God/Goddess Poems

A lot of my posts that I will be writing soon will be writing pieces from my school year. This one is three poems that I wrote about Greek myths. In ELA class this was assigned because we were reading The Odyssey, and my teacher assigned me extra work, because I'm awesome like that.

Bellerphon

Bellerphon was just a boy

And the King of Lycia he had mocked

The King wanted him dead

Though the law had that blocked.

'Oh', thought the King

'If only I could trick him

Into deaths open hand!'

So the King sent him off for a little swim.

A swim across the sea to kill the Chimera

Half dragon, half ram

Could spew fire

Who was taking all the town's ham.

He prayed to Athena

And help him she did

She sent him a dream

And a bridle that was hid.

Bellephron captured Pegasus

And used the bridle to tame

He was so inspired by Athena

That a plan to him came.

He flew towards the Chimera

Which blew fire at him

And with a single spear

Killed the Chimera, though very grim.

He went to brag to all the villages

Of this great deed

He thought the gods should know

So he went to them on his mighty steed.

The gods did not like

His untamed Pride

So they sent a bee to sting Pegasus

And Bellerphon dropped down and died.

Medusa
Medusa
Grotesque, damned
Slithering, petrifying, hissing
Ugly snakes for hair
Monster

Devotion
Devotion
Everlasting, forever
Following, Waiting, Believing
Loving, loyal, Forgetful, careless
Procrastinating, evading, uncaring
Botched, nevermore
Neglect

Hestia
Goddess of the Hearth,
Queen of the Homestead,
Patroness of Marriage,
Instigator of Domestic Joy.

Guardian of all lost children and orphans,
But no husband or children of her own.

She was the eldest child,
Born of Chronos and Rhea,
One of six- like the opening act,
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia.

She just wants peace- like a dog wants a bone,
And to touch and tend to the tedious fire.
Hestia was was never one to choose a side in war,
She even gave up her seat on Olympus to prevent one.

In her honour I hope your hearth is always hot.

Fruits Basket By Natsuki Tayaka

The manga Fruits Basket by Natsuki Tayaka is a very good book. It's about a young girl named Tohru-Honda, who I might refer to as Onigiri, who was living with her mother, until her mother died. After that she briefly lived in a tent until a boy named Yuki led her into the Sohma family house hold, to live in with him. Little did Onigiri know, that 'he' was a 'them' and that 'them' consists of the cat spirit Kyo, the spirit of the dog Shigure, and the one you already know Yuki the rat spirit. When she meets them she figures out that each of the Sohma's are possessed by an animal of the Chinese Zodiac, when ever the become weak or are hugged by the opposite gender, they turn into their Zodiac animal.

My favorite character would probably be Momiji, he's the rabbit spirit. He's very playful and energetic, like on the first day of school he came in wearing the girls uniform because he thought it looked better on him. All in all this is a very good, cute, and funny story that I think many people will like!

City of Bones By Cassandra Clare

Sorry for the lateness, though I do have an excuse, I had MCAS (Massachusetts Child Abuse System, well that's what the kids call it) and it turned my brain to mush. Also, right now I'm working on a project in history and we have to make a board game. So, with out further ado, here's the actual post!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is an extremely good book. It is about a teenager named Clary Fray, who lives with her mom and Uncle-Who's-Not-Really-an-Uncle Luke. Clary and her friend Simon go to an "all ages allowed club", Clary notices a group of three teens that seem to stick out from the crowd. In all the movies when the main character is faced with a situation like that they do the least logical thing, follow them, so that's exactly what Clary does. When she follows them into an "Employees Only" room and sees the murder a child, only then did she step out of the shadows and say something. When she threatened to call the police the main teen, and handsome young boy named Jace, comes out and makes the point that the body disappeared, Clary backs down and goes out to tell Simon what happened. Only, Simon says he couldn't see them at all.

My favorite character is probably Magnus Bane, a warlock that comes to Clary and Jace's more than once. He seems to be more concerned with his hair though, than helping anyone else. As you progress into the series you notice him becoming a more important character, than in the begining of the series where he seems to be the "comic relief" character. Though in later books he serves a legitimate purpose.

