Sweet Dates In Basra - Entering Adulthood (Spoiler Alert)

          Sweet Dates in Basra by Jessica Jiji is a book about friendship and love but simply it can be said, the book is about growing up. Growing up is a part of life because it involves going through hardships and experiencing new things and we see a lot of these in the book. 

          In the book, there a three main characters, Shafiq, a Jewish boy, Omar, a Muslim boy and Kathmiya a Muslim girl. Shafiq and Omar are childhood friends and they are more like brothers and they go in a journey to find their identity and their relationship to their families and to the world in a time of war or more precisely, World War II. They are like normal friends trying to find a place for themselves in this world but of course it's hard for them because there are so many things getting in their way. 

          Kathmiya is a marsh girl who gets sent to the city of Basra to work to earn some money for her family. But the whole time she was upset that her family couldn't get a husband for her. In Iraq, at that time, it's a bad thing for a girl who is around 13 and 15 not to have a husband and for Kathmiya that was all she knew about marriage because her knowledge on relationships in the world was very limited. Kathmiya is the type of girl that goes by what others say, she doesn't t think outside the box and that goes for Shafiq too because both of them are going by what society has to say about everything. 

          When Shafiq and Kathmiya meet's, the first thing Shafiq sees is her seductive eyes and he instantly falls in love with her. But where a boy would try to make a girl realize that he loves her, Shafiq doesn't try to do anything because he knows how the society he is living in is. In Iraq at that time period (and even now in some countries where Muslims live in) it is considered a bad thing for a boy and a girl to have a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship because they might do things that are supposed to be done only after marriage, for example a girl getting pregnant. If a girl did get pregnant at that time in Iraq, she is considered "impure" and that could result in the death of the boy who got her pregnant and the girl herself. With all these in mind, Shafiq tries to stay away from Kathmiya and he does a pretty good job of doing so for four years. The same goes for Kathmiya because even though at times she thinks about Shafiq, there are walls that keep her from thinking about him in a way someone might think about someone else if they are in love with that person. But after four years, there mind starts to take control of their bodies and they find themselves in love with each other. Even though it took them a long time, their ignorance to the world turned to knowledge and their innocence turned to experience.

          At the end of the book, Shafiq prepares to go America to expand his knowledge. Also, Kathmiya gets pregnant by Shafiq and her mother, Jamila, is horrified when Kathmiya tells her. Even though most Muslim mothers would do anything to get rid of the baby and even abuse the girl who is pregnant, Jamila gives Kathmiya the privilege to keep the baby and visit Shafiq before he goes off to America. After he leaves, Kathmiya gets the responsibility of taking care of her baby. The privileges and responsibilities that Kathmiya gets marks the end of her childhood and the beginning of her adulthood. 

          The way Kathmiya exits her childhood isn't similar to how others might exit their childhood. For everyone, its a different experience that leads to the same stage in life; adulthood. Its not all about privileges, it's also about how one's views of the world changes and how the world's view of one changes as well.         

(: Sweet Dates In Basra :)

          Sweet Dates In Basra is a very good book about friendship and love.There are three main characters in the book, Kathmiya, Shafiq and Omar. Shafiq and Omar are childhood friends who consider themselves more like brothers and Kathmiya is a beautiful maiden who works in the city of Basra. The first time Kathmiya and Shafiq meets, Shafiq was captivated by her seductive, large eyes. Later he starts to like her. But Kathmiya wants to get married even though she is only 17. But her father doesn't want her to get married not because he will miss her but because he just doesn't like her. Now Kathmiya and her mother is trying to get Kathmiya's father to agree to her marriage and trying to find a suitable boy for her.
          In the book, Kathmiya tells herself she is aging and she should get married but I think the real reason she wants to get married is because her sister Fatimah is already married and Kahtmiya is jealous. Fatimah is not the best big sister a girl could ever have. She would taint Kathmiya and was always mean to her. Kathmiya always hated her sister and her getting married to a good guy just made her more sad and jealous that she wasn't in Fatimah's place. If Fatimah was a better sister then maybe Kathmiya would have been happy that her sister is getting married to a  good guy. The relationship Kathmiya and Fatimah shares is not a relationship typical sisters share.
          Even though they might not like each other, Kathmiya and Fatimah will still like each other because they are sisters. No matter how much they hate each other, they will still like each other and will try to protect each other. I think the only reason Kathmiya is jealous of Fatimah is because she might be insecure and that she thinks that she might never get married and stay as a maid for the rest of her life. And, she is sad because her father favors his oldest daughter to his youngest because he never showed an affection for Kathmiya.
          Me and my sisters fight all the time and we act like we hate each other but to tell the truth, deep down we still love each other and will always care for each other no matter what. Somethings insecurity can lead to what someone might think as hatred but really might be jealousy or sadness or both. No matter what happens, siblings will always love each other and never forget that not are they tied together by name but also tied together by the same blood.   
     

