LAST BLOG POST FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE :)

So this is my last blog post. Yeah. I probably won't ever use this blog again but I did learn a lot about myself as a reader writing these posts every year. I learned that when I read books I don't really think much about the characters as one as appose to thinking of them as a whole with the plot. I sometimes think about the character if they really catch my eye but not most of the time. I think the way I benefited from this blog is know I know to dig deeper into the plot and characters rather than think about the whole story as a whole, I learned I need to focus on little chunks of the book to understand it better. 

I think writing online is not as different as writing in a notebook except for the fact that anyone can see it, so you have to sort of be careful about what you are saying. Usually when you write in a notebook, only the teacher and a few other people may see it but online, your whole school can see what you think and say about something. I think that writing online or having like a "online identity" in general depends on what the person wants to do. Some people act the best online knowing that everybody can see what they say, or some just be who they are and they don't care what people think about them, it's the person's choice on what they do online. I think that most teenagers abuse the freedom of being online (but i don't!) on sites like Facebook because they don't think about how what they say or do can affect them in the future. Some teenagers curse out people online or like say stupid things to other people the probably won't say to their face, because online you can't really be physically harmed, and online it is less scary to say something to someone than in person where you wouldn't know how they would react physically or in words, if that makes sense.

I think in the future I would probably never make another blog. I don't get the point of having a blog because if someone wants to know who I am or what I like to do like or what kind of person I am I think they should just meet me in real life and talk to me rather than just talking to me online where we probably won't recognize each other in person. Which is why I don't the point of blogs because what did people do bad in the good ole days where there was no internet or telephones or anything? THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER IN PERSON.

Blog Post #31: Looking for Alaska by John Green

So far in Looking for Alaska by John Green, Pudge has gotten to know Alaska and Colonel better and a lot has been revealed about Alaska. I passed the part where Pudge and Alaska stay on campus for Thanksgiving and Pudge and Alaska went to Colonel's trailer/home and they all sort of opened up to each other and learned more about each other's backgrounds. And Alaska told Colonel that she was the one who ratted on Mayra and now he feels he can't trust her with pranks by herself anymore. 


I think after the big unknown thing happens Alaska is going to be in A LOT of danger. I know that she goes missing but I don't know exactly what happens to her. I think that the Weekday Warriors get her for being good friends with Colonel because they almost drowned Pudge for knowing the Colonel in the beginning of the book. Or another reason why she goes missing is because of the unknown prank. Maybe she gets caught and gets punished by someone or maybe it backfires. 


So now I am going to focus on Alaska, I think she is the kind of girl who actually doesn't mind getting herself into trouble because she has before. So I think that she never expects to get into deep trouble which is why maybe she is careless about her prank this time and it comes back to get her. And I also think this has something to do with her ratting out Mayra. But I get her point of view because that was the only way she would have stayed in the school, and I understand why she wants to stay in the crappy school so badly, because she has no home, no family. I think she physically does, but I think "home" is full of bad memories and I think emotionally, she doesn't have a family. Which is why I wonder, why does the author keep so much about Alaska away from us? We don't know much about where she comes from or her past or background. We just know who she was when she came into the school. So I wonder, who is Alaska? And I want to know how this affects everybody else. Also, I think this will mostly affect Pudge because he likes her a lot and wants her so bad, but it might also affect Colonel because he knew her wayyyy longer.


In conclusion, I hope the book reveals more about Alaska because right now the book isn't giving many clues about what is going to happen. 

Blog Post #30: Finished Catching Fire

I finally finished Catching Fire!!! Even though this is my second time reading it I think this time I understood the book more and developed more ideas and since I'm also rereading Mockingjay now I might not be as bored this time! I think one reason why I understood Catching Fire better this time is because I saw The Hunger Games Movie. That sounds pretty weird but that is because, now that I seen the movie and seen the actors who play each character its easier for me to imagine the scene of the story in my head. I don't know why but every time I read books, to truly understand the book, I have to find out all the characters, choose the actors to play the parts, then picture acting out all the scenes in my head like a movie. And now that I know all the actors like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Alexander Ludwig, and Amandla Stenberg, I know even more about their personalities and how they would act in a specific event like a reaping or an interview before the games. 


This time reading the book, I understood the ending a lot better. This time in one of the last scenes where Beetee and all the other tributes start the plan to blow up the force field, I FINALLY understood why Johanna had to stab Katniss's arm, why Beetee had the wire the whole time, and how Katniss ended up in District 13 in the ending. The first time I read it I was confused about what happened and just thought it was a bunch of chaos, but now I knew all the tributes were willing to risk their lives so Katniss can survive the games and become the mockingjay for the rebellion.


Overall, I read like that this time reading the book I enjoyed it even more because I understood it. I also liked how now that I really liked Catching Fire, I would be more excited reading Mockingjay!!!

Blog Post #29: Catching Fire and Philosphy

In my book Catching Fire, the citizens of Panem are isolated in this controlling world of the rich and the extremely poor. That's it. There is no middle. In the book the people of Panem have absolutely no freedom, they shall do as the President says or face severe consequences. You can try to agree that the citizens still have freedom and is just punished if they do, they technically may still have freedom but they will be punished, so I wouldn't consider that freedom.

