The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 5)

In the fifth, and final book in this series, the evil Titan, Kronos, and his army has risen and become very strong. After driving many half-bloods out of camp, Kronos is looking to destroy Olympus now. In order to fight the Titans, Percy must bathe in the River Styx, in the underworld, to become strong. He does this, and he is ready to fight. Percy and his friends from camp half-blood go to New York City, to the Empire State building, which is the secret home of Olympus. 

    Percy figures out that he "is not the hero". This means that he will not be the destined one to kill Kronos.  During the fight, Kronos occasionally shifts back to Luke. What I mean by that, is this: because Kronos took Luke's body, Luke is still deep down struggling to get out. Sometimes Kronos, inhabiting Luke's body, will falter. His eyes change from Titan gold, to Luke's blue. his voice changes and he says things as Luke. In the end, Luke ends up killing himself, which means that he is also killing Kronos. 

      The book series was absolutely fabulous. They were all action-packed page-turners, with comedy too. These books are also very educational because they taught me all about Greek Mythology, and the gods and the ancient stories. I loved this book series so much. 

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 4)

     In the fourth book in the series about the demigod Percy and his friends, Kronos, the evil Titan, has formed an army and his army is rising. In this book, Kronos takes a human form. Kronos steals Luke, percy's enemy, and inhabits his body.
     In this novel, Percy and a few of his friends must go into the infamous confusing labyrinth, built by Daedalus, made to drive people who enter crazy. There is an entrance to the Labyrinth at camp Half-Blood, so Kronos and his army have a goal to invade camp that way. The only way that the army can navigate the maze is to get help from Daedalus himself. So Percy and his friends must get to Daedalus first, and convince him not to help the evil ones. In the maze, they have near-death experiences, intense battles, and they find the lost god. One of Percy's friends, Grover, is on a search for the nature god, Pan, who had disappeared eons ago. Pan tells them that he wants to be dead, so Grover should send the message to everyone.
     The end of the book leaves you at a cliffhanger, knowing that when Kronos is strong enough, he will attack Olympus, the home of all the gods.

Dial L For Loser by Lisi Harrison

This is the 6th book in The Clique series, that follows Massie Block, and her clique: Dylan, Kristen, Alicia, and Kuh-laire. In this book, Massie and the girls get invited to L.A. to audition for a movie, "Dial L For Loser". Dylan and Kristen are left behind. Surprisingly, Claire gets the starring role, leaving Massie and Alicia in a mixture of anger and awe. After all, the role they wanted was the role of a loser, and Alicia was too beautiful, and Massie was too confident. Fuming, Massie and Alicia want to get right back to Westchester, until an offer comes up. Dylan's mother, Meri-Lee, has a show of her own, "The Daily Grind", and Alicia and Massie are the newest members on the set. When the shooting is over, and Massie's and Alicia's gig is over, the girls go home together and realize how important true best friends are, instead of fake friends, in Hollywood.
I would recommend this to anybody who likes fun page-turners, and loser-becomes-accepted stories.

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

        Belly and her family have been going to Cousins beach every summer for as long as she can remember. After all, it's her favorite place, with her favorite people: her sweet and caring mother, Laurel, her funny brother, Steven, and her mother's best friend, Susannah. Susannah's children, Jeremiah and Conrad, are Belly's friends too. Belly has been in love with Conrad for years, and Jeremiah was her friend for ever, but this summer at Cousins is different. Belly is older, and maturing beautifully, and she receives different attention from Jeremiah. She meets a new guy, Cam, whom she likes, but her heart belongs to Conrad. It all comes down to the intense question of "Whom will she end up with?"
       I loved this book, because I love romantic comedy stories. This was a novel that I felt like I could really relate to, and I could understand Belly and what she was going through. The author, Jenny Han, does a great job of developing Belly's character.
      I would recommend this book to anybody who likes touching stories about love and friendship.

