Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (finished)

          In the book, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, is about Jacob joining the circus as the veterinarian after his parents die in a car accident. He falls in love with the owners wife, Marlena. August, the owner, abuses her and Jacob doesn't like it. Jacob is the main character in this book.
          Jacob is a very lost when his parents die. He has no where to go and that's how he ends up at the circus. "This morning, I had parents. This morning, they ate breakfast. I fall to my knees, right there on the back stoop, howling into splayed hands."(19) He felt like the world was ending and there was nothing left for him until he met Marlena.
          Jacob is a very brave person when he wants to protect Marlena from August when he hits her. He hates when August gets mad and takes it out on Marlena. "If he does it again, I swear to God I'll kill him."(252) He doesn't think men should take their anger out on people, especially women.
          I finished the book, but when I first started reading it, I predicted that Jacob would fall in love with August's wife, Marlena, and it would cause big problems in their lives. I thought this book was a very moving book and I rate it a 10/10.
         

Fearless By: Francine Pascal

This week I started reading Fearless by Francine Pascal.  I honestly don't really like this book so far.  It seems to jump around and leaves me questioning what is going on.
Gaia Moore has trained in three types of martial arts.  She has a reflex speed that is off the charts and she can break codes in four languages. Gaia is determined, intelligent, headstrong, and confident.  She's not scared to get into trouble, knowing she could take on anything that is coming to her.  She's not afraid to do anything!  In other words, Gaia is fearless.  However, Gaia just wants to be like everyone else.  But everything changes when she learns that someone is hunting her down for her 'special' skills.
This book is jam-packed with constant action and surprises.  There are fight scenes and plot twists.  But the thing I don't like about this book is that it jumps around.  It is really confusing at points and it is very hard to understand.
Will Gaia continue to try to be normal?  Will she continue to run from the person hunting her or will she confront him/her upfront?  Will people discover Gaia's secret?  You will have to read Fearless to find out!
                                                              I rate this book a 6/10
 

Dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman

      In this section of my reading, Alicia's "fame" and popularity online has been going downhill. There have been many rumors and statements about her going on at school. An unknown person secretly taped her in her room changing. In my opinion, I have no idea who this person can be. It can be anyone in her small town.
      Alicia is doing her best to find out who the person who filmed her is. She has contacted the local police and has even found a list of offenders in the area. The policeman she is staying in touch with came up with an odd, but possibly true theory. He believes this unknown person can be Jacy! At first Alicia does not believe this, but it does make sense since Jacy has been acting very secretly lately. It is very hard to tell who it is because Jacy has been doing his best to help Alicia find this person, but maybe he is just covering up for himself.  I wonder what the real reason to why Jacy is acting like this. Oddly on his computer, Alicia found out he has been secretly talking to a girl. What other secrets is Jacy keeping from Alicia?
     Alicia also believes getting involved with Charlie and creating Dancergirl was a huge mistake. She has gone through so much trouble throughout all of this. There are both pros and cons to Dancergirl, but I think it is all taking Alicia into the wrong direction.

You Have Seven Messages

   The book You Have Seven Messages is about Luna who's mother was killed by a taxi in New York City.Luna is trying to figure out if that's the full truth. Luna is the main character in this book.    
    Characteristic to describe Luna are she's outgoing and adventureis. Luna's outgoing when she ask this boy she likes to go out with her." Hey, do you think I could listen to you play sometime."(47) When Luna asked this to Oliver she was putting herself out their because she's outgoing.  Luna takes many adventures to places to find things out about the night her mother died."Butter is closed but I can see someone mopping the floor,I keep tapping on the window until he finally opens the big glass door just a crack."(60) This quote from the book is saying that Luna wants answer to something.
  The prediction I have for the ending of this book is that Luna is going to really find out what happened the night her mother died and she is going to date Oliver.

Bloomability By: Sharon Creech

     The main character in my book, Bloomability,  is Domenica Santolina Doone, or Dinnie as she likes to be called. Dinne is a very positive thinking and adaptive character.
    Dinnie is adaptive because her family has moved multiple times over the past years, and the fact that she is able to adapt to each new home the way she does is amazing. Dinnie says,"By the time I was twelve, we'd followed my father from Kentucky to Virginia to North Carolina to Tennessee to Ohio to Indiana to Wisconsin to Oklahoma to Oregon to Texas to California to New Mexico. My things fit into one box." ( Page 2). This quote proves that Dinnie has been able to move to multiple places and is able to adapt to every single one of them.
    Dinnie is also a positive character because when she is sent off to live with her Aunt Sandy and Uncle Max, she looks at the experience as a good one, not a bad one. Her aunt and uncle live in Switzerland so she has many new opportunities there. Dinnie says, "Later I would be able to look at this view and to see it and appreciate it, and it would affect me profoundly. But on that first day, I could only see what wasn't there: my family." ( Page 24). This quote really proves that Dinnie always puts things in a positive light. When she first arrived there, Dinnie thought this experience was just going to be like all of the other ones. But when she realizes how different this one is, she comes to realize that she will enjoy this experience a lot more.
    I predict, as I get more into this book, that Dinnie will learn to love her experience in Switzerland more then she ever realized. I think Dinnie will make new friends of all different cultures and personalities here as well.

                                         I RATE THIS BOOK A 8/10

Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney is a book about two teenagers named Rembrant (Remy) and Morgan Campbell. They are in high school taking driver's education together. Remy likes Morgan and Morgan likes Remy also. They go and come up with the idea of taking road signs to hang in their rooms. They go and take the signs they wanted and randomly, they ended up at Warren and Cherry Street. They take the stop sign and leave, but the next morning the news pointed that Denise Thompson was driving down Warren and Cherry Street and didn't know that there was a stop sign where Cherry met Warren and flew right through the major intersection. She hit a truck and died from the accident. Morgan and Remy figured out the next day and were shocked, they thought it was just a sign and it was their fault for the accident. They avoided getting caught because they were both afraid that they were going to go to jail. Eventually, Remy convinced Morgan that they can't handle their guilt and the secret and that they should go tell their parents. When Remy told her parents, they were shocked. Remy's mom wouldn't talk to Remy and acted like she didn't know Remy. And when Morgan told his parents, his mom did the same thing as Remy's mom did, ignored their child. Morgan's dad wasn't mad at Morgan, but he was upset at the entire situation and tried to help Morgan through his troubles handling everything. Morgan's parents canceled Christmas at their house. I would rate this book 4 out of 5 stars because it was interesting to see how the parents would handle things and I also liked the overall Theme. I would suggest this book to anybody who likes suspense.

Joker One (character)

              In the book Joker One the main character is Commander Donavan Campbell. He is a Commander of a platoon of Marines in Iraq. The two words I would use to describe Commander Campbell are Brave and leader. Campbell is brave because he never showed the fear he had and is a leader because he kept every soldier in line and gave loud and clear orders. On page 215 campbell says "I instructed both docs to keep working nonetheless,to try and keep the man alive until an ambulance showed up". As the book goes on i think campbell will start to lose control of some of his men and get them all into some type of trouble.