In Panem, freedom is a big issue because in every district every year two tributes are forced to fight to the death with twenty two other tributes and it isn't a choice, they can be executed if they choose not to. I believe The Hunger Games takes away their freedom, its not like they even have a choice its just that it's that this is their punishment for doubting the government centuries ago. But I believe the government doesn't have the right to take away their freedom because if the government haven't made such harsh rules before none of this would have happened, Panem would still be a happy place where the citizens weren't in poverty. I believe that since Panem is the only piece of land left on the earth that The Hunger Games can prevent overpopulation which may be a good thing, but also forcing kids to lose sanity and kill each other because they have to, is cruel and not the way to punish the country. 


Another way I think freedom may be a huge issue and concern in Catching Fire is because in this book the citizens of Panem have absolutely no freedom at all. 
Some people may think yes yes, some people say they can see the future so then you don't have freedom they just have options but they aren't really options since the choice was already chosen for them, but in terms of rights and having democracy and all that good stuff, the citizens have none of that. They can't vote for a president, they cannot know what goes on outside of their own districts, and only the richest people in the world can have access to the Capitol. If they want to change all this and get freedom, their only choice is to either start an uprising or runaway and live in the woods, and both of those choices would be punishable by death if any person of authority like a peacemaker, are to find you.


In conclusion, in The Hunger Games trilogy freedom is a huge issue, and not having freedom is one big part of the story and series in general. The reason why Panem even has a Hunger Games and districts and stuff is because the government don't allow the citizens to be free. 

Blog Post #28: Catching Fire and Terra Nova (the tv series)

Usually I would do a cross book inquiry, but for this post I want to talk about how Catching Fire and The Hunger Games trilogy in general, reminds me of the television series "Terra Nova" on FOX (mostly before they went back in time.)

The Hunger Games trilogy is about a destroyed planet thousands of years in the future with very strict laws and is not a democracy, there is a president, but the president is more of a dictator than a president. And in The Hunger Games, everyone is basically poor living in harsh conditions. In Terra Nova, the setting is also thousands of years in the future, but instead of everyone being surrounded by nature, everyone is surrounded by technology. And that is the biggest difference about these two stories, in The Hunger Games, only the most wealthy people use technology daily but poor people still manage to eat or get some food in their mouths like when Katniss goes hunting to find food, but in Terra Nova, everyone uses technology, the series is about a portal that sends the people back into Jurassic times! But in Terra Nova, its harder to find food than to use a computer. But alike The Hunger Games, in Terra Nova, their society has very strict rules, there is barely any space left on earth for humans to live just like in The Hunger Games, so everything is limited. Also there are very harsh living conditions in both stories. In The Hunger Games, kids are chosen to fight to the death every year in an arena as a televised event! And also, there are 12 districts, most are very poor that they have to break the law to get food. And in Terra Nova, the citizens of America often have to wear an oxygen mask since the air is so polluted! And there are also strict laws that one family cannot have more than two kids. And in the Shannon family (the family in which the series is about) has to hide their third child in the family every time the police comes to check on them.

In Terra Nova, the 3/5 of the Shannon family get chosen to go through a portal back to Jurassic times where dinosaurs were alive and roamed the earth. The point of this portal is to go back in time to change human ways, make the earth a better place, and start a new civilization. When the mom, Elisabeth, and her son, Josh, and daughter, Maddy, go through the portal, Elisabeth's husband, Jim (the dad) runs and jumps illegally through the portal with the third child, Zoe, who is only five years old hiding in his backpack so the whole family can go back in time to the place the commander of this journey, Taylor, calls Terra Nova. This is the point in the story where Terra Nova starts to really relate to The Hunger Games. In this part of the show, Jim gets rejoins the police force (he was fired from this job before coming to Terra Nova for punching a cop in the face for wanting to take Zoe away when she was still a toddler, and was imprisoned for years.) Here in this part, everyone struggles to learn all the pros and cons about Terra Nova. They have to become more involved with their environment like Katniss from The Hunger Games is and learn how to look for food and berries. Now, they have to learn to survive like Katniss does and become a fighter because here there are not only EXTREMELY strict laws like in Panem, there are also dinosaurs trying to eat you. 

Overall, these two series remind me of the other for some reason and I really like stories like these. I think they are alike the most though because they are Sci-Fi stories and the two stories have situations where it is hard to live and the characters are going through very tough times.

Blog Post #27: The rebellion starting in Catching Fire

So right now I am half way done with Catching Fire and now the rebellion or uprising is starting. I wonder why everything started all of a sudden. District 8 was the one who started the idea of this uprising. District 8 didn't seem like a district that would be the one to start an uprising since during the games, Katniss or Peeta didn't kill an tributes from there, and this district wasn't always talked about. If I were to predict which district would start an uprising, I would guess District 11. I would expect District 11 to start an uprising because one of their tributes in the last games, Rue, were killed by one of the Careers and since she was the youngest in the whole games, (she was 12 at the time) and this was considered sort of a murder (which it technically was) of the Capitol, because the reason why she died was because the Capitol created this messed up game. 


