Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The Uglies is a fiction book. It has all kinds of advanced technology such as hoverboards, hovercars, and talking rooms. I was originally interested in this book because of the title and when I read the back of the book it sounded so interesting and made me think of why everyone was separated by the way they looked.

The book Uglies is about a girl named Tally and how she can't wait until September ninth. Not for turning sixteen but for turning pretty. In Tally's world there are two towns; New Pretty Town and Uglyville. Everyone lives in Uglyville until they turn sixteen and get the operation. The operation that changes your life forever and Tally can't wait. She would soon be living in a paradise where it was all fun all the time. But one night while Tally is pulling an ugly prank she meets Shay. Shay is an ugly and all her friends are gone too. But not all of Shay's friends turned pretty. To pass the time Tally and Shay would pull pranks but six nights before their birthday Shay takes one prank too far. That is to run away to the Smoke and never come back and never turn pretty. When Tally says no Shay decides to go without her no matter what. But just in case Tally wants to come later she left her note that only Tally would understand. On the day of the operation instead of being taken to the operation room she is taken to Special Circumstances. Once she reached the room she is told that she can either tell them where Shay and the others are or she can die ugly. Once Tally says she won't tell them where Shay is because she promised Shay not to they take her back to Uglyville where she will live. The next night Tally realizes she also made a promise to Peris, her best friend who is already pretty, that she won't cause any trouble so she can become pretty with him too. So Tally calls the Special Circumstances and gives them the note that Shay gave her.

The Special Circumstances tells Tally that they packed her bags for her and she can leave tonight to find the Smoke. They gave her a pendent necklace to activate when she gets there and then they will know exactly where she is. On Tally's journey she goes through old ruins, falling off a cliff, having all her clothes shredded, and almost being burnt to death. But once she arrives Tally quickly notices that the Smoke is a completely different place that she soon falls in love with along with David. To prove how final her staying is she decided to burn the necklace in doing so she accidentally sets it off. So the next morning everyone is in a scramble fighting their ways out of Special Circumstances hands. When Tally manages to escape she meets up with David who escaped also. Earlier in Tally's arrival she met David's parents who were doctors who did the operation, once they found out that the operation not only changes your appearance but your mind too. It enables the fact to feel any other emotion then happy and bubbly. So Tally and David set out to find his parents and Shay. When they arrive Tally and David come to find David's dad dead and Shay pretty. But they captured the rest and took them all to a secret place called the Rusty Ruins. Once there David's mom finds a cure to get your brain back to the usual self. But Shay being transformed into a pretty wont' do it. So Tally volunteers to turn pretty then they can test it out on her. So in the end, it's Tally and Shay, best friends, one pretty and one ugly.

The significance of the title Uglies is obvious. The whole book is about Tally's journey of wanting to turn pretty. Then learning that it's not what life is all about.

If I could ask Scott Westerfeld three questions about Uglies it would be:

1. What made you think of all the advanced things in this book? Like hoverboards, talking rooms etc.

I would ask this because there were so many things in the book that I couldn't even imagine that he brought to life through the book. So many advanced things that it just makes you wonder if that could ever really happen.

2. How did you ever think to write a book about being ugly and pretty?

I would ask this question because in the book the two are separated so much that it makes you wonder how he feels about being ugly and pretty. And if he feels there really is such a vast difference like it shows in the book.

3. How did you write this book?

I would ask this question finally because the plot Scott Westerfeld used, in my opinion, is very different from the usual kind of story. He builds up to the point then brings in another conflict and another until in the end the girl goes against everything she believed in and becomes pretty. It kept me interested throughout the whole thing.

By: Kierstyn Tuel :]

Stoner and spaz: Kyle Reviea 1-15-08

This is a book about friendship and overcoming challenges. The main charicter is Ben who is crippled on his left side. He is kind of a loner and dosnt really have any friends until one day he is at the movie theater and he meets somebody from his school named Colleen. Colleen is the school stoner and has no manners so when she meets Bens grandma she dosnt make a great first impression. Ben and Colleen start to hang out and talk alot more which Ben's grandma dosn't approve of She takes him to parties and clubs behind her boyfriends back. One day Colleen got really sick and had to go to the hospitol for three days. Ben thought that after that she wouldnt smoke or drink anymore but he was wrong and finds her smoking in an ally with some other friends. Ben thought that he had changed her but really nothing changed except for Ben haveing more friends.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (blog by lili warren)

The book twilight is a romantic-fiction type of book. Its under the topic romantic because its about to people falling in love. Its also a fiction book because some of the main people in the book are vampires (who doesn't like human blood).

