Richland Eagle Student Corner 2

Petey by Ben Mikaelsen submitted by Kayla M.: 8th Grade

Cerebral palsy is a very serious brain defect you can be born with. People with cerebral palsy are viewed in the eyes of society as “idiots” or “retards,” but in some cases, the can hear, see, smell, and think just like any other person, if not better. This book explains through the eyes of a cerebral palsy patient himself what it is like to live with it.

This realistic fiction novel is about Petey Corbin, a cerebral palsy patient who grew up in mental institutions, because as a child, he was thought to not be able to function at all. One day, unsuspecting Trevor Ladd stopped some local bullies from throwing snowballs at a wrinkled, gnarled up old man, who turned out to be Petey. Trevor saw something in this old man, and they became good friends. This novel is written by Ben Mikaelsen, a very successful author. Some other books written by Ben include Ghost of Spirit Bear, Touching Spirit Bear, Countdown, Red Midnight, Rescue Josh McGuire, Sparrow Hawk Red, Stranded, and Tree Girl.

I enjoyed this novel because it really shows you what it’s like to be a cerebral palsy patient. It tells you what the patient is thinking.  It is amazing how Petey can communicate with his friends, which shows that he really can think, and he’s not just an “idiot,” like everyone views him. I enjoy the way that Trevor describes Petey’s aged, gnarled body, “What kind of legs could form such shapes? Petey’s thin arms bent awkwardly at the elbow, resting beside him with limp bird-like claw hands. His tongue coiled strangely in his opened mouth, his head hunched sideways. He had a short gray beard and a mustache. A long scar angled across his right cheek.”

This novel, published by Hyperion Books for Children, has 280 pages of laughs and tears. It is filled with emotion and very intelligent writing. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand what living with cerebral palsy is really like. It truly does open up your eyes.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, submitted by Evan K.: 8th Grade

“Let the seventy-fifth Hunger Games begin!” Hunger Games was written by the wonderful author Suzanne Collins. It was published by Scholastic and is a fiction book. This book also contains 374 pages of spectacular writing.

           This fiction book is about 12 very poor districts that each year send out 2 kids, a boy and girl to compete for a prize. If the kids want to win the prize to take back to their families they must team up with their other partner from the same district and kill the opponents. The main character, Katniss, a girl from district 12, is faced with many problems that she must overcome. Read the book and find out which district survives and takes home the prize.

           The one thing that I adored about this book is all the action, even though it is sad to see all those kids getting killed, just for a prize that will help their family. It also shows dedication not only to their district but also to their family. Another thing that I liked about this book was Suzanne Collins’s magnificent writing style. Because she uses very vibrant vocabulary and is very descriptive when she is writing, she paints you a very colorful clear picture of what she is writing. The last thing I loved about this book is the ending because it is just wonderful, and when you read the book, I hope you will say the same.

           Suzanne Collins has started off her writing career by writing Underland Chronicles and the Gregor the Overlander for middle school reader. Then she wrote Hunger Games and the sequel to Hunger Games, Catching Fire. I have never read her first two books but I have read Hunger Games and I can’t wait to read her sequel Catching Fire.

           I would give this book 9 out of 10 because this was a wonderful book with a lot of action and very descriptive writing. I would recommend this book to all 8th graders girls and boys. This is truly a marvelous book and when you get done with reading Hunger Games, you should read Catching Fire. I know I am.

Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of Blood by Darren Shan, submitted by Javier V.

Do you love books about horror, humor, and a bit of romance? If the answer is yes, then u should pick up the book, “Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of Blood”; by Darren Shan.” That book has it all! It really is a short book for some readers, but for others, it all depends if you can understand the writing. It has over two-hundred pages, but trust me; the book will be done in no time because you won’t stop reading it. It is a horror book mostly. You will devour it! Publisher is Perma Bound.

     The fiction book “Cirque Du Freak,” is about a young half-vampire and a full-vampire goes to the city where they meet a killer vampaneze that threatens to kill them. While there Darren, (the half-vampire) meets a girl and falls in love and gets her in danger also! Darren thinks Mr.Crepsly is the killer of many deaths, but it turns out that it was the evil vampaneze!

      Some things that I liked about the book “Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of Blood,” is that it is about vampires and horror. Many things in the book that was horror that I enjoyed was that when vampires need to “feed,” they suck blood from real “humans!”

    Still there were some flaws that I disliked from the book. One thing is that when Darren and Mr. Crepsly were trying to find the base of the evil vampaneze, why didn’t they just flit around down into the sewers? Even though, I still think that book is the greatest book I have read during the year of 2009!

    I think any age above 7 years old should be able to read and enjoy this book because, some of the words in this book are hard to read and if the reader is below age, then they might not be able to understand what the author really wanted to state. If the reader is at the age of seven, then they will enjoy this book as much as I did!

     Darren Shan is a great author and is recognized for all of his great books! Some books that he wrote were the rest of the Cirque Du Freak series and his newest series which is called the “Demonata” series. If you like the Cirque Du Freak series, then you will definitely like the Demonata series! Darren Shan currently lives in Limerick, London.

    Overall, people should really check this exciting book out! It has everything for those teen readers. I liked this book a lot. I liked this book so much that I would give this book a 5 out of 5 star rating! Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of Blood, is a really good book and I hope you will like it too!

Ttyl by Lauren Myracle submitted by Kayla K.: 8th Grade

 

Would you like to read a book about high school drama and stress? Then you should pick up the book called Ttyl by Lauren Myracle.

