Book # 17                                  Words:  65,752       Date: May. 20

Title: The fault in our stars                                        Author: Last, First: Green, John

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depress, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to think about death.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

A desert blessing, an ocean curse.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Hamartia: n. tragic flaw

Deign: v. to think fit or in accordance with one’s dignity; condescend

Calibrate: v. to plan or devise something carefully so as to have a precise use, application, appeal

Existential: adj. pertaining to existence

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

When I usually read a book, I toss it aside and move on to the next one. And, like most teenage boys, I am not very emotional. But I got emotionally moved at this end of this book. Everyone would love this book if they have a heart of stone

Book #15+16                                    Words: 100,388        Date: May.16

Title: To kill a mockingbird                                      Author: Last, First: Lee, Harper

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

 When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

He would be there all night, and he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

• Assuage: (v) to lessen or calm
• Beadle: (n) a minor city official
• Dictum: (n) a formal or authoritative statement

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:
•  I am completely awed by this story. Harper Lee has done an excellent job bringing this 1930s Alabama childhood to life. I can see why To Kill a Mockingbird has won the Pulitzer Prize, garnered an Academy Award for the movie version, and ultimately become a timely classic enjoyed by many generations.

Book # 14                             Words: 33,000        Date:  May. 14 

Title: Coraline                                          Author: Last, First: Gaiman, Neil

 Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Fiction

• Opening Sentence:
• Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

From the shadows, the stranger watched Jack until he was out of sight.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Scuttle: v. to move quickly.

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

This book has its up sides and down sides. Neil Gaiman has shown as admirable knack for fiction for young adults and children as he has shown in adult fiction. It is an ability to touch the sources of wonder and fear without the necessity of excessive gore and grimness. Not that bad things don’t happen in Gaiman’s tales, but they tend to go right to the heart, instead of the stomach.

Book # 13                                   Words: /        Date: May. 6

Title:  Speaker for the dead                             Author: Last, First Scott Card, Orson

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

Since we are not fully comfortable wth the idea that people from the next village are as human as ourselves, it is presumptuous in the extreme to suppose we could ever look so sociable, tool-making creatures ho arose fro other evolutionary paths and see not beasts but brothers, not rivals but fellow pilgrims journeying to the shrine of intelligence.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:
•  Yet he knew that even if he tried, he couldn’t conceal his own gladness at the end of the Descolada.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

• gluttonous: adj. given to excess in consumption of especially food or drink
• vertigo: n. a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
• ascetic: n.someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

There are so many good things about this book. Card has a talent for writing deep, real characters that I’ve never seen in sci-fi and seldom in any modern literature. He is a master storyteller, and this book is wonderfully paced.

Book #12                                    Words:  27197       Date: May.1

Title: Number the stars                                             Author: Last, First Lowry, Lois

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Non-Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

“I’ll race you to the corner, Ellen!” Annemarie adjusted the thick leather pack on her back so that her schoolbooks balanced evenly.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

So there were other sources too, of pride, and they had not left everything behind.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

SWASTIKA: n. Nazi symbol

TYPHUS: adj. deadly disease spread by ticks/fleas/lice

LANKY: adj. tall and skinny

DEFIANTLY: adv. fiesty; with an attitude of resistance

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

This is one of my favorite books. I am very interested in reading this book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry because I really want to learn more about, what happened to the Jewish people and Nazis during Hitler was the dictator of Germany. I also want to learn more about the Holocaust and the concentration camp, where Jews were kept to work, to kill and more. 

Book #11                                    Words:         Date: April, 29

Title:  The Chrysalids                                            Author: Last, First: Wyndham, John

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

 When I was quite small I would sometimes dream of a city- which was strange because it began before I even know what a city is.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

We staggered, and put our hands to our heads, even the floor under our feet jerked a little.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

Righteous: (adjective) people that follow the rules.

Trivial: (adjective); not important.

Attributable: (adjective); something that happen because of something else.

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:

The Chrysalid”s is a novel based on the despair of our own society in the past, present, and future. John Wyndham”s give the opportunity to see mankind not in the ideal way as most would like, but in a quite realistic way.

Book #10                                    Words: 83,124         Date: April. 15

Title: Johnny Tremain                                              Author: Last, First Forbes, Esther

Appearance 

Genre ~ Non-Fiction / Fiction Type: Non-Fiction

• Opening Sentence:

On Rocky Island gulls woke.

• Favourite word / phrase / sentence:

True, Rab had died. Hundreds would diem but not the thing they died for.

• Vocabulary and new terms (with part of speech) and definition:

• Autocratic: adj. ruling with absolute authority
• Crucible: n. container or vessel made of a substance that can withstand extreme heat; a severe trial or test
• Maimed: adj. badly injured, perhaps with amputation
• Abate: adj. diminish, decrease, subside, let up

• Reflection, Connection & Personal Response:
• This is a wonderful  book people would probably enjoy. “Johnny Tremain” is a classic that tells the story of a young boy caught up in the turmoil of 1773 Boston and the start of the American Revolution.
  This is the type of book got me interested in history. The book really is brilliantly written.