7th Grade Summer Reading
Before We Were Free - Julia Alvarez
The story in the beginning of the book is very smooth and relaxing, but its rather not boring in my point of view. Latter on i start to understand Anitas (the main character) actions. I think she is very wise and thinks a lot before she speaks or does something. I think she matures during the book’s process.I think here and I relate in some ways like how we speak english with the right grammar and speech to not make a fool out of ourselves.
When Anita turns 12 she gets a suprise from her parents. They were Moving Out of the dominican republic and moving to the United states.Anita was not that existed as the rest of her family was, but there was no way she could stop the move. When they moved Anita has a lot of trouble in school struggling with learning english.Her tio (uncle) Tony has suddenly disappeared with no information were he went or what happened to him. In school people make fun of her of how she speaks or how she writes or how she does her homework or how bad she does in her english tests. But she does meet some friends that migrated to america to and she has lots of fun with them.
My favorite Quote from this book is said by the main character Anita she says “If you care about me so much why don't you care about uncle Tony! He’s been missing for weeks!” She yells at her mother with rage and anger, before she said that they were actually talking about school and if Anita likes America . Then Anita raged with anger while thinking about her uncle. .But i really like Anita for how she speaks up for her uncle but yelled at her mother to do it, she has very large piece inside of her that has a lot of courage. (DS)
The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths, Retold - Cynthia Rylant
This book takes place in many setting. There is a main Character in each story Zeus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Demeter, Prometheus, Hades, Hermes, Orpheus, Apollo, Pygmalion, Aphrodite, Narcissus, Echo, Hera, Philandering, Psyche, Eros, and Sun God. The quote I chose I is " she never wavered in her belief that the most beautiful story of life is love. This quote is significant to the story because in every story in the book the theme is always love.
The first story is about Pandora. Its starts out with Zeus gets tricked by Prometheus and Prometheus takes Zeus powerful power which is fire. Then Zeus wants revenge when he try to find mans greatest weakness and best power witch is love. Zeus's brother wanted a women. So he thought instead of just creating boys for earth why not girls to. For Zeus's brother Epimetheus got Pandora the most beautiful women but she was missing on thing patience. Zeus gave them a box and said don't oped it his brother did not. But Pandora had to and there were small evil things inside that was now on earth.
The next story is about Persephone, she loved flowers and her garden and most of all her mother, her mother was a type of god. Hades was looking for a queen because he ruled the dead. He chose her and there was nothing the mom could do about it or the other gods because if you to the dead then you don't come back. Later It was dictated that she had to spend half of the year in the dead with her husband and the other half with her mom. But when she was not on earth the plants turned brown.
The third story is about Orpheus which is the saddest. Orpheus could play beautiful music and he was getting married to a girl he loved. After the wedding he talked to his brothers she talked to her sisters when she got bite and died. He begged Hades to let her be free he said fin but you can only look at her when you are in the light. He walked fast up the starers into the light thinking she was right behind him when was not. He looks at her but she is in the dark and is gone. Then he finally dies and goes to the dead and they are together forever.
The forth story is about a sculptor named Pygmalion. All the girls like him but he does not like anyone, because he needs to follow his own things. But when he makes the perfect sculpture and he loves her.
Number five is about Narcissus Echo loves him but he likes no one. A god asks Echo have you seen this god she had not so she did not answer and then the god said you can only say what others say. Then Narcissus falls in love with his own shadow and dies. Echo dies in a cave and they say if you walk into a cave and say her name she will answer.
The last story is about Psyche. She cant find a man then her parents tells a god and she gets stet up with a guy and she cant no who he his. But then she finds out and he lives her, then she does plenty for him and they get back together.
The question I chose is what surprised me in the book. What surprised me was how the stories were about love. I think It was a really cool and great book. (AT)
Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
This book takes place during a world war. The main characters are Charlie, Tommo, Molly, Ms.Peaceful, and Big Joe. The quote I chose is " Oranges and Lemons, say the bells of St. Clements, You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St. Martins. When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey. When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch. When will that be? say the bells of Stepheny. I'm sure I don't know, says the great bell at Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head." This quote is significant to the book because they sing this song through out the book they all do, they sing it in hard times and good times.
