Read by Nathan G.
I read Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express. It is about a man named M.Poirot who is traveling to England on the Orient Express. Then one night someone is murdered! M.Poirot's friend M.Bouc puts him in charge of the case and M.Poirot does everything he can to solve the crime.
UCPL Teen Volunteers' Summer Reading Blog
July 27, 2010
July 26, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Read by Charlotte.
I have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for 4 hours.
I'm at the part in the book where Harry, Ron, and Hermione have gone into the ministry of magic to steal the locket from Umbridge. They got the locket and fled to the forest where the Quiddich world cup was hosted. They didnt have any food and Ron got short tempered and left.
I have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for 4 hours.
I'm at the part in the book where Harry, Ron, and Hermione have gone into the ministry of magic to steal the locket from Umbridge. They got the locket and fled to the forest where the Quiddich world cup was hosted. They didnt have any food and Ron got short tempered and left.
July 23, 2010
Nicolae
Read by Vanessa
The book I'm reading right now is call Nicolae and it's the third book in the Left Behind series. Buck Williams is trying to help his best friend Tison Ben Judah who is on the most wanted list. How Buck is going to help him is by getting him out of hiding and taking him on a journey through Egypt while riding an old ancient like bus. There is also trouble in store for them. They have to out smart the Global Community officers that stops them along the way so Tison wont be caught hiding underneath the back seat of the bus. If they both get caught in their lies and fake IDs, theres a likely chance that they will either die or go to prison.
Rayford is trying his best to help out a good friend of his who's name is Hattie Durham. Now she is pregnant and engaged with a man named Nicolae Carpathia who is practically president of the world. She's thinking about having an abortion, seeing her family, and getting a help and advice from Rayford who use to be her love interest.
The book I'm reading right now is call Nicolae and it's the third book in the Left Behind series. Buck Williams is trying to help his best friend Tison Ben Judah who is on the most wanted list. How Buck is going to help him is by getting him out of hiding and taking him on a journey through Egypt while riding an old ancient like bus. There is also trouble in store for them. They have to out smart the Global Community officers that stops them along the way so Tison wont be caught hiding underneath the back seat of the bus. If they both get caught in their lies and fake IDs, theres a likely chance that they will either die or go to prison.
Rayford is trying his best to help out a good friend of his who's name is Hattie Durham. Now she is pregnant and engaged with a man named Nicolae Carpathia who is practically president of the world. She's thinking about having an abortion, seeing her family, and getting a help and advice from Rayford who use to be her love interest.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Read by Nathan
I have also started to read Carson McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is good so far, but a bit sad. It's about a deaf-mute man named John Singer and the people he encounters and affects.
I have also started to read Carson McCuller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is good so far, but a bit sad. It's about a deaf-mute man named John Singer and the people he encounters and affects.
Demon Box
Read by Nathan
I recently started reading a third book by Ken Kesey, Demon Box. Demon Box is an interwoven collection of short stories that center around Devlin Deboree, a "hippy-ish" character and farmer.
I recently started reading a third book by Ken Kesey, Demon Box. Demon Box is an interwoven collection of short stories that center around Devlin Deboree, a "hippy-ish" character and farmer.
July 20, 2010
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
Read by Felix
I wanted to blog about my last book report, because I read (for the hundredth time) one of my most favorite books: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I read for another two hours. So there is this fancy porcelain bunny rabbit doll named Edward Tulane. He is very expensive and fancy, and thinks very highly of himself. He really disliked people, like they were below him. He had a fancy gold pocket watch, and his doting owner Abilene (whom he looks at as a sort of maid) tells him that she will be home from school every day when the short hand hits the three, and the tall hand hits twelve. Abilene's grandmother, Pellegrina, tells her a story one night about a princess who could not love and ended up being turned to a pig and eaten. She gives Edward a special look, as if the story should apply to him somehow. Soon after the whole family goes on a cruise ship. Edward is thrown off by some boys also on the ship and lands at the bottom of the ocean, leaving his pocket watch on the ship with Abilene. He waits there for weeks and weeks until he's found by an old fisherman. At being found, he changes slightly: He feels glad to be alive, off the bottom of the ocean. The fisherman, Lawrence, takes him home to his old wife, Nellie. Nellie names him Susanna, cleans him, and makes him a dress. At first this horrifies him, but he decides it doesn't make any difference. Nellie tells him stories of her children, one who died of pneumonia at five and some grown with successful jobs. Edward never cared about what humans said before, but now he found himself clinging to every word Nellie said. Every night, Lawrence takes him outside on his shoulder and smokes his pipe and points out the constellations. Before bed, Nellie sings a lullaby. But one day, Nellie's not-so-great daughter Lolly comes by and throws him away. In the book it says, "For the first time, Edward's heart called out to him. It said two words: Nellie. Lawrence."