I found this book very interesting, and I hope you do, too!

Black Cat By Kentaro Yabuki

Before the actual post I will apologize for the lateness, so sorry.

Black Cat by Kentaro Yabuki is a very good book. It is about a man named Train Heartnet, who used to be a "eraser" (assassin), for a company called Cronos which secretly controls 2/3 of the government. After a mysterious girl named Saya Minitsuka entered Trains life, he gave up being a eraser and became a "sweeper" (bounty hunter). Now it's a few years later and Train is working with his new partner Sven Vollfied on a mission to stop a man named Torneo Rudman from creating an all powerful bio-weapon. It/Her name is Eve, a 10-ish year old girl with a organ in her body that creates "nano-machines", little devices that able her to transform into most anything she wants to, with enough concentration. When Train and Sven are going to break into Torneo's mansion they run into a "self- employed thief for hire", named Rinslet Walker. They start working with her and that leads to an unexpected friendship with Rinslet and Eve.

I think one part in this book that I found a little creepy is the first few times you meet Eve. Since Torneo raised her to be a killing-machine, whenever she's going to kill someone she goes up to them and asks them if they want to play tag. She'll say that, then she'll proceed to kill them shortly after. That always freaked my friends and I out, even enough that one of my friends said that she "Will never, ever, ever, ever, ever play tag ever again." (well, you know something like that).

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan is an extremely good book. It is about three boys from the town Two Rivers, named Rand, Perrin, and Mat. It all starts one day when the three of them are just doing all their farming duties, and they all see this mysterious black almost ghost like figure, called a Fade. Then half human-half animal creatures, called trollocs, started attacking their village, Emonds Field, one of the Two Rivers villages. After those attacks two strangers, named Moraine and Lan who happen to be an Aes Sedai (a woman who can touch the "woman half of the True Source") and her Warder (man who protects their Aes Sedai), come and tell Rand, Mat, and Perrin that they were being pursued by the Dark One. Joined by Egwene, an adventures village girl, and Nynaeve, their village "wisdom", they set off on an adventure to "The Eye of the World".

My favorite character is probably Perrin. I guess I like him because I think that Rand is to Main-Character-y and that Mat is just plain boring. Actually he's  my favorite main character, my real favorite character is Nynaeve. I like her because she's so to-the-point about stuff and she is about the only person who Rand, Mat, or Perrin will always listen to. My mom says that she's "strong willed" and that some people like that in a character, and some don't.

I hope you love this book as much as I did!

Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

Hunger Games by Susane Collins is a very good book. It is about a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen, who was chosen (or was she?) to go into the annual Hunger Games. The back story of Panem (where Katniss lives) is that the people of north America got into a huge war, and one group won. They turned North America into a shining Capitol with 12 towns circling it (13 "districts" in all).  The Capitol is called District 1 and the inner most ring is District 2, and they go in numerical order 1-13. The lower number district you are, the poorer you are. When the districts tried to rebel against the Capitol, they destroyed the 13th district and started hosting these games called the Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games one boy and one girl from each district must go into the "arena" and fight each other to the death. When the 74 Hunger Games starts, you can be sure that her life was never the same again.

My favorite character is Gale. He's Katniss' friend from district 12. I think I mostly like him because all my friends will at some point in time come up to me and ask me "Gale or Peeta?" (comparison: "Edward or Jacob?" I personally think Peeta is a jerk. I think that I don't like him because of all the kissy-uppy things he does during the book. Like, confessing his love to Katniss at the most inappropriate times. Also a thing to note is that my mom didn't want me to read this book. So if you think a parent would have a problem with it, CHECK WITH THEM FIRST. This book is very violent and some stuff happens in the 2nd and 3rd books that caused my mom to say no.

I hope you like this book as much as I did!

Fullmetal Alchemist By Hiromu Arakawa

This post might be on more material than the first book contains.