Tommo is the main character and he was one year younger than Charlie they are brothers and Big Joe is also there brother, Big Joe is a little bit slow. Molly is there best friend and Ms.Peaceful is Charlie's, Tommo's, and Big Joe's mom. In the begging of the book is when Tommo tells us how his fathers death is his fault, how the tree following on him is all Tommo's fault. Then Charlie and Tommo meet Molly and how she becomes there best friend, She comes over every single day after school for tea. Since their father died, their mother does not have enough money to keep their cottage. She starts working for the Colonel's wife who is ill. Charlie, Tommo, and Molly go on his land hunting and do mischievous on his property. They got caught and had to work for him. Later Charlie and Tommo are not allowed to see Molly because of her strict and mean parents. But Molly and Tommo meet almost everyday in secret, Tommo trades letters between Charlie and Molly. Until the letters starts getting less and less, because Charlie and Molly start seeing one another in secret even though Tommo is also in love with Molly. Then Molly gets thrown out of her house because she gets pregnant with Charlie's baby, and comes and lives with them. Then a big war happens and the Colonel says to Charlie if you don't go to war I won't let your family live in the cottage, he did this because of the baby. Then Tommo says I will also go to war. They are both at war training and fighting at war. Charlie gets shot in the foot a gets to go home for about a week, when the baby was born they named him Tommo. After a while people from there side including Tommo and Charlie are stuck hiding in no mans land. Their commander says we are going to run for it thats an order. Tommo got hurt and can't walk or run, Charlie says to the commander it will be like Suicide. Then the commander says anyone who does not run will be sent to the Court Martial, and will be punished for not taking an order. Everyone runs except Tommo because he is hurt and Charlie because he has to stay with his brother. Charlie gets sent to the Court Martial and Tommo can't see him for six week. Charlie is sentenced to death, they tied him to a pole and six men shot at him, they asked him do you want a bag over your head and he refused. They told Tommo when he was there he sang Oranges and Lemons.
The question I chose what surprised me in the book. What surprised me was that they would kill one of their own, also that they would kill him for no good reason. What also surprised me was that the Colonel forced him to go to war. It surprised me so much, I felt so sad about what had happened. That is what surprised me in the book. In my opinion war is wrong. (AT)
Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
It is a fictional story made out of lots of true stories. So the book starts off as Tommo as a kid remembering his childhood. He remembers the good and the bad. He has a brother with a mental disability and his name is big Joe, one time he got lost and the whole town went to find him. He also remembers seeing a plane land, and seeing his brother Charlie get beat by a school teacher and smile all the way through it. He remembers how his father died and he thinks it’s his fault so he doesn’t tell anybody. He sees his brother fall in love and much more, but that all leads into when he and Charlie go into the army. What happens in the army is a lot like what happens in his childhood but just more risky and sad. I would rate this book a 5/5 the whole book had me on a hook that I had to keep reading, but I did feel like the ending came too soon but that could just be me wanting the book to keep going. (RS)
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
Unbroken is about Louis Zamperini’s timeline of his life until world war 2 ended. Written by Laura Hillenbrand the biography is one of the most inspiring stories ever. A runner, a soldier and overall great person.
All Louis did when he was little was create trouble. He started drinking when he was 5 and started smoking when he was 8. Until he found running when he was in high school and quit everything he did was bad for him. Louis had a brother named Peter who also ran. Peter was his trainer/coach.
Louis trained hard for the 1936 Olympics. He ran the mile came seventh but his time record is 4 minutes and 6 seconds. He started training for the 1940 Olympics in Japan. In 1940, they cancelled the Olympics and Louis got recruited in the army and had to fight in World War 2. When he was flying he crashed and landed in the ocean and survived on a raft for 36 days until a Japanese boat found them and put him in a concentration camp and he had to work for them. One day, US soldiers attacked the camp and freed all the soldiers and they also found out they had won the war. Louis went back to his family in California.
In conclusion, I though this book was inspiring, motivating and challenging. Louis started out bad in his life then he turned out to be a great person. He was an excellent runner and he served his country and helped win a war. (CM)
Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
“We're much alike, bee, you and me," I said. "You may carry your pack underneath you and your rifle may stick out of your bottom. But you and me, bee, are much alike.” I think that quote shows that you can find many things in common with you and nature, which I think is pretty cool. The person in that quote talking, is the main character, Thomas Peaceful. (a.k.a Private Peaceful) His family also take a big part in this book. And a couple friends do to.
