Adventure

FunDay Friday

 in Adventure / Fun / Interesting by

What a dilemna!!!!

What do we find fun with this week??? Harry Potter or the Space Shuttle??

Well as Harry Potter will live on (no doubt) forever and the Shuttle will only be in our memories we will go with the Shuttle.

Did you know that each morning of a mission NASA wakens the crew with music? The music is a selection that is chosen by friends, family, and astronauts. As the Shuttle is on it’s final mission (sob) this mission has some interesting tunes and messages. Here.

And here is todays wake up call.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Interesting / Young Adult by

I started reading this book a few years back – when it first came out – and I never got past the second chapter. This is because when I read that they were going to kill each other I really did not want to read this book. But a few weeks ago I was at my local library and I remembered my teachers raving about the book and how good it was. I decided to pick it up and try again. I read this book in just over a day. It was amazing. Yes this book was kind of sad but it had a really good story line. My favorite part of the book was the outfits which were worn to the different events. I actually felt like I could see them because they were described so well.

This story was about how the government would put 24 children (2 from each District – a boy and a girl) into this very large arena where the environment is harsh and unpredictable. The temperature and the weather is controlled by the government (as they have the technology) so as the game progresses and the children die off (and are killed off) and the competition gets more fierce. As children die, the government makes the environment more harsh to make the games for enjoyable for all of the Districts (all of the Districts are made to watch the games.)

During the book the children have to fight it out and compete fiercely and kill. Many people go down on the first day but over time the deaths become less frequent and the fittest are surviving. Also as the book progresses how the people die becomes more violent because the survives have to kill the other survivors so it has to be more deadly.

This book was quite violent as it was a competition to survive but otherwise it was really good. I was not going to read the book but once I started, I just could not put it down. I loved how things were described. The author of this book used a few words as possible to describe something and those few words were all that was needed. I loved this book and cannot wait to read the second.

I know that a lot of people have read this book and the other ones in this series. If you have what did you think of this book and the others? What are your opinions?

Let me know but otherwise enjoy this book.

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore Lorien Legacies

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Young Adult by

“Three Are Dead. I Am Number Four.”

I wanted to see the movie I Am Number Four  but didn’t make it to the movies in time.  I need to get the DVD and  Netflix has a long wait for it. So, I decided that if I couldn’t watch it just yet, I could read it. I didn’t know there was a book until the other week when I was in Barnes and Noble and saw it sitting on the shelf.  So I ran off to the library and 3 days ago I got it and gobbled it up really fast.

This book was about a boy – Number Four – who was the next one on the enemies hit list. Number Four is from a different planet and his is the last of his people.  The enemies were also from a different planet and they were trying to completely wipe out the Lorien – his planet and home – race. There were only 9 remaining and three were dead. Number Four did have a name in the book but he changed it every single time he moved. So the story was originally about his love for this girl and that was how the story was going. But as the story progressed it changed and turned to the enemies and how they were coming for him.

The story, I thought, was going to be a little more exciting and I though that there would be more to it. The ending was just one big fight  and that whole thing was put into about a chapter. Suddenly towards the end of the book a new important character arrived. The last couple of chapters were boom, boom, boom, boom – one thing after another and it got kind of confusing. While I was reading the book I would not have thought it was about an alien race because Number Four seemed so, well, human.

Number Four was described well with his build and how he looked. The characters in this book were described well too. I could picture them all in my mind as I was reading it.

This book was sad as one of the main characters died and it was a sad way to die (can’t tell you how he died). You felt the pain of some of the people in this book. This book was good as it did have a good story line and it kept you entertained so  I would definitely recommend  reading it. But do read the book first before you see the movie because from the trailer I can see that it is a little different from the book.

Enjoy the book and tell me what you though of it. What is your opinion on the book?

The movie review will be coming up soon.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

 in Adventure / Creative / Fantasy / Fun / Interesting / Reluctant Readers / Young Adult by
Cover of "American Born Chinese"

Cover of American Born Chinese

Summary

Amazon.com

“Indie graphic novelist Gene Yang’s intelligent and emotionally challenging American Born Chinese is made up of three individual plotlines: the determined efforts of the Chinese folk hero Monkey King to shed his humble roots and be revered as a god; the struggles faced by Jin Wang, a lonely Asian American middle school student who would do anything to fit in with his white classmates; and the sitcom plight of Danny, an All-American teen so shamed by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee (a purposefully painful ethnic stereotype) that he is forced to change schools. Each story works well on its own, but Yang engineers a clever convergence of these parallel tales into a powerful climax that destroys the hateful stereotype of Chin-Kee, while leaving both Jin Wang and the Monkey King satisfied and happy to be who they are….”

Review

I have not read a graphic novel for quite a long time. Well, I do not believe I have ever read an authentic graphic novel, I have read a Warrior Series graphic novel but I am not sure if that qualifies.

This book was quite interesting. I am usually not a person who reads graphic novels because I feel that it does not give me the satisfaction of a regular book. I like to have to use my imagination  to see the characters and I like to see them in my own eyes. When you read a graphic novel, the characters are drawn for you. There is no imagination involved as you read the captions to go along with the story. Graphic novel’s, I believe, are for reluctant readers. They get you to read as they are good stories but they do not require a lot of concentration. I read this book in under a day as it was so simple. Do not get me wrong, it was a good book and the pictures were well done, but I personally do not like .

The pictures in this book were well done. I do like graphic novel drawings. They are a unique style of drawing and I respect people who can do it as it is quite an amazing art form. It was also a humorous book. Not like splitting your sides funny but it had its moments.

I personally believe that this is really a boy book though. There was no violence as such (even though at one point someone got speared and put over a spit but is saved) but the story line just came across to me as being a boy type of story line. I cannot explain how but that is the vibe that I got.

This book was a National Book Award Finalist. It also won a Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature.

I would recommend you to read the book as it is a graphic novel and it is a good change from reading a regular book. I hope that you enjoy.

If you have read it tell me what you think about it.

Tiger’s Quest by Colleen Houck

 in Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Hot Off The Press / Young Adult by

Summary

*From Amazon.com

Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest–this time with Ren’s dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger’s Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER’S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them.

Review

I thought I had seen it all. I though that I had read the best book(s) in the world. Oh boy was I wrong. I know that I have said that I love many different books and in a lot of my posts I have said that I absolutely loved that book. Well, cross all of those out. This is my all time favorite book/series. I personally think that the first book was the best. I would give the first book Tiger’s Curse and its cover a 100%. I would give this book a 99.99999999999999999999999999999 times 5 trillion %. It was just a teeny – tiny bit not as good as the other one. Just because the main character, Ren, was not the main character in this book, it was his brother. As the book progressed you grew to like Kishan more and more and by the end of the book you felt bad for him as he never got the girl. Throughout the book you realized and learned all the guilt that he was carrying. The ending of the book was sad though. It is hard to stop myself from saying why… but if I told you I would ruin the book. It is the climax of the book and it is probably the saddest part of the book ( 🙁 ). I had to stop myself from crying and I had a lump in my throat for the rest of the day. I will just say this – when you finish the book you are going to want to read the third one immediately, but unfortunately it is not out yet. I am telling you, I am dying to read it.

I thought that how each of the characters was described was very well done. I could actually picture them in my head. Also, this book was so good that I felt like I was actually there with Kelsey, watching it all happening and experiencing everything that they experienced.

I have to say you to need to read this book as it is probably the best book out there. Please go check this book out and let me know what you think.