By Rachel
This book was really enjoyable! I bought this book and so did one of my best friends, and it is definitely worth the money! You won’t want to put it down once you start reading!
As you might be able to tell from the title of the book, Cinder is a sort of modern Cinderella story. But, there are still many major differences between the two tales. The book takes place in New Beijing very far in the future, as the original Beijing has gotten destroyed in WW4. The main character, Cinder Linh (in China it is said Linh Cinder), is a cybourg (humanoid with robotic parts). Because of this, she is New Beijing’s best mechanic. But, when she is believed to have given her stepsister Peony the plauge or letumosis, her stepmother, Adri, volunteers her to take part in letumosis reasearch.
The book Cinder has so many cliffhangers and surprises in the plot, it is extremely exciting! I loved how the story never seemed to get boring, and evrything was always well-explained. Cinder is the first book in the Lunar Chronicles, a four-book series. The next book, Scarlet, is not coming out until 2013. I can’t wait for it to come out! I reccomend this book to anybody who loves reading!
Comments?Posted May 5th, 2012
BOB Victory!
By Rachel
As I have mentioned before, I’m on my school’s Battle of the Books team with Gwyn. Well, this year, we were the best team in R.H. Cornish history! We made it on to regional finals (all of Durham) representing North Durham. Westney Heights PS, M.J. Hobbs Senior PS, St. Thomas Aquinas CS, Highbush PS, and Julie Payette PS were also competing. Out of all the 6 teams, Westney Heights came first, Highbush came second, M.J. Hobbs came third (they were tied with us, but they won the tiebreaker), so we came in 4th. The scores were all very close, but I do recall Westney getting a PERFECT regular round!
The competition was so different from the first two rounds that we went through! This one had a huge audience, microphones, and 6 teams battling at once instead of 3 (or, for the first round in our case, 2!). Oh yes, something else to mention. At the North Durham Semis, there were only 3 teams! (So we were guaranteed a spot in the finals!) The teams there were us, Sunderland PS and St. Joseph’s CS. Good Shepherd CS was going to come, but dropped out last-minute-what a great turnout! So, my team got 1st, Sunderland got 2nd, and St. Joseph’s got 3rd. We got the same placings in the finals, too!
Overall, this was such a fun year for Battle of the Books! I know, some of the books weren’t that great, so if you’re thinking of joining next year (please do!), then you can suggest books at: www.bookbattle.ca for the list.
Comments?Posted May 5th, 2012
Lord of the Flies
By Rachel
In my class (I’m in grade 7 with Gwyneth), we’re reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Normally, this is a grade 10 level book, but being gifted, we get to read it now. This book is very interesting because of the style of writing. It takes place in around the 1940′s, when World War 2 took place. We have only gotten part of the way through chapter 2, but we already know that a plane has crashed on an island, the only people who survived were British schoolboys, and that the author has invented an alternative past. The past is different in this book because in our history, both of the word’s nuclear bombs have been used on Japan, but in Lord of the Flies, a nuclear bomb has been used on an airport in England, where the schoolboys were being evacuated from. My class has also noticed that the author uses slang words that children in the 50′s would have used and that we now find kind of weird, words like “wacco” or “wizard”. I can’t wait to carry on and find out more about this story and see how the boys get along together and how long they have to stay on the island before they get rescued. I’ll write more updates as we know more about the story, and Gwyn might, too!
Comments?Posted April 12th, 2012
Next Page