In this book Private Peaceful has a whole night to himself in the war he is stuck in. He chooses to recount memories from his childhood as he waits for morning. In the morning something is going to happen that will change his life. The people who play a big part in these memories are his two brothers, his mom, a friend, his grandmother, and the Colonel. Private Peaceful also recounts childhood memories to his time in the army right up to the morning that will change his life. (IL)
The City Of Ember - Jeanne DuPrau
Two of the main characters (Doon and Lina) are received job so did the rest of their class but Lina and Doon find something that can save their city. My thoughts of this book are very strong what i mean by that is i really like this book and it always makes me wonder a lot. I really could not stop reading it until my head started to ache. But this is the first book that i really thought about all the time i also dreamed that I was Lina delivering messages like she does.
Doon and Lina are received jobs to help to city of Ember. More like service for the city. Everything is completely normal until Lina finds a slip of paper that her sister poppy had eaten a little document and steps to go someplace out of the city of ember, and it might help the city out of the darkness. Lina struggles with get those scraps of paper with her help of doom they find a passage to a world where there's greens and trees and life.
My quote from this book is said by Lina too Doon “ Doon! This is it! Were here! we made it!” They hugged and cried as the sun rose up from a mountain that they were behind of. When I usually accomplish something I am not as calm as Lina, I jump around clapping or just being my weird self. I think this scene was the most important since they just came to a new world that they never seen before. “I loved this book!” (DS)
The People of Sparks - Jeanne DuPrau
This book is the second book of the city of ember and it continues when doon and lina found there mysterious world above ember. There are the same main characters Doon and Lina as they work together to survive as they wait for embers arrival. I hate Jane's entrance of her books it’s just so boring and not really exciting until you read 3 chapters of the book then it gets interesting and more exciting .
Lina and Doon lead there people of ember to a city thats called “Sparks” Lina and Doon Experience the lifestyle of the Sparks like eating eggs and growing plants and working and killing animals for food. Until Lina, Maddy,Casper (People that Lina doesn’t really know) go of to a adventure to find some survivors and more harvest. While Lina is gone Her enemy (Torren) Makes lots of trouble to the sparks and he blames it all on Doon. The people of ember and the sparks argue and have disagreements on most things like food and sharing. Lina and Doon found a way to reunite the sparks and the people of ember.
My Quotes from this book said by Doon is “Lina We could give the sparks light!” Lina says “how?”
“Light Bulbs or the candles” said Doon.
Now these are more than one quote but I really think this is the most important quote in this book because this is the solution to solve the sparks problems. And for the emberies and the sparks not to go to war. So I think this is the most solutional quote. (DS)
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L’Engle
“Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet: You're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.” I think that the metaphor is an interesting way of comparing life to a sonnet because I’ve never thought of life as a sonnet you have to write as you live. One of the main characters I think writes her life sonnet with quite a bit of impatience for some periods of time in situations. That main character is Meg Murry. The other main characters are Charles Wallace, Calvin O’Keefe, IT, and the Black Thing.
In this book Meg, Charles, and Calvin are off on an adventure to save Meg’s dad. They are helped by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Those beings give them gifts and help them travel to where they need to go. (except in one situation.) Everyone is fighting the Black Thing, a giant evil black blob, which it’s intentions kind of unknown to the reader. And Meg and co. have to get their dad from IT, a giant brain that controls people once inside your head, and Charles Wallace who eventually is under IT’s control. Read the book to find out what happens. (IL)
Al Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer Choldenko
Gennifer Choldenko was born in Santa Monica, California, on October 20, 1957. Al Capone Does My Shirts is about a 13 year old boy named Moose Flanagan whose dad is hired to work as a guard and electrician for Alcatraz and Moose has to go live there. The book is based in 1935 which is when Alcatraz was housing Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. Moose has to move away from all his friends and he is not happy about it. He has to go to a new school, with new people, and make new friends. To make matters worse his older sister Natalie is autistic and he has to come home after school everyday and take care of her. Deep down in his heart he loves her but it's hard for him because she is very challenging to look after and sometimes gets herself and Moose into trouble. A quote from the book that I really liked was“Nobody knows how things will turn out, that's why they go ahead and play the game...You give it your all and sometimes amazing things happen, but it's hardly ever what you expect.” I like this quote because it is optimistic but it is also kind of uncertain.