This uprising starts a whole series of events. I forgot exactly what happens after all this but I do know this all eventually leads to a rebellion and the discovery of the secret underground district that should have been destroyed years ago, District 13. I think that this kind of society would definitely lead to actions like this. I can never imagine America as a country other than a free democracy, let alone a country where people are killed in the street and kids are picked every year to kill each other as a television program!!! I think if an uprising like this would ever happen in America, the government would never punish us by getting the police to kill us off in the streets, since the U.S. is pretty organized now, I think the only time when this would ever happen here is if the condition of the world is so bad where we would have to go into a phase or way of life where everything is limited and the rules are extremely strict.

Blog Post #26: So far in Catching Fire...

So right now in Catching Fire, Katniss and Peeta finished the victory tour through all the districts of Panem and they have just finished visiting the Capitol where Peeta proposed to Katniss. I think now at this point in the book, all the action is gonna really start. I read this book over a year ago so I only vaguely remember what happened, the really important parts. I forgot all about all about the victory tour and the proposal. 

I think that in this point I will start to see many new characters like I remember there was allies Katniss had in the Quarter Quell like Beetee, Finnick, and many others. I think this is when many new characters are introduced and new personalities are introduced. Soon, many characters start to change, like one example is how Peeta gets manipulated by the Capitol and turns from good to evil. As I remember this starts to happen either during the games, or at the end of the games (if he is in the Quarter Quell because I totally forgot!) 

But as I remember from the book, Katniss doesn't change much throughout this book, the one thing I think has definitely changed about her is that she knows how Panem works, she knows how to work the camera. Katniss is still the same shy, brave, adventurous girl she was since the beginning of the series but I think now she knows what President Snow wants from her, especially cause she put the whole country in danger. So basically I think that Katniss is the same person she was since the start, just when she's not being recorded, or in the media, or with her superiors.

So overall, I think this is the part of my book where everything gets complicated and intense and this is where the real action starts. So I can't wait to keep reading to find out what happens because I can't remember all the specifics on this book so I hope to develop more and complex ideas of the book reading it through the second time!

Blog Post #25: Rereading Catching Fire

Now that I finished "Dead to You" by Lisa McMann, I need to start a new book and since no new books are really catching my eye right now, I decided to reread "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins, this book is the sequel to "The Hunger Games."

I wanted to reread this book because I think I didn't understand the book that well the first time I read it. So far in the book nothing has really happened yet, right now Katniss and Peeta are going on the victory tour for the victor or in this case, victors of the hunger games. They are going to each district in Panem to celebrate their victory while the citizens of that district have no choice but to act like they are happy they won. I think as soon as the Quarter Quell starts, I am going to get hooked into this book because that is when all the action and drama really starts. I think since this is the second time I am reading this book I am going to develop more complex and smarter ideas, I think since I already know what is going to happen, I know what I am supposed to pay attention to, rather than just paying attention to every little detail and getting confused all the time. 

I also think another reason why I want to reread this book is because "The Hunger Games" the movie just came out so since they are also going to make a movie out of the next two books, I want to catch up on the books since I forgot a little bit of what happens in the book since I last read it over a year ago. And because of the movie coming out soon, it gives me an opportunity to reread one of my favorite books ever and to reread the book so when the movie comes out I can compare the two easily. 

In conclusion, I am rereading the book "Catching Fire" because I really like the book, no other book catches my eye right now, and I want to just because the movie is coming out soon. I want to see what comes to my mind when I read it the second time. Maybe more ideas would pop up in my head.

Blog Post #24: Finished "Dead to You"

***SPOILER ALERT***


So, I recently finished the book, "Dead to You" by Lisa McMann, it is actually one of my favorite books I ever read. I think that it the plot line of this book really hooks you onto the story and the ending is just so unbelievable that you really hope there is a next book. So when I finished the book I was really confused about how everything happened and why it happened. 


So basically the story is about a boy names Ethan DeWilde who was abducted in front of his house when he was seven years old, and now that he is sixteen years old, he has found his way back to Minnesota where he used to live, but now that he's back, there is a lot of tension in the family. Ethan's little brother Blake hates him deeply, he thinks that everyone only loves Ethan and that Ethan ruined the family when he left. He is basically jealous of all the attention Ethan gets because he believes no one notices him. Gracie is the child in the family that basically replaced Ethan, but even though their relationship starts off a little weird, Ethan eventually starts to adore her. As her big brother, Ethan and Gracie get along very well, it's almost like they have formed an alliance because she doesn't exactly have the perfect relationship with Blake either so she protects Ethan in ways like for example when she told their parents that Blake started a fight between Ethan and Blake one time when they were sledding. 


I really enjoyed the book a lot, and the ending really grabbed me that when the big twist came I literally gasped. So what happened was that Blake suspected Ethan wasn't really him, he thought the boy who they brought home isn't the Ethan that left eleven years ago. The first suspicion he had was because "Ethan" remembered absolutely nothing about his life before he left. He didn't even remember his childhood best friend Cami, who lives across the street, he didn't remember a lot about his past, when he just arrived at the house he found a box of his old pictures but he couldn't remember being in any of them. And as Blake grew more suspicious, he decided to actually look for proof, and he actually found it. At school they were learning about genetics and traits, and the Ethan that just arrived had attached earlobes, but the old, young Ethan in all of the old pictures had earlobes that were not attached. Their parents didn't believe Blake and thought he just made this stuff up or he photo shopped the pictures. But at the end of the book, the jig was up, even though the Ethan that arrived at the house thought he was Ethan, he really wasn't. At the end two cops arrive at the house telling Ethan's mom that the boy in their house is not Ethan because they found the remains of the original Ethan's body near the Canadian border. So after that, the boy in the house who isn't Ethan understood why he couldn't remember everything in the pictures, he usually thought it was because he lived homeless and with his old guardian Ellen who was a drug addict. He thought being in a crack house blinded his memory, or maybe he thought everything he went through was just to much to handle.


