In the third book of the Gatekeepers  one of the two twin brothers get kidnapped. The people from nightrise corporation took Scott. Jaime got away when a woman that was at his illusion show appeared and picked him up when he was about to get kidnapped. If she wasn’t there he might of gotten killed. She took him back to his house but she wouldn’t let him go alone. She knew that the police would be after him because he was framed for two murders.

            When they were at Jaime’s house the police barged in. Whenever the police went into one room Jaime and the woman would go into the next. When they finally caught up with her the police officer just looked at them and didn’t say anything. Finally when the officer left he said that they’re not in there. When she asked how he could do that he got angry and said he didn’t like to talk about it.

I believe that as the story goes on Jaime will find Scott. Then when they find each other they will be another two of the five elite kids that were meant to save the world. They have already found two of the kids in the last two books. I think they will meet up with the other two special kids. I can tell that they are part of the five because they have the same dreams as the other two

In the end of the book “EVIL STAR” it was very exciting and action packed. Matt, the main character, failed to stop a satellite from opening the gate. The satellite was used as an artificial star to open up the gate. When the gate was opened it released the “old ones” who were ancient creatures that are giant and want to destroy the world. Since Matt is one of the five elite kids who needs to protect all of the gates from opening he has special powers. Him and Pedro who also has powers put their powers together and badly damaged the old ones.

            Their powers weren’t enough to destroy the old ones but they badly damaged them. It put Matt in a coma and broke Pedro’s bones. They believe that the old ones are still on earth but no one can see them because they are hiding. Matt and Pedro took away so much of their power that it will take a long time for it to regenerate. A lot of people in Peru heard the great battle that went on with Matt but no one knew where it came from because it was in the middle of an isolated desert. Even if Matt told people what happened no one would believe him, one because he is a kid, and two because if someone told you that magical creatures came out from the earth and are trying to destroy the world you would probably laugh in their face and call them crazy.

In the next book I think the old ones will come back more powerful then before. I also believe that Matt and Pedro will find another one of the “five”. They will band together and defeat the “old ones”. I also think they will have to find another gate to stop the old ones from returning. Matt doesn’t want to be apart of this and I don’t blame him. He never knew he was going to get so involved. I hope in the next book this is what happens.

“Freedom Summer” is a very powerful picture book. It expresses many opinions about racial tolerance and not judging other people. There are two kids that are friends and one is black and one is white. Its starts out with them hanging out and having fun. As the story progresses it gets sad then it makes you feel hopeful.

            In the middle of the book a law was just passed that blacks can go to the same places as white people. The two main characters were so excited that they woke up early and ran to the public pool. When they get there they are very disappointed. They see the pool being filled up with tar. The African-American character is sad because he feels different from everyone else.

The main theme of this story is equal rights for everyone. Just because someone’s skin color is different doesn’t mean that the person is any different. The color of your skin does not effect who you are as a person. In the end of the book it shows them walking into the store to buy ice pops. In the beginning of the story the African-American has to wait outside while the white character gets the ice pops. The last drawing in the book shows them walking into the store with their arms around each other’s shoulders. This shows hope that things will be getting better.

In the book Evil Star  Matt finds himself in another situation. He needs to stop one of the most powerful men in South America. In order to break into the compound he needs to gather a small army.  Matt gets 50 f the remaining Inca tribesmen to help him. They wanted to help him the whole time. They know that they are risking their life but they know it is for a good cause.

            A lesson this teaches you is that its not about quantity its about quality. Even if you don’t have a lot of soldiers it doesn’t mean that you are worse then the opponent that has more. You could have a bunch of weak soldiers that would be worse then a small group of good quality soldiers. It is not only for soldiers it is for a lot of things. If you have a lot of friends but none of them really know you it would be worse than if you had a few friends that you were close to.

           

            In more than one way it is important that you have quality over quantity. You could have a lot of cheap things but none of them are high quality they will wear down easily. People should think about this when they decide important decisions in life.

In the book “Evil Star” Matt, the protagonist, fids himself in another bad situation. Someone from the Nexus, the secret group who is trying to protect Matt, is telling the Peruvian police secret information about Matt. No one in the Nexus knows who it is but, they are soon going to find out.

