Monday, April 29, 2013

The Fault in Our Stars

by Nora

Well. I need to fully compose myself before writing this post or else I will cry. Again.


Honestly, going in I had no idea that The Fault in Our Stars was (I'm not going to call it a cancer book, because of something mentioned in the book itself) a book with a cancer component. Prior to reading The Fault in Our Stars, I read Send Me a Sign, another book with cancer (What? A book with cancer? No. A book about cancer. -.-) and I was just about done with cancer by then. And now I'm saying cancer way too much. I'm sorry. This book made me a mess.

John Green is evil. He is 100% evil, and I'm pretty sure that if you read this book, you would agree with me. Okay? Okay. ;) It was pretty funny, actually, because Hazel and Augustus (the two main characters) were brought together by a book, written by whom I consider their favorite author. I was actually reading this as I was about to meet one of my favorite authors, Lauren Oliver (what? I know! Post to come).

So, if you would like a good cry, read this book. If not, read it anyway. It is extremely worth it. Just don't read it in public. You will cry. It is beautifully written and I'm so upset that it is not in a series. I am looking forward to reading more of John Green in the future.
-Nora

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

World Book Night 2013

By Kristen


Happy Belated Birthday Shakespeare!
As you might have noticed right up there ^^ you can tell that recently, Shakespeare's birthday passed :) And it was yesterday! Which may or may not have been a coincidence because yesterday was also World Book Night!

This is why there wasn't a post yesterday: tons of setting up, working on our groovy 1970s room, eating pizza, meeting authors, being interviewed about the books we had to read during a panel interview...

We had quite a few rooms and this year, there were many more people than last year which was very exciting.  So in our first grade wing we had Caldecott Award-Winning Authors "Book Talks."  Nora and I really only know about the rooms but not what goes on in them because we were at our 70s room yelling, "Hello people, come to our 70s room, where you can boogie and jive!" But I'll get to that in a bit :)

Then, in the second grade,  there was a Reader's Theater and poetry readings and displays on the bulletin boards.  I was able to get a peek in the room, I saw parents looking at the books displayed on the tables and children looking around, which was a good sign.Then, in the third grade, there were "Poetry Tellers" and book recommendations and poetry comic displays on the bulletin boards.  Which reminds me...in the hallway to the lower school, there were cute poems hanging on the wall and one in particular which I can't really recall, but I wish I did because it was funny!

The fourth grade had the "Poetry Jam Cafe" which I'm pretty sure they read poems out loud (and I don't know much about the other rooms, I was in ours the whole time!)  The fifth and sixth grade volunteers served as tour guides for the guests and they dressed up like the Olympians from Percy Jackson! And it related because one of the books was The Lightning Thief this year.



Us wearing our awesome sunglasses! (That make our faces look fat)


I'll skip the seventh and eighth grade for now and move onto grades 9-12...So for them, they had something to do with digital apps (the Digital Literacy elective) and Spanish Art Installations.  And here's the seventh-eighth grade now...*drum roll please*


          The 1970s Room!!!!!!!

Come to our groovy 70s room! Come and boogie and jive! Notice that random space there.....

This was the best room eva!  Here, we had mini quizzes to test people's knowledge of the 70s and also a small slip of paper: Middle School was the best/worst time of my life because___________.
I really think that the parents and kids enjoyed our room.  We had music, a word wall (that had terms and phrases used in the 70s, such as brickhouse *laughs silently...its an inside joke between me and my friends* which means a hot person, catch you on the flip side: see you later, cat: a cool person, boogie: dance and a ton more).  We had a wall of facts about the 70s also.  It was like our "Phantom Tollbooth time machine, back to middle school!"


Aj Paquette and David Kelly
And then there was the panel interview.  Look at how HUGE that crowd is.  I mean, who wouldn't be nervous about talking in front of that many people?  So basically, we went thought the whole panel (there was a lot of us too) and said our names, grades, the book we read, and the author of the book.  Mine was Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith and Nora read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

We didn't have to answer every questions asked, but at least one.  Oh yeah, did I mention, we were interviewed about our books by Aj Paquette and David Kelly? Like whoa right there.  Two authors came to our school!

It was AMAZING.  The two authors both talked about how reading shaped their lives and a little bit about what they wrote about in a book they have written.  It couldn't have been any better.

And I've still got stuff to go on about! We had Lucy the R.E.A.D. Dog here.  I got to see her but I didn't get to pet her (haha) because there was a whole bunch of kids gathered around her!  I thought it was a cute thing to have for the younger kids :)
Wow, I've written so much.  I think I'll end it here, and one last thing, if you came to the FRCS World Book Night, thank you for coming!
-Kristen

Nora said the writing on her arm's a Doctor Who thing...Jonathan's just randomly there.....
I was up so late doing my homework....
There were so many free books...most of them were gone by the end...
They also had a raffle! And they were giving away a Kindle! And he  got, sorry I should say won, a book signed by Aj Paquette...Paradox...Jonathan better let me read it...
Volunteers in the event couldn't enter to win.....humph...



Tuesday, April 16, 2013

My (Extremely Simple) Writing Process

By Nora



Writing is fun. It lets you escape into your own world, with your own characters, and your own fictional problems. It lets you use your imagination and discover what kind of intricate little images your brain can create. In my case, these images are usually morbid and about death or destruction (my friend suggested checking into a mental institution). But, nowadays, it seems like that's common. Though I am, sadly, not a published author (yet), I am here to introduce you to my writing process.


