Author: Daryl McCann, Debbie Forbes

Dewey Decimal Number: F MCC

Characters Description:

Jude Hollit

Jude Hollit is a teenager. He likes basketball a lot and he's also in the A's (highest grade team). He is always late for basketball practice and showing no special abilities. He has dark black hair, grey eyes and a reasonable looking.

Trish

Trish is Jude's mum. She is middle-aged and cares her child really much.

Ned

Ned is Jude's dad. He is interested in rock band and guitars. He is really crazy. Later he joins the Bash band (his friend's band).

Rhett

This is Jude's friend Rhett. He also plays basketball but he's only in the C's. Rhett is really helpful and asked Jude if he can replace someone to go to the debating team.

Matthew Warbridge

Matthew Warbridge is the most famous in school. He plays basketball and is also in the A's. Matthew makes funny jokes about Jude and has lots of friend.

Anika

She is Jude's girlfriend. Anika met Jude when they were debating about something. They are great friends.

Plot:

Jude in his whole lifetime wants to be famous. So he decided to play basketball to get fame. Things get worse as time goes away. Complications are a serious thing. He needs to replace a person from the debating team and starts to know he falls in love with Anika. So Jude won the debate and finally got some respect from people. Anika and Jude asked for phone numbers then later being great friends.

Critique:

The book is great! It has some rude words and is interesting. It has lots of complications and the solutions are good. The best part is when Jude has finally got respect from other for doing hard work and made more friends.

Recommendation:

I recommend over grade 5 should read this because it has some rude words in it. A person who wants to be famous is a good choice because it can give tips to you to be famous.

Complicating Incident

Quote:

            “Grianne Ohmsford woke just long enough to recognize that something was dreadfully wrong, that an alien magic had bypassed her wardings and entered her room.  She threw up her defensive magic instantly, but it was already too late.  The room was moving----or she was moving in it----consumed by a blackness that transcended anything she had ever known.  She fought to get free of it, but could not make herself move.  She tried to cry out, but no sound came forth.  She was trapped, immobilized and helpless.  The blackness was enveloping her, sweeping her away, bearing her off like a death shroud wound about a corpse on its way to interment, clinging and impenetrable and final.

            She felt the shroud slowly begin to tighten.

            Shades! she swore silently as she realized what was happening, and then the blackness was in her mouth and nose and ears, was inside her body and her mind.  She struggled until her strength was gone and with it her hope, and then she lost consciousness.

(Page 65, P 6, 7 and 8)

            This shows the complicating incident because it shows when Grianne Ohmsford is sent into the Forbidding.  Though it doesn’t say where she is sent, it shows she is removed from her room, without her intending to leave it.  This is the complicating incident because the rest of the book is about her staying alive in the Forbidding, and her nephew Penderrin trying to reach the tanequil to get her back from the Forbidding.  This shows the conflict between Grianne Ohmsford and the other people who sent her to the Forbidding.  Also later on you learn that there is another conflict, which is the demons inside the Forbidding against the elves who locked them there hundreds of years earlier because when Grianne is sent into the Forbidding, The Moric, a demon is sent out, to find a way to destroy the Forbidding, keeping the demons locked away.

Charlie Wilcox Quotes

1.“At first I thought I’d go with him, back to the hospital, and then onto England, Blighty they call it…”(Pg.35, P.7)

I learned England is called Blighty.

2.“At first glance it looked like the floor was painted red.  He sniffed.  Blood.  There was blood everywhere.”(Pg.37, P.1)

I learned that everything is covered with blood, and many of the wounds where people get put in carts to go to the FDS, are shot wounds.

3.“You could smell them from a distance---blood, piss, petrol, and enough shell fire to scorch the nose and back of the throat.”(Pg.37, P.2)

I learned that the trenches really stink.  I also learned that shell fire leaves a smell.

4.“He spent the rest of the day removing bodies, or bits of bodies.  Occasionally they found someone alive.”(Pg.38, P.8)

I learned that the trenches are filled with bodies, or parts of bodies that were torn off by rats, or blown off by shell fire.  Many of these people are dead not wounded.

