Homecoming is something i look forward to all year. The football game, dressing up all week, and of course the dance! People don't realize how much work all the preparation takes, but it is worth it! There is always a cool theme and the cafeteria decorations and spirit week days match it. Girls get chosen to be on the homecoming court and wear beautiful dresses. We have a pep rally on Friday to get ready for the big game! The only problem seems to involve the dance. It is just too short! Here are the top reasons the dance creates problems.
1. It is RIGHT after the football game. This creates a problem for the football players, cheerleaders, prancers, band members, and any student attending the game. It is usually wet and clod and everyone has to go home and get ready AFTER the game is over and the dance has already started.
2. Everyone is tired. After a long day at school, decorating the cafeteria, taking down decorations in the halls, a pep rally, AND a football game, I know I would just like to go home and get in bed!
3. Hair. Oh yes, the all important hair style for homecoming. How are cheerleaders and prancers supposed to manage this all important factor during the football game? You can get your hair done before the game and risk it getting messed up or rained on, or you can get it done afterwards and cut your time at the dance down even further!
4. By the time everyone gets there, its already at least 11:30. Then, 12:30 rolls around and you realize its time to leave and you've only been there an hour, just long enough to see everyone, get your picture taken, and dance to a few songs.
The homecoming dance creates some major problems. A clever solution would be to have it on Saturday night AFTER everyone has recovered from the crazy week and football game. The dance could start at eight and end at twelve. Everyone would have plenty of preparation time and have a fair chance of getting there when it actually starts!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Book Review- Freckled and Fourteen
“And now she’d lost her best friend.” Rusty Eastman is a fourteen year old girl who is having some problems. Her best friend, Jeri, has become obsessed with boys and Rusty could not care less about them. Also, there is a big family secret Rusty has found out about. And her brother Alan, star of the sports teams at school has quit athletics all together! Viola Rowe’s Freckled and Fourteen entertained me with the story of a troubled teen.
Rowe wrote this book in our normal, everyday language. It was easy for me to understand and I did not have any trouble with vocabulary. Rusty lives in a normal town where she attends the local high school. Her father is the coach and her brother is the has-been athletic star. After Alan quits all the sports teams, they start to do badly without him. All Alan seems interested in is girls, which Rusty just finds appalling. And to make matters worse, Rusty’s best friend Jeri is now interested in boys! What can Rusty do? Who can she talk to?
Luckily, she has her wonderful Uncle Law. She can go to him with any problem and he will do his best to give her advice. Rusty finds adoption papers in her family’s file cabinet. She immediately assumes she was adopted since she is the only one in the family with bright red hair. She asks Uncle Law and he confirms her suspicions thinking Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had already told Rusty. This leaves Rusty feeling confused, alone, and misplaced. Who were her real parents? Why didn’t they want her? Did the Eastman’s still want her? Read this book to find out how Rusty can deal with all these issues clogging up her life.
I would recommend this book to any teenage girl. It deals with some of the everyday struggles they might encounter. Rusty learns many valuable lessons. This was a great story and I enjoyed reading it.
192 Pages
Rowe wrote this book in our normal, everyday language. It was easy for me to understand and I did not have any trouble with vocabulary. Rusty lives in a normal town where she attends the local high school. Her father is the coach and her brother is the has-been athletic star. After Alan quits all the sports teams, they start to do badly without him. All Alan seems interested in is girls, which Rusty just finds appalling. And to make matters worse, Rusty’s best friend Jeri is now interested in boys! What can Rusty do? Who can she talk to?
Luckily, she has her wonderful Uncle Law. She can go to him with any problem and he will do his best to give her advice. Rusty finds adoption papers in her family’s file cabinet. She immediately assumes she was adopted since she is the only one in the family with bright red hair. She asks Uncle Law and he confirms her suspicions thinking Mr. and Mrs. Eastman had already told Rusty. This leaves Rusty feeling confused, alone, and misplaced. Who were her real parents? Why didn’t they want her? Did the Eastman’s still want her? Read this book to find out how Rusty can deal with all these issues clogging up her life.
I would recommend this book to any teenage girl. It deals with some of the everyday struggles they might encounter. Rusty learns many valuable lessons. This was a great story and I enjoyed reading it.
192 Pages
Book Review- Official Book Club Selection
“This is my book.” This is what Kathy Griffin states in her autobiography. She tells it like it is and exactly like she wants to. I used to think Kathy Griffin was just some crazy comedian, but after reading her book, I realize she is a well trained, determined, and hilariously funny comic. Kathy Griffin’s Official Book Club Selection tells her life story and her long tough struggle into the spotlight. She talks about anything and everything, even her personal life and plastic surgery battle.
This book is written just like a conversation. Kathy is telling you a story and a lot of the time, I felt like she was directly talking to me. Some of the language and content might be inappropriate for children or easily offended people. Griffin talks just like she always does and this includes profanities.
