Sleeping Freshman Never Lie

Sleeping Freshman Never Lie is by David Lubar and is 288 pages. Sleeping Freshman is about a freshman named Scott and his journey through his first year in High School. His friendships are put to the test, His brother is in and out all the time, and his parents drop the bomb shell- another baby is going to be introduced to the family. This story is told in a unique way- half is through regular story but told in his perspective and the other is his "diary" ( but of course boys DONT keep girly things like a diary) to his unborn fetal-like sibling. Scott finds highschool life is alot harder than he thought, never getting enough sleep, being picked on t the school bus, becoming a lunch money ATM etc. Scott loves to write and he eventually joins the school paper and ends up writing for the sports page-because of a girl named Julia, he runs for Studet Gonvernment- because of Julia, AND he tries out for a play-because of Julia. Just to be disappointed in the end. He befriends a boy named Wesley and the odd girl out Lee who is daring and unpredictable. Excactly the opposite of what he is. But who knows, maybe they will become a little more than just friends....

I thought Sleeping Freshman Never Lie was an OK book. I mean it was good dont get me wrong, but it was put downable. I found myself just putting it down and doing something else. But it was funny and when you got into it it was a pretty good book. I think this is a good read because the author made it so that both boys and girls can enjoy, which is hard to find these days. Its worth reading but if your looking for a contagious-I-Just-Cant-Put-You-Down-Book, this may not be the one. But its a good read for any middle school/ high school student.

Side Effects

Side Effects is written by Amy Goldman Koss and is 143 pgs. Side Effects is about an 8th grade girl named Isabelle Miller who finds herself where nobody wants to be. She woke up one day with her still swollen glands from a flu that was over days ago. Her mom took her in to the doctor where they thought it was Mono, sent her home and would call with info later. It was much worse than mono- she had Lymphoma which is cancer. She is sent to Childrens Hospital where she then undergoes treatments almost immediately. Her roomate is a young girl named Carrie who has Sickle Cell Anemia- routinely in and out of hospitals. What gets Isabelle through this is her Paper Mate blue pen and sketch pads. She draws ordinary things but turns then into simple works of art. Such as drawing the IV as a snake going into a small child or a CAT scan machine as a shark with bate entering through its mouth. She has a sense of humor the size of Alaska and a toungue as sharp as a rozor blade. But thats who Izzy is- she is super sarcastic and a very enjoyable character. Throught Side Effects you get to follow Izzy throught her journey and battle with Lymphoma. Bye the end, you are completely satisfied and you feel like you were there the whole time- through the breaking news, to loosing hair and even in the hospital waiting room.

I loved this book! I finished it in less than a day because i was HOOKED! I couldnt get enough of reading this book. Amy Koss is an excellent writer- she brings Izzy to life with her Teenage antics and her sarcastiness with EVERYTHING. By reading this book, you feel like you know Izzy ( Isabelle). You feel her pain through the Chemotherapy treatments and you get an idea through the artistic use of words what her surroundings are like. This is a five star-must read of the summer. You simply must go to your library and check it out. I am going to put this on my list of To-Buy list. The ending is extremely satisfying, you wont be disappointed. You will feel like you are on top of the world for the rest of the day. It makes you appreciate everything you have in a whole new light. So what are you waiting for?- GO READ IT!

My Brothers Keeper

My Brothers Keeper is by Patricia McCormick as well, and is 192 pages. My Brothers Keeper is about a 13-year old boy named Toby Malone. Toby's dad moved away about a year ago and his mom and two brothers have to start over. So they move to an apartment several blocks from their old house. Toby loves baseball and him and his best friend want to try out for the team. But it came to a big surprise to Toby when his brother Jake didn't sign up for the team- because he was the VIP on the team and led them to the State Championships. Toby notices that Jake isn't acting like his usual self, hes "out of it" sometimes. And with his mom working the hardest she can to pay the bills and dating the "Food King" things are a little to unpredictable for him. He discovers drugs in Jake's drawer and his brother admits to do drugs and drink beer excessively and doing 'acid'. There were some near times when Jake would come home a reek of smoke, leaving Toby to cover up for his brother, and make sure that his mom never found out- keeping her out of it, after all she deserved to be happy right? But one night when Toby's little brother escapes out of the house and Jake mysteriously has left- how can Toby cover for Jake this time?

I thought this was a very well done book. It however was not at good as Cut. I think this is a great read for girls AND boys. Young readers from the ages 13 and up will be able to relate to the story and find it a great read. Although it is not the best book that i have read, i really really liked it and found that it didn't bore me and i was able to read it fairly quickly.

Cut

Cut is by Patricia McCormick and is 168 pages. This book is about a 15 year old girl named Callie and her 'disorder'. Callie cuts herself. She is sent to a place called Sea Pines, which Callies roommate Sydney nicknames 'Sick Minds'. That's not the only thing that Sydney gives nicknames to- she nicknamed Callie S.T. for Silent Treatment, because that's exactly what Callie does. Callie doesn't talk. In Sea Pines there are many different kinds of girls with many different kinds of problems. In Sea Pines you have a group that you eat with, do your T.V. time with, EVERYTHING except your personal therapy time. In Callies group is Debbie an overweight girl obsessed with food, Becca and Tara anorexic girls, Sydney and Tiffany Druggies and then there's Callie, the cutter. Through her therapy sessions you learn about Callies life- how she gets along with her mom who is too busy with her brother Sam. During her therapy sessions you learn about the traumatic event that changed Callies life. Through the book you get to see the highs and lows of the group and how their relationships change through the book.