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa is a manga with highly addictive qualities. It is about two brothers, Edward (Ed) and Alphonse (Al) Elric who live in a different world where alchemy exists, and the technology isn't as advanced as ours. It starts with Ed and Al walking through a desert and finally finding a thriving desert city (in the middle of nowhere), called Liore. The people told them that the city was a dump until Father Cornello came and got them on "The Sun God, Lito's" good site, thus him being able to preform "miracles". Ed and Al's back story is that they grew up in a little town in the suburbs. Their dad left when the were young, and they spent most of their time at their dad's friends house with a childhood friend, Winry. When their mom died they tried to bring her back to life, costing Ed an arm and a leg (literally). It took Al's body resulting in him turning into an empty suit of armor.

My favorite character is probably Al. I like him because he's a cute little kid, when he has his body. When he's a suit of armor, he keeps his brother from doing anything too stupid. I also like Winry, who supplies Ed with regular "auto-mail (artificial limb)" check ups and comes on a few of their adventures to assist them. Her parents were both doctors in "The Ishvalan War" and they got killed, causing great grief for Winry. My favorite part of the physical books is the extras. They're normally about some part of the book that could be made fun of or misunderstood, causing the ability to be made fun of. My favorite one is when they make fun of Ed for being short, so what happens is Ed finds a genie and he wishes to be taller. When it refuses to do that Ed gets very mad and tries to combine all his wishes to make him at least "a few centimeters taller".

Just a thing to note, if you want to watch the anime, there are two series. The first one is the english one, which only goes up to a certain point (no, I'm not telling you when) then takes a very sharp turn, and ends. The second one, which is titled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, seems (I haven't seen it) to stick to the manga more than the other one does. Seeing as the manga is still going on, I don't know if the second series is still going or if it stopped. So, what I find interesting is that I think this is the first book that I know of that has two T.V. series, two movies about what happens after the first T.V. series, a game, an app, and a series of written books based on it.

I hope you like this book as much as I did!

This series is still coming out and I think they are up to book #27.

Keep an eye out for the others!

Post Themes

Just as a heads up, I'm probably going to be doing a lot of posts on manga right now because:
1)I'm helping a friend learn to read English, and I think manga is a good media.
2)I like them.
3)MY BRAIN NEEDS A BREAK FROM ROBERT JORDAN!
So, I'm going to have many posts on manga in the near future.

The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch

The Name of this Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch is an extremely funny book. It is about a girl named Cassandra (Cass) and a boy named Max-Ernest who go on an adventure that brings into account the fact that most people can't keep a secret. The book begins with you meeting Cass, a survivalist, who carries around a back-pack that contains everything you would ever need in the case of an natural disaster (volcanoes, floods, radio activity, etc.). When a real estate agent gives Cass' uncles a box from a dead woman's home she makes a very interesting discovery. Along the way she meets a kid named Max-Earnest (named that for specific reasons) who seems to be an allergic to everything book-nerd, who helps Cass greatly over the course of the book.

My favorite character isn't in the first book (Yo-Yoji), so I'm going to write about my second favorite character, Pseudonymous Bosch. I know, I know, he's the author, allow me to explain. During the book, he makes all these really funny comments about what the kids are doing at that point in time. Also, he makes some pretty amusing footnotes on the bottom of the pages. Also, in the beginning of some of the books, it has a little bunch of pages that are mostly him going "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate.....". Also in the first few books he has an appendix that has a lot of things that he mentions in his footnotes. My favorite thing in the appendix is the recipe for Cass' banana chocolate chip trail mix. I never tried it, though it sounds really good!

I hope you like this book as  much as I did!

Keep an eye out for the sequel, If You're Reading This, It's Too Late!

Destiny's Hand By Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, Art By Melvin Calingo

Destiny's Hand by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (Art by Melvin Calingo) is a wonderful manga. Destiny's hand is about a girl-pirate, named Olivia, and her crew. For this post I'm going to give you character bios, to help you understand the story better.

