Sunday, April 20, 2008

Hatchet

PLOT SUMMARY: I read the book Hatchet. Hatchet is about a boy named Brian Robeson. Brian is stranded somewhere in the Canadian forest because he was on his way to visit his father when the pilot of his plane had a heart attack and died while they were in flight. Brian did not know how to fly a plane so he crashed into a lake and somehow survived the crash. Now Brian is alive, but he has no idea how to survive off the wilderness and all he has is the clothes on his back and the hatchet that his mother gave him before he went on the plane. Brian is not afraid of dying in the wilderness. He thinks that someone will come and find him very soon. Brian is very sour from the crash, but after a few days of just sitting in the woods Brian realizes how hungry he is. He looks for some food and finds berries. They look beautiful but don't taste as good as he had expected. He's just going to have to live with them for now. Brian Knows he has to build some shelter, so he does. After living in the wilderness for a while Brian gets tired of eating the same exact thing every day, so he decides to look for some more food. He finds a raspberry patch and is glad. During one of the nights, a porcupine comes into Brian's shelter and Brian throws his hatchet at it. The hatchet makes sparks and the porcupine shoots it's quills into Brian's leg which hurts Brian badly, but from that night he learned something very important. He realized that the sparks from his hatchet could ignite a fire without matches. It takes time for him to realize it, but after a while he gets it. Brian finds turtle eggs and he eats them happy as can be. One day a rescue plane flies over Brian, but it doesn't see him and just keeps on going. Brian catches a fish and is very happy. He catches many of them and has a big feast that night. Brian gets tired of fish and knows that he needs some meat. He has seen fat birds around, but they seem to blend in with the woods, so it is hard for him to shoot any with his bow and arrow. He finds a quick trick to catch them and he ends up catching a few. He is attacked by a moose and his ribs are very sore. There is a tornado a few days later and it ruins his shelter. The next day when he wakes up he spots the tail of the plane, which reminds him of the dead pilot and he says a couple of words for him. Then he remembers the survival pack in the plain. He builds a raft to get to the plane which is far away from shore then starts making his way to it. When he gets there he drops his hatchet in the water and realizes that without it he could never make a fire without it so he decides to get it back. It takes a few shots for Brian to get it back, but he gets it. Brian gets the survival pack and is amazed at what is in it. He is glad he retrieved it. When Brian is eating his meal from the survival pack a plane shows up and rescues Brian.

CHARACTER: The main character in Hatchet is Brian Robeson. Brian is a very devoted boy. He never gave up hope on being rescued, but then again that could be because he didn't know any better. Brian must have had a tough childhood with his parents being divorced and his mother cheating on his father ("The Secret").

MY THOUGHTS: I thought the book was amazing. I loved almost every part except for the end when he gets rescued. I thought it was the wrong time. I thought that right when he was about to give up on living then the plane comes and rescues him.

READING STRATEGIES: One of the 7 Reading Stratadies I used was mental images. Gary Paulsen uses a lot of description during his books, so it is easy to picture what is going on.

AUTHOR INFORMATION: I liked how detailed Gary Paulson wrote. I liked the plot of the story a lot. Many things happened to Brian that I didn't think would happen to him. Like the porcuipine attacking him. I do not know of any other books that Gary Paulson made.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Playing Without The Ball

PLOT SUMMARY: I read the book Playing Without The Ball by Rich Wallace. This book is about a 16 year old boy named Jay who loves to play basketball, but he is an average player. He isn't good enough to play on his school's varsity team so he gets cut. Beacause Jay loves basketball so much he joins the church league. In the end of the book Jay's team wins the championships.
Jay's parents are divorced. He used to live with his father, but when Jay got old enough to take care of himself, his father moved out to California without Jay and now Jay lives by himself. Jay does have one parental guardian. His name is Shorty and he owns the bar, Shorty's, where Jay works as a cook. There is a band that plays at Shorty's a lot. Jay gets to know the lead singer of the band. Her name is Spit. She is a laid back girl that takes drugs and just goes along with almost everything. Jay meets a girl named Julie. Jay falls inlove with Julie. He wants to ask her out and when he does Spit gets jelous and she acts like she is going out whit Jay. Julie gets mad and leaves the bar. Jay doesn't think she will ever come back, but she does and Jay apologizes. She accepts the apologie because Spit explained to her what had happened. Jay then asks Julie if she wants to go out on a date with him and she says "yes".

CHARACTER: The main character in Playing Without The Ball is Jay. Jay is a smart kid. I don't know about his grades, but he is smart because he doesn't get caught up in all of the drugs that are all around him. He could easily get away with it because he lives by himself, but he doesn't.

MY THOUGHTS: I liked the book, but i didn't love it. I think the author added in too much information that wasn't needed. I liked the plot a lot. Most basketball books are about the star basketball player, but this book is about an average player who didn't even make varsity.

REDING STRATEGY: One of the 7 reading stratagies I used was infrencing. I infrenced that Jay wouldn't make the varsity team. I also inferenced that Spit would get jelous of Jay because of Julie
AUTHOR INFORMATION: I have never heard of Rich Wallace ever before. I thought he was an average author