The Titan's Curse (Percy jackson and the Olympians book 3)

      Percy's friend Grover, the satyr, discovers more half-blood children. When Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia (daughter of Zeus, former pine tree) try to help mysterious Bianca and Nico di Angelo, they get attacked by a vicious manticore, which is a lion-like monster. During the fight, Annabeth falls off of a cliff and is mysteriously gone. 

   Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the moon, visits camp half-blood with her immortal huntresses. Bianca di Angelo, the newly discovered half-blood joins her group of hunters. Percy and his friends discover that while Artemis was hunting, she had been captured. Zoe, the head of Artemis's hunters, Bianca di Angelo, Percy, Thalia, and Grover go on a quest to save Artemis. 

     Percy saves an Ophiotaurus, which is half sea-serpent and half cow. Later, he discovers that this creature he has nick-names "Bessie" could destroy Olympus. 

        With help from Apollo, the god of the sun, and Artemis’s twin brother,  the five get to New Mexico. There, Percy meets with Aphrodite, the godess of love, who tells Percy to focus on finding Annabeth. In New Mexico, Percy meets a mortal girl, Rachel, who saves Percy's life.

      They continue to a mountain, where they see Artemis, holding the weight of the sky, which is the Titan Atlas's job. They discover that Annabeth had been holding the sky earlier, after she had been kidnapped. During an intense battle between Atlas, and Zoe the hunter, Atlas's daughter, Percy must withstand the Titan's curse of holding the sky. 

   In the end of the book, Artemis is freed and Annabeth gets back to camp safely!

     

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 2)

The sequel to The Lightening Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians book 1), The Sea of Monsters, continues with the intense saga of Percy Jackson's life. At camp Half-Blood, Percy is the only one in the Poseidon cabin, meaning he has no half-brothers or sisters. In this book, Percy gets a cyclops for a brother, named Tyson.
     Long ago, Zeus had a daughter named Thalia, and when she died, he took pity on her and made her a pine tree. Thalia, the pine tree, protects camp half blood with magical borders to stop monsters from coming in.
     Last year at Camp Half-Blood, Percy had made a friend named Luke, who was Hermes's son. Luke had turned evil and joined Kronos's army. Eons ago, Kronos, the king titan, had three children, who were gods. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Kronos feared that his children would become powerful, so he ate them, except for Zeus. When Zeus was older, he tricked Kronos into regurgitating his children. Being immortal gods, Poseidon and Hades had grown up inside of Kronos's body. They killed their father and threw him into Tartarus, the deepest pit in the underworld. Percy's ex-friend Luke poisoned Thalia the pine tree, so the magical borders wouldn't work and Kronos's army could invade camp Half Blood.
      Percy and some friends try to get the legendary golden fleece, which can heal plants and make things grow. They must travel to Prometheus, the cyclops, who had his eye stabbed by Odysseus, long ago. They manage to get the fleece and save the tree. But the magic worked a little too well. Thalia's tree is saved, but she comes back to life, as a human. There was a certain prophecy that a child of the big three (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) will either destroy Olympus or save it when they are 16, and Thalia complicates that matter, because Thalia is almost 16.
      Throughout this whole book, Percy's best friend Grover, the satyr, is searching for the lost nature god, Pan.
    This was a fantastic book!

The Lightening Theif by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson is a twelve year old troublemaker. He has gotten expelled in every school that he's been in. His dyslexia and ADHD causes him to be impulsive. His mother, Sally, and him live in Manhattan with his stepfather, "Smelly Gabe". Percy has no knowledge of his mysterious father. Then, one day, Percy discovers Camp Half-Blood, for demigods. At this camp, everybody is half human, half Greek god. Percy discovers that Poseidon, the god of the see, is his father. He has a friend who is a satyr. When Percy and Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, are granted a quest to receive Zeus's stolen lighting bolt, they are forced to fight many monsters to live. This is an amazing book, and I would recommend it to anybody who loves action-packed comedies about mythology.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

