In the book  Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick the main character Steven, an average student in middle school who loves to play the drums. He was never that popular and he didn't have many friends. He thought his life couldn't have been worse until he found out his little brother, Jeffrey was diagnosed with leukemia. In the adventures of Stevens life he become more mature and less self-centered.
    Something that showed Steven has matured is when he shaved his head so Jeffrey wasn't the only one bald. This showed his maturity  because he didn't think about what people would say about him being bald. He wasn't being self-centered the only thing that really mattered was that he was doing this for Jeffrey. He didn't shave his head with hesitation he shaved his head with dignity.
    Another way Steven shows his maturity was when he started to do his homework again. Steven has stopped doing his homework when he started to get depressed about Jeffrey's sickness. At first he was kind of being self-centered because he thought his life was miserable when his little brother was in a hospital with a huge needle in his back. Steven was being a horrible brother when he didn't do his homework it showed that he wasn't taking Jeffrey's sickness well and he thought he didn't need counseling. He had no one to talk to which made him more and more depressed and he started not to do homework and failing classes. When Steven started to do his homework again it showed that he wasn't living his dreams where Jeffry didn't have cancer and he started to take the fact that Jeffry needs him as an older brother do help him get better.
    Steven became a  better brother as he got more mature. He started to go with Jeffrey to the hospital and he was always there for him. He wasn't self-centered anymore and he became more optimistic and believed Jeffrey can become healthy again.

It's Kind of a Funny Story
By:Ned Vizzini

     Craig Gilner was an average kid until he was depressed. Before he was depressed he could eat, sleep, and do whatever he wanted. But since he is depressed he couldn't do anything, he couldn't even control himself. In the book It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini Craig has been Depressed and sick for a long time and he really wants to die. He has been doing drugs and drinking because he was really sick until he found the girl of his dreams.
     Craig was not really cool in school and he didn't really have a friend, but he did think that a kid named Aaron in school his best friend. They partied together, they smoked pot together, and they got drunk together, they were basically best friends until Craig got jealous. Aaron had a girlfriend whose name is Nia, a "bad ass" Chinese girl from school according to Aaron. Craig was jealous that Aaron was her boyfriend and he would be forever alone with no one and that would make him depressed. Jealousy was one of the big flaws of Craig.
    Craig goes through rough times during depression. Part 2 next week.

     Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third wheel 
     By: Jeff Kinney

     The new Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is the seventh book in the Dairy of a Wimpy Kid series. The main character Greg Heffley, a kid in junior high school go's through the challenges in middle school. In this book Greg's school is holding a Valentines Day dance in the school gym. The problem is that Greg doesn't have a date for the dance and every time a girl is available Greg screws it up. Greg and his best friend decides to have a go to the dance with one of the girls in the dance committee as group of friends just chilling at the school party but everything goes wrong.
     Greg is trying to impress Abigail, the girl from the committee by making reservations at this really fancy and expensive restaurant, that has a very strict rule that males have to wear sports jackets. Greg has dirtied his in the car and had to borrow a jacket from the restaurant. The thing is that the sports jacket that was loaned to him has been worn by others and has never been washed. The odor of sour sweat filled the restaurant so Greg had to make an excuse and leave.
    Another thing that went wrong was when Abigail and Greg were having a slow dance together on the dance floor. Greg wasn't much of a dancer so it was really awkward and he didn't know if where he put his hands. That wasn't the thing that went wrong, the thing that went wrong was that Greg noticed red marks on Abigail's chin and thought it was chicken pox, so he screamed his lungs out. The reason Greg didn't see it before was because Abigail had make up on and she washed off the make up by accident and Abigail started to cry. This whole time Greg tried to win Abigail Heart but he failed by his overreaction.
     Read the new book Dairy of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, it's compacted with humor, romance, and much much mor! 

