1st Quarter Book Review

For my first quarter book, I chose Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany that is 321 pages long. Since the book is put 25-30 years into the future, Harry is no longer the very main character. His son, Albus Severus Potter, is the new main character. He is a good twist to the Harry Potter series because you can see how much he is like his father, but the very noticeable differences. I felt very connected to him because he is at my age throughout the play and I can see where he is coming from in some of the decisions he makes. The major plot points were not predictable, to me, because you never really know what's going to happen in the Harry Potter series. To find out that he thinks the way he thinks and the actions he does are very unpredictable and shocking to anyone that really cares about the Harry Potter series. The characters in this story were on both the calm and outgoing side. Albus's best friend, Scorpius, is the one that kept Albus in check and was the more calm one when it came to missions, while Albus was the one to immediately jump into it (like his father). It helped the story because it got the readers a bit of nostalgia while reading because it reminds us of the original Harry Potter. We get to see that he passed this onto his son and that there is still more adventure to be told. If I were to change anything about the book/script, is that I would make it into an actual book. I want it to go more into depth and see this new beginning of a new era of heroes. It doesn't have to be necessarily Ron, Hermoine, and Harrys offspring, but it could be more people. The best part of the Harry Potter books were that it went into depth about the characters and it showed us how we can learn to love characters through seven different books. It made readers think that they're in Hogwarts and that they truly lived the lives of these people. If this was to turn into a new era of series that goes into depth and goes through his years, book by book, I would love it much more. However, they will most likely not do that, yet I still truly recommend reading this if you are a Harry Potter fan. If you haven't read the books yet, then I believe you should.

1st Quarter SSR Book Review

The Chain Letter

One of the books I've read this quarter was The Chain Letter by Christopher Pike. The genre of the book is horror fiction and has 192 suspenseful pages. The book begins with a group of friends who have done something wrong and thought no one knew what happened that past summer expect for them. Later on one of the friends in the group, Fran received an anonymous letter saying that she has to obey as the person commands or else something bad will happen to her and they will leak what happen in the summer. The letter gets passed on to everyone in the group making them doing things that were their weakness; they thought only someone who knew them would know. The whole story is unpredictable as you think something is going to turn out something else is brought into the story. This book has you intrigued the whole entire time. The main character Alison is a dynamic she undergoes many things involving what happening with the anonymous person, the accident in the summer, school, relationships, enemies friends, and makes an impact on her she doesn't stay the same Alison throughout the story. You feel connected to the main character and understand what she feels and what she is going through. All the characters have to live in wonder not knowing if their even able to trust their best friend. The main plot of the book was figuring out who was the mysterious person behind the letter. Who was the one knowing all this information about them and what was their purpose in forcing the friends to do such harsh things? As you go more and more into the book it gets crazier and has a huge twist. I think the book was perfect I wouldn't have changed anything about it. What I liked about the book is that it has great suspense and keeps your mind working the whole entire time. I like how it isn't only focused on the actions of what the letter is telling the characters to do but also how the characters are feeling and who they are as a person. Which makes you in deep thought if it was someone in the group or somebody else that was behind all this chaos. Many different crazy events happen throughout the book involving different people besides the group of friends and it talks about what actually did happen that summer. How there was more to the story than the characters had thought. Sometimes things aren't that obvious as they seem.

The Tuscan Child Review

The Tuscan Child by Rhys Bowen is 336 page book covering the story of Joanna as she attempts to put together the truth of her fathers past.  Joanna is cleaning out her father's items from her old house when she finds a letter addressed to Sofia Bartoli in Italian.  This leaves Joanna confused as her father never mentioned anything of Sofia to her even after her mother died.  Joanna then travels to the town in Italy that her father mentions of to find out the truth.
The style that the Bowen writes this book is a simplistic form of writing, nothing to poetic or fancy.  However, Bowen shifts from writing from the view points of Joanna and the views of her father Hugo after his plane is shot down in Italy and is tended to by Sofia.  This is an interesting approach in that as the reader it leaves suspense as when the big action is coming, it is cut off when the chapter ends and the next chapter dives in to the other character's point of view.
Joanna reminds me a bit about myself as I read through her experiences.  She recalls of her quest to obtain knowledge and strive to be her best as a young child.  That was me when I was young where I cared about drinking in a plethora of knowledge whenever possible.  And her drive to be at her best 247 is something that I've always preached and it was pleasant to see that in her and it makes me feel like I'm a part of the story when the main character reminds me of myself.  Additionally, Joanna took matters into her ow hands when she chose to travel to Italy to find out her father's past.  she even took time to learn some Italian so that she could communicate with the citizens of Italy.  Even though she didn't speak a language she got around that learning the language to help her learn the past of her father.  And that spoke to me in that if you really show heart for something then no matter what the barrier is, it won't stop you.

