Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson

I have now read to page 200 in the book "Prom". The prom is coming closer, and the prom committee is doing everything they can to pull it off. Then the next disaster hits them. Nat, Ashley's best friend and the leader of the committee, breaks her leg and ends up in a wheelchair. All responsibility is now lying in Ashley's hands and with only one day left before the prom, she has a lot to do.

Ashley has grown as a person through the book. At first, she didn't care about so much more then her boyfriend and family. She didn't care so much for herself either. Ashley didn't think so much about what she wanted in her life. Her boyfriend has bought them an apartment, but she doesn't even know if she wants to move in with him. Her dad is building a new room for her in the basement, but she doesn't want to live at home for so much longer. It is like no one listens to her, and I understand that it makes her frustrated. I think that is a reason why she has stop caring about school. The teachers are always telling her what she has to do, and because she gets to hear that a lot at home, she has just stopped listening. I think that she is tired of hearing what she can or can't do. She wants to decide about her own life.

When she "joined" the prom committee, she got some responsibility. She was allowed to make decisions and she could come with suggestions and ideas. Ashley started to feel like people were listening at her. Thanks to that, she has started to build up a self esteem. I hope this will lead to her starting to tell everyone what she thinks and what she wants with her life.

/Heffaklumpen

Weekly assignment 3, Theodore Boone by John Grisham

I´m reading the novel Theodore Boone and I have reached page 200. I didn't think so much about the environment at first, but when I started to focus on that I discovered that there were only a few environment descriptions. That didn't bother me at first because it seemed to be unnecessary, but I've changed my mind and now I would prefer if the author had put a little bit more effort on that.

In my first post I talked about the characters and I told you why I got the impression of the Boone family as an organized family because of their behavior. The descriptions of their house is making that impression stronger, an example is all the clocks they have everywhere in their house which is a clear evidence of organized people.

I understand why the lawyers' offices are described pretty well. The look of the office is saying much about how they are, and it's an effective way to get to know the person better. An example is Woods Boone's office, I can tell he is a successful lawyer because of the description. His office is huge, and he has like many other lawyers a so called Ego Wall. It´s covered with diplomas, awards, photos and certificates of memberships. Marcella Boone, his wife, has an almost empty wall. I know she looks at Woods Boone's wall jealously because she was the person who named it The Ego wall, sneering.
There are not so many descriptions of the environment in this novel, and I would prefer if the author had described the environment a little bit more. Like I said in my previous post, it could be a little bit boring sometimes during the long trials. If John Grisham would have described the courtroom at that time, maybe I would have been able to keep up with the story by creating a better picture in my mind of how it looked like.
/ Anonymous

Milo's Wolves- third post

I have now read to page 184 in the book "Milo's Wolves" by Jenny Nimmo. It's still quit exiting.

From page 122 to 184 many exiting things have happened. It has been Christmas and McCool family missed Gwendal more then ever. But Christmas wasn't just a sad time for them. Milo had just got many jobs and that meant more money which meant more presents for the children.

After a while they found out that Gwendal is in France. One day they got a call from Jean Tisseyre that they have to come to his place. Milo and Laura began their journey to France! When they were there, Jean tells them that Gwendal is missing. Milo gets very upset.

Next day in Fort Saint-Luc Jean Tisseyre tells them a tragic story about his family. He said that Gwendal is a clone from Jeans son that drowned in a lake with his mother.

Now I'm going to tell about the persons who recently appeared in the story.

Jean Tisseyre:

Jean Tisseyre is Gwendal's father. He is quit old and he is tall and very straight for his age. His snow white hair is thick and he has a mustache in a style that is foreign. He wears dark clothes that has a rich velvety appearance. Jean has brown eyes and he has a strange gaze that concerns Laura. Jean always waits with telling the truth. He likes when people have to guess it. Jean is very rich. He owns a part of almost every company.

Jean used to have a son and a wife, Veronique. Sadly they died together in a lake. After that Jean is very sombre. I think he was much happier when his family was still alive.

First I got the feeling that Jean would do something bad to Gwendal when he came to France. But it's contrary, Jean is really nice. He is really trying to be a good father to Gwendal. Every time when Gwendal wants to play outside Jean is coming with him to watch him. I guess he is doing that because he doesn't want the same thing to happen Gwendal that happened to his other son. That shows that Jean Tisseyre is very protective. But still, I think it's something mysterious about this man...

I think it's good that Jean is in this story because he creates that mystery a story needs.