5.“Heard they they’ve regrouped in the St. John’s trench, what’s left of’em, plus the 10 percent they held back in reserve.”(Pg.39, P.6)

I learned that 10 percent of the regiment is held back in reserve before the battle.

6.“Just then a water-resistant rat paddled happily through the foul black sludge that covered the trench floor.”(Pg.42, P.5)

I learned that the trenches are filled with a black sludge and rats.

7.“I’m looking for volunteers to go on a raiding party tonight.  Capture a few Boche.  There’s a week’s pass in England for any who come back alive.”

            “What does he mean come back alive?”

(Pg.43/44, P.11/1)

I learned that if you go on a raiding party, you generally don’t come back alive.

8.“Phil scratched his chest too.  Fact was both of them were alive with lice.  Charlie knew the signs.  A blind man would know the sight of lice making a meal of the body.  They could do a man in, drive him crazy.”(Pg,44, P.9)

I learned that there are lice, living on the soldiers, and that they eat the body.

9.“There was black bread, hard cheese, a can of stew, and a can of plum and apple jam to share.”(Pg.47, P.3)

I learned that the rations are very bad, as they are hard cheese, and black bread, both of which don’t sound very appetizing.

10.“They heard a sound, thunk---like a fist coming down on a table.

            “Down! Sniper!”  The soldiers all threw themselves down onto the soggy duckboards and lay there, as still as dead men.”(Pg.48, P.3+4)

I learned that there is a sound made when sniper’s fire, and that you can hear it all the way across no man’s land.  Also when the soldiers hear the sound,  they throw themselves down to hopefully avoid the bullet.

11.“It was a haunting, ravaged place, a moonscape.  The once green, rolling French hills were now black, and pockmarked with craters---some as big as a house, others small enough to camouflage a single German machine gun and gunner.  The sounds of German artillery had been replaced by the ping, ping of snipers bullets as they hit the curly barbed wire that lay in fierce loops along the battlefield.”(Pg.57/58, P.9/1)

I learned that no man’s land is ravaged with craters from artillery, and all grass is gone too.  I also learned that there is barbed wire along the battlefield, in front of the trenches.

12.“Mother!”  The soldiers body went into a spasm, vibrating and quaking.”(Pg.60, P.5)

I learned that when dying, or in serious pain, the soldiers would scream for their mother, and lose control of their body.

13.“The place reeked of blood, iodine, urine, and antiseptic.”

I learned that the Field Dressing Stations stink of blood, and the other materials listed above, because they can’t clean it because too many patients have to be tended.

14.“Giant cucumber-shaped zeppelins often cruised silently across the night sky, dropping little bomb bundles at anything that twinkled.  They seldom hit much, but they were a nuisance.”(Pg.89, P6)

I learned that planes fly across the Allies territory, and drop bombs at night, trying to injure soldiers.

15.“Most of the wounded would be patched up and tossed back lie fish into a stream.  The next biggest group was made up of “Blighty wounds” bound for England. Lucky was the soldier with a Blighty wound.”(Pg.97, P.4)

I learned that people with serious wounds are sent back to Blighty. 

16.“But it all looked clean from up there.  Tidy.  No smells.  No rats.  No decay.  The war in the air was a tidy affair, different from the war on the ground.”(Pg.138, P.4)

I learned that the war in the air is completely different than on the ground,  nothing stinks and there is no evidence.

17.“In the middle of the dugout, flanked by three other cots, stood a scarred wooden desk with a lantern on top.  A small coke brazier squatted in another corner.  The place stank of paraffin, tobacco, and damp mud.”(Pg.189, P.5)

I learned that even the best living conditions in the trenches, which is the dugouts, are very poor.

18.“Down!” Tom had heard the sizzle of a flare going up.  He and Charlie dove into a shallow sap.”(Pg.206, P.2)

I learned that flares are sent up to try and allow snipers to see targets at night, and if they are seen moving a sniper will shoot them.