After weeks of being buried under a huge mountain of trash, a dog named Lucy digs Edward up and delivers him to a hobo named Bull. Edward Tulane becomes Malone. He is cleaned, changed from a ragged dress to a shirt made of a hat and some pants made of a handkerchief, and lives for a while in happiness with hobos that tell him stories and secrets. One night, Lucy and Bull and Edward/Malone hitch a ride on a train. A worker from the train kicks Lucy in the side and Edward wishes he could defend the dog. The man throws Edward way far off the train. His heart speaks again: Lucy. Bull. He wishes for the first time that he could cry.
This is all I've read so far. This book is one of my definite favorites because I love how Edward slowly, slowly learns to love, a little more with each of his different owners. I would recommend it to anybody.
I wanted to blog about my last book report, because I read (for the hundredth time) one of my most favorite books: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I read for another two hours. So there is this fancy porcelain bunny rabbit doll named Edward Tulane. He is very expensive and fancy, and thinks very highly of himself. He really disliked people, like they were below him. He had a fancy gold pocket watch, and his doting owner Abilene (whom he looks at as a sort of maid) tells him that she will be home from school every day when the short hand hits the three, and the tall hand hits twelve. Abilene's grandmother, Pellegrina, tells her a story one night about a princess who could not love and ended up being turned to a pig and eaten. She gives Edward a special look, as if the story should apply to him somehow. Soon after the whole family goes on a cruise ship. Edward is thrown off by some boys also on the ship and lands at the bottom of the ocean, leaving his pocket watch on the ship with Abilene. He waits there for weeks and weeks until he's found by an old fisherman. At being found, he changes slightly: He feels glad to be alive, off the bottom of the ocean. The fisherman, Lawrence, takes him home to his old wife, Nellie. Nellie names him Susanna, cleans him, and makes him a dress. At first this horrifies him, but he decides it doesn't make any difference. Nellie tells him stories of her children, one who died of pneumonia at five and some grown with successful jobs. Edward never cared about what humans said before, but now he found himself clinging to every word Nellie said. Every night, Lawrence takes him outside on his shoulder and smokes his pipe and points out the constellations. Before bed, Nellie sings a lullaby. But one day, Nellie's not-so-great daughter Lolly comes by and throws him away. In the book it says, "For the first time, Edward's heart called out to him. It said two words: Nellie. Lawrence."
After weeks of being buried under a huge mountain of trash, a dog named Lucy digs Edward up and delivers him to a hobo named Bull. Edward Tulane becomes Malone. He is cleaned, changed from a ragged dress to a shirt made of a hat and some pants made of a handkerchief, and lives for a while in happiness with hobos that tell him stories and secrets. One night, Lucy and Bull and Edward/Malone hitch a ride on a train. A worker from the train kicks Lucy in the side and Edward wishes he could defend the dog. The man throws Edward way far off the train. His heart speaks again: Lucy. Bull. He wishes for the first time that he could cry.
This is all I've read so far. This book is one of my definite favorites because I love how Edward slowly, slowly learns to love, a little more with each of his different owners. I would recommend it to anybody.
Holes
Read by Will
I have read 3 hours.
I read the book Holes. It tells two stories happening in the same location over a hundred years apart. One story is about a boy who is wrongly sentenced to time at Camp Green Lake, a modern correction facility. The other story is about Kate Barlow. She lives in the town of Green Lake over a century ago, when there was an actual lake.
Stanley, the boy from Camp Green Lake, was arrested for stealing some shoes from a homeless shelter. They were used by a great baseball player and were going to be auctioned off for thousands of dollars.
Stanley was walking home from school when they fell from an overpass onto his head. He had no idea what they were. He thought destiny had struck him and ran with the shoes. A policeman saw him with the recently stolen shoes and arrested him.
At Camp Green Lake, all the campers did was dig holes. For 18 months, they would dig one hole per day, every day of the week. The theory was that if a bad boy digs holes every day in the hot sun, they turn into a good boy.
