Thursday, September 8, 2016

Advice from a Tennis Player
Ace your dreams
Defend your court
Set your sights on high goals
Spin life in your favor
Don’t pressure yourself too much
Make sure you always have an advantage
Be a winner
Smash your goals


Every fault means you’re learning
Be outside and on the grass
Always run to the ball
Break records and be happy
Challenge calls you’re not happy about
Always have a partner you can trust
Rally back from defeats

Enjoy the fans!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Ben's Dream Middle

                 Foreword: This is the middle of the story Ben's Dream , by Chris Van Allsburg. The middle of the story just had pictures, and our assignment was to write the middle based on the pictures. You probably don't know what I'm talking about, but if you want to, buy Ben's Dream on Amazon!

                  Ben hears a rumble, and is knocked off his feet. He looks up and says," Where am I?" As he looks out the window, he realizes that he's not in the middle of the storm anymore. The door suddenly creaks open, and Ben sees...water. Water, far as the eye can see. But there's something else, way in the distance. Ben puts on his glasses and strains his eyes, and saw a giant statue, holding a torch! He faintly remembers something about it, but he just can't place it. But, there's a rumble, and Ben finds himself next to a giant clock tower.
                 Ben asks to nobody in particular," What am I doing in the ocean, next to a giant clock tower." He had no answers though, so he tried to remember something about it. " Hmm..., it's probably from a big city because it's so big, other than that, I've got nothing." Just then, there's a rumble, and Ben finds himself under a giant bridge.
                 The bridge is sinking but cars are still going through it."Is this London Bridge?" Ben asks himself. No, but Ben faintly remembers something about this bridge, but he just can't put his finger around it.Then, a car falls off the bridge and makes a beeline for Ben's house. Ben screams and braces for impact, but there's a rumble and Ben finds himself floating next to a giant leaning tower.
                 The tower looked like a giant, multi-level cake, and Ben felt his mouth water. He remembered that this was some sort of monument from Europe, but after that useless fact his mind was a blank.But, Ben sees people in it and is about to shout for help when there's a rumble and Ben sees crumbling, ancient pillars a hundred yards away from him.
                 The pillars he sees look old, old enough to be from Grecian or Roman times. They look to have some sculpted statues on top of them, but there so crumbly Ben can't make head or tail of them. Ben reaches into his mind for a glimpse of a memory, but there's a rumble and Ben sees a giant yellow head.
                 Ben says to himself " It looks light yellow and grainy, and has triangular ears, and has no nose( What was that about?), but other than that, this head has no identifying features. It looks like ancient architecture, but I've got nothing else in my mind about it" To Ben, it looked like nothing more than a tourism magnet. But, just then there's a rumble and Ben finds himself near a castle.
                 It had a bell tower like a cathedral, but the massive size of it made it look like a castle for royalty. It's architecture was rounded, and it had many buildings. Seeing it bobbing around was a funny sight, and Ben thought so too. He silently giggled to himself. Ben reached out from his balcony to touch it, but there's a rumble, and Ben sees a giant marble building.
            Ben quickly saw how big this building was. With three rounded main buildings, it looked like a guaranteed bucket list trip, like lots of the other monuments. Ben told himself," Wow! This thing is massive. Ben found himself taking out his camera to take a photo, but there's a rumble and Ben finds in front of him... a giant wall?!
            Ben had seen many strange things floating in the ocean today, but he was still taken by surprise at this titanic wall. Ben quietly asked himself, " What in the world is a giant wall doing bobbing up and down in the middle of the ocean?" Ben remembered something about this, but before a memory could be triggered, there was a rumble and Ben found himself next to 4 giant faces!
            Ben was astonished to see 4 giant faces floating in the ocean and rubbed his eyes to see if he was hallucinating. He looked at them again and there they were still floating around plain and tall. Ben was about to scream or pinch himself when a voice said," Ben, wake up."

Saturday, March 12, 2016

The Sword of Summer
By Rick Riordan
Main Characters:
The main characters in “The Sword of Summer are Magnus Chase, a sarcastic, witty, and quick thinking son of Frey that saves the world using the rope Andskoti and his sword, called Sumarbrander or, as the sword likes to call itself, Jack. There is also Samirah-Al-Abbas, a daughter of Loki and a personal Valkyrie(handmaiden of Odin) for Magnus. She is the one who brought Magnus to Valhalla( Norse heaven for fighters who died an honorable death), and she is a fearful fighter. There is also Blitzen, a dwarf in service of Mimir and a fashion designer. He is a daughter of Freya, which makes him a cousin of Magnus. There is Hearthstone, who is an elf in the service of Mimir. He is dumb(in the no talking way), and is very good at casting runes. He had a very harsh childhood, because his brother died and his brother was perfect to his parents, but since Hearthstone was dumb, they treated him like something they couldn’t wait to get rid of.