[KC]: Quarter 1 SSR Book Review

Hi kids,

Here's your quarter 1 SSR assignment:

Step 1: Create a new POST in which you review the book that you read for the first quarter. If you read more than one book this quarter, you can choose any of them to review. n your review, be sure to clearly state the title, author, genre, and total page number of the book. Then, summarize a bit of the plot (but don't give away the major spoilers!) to give us some context. Next, discuss what you liked or didn't like about this book.
- Feel free to use these questions to help guide you, but don't feel tied to simply answering them:

• How was the main character? Did you feel connected? Were the major plot points predictable? How was the writing? Poetic? Simplistic? Were the characters dynamic or static? Did that hurt or help the story? If you were to change anything about the book, what would it be?

Step 2: Once other classmates have posted their reviews, COMMENT on two other reviews. (Be sure to read the comments on your review as well and engage in conversations as necessary.)

As always, your post should be around 250 words and your comments should be at least a few sentences.

Post DUE: Friday 11/15 by 11:22pm

Comments DUE: Saturday 11/16 by 11:13pm

Goals: Brandon Schmidt

My Goals 

                   It is my sophomore year in high school and it feels like it is going to be a great one.  My goals are rather simple.

                Academically, my goals are pretty straightforward. I want to pass all of my classes with a "B" or higher, maybe learn a few new things, read some great stuff, and get the high school experience.  I try to participate in school activities as much as possible, and I am a member of the collection of musical people known as the band.  I hope to improve even more in my music, maybe play a few more instruments, and just have fun making music with my friends. That’s pretty much it for academics. I'm the most basic you could get in that category. 

              As for life, my path is not yet set.  I have the intent to go to college and get a Master's degree in something; heck if I know what that will be, but a degree in something. I hope to find a good paying job that I will enjoy.  Maybe do some good in other people’s lives, you know, make a difference in this world and do it all with a smile.  But that is all in the future.  At this moment, I want to live in the now and enjoy high school.

             This year, I wish to get the most out of high school.  I participate in band, I am at all the football games (go Soons!) and am ready to excel both academically and musically.  Believe me that is one hard task, but I will persevere and hope for the best this year of high school.   

My Goals

It is very important to have goals for yourself. Goals are external representations of your inner desires, and they constantly remind you of what you need to accomplish. Setting goals can give you inspiration and fuel your ambition. There are multiple goals I can list for myself now and in the future. My main goal that constantly stresses me out is time management. Being in soccer inside and outside of school, participating in a choir at school, and trying to keep up with my academics is a struggle for me. Taking seven classes (one being at 6:15 in the morning), playing soccer in school and for a couple of hours in the evening is what I do daily. Although this is a struggle at times, I chose this route and I want to be in all these extracurricular activities. Anyways, time management is important for every person as long as they have control of it throughout the school year. I also want to maintain A's in my classes and keep a GPA over 3.5 throughout the rest of high school. Time management is a goal I want to have control over but if we are talking about goals for myself after high school...I want to attend and graduate from a four year university. I'm not being specific about one over another. As a result of graduating from a four year university, I would go straight to medical school. My decision could change but for the time right now I want to become a pediatrician. I want to be able to help others and say that I changed some one's life for the better. If not a pediatrician, I would like to be some type of nurse or doctor. My uncle who has passed away a few years ago was, in fact, a nurse (he worked in the E.R.). He has inspired me and I know that whatever career I choose, it is going to be involved with helping people. What could be a more perfect career for me? My family and friends always encourage me to be happy and stay kind. They only want what's best for me and I love them dearly for that. I guess you can say another goal of mine is to always make them proud.

My Goals

My Goals

     Goals are very important for me so I  know what I wish to achieve in life whether it's for the long term or the short term. They help you dedicate yourself completely to something and make you ultimately realize your own imperfections within yourself that could be changed or improved upon. However, achieving goals takes work and effort, but achieving them always brings me great satisfaction and joy because they give me a sense of pride in my own accomplishments.
     The short-term goals I have change on a monthly basis as more and more get added and some get removed. This year I would hope to improve my writing skills within my English class as well as improve my overall ability to read and understand complex literature in a more meaningful way than what just lies on the surface. Choosing to take AP World as a class this year, was a huge undertaking on my part and it sometimes feels like a mistake but in truth, I knew that in order to help achieve my long-term goals it had to be done, to be more competitive for prestigious universities. I want to be able to begin to enjoy the class and ultimately stop procrastinating completely even though that's probably not happening for a long time. This year I also want to get better at talking to people because I'm such an introvert who's so uncomfortable in social situations so even though I may not enjoy being forced to do presentations or sharing my ideas to the class, I hope by the end of the year I will become more comfortable with that.
     My long-term goal I have known through my whole life was to follow my family and become a doctor as this has always been their dream or ideal standard that they have always set as my goal. They have always been intent on setting on a path to follow their ideals, placing me in summer school, and ensuring I always did my best educationally in order to get me in the best path possible to become a doctor. Now in high school, they still control my entire life basically ensuring I do the best I possibly could in order for me to attend a prestigious university, so it would be easier for me to get a job as soon as I finish my medical degree. My ultimate goal in life would be for me to fulfill all my family's wishes for me to become a doctor, and eventually live a fulfilled life without having to worry about living from paycheck to paycheck and being able to live with excess well into retirement. In the end, I would just want to be happy with what I have accomplished in life and not feel like I have any regrets when I do eventually leave this world.