I picked this book to read because it seemed everyone was in love with this book and i just wanted to see if i would be in to this book like every one else. another reason is that the movie looked really good an they all ways say the book is better then the movie.

The book twilight is about a high school girl that just moved to forks Washington to live with her dad that she hasn't seen in a long time. When she gets there Bella realized that everyone knew her already since there school was so small. When she got there there was no one in sight. that day she ment a guy name Edward cullens. He was the dreamy guy at forks high school. Edward didnt really have the perfect love at first sight thing but since edward was a vampire he wanted to suck her blood. While the weeks went on he never showed up bella was always waiting for his science partner to come long. he finally came and bella wasnt soo happy. but ended up falling in love with each other.

while they spend there there was one bad vampire that want bella to die cause of her weird blood. Edward tryed protecting her but it wasnt working so they make up a plan to split up eachother. after all that they went to prom but bella has something on her leg from when they were running away from the bad vampire.

1. I wanna no why they wanted the scene to be in forks? i no its because its gloomy but wouldnt vampires live somewhere cooler.
2. what does the apple have o do with cover of the book? i would ask this cause i dont get why theres a apple there.

Tears of a tiger By Sharon M. Draper (blog by nathan forsgren)

1. "Here" by Hello good bye-- I picked this song because the song talks about him liking driving in the car . I linked that with the book because before the accident in the car they were fine together in the car driving. This song was also a very up beat song so the second reason I chose it was because the kids in the car (Andy, Robert, B.j., and Tyrone) were all happy about Robert about to get a scholarship.

2. "Eye of the tiger" by Survivor-- I picked this as a second song because this song talks about how he wants to survive and how it happened so quick. In the book the accident (car accident) happens very quick. The part were he wanted to survive I meant as in he didn't want to and he didn't know he was going to die. Also because it reminded me of basket ball like in the book since Robbert was the basket ball captain.

3. "All I ask of you" from Phantom of the opera-- This song was a composure which I liked because I'm a band nerd. Another reason I picked this song was because it talks about about the darkness and how the phantom (from the opera) said she was going to be OK, jest as Andy did to Robert right after the accident while he was dying. Also I picked this song because it was some what a sad song,which adds to the scene or setting of the book.

4. "Nothing left" by As I lay dying-- I picked this song because it had a dark intensity to it that pertained to the book when Robert died. The other part I picked this song for was as in the song they said as I quote "we can not hide there's nothing left" it relates to in the book when Andy gets depressed when Robert dies that he decides there's nothing left in the world for him anymore.

5. "How you remind me" by Nickelback-- I pick this song because it was about how she reminded him of her in the song. In the book I did this part for when Andy shot himself B.J. thought of it as a punishment for him so Andy's death reminded him of Robbert's death.

6. "Pray!" by Apocalyptica-- this last but not least song I picked was picked for the reason it was borderline a sad song. Also it was a song that meant for pray to him or that is what I felt from it when I heard it. I picked the sad part because in the book it is a pretty sad part when Andy commits suicide because he feels responsible for Robbert's death.

Snitch By Tanner Lupton

I chose the book snitch because one i was over winter break and i wanted something easy to read. But it wasnt just cause of that. when i read the back of the book i related to alot. I know what its like to be snitched on. The book snitch is a fiction book. It was not based on a true story although stuff that happened in the book happens all the time in real life. Kids fight, kids get caught then they either do time or do community service. And thats what josh did. he got into a fight with another student and was sent to court. the judge gave him two choices either jail or go to the humane society. josh chose to go to the society. He was to teach dogs to be well mannored, as well as himself. He completed the course. and was able to change his life around.

• Questions for Author.

what made you write a book about this kind of topic?
i really liked this book. so would you ever write the same book but make it longer? I just thought that it was a little to short

Do hard things is a non-fiction book. I chose this book because it was recomended to me by my dad, so i picked it up and he was right.

This book is written by two now young adults. In the book they tell stories of there childhood, high school, and post high school. However, the book is not a biography. much of the book is spent talking about "doing hard things". Its about rebelling against the low expectations put on teenagers today. The book talks about how two teenagers decided early they were goin to force themselves to do hard things. Things that would lead them to succes.

It then talks about how this hard work pays off for them. They get invited to any colleges they want, invited to sit in at the senate, and invited to speak all over the country. They wrote the book to try and convince as many teenagers as possible that doing hard things will lead you to anything you want to do. It is also written to parents to not have low expectations on your kids to raise the bar. The book is not something you would expect from a couple teenagers but there logic makes perfect sense and it is a gripping book.

The title of the book tells the whole story "do hard things" and raise your expectations the sole purpose of the book being written.

1.who got this idea started in your head?

2. what does god have to do with all of this?

3. what all has this helped you achieve?