   

     In the book Percy Jackson : the Lighting Thief, by Rick Riordan it has a whole combination of action, romance, and thriller. Percy the main character is a demigod, half human half god. He is son of one of the three brothers Poseidon, the god of the seas. In the book Percy and his two friends Annabeth Chase, also a demigod daughter of Athena, goddess of war and wisdom and his bestfriend Grover Underwood a satyr travel in a journey to the Underworld to save Percy's mother from the god of the Underworld Hades. Throughout the book their are many symbols that are really important.
     Symbols are the important objects or things that are important to the main idea or the whole story of the book. First, there is Percy's pen which turn in to a sword. The pen/sword is important because without the pen Percy will never have been alive because that is his only weapon and also the only thing his father, Poseidon left for him. The second one is the lighting bolt, weapon of the god of the sky's and all gods and goddesses Zeus. Without that lighting bolt missing there would have been no story and no story line. The third most important one is the shield that one of the counselors from camp Half Blood gave him on the journey to be safe. The shield plays an important role because the shield was the object that had a secret compartment that held the lighting bolt that the counselor tried to frame Percy for. Obviously he didn't get away with it because Percy found out. And the fourth and last important symbol in this book is Percy's mother, Sally Jackson who was attacked by one of Hades monsters that he sent to pretend that Sally was actually dead to Percy, but Percy didn't buy it. Sally is an important symbol because if she didn't get captured by Hades then Percy wouldn't have gone to the Underworld.
     Throughout the book there are many symbols but I think that these four are the most important in this book. I am very sorry if I have spoiled some parts of the book for you.

Jason Lei

708

11/20/12

            I believe in martial arts. As a young boy I had lots of problems. Most of my problems were all family related. My grandma was frequently fighting with my sisters and my parents. When this used to happen I would hide in the closet and hope for the best of tomorrow. My therapist used to tell me everything was alright and everything is going to be fine, even though most of the time it wasn't. Martial art was there for me because it helped me to get all my anger out on the targets and to control my anger.

            I was seven when I experienced the worst thing that ever happened to me. When I was seven I and my two older sisters used to bother my grandma because we were bored. One day my grandma became so pissed at us she chased after us with a butchers knife. We hid in the closet for so long until my mom came home. It was partially our fault for bothering her but she didn't have to chase us and threaten us our lives. My mother yelled at my grandma until the neighbors called the cops. That day was the day I started to believe that I had to protect my mother and sisters and become the man in the house since my dad isn't home often.

            After two years of none stop yelling and screaming at each other I finally earned my black belt in Taekwondo and won 1rst place in the tournaments we had against the other taekwondo and karate teams. Having black belt made me feel new and I thought since I knew how to fight now that no one can ever hurt my family again, but I was wrong. Over the years after I got my black belt things got even worse. Instead of my sisters and parents yelling at each other constantly my second sister started torturing herself.

            My sister started to cut herself daily because of the rage and pain she felt, that was worse than mine. I thought and thought over again that I was the one that was hurt the most but, my sister has gone through the most. She was beat by my dad back them and ever since then she hasn't been talking to him since.

            I thought as I grew up that life was not fair and we live in the world with crazy people. Martial art has helped me go through the rage and anger I hold inside my heart. It helps me focus that because I am angry doesn't mean others have to suffer.  I believe in martial arts because it helped me go through my pain inside me, because just talking to someone doesn't always help.

 P.S. My dad no longer beats my sister, but they still don’t talk.

                                                                   Paper Towns 
                                                                   By: John Green

     In the book Paper Towns by John Green the main character Quentin is on an adventure to find his love of his life. Quentin was in love with Margo Roth Spiegelman since they first moved in the house next to them. As Margo grew up, she and Quentin started not to talk anymore until that night when she took him out on some crazy adventure. Margo disappeared after that night and Quentin is the one she trust that can find her. In this book Quentin goes through many emotional changes.

     At the beginning Quentin was a band geek at school and was bullied a lot. He and his friend Ben and Radar, also band geeks were looking for honey bunnies for the prom. Obviously no one wanted to go with them because Quentin didn't like the idea of prom, Ben was humiliated by Margo's best friend calling him Bloody Ben because he peed blood because he had a kidney issue, and Radar already has a girlfriend but he never asked her out because his parents have the Guinness World Record of having Black Santas all over their house, so they were all stuck. Quentin was the only child and both his parents were therapists so he never did anything bad. But until that night Margo was at his windowsill and asked him to drive the car for the adventure.
    In the adventure Margo had to do 11 labors before the night ended. These 11 labors were about her boyfriend Jase who cheated on her with Becca and she wanted revenge. In the adventure Quentin got to know Margo better and he knew she trusted him more than anyone else she knew. Quentin changed after the adventure and after Margo disappeared. He started to have courage in himself and he started to be someone he wasn't. He didn't care about life any more he didn't care about the future any more and he was thinking about Margo everyday. He started to sneak out at night and cut school to look for Margo.
    This is a major change in this book because before Margo came back to his life all Quentin cared about was college and school. He never went to parties and he didn't think about anyone ever. Margo changed everything about Quentin a he isn't living the dreams of his parent but living the dreams of his.