19.“Daw had made Tom a permanent stretcher-bearer, which, despite the added danger, was to Tom’s liking.”(Pg.196, P.2)

I learned that being a stretcher-bearer is more dangerous than being a regular soldier.

20.“And it had been said that a pilot would try harder to land his plane safely f he knew he couldn’t bail out.  Planes were more valuable than pilots, that’s what the brass thought.  Now the German pilots, they were protected by armored plates and wore parachutes.”(Pg.136/137, P.8/1)

I learned that the German’s protect their pilots more than the British.  And the British don’t get parachutes or armored planes.

I thought the projects where well done. They had lots of information about their topic, and always had supporting facts. The projects had lots of pictures as examples of the deformations and such. They had examples of real people, or history facts that stated what they where talking about. The projects where visually animated, which made them interesting to watch. Every topic was clear and very well explained. Some projects had compressions like the one about Freak shows; it had a section about the 19th century freaks and today's freaks. The project about the deformation diseases had examples of different diseases which caused the deformations. I thought all the projects where well made and presented, which taught me a lot.

They soon meet a man at Joe's football game named Villnof. He is a very mysterious man. He claims he came from Europe as he has a British accent. Frank and Joe now need to figure out who took the horse so they start investigating.

The boys father Mr. Hardy is also a detective. He is away at work and the boys now have to solve the mystery on their own. They start to investigate the strange man Villnof. They try to sneak into his house and are caught but Mr. Villnof releases them because he doesn't think they were actually spying on him and trying to find clues in the house.

A couple of weeks later the two boys set off again in search of clues toward the missing horse. They are spying through a window but when they lean on it the window breaks. Villnof runs and escapes and from the fall Joe is badly injured. The boys then search around as now no one is here. They find guns, explosives, dynamite and many dangerous things. They call the police to investigate.

They go to tell Ivan, the horse's jockey, information but as they get there he's is just leaving. Later a report comes in on the jockeyIVAN TOPNOTCHES JOCKEY KIDNAPPED!

The boys were astounded -Villnof must have knapped him!!

Later Topnotch's owner pays the ransom of ten grand to get the horse back but the horse is never returned. The matter now is even more serious and now involves cash.

The boys go to investigate Villnof's castle and get through the alarm system at the gate and find Topnotch in a shack. They now need to look for the jockey. They find Ivan locked up and send him a message that they will return.

They return the next day and are wandering around and are caught by Villnof. He takes them to an underground passage, he tries to ditch them, then they run chasing him as he turns through doors and activates walls. They get to the end and Villnof says…

“I hate your country.” “Your country killed my wife. I now shall return what you have done to me I am going to blow up the entire area and all of you will die!”

He finished with “I shall now die.” He steps into an electrical room and is instantly killed. He said to the boys that there will be twenty minutes and then time will be up.

Joe and Frank split up Joe went and saved the jockey and the race horse and Frank tried to control the bomb.

Twenty minutes later the jockey was saved and so was the horse then suddenly a rumble was sent through the ground and they thought it was all over then Frank raised his body up the ladder and said, “I have controlled the bomb.” “The police know and that noise was it detonating underground nothing will happen we are all now saved.”

Rating: I think I would rate this book nine out of ten. The author kept me on the edge and wanting to read the book forever. The one thing is I would like it better if the author didn't tell all about the characters in the very beginning of the book.

Recommendations: I recommend this book to readers that love to read mysteries and like to have suspense throughout the story. Some words are rather difficult but most of them are a grade 5 to 8 reading.

Favorite Part: My favorite part was when they were chasing Villnof through the underground tunnel because it thrilled me and it was rather interesting when they got to the end because I wondered what the two boys and Villnof were going to do.