Friendship: A path to love and enmity

      How would someone feel if their first friend turned out to be there best friend? It would feel awesome to have a best friend who is also that person's best friend. This is how Bree Tanner feels after she meets Diego who becomes her first and best friend. After 3 months of trying to not get attention after Bree becomes a vampire, life got easier when Diego befriends her and they turn into best friends. But I think their friendship has a possibility of turning into something else.
      In the book, The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner, Stephenie Meyer creates a world of vampires that tries to fit in with the humans. Bree, a curious but scared vampire, is a newborn trying to fit in with the group of vampires created by a very powerful vampire. Bree always tries to not get noticed, not even from the teenage group of vampires because they are dangerous. Vampires can tear each other apart and every month, one of the leaders of the clan would kill a few vampires either from anger or irritation. After Bree and Diego becomes friends, they realize they are the pawns of a huge game. In the book, its easy to notice how Bree's feeling toward Diego changes becuase she starts to think about how cute Diego is and how sweet and different he is from the other vampires in the clan. And, I think Diego is also starting to like Bree since he even kissed her twice. This shows how Bree and Diego's relationship is changing from strangers to best friends to a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.
      I think through this Stephenie Meyer is trying to tell us that friendship has a possibility to turn into anything including love and even enmity. Friendship is a powerful thing and everyone needs a friend in their life but sometimes friendship can turn onto something totally unexpected because friendship is such a beautiful thing it can turn to something bad or good. In a scale, friendship is in the middle because it's neither enmity nor love so through friendship it's always hard to identify if two people's relationship turns to enmity or love, or if it stays the same.
      In reality, this might occur but not through two peoples recent friendship because in real life everything is unpredictable not like stories in a book where if someone knows part of the story, they have a pretty good idea about what will happen next. In reality, a person has to know another person to really decide what title to give them, either friend, enemy or lover. To make right choices one has to know about one's options to decide what path they want to take and this is one of the places in life where someone needs to decide between what's right and what's wrong.  

A Guide

      When someone hears, "young adult literature" they probably think of teen romance aand issues in young adults life. Well, forget that kind of literature and move on to "young adult zombie literature." In Banished, Sophie Littlefield creates a world of Healers and zombies. 16 year old Hailey is a healer, a teen with the power to heal anyone but she finds out about her powers after she meets her aunt Prairie for the first time. Before, Hailey's life was a mess that she was trying so hard to fix. Her grandmother is a drug- dealer who only adopted Chub, Hailey's brother, for the money Chub should get for being only a baby boy. After Prairie arrives, Hailey faces traumatic changes in her life and her whole world turns upside down. She learns about her mother who she thought died giving birth to her but who actually commited suicide at age 14. Hailey gets caught in a race to stop an evil man who wants Hailey to work with him to create zombies by healing the dead. All this is too much to bear in a matter of 6 days even for teens but when a teenager has someone to guide them they can acomplish anything even the impossible.
     Before Prairie came to Haileys life, Hailey was unable to do anyhting. She couldn't support Chub and her dog, Rascal and she couldn't escape Gypsum, Missouri which was her dream. She had many problems living in a house with her grandmother but the biggest was that her grandmother had friends who misbehaved with her. Even though her grandmother was there to see everything she didn't say anything. When Prairie showed up, for the first time Hailey felt like she can trust soemone. She felt like there is someone in her world who can show her the truth after living a life full of lies created by her grandmother. This is what everyone wants, not just teens. People don't like to live a life of lies they want to know the truth, th truth about who they are.
     Through what Hailey is feeling, Sophie Littlefield is trying to say that teenagers need mentors in life. They need someone who could give them advice, show them the right path when they feel lost and comfort them when they can't face all the obstacles that life throws at them. Littlefield is trying to tell the reader that guides are necessary in one's life, it is difficult for someone to accomplish something without the help of someone that someone can trust. The whole book is about how to reach ones goal when someone is there to support others. This shows that the author is trying o say that it's not a bad thing to ask for help once in a while.
      Teens should break their shells so someone can reach out to them and give them support they need. A lot of teens have a secret or something that they are struggling with and its important for them to to ask for help. It doesn't matter who but as long as someone is there to help, teens should go to them because oneday no one might be there for someone to ask for help for.  
          

