Lockowitz – Period 3

I read the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This story was set in South Carolina in the 1960s, was racism was brutal. Lily Owens lived with her father, T.Ray on a peach farm. Her mother died when she was a little girl, and Lily had few memories of her; gloves, a picture of her, and a picture of a black Mary with the words “Tiburon, South Carolina” written on the back. Because of her mother’s death, T. Ray hired a maid, Rosaleen, who is the only one who truly cared for Lily. One day when Rosaleen and Lily go out into the town together, the biggest racists in town stop and act rude to them. They get in a fight, and Rosaleen gets beaten. Lily knows she needs to break Rosaleen out of the hospital she’s in for her injuries and go to Tiburon, South Carolina to find out any information possible about her mother, and to get away from T.Ray. While they reach the town of Tiburon, they stop into a store to get food. Lily finds a picture of the same black Mary that she has gotten from her mother. The black Mary is on a honey jar that reads “Black Madonna Honey” on it. She asks where the honey comes from and her and Rosaleen find the honey maker’s house. Their names are August, June, and May Boatwright. Lily and Rosaleen lie about their lives, and live and work for them. She helps August and Zack with the honey. Zack also works for Lily too. Everything was great until tragic things started to kick in. Read this book to find out what happens to Lily, Rosaleen, Zack, T.Ray, and the Boatwright girls.

I would rate this book a 9 out of 10. I thought it was really good and I liked the story, but some things could have been speeded up a bit. My favorite character is Lily Owens, because she is adventurous and helping to others. She is a round character because she matures and changes constantly throughout the book. August is a round-flat character because her personality and thoughts don’t change, but she changes a couple things because of the tragic things that have happened all at once. June is a round character because her personality changes a lot. She used to not be open to meeting any other people, but know she seems fine. May is a flat character. She still acts strangely and barely changes. Rosaleen and Zack are also round flat, just like August. Their personalities and likes and dislikes changes throughout the story. The theme of this story I would say is hope and strength. It is hope because the characters need hope and strength to get through the hard times.

Lockowitz 3

I read the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Is about a girl named Scout Finch. The summer when Scout was six and Jem was ten, they met Dill, a little boy who spent the summer with his aunt who lived next door to the Finches. Dill and Jem become obsessed with the idea of making Boo Radley, the neighborhood recluse, come out of his home. They go through plan after plan, but nothing draws him out. However, these brushes with the neighborhood ghost result in a tentative friendship over time and soon the Finch children realize that Boo Radley deserves to live in peace, so they leave him alone.

Scout and Jem’s God-like father, Atticus, is a respected and upstanding lawyer in small Maycomb County. When he takes on a case that pits innocent, black Tom Robinson against two dishonest white people, Atticus knows that he will lose, but he has to defend the man or he can’t live with himself. The case is the biggest thing to hit Maycomb County in years and it turns the whole town against Atticus, or so it seems. Scout and Jem are forced to bear the slurs against their father and watch with shock and disillusionment as their fellow townspeople convict an obviously innocent man because of his race. The only real enemy that Atticus made during the case was Bob Ewell, the trashy white man who accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter. Despite Ewell’s vow to avenge himself against Atticus, Atticus doesn’t view Ewell as any real threat.

I would rate this novel an 8 1/2. I thought it was a good book for anyone to read. It also you can’t out it down once you start. I also like the charcter too. Thats what i would rate this novel.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is about a girl who goes to a new school because she decides to move in with her father. When she arrives at the new school she immediately has a group of friends to hang out with. She learns about a family named the Cullen’s who are mysterious. She wants to learn more about them but she gets sidetracked when she sees Edward who is a brother in the Cullen family. The entire book is about how she gets closer to Edward and knowing he is a vampire, getting into a lot of trouble with others.

I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone who likes books about vampires. Getting into trouble is easy for Bella Swan and it doesn’t help that there are other vampires out there who are looking for just a snack to eat.

Wise- Period 2

In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry is in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He soon learns why Voldemort (real name is Tom Riddle) who changed his appearance and how his childhood life was like. Professor Snape is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Professor Slughorn is the new teacher for Potions. Harry needs to destroy Horcruxes that are part of Voldemort’s soul. It is the only way Harry Potter can survive is to defeat Lord Voldemort himself.

I liked how Harry and Dumbledore go back into time to see Tom Riddle act as a child. As they go back in time, Harry develops a sadness towards Tom Riddle. They journey to when Riddle wanted to be a teacher at Hogwarts and give students his views on how to become a great wizard. I liked the book because it’s suspenseful and addicting to read on. It’s suspenseful to read Harry and Dumbledore’s journey as they go in the life of Lord Voldemort. Harry needs to know Voldemort’s soft spot and how to make him mortal.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Another book turned into a movie. This one actually got good reviews. What I find interesting about this novel is the way in which it was written. Young adult author Rachel Cohn convinced her friend David Levithan to co-write a book a book from an an idea she had based on the 1930’s Thin Man series. She needed a guy’s perspective. David wrote the first chapter and together they wrote the book through e-mails.

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Review by Mrs. Dettling

This is a holiday season to see movies that are all based on wonderful books. During December, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Atonement by British author Ian McEwan have been released as movies. If you have not read Atonement (2002), I highly recommend that you do. It is a book of a book of love, loss and lies. One night during an English summer of 1935, thirteen year-old Briony believes she sees something terrible happen between her older sister Cecilia and their neighbor Robbie. Briony’s disclosure of these events after a crime has been committed send Robbie to prison for several years. According to a book review by Tom Shone of the New York Times (March 10, 2002), “the events of that night, account for only half of the plot of Atonement: the rest is reaction, ripple, repair.

Recently, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released a report that Americans, especially teens, are reading less and with less proficiency. A reporter for the Statesman came into the Library on December 14th to ask me what I thought about that. Bah Humbug! It makes me sad, but I also know how lucky I am to work in a place like Stevenson where we have some avid and sophisticated readers. I began to think about all these newly released movies. Students nationally are reading less but Hollywood knows that books made into movies are still a cash cow. It is my hope that Hollywood continues making movies from wonderful books because it is the best publicity for literature. As mentioned before in a previous post about the Golden Compass, the books are always better! If seeing a movie makes a student want to read the book, then I say keep those movies coming.

The Golden Compass

Review by Mrs. Dettling

Have you read the book yet? Hurry up, because the motion picture with the same name opens in theaters December 7, 2007. I am reading the book first because I usually dislike what Hollywood does to good books. (THE BOOKS ARE ALWAYS BETTER). When I sit in the theater next week with my children, I want to have Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass in my memory when I watch Hollywood’s version in my vision.

The release of the movie has brought up moral and theological issues concerning Pullman and his portrayal of God. Pullman is an agnostic and makes no apologies for it. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary: an agnostic is one who believes it is impossible to know if God exists. If you decide to read the book, forget all the controversy. No matter what your religious beliefs, just remember that this is a work of fiction and a wonderful work of literature. Enjoy.