Piper, Annie, Jimmy, and Theresa are other kids that live on Alcatraz. Piper is the Warden's daughter and acts like a perfect angel in front of adults but actually breaks a lot of rules. She gets away with it though because she is the Warden's daughter and everyone is scared that she will get them in trouble if they tell her dad. Annie is always worried about getting in trouble and most of the time before she does anything she has to be assured that what she's doing isn't against the rules. Jimmy is very smart and loves making inventions. Jimmy, Annie, and Piper are all Moose's age but Theresa, who is Jimmy's little sister, is only eight. Theresa is good friends with Natalie. Moose's parents want to send Natalie to a school for autistic people so that she can learn to how to interact with people. She has already tried to get into that school twice but has been rejected both times.
On Alcatraz the criminals are responsible for doing the laundry of the people that live there and one day Moose sends a note in the laundry hoping that Al Capone will get it. He does that because Al Capone has lots of connections and he thinks that Al Capone might be able to get Natalie into the school. A little while later the school announces that they are creating a branch of the school for older children and that Natalie will be the first student. I really liked the ending of the book and I also read the second and third book. They weren't as good as the first but they were pretty good and I would recommend reading all three. (LM)
The Black Cauldron - Lloyd Alexander
One of the books I read for summer reading is The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander. (book two in Chronicles of Prydain series) “There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood.” I like that quote/advice because you can sometimes get more out of a field well plowed than a field steeped in blood, therefore giving you more honor. That advice was given to the main character, Taran, an assistant pig-keeper, on a quest with friends. His friends are Eilonwy, a princess, Fflewddur Fflam, a bard, Gurgi, a gollum-like creature, and Ellidyr, a prince. These people are mostly in the marshes and the forests.
This book continues the adventures of Taran and friends. The point of this adventure is to capture and destroy the Black Cauldron. The Black Cauldron is a cauldron that animates dead people for the person who is in possession of the Black Cauldron. After a failed attempt to steal the Black Cauldron from Arawn*, the Death Lord, (because it wasn’t there) Taran and co. go on an adventure to the marshes to get it from three witches who live in the marshes. The witches had it because they took it back from Arawn who was borrowing it. They eventually get it by paying a big price, and somehow destroy it. (IL)
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba
“If you want to make it, all you have to do is try.” I think that quote is very good advice because that gives you experience with something if you actually try and make it. That advice is from the main character, William Kamkwamba. William was living in Africa when the story takes place. (I don’t actually know where he lives in the present)
The first part of the story is William telling his childhood up to the moment he discovers science. He read about it in a library book because he wanted to learn when he couldn’t go to school. This was because his family’s crops died because of the government and the crops were their main source of income. William spends quite a bit of time in famine, but he stills persists in building a windmill to bring electricity and water to the crops. (again from a library book) Eventually a professor finds out about him and gets him education and a trip to a giant science conference or something. (IL)
Chew On This: Everything You Don’t want to Know about Fast Food - Charles Wilson and Eric Schlosser
Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food is written by Charles Wilson and Eric Schlosser. It's about how McDonalds and other fast food chains have impacted the world. It's sad sometimes to read what those fast food chains will do to get cheap tasty products. McDonalds used to put advertisements between cartoons on Saturday mornings so that children would pressure their parents to take them to McDonalds. In Chew On This it says "Indeed, McDonald’s is perhaps the largest toy company in the world. It sells or gives away more than 1.5 billion toys every year." This is another way that McDonalds is marketing toward children. Not only are they trying to get children to ask their parents to take them to McDonalds, they are trying to build loyal customers. They want children to go to McDonalds while they're young so that they'll keep going to McDonalds when they are adults. McDonalds spends around $1 billion on advertising each year and is ranked 4th on Business Insider for most money spent advertising in the US.
In 2001 Eric Schlosser published a book for adults called Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Now he is reaching out to kids telling them the dangers of eating too much fast food. It's hard for a lot of kids to avoid fast food though because one out of every five public schools in America serve brand name fast food. In Chew On This it reveals what burgers and fries are really made of, how the workers in the factories that make the food are treated (Yes, most of the food is made in giant factories), and what is really inside those chicken nuggets. (LM)
Stepping On The Cracks - Mary Downing Hahn
This story takes place in 1939 The beginning of world war ll. A girl named Margaret and her friend elizabeth both of their brothers are fighting in this war. In their town (College Town) They hung blue stars up by their windows to represent that one of their loved ones are fighting for the country. During this book It's mainly about helping a deserter (A soldier who escaped from the war) But it is very interesting book.
Margaret and her best friend Elizabeth are usually bullied by Gordy and they think he is a person that has no feelings. Latter on in the book they realize he has a abusive father and that's why he is always so grumpy and miserable and mean. The two friends find out that Gordy’s brother Stuart has left the army and escaped. Gordy threatens to kill Margaret and Elizabeth if they say a word to anyone. Soon Stuart is very sick and one of Margaret's friends takes him home and takes care of him. And the story was pretty boring after that.