In the fourth and final book of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer, many intense things occur. The book begins with the two main characters, Edward and Bella, getting married. Edward is an immortal vampire, and Bella is a human. Since I do not want to reveal what happens in this amazing book, I will just say that the novel follows the troubles that occur when a vampire and a human have a child, that is half-human, half-vampire. So far, this was my favorite book that I have read this summer. It is a love story, and at the same time an action novel. The book is divided into three parts, and two different narraters. Part 1 is narrated by Bella Swan (later, Bella Cullen), the clumsy teen who falls in love with the mysterious vampire. Toward the end of this book, Bella is turned into an immortal vampire to be with Edward forever. Part 2 is narrated by Jacob Black, Bella's best friend. Jacob is a werewolf, who loves Bella enough to leave his own wolf pack to be with her. Part 3 is narrated by Bella again, but this part begins with her transformation from a human to a vampire. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes a page-turner about love, and sacrifices that revolve around love.

"Revenge of the Wannabes" by Lisi Harrison

"Revenge of the Wannabes" is the third book in "The Clique" series. I got a Barnes & Noble NOOK, and "Revenge of the Wannabes" was the first book that I had downloaded. 


In this novel, some drama within the Pretty Committee starts. Alicia, a member of the Pretty Committee, decides that she's tired of Massie ruling. Massie owns the Pretty Committee's Friday night, but one Friday, Alicia decides to ditch the weekly Friday Night Sleep-over, and have her own sleep-over. To complicate the matter, Dylan and Kristen are now forced to choose between two of their best friends. A war between Massie and Alicia has begun, and the ending is touching and unexpected. 

The Clique by Lisi Harrison

"The Clique" is a novel that explores themes of finding one's place, and knowing true friends. In Westchester, New York, everything is perfect and very expensive. Massie Block is the leader of her famous clique at her private school, Octavian Country Day. Her clique, The Pretty Committee, consists of her friends Alicia, Kristen and Dylan. Then, an LBR, (loser beyond repair) Claire Lyons moves into Massie and her family's guesthouse. Claire learns how important true friendship is, instead of popularity. This was a great book, and I would recommend it to people who like stories about friendship. 

Unbelievable by Sara Shephard

The Pretty Little Liars book series are my favorite books. I have read all 8 of the books, that follow four girls living in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. These four girls had an end of seventh grade sleep over with their best friend, Alison. Ali is manipulative and popular. At the sleep over, Ali disappears and gets murdered. In high school, when they've separated from each other, these four girls, Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily are taunted by a malicious stalker, who goes by the name "A". "A" knows these girls' secrets, and blackmails them.
The series follows Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily solving Alison's mysterious disappearance, and the suspicious stalker, "A". It had dramatic suspenseful scenes, and all of these books are page-turners.
The fourth book in this series, Unbelievable, is my favorite. In this book, one of the girls, Hanna, discovers who "A" really is. "A" hits Hanna with her SUV, causing her to not remember the important information. The book ends with an intense epiphany, and a tragic death.
I finished Unbelievable in only a couple of hours, I just couldn't put it down. I have decided to re-read this fantastic suspense novel by Sara Shepherd.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

So far, I am on page 179 of the phenomenal 870 paged book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The Harry Potter series has always been intriguing and my favorite book series. The books are about a old boy named Harry Potter, who lives with his horrible aunt and uncle. On his eleventh birthday, he discovers that he is a wizard and goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He learns that he is the chosen one, who must fight the most feared wizard of all time, Voldemort (or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named). I have read all of the books in this series, except for the fifth book, the Order of the Phoenix. I started with the sixth book because I had seen the movies of the books 1-5. After I read the sixth and seventh books, I became obsessed and read the first, second, third, and fourth books. I think that I love these books so much because I love the fantasy and magic novels.