In the wretched heat of the sun, George and Lennie are employed on a ranch in Soledad to buck barely for cash. Lennie was a muscular man yet uneducated but accompanied by his close friend George. George wasn't as nearly as humongous as Lennie but he was the brains of Lennie that allowed him to survive long enough for him to travel and perform hard labor to ear money. Their money was to be put forward towards their American Dream. This American Dream that they worked so hard for involved owning their own ranch, which allowed them to relax and work only when needed to. By working in a ranch in Soledad, George and Lennie get a chance at acquiring this dream that many men aim for with the help of an elderly man George and Lennie meet on the ranch. This aging man's name was Candy and has offered to pitch in money to afford the ranch so that in return, could assist and reside there till his death. Throughout the story, the protagonists find themselves confronted by obstacles that disable them from reaching their dreams. These obstacles includes a flirtatious women, a lonely black man that obsesses over his loneliness, and the ranches owner's son that likes to pick fights with others. In the end, Lennie is mercy killed to prevent another being from killing him out of revenge and ending George, Lennie, and Candy's American Dream.

Throughout the book, the readers find themselves making connection between the story and their life. For example, when Lennie was put out of his misery, it reminded me of when I had to put down my dog because she was old and senile so it was necessary for her to be put to sleep so that she doesn't have to live through pain her whole life. Sometime I also share the same feelings and emotions as the main character. There are parts of the book that George resents having to watch over Lennie just like how I wish I didn't have a brother because he may watch television for to long or spill my most hidden secrets. When these emotions arise, I usually block my brother out of my mind and act like he is not there so that I can continue what I was doing without distraction. During the book, I notice George ignoring Lennie's stupidity in order to accomplish a task without much confusion. Behind Lennie's dull intelligence, he shares a relationship or bond between him and George. Since they travel around together a lot, it seems like George is the older brother and Lennie is the younger sibling that George must take care of and make decisions for. Even though the men on the ranch think that George and Lennie traveling together is awkward, I think that it is normal for two men to travel together and is also helpful at the same time because they are able to get work done faster and would be able to rely on each other better.

While reading this book, I have read numerous issues that play a significant role in this story. One issue that has impacted the story is the conflict with the only women on the ranch, Curley's wife. Since she is the only woman on the ranch, she is very lonely and has to act flirtatious with the men on the ranch in order to get attention. When she confronts Lennie alone she tries to entice Lennie with her soft hair but when Curley's wife had enough of Lennie mussing up her hair, she lets out a shriek, which Lennie ceases by breaking her neck. I've heard about these issues before when friends go out to play and someone gets hurt doing something illegal. The other friends would panic and would end up killing their friend. One of the themes in this book that goes well with this story is an unfulfilled dream. It helps me better understand this story by helping me foreshadow how the American Dream that the protagonists worked for would come to an end. Passions that affect my understanding of the story are that most good things will come to an end, which told me that the good fortune was to good to be true and something would terminate all that the laborers worked for.

By using journal prompts I'm able to make more simple connections that still tell a lot of the reader. For example, my favorite part of the book is when Lennie crushes Curley's hand so that Curley has almost no bones intact. It came out of nowhere and taught Curley a lesson. The part of the story that makes a real picture in my mind is when George describes to Lennie how life would be when they raise enough money to buy a ranch and to be able to live off the fatta the land. 3I can just picture Lennie feeding the rabbits and tending the crops outside of the barn. The part about how Carlson mercy killed Candy's dog reminds me of when my dog had to be put to sleep because she was to old and couldn't walk by herself. I am most like the character George because I am smart and sometimes I pick on my brother. I also have a sense of pride in what I'm doing and am able to control my temper. It's hard to believe that George and Lennie can still keep together and keep up with each other even though they get in trouble with themselves and others around them. I though it was funny when the author compared Lennie to the other workers that were bucking barely and seeing that it takes two men to carry one bag of barely when Lennie can do it alone.

“And George raised the gun and steadied it, and he brought the muzzle of it close to the back of Lennie's head. The hand shook violently, but his face set and his hand steadied. He pulled the trigger. The crash of the shot rolled up the hills and rolled down again. Lennie jarred, and then settled slowly forward to the sand, and he lay without quivering.”

Settings: The book takes place in the year 1897 during the gold rush in the Santa Clara Valley, where Buck first lives before he gets kidnapped. When Buck is kidnapped, he is then transported to Seattle, and then on to the Dyea Canyon Trail and Beach. He is then transported from California to Alaska, where he is fascinated by the first sight of snow. The last place Buck goes to is the Yukon.