* Romeo & Juliet *

   Hate, it's such a powerful word, isn't it? What does it make you think of? Violence? Well, whenever I hear the word, the word 'love' pops into my mind. This might be weird since love and hate are two totally opposite things but I think even in hate, love somehow squeezes itself in.

   In Romeo and Juliet, deep love existed in a world of pure hate because the Capulets and Montagues, Juliet and Romeo's families hate each other and whenever someone from the opposite family sees people from the other family, well... violence occurs. They would try to kill each other but even with all the hate, Romeo and Juliet still had love for each other which shows that they are totally different from their families. I really liked Romeo and Juliet (except the fact that they fell in love too quick) because it shows that you could find love and hate anywhere. And, if both of this powerful things exist in the same place then they are much more powerful and none of them would be able to overcome each other so something must occur to one to affect the other. I think this is the reason why Shakespeare made Romeo and Juliet die, when love was affected badly that it died with this "star-crossed lovers" then the hate was affected as well , fading away with the love.

   I really love how Shakespeare made this whole thing with love and hate work out because it showed that behind his beautiful play, hides a more beautiful meaning giving Romeo and Juliet a whole new level of beauty!

This Book Is Not Good For You (SPOILER ALERT!!!)

   This Book Is Not Good For You by Pseudonymous Bosch is about a girl named Cass and her two best friends named Max-Earnest and Yo-Yoji. Together they are part of a secret society called the Terces Society. As part of the Terces Society, they fight against a society known as the Midnight Sun. The leaders of the Midnight Sun, Dr. L and Ms. Mauvais, have assigned a new agent of the Midnight Sun to kidnap Cass's mom. And he is a chef called Señor Hugo who wants the tuning fork which can turn anything to any desired food or drink. When Cass found the fork, she gave it to Senor Hugo who promised to give Cass's mom back but actuallly he didn'y keep his promise. At last, Cass rescued her mom  and other children, who were forced to work for the Midnight Sun, and got the tuning fork back. But in the end while eating a time traveling chocolate she gets sent to the past and she is stuck there...

   I really love this kinds of book because it involves a secret society with a hint of fantasy. The book was really interesting with a very good twist and also funny. I think the theme of this book is to show that young kids can do anything if they are interested in something. And this theme is just perfect for the book because it shows so many things that an adult can't do but a child can do and this shows that a kid is capable of doing anything even if there parents or some other adults think they can't do it.

   I try very hard to show my parents that I am capable of doing anything but for me that's actually very hard to do since My parents have a hard time understanding what I am trying to tell or show them. So, usually, I try to not show or tell them anything unless it's very necessary. 

Posts From The Best !!!

http://aishwaryaselablog.blogspot.com/2011/01/life-is-peaceful.html?showComment=1297045885703#c6255142126935463760

I just love Aishwarya's post, Life is Peaceful because even without seeing the painting, just by reading the poem, the image that forms in my mind looks very similar like the painting. Her vocabulary is one of the things that makes her poem so strong. Her poem is written with passion and the repetition made the poem much more meaningful and interesting. Also, just by reading this poem makes me calm and... well, peaceful. I really liked the way how she ended her poem. The ending was very different than the other poems I read and this made the poem very different and interesting. Good job, Aishwarya!

http://ninamoransblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/starry-night.html?showComment=1297047601932#c507970703391208211 

Nina's poem is so beautiful. The rhyming made the poem very interesting to read and this poem also created a very nice image in my head. I really like this line, "for the soundless noise they make in the night" because it reminds me of when at night I can't sleep, I would stare at the sky in silence imagining what it would be like to go to outer space where its so quiet, peaceful yet filled with incandescent light. When I read this poem, I actually see a star filled night so vast yet so small.

http://shadman1212.blogspot.com/2011/01/giver-no-choice.html?showComment=1297125756003#c1751039018000781460  

 Shadman's post about The Giver is really good. Because he used the three paragraph structure, each paragraph containing separate ideas which made the post very good.  In the first paragraph, he gives the background info with all the necessary info. In the second paragraph, he tells us the main  character's task with really good questions. And, in the last paragraph is where his post got better because the ideas he had was amazing with thought provoking questions that gave the reader the hint that he is thinking and asking himself a lot of questions. I love his last sentence, " In my eyes this community is an imaginary paradise where nothing goes wrong but should. " 

Amazing work, Aishwarya, Nina & Shadman !!!!!