Nathan Culfire:

Nathan Culfire comes from the Society of Angel and he is trying to take Gwendal because he is an "Angel". Nathan has long black hair even though he is very old. He wears a grey fedora and a grey cloak. His eyes are hidden and Laura find him interfering, repulsive, threatening and odd. I find him odd but still nice. He actually helped an injured bird in the park once, and he helped Polly to get on her feet.

Nathan doesn't like when it is messy. I noticed that when he got very upset at Milo because it was messy in his house. Maybe he thought that a messy house isn't a home for an "angel" (Gwendal).

I don't really know what Nathan is doing in this story. The only thing he does is; come to the McCool family's house and say: "Give me Gwendal" or " Where is he?" and then he leaves because Milo says " Gwendal is ours!". He never does anything except that. It would be more exiting if he kidnapped Gwendal or something. I find Nathan useless in this story. But maybe he will do something in the pages I have left.

Raoul:

I think I could call Raoul Jeans assistant because he does everything for him. Cooking, cleaning and all sort of stuffs. Raoul has always been with Jean. When Jean lost his family he meet Raoul that also recently lost his family. Then he was just a kid so Jean decided to take care of him.

Raoul doesn't say much and he has a hard time accepting Gwendal because he has always felt like he is Jeans son and not Gwendal.

I like that Raoul is in this story because then you really get the image that Jean is rich because rich people usually have an assistant. // Anonymous

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

I'm reading the book "Blue Bloods" by Melissa de la Cruz. The book is about fifteen-year-old Schuyler Van Alen who lives in Manhattan. She has never quite fit in at her exclusive prep school where the glamorous and secret vampire elite, Blue Bloods, rules. After a night out at the club the students are being called to the auditorium where they're being told that one of the girls from Blue Bloods has been killed. Everyone's really upset and rumours starts to go around.

The writer is really trying to separate the fabulous life of the Blue Bloods from the normal teenage life that Schuyler lives in. The Blue Bloods are really glamorous, they have expensive Versace clothes, they would never dream about walking outside without make-up and fixed hair while Shuyler is more of a vintage girl who wears cheap, old and comfortable clothes and doesn't really care about what she looks like. I think that Melissa manage to do this quite well, I haven't gotten so far in the book but so far, so good. She's also trying to capture the excitment about boys and doing things that you're not allowed to do like sneeking out at night and getting into clubs.

/Anakin

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

In the beginning of the book you follow john and you read about his family and his childhood. In the prologue we get to know that this story that he is going to tell us is very important to him, it changed his life and this thought of love. We also get to know that the story is going to be about Savannah. In the prologue he describes her like a very nice person and we get to know some tiny facts and memories about her, which I think, make it more exciting to read. You want to now who she was for him and what they did together.

John starts his story talking about his only family member, his father. Johns father is very special because he lives in the same pattern everyday. Every morning starts with egg and bacon and he needs to leave the house exact 07:35. He is not a very good talker either, but he has a passion, coins. John himself is totally different, he is out loud and more spontaneous. John had a very hard childhood, his mother left them when he was a baby and with his father's passion about coins they didn't have a lot of money. They did okay but John never had the material things his friends had. John felt like he was an outsider so he starts to skip classes and started to fight with people. He didn't have a reason to live and he didn't think of the future very much, until he saw some marine solders on the beach. He decided to join the army.

The writher doesn't let us know much about John's life in the army (so far) and I think that it's good because you can concentrate on what his thoughts of live are instead. John finally meet Savannah on the beach on one of his breaks and he felt a "click" when he looked her in the eyes. The writher describes Savannah in a very good way so you can get a picture in you mind. He also describes her personality well so you can almost understand why she says the things she say. I like the book so far because you get a good back story so I can understand theirs personalities better :)

/Princess

The saddest girl in the world – first post

I have read to page 82 in the book "The saddest girl in the world" by Cathy Glass. The book is about a 10 years old girl named Donna who comes to foster care. Donna's mother is an alcoholic. Donna has been through a lot and during the book you get to know more and more about what has happened to her.

The main character in this book is Donna but you're following Cathy's thoughts and she is the one who is telling the story. Cathy is Donna's carer and she has two children of her own. Cathy is a person who cares about everyone else and she has a big patience. She is also good at understanding people and deal with difficult situations.

Donna is a very quiet girl. In the beginning of the book Donna doesn't speak at all, she only answers by nodding or shaking her head. She always goes with her head down and looks very sad. When she has been in care for a while, she starts to talk. She doesn't talk much and she doesn't have any movement in her voice. She always talk with the same tone in her voice, when she is happy she doesn't sound happy and when she is telling something horrible she doesn't show any feelings in her voice. You can understand that Donna has been through a lot of horrible things in the past by the way she is acting. She is always very afraid and she thinks everyone is going to hurt her if she does something wrong. Donna has no confidence and doesn't think she can do anything.