  1. I don't map anything out. Call me crazy, but I feel that planning the whole story out at once is useless to me. Though it may work for some people, I just find that it does not work for me. I usually discover my best ideas while I'm writing.
  2. Sometimes I start with a small scrap of a piece. When I'm bored and don't really have any ideas, I'll just write a beginning, or I'll come up with an amazing character or setting or plot, that I just start with what I have. For example, the piece I'm writing right now started from just a simple plot idea (a story about a person who can communicate with the dead).
  3. Find a place to sit, relax, and write. Sometimes get a glass of water or sugary drink, like lemonade, to refresh you as you write. If I can't find a quiet place away from my family or friends, I'll plug in headphones and listen to an instrumental music track or create a playlist that fits the mood of the piece I'm writing.
So that's pretty much it. I enjoy posting my writing on figment.com so other people can critique and read my work. I enter contests and communicate with fellow teen writers on there, as well. I highly suggest checking it out.
***
Also, this Thursday, April 18, is Operation Teen Book Drop 2013. Hide a book somewhere in your town or library! For more details, click here.


-Nora

Friday, April 12, 2013

UnEnchanted

By Kristen


I honestly thought that this was a really cute book and I loved it a lot! I like the idea a lot and how it has to do with fairy tales (because when I was younger, I loved fairy tales and I still do which might be a bit sad) and the grim reaper (is that supposed to be capitalized or not? *Unsure*)

I need inspiration to finish this post.  My dad bought it for me on my tablet and the second book too, Fairest and I sure hope there's a third because I want to know what happens with Mina and if she and Brody ever get back together because in the first book, like, they were together under a fairy tale and in the end their relationship just stops but Brody still has some sort of memory of her but not really if that made any sense...Sorry for spoiling that part ^.^ and then there's Jared and there's a whole other story behind him.....................................................He's the one that tells her about her ancestry about the whole fairy tales chasing the Grime (Really Grim) family (and I'm pretty sure that's the name)

Her mother tried protecting her from the fairy tales and there's something having to do wiht a mirror (but I can't remember if that was in UnEnchanted or Fairest. Sooooo I think I'll stop there.  I really think that you should read this and I know you'll love it!

-Kristen

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Abandon


By Kristen


Before I start, I would like to explain why there wasn't a post on Sunday or Tuesday.  Let's just say that Nora was being dumb :P She said "Oh yeah but I didn't have time on Sunday" and I told her "Well ya know what I'm not posting till you do." And then she said she was going to post yesterday but "Oh yeah I was packing for Florida, I didn't have time" Excuses, EXCUSES, excuses. So she's sitting in a car bored and all and I told her, "Fine, I'll post today and tomorrow and next week you will have to post THREE TIMES due to her day being Sunday, last Sunday and it's her turn to do Tuesday.  I'm mad at her.  It's her fault!

Sorry for my rant, but I had to get it out there!


 In one of the first chapters, it said that the main character, Pierce, took the written drivers' test forty something times and failed.  All forty something.  I laughed.  I loved this book so much and I'm waiting to finish a ton of other books first before I can read the second book :| You see, there are at least 10 books that I have to finish beofre the end of the school year, June 25, because ya know, they're not mine...

But back to the point: Abandon is a very good book and I've read so many books in between and I can barely remember what happened.  She died and came back.  Then, she met John (Haha! My brother's name spelled differently!) but I won't give away who he was because it would spoil like the whole book and then there's something with her grandmother... And *sigh* I want to go to the library...





Well, That's a wrap! World Book Night on the 23rd this month is at our school! Nora and I are student readers reading two different titles.  If you are in the area of Foxboro, you should come to our World Book Night starting at 6 pm at the Foxborough Regional Charter School.  This would be the second annual Book Night held at FRCS!

-Kristen

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Fever

By Kristen

I've been sitting here for the past 20 minutes trying to think of a book I've read.  And I am still thinking.

--15 Minutes Later--

I'm going to look on Goodreads now...


I finally decided! Doing Fever from the Chemical Garden Trilogy :)


So this is kind of hard for me to remember...I read it what, last month?  Well there's Rhine and Gabriel and Rhine and Vaghn and Linden and Cecily and Grace and Lilac and Maddy and Rhine and Gabriel and KNHSDFJKLGHJKLSDJSDHGJKSDG so many names...

About three quaters through the book I was depressed and sad and crap and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHY DID VAUGHN JKGNFSDJKGHJKSGIGSDFJK stupid June Beans and crap... I really should be editing the video for my spanish project right now and I'm just coming up with excuses so I don't have to talk about this book and be depressed all over again..........

*Listening to Mirrors <3* Luv that song

NOOOOOOO RHINEEE WHAT ABOUT GABRIEL WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!?!?!??!?!??!??!?!??!!



Breathe* Deep breaths* Calm*

I am dying to read Sever.  READ IT! I said that when I did Wither...

World Book Night is on April 23rd!
-Kristen

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

NYC Teen Author Festival Haul!

by Nora

As you may have noticed, I recently posted about my experience at the NYC Teen Author Festival. Here's what I came out of:

All books purchased (by my grandmother) at Books of Wonder, NYC.

  1. Between You and Me: Marisa Calin
  2. Reunited: Hilary Weisman Graham
  3. The Art of Wishing: Lindsay Ribar
  4. Eleanor & Park: Rainbow Rowell
  5. Send Me a Sign: Tiffany Schmidt
  6. Intentions: Deborah Heiligman
Not Teen Author Fest Related:
  1. Shards and Ashes: Various Authors, including Veronica Roth and Beth Revis
  2. Catherine: April Lindner
  3. Time Between Us: Tamara Ireland Stone
  4. Incarnate: Jodi Meadows
Plus, a snazzy Monument 14 rubber bracelet! (I wish I knew what blood type I am!)