Introduction: At the beginning of the book, Buck lived like a king. Manuel stole Buck from Judge Miller. The man in the red sweater taught Buck the law of the club. Next, Buck learned the law of the fang when Spitz killed Curly. Buck is now learning survival skills, and to be a sled dog.

Point of View: This novel is told from the omniscient point of view, which could also be referred to as the third-person view. The omniscient point of view helps reader understand the emotions and actions of the character by being able to tell everyone and everything's emotion or action, instead of the focus being looked through one person or object.

Conflict: The main conflict of the story is that Buck is being constantly shipped and used as a slave for whomever, and doing whatever he is told. Buck has to deal with being kidnapped and learning the “law of the club”, which is that man overcomes animal. Buck also learns the “law of the fang”, which is whoever is stronger is dominate. On top of all this, Buck has to deal with not learning to trust people, and that he misses the people that were very close to him and cared about him.

Rising Action: At first, Buck is a big dog, but maybe not the strongest, and wisest when it comes to living in the wilderness. Buck was a bit weak for how big he was and not the smartest.

Climax: In my opinion, I think the greatest suspense or part that gave me the most interest was when Buck was fighting Spitz. It was a battle to determine, which dog is stronger and more dominate than the other. It gave you a feeling that the book could end right there, or Buck would win, and the story continued on.

Falling Action: I would say that maybe Buck didn't feel like giving up everything he has been through. Buck seemed to enjoy both being very loving when he wants to, but very fierce and almost wild-like when he was alone in the forest. In the end, Buck chose to live his life in the wilderness with the wolf pack.

Resolution: In the end, John Thorton dies, and Buck is left with no master. He finds himself living the rest of his life in the wilderness with the wolves, and hunts for his prey.

Opinion Questions:

1. My favorite part of this novel was when Buck and Spitz fight. This scene; or part of the novel is my favorite because it shows how fierce Buck really is, and how far he is willing to go to win.
2. My least favorite part of the novel would have to be the beginning. I say this because in the beginning it wasn't that exciting, and nothing too significant to the story happened.
3. If I could change any character in the book I would probably have changed Judge Miller. I'd have to say that it didn't really seem like Judge Miller paid much attention to Buck, but only gave him things that he wanted.
4. I wouldn't recommend this book to my friends, only because this book wasn't the type of book that would interest me

The book also says stuff about all the deadly diseases that killed people back hundreds of years ago and the ones happening now. The disease happening today is because of the bacterium that is spreading from the developing countries. Then there are the people from the developing countries that came with the diseases which later spread and causes major deaths. Because poor places like Africa have little money it can't support the bacteria infested areas so that's why poor places are infested and can spread infests.

The forty-six diseases, epidemics, and or plagues are caused by one simple organism, bacterium. The disease causing bacteria first got to us when our ancestors first domesticated animals. Germs and the other disease causing organisms went from animals to farmers then on to other people and then brought the first disease on man. Then once it spread becomes an epidemic, once it spread around the world it becomes a pandemic, and finally once people think it's a punishment from the one and almighty god it becomes a plague.

There are many things I learned from this book like the diseases that killed people all around the world and still is. Most diseases came from animals like bird flu which is now mutating in to a human disease, the same thing is going on with mad cow disease it's also mutating and has a big impact on the modern life. Out of all the nasty germs and such, my favorite thing I read about and learned about is how the people gat rid of the dead and infested bodies. They got rid of the people by throwing them in plague pits (a pit that is dug for the plague victims to be thrown away to), illegally burn the bodies, and most unlikely bury them in churchyards.

This book should be for the older people, who aren't scared, and for those that are grossed out easily. Mostly every page in this book has something to do with death. (That is so messed up). So that brings out my point in being a critic of this book.

This book is about Wu Mei and her struggle to fit in with her family. She had been despised from the start because her siblings blamed her for their mother's death. Through her life she makes friends, loses some, gets very mistreated and abused by her Niang, and is sent away to boarding school…twice! This book is a true story of an unwanted daughter, who has to cope with so many of the things we would never even dream of.