Setting:
The setting in the sword of Summer is in the nine worlds of the universe. Magnus and his crew traveled through MIdgard(where humans live), Jotunheim(the world of giants), Valhalla(the world of slain heroes that died bravely in combat), Vanaheim(where the Vanir gods live and where slain heroes that were sons or daughters of the Vanir usually go[Magnus was a special case]), and Nidavellir(dwarf land)

Details:
At the beginning, Magnus was just a homeless teenage guy with no idea about this Norse mythology, and hung out with his homeless buddies, Hearth and Blitz(Hearthstone and Blitzen in disguise sent to protect him by Mimir). Then he dies in combat with the king of fire giants, Surt, and gets taken to Valhalla by Samirah. While in Valhalla, the norns recite a prophecy that completely does not make Magnus’ day. Then, Blitzen and Hearthstone come and take him away from Valhalla. They then meet Samirah, who has been kicked out of the Valkyries.They then start looking for The Sword of Summer(Jack) and eventually find it. They have to save the world from Fenris Wolf( the most powerful being in the nine worlds) so they go to Nidavellir to retrieve the rope Andskoti from the elf Junior. Junior challenges Blitz to a competition of elf blacksmithing, and the loser has to pay for it with its head. Blitz wins, and he makes Junior give him Andskoti. They retrieve Thor’s replacement weapon for him and go to the Isle of Heather where they plan to rebound Fenris and they……………..do something, but I can’t tell you what happens

Theme:
I think the author’s message is to accomplish big things, many challenges will have to be overcome


Connections:
Text To Self:
My connection with Magnus is once my friend told me to say “My corpulence is downright brobdingnagian” and then he laughed and laughed and laughed. I don’t know what those words mean, but I think the general idea of it is I am stupid. This relates to Magnus because he was tricked into saying to an eagle(really a giant in disguise) by my troth I swear to bring you an apple of immortality. That means I will bring you an apple of immortality or I will die and go to Helheim(hell).

Opinion of Plot and Theme:

Overall, I really liked the plot of The Sword of Summer. It was very interesting, and you never knew what was going to happen next. Also, the book was very funny, with the sarcasm of Magnus and the other characters. The Sword of Summer is a book I would recommend to anyone with a reading level appropriate for it. I can't wait for the second book to come out, The Hammer of Thor.

Chris Van Allsburg Essay





The author Chris Van Allsburg is a writer of fantasy and mystery. From Zathura to Bad Day at Riverbend  most of his stories are fantasy, and they sometimes have a mysterious twist.  His stories usually have a hidden message in them, like in Probuditi, a book where a boy plays a trick on his sister, only to find his sister played a trick on him, the message is “if you play tricks on people, prepare to have tricks played on you”.  Chris Van Allsburg is an author that uses his author’s craft to always make his stories great.
The story Two Bad Ants is my favorite story by Mr. Van Allsburg. It tells a tale written from a narrator’s perspective in the world of ants.  In the beginning the queen ant tastes sugar crystals and decides they are delectable.  She orders a scouting party that goes on a journey to a human’s house and brings back one sugar crystal each for the queen.  But, two ants decide to stay behind in a  paradise of crystals. When they wake up, they have wacky misadventures.  Two Bad Ants is a story of teamwork and how not working as a team can get you in trouble.
Chris Van Allsburg’s Bad Day at Riverbend tells a story written in the world of a coloring book.  The page where Riverbend (the pages where the story is set ) is has not been colored yet, so when a horse comes in with greasy slime(crayon) on it everybody is frightened.  Sheriff Ned Hardy goes looking for the rider and finds that he is also covered in greasy slime and in a bad state.  Both these are products of a four year old’s imagination and artistic mind.  This book gives the reader a glimmer of what their crayon drawings would feel like if they were alive.
The books Two Bad Ants and Bad Day at Riverbend are two similar but very different books.  They are both written from a narrator’s perspective in worlds that the human cannot manage to see with the naked eye.  Two Bad Ants could have very well happened in real life (if you don’t keep your sugar covered you could get ants) but Bad Day at Riverbend is purely fictional (coloring book drawings aren’t alive!).  These books are very good, Mr. Van Allsburg didn’t disappoint.  
I think Chris Van Allsburg was an interesting author to study because his author’s craft and extraordinary illustrations make him an author hard not to like. The plot of his books, like Jumanji and Zathura,  have twists and turns around every corner and are fun to read.  For picture books, his stories  have lots of depth and meaning to them.  Overall, I’d rate Chris Van Allsburg an 8 out of 10 author.