While Stanley was at camp, he thought about the reason he had such bad luck. He thought of his no good pig stealing great great grandfather, Elya Yelnats. Hundreds of years ago, when Elya was in his 20s, he fell in love with a girl. Now, Elya was a handsome man, but he was in competition with Igor, whom you couldn't say that much of. Of course in those days it wasn't customary for a girl to choose her suitor, so the girl's father decreed that whoever had the largest pig got to marry his daughter. Elya went to Madame Zeroni, a friend of his, and asked for advise. She gave him the runt of her litter and told Elya to take the pig up the mountain where the water runs uphill and let him drink and sing a song. For 20 days he was to do this, and then the pig would be big and fat, and Elya would be big and strong. On the 21st day he was to Madame Zereoni up the hill and sing her the song and let here drink from the stream, or else he and all his descendants would be cursed. Elya brought the pig up the mountain for 19 days, but on the last day he instead brought it to the girl's father. His pig weighed exactly the same as Igor's. Her father decided to let her choose. She came out and was unsure of which to choose. Elya, thinking that she really loved him, stormed off to the docks. He got on a boat for America. Just as they were pulling out, he remembered his promise to Madame Zeroni. He didn't believe in curses, but he felt bad for her.
Stanley had had some bad luck. He might have been cursed, he wouldn't know. His dad was an inventor. Even though he was very smart, he was never very successful. His grandfather was very successful, but lost his fortune to a robbery when he was moving to California. Kissin'
Kate Barlow stole his life savings and left him stranded in the Texas desert. By the time people found him, he was crazy. He said he "Found refuge on God's thumb." He didn't even know what it meant. He married one of the nurses in the hospital and they started their family in Texas.
While Stanley was at camp, he had a feeling that the Warden was looking for something, but he didn't know what. One day Stanley found a mysterious shiny object with the letters KB on it. He and the other campers couldn't figure out what it was. Later in the book you see that it belongs to Kate Barlow. She was a teacher in the town of Green Lake. She kissed a black man, so the police chief hanged him. Kate killed the police chief and became Kissin' Kate Barlow, the most feared outlaw in the West.
The boys at Camp Green Lake gave the object to the Warden, who made them dig around where the object was found. They dug all day for weeks until Zero, another boy at the camp, ran away. Stanley ran after him a few days later. He found Zero under a boat, drinking an orange liquid from glass jars. Stanley drank some, and tried to convince Zero to return to camp. Zero refused, so they went away from the camp toward a rock that looked like a thumb. They walked toward it for days, and while they were walking Zero started to get sick. It must have been from the liquid in the boat. Eventually they reached the end of the lake, but this side was almost straight up. They slowly climbed up and proceeded toward the big thumb. When they finally arrived, Zero got worse and Stanley had to carry him up the rock. On the way up, Zero told Stanley that his real name was Hector Zeroni. When they got to the top, they found water and onions. They ate only onions for weeks and Zero got better. They decided to go back to Camp Green Lake and try to find the thing the Warden was looking for. When they got there, they stole some food and started digging. They found a suitcase with "Stanley Yelnats" printed on it. It belonged to our Stanley's grandfather, Elya's son. Stanley's lawyer came and pronounced that Stanley had been proven innocent. While Zero and Stanley were leaving camp in Stanley's lawyer's car, it started to rain because the great great grandson of Elya Yelnats carried the great great great grandson of Madame Zeroni up the mountain where the water runs uphill. In the end, Zero hired a private investigator and found his mother, and the contents of the suitcase were worth a lot of money, so the Yelnats family moved to a nice house.
I have read 3 hours.
I read the book Holes. It tells two stories happening in the same location over a hundred years apart. One story is about a boy who is wrongly sentenced to time at Camp Green Lake, a modern correction facility. The other story is about Kate Barlow. She lives in the town of Green Lake over a century ago, when there was an actual lake.
Stanley, the boy from Camp Green Lake, was arrested for stealing some shoes from a homeless shelter. They were used by a great baseball player and were going to be auctioned off for thousands of dollars.
Stanley was walking home from school when they fell from an overpass onto his head. He had no idea what they were. He thought destiny had struck him and ran with the shoes. A policeman saw him with the recently stolen shoes and arrested him.
At Camp Green Lake, all the campers did was dig holes. For 18 months, they would dig one hole per day, every day of the week. The theory was that if a bad boy digs holes every day in the hot sun, they turn into a good boy.