Olivia: She's Captain Belaine's (see: Captain Belaine) favorite of the crew and the only girl pirate you'll ever meet. It all started when Olivia was 13 and she was on a ship going to Volroux to get married to a man she didn't like, and on that trip her ship gets attacked by the Destiny's Hand. When the pirates come on to her ship they tie every one else up and then Olivia takes one of the pirate's swords and tells them that they would fight for her fathers life. She ends up winning that fight then asking if she can join their crew, after that the captain says that she can join them. The book time-lapses to three years later after they tell you that back-story. Olivia is the ring-finger of Destiny's hand (you'll find the meaning of that when you read the book, as with all the others). The ring finger is the finger of future.

Captain Belaine: He's the captain of Destiny's Hand, and currently part of a dying breed, gentlemen pirates. If anyone ever passes by his boat they know to strike their "colors" (meaning they surrender). Captain Belaine takes over the ship, takes your cargo, ties you to the main-mast, then returns you to the nearest port while telling you pirate stories along the way (it's much better than the alternative). At the beggining of the book he delivers the news that he's dying and he tells his crew to look for The Devil's Eye, a magical object that Captain Belaine wants to be found under his name.

Badru: He's a foreigner from the outer islands who is extremely loyal to Captain and helps aid Olivia on a very important errand. Badru is the biggest person on the crew and used in many threats, so it seems. Badru is the pinkie finger of Destiny's hand, the finger of promise and loyalty.

Diego: He's loyal to Captain Belaine, but when Olivia starts to give the orders Diego doesn't cooperate. Diego is more like the new "version" of pirates. Meaning that he's more prone to violence than anyone else on the crew is. Diego is the middle finger, the finger of aggression and discipline.

Fredrick Matthau: The crew would be lost without him to guide them through the wide, open sea. Matthau seems to be the only person (besides Belaine) who knows Captain Belaine's history with the Governor of Vickensburg, and the lady (Lady Kate) that the boat's figure head is fashioned after. He is the thumb of Destiny's Hand, the finger that leads the rest.
Elias Houghton: He is the Governor of Vickensburg's son, or so it seems. As the book goes on you find out some interesting things about his past, that may or may not include Captain Belaine. Elias is the index finger of Destiny's Hand, the finger that will point the way to the Devil's Eye.
Wyatt: He's just a little boy who snuck onto the boat when they were at port. He's been living in the crow's nest ever since he snuck on, and he's just been helping the crew with all their jobs, because everyone knows that he who eats, works. 
Owen Galviston: He's a journalist who came onto the ship to write a biography about the Gentleman Pirates (Yes... that's all I have to say about him).

Keep an eye out for the sequel, you're going to want it.

Sorry, this post is kind of long!

The Knife of Never Letting Go By Patrick Ness

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness is a very good book. It is about a 12 year (and 12 months) old boy (not a man yet) named Todd, who lives in a town called Prentisstown. Though, Prentisstown isn't like any other town, it's on an alien planet that has a germ that makes all your thoughts be heard by everyone else (and animals able to talk). This germ killed all the women in the town, so now they are a dying civilization on a alien planet. But one day Todd stumbles upon a area of silence, which leads him to discover some horrible secrets about his towns past.

My favorite character in this book is Manchee, Todd's dog (who he never wanted). I like him because of all the funny things he says during the book, here is a excerpt:

"Got to poo, Todd."
"Shut up, Manchee."
"Poo poo, Todd."
"I said shut it!"

Manchee's an extremely funny character, who's just so easy to love. Throughout the book he serves as a comedian (and I love him anyways). Todd certainly has different perspective about Manchee, than my family members and I do. Down under the picture I have a spoiler about the books that has to do with something I've been talking about.

Keep an eye out for the sequel 'The Ask and the Answer'!

I cried when Manchee died! It was so sad, because Todd had to choose between Manchee and Viola (the girl he meets in the swamp). I CRIED!!!!!!!!

Amazing Agent Luna By Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, Art By Shiei

Amazing Agent Luna by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (art by Shiei) is a very interesting book. I picked it up because my friend from China (who moved here last year) told me to, and since I'm such a wonderful friend I read it. Though what I find interesting is that I think I wouldn't have read it if it were a written book. See, that's the magic of manga, it can make something that I normally wouldn't read into something that I LOVE!