The conflicts in the story were man vs. man and man vs. himself. One was man vs. man because of the constant fighting with Wu Mei and her Niang. Her Niang was very easily angered and took it all out on Wu Mei, physically. She beat her and made her so unhappy in her so called home. Another conflict would be man vs. himself because Wu Mei was always trying to hide her emotions and prove her father wrong, that she could be somebody. She tried so hard in school. She got straight A's, Student of the Week five times in a row, and even won Class President! Even then, her father gave in to Niang and turned her away. Soon enough she went to boarding school and was almost completely forgotten.

The conflict of man vs. man was never completely solved. When she was old enough and was still in boarding school, she asked her father to go to England and be in school to become a writer. Her father let her go, but she had to go to medical school. But she got to be away from her Niang and was finally free. The conflict of man vs. himself was never completely solved either. She still had to keep her thoughts straight like before but it was easier because she didn't have to prove anything to anyone and she was not under pressure like before.

I loved this book! Before I had ever read a biography, I thought they would be boring. But after reading this book, I know I will read more in the future. The only thing I didn't like about this book was that Adeline Yen Mah's writing style is somewhat dull. Other than that it was a great story and kept me interested. (Most of the time anyway.)

I would recommend it to anyone from 12 to around 18. It was a very intelligent book, so I think older people would be more interested than younger people.

All throughout the novel Hawthorne discusses the idea of sin and redemption. Hester is shown to be the least sinful of the three people because she is redeemed by the fact that she must wear the scarlet letter for the rest of her life if she is to remain in the Puritan town because she committed the sin of adultery. Dimmesdale is more sinful than Hester because it takes him so long to confess his sin to the town. Dimmesdale is cowardly because he is afraid of the townspeople and of what they may do to him for his sin. He is also naïve because he fears the town more than he fears God even though he is a minister in Puritan times. Although Dimmesdale is a coward for not confessing his sin until he is close to the end he still shows remorse by lashing himself for his sin of adultery, and by helping Hester and Pearl by aiding Hester in persuading the Governor to let her keep Pearl. In addition, both Hester and Dimmesdale have the constant reminder of their sin because of Pearl who forces the issue upon them by always asking questions like what the scarlet letter stands for and if Dimmesdale will ever stand on the scaffold with her and her mother during the day in front of the town. Dimmesdale believes he has a reason to hide his sin; if he were to confess his sin the town may lose all hope of good, and may have became overrun by sin and evil.

Chillingworth, however, comes into the town and from the moment that he sees his wife has cheated on him he declares that he will seek revenge on the man that shares her sin. When Chillingworth suspects Dimmesdale he moves in with him, under the pretense of being his physician, and begins giving Dimmesdale different herbs and “medicines” to “help” with Dimmesdale’s health. While Chillingworth is living with Dimmesdale, he asks many personal questions to try to find out if Dimmesdale is the one that he is seeking. Chillingworth becomes a “leech” and begins sucking the life out of the poor minister. At one point in the novel Chillingworth looks at Dimmesdale’s chest and does a devilish dance at the sight. Chillingworth’s vengeance becomes an obsession and drives him to make Dimmesdale’s health get worse faster by giving him the so-called medicine, and by making Dimmesdale feel so guilty that it drives him insane. Chillingworth tries to play God by deciding who should be punished, and ends up turning into the “Black Man,” or the Devil.

Hester and Dimmesdale committed a sin that did not intentionally hurt anyone but their own souls, but Chillingworth committed a sin that was purposefully hurting another human being physically and emotionally. Sins of passion are not on the same magnitude as sins of vengeance. Murder and adultery are not on the same level. Hester and Dimmesdale both showed remorse for their sins. Hester and Dimmesdale were both punished by society and both punished themselves. Chillingworth did not feel that he ever did anything wrong even though his sins were worse that those of the person he sought revenge upon. Chillingworth was never punished by society or and he never sought repentance. Chillingworth was the guiltiest sinner in the Scarlet Letter.