Skellig

The main character in Skellig is named Michael, and he is about to have a baby sister. When his family moves into the new house, Michael sees things and doesn't know if they are real, or part of his imagination. His life changes in many ways, and it isn't always a good thing. As he drifts away from school, he sees less of friends, and he hears strange rumors about angel wings. Strange things happen to Michael and his family, as well as his friends. This is as much as I can tell you, or I would give away the rest of the book. This was quick read at around 180 pages in my book. I wish I could go into detail about the book, but I would give away everything. So take my word for it, and read this book!! I really enjoyed this book for a ton of reasons. It had great characters, a twisting and really neat plot, and I loved the writing style. This book has a little adventure, but it also has love and miracles. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in AS, and who likes books about adventure and love/miracles.

SOL- Climbing with Julia

"Come on! you can do it!" I could hear Julia screaming from below me on the rock wall. She was positive I could get up the wall, and I did, thanks to her encouragement. When I reached the top, I touched "the little silver thingie," and Julia and I both squealed in excitement. I held my breath and got ready for the auto-belay to catch me on my way down, but, it didn't. It made a whirring sound, and I flew down the rock wall, trying to bounce off, I ended up drifting to the side and flying through mid-air. It was a little scary, but I didn't mind because rock climbing is so fun.

When I arrived at the bottom, Julia asked me if I wanted to do the slack line. I said yes, and we went over. My sister followed us, and she kept bugging, and being annoying. We left her to play on the slack line, and we climbed a bit more. Then we had lunch, a half-cheese-half-pepperoni pizza from dominos, and two dr. peppers. I love the way when you bite into the crust it tastes all garlicy and yummy. Now, we were ready to hop back on the wall. We chalked up our hands, and clipped onto the auto-belays. I went on the difficult wall, where as, Julia went on the medium wall.

When my mom said it was time to go, both of us were sad, but we knew that the second we got home, we were going to walk over to Cranmer park, and climb trees. We like climbing. Even though our hands were stinging from the rock climbing, we really wanted to climb the trees. I love and hate getting sappy. Hate: I get sappy and it takes forever to get all off. Love: It is one of the consequences of climbing awesome trees, so it doesn't bother me even because it is dirty. It was such a fun day, and we spent it together. This will be in my mind forever.

SOL First Time Snowboarding

As I strapped on the buckles that kept me on my snowboard for the first time, I stared at the smooth white snow in front of me. All it took was one push and I was on my way down the mountain. Turning left and right, carving the thick white powder over and over again. Creating the trail of a snake. The thin air of Colorado blows against my cheeks to keep me cool in the 60 degree weather. It took a while to get used to the turns, but I eventually got the hang of it. Smooth turns until the last, and I fell hard on the ground with a cloud of thick powder all around me. Even though it hurt, I had to get up and try again. You would think that the puff of the jacket would break the fall, but that would only work if you were wearing a jacket. It was 60 degrees out in the mountains, and it isn't very comfortable layered up in snow gear. Each time I fell, I would feel the sting of the ground hitting my shoulders then the cold of the snow and ice against my skin. The only way to protect my arms, would be to stop practicing, or put on the jacket. By the time I had to go eat lunch, my arms were red, and scraped, but I'm not one to give up. After I ate a good lunch, of tomato soup and grilled cheese, I was ready to go back out onto the mountain. When I began my first run after lunch, I was tired, and it felt a little weird because I hadn't gotten used to the feel of boarding, after eating.

The first couple of runs were shaky, but after I got used to my s turns, I never wanted to stop. My parents said it was time to go, and my face fell. I was so sad, and I didn't know when the next time I would be able to snowboard would be. I sweet-talked my parents into just one more run. After that run, we got hot chocolate, and settled into our car for the drive home. It was a long, and dreadful drive home, the cause of this being my sister, and the snow. It was practically a white out. We couldn't see the car in front of us, and my sister was talking A LOT but, luckily I had my ipod, and my headphones.

That was the best day ever, and I will always remember it.

Treasure Island

This "classic" is by Robert Louis Stevenson. It was a fairly quick read for me at 258 pages, even though it looks like it is around 320. The main character and narrator Jim Hawkins, is around 13 years old, and finds an old map left behind by a deceased pirate. He brings the local doctor a squire along to look for the treasure on the ship called the Hispaniola. The three adventurers aren't the only ones after the treasure, an old quartermaster has been looking for it for decades. This was a pretty good book, but I wouldn't call it a classic. It is really well written, but it was really slow and confusing to me. Some parts were thrilling and left me with me heart beating, while other times I was left wondering what actually happened. I would recommend this book to anyone in AS, and anyone who enjoys adventure books.

Ender's Game

Over all, this was a great book.  This book was a quick read for me. It has 318 pages, and I read it in two days I think. I really like science fiction, and for me the plot but especially the characters tied the story together. Six year-old Andrew Wiggin (Ender) is chosen to train in Battle School to defend Earth from the buggers that are attacking. The Earth's survival is in the hands of these genius children and their capability of battle. Most of the time Ender trains with his team, but he also plays games that actually tie into the end of the book in a really neat way. Even though it was written sometime in the seventies, I think this book fits into the genre of books the 6-8 grader-society in 2013/2014 would like. The closest books I would compare it to would be Hunger Games, and Divergent. These books are written in the future and have something wrong with their society, and Ender's Game would also fit into this. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, and anyone in AS.

SOL Snorkeling in Mexico

The colors of the fish in Mexico were wonderful, it was like small rainbows flashed against the pale sand. There was practically every color fish, and every combination of the colors on their small scales. Schools of fish small and large, pass by me as I swim. It felt like hours had passed by when I was in the water, and they probably did. Exhausted from swimming all day, I fell asleep on the ferry ride back to the dock. The ferry was two stories; there was seating on the bottom, and there was seating on second floor. While the bottom floor was crowded and stuffy, the second floor was cool and spacious. On the way over, the waves were rough and made me feel sick, but now they are soothing and rock me to sleep. Quiet waves brush up against the side of the boat, over and over again. I could have stayed like this for hours, if not for the smell of the fish sandwiches behind me. It wasn't a normal fish sandwich, the skin and eyes were still attached together. It was shriveled up with its mouth open as if it was still fighting for air and water. Surprisingly, the fish sandwich looked better then it smelled.

Divergent By Veronica Roth

I have finally read Divergent! Right now it is one of my favorite books. I love the story, the characters, and the plot twists. Sixteen year old Beatrice Prior is living in Abnegation, one of the five factions. Each of the five factions has an important job that contributes to the city. At age sixteen, you can stay the same faction, or switch to a different one. When trouble comes, the good must rise up to defeat the evil. I would highly recommend this book to anyone in AS.