid,’ I tell him.  ‘I’m stayin’ here for the week.  Mi’ama is stayin’ with Brit and Paco in case you were wonderin’.'” (275).  This is my favorite passage from the book.  It displays the dedication Luis’s brothers have to him and their family. It also shows how they will help and support their brother no matter what decisions he makes.

There are two main characters in my book Luis and Nikki.  Luis is a “hottie” with a “killer smile” and spiky hair.  He is tough but is incredibly loyal with strong beliefs and opinions.  Once he has his mind set on something he will do anything in his power to get it.  He has many motives in this book but his main motive is keeping his family and Nikki safe.  Luis will do anything to keep his family and Nikki from danger even if it causes him to be on his own in scary situations.  To fulfill this he not only keeps his brothers and mom in the dark but he also pushes away the girl he loves, Nikki.

Nikki is beautiful with her “honey colored skin”,  long, dark wavy hair and an angelic face.  She comes off as a snob but that is just a shield.  She has attitude but really is a sweet girl who has issues with trusting others with her true self.  Because of being hurt in past relationships Nikki has two motives, don’t let feelings overcome you and don’t trust anyone.  In the book the reader is given many examples of how this is true when they learn about her relationship with Marco.  When she was dating Marco she was head over heals and wasn’t afraid to show it, professing her love to him repeatedly, but he lacked the passion she had.  Marco broke her heart right after Nikki found out she was pregnant with his baby.  Who can blame her for having trust issues?  After all Nikki and Luis had been through they both deserved a happy ending and that is just what they got.

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I am currently reading Chain Reaction by Simone Elkels which is the third book of the Perfect Chemistry novels and I am hooked on these romance books.  They are easy reads, suspenseful, and always have happy endings.  In addition they are packed with romance, and what girl doesn’t like romance?  Right now I am on page 261 out of 308 so I am just getting to the climax.  The book has two main character, Nikki and Luis, who are both seniors at Fairmount High School.  Nikki is the pretty, popular girl from the wealthy part of town who seems to have the perfect life, but has had a rough past.  Luis is the boy from the poor side of town who is really smart but is in with the “gangbangers”.

In the beginning of the book Nikki despises Luis and swears she would never date him, but that doesn’t last long.  They begin dating until their differences, specifically that Luis is being “jumped” into a gang, gets between them.  Though it causes many problems they are still drawn to each other.

I have really liked this book so far because the characters are in high school so I can easily relate to them.  Also because this book sucks the reader so they are never bored.  I am almost done with the book but if I had to predict what will happen I think it would be something along these lines.  Luis will eventually have to risk his life to protect those he loves from the Latino Blood, the gang he is being “jumped” into, but he will defeat all odds and get away safely.  In the end he and his family will be safe and he can be with Nikki, the girl he loves.  I hope that is what happens, but I will just have to wait and see!

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I have really enjoyed the book The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han.  It was an easy read, had a light storyline and I felt I could relate to the main character.  Because I do feel I can relate to the main character, Belly, my favorite part of the book is the ending when the boy she has loved her whole life finally shows he loves her too.  “‘Are you still coming with me?’  I can’t believe he even has to ask.  I would go anywhere.” (188).  This passage not only introduces the beginning of Belly’s happy ending it also symbolizes much more.  It is a symbol of not only love but the extreme power it has on two people regardless of the pain they had gone through to get there.

The main character in the book is Isabel, nicknamed Belly.  She is a sixteen year old in high school, has long brown hair and freckles.  She is independent but sweet and has molded into her own person through her life experiences.  She is someone who had just recently “bloomed” and really become beautiful.  Belly’s behavior is motivated by her love of the Fisher family and their summer house, and her strong feelings, rooted deeply within her, for Conrad.

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I am currently reading The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. It is a romance novel and thus far I cannot put it down.  I have always been a slower reader but this book has me hooked.  I am on page 238 out of 276 already.  The book is about a teenage girl named Isabel, Belly for short, who goes to a summer house every summer vacation with her mom, brother, and three family friends Susannah, Jeremiah, and Conrad.  Belly, like any other teenage girl, has had crushes on the two boys on and off her whole life.  Nothing had ever really happened with them but out of the blue one summer Belly turned “pretty”.  Now she is having to choose between a new boy, Cam, and the boys she has known her whole life.  As I said before I have really liked the book so far and find myself wanting to read it anytime I get the chance.  The plot keeps me interested all the time and is continuing to get better and better as I read.  With what I have read so far I am predicting that Belly is going to end up with Conrad because she has always had the biggest crush on him and is beginning to realize that she still does really like him.

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Freshman year is sadly coming to an end.  I have had such a fun time, learned so much and feel more mature after just a year of high school.  Thinking back on all of the things that I have learned in English this year I have really come a long way.  I learned how to set up and use a blog, how to write structured posts, type faster, read faster and how to stay on top of my work.

When I first got my schedule in august and saw that my English class was done on computers I freaked out.   I have never been good at working on computers.  When we did projects in middle school I would always have to ask for help in the computer lab.  So on the first day of school when I learned how to set up and use a blog I thought I am in for a long year.  Surprisingly to me I was writing and saving blog posts with no problems in a month. 

Another thing that Cyber English 9 has helped me with is my writing skills.  In the first few months of school I had difficulties with writing organized posts.  I realized that I was almost always missing topic sentences in my introduction and a thesis sentence.  Now I understand how to construct these and use that knowledge in other subjects as well.  I am better at writing reports for history and explanations in biology now that I am used to using those writing skills.