Homework and School Classes

          
          If I could design the school curriculum, I would definitely involve more art then academics. I would have things like social studies and science, because, personally, I enjoy learning about those subjects because they're important and interesting. I would like schools to teach optional dance classes. Dance is a good way to focus. I really think that dance is a fun way to exercise and get active. But of course, it would be optional because some people dislike dancing. My made-up school would also have a lot of art classes. Art is a fun and creative way for people to express themselves. Art is also something that I really value because there's so many different forms of it. For example, I like to paint and draw, but others might like other forms of art, such as sculpting or clay. It really varies depending on the person's interests. I believe that schools should have more sports and things to keep kids active. Sports are a fun way to spend time with friends, and it is a great way to exercise. Cooking classes would definitely be available. Cooking is something that is very useful to everyday life, in adulthood. I like learning about fun things, but also skills that I will need when I'm older. Cooking can also educate people about the histories of certain spices and such. Homework in all of these classes would be a fun activity that people don't dread, like regular homework.


         I strongly dislike homework. I believe that homework is helpful sometimes, but too much is just torture. A little bit is helpful and occupies me, not making me bored. But stressing over three hours of homework each night. And on the weekends, we get TONS of homework. I'm not even excited for the weekends anymore. Usually, I would have been thinking 'YAY, it's the weekend!' But now I think 'Ugh, it's the weekend, and I have so much homework!' If I could control the homework amount, we would have just enough to help us, not torture us. 

9/11

         I don't remember much about the disaster that occurred on September 11th. I  do remember my parents talking about something terrible, but I don't think that I asked them what it was. I know that my babysitter, who was also my friend of my parents and I, was in New York City when it happened, but she didn't get hurt. I don't have any memories of it, but I'm sure that it was a terrible thing.

         I know that when some terrorists hijacked a plane and crashed them on purpose in New York City! Almost 3,000 victims died and the 19 hijackers died too. Early in the morning of September 11th, 2001, at 8:46 a.m. the plane hit the World Trade Center's North Tower. Then, at 9:03 a.m. another plane hit the South Tower. (This is completely random, but I just realized that I am writing this at 9:11 o'clock a.m.!!) Another group of terrorists flew another American Airlines plane into the Pentagon (the U.S. department of defense headquarters) and 9:37 a.m. Some passengers on the planes used the airplane phones and said that a couple of hijackers were on each plane.


      This is one of the most terrible things, in my mind. I don't know how anybody could purposely crash planes and kill themselves, and thousands of innocent people. I have no clue why anybody would do that; the idea is so horrible! Those people must have had a lot wrong with them, because I still don't understand how someone could do something as wicked and disgusting and horrible as that... 


sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
http://www.september11news.com/
http://pentagon.afis.osd.mil/facts.html
http://www.911truth.org/

Children Inspiring Hope- Water

     

       Some of the major water issues in the world today are droughts. For a while a couple of years ago,  Atlanta had a bad drought. The people who lived in Atlanta had to do many things to conserve water and get out of the drought, like: take shorter showers, water their plants with rainwater, etc. Another problem with water in the world is a lot of the freshwater in the world is frozen in glaciers.  2% of freshwater on earth is frozen, and undrinkable. 

        

        People of the world are helping in a lot of ways. Families in Atlanta are conserving water a lot, because of the recent drought. People are taking short showers instead of 20-30 minutes of wasting water. Also, instead of wasting water and watering your plants/flowers/grass with water from your sink, you can put a bucket out and collect rainwater for your plants. Another thing that people are doing to conserve water is being cognizant of how much laundry they do, and how often they do it. My family does this, and we all ask every member of the family if there's anything that they can wash, so that there is not extra room in the washer, and water is not being wasted. Brushing teeth and leaving the water on is also a big problem. I make sure to be conscious when I'm brushing my teeth. Washing dishes is also a big problem, because when someone's washing dishes, they can waste very large amounts of water. When I wash dishes, I am sure to be very careful.  

               These issues can be resolved by people doing all of the things that I mentioned above, and more.