When I got to the end of the book I was absolutely confused because I did not understand how any of this can ever happen. I mean the fact that the real Ethan was dead was pretty realistic but I really wanted to know how this random teenager shows up in Minnesota thinking he is someone else, if he isn't Ethan, what I want to know is, who is he? At the very ending "Ethan" runs away when the cops tell the family he isn't Ethan, he feels like he is nothing now, because he created all these amazing relationships with people and started a whole new life just to find out this isn't his life. I really hope there is a sequel because it is one of my favorite books and it kinda ended with just a cliff hanger, so I'm hoping that is gonna happen soon.

Blog post #23: Ditching SPOILED by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (for now) to read THE HUNGER GAMES, again

Right now I am currently reading, Spoiled, by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. But I am going to ditch this book (for now) to re-read THE HUNGER GAMES!!!!! I felt that Spoiled wasn't really my type of book because it was to normal and plain, I guess to me. It was a realistic fiction book, and I'm not the biggest RF fan. Whenever I read a realistic fiction book I feel like it is probably never gonna happen or I feel like it is just to normal for me to read. I am really into Sci-Fi or Fantasy books, I really like all the action and suspense and it just gets me really interested for some reason. For example, some of my favorite books and series are, obviously, The Hunger Games series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, Harry Potter, and The Future of Us. 

When I read Spoiled at first, I thought it was pretty boring but I kept reading because some of the best books ever start of pretty plain like for example The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, it started off sorta boring but then it became one of the best books I ever read! I let Spoiled show itself in the first hundred pages, but after I read one hundred pages it still stayed plain so I decided to abandon it. I think the plot line was not as engaging as fantasy and sci-fi books. I think another thing that made me really bored with the book is that it took way too long to explain the whole background of the characters.

I decided to read The Hunger Games again because it is one of my most favorite books EVER. And now that I seen the movie there were so many ideas developing about the characters in my mind. For example, I am starting to think about Cato and the type of character he is. While reading the book for the first time I imagined a tough, cold hearted buff guy, but now that I've seen the movie and how the actor Alexander Ludwig plays Cato, I start to think more about the ruthless and vicious side of him, he is willing to do absolutely anything to get what he wants. I even think he would be willing to kill his family to have power. For example, when Katniss blew up the big pile of food and supplies by the Cornucopia, Cato thought the tribute watching it blew up the food and killed him, immediately. And also I started to think about Clove. Maybe she would have had a chance to win the games if she would have just killed Katniss by the Cornucopia without talking so much, she would have might had a chance to win. 

Blog Post #22: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Macker- Book Review

I finally finished The Future of Us!!! I honestly loved the book and wish there can be a sequel. After I read this book, it made me think about my future. It made me think about the choices I make and how every little thing like eating lasagna instead of mac & cheese, can affect my future. Even maybe choosing to write this post can affect my future, maybe this post can be the one thing that lets me pass middle school. It's probably not true, but it can somewhat affect my life. 

In this book I really liked that we saw the story through the eyes of both of the main character. So we kinda saw 2 personalities and 2 point of view of the same situation. Emma is the kind of character that just does without thinking, and takes matters into her own hands. She is a very stubborn and complicated type of person, but at the end of the day, she always has her friends' backs and knows wrong from right. For example, every time she goes on Facebook, she mostly has a status about her being sad about her marriage or doing something she doesn't like, if the Emma that is a teen right now doesn't like it, she will do something to change it like saying she will never go to Tampa State so she won't marry Jordan Jones Jr. so she won't have an unhappy life. 

Josh is the type of person who isn't always in a rush, he thinks things out, and always looks out for his best friends. Whenever Emma does something stupid or wrong in general, he tries to talk her out of it, it doesn't really matter to her most of the time but the important thing is that he is trying. Emma is addicted to Facebook and she constantly checks it, she can't control herself anymore, she looks at it, finds something she hates about her future, then tries to change it. But Josh knows how to control himself, every time something big happens to him, he wants to check out Facebook because it can affect his life, but he knows trying to change his future can just make it worse.

Before I read the book, I always thought looking at my future would be a good thing. I thought taking a peek at my future can give me a chance to change it so I can have the future I want. But after seeing how a little thing Emma does to change a part of her future changes her entire future, it makes me sorta afraid to even think about my future. So after I read this book, it makes me think about my life, what I want to make of it, and I really don't wanna see my future anymore, I just wanna take one step at a time, anyways, there's no rush! 

Blog Post #21: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler- Cross Book Inquiry

This book, The Future of Us, is similar to the book, Thirteen Reasons Why, by the same author. The book Thirteen Reasons Why (just to recap) is about a boy named Clay Jensen who receives a box of tapes by his friend/crush Hannah Baker, who has recently commited suicide. On the tapes there are 13 people on them and Hannah explains why each and everyone of them were somehow responsible for her death. 