 

Aurora, Goddess of Dawn

http://josephinewall.com/aurora.html

Just before the sun rises
there is a hush
Slowly and quietly comes Aurora, Goddess of Dawn
Her gorgeous gown following her
her wings swiftly brush against everything it touches
Awakening the trees, the birds, the leaves
Slowly she takes out her paintbrush
and her kaleidoscopic palatte
Then the brush makes its first stroke of paint
Bursts out the color of yellow
the radiant rays of the sun
Then other colors bursts out
the luminous orange, the dazzling blue, the majestic purple
the beaming green and the incandescent red
Slowly she puts away the paintbrush and palatte
and walks away
Leaving the world to awake!

Love

If Not For You If not for you, I wouldn’t know
What true love really meant.
I’d never feel this inner peace;
I couldn’t be content. If not for you, I’d never have
The pleasures of romance.
I’d miss the bliss, the craziness,
Of love’s sweet, silly dance. I have to feel your tender touch;
I have to hear your voice;
No other one could take your place;
You’re it; I have no choice. If not for you, I’d be adrift;
I don’t know what I’d do;
I’d be searching for my other half,
Incomplete, if not for you.

By Joanna Fuchs

   This poem is a really nice poem with a beautiful meaning. I observed that the poet was only talking about the desires and how the he/she will feels if their lover isn't there with them. I noticed that the poet described love as a silly dance and I think she meant all the craziness and foolishness a person does when they are in love. I like the last line because I think it means how lost and incomplete someone will be if they don't find the person they are made for. I really like this line as well, "You’re it; I have no choice" because it's like saying "you are it, I love you, end of discussion!" 

   I really like this poem because its shows that when someone is in love they are enchanted by how beautiful it is and how it makes you feel all happy and joyful. I also think how when you find someone you really like you only think about that person and you want to be with that person with all your heart and you just can't stop thinking about that special someone.

   Love is a beautiful thing in life and it can also be painful, really painful. When someone is in love, they are blind cause they only see that person they love, deaf cause they hear only that persons voice and they can only speak about that person. I really wish that one day everyone finds their special someone and there hearts won't break because they will be happy together forever and ever. But of course that won't happen because there is so much cruelty in this world but I still wish that love, one day, will spread like wild fire in this world, not one kind of love but many kinds of love including the love you give to your family and friends!

"Love that is true never grows old'

    I just finished reading the book Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and I loved it! It was awesome with romance and a little bit of fantasy. The story started with a girl named Grace who has been watching a particular wolf every day for six years. A wolf who watched her back, a wolf who made her feel joy whenever he is near her. And, that wolf and his pack turned out to be werewolf's and soon as the wolf , Sam, meets Grace as a human, they feel like they know each other which is true and they starts loving each other. Though its just the beginning of their romance, things start getting complicated what with Sam trying to stay human and a new wolf in the pack.
   I really loved the entire book but the best part was the ending. Before the full ending, Grace thinks she lost Sam since he completely turned into a wolf because of the cold weather but in the last page of the book it says that Sam was watching Grace but it didn't say in what form. And when he reveals himself to Grace she is totally shocked to see him human! I love the last two lines of the book which goes like this:
   "Grace," I said, very softly. "Say something."

   " Sam," she said, and I crushed her to me."

   There is something really unique about this two lines that gets me amazed. I mean with these four words their relationship and their love for each other totally deepened and showed that their love is not the only thing that's keeping them together. This kind of romance is the type that shows that the two people will always be each others and together for eternity. The best thing about love is that one can't stop loving or wanting to love because when it is right, it's the best thing in the world. When someone is in a relationship and its a romantic love that person is sharing with someone else, even if nothing else in ones life is right, that person feels like their whole world is complete.

Relationships (they are such a pain!)

   What if you lived in Minnesota near the woods where you are watched by a wolf when you go outside? What if you feel that yellow-eyed wolf is somehow "special"? Will you try to befriend it even though you know wolves are a vicious specie?

