Argentar

Period 7

In “Soldier Boy” follows a Double story of an American Soldier Spencer “Spence” Morgan and a Nazi soldier Dietrich “Dieter” Hedrick. Both of them join World War 2 for the wrong reasons. Spence enlists to prove to everyone were he comes from in Brigham City, Utah. Dieter joins because as a young boy he was brainwashed by the HJ or Hitler Youth that Hitler was doing the right thing for the world. When Dieter and Spence get their first real taste of the war they find themselves in The Battle of the Bulge fighting each other. In the first part of the battle the Americans go on the offensive and charge at the German forces but have to retreat. During the retreat Spence’s friend Ted Darney is shot and killed. Then when the Germans attack and try to retreat Dieter is wounded and his partner Johann Schaefer is killed.
One aspect I really liked about this book is how you get a view of both sides of the World War 2, because you get to see why both characters join the war. I really liked how Dean Hughes is very detailed when a person in the book is shot or killed. For example when Spence goes into a house were a German MG is firing at his company, and another soldier Erickson runs up the stairs, and is almost torn in half by the bullets from an automatic rifle. I would highly recommend this book to any one who like historical fiction or a great war story.

I thought this book was a great ending to her two previous novels. Reading the first book ” I Have Lived a Thousand Years” makes you realize how horrifying and terrible this event in history really was, especially from a child’s point of view. When you read her books you feel as if you are in her shoes actually experiencing these things. When I was reading i could visualize whatever was on the page in my mind. This book is defiantly a good read.

Wise P.2

The main conflict of this book is to try and figure out the reason that so many people just all of the sudden disappeared out of no where. Then the people that are “left behind” have to figure out why they are still alive and the others are dead or in this case in heaven. So the people left turn to religion, and they come to figure out why they are still on earth. But while they are figuring it out strange events happen and events and people that are in the bible become real or predicted at the exact time as said in the bible.

One specific aspect in the book that i liked was the plot of the book and what the book is about because i read this book and saw the movie on this when i had to take a religion class. But a specific part of the book is the beginning of the book when everyone disappears. I like this part because i feel that it is a good attention grabber and makes the person reading it want to continue and not just stop reading the book. Even though the first time i read this i was forced to I turned out to be really interested in the book and the movie.

Brown Period 8

The Book Thief takes place in the years of Nazi Germany. Liesel Meminger is a young girl who has just moved to Germany to live with her foster parents. Before her arrival to Germany, her brother died on the train to Germany and had to be buried. By her brothers graveside, Liesel finds a book that is life changing, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, that was left accidently. This is Liesels first act of thievery. It is also when her love for books and thievery begins. After arriving to Germany and getting comfortable, she beings to have a deep love for her “new papa” who teaches her how to read and spell. She begins to steal books from many different places like at a Nazi book-burning, the mayor’s wife’s library, and many more. As Liesel gets older she starts to realize how dangerous the times are. She realizes what really happened to her mom and how the Nazi’s took her away. She begins to hate hitler and shares the same secret with her “new papa.” Her foster family begins hiding a Jew in their basement that Liesel becomes best friends with. While living in Nazi Germany her and her foster family are trying to hide their hate for Hitler and the Nazi’s and the Jew in the basement.

The Book Thief is for young adults but should be read by the young and old. It is an amazing book. The author also does something very different, he makes the narrator death. By doing this he made the story even more interesting and gave it a different perspective. It is also interesting to see the perspective of Germans who are against Hitler that are living in Nazi Germany. You will love this book if you like WWII.

Brown Period 8

In this novel the main conflict is boys going to the Civil War. This is supposed to be a white mans war, yet an Indian boy enlists in the army to help the Union win the war. The boys name is Louis who is only fifteen years old. He fights bravely for The Union to win the war. The men march through the war while fighting battles. The ultimate goal is to take down the slavery in the south and defeat the confederacy. louis learns knew things about life while fighting for the country, and he meets knew people and makes some friends along the way. He did not expect war to be so violent and thoughtless, and he wonders if he has what it takes to survive in this dreadful war.

Louis will find out about having white friends and how even though he is Indian he can be excepted. This war was a white mans war, and Indians were not really excepted. Louis bonds with his fellow soldiers inside his station. He learns friendship, loyalty, and realizes that he would give his life for any of the men he served with. Even though that he is an Indian he can fit in with everyone else because they are fighting for the same thing. This one aspect of the novel makes this book appealing because of the way he becomes excepted by everyone he is serving with. War is a mysterious thing to Louis, and does not understand how people could act like this to each other. Luckily he has his knew friends to help guide him through the war.

Argentar period 7

In the novel Search and Destroy by Dean Hughes, a teen, Rick Ward, wants to be a writer but cannot pay for college and does not have anything to write about. So, he thinks the Vietnam War will give him some good stories to write about. Rick Ward wants to be in the Special Forces, but instead joins the Charlie Rangers – a small unit of Elite soldiers who move through the jungle without a trace. Each soldier has a spot in the line when they move through the jungle. The man at the end of the line is the only man who looks back wards because he makes every thing look like no one was there. The Captain of the unit is Captain Zeller who is very serious about what they do in the jungle. Some other guys in the Charlie Rangers are Kent, J.D., Whiley, and Haws (a.k.a. Bulldog). Each man in the unit plays a vital roll for the survival of the squad.