Amazing Agent Luna is about a teenage, government-raised, super spy-ninja who has to face her greatest threat yet, going to high school! The whole book starts out with Luna breaking into the "French Embassy" to steal Count Von Brucken's files. There's also a mysterious boy that takes an interest in Luna while she's in France. When that same boy (named Jonah), who happens to be Von Brucken's son, starts going to Noble High school, Luna's already crazy life, gets even crazier.

I think my favorite character is Oliver, a guy who skateboards around the school and has a certain interest in Luna (same one as mysterious lover boy, Jonah, who I mentioned earlier). I like him because I've always liked the nerdy/un-popular guys that keep popping up over the course of the book. Also, I think he's kind of cute, in the pictures. When ever my friends steal this book to draw pictures from it (below) they always have to mention that I like Oliver. Though, when they do, I always reply "She likes Jonah!" and then we proceed to have a staring contest until the other people walk away (works like a charm).

Friend #1 drew the on on the right, Friend #2 on left

Friend #1 drew both

Friend #1 drew both

Friend #2 drew one on right, I (yay me) drew the other

Friend #1 drew this.

(I hope this makes up for the lack of cover-image)

A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

A Whole Nother Story by Dr. Cuthbert Soup is a wonderful book about the three Cheeseman children, their father, and physic hairless dog are on the run. "From who?" you might might ask, the CIA of course! Also hot on their trail is Agents #5, #29, and #207, along with two other super-spies, one of whom happens to be chimpanzee. Now "Why?" you might ask. It's because Doctor Cheeseman and his wife Olivia, were working on a time machine. The one problem is that it's out of order at the moment so you can put out all thoughts of time travel out of your head.

I think my favorite part of the book is the "unsolicited advice" and did you ask me to tell you that? No! That's why it's unsolicited. Throughout the book he gives you all sorts of unsolicited advice that (normally) has absolutely nothing to do with the book and they aren't pieces advice, they're more like pieces of information. My two favorite pieces of information that he calls advice is the one on his mailbox which has a bowling alley, christmas lights, and many other things I can't think of right now. Though I think the best part of that advice is the picture of his mailbox. My other favorite one is the one on triskadekaphobia which is the fear of the number 13. I like that one because when he's explaining what triskadekaphobia is he says some really funny thing like "Do you fear when the clock strikes 13?" Next to it it has a picture of a clock with 13 numbers on it and the hour hand is on the 13 and the minute hand is on the 12.

Unsolicited advice #1:

READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep an eye out for the sequel, Another Whole Nother Story!

New Room!

I got a new room, and as you (should) know, the most important thing about a new room is how much book space you have. So I took a few pictures of my room to give you a taste of the whole room.

Outside

of my wonderful book area.

(if you can't see, the tape says "Do not disturb")

Inside

of my wonderful book area.

BOOKS!

Next
to my bed.

MORE BOOKS!

And
just because.

Stuffed animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you like it?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Well, even if you don't I do, and if you have anything to say about this post please comment. I know this isn't normal for my posts, but I thought it would  be a nice thing to tell you guys about.

The Lightning Thief

What am I doing?

I'm making a little show that's made up of pictures of my geckos. I have one picture for each chapter, and there are twenty two chapters in the book. This show will not spoil the book for you, so if you haven't read the book (and you should!) it won't matter.
I worked very long and hard to get this done so I hope you all like it!

So sit back, scroll down, and enjoy the show!

I hope you like it!

I know scrolling down is so hard but it's worth it!

The Lightning Thief

By Rick Riordan

(A.K.A. the best author ever!)

This book is about a 12 year old boy named Percy Jackson who goes to a boarding school called Yancy Academy (sixth school in six years). One day when he's on a field trip to the MET (Metropolotin Meusem of Art) he "accidentally vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher" who turns out to be a monster. Soon enough he goes to a camp called Camp Half-Blood, where he finds out that his long-lost father turns out to be a Greek god! Once he gets there a girl named Annabeth calls him "the one". Turns out that means that he stole Zeus' master bolt, knowing that's not true Percy sets out with Annabeth and his best friend Grover, on a quest to find the lightning thief.