Without the help of the ancient Incas that are very sparse Matt would be dead. The Incas know every secret passageway in Peru. These passageways help Matt get away from the police and nearly death. Matt is very brave. If Matt wasn’t brave he wouldn’t be alive because he wouldn’t trust anyone. When matt went into the first passageway underneath Peru he was scared. The fact that if he didn’t go in he would be shot by the police forced him to trust a random person. Most people wouldn’t have gone in to a dark and secret tunnel with someone that they don’t know which is good but if you are in a life or death situation you have to trust anyone that is not the enemy.  The remainder of the Inca tribe is trying to help Matt because they know that he is a special kid. If he didn’t trust them he would be dead.

It’s not always a good idea to trust strangers. If a stranger tells you to go inside a dark tunnel it is probably not a good idea unless you have no other choice. It is highly unlikely that you will ever be in a life or death situation. Knowing who to trust is a big issue. If you trust the wrong people bad things can happen to you. If you know who to trust you will always be safe.

               In  the beginning of the book “Evil Star” by Anthony Horowitz there is a woman named Gwenda who is starting to go crazy. The front of Gwenda’s house was overflowing with garbage and weeds. The lights inside the house never were turned on. The worst part of the whole house was that there was a rotten sewage smell. This smell was thought to be a blocked sewage pipe until it got worse. It got so bad that people had to cross the street just to walk by. The horrid smell was starting to make the grass become a sickly brown color and was making near by flowers wilt. People knocked and called the house but no one would ever answer.

               Gwenda Davis was loosing her mind. There was no doubt about it. Once in a blue moon people would see her scurry home with bags from local shops. Often people would see her pace back and forth through the window. Also, every night she would turn on the TV. She started to go crazy when her and her boyfriend adopted an eight-year-old kid. Everyone knew they wouldn’t be good parents. The boyfriend, Brian, drank heavily and him and Gwenda would constantly argue. Matthew was a nice kid when he got adopted. For the first few years he was an all-star child. Later on he started skipping school and hanging out with the wrong people.

               I can relate to Gwenda about things not going right but not at such a drastic level. People will start to go crazy if things in their life are destroying them in the inside. If you ever feel like nothing is gong right and you have no one to talk to the same thing that happened to Gwenda could happen to you. It might not be as bad as her situation but it could make you feel like you are going crazy.

               In  the beginning of the book “Evil Star” by Anthony Horowitz there is a woman named Gwenda who is starting to go crazy. The front of Gwenda’s house was overflowing with garbage and weeds. The lights inside the house never were turned on. The worst part of the whole house was that there was a rotten sewage smell. This smell was thought to be a blocked sewage pipe until it got worse. It got so bad that people had to cross the street just to walk by. The horrid smell was starting to make the grass become a sickly brown color and was making near by flowers wilt. People knocked and called the house but no one would ever answer.

               Gwenda Davis was loosing her mind. There was no doubt about it. Once in a blue moon people would see her scurry home with bags from local shops. Often people would see her pace back and forth through the window. Also, every night she would turn on the TV. She started to go crazy when her and her boyfriend adopted an eight-year-old kid. Everyone knew they wouldn’t be good parents. The boyfriend, Brian, drank heavily and him and Gwenda would constantly argue. Matthew was a nice kid when he got adopted. For the first few years he was an all-star child. Later on he started skipping school and hanging out with the wrong people.

               I can relate to Gwenda about things not going right but not at such a drastic level. People will start to go crazy if things in their life are destroying them in the inside. If you ever feel like nothing is gong right and you have no one to talk to the same thing that happened to Gwenda could happen to you. It might not be as bad as her situation but it could make you feel like you are going crazy.

I am currently reading the story We Were in Auschwitz Narrated by Janusz Nel Siedlecki. He is trapped in a Nazi concentration camp. It is almost impossible to read this story without cringing at the way that these innocent prisoners were treated. They were whipped if they stopped working for one second. Men were literally turning into wild animals. People would murder each other for the last drop of soup.

         It is almost unbelievable how people were treated. The guards would beat prisoners just for the heck of it. If you went a foot out of line or didn’t march properly you could and would be shot. Being in these camps activated people’s inner animal instincts. You could be the nicest person in the world outside of the camp but inside you would steal and attack people for a crumb of bread.

         I believe everyone should read this book or a book like it. There is a saying “Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it.” If you have no knowledge of  World War II then it could happen all over again. There is a very miniscule chance that it will happen but there still is a chance. Things like concentration camps are happening in other countries right now. Those countries weren’t totally involved in the world war so they have no knowledge of the torment that the “prisoners” went through, proving the famous quote.

Mistakes That Can Change Your Life

The protagonist in Ravens Gate by Anthony Horowitz has many problems. He was raised in foster care because his parents died when he was young. Throughout his teenage years he starts to hang around the wrong type of person. Alex’s friend convinces him to go rob a warehouse full of electronics and dvds. The day that his parents died he had a dream of exactly what happened to his parents. On that same morning Alex’s mom burnt his toast. This may not seem important but it is one of the most important parts of the story.