One part of the book that really interested me was the first time Rick shot a Vietnamese soldier. That moment alone made Rick feel sad because he wonder if that man had a family. But he did what he had to do the Vietnamese soldier shot Haws. I have to say I liked his other book Soldier Boys because it was more intense. Still this was a great war story based off of real stories of real Vietnam veterans.

Lockowitz

The Lightning Thief is about a boy named Percy Jackson who finds out that he is really a half blood. This means that he is half god? When you’re a half blood, you attract monsters. After Percy is attacked by a monster, he has to go away to a camp for kids that are half bloods. The camp protects them from monsters. While Percy is there, he finds out there is a huge conflict between the gods and he is right in the middle of it.

I think one of the most intersecting parts in the book is where Percy, the main character, is really meeting his dad for the first. This is very interesting because Percy is describing what Mount Olympus is really like. He says that he can’t believe he is really walking on a cloud. In addition, he describes the gods and how they’re so big. But, it is also interesting because Percy has never met him before and he has been mad at his dad because he felt like he was being used.

]]> http://shsbookblab.edublogs.org/2008/11/11/the-lightning-theif-by-rick-riordan/feed/ 0 http://shsbookblab.edublogs.org/2008/10/17/soldiers-heart-by-gary-paulsen/ http://shsbookblab.edublogs.org/2008/10/17/soldiers-heart-by-gary-paulsen/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:46:42 +0000 ttrina2 http://shsbookblab.edublogs.org/?p=365 Review: By: Tyiesha T.

Mr.Argentar- 5th Period

In the story Soldier’s Heart,1896, the Civil War is about to emerge, and thousands of soldiers are about to be killed, without taking in any consideration of how serious WAR really is. For a 15 year old teenage named, Charley, it’s just the beginning of a dramatic adventure. He enlists in the Civil War, wanting to prove to his family he’s a “Man”, not a boy anymore. But as he experiences the difficulties throughout the different missions, he begins to regret his decision and doesn’t think the war is for him anymore. Although, when enlisting in the war, Charley can’t leave because he made a comment to his country. Therefore, as Charley continues in the war, he learns how to become a stronger, tougher, and wiser person. This experience makes a better person out of Charley. But the real question is, does Charley have enough experience and self confidence to survive throughout the different battles?

Argentar Period 6

The main conflict is clear in this book, it’s the war. The war is a result of Hitler and the Nazi’s gaining power and setting up their government. Another conflict is the fact that Helen is caught by the Gestapo and Alfons being brainwashed into the Hitler Youth. These two conflicts inside the big conflict have their effects but they battle through them. These two people live through the war and their conflicts.

One aspect of the book that I see is appealing is that it looks through two very different points of view going through the war. One hiding out, getting caught and surviving concentration camps and the other as a Hitler Youth leader making decisions that affects Germany late in the war. This aspect fascinates me how two people living so close can take such opposite paths based on their background. Inside this aspect it fascinates me how the concentration camp prisoners lived and how the Hitler Youth members were brought up. This aspect is mind blowing and amazing how this actually happened.

Using biblical passages, historical facts, and dates, Leon Uris spins Exodus, a tale of the birth of the state of Israel. The dream of 2000 years, modern Israel becomes a reality in 1948 through the hard work of immigrants, Holocaust exiles, native-born people, and friends of Jews. Within the story of the of the establishment of the state, there are friendships forged and tragic love stories born; Jews struggle to make the desert bloom, build cities, and defend themselves from hostile enemy fire. In the end, against all odds, a vote is held in the U.N., David Ben-Gurion declares statehood, and history is made despite the opposition of its neighbors and a good part of the world. Which main characters will live to see their dreams realized? Read Exodus to find out.

The beauty of Leon Uris’ Exodus is that not only does it provide great historical context and details about the establishment of Israel, but it also creates emotional attachment to characters with amazing stories of triumph and survival. Uris’ writing is so powerful that readers are able to sense and feel what it must have been like to live in the Warsaw Ghetto, to break the British blockade on immigration to Palestine, to establish border communities under duress from thousands of enemy guns and tanks, to find love and to lose loved ones, and to survive against great odds. One of my favorite parts of the book is the story of Dov Landau’s heroics and survival during the Holocaust in the Warsaw Ghetto. Crawling with Dov through the sewers of Warsaw as he attempts to struggle food and supplies for Jewish resistance’s survival against the Nazis is intensely exciting while watching Dov’s family struggle for survival is profoundly sad. And that is only one small slice of this engaging novel. History buffs and folks that want to know the background on Israel to give context to its current struggles will find this book engrossing and valuable.