   Well, I started reading this book called Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater and its about this girl named Grace who lives in Minnesota and for the last six years she has been watching a yellow-eyed wolf which seemed to stand out from its pack and who watches her back. And once when she was taken by the wolf pack, deeper into the forest the wolf, her wolf, saved her from being wolf food. And, Grace knows that the wolves are actually werewolves so after knowing that, she gets much more closer with that special wolf.

   I think later Grace will meet the wolf in his human form and she would fall in love with him. Because now in wolf form the boy, Sam, feels very close to her and for the first time in six years, he had let her touch his fur and even when the she-wolf of Sam's pack tried to attack Grace, Sam actually protected her which is a very unusual behavior for a wolf. This shows that Sam has feelings for Grace. I think Grace likes Sam as a wolf because she always tries to get close to him and she doesn't want to go in a trip with her best friend's family just because she will miss her wolf and they will be very far from each other. This just shows that if they met each other in human form, they will start loving each other and their feeling for each other will deepen which is very sweet.    

   I really don't have a connection to this theory but I can relate to the fact that sometimes Grace feels like her bonds with her two beat friend's, Rachel and Olivia, are getting weak and she finds it hard to be friends with them. I feel the same way sometimes with my two best friends, Aishwarya and Tanzima because sometimes I feel like we are getting less close and other times I feel like I am not spending too much time with one of my BF's. I try to do my best to do fun things together like hanging out but sometimes one of my BF's has something else to do and go somewhere so we don't get to spent much time together after school. And we can't hang out in the weekends or when we have free time because our parents don't let us go outside and all three of us are mostly busy with homework, families, etc. I wish someday we don't have to care about our family problems and school work and we could just hang out and let our friendship bonds strengthen.

A Nobody to a Somebody!

I just started reading this book called Dork Diaries, Tales From A Not-So-Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell. It's a really good book which shows all the problems a girl can face in middle school. The main character named Nikki is stuck in a huge problem. She is in the clean up crew for the Halloween dance but when the chairperson, Mackenzie, who is a popular girl who's always trying to steal Nikki's crush, resigns and makes the rest of the crew (not including Nikki's best friends and two other people) just because Nikki's crush didn't ask Mackenzie out for the dance. So now Nikki is the chairperson which means she is in charge of the dance and if something goes wrong it's all Nikki's fault! And if that isn't enough she has her homework and tests and Mackenzie herself to deal with.

Sometimes people feel have nothing on their shoulders to worry about and all of a sudden they got lots to worry about and sometimes people go from nobody from someone very important just because they are in a different position or because that person did something that attracts everyone's attention. I hate that feeling because all of a sudden you go from having no work to having so much stuff to do that it makes your head spin. For example, before the spelling bee neither was I popular, nor I had any work on my shoulders. But after I won the School Spelling Bee I feel like a very important person and people ask me, "Aren't you the girl who won the Spelling Bee?" And whenever I hear this I actually get a bit happy because I want to be known by others beside my friend circle not because I want to be popular but because I love to meet new people and have lots of friends.

"A true friend is someone that knows the song of your soul, and sings it back to you when you have forgotten the words"

   What would you do if you and your best friend likes the same guy? Would you sacrifice your happiness for your friends? Or would you try to get your friend to like someone else so you get the guy you like? Well, that's the decision Lotus has to make in the book The Pillow Book Of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais. Lotus lives in Brooklyn but she is dying to go to Paris and become an existentialist. Lotus and her best friend Joni are similar and different in many ways. Although Joni is very rich, she wears cheap cloths and likes non-expensive stuff where Lotus is not that rich but loves to buy expensive stuff. But, both friends shares Lotus's love for all things french. So, they start a french club where their only club member, other than Lotus and Joni, is Sean, the new boy. But the problem is that they both end up liking Sean who likes both girl's affection.

   I think Lotus should just give up liking Sean because Joni starts liking Sean first but mostly because Lotus is Joni's best friend and there shouldn't be a problem in sacrificing a little of her happiness for her best friend. Although Lotus and Sean have a lot in common and Joni and Sean have a little in common, Lotus should be much more faithful and loyal to her friend and she should be helpful and happy that finally Joni likes someone who she has a chance going out with (Joni is mostly in love with famous stars). In the book I feel like Lotus acts more like a friend rather than a best friend because if a person's friend likes someone, that person should be happy for a friend and not try to find ideas to get her friend to like someone else.

