I am number four.

I Am Number Four. By: Pittacus Lore

    Imagine If you were different from everybody else, for good or bad. You are from a different planet and you have powers unlike any human. You are stronger and faster than humans can even imagine. You lived on a planet called Lorien which is the closest life sustaining planet to earth.  Your planet is not like earth in the sense of the way it is run. The parents on your planet do not watch over you but it is your grandparents. At birth you are given to your grandparents to be your gaurdian as your parents go to keep the planet healthy. There are certain people called the garde. the garde is born with special powers. They have a different person who is trained to help them develop their powers, The person is known as a cepan and the powers are called legacies.  The legacies do not come all at once but overtime.  there is another planet not far from lorien called mogadore.  on this planet live some hideous beasts called mogadorians .  About ten years ago the mogadorians used up everything they had on their planet and attacked lorien for supplies and new lives.  One brilliant man decided to put you and 8 other legacies on a ship headed to earth.  The man put a charm on you so that if the mogadorians came to earth you could only be killed in your number order.  you have been on earth for ten years now with your cepan Henri.  The mogadorians followed you to earth with lans to do the same to it as they did to lorien.  You can only be killed in number order and each time one is killed a scar burns around your ankle. Usually in front of people forcing you to move away.  Three are dead you are number 4. After number 3 died you and Henri pack up, burn your pile of fake ids and move to Paradise, Ohio. You have been living in ohio for about a month and are beginning to make some friends. By Halloween you have a girlfriend, who's ex was captain of the football team, and also a buddy named Sam. On Halloween there is a party and a corn maze with a haunted hayride. you go on the ride and that is when Sam finds out who you are when you are forced to use your powers. He avoids you for the next couple of weeks and you decide to go to his house he is terrified of you but you tell him you are not human.In the book John says, "I am not who you think I am,what im about to tell you you can not  share with a single soul." Sam is reading an article about the mogadorians which no one knows exists. So who wrote the article and how. Henri decides to go to the place of origin from the article. When he doesn't return you and sam go after him. You find two guys have captured hime and kept him there because threats. As you save him you use your powers again. Then the mogadorians, who ypou have hid from all this time show up and you barely escape. Later on Sarah finds out who you are when you save her from a fire. Likewise with Sam, Henri is forced to tell her the whole story and tell her to keep silent. Later the mogadorians attack your school with their whole army to kill number four. Do you survive? I really like this book and I think I will read the next book. I would recommend this book to people of all ages. This book is really connecting to a lot of people because like Number 4 many people think that they are different at times whether that be a good or bad thing.

Hunger Games Popplet by Drew Hardin

http://popplet.com/app/#/2224663

Joseph Amosa

A1

Blood on the River

By Elisa Carbone

How would you feel to be on a boat, and you are a commonor so you are at the bottom of the ship? Its been 3 months and you are still on the ship? What will you do?

Blood on the River is about a boy about 13 years old. This was in 1607 so he was a commonor. H went on a ship with a lot of other people to go to the New World. When they arived at the New World they would have to go through a lot of trials. The trials they faced were the Indians, Winter, and food

 (starvation).

The connections I made while reading this book is how long the people we on the boat doing nothing but just waiting and waiting. This reminds me of how my family trips are like. When we go to St George we just wait and wait and fight most of the time. I just can't imagine how the people in the ships could go through that for Three Months!

I really like what Captain John Smith said "he that will not work will not eat". I like this quote because in the book the upperclass men would not work at all and at the end of the day they assume that they get to eat more then the people who worked.

I really loved this book, and I recommend this book to everyone. Just the way the author worded the history of America was really interesting.

                                                          

                                                        The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

                                                                        By: M.T. Anderson

 

      What would it be like to be a slave during the Revolutionary War, not used for work, but for science? What if you were taught Latin and Greek, mathematics, science, everything you need to know to be highly educated?

            The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is a historical fiction book about a young African-American boy named Octavian. Octavian lives in the United States during the late 1700s and grows up in a strange house, where professors teach him everything they know. They teach him to paint, play the violin, speak different languages, science, etc. The professors continually push him to learn and constantly assess his ability to understand what he has been taught.

Octavian doesn’t find out until he is 16 years old that the people at the house are actually using his life as an experiment. These scientists are trying to prove that black people are different and not as intelligent as white people. They believe that at some point during his education, Octavian will be unable to progress and learn more. However, Octavian proves them wrong as he studies intensely and is able to do whatever they ask of him. Octavian’s situation takes a turn for the worse when the owner of the house decides to invite people with the small pox to come and stay there so they can try to cure the pox. This decision starts the beginning of Octavian’s problems.

One of my favorite quotes in this book is, “There is an expense for everything.” I think it means that nothing comes without a price and all choices have consequences. Octavian learns that the choices of other people as well as his own all have consequences. This theme connects with me because as I have grown up, I have seen the patterns in the consequences of my actions. I have started to realize that if I want a certain result, I have to make certain choices. For example, if I choose not to do my homework, the consequence will be a low grade. This book made me think more about that concept.

            The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is an interesting book and it made me think about a life and situation that I can’t even imagine. While this book was educational and eye opening, I don’t think it would be a good book to read if you aren’t interested in Revolutionary War times. It is very long and hard to understand sometimes. However, if you are interested in historical fiction and learning about people who live in a totally different world, then this would be a very good book for you.

              -Drew Hardin