Donna is also very obsessed to do everything right, just because she had to do that when she lived with her biologic family. She is also very obsessed to help and clean. Donna didn't have any childhood and you can really see that she doesn't know how to play or have fun. She never plays with Cathy's children she just watches them instead.

Edna is also a very big part of the story. Edna is Donna's social worker and she has been looked over Donna's family for 3 years and tried to make her mother stop drinking. When Donnas mother didn't do anything about her problems Edna had to take the children away from her. Before Donna came to Cathy she was in one other foster care together with her brothers. It didn't work for Donna and her brothers to live together so Edna took her to Cathy instead. If Donna does or tells Cathy anything Cathy has to report to Edna what Donna has done or said - especially if it is something important. In the book there are often dialogs between Edna and Cathy, because of that Edna becomes a big part of the story.

Rita, who is Donnas mum, has a big impact on the story. She is very careless and seems rude in my eyes. In the book she says the most awful things to Donna when they meet at school. She is also an alcoholic and she beats her children, mostly Donna. I am sure you will find out more about Rita during the story and find out more awful things that she has done to her kids.

I don't think the characters in the book are described very well, but I also think that is good. When the characters don't get described so much you can create your own picture of the person. In the book you get to know their personalities more and more by the way they are and act. It's always happening something new and unexpected in the book and I think that makes the book so interesting.

// Anonymous

Reading project, weekly assignment 2

I´ve reached page 130 in the novel Theodore Boone by John Grisham.
While I was reading this week I was focused on the mood that John Grisham wanted to create and how he wrote to convey emotions to the reader. There were some moments when I felt that the novel affected me more than others, and for that reason I noticed when his strategies worked.


Since I wrote my last post Theodore has spent most of his spare time in court, and it's a particular reason why this trial is more interesting than the others Theo has watched. This trial is about a murder, the first in Strattenburg for years. The murdered victim is named Myra Duffy, and the suspect is her husband, Peter Duffy. I lost concentration after a while when I read about the long trial, but the author has a few tricks of leading me into the book again by making me feel a curtain feeling and by increasing the tension. One of these moments when I'm paying more attention to what's happening is when there is a special sign that something big is about to happen. An example is when one of the lawyers is raising their voices. Theo reacts in some kind of way, and then I know that they're saying something important and I become more excited.


As if the trial wasn't exciting enough, Theo finds out that one person knows the whole truth about the murder. But there is a catch. The person who saw it all can't testify because he is an illegal immigrant. He knows that he could be an important witness, but he doesn't want to be sent back to El Salvador. Even though Theodore knows that he shouldn't get too involved in this, he decides to meet this person and that makes me get the feeling of uncertainty. It's very tense when they meet each other, he doesn't even want to say his name and he is very skeptical about talking about what he saw. He doesn't know if he can trust Theo, and Theo has to say many times that he will keep this as a secret before he starts talking.

It's not only a terrible situation for the man who knows about the murder, the author is also describing Theo's feelings about this. Many pages of the novel are only about Theodore's feelings of despair, it's a difficult secret to keep for him. This part of the book is meant to be sad. Since he became aware of the situation this is the only thing that he can think about. His credibility could be ruined, his family could be harmed, the person from El Salvador could be forced to testify and then put in jail. I get the feeling of performance anxiety is because he's expected to come up with a solution to this problem, but he can't. This shapes his nightmares and this feeling is followed by hopelessness. I asked myself if I could figure out a way to solve it, and when I realized that I couldn't figure out something either the feeling of hopelessness grew stronger. I can relay to this feeling like many others, because there are moments when the feeling of not being good enough leads to feeling hopeless. I know that it's not a coincidence, I'm sure that the author is well aware of that many people can relay to that feeling even though you haven't been in a situation like Theo. It's not an unusual feeling for many people because of all everyday problems that can occur.

The strategy that Jon Grisham is using creates the right mood at the right occasion which is important for this novel as any other. Sometimes when I don't keep up with the story and lose concentration for a while the author makes me more interested of the book again by increasing the tense. It's evidently working because it's making me more interested of the book again, and it's one of the reasons why I'm still able to read without wanting the book to be completed.

Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson

I have read to page 156 in my book now. Ashley has joined the prom committee after she gave a suggestion that the prom could be in the school's gym. At first nobody in the committee liked the idea of the prom being in the gym. But since there isn't somewhere else where they can be for free, they had to go for that idea. So now Ashley is helping to save the prom, even if she still think proms are stupid.