   If I was in Lotus's place I would actually help my friend get the guy she wants. My best friends Aishwarya and Tanzima mean more to me than anything else and if one of them likes the same guy as me, I would do anything to forget the guy and get the boy to go out with my best friend. I feel like best friends prove that they are capable of being a best friend when they support their friends and make a sacrifice for them. It doesn't matter how big or small the sacrifice is, as long as the sacrifice is meant to support your friend and it came from the heart, it shows that you are a true friend. 

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan SPOILER ALERT!!!

   Although, Rick Riordan's style of writing is different then J. K. Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series), both of these authors created two very creative and exciting world and they both keep readers wanting for more! 

   Rick Riordan actually used myths, fantasy and realistic fiction to make such a nice story filled with adventure and excitement. I think Rick Riordan planned out the whole story very deeply because the author made everything connected including Jason Grace, the brave demigod's (half mortal, half god) appearance in camp Half- Blood who's memory is taken by Hera, the goddess of family, and Percy Jackson's, the hero from Rick Riordan's previous series about Olympus, disappearance.

   The story started with Jason, Piper and Leo (Jason's two best friends) going to this school trip but Jason doesn't remember anything on the way. Their trip was at the Grand Canyon where, when they went they were attacked by storm spirits, or venti who tries to kill them but Jason' s coach Gleeson Hedge (who is actually a satyr but Jason doesn't know) saves them by sacrificing himself for the three demigod.

   Later, Jason, Piper and Leo were taken to camp Half- Blood by Annabeth where they had to go in a quest to get Jason's memory back, stop the evil giants from rising and save Piper's dad. What really amazed me is that Riordan used the same prophecy from the end of the last Percy Jackson series book for the The Lost Hero and will use the prophecy for the whole Heros Of Olympus series.

   The last part was amazing when Jason completed his quest and stopped Gaea, Mother Earth who is the enemy, from rising entirely and figured out the truth of Percy Jackson's disappearance. Hera, the goddess, made an exchange. There is another camp for demigods who follow the Roman gods and the roman rules rather than the Greek rules which camp Half- Blood follows and there is where Percy is. Jason is actually from the Roman camp because he is more familiar with the roman aspects. Hera switched the two campers because the two camps has always fought and Hera wanted both camps to learn that both camps aren't very different from each other. Making everything connected was a really nice touch for the end of the story because it got me very jumpy for the next book.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

   The seventh book of the Harry Potter series was the best from all of them (although all of the books were too good to be true!) because Harry destroyed all the Horcruxes which are one's pieces of soul put in an object

and Harry defeated Voldemort, the evil wizard who killed his parents. It's so cool that the Deathly Hallow's, three objects if owned by one person that person becomes master of death, master is actually Harry not because he fears death (which he doesn't) but because he doesn't run away from death but faces it much more bravely than anyone. 

   It's so cool that although Voldemort knows more about so many things that Harry doesn't know, his greatest weakness is his fear of death where Harry, although he is so much younger and less experienced than Voldemort, welcomes death very calmly. I think that sometimes the young is the wisest because like Harry, some young people sometimes can make very good decisions that will surprise adults and I think some adults should expect more from teens and younger kids because kids can do much more than they are capable of since their minds work very differently than the minds of adults.

   I really love how Harry has the freedom to decide so many things where I don't. My parents and siblings don't actually give me much of a decision when it comes to little things let alone huge decisions. And, that really annoys me because it's my life and shouldn't I be the one to decide things that are relevant to my life?

While Harry has to make more decisions than a normal teenager, I am stuck with no free will.

“A human being is a single being. Unique and unrepeatable”

   What happens if your family is cursed for generations by a single use of dark magic? What if being "normal" is difficult to be when you are trying to hide a secret? What happens if almost everyone in a small town hates you, just because you are related to someone who people think is crazy and that if things go wrong you are the one who is blamed? 

   Lena Duchannes isn't you average girl, in fact she isn't what you call normal. She is a Caster, a person who has an ability to do either dark magic or light magic. She is in fear of turning toward Darkness in her sixteenth birthday just because of a single dark magic a Duchannes did many years before her. A curse that had been given by a powerful book just because Lena's ancestor, Genevieve Duchannes tried to save her true love. Ethan Wate, a normal boy, loves Lena but since he is not a Caster he can't do anything to help her.  