        

         When alex was in the warehouse he smelled burnt toast. The second that the smell reached his nostrils he knew that something bad was going to happen. He doesn’t know this now but the key to activating his powers is smelling burnt toast. Immediately after he smelled the burning a security guard nabbed him. Alex knew that the moment he agreed to do this it was a bad decision. Alex doesn’t really care about what he does because he feels his life is messed up enough.

         The problem that Alex has is a similar problem that many teenagers have, hanging out with the wrong group of people. If you are friends with bad kids it will only lead to trouble for you down the road. You will end up in the back of a police car. I am not saying that I’m the best-behaved person in the world. Everyone will eventually make a mistake that they are not proud of. You just need to learn from your mistakes and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

In the story Am I Blue?  By Bruce Coville there was a sixteen year old kid named Vincent that was being made fun of because people thought that he was gay. Vincent was trying to figure out if he was gay or not. I think that partially Vincent doesn’t want to be gay because of all of the people that would make fun of him and harass him. Vincent also wanted to talk to someone about it but he was afraid. After Butch Carrigan, the bully beat up Vincent his fairy godfather appeared. Melvin, the fairy godfather told Vincent his story. One day he was walking down the street and a group of guys dragged him into an alley and murdered him. Vincent got angry at Melvin because he winked at another guy. Vincent was scared because he knows that if you assume that someone is gay and they’re not they will come and beat you up. Vincent was confused because Melvin said he knew who was gay and who was not using his “gaydar”. 

This story is very unrealistic but it brings across a very good point. The story is saying that it’s ok to be gay and you don’t have to worry about talking to someone. People may judge you on that about you but it’s your life and they shouldn’t judge you on that. Also people who make fun of you may also be gay and they are just ashamed of themselves or their parents could have brought them up like that so they don’t want to disappoint their parents.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

In the “Drummer Boy of Shiloh” By Ray Bradbury one of the themes is sometimes you don’t realize how important you really are. In the story Joby thought that he was just playing the drums so he didn’t feel important. He thought that you have to have a gun to be important. The general came up to Joby and told him how important he is. He told him that if you have a slow drumbeat the soldiers would be slow and sluggish. If you have a fast paced drumbeat the soldiers will be energetic and ready to fight. Joby was like the heart of the army.

If you don’t know how important you are then you will not be living to your full potential. Your job could be very important but you wouldn’t know. Sometimes it takes another person to help you realize that you are important, like in the story the general helped Joby. People may not think so but everyone’s job helps people in a different way no matter what you do.

In the Million Dollar Throw the conflict started resolving when Nate Brodie started to believe in himself. Before, when he didn’t believe in himself he started failing in all of his games. Nate didn't think he could do it so he couldn't. Nate knew he was a good football player but he had to prove it to himself first. When Nate started trusting himself he finally started to win all of his games. The theme of the story is that in order to achieve things in life you have to believe in yourself. It connects to the real world because in order to do your job or to do anything you need to believe in yourself. If you don’t then you wont accomplish anything and no one will believe in your abilities because you cant prove them to people.

Million dollar throw

The book Million Dollar Throw by Mike Lupica is about a kid who has a once in a lifetime chance of winning a million dollars. The only thing stopping him is himself. Before he found out about his chance he was an all star quarterback, one of the best in the state. As his season progresses his skills start to deteriorate. Everyone on his team and in his life knows that he is an amazing athlete but he is not believing in himself anymore. While this is going on his life long friend is loosing her vision, is dad is losing his job, and his mom has to work after hours just to keep their family on their feet. Later on in the season the main character realizes that he can do it. When he starts believing in himself he starts to win his games. When the day comes of the million dollar throw he drives to the stadium with his mom, his dad, his life long friend, and some of his teammates. Its halftime and he walks on to the field and is greeted by is all time favorite football player and athlete, Tom Brady. Tom Brady gives him some tips and they start to have a catch. When the time comes he goes to the spot where he has to throw the football from and pulls out his most prized possession, his Tom Brady signed football. He rears back and throws the ball, a perfect spiral through the twenty inch hole. He doesn't believe it. He just won a million dollars. The main character takes hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for his best friends eye surgery. With the leftover money is helped his family grow together because now they can be with each other for more than an hour or so. Million Dollar Throw is a good book that teaches to help others and to believe in yourself.