While Stanley was at camp, he thought about the reason he had such bad luck. He thought of his no good pig stealing great great grandfather, Elya Yelnats. Hundreds of years ago, when Elya was in his 20s, he fell in love with a girl. Now, Elya was a handsome man, but he was in competition with Igor, whom you couldn't say that much of. Of course in those days it wasn't customary for a girl to choose her suitor, so the girl's father decreed that whoever had the largest pig got to marry his daughter. Elya went to Madame Zeroni, a friend of his, and asked for advise. She gave him the runt of her litter and told Elya to take the pig up the mountain where the water runs uphill and let him drink and sing a song. For 20 days he was to do this, and then the pig would be big and fat, and Elya would be big and strong. On the 21st day he was to Madame Zereoni up the hill and sing her the song and let here drink from the stream, or else he and all his descendants would be cursed. Elya brought the pig up the mountain for 19 days, but on the last day he instead brought it to the girl's father. His pig weighed exactly the same as Igor's. Her father decided to let her choose. She came out and was unsure of which to choose. Elya, thinking that she really loved him, stormed off to the docks. He got on a boat for America. Just as they were pulling out, he remembered his promise to Madame Zeroni. He didn't believe in curses, but he felt bad for her.
Stanley had had some bad luck. He might have been cursed, he wouldn't know. His dad was an inventor. Even though he was very smart, he was never very successful. His grandfather was very successful, but lost his fortune to a robbery when he was moving to California. Kissin'
Kate Barlow stole his life savings and left him stranded in the Texas desert. By the time people found him, he was crazy. He said he "Found refuge on God's thumb." He didn't even know what it meant. He married one of the nurses in the hospital and they started their family in Texas.
While Stanley was at camp, he had a feeling that the Warden was looking for something, but he didn't know what. One day Stanley found a mysterious shiny object with the letters KB on it. He and the other campers couldn't figure out what it was. Later in the book you see that it belongs to Kate Barlow. She was a teacher in the town of Green Lake. She kissed a black man, so the police chief hanged him. Kate killed the police chief and became Kissin' Kate Barlow, the most feared outlaw in the West.
The boys at Camp Green Lake gave the object to the Warden, who made them dig around where the object was found. They dug all day for weeks until Zero, another boy at the camp, ran away. Stanley ran after him a few days later. He found Zero under a boat, drinking an orange liquid from glass jars. Stanley drank some, and tried to convince Zero to return to camp. Zero refused, so they went away from the camp toward a rock that looked like a thumb. They walked toward it for days, and while they were walking Zero started to get sick. It must have been from the liquid in the boat. Eventually they reached the end of the lake, but this side was almost straight up. They slowly climbed up and proceeded toward the big thumb. When they finally arrived, Zero got worse and Stanley had to carry him up the rock. On the way up, Zero told Stanley that his real name was Hector Zeroni. When they got to the top, they found water and onions. They ate only onions for weeks and Zero got better. They decided to go back to Camp Green Lake and try to find the thing the Warden was looking for. When they got there, they stole some food and started digging. They found a suitcase with "Stanley Yelnats" printed on it. It belonged to our Stanley's grandfather, Elya's son. Stanley's lawyer came and pronounced that Stanley had been proven innocent. While Zero and Stanley were leaving camp in Stanley's lawyer's car, it started to rain because the great great grandson of Elya Yelnats carried the great great great grandson of Madame Zeroni up the mountain where the water runs uphill. In the end, Zero hired a private investigator and found his mother, and the contents of the suitcase were worth a lot of money, so the Yelnats family moved to a nice house.
1984
Read by Will
I have read 6 hours.
I am in the middle of the book "1984" by George Orwell. It is about a man named Winston Smith. He lives in a totalitarian society in the year 1984. The country is governed by a body known only as "The Party." The public face of The Party is Big Brother. The government has absolutely no limits on its power. There are telescreens almost everywhere. The telescreens have cameras and microphones in them so the government can monitor the citizens. No one knows when the telescreens are monitored. They could be always on, or never.
Winston works at the Ministry of Truth. Their main job is to change any form of literature to reflect what The Party wants. For example, Big Brother might have made a speech in a newspaper article in January saying that 10,000 razor blades would be made. If in March, it appear that only 8,000 razor blades would be made, than the Ministry of Truth would have to change the news story in the archives so that Big Brother only said 6,000, making it look like they overproduced. The old newspaper would be incinerated and the change becomes the truth.
Changing the truth is a big theme in his book. For example, The Party uses basic communistic propaganda about capitalism being evil. They paint a stereotypical picture of a capitalist. He wears a business suit and a top hat and owns everything and all the poor people are just there to serve him. Then, to make that truth propagate, that vaporize all the older people who know about the pre- Revolution world. Only a few are left, but they are all scatterbrained and forgetful. Vaporization is the punishment for doing something The Party doesn't like. No one knows exactly what they do, but the theory is that you are tortured until you admit your crimes, then executed.
There are rarely trials, maybe once a year. After you are vaporized, The Ministry of Truth is set to the task of destroying any evidence that you ever existed, again changing the past.