These 2 books are similar because the way it creates suspense, is using the same technique. The element of the unknown. A lesson I learned in ELA class was that sometimes when you don't know what is happening, your mind creates all these out of this world scenarios so you believe that something bad is going to happening to you, even though everything is fine. What scares you the least, will eventually scare you the most. 

In The Future of Us, what scares Emma is that she doesn't know how to make her future a happy one. When she changes her future on purpose, it always ends up badly. But then whenever she goes back on Facebook, she gets afraid her husband is the reason why her life is ruined, or maybe she isn't happy in the future because of things going on in her life in the present. She doesn't know how to work this Facebook situation so she gets scared and thinks that if she doesn't change her future, she will never be happy. But she is probably making it all worse.

Also in The Future of Us, the character Josh is scared because he isn't checking Facebook. He kinda wants to be left out in it but at the same time he is afraid his future isn't looking so great. For example, he keeps on wondering if his future with Sydney Mills (the girl he likes in the present) will be a good one, or if he will end up hating it. Will his friendship with Emma ever happen again? He is to stubborn to check Facebook and just look at his future, so he thinks everything can be the worst it can be, but he will never know, so he should just stop thinking about it.

In, Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay Jensen goes through the same state of mind. When Clay receives the tapes Hannah sent out, he had no idea what he ever done to Hannah, so he creates all these situations in his head about what he might have ever done to Hannah. And when he starts listening to all the other tapes to get to his tape, he keeps on thinking of even worse situations because of what everyone else did to her. What he didn't know really creeped him out and the fact that he never knew when it would be his turn to hear his story, it created even more suspense and finally she got to his part of the story. And turns out, he wasn't exactly responsible for her death, but if he tried harder to help her, she might have not died. 

These two books are written by Jay Asher, which is probably why they use the same technique of suspense and they both have other things in common as well! But these things are really important because this is what makes the story interesting!

Blog Post #20: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler- Setting

In this story The Future of Us, the two main characters Emma and Josh find a new website fifteen years in the future, and the website is Facebook. It's 1996 at the time so when they log onto their futures, they can see all their pictures, friends, status updates, and more. They soon try to change it and sometimes it turns out good, and bad. The two most important supporting characters are Kellan and Tyson, Kellan is Emma's best friend and Tyson is Josh's best friend. They don't know about the whole Facebook thing but are a really important part of the story, if they find out about it then they would be an even BIGGER part of the story! 

I think the setting really symbolizes what life should be. Before there was internet or Facebook or any other type of advanced technology people would actually call other people and talk to them instead of texting. And people would actually get up and go outside to hang out with their friends rather than video calling or chatting. I think the thing that makes this book so engaging is that they find things that we find so normal and simple today, for people back then to find so incredibly awesome and interesting. It makes you think, oh wow this is what they find so awesome? But back then it was incredible, like maybe in the future a machine that allows you to teleport from place to place is going to be invented, and maybe people in the future use it so often that it's no big deal, but if that was invented right now everyone would be so amazed at this technology. This setting is also in a way symbolizing life because it shows what life is supposed to be like, what life is here for. The reason why you live is to experience new things, new people, everything life has to offer, but you can't get all that from a computer which is why in a way this book is a way for us to realize we need to go out into the real world and do something with our lives! Log off any websites you're on and go have fun!

I think this setting is very significant to the story because it makes the story unique and different. This setting is very different from where most books are written today. In most books today the time periods are around the present or last few years or so, but this is one of the first books where it is in the modern sorta past. The setting and story together makes this book so engaging it is a book where the present meets the past and people learn about new things that are a daily thing for us today so it makes us think about how people back in the old days lived and what they did in their lives and what they would do for fun. 

In conclusion, I really like this book because the setting really makes you think  about what you have today. What if you didn't have email? Facebook? Twitter? Skype? What would you do then? Read a book? Go outside to hang out with your friends? This is what life should be and once was but now it's all about the internet and technology. This book makes you want to think to yourself, what would you do without all these things. Go do something with your life.

Blog Post #19: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler- Conflict

***SPOILER ALERT***

In the book, The Future of Us by Jay Asher, the two main characters Josh and Emma find their facebook pages fifteen years into the future. It is 1996 at the time so facebook hasn't been invented yet. It started out when Emma made an AOL and when she logged in, she logged into facebook but she has no idea how. At first they think it is all a prank but one picture on Emma's page changes it all. When they both agree it is a real website from the future, they take a look at their future lives and how they turn out.

When they first out found what was going on, Emma was thinking this probably isn't a prank, but it took a lot to get Josh to believe it. I think Josh is the kind of character who isn't fooled easily, he has a skeptical mind and is very clever. Josh's character really helps me understand the conflict and what is going on in the story. In a story, it isn't always clear about the problems going on, but the way Josh questions everything kinda makes you understand the plot, the setting, and why Josh and Emma are wondering about their lives.

