Mrs. Zana’s Class

This book was surprisingly good. The author (Rick Riordan) shoves myth and modern in a blender on the high setting. It is the fantastic quest of a sixth grade boy who is half man and half god. The author reveals who his father (the god) is in chapter eight, so look for clues. (they are everywhere!) Young Percy Jackson sets off to stop a war among the gods and has to travel to the Underworld to speak with Hades. He fights many ferocious monsters from Greek mythology such as, The Minotaur, Medusa, and of course the well known Cerberus; the three headed guard dog of the Underworld. You wouldn’t ever guess where Olympus would be… on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building (not that many floors) And as for the Underworld? D.O.A. (Dead. Or. Alive.) recording studios in Los Angeles, California. But there is a major twist… So, overall I’d give this book a four out of five. The only reason it was not five out of five is because some things were a bit too obvious.

This was a great weekend for books. I took home 2 new books we got for free with the Scholastic book order. The 1st was “Indigo’s Star” by Hillary McKay. I love this author, and not just because of her first name. She has a wonderful tone; she loves her characters, but she knows that they are kind of wacky. It’s as though she’s smiling as she writes about them. This is her 2nd or 3rd book about the same family. The parents, who live separately, are both artists. The mom is very disorganized, spends all her time painting in a shed, and never manages to cook or even grocery shop. But, she’s very loving. The 4 kids are each unique. The 8 yr. old girl beats up the bullies who bother her 12 yr old brother! Highly recommended.

I’ve just started the 2nd book . It’s the 1st in a series. It’s a modern story about Greek mythology. The main character, Percy Jackson, is half god and half mortal, and a normal 12 yr old. You guys are going to LOVE this book. The 1st chapter is entitled, “I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher” Chapter 15 is, “A God buys us cheeseburgers.” My 7th grade son couldn’t put it down. His name is Michael. His review follows in the next post.

Read a REALLY strange book called “The Seventh Beggar”. The author was trying to write in a different format, and it didn’t come off all that well. The first half of the book was one story about a 17 year old kid who gets obsessed with an author and mystic from 300 years ago. The second half was little folk tales, thoughts about the kid from everybody else’s point of view, and a whole different story about the kid’s nephew that takes place 18 years later. Oh, and in the middle of the book the author includes the series of mystical tales written 300 years ago that the first boy was obsessed with. Sounds confusing? It was. I’m sure it was a great book, but above my level for fun, relaxing weekend reading. Looking at Amazon.com, I see that people either loved or hated the book, but everyone agreed it wasn’t easy.

I FINALLY finished “The Life of Pi” Please congratulate me. It was a much more difficult book than I usually read, but I’m glad I stuck with it. In the end, I think it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I felt like one of you guys coming up with excuses for not reading. It was the kind of book that I would have liked to have read in college and discussed in class where the professor could have explained all the stuff I didn’t understand to me. If anyone wants to try it, you can borrow it. About 1/2 way through it becomes a survival story and gets pretty exciting. The beginning is a lot about Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. That’s the confusing part.

Now I’m reading “The Mozart Season” It’s from our class library and is about a 12 year old girl who is practicing the violin for a big contest. Those of you in strings would probably identify with it.

Let me know what you’re reading this vacation.

I feel like I’m on the C level this week; reading because I need to have a book to share with you. Until I get interested, and then it’s D level again.

I read two books that we got for free for the class library. Both were GREAT.

“Swear to Howdy” starts out as a funny story of two boys who get into all sorts of trouble. Then, it becomes more serious, and has an important message about friendship and secret keeping. It’s pretty short and not diffiuclt reading.

“Replay” is written by Sharon Creech, who won the Newbery award for “alk Two Moons”. Like “Walk Two Moons,” it is several stories intertwined. There’s the story of Leo, who’s a middle child in a big family, the story of the play Leo’s is acting in, Leo’s dad’s childhood story, and more. It’s poignant, which means happy, sad, and sweet all combined. While not the absolutely amazing book the “Walk Two Moons” is, it’s a close runner up, and I’d definitely recommend it to either boys or girls who like to read and to think about what they read.

I also read and threw away a whole mess of newspapers and magazines. Now, I’m going back to the “Life of Pi”, which I keep abandoning for no good reason.

Finished my mystery book. I was write about our detective and his old girlfriend; the book ends with his deciding he’s going to go visit her ’cause their dog is sick. The author did this on purpose to tease us - now we all will want to read the next book in the series to find out what happens, even though this one wasn’t very good.

I started a thriller/mystery by James Patterson called “Lifeguard”. It has really short chapters and lots of action, which keeps you reading. But, it seems like a silly piece of fluff and I’m not sure I want to waste my time on it right now. It’s what is commonly called a “Beach Book,” or something mindless you read during the summer.

Instead, I think I’m going to read “Life of Pi”, which won all kinds of awards and is supposed to be amazing. Pi is not a number, it’s the main character’s name. It’s about a 16 year old Indian boy who is shipwrecked on a raft with a tiger. Sounds bizarre. It might be appropriate for you guys; I’ll keep you posted.

Since I finished grading all your papers, I allowed myself to pick up a new book. I’m reading the latest mystery in a series that I like. I love a good mystery! When I was in elementary school I read TONS of Nancy Drew, and then I stopped reading mysteries for many years because I thought they were all easy to figure out (like Nancy Drew). Now I realize that’s not true. I love trying to solve the crime; it’s like solving a puzzle. I feel like I’m smart if I notice an important clue. I always want to keep reading, until I know who did it.

Well, the mystery I’m reading now isn’t so great. Not enough action. But still, I’ve GOT to finish it. I suspect it’s the wife who’s behind the whole plot! Also, I think the detective is going to get back together with his old girlfriend, or at least I hope so. She’s a lot more interesting and believable than his current girlfriend, who seems too perfect to be true. I’ll let you know if I’m right.

I have decided to write my reading reflections, just like I ask you to do. You are welcome to comment about my reading, or to write about yours.

I’ve read two books already in March. The first one was called “Stop that Girl”. It was a bunch of short stories put together into a novel. The stories were all about a girl named Ann, from the time that she was a young girl until she grew up and had her own child. Some of the stories were both moving and funny, so I liked them. My big complaint about the book was that it was sort of jumpy. The author left out lots of important events. For example, Ann brings her mother and grandmother together after they have fought for many, many years. But, we never get to see it happen. That disappointed me.

The other book I read was “Small Steps” by Louis Sachar. Thanks to Ashley for lending it to me! It’s the brand new sequel to “Holes”, which many people have read. I really liked it a lot. It’s about two of the minor characters from “Holes”, X-Ray and Armpit. I thought the characters were very credible, even when the situations were pretty unbelievable. It was very exciting and it had a nice message about trying to improve your life and what’s really important.

Now, I need to correct a lot of papers before the progress reports, so I will try to get my work done before I reward myself with a new book.