I think my favorite character in the book is Annabeth, I like her because of all the witty comments she makes over the course of the book. I also like comparing myself to her, in a way she's like my role model. This book is very important to me because this was the book that started my love of books. It affected me so much that when my middle school said they were cutting Latin I got so mad. I also like the fact that this book has mythology "infused" in it. I love all the things that Riordan does to make learning mythology enjoyable. At my school I think I have a permanent spot in the library's hall of fame because I was the one who introuduced everyone to the Percy Jackson series. I think the one complaint I've gotten the most is that the books are too childish for some peoples liking:

Them: Hey Maggie, I read the first chapter and I didn't like it! 

Me: Well, did you read the rest of the book? 

Them: Well, no. 

Me: Then read it!

That's normally how those conversations go. I know I had a little trouble with the first chapter, but I kept reading and now that's me favorite book series! 

This book means A LOT to me, and I hope you at least like it!

Happy Reading!

The Search For WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi

The Search For WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi is about a young girl named Eva Nine, who has lived underground with a robot for all 12 years of her life. Eva has been wanting to go the "outside world" for her whole life so she can see if there were any other humans that live on the planet. Then one day when she is at home with Murthur (her mother robot), some crazy hunter/assassin comes and lights the Sanctuary (her underground home) on fire. Then Eva is forced to go into the outside world, which is nothing like she expected it. The world was over grown, the birds and plants both looked strange, and there wasn't a single human in site.

The reason why she is searching for "WondLa" is because, back in the Sanctuary Eva had this "secret room" that she kept stuff in. Most of the stuff was little toys Murthur had given her, but one of them was a little scrap of paper showing a man, a girl, and a robot. They were all smiling and holding hands with each other, at the top of the paper the words were faded so all you could see was WondLa.

I fell in love with this book the second I started reading it. 

I hope you like it that much, too.

Middleworld by J&P Voelkel

Middleworld by J&P Voelkel is a wonderful book. It is about a young boy named Max who lives in Boston (woo hoo!) and is a all-American style kid. Over summer break when his parents are (supposed) to go to Italy with him they completly blow that idea off and go on a trip to (fictional) San Xavier. His parents are crazy archilogists, who go on a lot of trips to "digging" sites. Soon he finds out that his parents got lost, almost as suddenly as that sunk in to Max, his housekeeper, Zia, buys him tickets to San Xavier. Soon after he boards a plane to find his parents in San Xavier. When he gets there he meets a mysterious girl with two companion monkeys. She calls herself Lola and Max' life takes a turn that enhances each emotion differently, for the better.

I think people in 5th grade will like this book because it makes many references to Mayan culture (I read it at the end of 4th grade). For younger children this book might too confusing because there are so many different (not to mention, foreign) names that you have to keep track of. Older people might think that it is a bit young because of the plot line. Then again, if you are interested in Mayan culture you'll love this book!

 

Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates by Kim Kennedy

Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates by Kim Kennedy, is a very good book. At first when I saw the book cover (and this might happen to you) I got very confused.

The first things you see on the cover of this book are two girls (one in cat-eye glasses), a crystal ball (with a pirate ship in it), little golden statues of the "Big Three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), a group of (ghost) pirates, and a lighthouse (super high-tech, but it doesn't matter when you're starting the book). As you read the book all of the things on the cover begin to make sense. 

Misty Gordon and the Mystery of the Ghost Pirates is about a girl named Misty Gordon whose dad runs the D.E.A.D. ( Deceased’s Estate and Antique Dealer) business. One day Misty is in the businesses van with her dad to go check out a house. Once they get there Misty' dad tells her that the house used to belong to a recently departed clairvoyant. Soon she finds a a pair of "cat-eye" glasses, that her dad edges her to keep. Misty tries them on and she sees a mysterious woman in the doorway. Misty walks away and after that her life takes a surprising turn...

I think people in 4th-6th grade will like this book (I read it in 5th grade). I think they will like it because it has an interesting plot. Though, younger kids wouldn't like it because they wouldn't be able to follow the plot, as it is a bit confusing. Also, older people might think it is too childish, but if you're like anybody in my family you will have a wonderful time reading this book!