The conflict basically is that whatever happens in the present, affects their future in ways they don't know how to control. They find out everything that happens, but whatever they do somehow affects their future. For example, when Emma was in a bad mood and didn't feel like eating mac and cheese, her status changed from eating mac and cheese, to eating lasagna, since she didn't like mac and cheese at the moment. I think this conflict really makes us realize that whatever you do in your life can affect your future in big ways! Not only does it affect your appetite, but it can affect your marriage too! Josh ends up marrying Sydney Hills in the future, the girl every guy crushes on at school, but since he never talked to Sydney before, he has to change that so he remains married to her.

I think the message in this book is to really think about your actions. Don't mess up your whole life with one little mistake you make along the way. In the book since Josh and Emma get to look at their future all the time, they know what they need to change, but since that doesn't happen in real life, I think you have to make the right choices and go down the right path. When a person is young, they don't really think about what they are doing so they don't know that is can change their whole life, so I think this book is trying to get across that you have one life, don't mess it up by ruining it with one mistake.

Blog Post #18: The Slayer Chronicles First Kill by Heather Brewer- Book Review

***SPOILER ALERT***

I finally finished "The First Kill" by Heather Brewer. I am going to write a retell/appreciation. The end of this book was actually pretty bad to me. It ended with a really boring cliff hanger. In the book the main character Joss is training to be a vampire slayer, and in the end he obviously becomes one and moves on to really start to rid the world of these, so they say, "blood sucking creatures." But most of the time at the end of the book, you except a big bang and something that you never seemed coming happens, right? Wrong! It does end with somewhat a suprising ending, but it still seems a bit too dull.

This book leaves the reader with a cliff hanger. Towards the end of the book, Joss's slayer friend/mentor Sirus turns out to be a vampire. Joss felt as if he'd been an idiot for trusting him the whole time, and soon the vampire hive eventually gets blown up. I predicted this the whole time, the character who seems innocent eventually becomes the enemy. I predicted this towards the middle of the book so it wasn't a big shocker to me. After that happened, Joss started to really begin his slayer days by being sent to Bathory to complete a mission, a mission to kill the Pravus, which is a vampire who will make the lives of vampires so much better and easier by getting rid of mankind and anything else besides themselves.

I thought this ending was pretty dull because there was no big event that made the reader rethink the plot, and think about everything that happened before in the book. Yes, there was apparently a twist, but it wasn't a big enough twist to get the reader completely shocked and wonder about maybe the next book, if there is going to be a sequel. The ending made me think about the last series, because in the last series, it was told from the point of view of Vlad, the Pravus Joss was sent to kill. I thought maybe the reason why I found the book very dull and boring because I was already told this story, kind of. This is basically the same story just told in a different point of view, but I thought the middle of the book was a bit interesting. When Joss was nearly killed several times, I started thinking about what was going to happen in the end of the book. Will he keep training or will he give up? Will he tell Kat about everything since she is so worried? Or will he die? I also thought about how Joss was framed several times for killing fellow slayers, I wanted to know who was the killer so bad. I thought a lot about these things, and when I got to the ending, I was a bit dissapointed because it wasn't as dramatic as I expected it to be.

In conclusion, the book was pretty dissapointed, the book wasn't all that bad, but, it wouldn't be the first book I would recommend to a friend. The middle was very shocking and interesting, but the ending was not anything you would expect, and I am not saying this in a good way.

Blog Post #17: The Slayer Chronicles First Kill by Heather Brewer- Conflict

In "The First Kill," the conflict is very unique because it is between 2 people you would never expect to have major problems. The conflict in this story is obviously Slayers vs. Vampies, but in Joss's situation specificly, I think there is more to the story.

In the story, the only reason why Joss is spending the summer with his uncle Abraham is because he wants to get revenge on the vampire who killed his little sister. So basically, Joss is here because of vampires, and that is the main problem! But the conflict that is just about Joss is his uncle. Joss always tries to impress his uncle by doing everything he tells him to, and he even tried to kill a vampire with barely any training!!! Joss is only 13 years old, Abraham acts like he is an 18 year old. In one part of the book, Abraham trains Joss by making him take down Abraham and 2 other slayers at once, and when Joss completes that task, Abraham walks away without a word, like he is dissapointed! Joss never understood his uncle, and this trip to him isn't making him like his uncle any more. I think Joss works way to hard to impress his uncle. He is willing to run 10 laps on the long trail on a hill, and it will take you almost an hour just to run 1 lap! But even after Joss does everything Abraham wants him to, Joss still didn't earn his respect.

I think one of the reasons why Joss is still even there training with his uncle is because if he leaves, then he can be killed since he knows to much information about the Slayer Society, and the second reason is because he wants to get revenge for his sister and since Sirus is there, it isn't all bad. Sirus is Joss's friend, mentor, and father like figure. He looks out for Joss and protects him. Without Sirus there for Joss, he would probably dead right now! Abraham is Joss's uncle, but that is just a name, he does not treat Joss like a nephew, he barely treats him like a living thing! Abraham acts like Joss is a machine or robot, and whatever he tells him to do, he will do it! Abraham creates the tension most of the time, he thinks being hard on Joss will make him a better slayer, but in the end, yes Joss will become a better slayer, but Joss will end up remembering Abraham as the man who tortured him for months just so they can kill creatures.