Without this class I would never be able to type up a paper and have it ready to be graded in an hour’s time.  Having to type up all of my work in this class got me getting used to typing fast.  Now I don’t mind having to type up a five hundred word report because I know I can finish it quickly and do a good job on it too.

In English I never really liked reading, but after this year I love it.  This year we read books together as a class and talked about them.  When I found out I was going to have to read the book Speak I thought I was going to be so bored with it.  I was wrong.  Once I started it I couldn’t put it down.  I finished the book a week early and wanted to reread it when I was done.  I also am currently reading the series The Hunger Games.  The books are so good that I have stayed up until midnight for the past few days to finish them.  I never thought that I would like reading this much.

The last thing that this class has helped me with is meeting deadlines and staying on top of my work.  Last Fall I Forgot to turn in an assignment and it ended up being three days late and my grade went from an A to a C just like that.  My whole grade point average went down then so for the rest of the semester I had to work twice as hard to get my grade back up.  Luckily I did boost my grade but from now on I turn my work in on time.

This past year was full of so much learning and I loved every minute of it.  I never thought that I would be sad to get freshman year over with but I am going to miss it.  I know that next year will be another adventure and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next.

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The Maycomb Times  is a newspaper that gives you the real stories right away about what is happening in Maycomb County.  If you want the breaking news you can count on the Maycomb Times.

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This is a collage on the book I am currently reading, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  Katniss is in trouble once again with the capitol; President Snow knows about her kiss with Gale and feels that she is mocking the capitol. (The presidential symbol and the city)  To cover this incident up Peeta asks Katniss to marry him.  Katniss says yes and plans a wedding in the capitol city where everyone, including the president will be watching.  In district twelve (number twelve) there is rising tension when Gale is whipped for hunting in the woods (the whip and camouflage pattern.). Soon after this event Katniss and Peeta find out that they are both going to have to participate in the legendary hunger games once again for the Quarter Quell.  This means that they will have to use their skills again in the arena to stay alive (the bow and arrow, weights, and the arena).  They survived through the games last time as star crossed lovers (the heart with two stars).  Not only that, but Katniss was known for her mockingjay pin and as the girl on fire (mockingjay symbol and fire).  To deal with all of the stress the previous games and the new games are bringing Peeta has started painting (the painting tools).  Hopefully the games will be in their favor once again (games).

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One of the themes of the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is racism makes people act cruelly towards others.  It is very evident in the book that racism is common in Maycomb County.  During the trail Mr. Ewell takes out his anger on Atticus for making him look stupid.  At that Moment Aunt Alexandra came to the door and called us, but she was too late.  It was Miss Stephanie’s pleasure to tell us: this morning Mr. Bob Ewell stopped Atticus on the post office corner, spat in his face, and told him he’d get him if it took the rest of his life. (Page 217) This is one mere example of how racism gets the best of the citizens in Maycomb County.

Another time in the book when racism is clearly an issue is when Calpurnia takes the children to her church on Sunday.  When they enter the Church everyone is kind and respectful, everyone except Lula.  Lula is rude and immediately finds it offensive to have white children in their African American church.  Making a scene and calling Calpurnia out for it.  Eventually the rest of the church members tell her to stop and welcome the children warmly.

The last example is when Mr. Ewell attempt killing Mr. Finch’s Children.  Something crushed the chicken wire around me.  Metal ripped on metal and I fell to the ground and rolled as far as I could, floundering to escape my wire prison.  (Page 262)  The prejudices that Mr. Ewell holds against African Americans are unbelievable.  For him to be so against a human being that he tries to kill their children is disgusting and hard to even think about. These are all prime examples on how racism makes people act cruelly towards others.

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I think report cards say a lot about a student.  For instance if a student’s report cards shows that they consistently receive A’s they are probably very dedicated to school and earning good grades.  If a student is consistently failing then you can see the student doesn’t put time and effort into their grades.

Sometimes in classes people do extra things or learn about something that doesn’t count towards a grade.  This happened to me in Cyber English this year.  In the beginning of the year I learned how to set up and use a blog.  This wasn’t a grade but it was very helpful to me. 

I think that grades are important and show a lot about a student.  It also shows how responsible an individual is.  So all students should work hard and be responsible when it comes to grades.

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I am currently reading the book Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins which is the sequel to the book The Hunger Games.  I am really enjoying the series; I like how I can relate to some of the characters and how the writing keeps drawing me back in.  A few of the characters are not the best though.  I would be ashamed to introduce President Snow to my family because of his cruel and unkind nature.

President Snow is the ruler of a sick country, Panem, which watches people kill each other every year in the annual Hunger Games.  Not only do these games consist of only children ages 12-17 fighting to death in an arena but the capitol city watches and makes bets on who will win!  I do not understand how you could rule a country like this one. 

The temperament of President Snow is absolutely awful.  If he is unhappy it can result in severe punishment, which can be very painful, or in some cases even lead to death.  “If the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, had any brains, he would have blown you to dust right then.  But he had an unfortunate sentimental streak.  So here you are.  Can you guess where he is?” he asks.  I nod because the way he says it, it is clear that Seneca Crane has been executed.  (Page 20)  As you can see he can’t stand being outsmarted or out ruled. 

As you can see President Snow is not the nicest of them all and maybe could use a little anger management.  I would be Ashamed to introduce him to my family and am really happy I will never have to.

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