In her book, Kathy makes fun of her family a lot. She grew up in Chicago and her parents were very Catholic. She imitates her mother’s accent by using capitol letters and hyphens. “CHR-EYE-SSAKE!” she says, copying her mother’s voice. Her brothers would have famous kegger parties and she was exposed to drinking at a very young age. Lots of her family members were alcoholics and that is why, to this day, she does not drink. Griffin jokes about how her mother was “the second prettiest girl at presentation” at church when she was growing up. (The first was her father’s sister!)
Kathy Griffin discusses some of the more difficult points about her life as well. She worked and worked to become a star. Spending many years at The Groundlings, an improve group in Chicago, working to get acting roles or maybe even become a cast member on Saturday Night Live. She was very discouraged and hopeless when she was not finding work and had to do some pretty low down jobs. Kathy’s brother Kenny was a troubled guy. She explains why she thinks he was a child molester. There were multiple times she saw him beat his wife or girlfriends. She separated herself from him for many, many years and finally came to peace with the situation when she went to see him at the hospital. On his deathbed, Kathy realized he couldn’t ever hurt anyone else.
I recommend this book to anyone with a good sense of humor. You do need to be a mature, accepting reader, however, to fully appreciate and laugh at the comical stories Kathy Griffin tells. This book was so fun to read and also helped me learn a lot about a person I was no’t really familiar with.
331 Pages- 2 Books
This book is written just like a conversation. Kathy is telling you a story and a lot of the time, I felt like she was directly talking to me. Some of the language and content might be inappropriate for children or easily offended people. Griffin talks just like she always does and this includes profanities.
In her book, Kathy makes fun of her family a lot. She grew up in Chicago and her parents were very Catholic. She imitates her mother’s accent by using capitol letters and hyphens. “CHR-EYE-SSAKE!” she says, copying her mother’s voice. Her brothers would have famous kegger parties and she was exposed to drinking at a very young age. Lots of her family members were alcoholics and that is why, to this day, she does not drink. Griffin jokes about how her mother was “the second prettiest girl at presentation” at church when she was growing up. (The first was her father’s sister!)
Kathy Griffin discusses some of the more difficult points about her life as well. She worked and worked to become a star. Spending many years at The Groundlings, an improve group in Chicago, working to get acting roles or maybe even become a cast member on Saturday Night Live. She was very discouraged and hopeless when she was not finding work and had to do some pretty low down jobs. Kathy’s brother Kenny was a troubled guy. She explains why she thinks he was a child molester. There were multiple times she saw him beat his wife or girlfriends. She separated herself from him for many, many years and finally came to peace with the situation when she went to see him at the hospital. On his deathbed, Kathy realized he couldn’t ever hurt anyone else.
I recommend this book to anyone with a good sense of humor. You do need to be a mature, accepting reader, however, to fully appreciate and laugh at the comical stories Kathy Griffin tells. This book was so fun to read and also helped me learn a lot about a person I was no’t really familiar with.
331 Pages- 2 Books
Book Review- Lush
“Well, my father is at it again.” This is what main character Sam always says about her father’s drinking problem. She knows it is not normal for her father to go out drinking every night and come home completely drunk, but she does not know what to do or who to talk to about it. Her mother pretends it’s not even a problem and her little brother Luke isn’t old enough to understand. How can Sam escape this horrible problem that dictates her life? Natasha Friend’s Lush touched my with the sad story of a normal teenage girl with an alcoholic father.
Natasha Friend wrote this book in a way that is easy to understand. She used normal every-day-language. It was a quick read because I did not have to think much about what I was reading. I comprehended very quickly what she was trying to describe or explain.
Sam lives in a normal town and often walks to her neighborhood library. She has a group of close friends: Angie, Vanessa, and Tracey. Angie loves to read. She reads romance novels and always compares the girl’s everyday lives to them. “Remember that love scene from Hearts Interrupted? Instead of Ridge and Rebecca, picture Danny and Molly Katz.” She said of the heartbreaking realization that Danny liked Molly instead of herself. Tracey is a really “good kid” who will frequently say things like “You don’t have to curse” when someone says crap. Vanessa is the really supportive friend. She always is there for all the girls when they are upset about something.
While Sam, Angie, Vanessa, and Tracey are all best friends, Sam is afraid to confide in them the secret about her father. She worries they will pity her or treat her differently. These girls have sleepovers every Friday night and they never go to Sam’s house. Sam has to work hard to hide this big secret from her friends. Sam visits the library everyday and starts exchanging notes with a mysterious A.J.K. She doesn’t know who this stranger is but they help give her advice and encouragement about her problems. Will Sam ever meet this mysterious A.J.K.? Will her family ever realize that her father needs help? And will Sam ever learn that she needs to tell her friends about her secret so they can help her deal with it?
I would recommend this book to any girl, especially anyone with a troubled parent. It discusses what to do, who to trust, and how to react to these types of situations. It was an emotional book but also had some humor and gladness. Overall, it was a great story that taught a very important lesson.