I'm going to tell you about the two central persons in the book. First you have Ashley, who is the most important person in this book. It's hard to describe her. She is a girl who doesn't really care so much about school. Ashley has a lot of detentions and undelivered homework. I think that she would be pretty good in school if she started to care a little bit more about it. And also if she had a family that she wouldn't have to look after and worry about the whole time. Ashley is a nice and helpful person. I believe that she cares about other people more than she wants to admit. I mean, she helps the prom committee even though she doesn't like proms, she takes care of her little brothers when her parents can't and she helps Nat with her crazy grandmother.

Nat is Ashley's best friend, and the second most important people. When she really wants to do something, she doesn't give up until it's done. She can be really excited about things. That can make her very bossy, because she wants everything to be perfect. Nat seems very nice, and she is a girl who knows what she wants. I get the feeling that she already knows what she is going to do after graduation, what her wedding is going to be like, how many kids she's going to have, where she is going to live and so on. She is a person that already has decided her future.

I don't think that the author has described the personalities of the persons in the book very well. The book is still good, and you understand what's happening, but I get a little bit confused sometimes. The author has never written straight out how Ashley or Nat is. You have to find out by yourself what their personalities are. That can be both good and bad, because some people like to get their own picture of the persons. For me it is a little bit confusing. I get a picture of the person in my head, but then that person says or does something that isn't right with my picture of him/her. That makes me confused, and it makes the person hard to describe.

/Heffaklumpen

Charlotttes Web

Charlotte's Web - first post
This is a story where you have to follow a little girl named Fern. She is not so old.
One morning it has come piglets. But one of them was very small and was outside when the others took all the food and because he was too small so he remained small.
So the farmer (Fern's father) thought it would be best if they killed the little pig. Fern saw what her father was about to do and ran out to him and tried to stop him, and after much talk with her ​​dad, he agreed to let the pigs live. BUT only if Fern promised to take good care of the pig.
Fern was very happy and well care of the pig and she named him Wilbur. She was with Wilbur all day and played and fed him.
But when Fern had other things to do so Wilbur felt very alone in the barn. He felt lonely then, there were no other animals really liked him.
But one day when Wilbur was out in the barn so he found a spider. The spider named Charlotte and soon became a very good friend to Wilbur.Charlotte was a big gray spider who also had been alone before, before Wilbur was of course! Charlotte liked to talk and hang out with Wilbur though he was a pig, but he got so much attention by Fern.
By: Hanna

Percy Jackson and the last olympian - first post

This book is about a demigod named Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon, that lives in the 21st century. It is the last book of five, and Percy is about to become 16. Ever since he got to know about his identity as demigod he has fought dangerous monsters descending from ancient Greek mythology. During the summers, he has lived on a camp along with other demigod children, training and preparing themselves for battles with the monsters. They all have different power depending on which Godly parent they have. Every now and then, Percy and his closest friends, Annabeth daughter of Athena, Grover the satyr, Thalia daughter of Zeus and Tyson the cyclop, have went on different quest, rescuing each other and defeating monsters and titans. Titans is their worst enemies, and this last book is all about the titans- led by Kronos- last effort to destroy Olympus(the Gods holy home place located in New York, Manhattan) and conquer the world.

Long before Percy was born, a prophecy was made, telling that a child of one of the three strongest Gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, would either save or destroy the world on his 16th birthday. Those three Gods then made a promise never to have a half-blood child again. None of them kept it, but since Thalia stopped ageing due to a charm, and Hades child is younger than Percy, he is most likely the one the prophecy refers to.

At the start of the book, Percy is with his friend Rachel. They sit together and talk in a car, watching the sun go down, and you get the feeling everything is nice and romantic. Most mortals is unaware of all the abnormous beings and events because of a magic thing called the mist. Some people though, can see through the mist and Rachel is one of them. But when he is just about to kiss her, one of his demigod friends show up on a flying horse and tell him they have to go on a mission against Kronos.

The mission failed and Percy ends up at the bottom of the sea at his father's palace, where Poseidon is fighting a war against the sea titan Oceanus. Percy can of course breathe underwater and wants to help fight decides to leave to prepare for the final battle with Kronos instead...

The story is told without long pauses and at every chapter's end, it is barely possible to stop reading. One moment they are in love watching the sea, next moment they struggle for their life and after that they can travel instantly long distances. I don't quite know if like it, but fast turns and hasty decisions pull the story forward and make it more thrilling every chapter.

//Justin Bieber