   Lena just moved in a different town with her uncle Macon Ravenwood and life is already going downhill for her. Some of the students parents from Jackson high especially Ms. Asher and Ms. Lincoln wants her out of the town since they think she is threat to other students. I think this parents doesn't like her just because they think she is not like other students in the town of Gatlin. I think just because someone is different from what others are used to, that doesn't mean they should be hated. They should be accepted with great respect because they are different so they probably will have a different way of thinking and doing everything which is very cool. Because you can learn more about a different way of living.

Anyone can learn something from this book because it has a lot of meaningful morals that are very thought provoking and just wonderful. But the strongest main idea of this book is that being different is being unique.

Bravery

   Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets had a great ending and it was fantastic how J. K. Rowling created an engaging story. In the end, Harry finds the chamber of secrets and I was amazed at how brave he was while fighting Tom Riddle, Voldemort when he was a student at Hogwarts. If I was in Harry's place I would have freaked out. Harry showed so much bravery that he makes the perfect idol for the main character of this book. I think this book shows that sometimes you need to be in a life and death situation to find bravery inside you.

   In the end, Harry actually defeats the Basilisk, the serpent that was petrifying people in Hogwarts. It was amazing how he stabbed the basilisk fang into the heart of the diary that held Tom Riddle's memory, without even thinking if he was doing the right thing. I guess Harry's instincts were so strong that he didn't have to think too much before he acted.

   I remember when I was in fourth grade, I used to think what to say before I raised my hand because I was afraid I would say something stupid by accident. I used to get really embarrassed in little things but now I just spill out what's in my mind 'cause I feel free to say whatever I want.

   I get excited in little things because I feel like I should be happy about little things in life since little things makes up big things. So I get really excited when someone mentions Harry Potter or other little things. I can go on forever about how awesome the Harry Potter series is without ever getting tired.

   

Reality and Imagination

   Many people would think witches and wizards are cool imaginary people but if anyone reads Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets by J. K. Rowling, people will wish that wizards and other mythical creatures were real. The author creates an awesome world filled with things kids love and want in the real world. I read the whole series but I just can't get enough of Harry Potter's world.

   Basically this book is about a boy named Harry who thought he was a normal boy but later turned out to be a famous wizard who survived from an attack from an evil wizard named Voldemort (first book of the series). Now Harry is back in Hogwarts from summer vacation and trying once again to fit in and be a normal wizard. Nothing is actually happening in the book right now so this is making me very eager about what might happen later on. I think this is one of the things that Rowling does to make the reader on edge although nothing is really happening.

   Like Harry, sometimes I fell like no one understands me and I ask myself do I even have real friends to count on when I need them? No one understands how painful life is for me, not my friends or even my family members! Sometimes I feel all alone in this big world without anyone to guide me and tell me whats right or wrong. I face a lot of obstacles like Harry but Harry faces them bravely where I try to avoid them. I feel like my greatest fear in life is that I might get caught in an obstacle so hard that i might not be capable of continuing with my normal life. I feel a small hardship will ruin my entire life leaving me with nothing but a little hope. I live for hope because my entire life depends on it whether I like it or not. It's not like its a bad thing but since it is all I have when I am never sure of anything, it gets annoying to think that a little bit of hope is all I have to lead me in life.

    I love this book because everything about the world that the author creates gets me all excited and lets me fully get lost in the world in the book.

   I face a lot of family problems, some which are just too much to take in. Sometimes I feel like this world is too plain and dull and that's one of the times when I wish I had a real wand which by just a wave will take me away from this world and to a quiet place where I can sort out my thoughts. But lucky me, I have something else to take me away from reality and into my kind of world where imagination blossoms like a flower with a bit of water or in this case, magic: books.

Zoey's spiritless body, Burned

The book I'm reading right now is called Burned, House of Night series. In the book, the main character, Zoey, is in trouble right now because she is in the Otherworld where the spirits live, away from the real world. Right now, Zoey's friends are trying to help her return to her breathing body before its too late and her body dies. I think Zoey's warrior, Stark will go to the Otherworld to protect her from the evil fallen angel Kalona because Stark likes Zoey and would do anything to help her. I think Neferet, the Priestess behind all this mess, send Kalona to the Otherworld because she doesn't want Zoey to return to the real world and ruin Neferet's dream to rule all vampyres and humans. She would do anything to get Zoey out of her way.