178 Pages
Natasha Friend wrote this book in a way that is easy to understand. She used normal every-day-language. It was a quick read because I did not have to think much about what I was reading. I comprehended very quickly what she was trying to describe or explain.
Sam lives in a normal town and often walks to her neighborhood library. She has a group of close friends: Angie, Vanessa, and Tracey. Angie loves to read. She reads romance novels and always compares the girl’s everyday lives to them. “Remember that love scene from Hearts Interrupted? Instead of Ridge and Rebecca, picture Danny and Molly Katz.” She said of the heartbreaking realization that Danny liked Molly instead of herself. Tracey is a really “good kid” who will frequently say things like “You don’t have to curse” when someone says crap. Vanessa is the really supportive friend. She always is there for all the girls when they are upset about something.
While Sam, Angie, Vanessa, and Tracey are all best friends, Sam is afraid to confide in them the secret about her father. She worries they will pity her or treat her differently. These girls have sleepovers every Friday night and they never go to Sam’s house. Sam has to work hard to hide this big secret from her friends. Sam visits the library everyday and starts exchanging notes with a mysterious A.J.K. She doesn’t know who this stranger is but they help give her advice and encouragement about her problems. Will Sam ever meet this mysterious A.J.K.? Will her family ever realize that her father needs help? And will Sam ever learn that she needs to tell her friends about her secret so they can help her deal with it?
I would recommend this book to any girl, especially anyone with a troubled parent. It discusses what to do, who to trust, and how to react to these types of situations. It was an emotional book but also had some humor and gladness. Overall, it was a great story that taught a very important lesson.
178 Pages
Monday, October 5, 2009
Book Review- The Invisible Man
“He stared right through me.” The Invisible Man is the story of a troubled character named Griffin. He is a very smart man who figured out how to make things invisible, including himself! Instead of sharing his discovery and becoming famous, he uses his new discovery to harm others and put himself first. H. G. Well’s The Invisible Man was thrilling and captured me by explaining the life of this troubled invisible man.
The author’s writing style was in old English. This made the book a little harder to understand and caused me to have to use footnotes. It does, however, help establish the time and setting the story took place. I haven’t read many books in this style and although it was challenging I felt it was a good, educational book to read.
The main character in this book is the invisible man, Griffin. The author paints a pretty negative picture of him throughout the book. During his stay at the Coach and Horses he was excessively rude to Mrs. Hall. He demands meals, stresses that he must be left alone, is discourteous to the clock repairman, and even goes as far as to make furniture come “alive with spirits” and attack Mr. and Mrs. Hall. He makes Mr. Thomas Marvel do everything he commands with the threat of killing him if he doesn’t. Griffin also steals from innocent people. He goes to the department store called “Emporium” and steals food, clothes, and sleeps there using bedding from the store. He also steals from citizens using force. He tied one man up in a bed sheet after knocking him out so he could steal clothes and money from his home.
The setting of this book is the 1890s in England. There are many things about this setting that are different than the present time. The author used lots details to describe the picture of the places in the story. I could see vivid images of all the places described in the story.
After Griffin discovers how to become invisible, he goes on many adventures. He has to escape from people as they figure out that he is invisible and run from the people he is stealing from. Read this book to find out if he can get away in time. Will he ever become normal again? Will Mr. Marvel ever get away from his evil grasp?
I liked the book The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. I would recommend this book to any fairly advanced reader. It was a little bit harder to understand than most books but overall had a good story line. This book taught me some new vocabulary and I think I learned a lot from reading this book!
163 pages
The author’s writing style was in old English. This made the book a little harder to understand and caused me to have to use footnotes. It does, however, help establish the time and setting the story took place. I haven’t read many books in this style and although it was challenging I felt it was a good, educational book to read.
The main character in this book is the invisible man, Griffin. The author paints a pretty negative picture of him throughout the book. During his stay at the Coach and Horses he was excessively rude to Mrs. Hall. He demands meals, stresses that he must be left alone, is discourteous to the clock repairman, and even goes as far as to make furniture come “alive with spirits” and attack Mr. and Mrs. Hall. He makes Mr. Thomas Marvel do everything he commands with the threat of killing him if he doesn’t. Griffin also steals from innocent people. He goes to the department store called “Emporium” and steals food, clothes, and sleeps there using bedding from the store. He also steals from citizens using force. He tied one man up in a bed sheet after knocking him out so he could steal clothes and money from his home.
The setting of this book is the 1890s in England. There are many things about this setting that are different than the present time. The author used lots details to describe the picture of the places in the story. I could see vivid images of all the places described in the story.
After Griffin discovers how to become invisible, he goes on many adventures. He has to escape from people as they figure out that he is invisible and run from the people he is stealing from. Read this book to find out if he can get away in time. Will he ever become normal again? Will Mr. Marvel ever get away from his evil grasp?
I liked the book The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. I would recommend this book to any fairly advanced reader. It was a little bit harder to understand than most books but overall had a good story line. This book taught me some new vocabulary and I think I learned a lot from reading this book!
163 pages
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