                                                            Anatomy of a Boyfriend

     In the book Anatomy of a Boyfriend by Daria Snadowsky, the main character Dom, Dominique go through  many issue of a teenager with her boyfriend Wes. Some of the issues Dom goes through are sex, college, and her love life with Wes. Dom was never a person who was really interested in losing her virginity until she met the love of her life Wesley Gersh, a track star in her best friends public school. Wes was the first person Dom ever thought she would wanna get with. Through out the book Dom has some serious  changes.
     Dom was always a goody goody when she never met Wes. She was a polite and nerdy 17 year old until she met Wes who basically ruined her life at the end of the book when they break up. At the beginning of the book Dom was never interested into having sex or even thinking about getting into a relationship with someone. She was always a nerdy teenager because she was on the Science Quiz Team at her school and her favorite book is Gray's Anatomy. Dom was always home and never did much but study and play Operation.
     Dominique started to change once she started hooking up with Wes. She became so obsessed with Wes that she even became a vegetarian because Wes was. Through out the book you can see lot of changes in Dominique but the one think that is the most shocking change was she didn't listening to what her parent told her about having sex and had intercourse with Wes. That was a major change because Dom always listened to her parent until she was so in love with Wes and she finally lost her virginity to him.
     Dominique is a very interesting main character in this book because she became from a goody goody to a very mischievous young lady. She changed a lot from being a nerdy to a sexual minded person.
 

The Rise of Nine

                                                                The Rise of Nine
                                                                By: Pittacus Lore

     In the book "The Rise of Nine" by Pittacus Lore is about 7 kids living on Earth trying to blend in to the human race to hide from the Mogadorians, a alien race who wants to dominate all the plants. The book The Rise of Nine is a sequel to the book I Am Number Four. These seven kids have came here from their planet Lorien which has been destroyed by the Mogadorians in battle. Each of the seven jobs are to blend in to the human race, train, and develop their legacies to destroy the Mogadorian leader Setrakus Ra.
     In the book The Rise of Nine there are three main character, but today we are talking about John (Number Four). John is a very loving and caring 16 year old. In the book he plays an importing role because he posses the great power of the Loric leader who defeated Setrakus Ra long ago. John isn't really a tough guy but he can be really strong when he is mad.
     John is so loving that he is in a love triangle with a human and one of the Loric numbers. The human that John fell in love with is Sarah Hart. He fell in love with Sarah when he and his cepan, a Loric with no powers who are sent to help train the kids to develop legacies, Henry first moved into a house in Paradise, Ohio. He thought that she was beautiful and he was the happiest man living on earth. He loved and trusted Sarah so much he told her everything about him and were he came from. Although the may never meet again, because John has to find the other 6 Lorics he always thinks about her.
     The Loric he also fell in love with was Number Six, a tough Loric with the powers of invisibility, telekinesis, and elemental manipulation. Number Six is so tough she wasn't even scared to break trough prison to save John and his friend Sam, a human who followed John to find his father who helped John and Henry into blend in when they arrived to earth. John never really understood why he was so in love with Six but until they kissed he always thought about her even when he was in love with Sarah.
     I think that John should have took his job seriously and should have never fell in love with Sarah and tell her everything about his race.

                                      Witches : The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem

                                                               By: Rosalyn Schanzer

     Witches were known for evil for many years. They were told to be powerful females who the assistants of the devil. But what does witches have to do with Salem. Well you'll find out.
      Salem is a very superstitious place. In February 1692 two girls started to have fevers and they started to twitch. There jaws were snapping and they felt like they were being pinched and pricked with needles. The girls blamed many people that there spirits did this to them and the people they blamed were sent to trail of many months and eventually executed.
     I think the Salem Witch Trials was stupid. They executed people with no proof that they did these such things. In one of the trails the book said that one of  the defendant stabbed someone. There was proof of a broken piece of the blade on the floor with blood on it. They found the person with the handle of the knife and the person said that it was his and the blood was his too. The judges said he should have been more careful and the defendant was sent to death for stabbing a person and witchcraft.
     I think this is stupid because people were executed even though they didn't do any such thing to the girls.