There are more intricate complexities, but I can't tell them all here.
Overall, it is an interesting and thought provoking book.
I have read 6 hours.
I am in the middle of the book "1984" by George Orwell. It is about a man named Winston Smith. He lives in a totalitarian society in the year 1984. The country is governed by a body known only as "The Party." The public face of The Party is Big Brother. The government has absolutely no limits on its power. There are telescreens almost everywhere. The telescreens have cameras and microphones in them so the government can monitor the citizens. No one knows when the telescreens are monitored. They could be always on, or never.
Winston works at the Ministry of Truth. Their main job is to change any form of literature to reflect what The Party wants. For example, Big Brother might have made a speech in a newspaper article in January saying that 10,000 razor blades would be made. If in March, it appear that only 8,000 razor blades would be made, than the Ministry of Truth would have to change the news story in the archives so that Big Brother only said 6,000, making it look like they overproduced. The old newspaper would be incinerated and the change becomes the truth.
Changing the truth is a big theme in his book. For example, The Party uses basic communistic propaganda about capitalism being evil. They paint a stereotypical picture of a capitalist. He wears a business suit and a top hat and owns everything and all the poor people are just there to serve him. Then, to make that truth propagate, that vaporize all the older people who know about the pre- Revolution world. Only a few are left, but they are all scatterbrained and forgetful. Vaporization is the punishment for doing something The Party doesn't like. No one knows exactly what they do, but the theory is that you are tortured until you admit your crimes, then executed.
There are rarely trials, maybe once a year. After you are vaporized, The Ministry of Truth is set to the task of destroying any evidence that you ever existed, again changing the past.
There are more intricate complexities, but I can't tell them all here.
Overall, it is an interesting and thought provoking book.
July 13, 2010
The Missing Girl
Read by Drea
The book I read was called "The Missing Girl" by Norma Fox Mazer. It followed the lives of Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn, five sisters each with starkly contrasting personalities, daily struggles, and agendas. It also follows the life of a man. Meticulous and calculating, this man watches the sisters. He is a lonely man and watching the girls, giving them his own nicknames, picking his favorites, makes him feel as if a void in his life is being filled. But eventually, watching them is not enough to satisfy his loneliness. And with the girls and their family so preoccupied with a family crisis they don't realize until it's too late.
This book reminded me of the book "The Lovely Bones" because in both the antagonist is a calculating, orderly man. Unlike "The Lovely Bones" the bulk of this story is concentrated on before the man snatches one of the girls and the ending is somewhat cheerier. I liked this book. The intricacies and thoughts of each girl were interesting to read as were the thoughts of the kidnapper.
THE END
The book I read was called "The Missing Girl" by Norma Fox Mazer. It followed the lives of Beauty, Mim, Stevie, Fancy, and Autumn, five sisters each with starkly contrasting personalities, daily struggles, and agendas. It also follows the life of a man. Meticulous and calculating, this man watches the sisters. He is a lonely man and watching the girls, giving them his own nicknames, picking his favorites, makes him feel as if a void in his life is being filled. But eventually, watching them is not enough to satisfy his loneliness. And with the girls and their family so preoccupied with a family crisis they don't realize until it's too late.
This book reminded me of the book "The Lovely Bones" because in both the antagonist is a calculating, orderly man. Unlike "The Lovely Bones" the bulk of this story is concentrated on before the man snatches one of the girls and the ending is somewhat cheerier. I liked this book. The intricacies and thoughts of each girl were interesting to read as were the thoughts of the kidnapper.
THE END
July 12, 2010
Sometimes a Great Notion
Read by Nathan
I have started to read another book by Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion. So far it has been difficult to get into, as it doesn't have a particularly exciting beginning. It is about a logging family in Oregon.
I have started to read another book by Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion. So far it has been difficult to get into, as it doesn't have a particularly exciting beginning. It is about a logging family in Oregon.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Read by Nathan.
One of the books I have read over the summer is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I enjoyed this book greatly, as it was original and had very intriguing characters. It was also very sad, though, as the story takes place in a mental institution run by a domineering and cruel nurse (Nurse Ratchet). The protagonist is a brash Irishman named Randall McMurphy. However, the book is narrated by another patient, "Chief" Bromden.
One of the books I have read over the summer is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I enjoyed this book greatly, as it was original and had very intriguing characters. It was also very sad, though, as the story takes place in a mental institution run by a domineering and cruel nurse (Nurse Ratchet). The protagonist is a brash Irishman named Randall McMurphy. However, the book is narrated by another patient, "Chief" Bromden.
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