My quote from this book that really stood out to me as i was reading it. Its said by Elizabeth while they try to think of were to leave Stuart since he was so sick, she said “ We can’t just leave him here is this place of garbage, he’ll die!”. Ok that Quote is not that exciting but it did stand out to me all of the sudden as if I was just woken up. (DS)
The Illustrated Book of Myths - Neil Philip
In this book there are hundreds of stories but I chose seven to write about. These stories take place in lots of places. The main characters for the books I chose are King Arthur, Beowulf, Thor, Romulus, and Remus. The quote I chose is "father why are you kneeling". This quote is significant to the stories because in each tale there seems to be a hero.
The first story is about a boy named Arthur who was the only man to who could pull the sword from the stone. Then he became King Arthur of England.
The second story is about a man named Beowulf. He killed a fearsome beast who lived under water.
The third story is about Thor the mightiest of the Nordic Gods. He met a giant named Skrymir, and the giant took him to his friends the other giants. They played some games with him but they tricked him, in one of the games he had to lift a cat but he could only lift its paw. But that was great but the giants told him it was not because they did not want him to brag about himself.
This fourth story is about the founders of Rome. They were two brothers who grew up having a wolf as a parent. Then they started building Rome, they could not decide who would rule. Later Romulus ruled and not his brother Remus.
The fifth story is about the death of king Arthur. It all started when the queen loved someone else. Then they went to war and King Arthur was struck. He told Sir Bedivere to through his sword into the water. He did not do it at first but he did it the second time when King Arthur went with him to the water.
The sixth story is about Atlantis is a city that everyone believes is true but no one has found. It is believed to have suncked deep down into the ocean.
The last story is about Ragnarok. The story is about lots of horrible tragedies that happen.
The question I chose is what surprised me in these stories. What surprised me was when the giants tricked Thor. What also surprised is when King Arthur died, because I thought that type of hero could never die. Another thing that surprised was how much I liked the story of Atlantis. These are the things that surprised me in the book. (AT)
Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
The book Private Peaceful is abut a boy named Tommo who lived through World War 1. He has two older brothers named Joe and Charlie who are both very close to him. There is also a girl named Molly who always hangs out with them but he feels like she's his sister. Tommo has a mother but his father died because Tommo killed him by accident, although the family doesn't know that.
One day someone knocks on their door and says the family cannot afford the house anymore so his mother has to work 7 days a week so their Great Aunt named Grandma Wolf took care of them who they didn't like. Charlie then gets recruited to fight in World War 1 and Tommo wants to go with him so he lies about his age and joins the army to "keep his brother out of trouble".
In conclusion I think these siblings have one of the best relationships ever. The end of the book is just pure class. It's sad but makes you feel happy. They weren't just brothers they were best friends which is why this book inspired me. (CM)
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
I have just finished Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, and I loved it. It is a biography on Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner. The premise is that a very good runner, a prodigy, so to speak was drafted in World War Two, and was in the air corps. He got captured, and endured a lot of suffering in POW camps. He lost about half of his weight, was beaten severely, and was tested with assortments of drugs, that may be used in a form of gas on an attack on America.
When Louie Zamperini was put into Omori, and at first, it was a much better place then the prison camps he had been put in before. The guards were not unfair, and Louie was not abused as severely as he was before; that all ended when Mutsuhiro Watanabe came along. Watanabe was absolutely insane. He was a corporal, and was intent on making Louie’s life absolutely miserable. Punishments included beating, psychological harassment, and cutting ration portions in half. One time, Mutsuhiro made a man salute a tree for the entire day, and at the end of the day, the man was in a state of insanity, crying and laughing. Mutsuhiro went by several names, but the most common one was the bird, because the bird was not an offensive name that would be put into question.
The message I found relates to this quote: “Dignity is as essential to human life as water, food, and oxygen. The stubborn retention of it, even in the face of extreme physical hardship, can hold a man's soul in his body long past the point at which the body should have surrendered it.” Louie saw many men pass, but they did not have a strong head, and a sense of dignity like he did. He never stepped down, but always took the beatings with no resistance, except once. He was a starved man, and he held a huge beam of wood over his head for thirty seven minutes. Dignity is the one of the most important things to carry with you, to help you survive. (SY)