The conflict in this story, isn't easy to spot, but focusing on the main characters, it will eventually come to you. This book can be confusing sometimes because of all the things that happen, but the thing the reader should be focused on the most, is the journey Joss takes to be a slayer, and what happens to him along the way and the people who go along with him.

Blog Post #16: The Slayer Chronicles First Kill by Heather Brewer- Cross book Inquiry

In this book, The First Kill, the plot is a 13 year old boy named Joss, who is training in Rhinecliff, NY in the summer with his uncle, to become a slayer. This story has many similar aspects like for example the personality of the characters, the themes, the setting, etc. as the book, The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore.

In The First Kill, the setting is in Rhinecliff, and in The Power of Six there are many settings, but to me the main setting is in the old abandon house the characters stay in throughout most of the book. Both these settings are similar, but also very unique. The setting in the first kill is a place in New York not really known by many people, and it is unique because it is a place that is mysterious and the perfect place to use as a setting in a book like this one where the main character is trying to become a vampire slayer. It is in upstate New York where they use trains to get in and out of that area, which gives the book even more of that old fashion vampire stereotype movies setting. In The Power of Six, the setting is also similar because it is in the middle of nowhere, and it is someplace that no one would ever try to look for ailens in. Both these settings are sort of a hide out thing, where it is the last place someone would look for vampire slayers or ailens/FBI's most wanted.

Another thing that is similar between these 2 books is the main characters and supporting characters. The main character of The First Kill is Joss, and he has 2 supporting characters that are kind of his closest friends, as well as in the book The Power of Six where John is the main character also with 2 close friends. In The First Kill, Joss's mentor is Sirus. Sirus is much like Number Six in The Power of Six, they both teach some knowledge to the main character. Sirus sort of shows Joss the way throughout his training, he teaches him how to defend for himself against Abraham, and he looked out for him. Number Six taught John all the knowledge she had about Lorien and things like their chests and the animals on their planet. Number Six faught for him sometimes, she trained him to fight like how Sirus trained Joss, just not for physical fights. Sam in The Power of Six is kind of like Kat in The First Kill. In the beginning these to characters are sort of clueless (for now Kat still is) and they are just that friend that is your one and only. But I predict sooner or later Kat will learn about the Slayer Society and act like a sidekick like Sam does.

Lastly, the themes in this 2 books are very similar. The plot is for the main character to learn about killing their enemy. Joss is learning how to become a slayer to kill their enemy which are vampires. And John is learning how to fight against their enemies, which are the Mogadorians. In the beginning these main characters are still the newbies, but sooner or later they get the hang of how everything is done in the position they are in.

These 2 books are very similiar. They connect in a very special way, and are 2 very good books to read. But writing a cross book inquiry kind of makes you wonder if one book was inspired by the other because of the ways they are similar.

Blog Post #15: The Slayer Chronicles First Kill by Heather Brewer- Archetypes

***SPOILER ALERT*** 
In the book, The Slayer Chronicles First Kill, the main character, Joss, is a vampire slayer in training. Joss witnesses his sister Cecile being murdered when he was just 10 years old. Joss know cannot stand the fact that she died because he thinks it is all his fault. Now his uncle Abraham, who is kind of one of the "leaders" of the slayer society, is training Joss who is now 13, to be a slayer. Joss had to go through his purifacation which is when he can't eat or sleep for 3 full days, he can only have water. During his purification, Joss fell asleep and the slayer watching over him, Malek, was murdered by a vampire while Joss was asleep. So then, Joss got purified the old fashion way, being whipped. Another character, Sirus, defends Joss after being whipped, Abraham wanted him to train immidately but Sirus stood up for him and did not let him train until he was fully healed. Sirus also has a daugther named Kat who is developing some kind of relationship with Joss.

I think in this book, Joss is definetely the hero. Joss displays courage. He will stop at nothing to hunt down that vampire that killed Cecile. Joss is brave, and fearless, everytime something tries to stop him, he thinks about Cecile, and that makes him man up immidately. Cecile is like Joss's medicine. He loved her so much, when she died, everyone mostly him, was devistated. Joss sacrificed many things. For one thing, he went through pain to become a slayer. Instead of walking away from his training, he sacrificed his life possibly, (since he is only 13 Sirus said he was lucky to be alive) instead of walking away and forgetting about Cecile, he held his head high and stepped forward. He was whipped 10 times but then, he still wanted to train after he went through all that pain.

I think in this book, Sirus is kind of the mentor. I say kind of because in the beginning, Joss looked up to Sirus, but when Joss got to the mountain to train, he looked up to Malek more. But now since Malek died, Joss looks up to Sirus. Joss respects Sirus and his choices. During the book, Sirus is kind to Joss, he stands up for what he believes him, and Sirus shows courage and bravery. I think Joss and Sirus are alike in many ways. One example of when Sirus shows bravery is when he practically yells at Abraham to not let Joss train because he is hurt. And for Joss, he was brave when he got whipped 10 times!!! Joss really appreciates what Sirus does for him as well, he doesn't say it, but by the way the author describes the looks Joss gives Sirus, you can tell Joss looks at Sirus as a good influence, a mentor. Sirus had lots of experience, the book never says exactly how long, but by the way Sirus knows how to handle Abraham, you tell infer he as been in the society for a long time.