      This realistc  fiction book is about three best friends going through high school and struggling with problems in high school. One of the problems is Angelea one of the main charcters, has a boyfriend that doesnt treat her as he should. She trys to do something about it, but does she succeed? You would have to read to find out.

     One of the things i like about this book is that it is a mystery. It made me wonder if Angelea and her 2 friends were going to split up or stay together. I liked the part when Maddie thought Zoey was interested in one of thier teachers. For example, this is what the author wrote for this part "Zoe you know he is your TEACHER you cant go out with him!"

 

Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare by Darren Shan, submitted by Ryley I.: 8th Grade

      The author of Cirque Du Freak, A Living Nightmare… is Darren Shan. He was born in London. He had grown up watching old Dracula movies, which helped him get interested in writing these books and by having his own perspective. In this book, he had made the two main characters Darren Shan and Steve Leopard. Darren Shan is showed in this book as a non-brave, weak person, but then later on he ends up building the courage to steal from a vampire. One of the things he likes the most is playing soccer with Steve. Steve Leopard is shown in this book as a very brave person who is intimidated by a lot of things that put him in a bad spot, and when he gets mad, he will go insane and nothing in there power can stop his rampage unless he gets what he wants. During this book, the boys find a ticket showing that they are invited to a freak show called Cirque Du Freak, and end up going there to see the show. Although the person who was taking the tickets said they normally don’t take kids their age, he let them in and started the show. During this show, there were many freaks, all with many weird powers, abilities, or just are really talented. Throughout the entire performance, both Darren and Steve got interested in the same performers, which were Mr. Crepsley and Madam Octa. While Darren was interested in Madam Octa, who was a very talented spider, Steve found himself interested in Mr. Crepsley, but was more afraid of him than interested.

       At first, when I was reading this book, I didn’t really find it that interesting because it hadn’t really picked up yet, and the only thing that kept me reading was the fact that I know a lot of other kids in my class liked the book. After a while of reading, I found something spiked my interest, and the story started to pick up. In fact, I liked this book so much that when it came time for us to stop reading, I would read for an extra 40 seconds because I just didn’t want to put this book down. I found this book extremely interesting because it’s a sort of scary story, yet at the same time it’s kind of really exciting. Although I didn’t really find it all that scary, I knew from experience that a younger audience would be really scared of this book, especially if they were about the age of 7 or younger, yet if I had put myself in one of the situations, such as when the giant snake came sliding down the wall, I would be extremely frightened out of my mind, yet because I was only reading this book, I couldn’t really see how I could get scared. Another reason that I liked this book was that it supplied a lot of derail, which proved to help increase my understanding of this book.

       Although there were a lot of very great things about this book, what I didn’t like about this book was that every once in a while as I was reading, I would notice some grammatical errors. Yet, although it would stump me and it would cause me to think about what it meant, I could easily blow past it, and could easily figure out what everything meant. Aside from that, to wrap everything up, I would say that this is a scary, yet exciting book to read. Although it’s not a very quick story, it can still bring interest to the reader. Because of this awesome thriller, I would highly recommend this book to any reader in 7th grade or higher. I really liked this book and I think that you will too. My name is Ryley I. and I would highly recommend this book.

The Fallen by Paul Langan, submitted by Lorenzo B.: 8th Grade

Do you like books with action? How about books with life lessons, fighting, and a bunch of trouble makers? If you answer yes to any of these, you should pick up the book The Fallen by Paul Langan. This 144 paged nonfiction book published by Townsend Press on June 15th, 2006 talks about a boy’s life and how he has thrown his life away. It is about what obstacles he has to go through and the challenges his life takes. He had to find a way to get away from his gang and stay out of trouble. When Martin suffered the loss of his brother Hureo, he wanted to find his brothers killer and kill him. Martin and his gang were hunting Hureo’s killer down when Martin backed out and got in a fight with the leader of his gang. Then after what happened Martin ratted on his boy’s and they were being hunted by the police, and when they found out, the gang started hunting Martin. The theme of this book was the troubles of Martin’s life and what he has to go through. The main character Martin Luna was facing many challenges throughout this story. He was a big part of the problems. I loved how he had love for his family, especially his brother Huero. Although Hureo wasn’t alive at anytime during the story, he was a very important character. Huero is the only person that kept Martin alive. Hureo was the reason for Martin’s big heart, power, and tears. Frankie was a big tuff guy that was the leader of the gang. He was a threat to everyone and when people make mistakes or get in his way he will just kill you will no thought. My opinion of this book is that this was an amazing book! I love how the author put the story together and how he set it up. Also, I like the different personalities of each character. Also, I like the descriptive writing and details. Very well written! I dislike that the Hureo had to die at the age of eight years old. That is a very young age to be dying at. Other than that, this book was amazing. Yes, I recommend this book to others. I recommend it because it explains someone’s life and how it is ruined. It is a life lesson and teaches you how to act and what not to get yourself into. I recommend this book to kids in eighth grade and older because it explains how people are getting shot and dying. It explains how a kid looks when he’s getting beat to death. So, I highly recommend to keep this book away from seventh grade and younger because they wouldn’t understand what is happening. Paul Langan is a very good writer. He is very descriptive and detailed. He was born in Philadelphia in 1972. He lived most of his life in the city before moving to New Jersey. In 1991 he was enrolled into Camden County College and a year later he was transferred to La Salle University. After graduation, he worked at a nonprofit agency in Philadelphia and then joined Townsend Press as an Assistant Editor. After working he decided to return to his interest in writing and wrote the Bluford High books. He was the author or coauthor of ten books. He was very satisfied with is writing. I recommend the whole Bluford High books to everyone. These books are very exciting!