Ok, your probably thinking, why on earth would you read about a girl with a Cutting problem, let alone a book that takes place in a treatment center. But its so much more than that. Its the story of Callie that draws you to want to read and wanting more. The way she communicates through the other girls, in her own way trying to control what little she has left at Sea Pines. Its an awesome book, but I would recommend it to 12 and up on this one. This book is a must read! It lets you into a world not like your own, you get to see what many people go through. But the ending of the book cannot be beat. It makes the book all worth reading, the icing on the cake.

Love That Dog

Love That Dog is by Sharon Creech and is 86 pages. Love That Dog is about a boy named Jack and his writing journal. Through the pages of his journal you learn all about this boy and his teacher- because that's all the book is, his writing journal. In Jacks class they are studying poetry, and they have to make up their own poems. Jack doesn't believe that any of his poems are really good, but really his poems are very good, in his own special way. His teacher wants to put his poems on the bulletin board, Jack says as long as she doesn't put his name on them, because he is worried that other people will think that they are stupid. Through this book you learn about his school, teacher and most importantly that dog- Love that Dog!

This book is written in short lines ("Poem" style). I read this book in about 15 minutes- given that is meant for younger kids. It was WONDERFUL! I would definitely suggest that everybody read this book. If you have young kids this would be an excellent book to read together. I love the style that Sharon Creech used in this book, and also another book that is very like it- Heartbeat. You simply cannot lose by reading these books, they leave you with a nice feeling at the end, and that is the sign of an excellent book.

New Beginning

Sorry for my very extremely delinquent blogging. I have been way cought up in school, and never gave my book blog a second glance. To kick of the new beginning comes a face lift! I added a special flair that hopefully is pleasing to the eye :) ( thanks mom!)

As for blogging- hopefuly I will give you one reveiw a week to start. And who knows maybe youll get two if youre lucky. For now, just know I am not dead but alive and reading. See you next time!

Enders Game

Enders Game is written by Orson Scott Cars and is 384 pages. It is about a boy named Andrew Wiggen, but they call him Ender. And Ender has a really nasty mean brother, Peter, who wishes that he was Ender. You see Ender is a third child, and he had his monitor longer than any of the children. Kids had monitors so people could monitor what was going on, and to see if they were right for the army to fight off the buggers. Only a select few were sent to battle school. But when Ender got his monitor taken away, he was recruited because he fought off big bullies all by himself. So he went to battle school. He was one of the youngest boys there. But he fought like he had been there forever, he quickly became a toon leader and he even got promoted to commander of the Dragon Army. The retired the Dragon army because of it loosing streak, they gave Ender all of the younger boys for his army, but he had them trained in no time. You see, the battle school normally only gave you a battle every week, they were giving Ender armies to fight EVERY day. Sometimes even TWICE a day, just to see if they could break him, they but Ender kept winning, he never lost a battle ever. But then they started giving Ender battles that were unfair advantage to the others, like teaming 2 armies against him, and giving the other army the ability to let people come back to life after they were frozen. But still, Ender would win. This made the other leaders mad, and one even went to kill Ender, little did they know Ender could take them out. They noticed Ender was getting broken, but he was prime to go to Commanders school. He went their over three years early. He came back to earth for a visit, and the people who needed Ender the most, got Valentine his sister, to convince him that he could beat the buggers.

Now while Ender was in battle school, Peter and Valentine themselves were getting pretty well known on the nets. They retended to be people in great political power and were giving advice, so that they could eventually have Peter take over the world, now remember Peter and Valentine were only 12 and 9 during this time.

But Ender went to command school, and he was trained by one of the greatest bugger hero's of all time. But the end, is what really makes this book, and the ending is so shocking that I didn't even see it coming. So now its time for me too say- its up to you to see what happens next.

Enders Game was assigned to me to read for English, so I was basically forced to read this book. But I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how good the book was. It was better than any of the other assigned books that I was given to read although still not my favorite. If you like sci-fi and books like that with an outer space setting then I think you would love this book. Although I would recommend this book to people over 15 with some of the content in this book. So this books is not for everyone, so choose wisely. You see you have a choice weather to read it or not, I didn't. But I still found it bearable to read, and I was able to pick it up and read.

My Poor Glasses

Alright so I figure you deserve a post, no I haven't finished any books yet, I have been at summer camps and traveling the globe all summer. But I thought you'd like to hear this story.

My family and I were staying at this hotel in Anchorage Alaska. I wanted to take a shower really bad sense we were going to be at the airport the next night. So I went to put my glasses down in the bathroom and the sink wasn't inside, I didn't want to put my glasses on the floor because I didn't want to step on them. The only other place to put them was on the back of the toilet. I wne t to put the cover down and their was no cover, so I got into the shower. I cam out and got dressed and I flushed the toilet. I walked out of the bathroom and I realized I wasn't wearing my glasses. Now if you know me you know I am blind without them. So we looked and looked, I knew I had them in the bathroom, so me and my sister stuck our hands don and tried to see if we could get them. So the next morning we had a maintence guy come in the room because the toilet was now clogged. So he stuck a snake down in their and he pulled out half of my poor glasses broken in half with no lenses.

Now I have NEVER flushed anything down the toilet that didn't belong in their. But man I need my glasses to see! So I am walking around like a blind old bat, and when I get home on Tuesday, we are going to try to get me some contacts and some glasses.

Just in time for school pictures Hawaii.

Now this is the best piece of advice that you will EVER get. Don't flush your glasses down the toilet, the WILL break.