The shadow in this story is just vampires in general. The vampires are the whole reason why this slayer society was created, why Malek died, and why Joss is going through all this pain and sorrow in the first place. Vampires are cruel things that feed on living beings, and it is down right wrong. I get how in stories some vampires don't want to be a vampire and feed on animals, or from Heather Brewer's series before this series, feed on blood bags from a hospital like Vlad in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, it may still hurt people in some ways, but its better than just straight up killing them. It represents the darker side of human nature because they rely on others to survive, literally. They hunt down human beings and act like it's something natural, I get that some know it's wrong and don't want to, but some vampires don't care about others and just do it sometimes and feed on people whenever they feel like it. Vampires are the reason why Cecile is dead and why Joss is practically haunted every night.

I think the shapeshifter in this story is definetely Abraham. Abraham seems like the evil person most of the time, but so far in the story he doesn't seem completely evil. Abraham might have whipped Joss until he was unconcious, but he is helping him get revenge for Cecile's death. The reason why Abraham is the shapeshifter is because one minute he seems like he might actually care deeply for Joss, but than he goes back to only care about slaying vampires and not about his own nephew.

Blog Post #14: Glass by Ellen Hopkins- Book Review

***SPOILER ALERT***

I have recently finished the book Glass by Ellen Hopkins. I'm kinda doing an appreciation but just in my own way. In this book, Kristina/Bree gets herself wrapped up in a world of trouble. She gets kicked out of her house, her mom takes away her own baby, the cops catch her and her boyfriend with drugs, and at the end of the book... she gets arrested!!!

This book left you with a cliff hanger. It left you with Kristina getting ready for trial, and she's thinking about the future, what's going to happen in the trial, and what's going to happen if she really does get throw in jail. I apprciated that the book left you thinking about what is going to happen to her, it sort of leaves you to draw your own ending, but there is a third book in this series! I was thinking that in the next book Kristina gets thrown into jail because of all the evidence and witnesses. For one thing, the crystal meth the cops found in her car, and if the cops do blood tests on her and her boyfriend, they are obviously going to find drugs in their bodies. Another thing that will present evidence to the judge is her own mom. Her mom felt as if she was an unfit mother and pressed charges on her as well, so I'm pretty sure her mom isn't going to help Kristina this time.

What I didn't like about the ending of this book is the cliff hanger as well. It can be a good thing, you can draw your own ending, but for me, knowing there is another book in the series keeps me wondering, if what I am predicting is correct. It also makes me wonder what else is going to happen in the next book? Will life for Kristina get EVEN WORSE than it already is?!?!? The pressure makes me think about all the things that can happen in the next book. I had a lot of predictions. One was that her boyfriend Trey, is going to dump her because her relationships never last because she gets involved with the wrong people, another was that she is definetely going to jail and her mom is going to continue taking care of her son, Hunter. I think there might be another boy she likes in the next book because once Bree takes over again, there is always a boy she like worships.

Overall, I think there are many pros and cons to this ending of the book. I really can't wait to start reading the next book and see if what I thought was right!

Blog Post #13: Theme about the book GLASS by Ellen Hopkins

In the book Glass, by Ellen Hopkins, the main character Kristina or otherwise known as her alter ego, Bree, is a girl in high school that is just learning how to be sober...at least in the beginning. Throughout the book the monster grabs hold of her once again and she starts going down the wrong path...once again. She starts to visit her old friend Robyn, who is the sister of Kristina's once best friend, Trent. She then meets Trey, the guy who is giving Robyn all the meth, crystal, and glass. Bree takes over and she then starts dating Trey, who she puts all her trust in. I don't want to give to much away but she soon ends up in a really bad situation and she transforms into a totally new person, the opposite from Kristina.

In this book, Kristina gets easily influenced and takes the wrong turn and heads down a bad path. I think the message Ellen Hopkins wants to send out from this book is that you only have one life and you shouldn't waste it. I beileve she wants us to understand how hard life gets when you don't do the right thing, not saying you shouldn't just let loose and have fun sometimes, but you should know how far you can go til' you reach the edge. In the book Bree takes over Kristina and in this book she has to learn how to take care of her baby, but because she is always high and on drugs or smoking, she is a very unfit mother and she soon ends up in some trouble that you can hardly ever fix.

One thing I think Ellen Hopkins really stresses in this book is that when you make the wrong choices, there will be consequences. Which is exactly what happens in this book. Kristina loses her own self and she soon gets kicked out of her house, and much worse. I think one way Hopkins really shows how bad choices has consequences is how she lets the main character sort of...get away with whatever they did for a few times until they caught, so you don't really see it coming, so it makes it a good read.

In a way I also think Hopkins is spreading a message to teens telling them, this is what happens when you use drugs, or this is what happens when you are careless about things like sex. And in a way, I think she is trying to kinda scare the readers just to teach them a lesson. When I read the book I definetely learned the lesson, I really understood things like that drugs isn't a joke. I learned that doing things that you know is wrong will eventually come back to get you. I also learned from this book, that living life to the fullest, isn't what it really means. When you think of that phrase, you sort of think about trying out everything just for the sake of doing it, but after reading this book I learned it actually meant that you only have one life, so don't mess it up, live your life, enjoy everything that comes along, but don't ruin it.