Doug Swieteck is a 14 year old boy with a life that is anything but desirable, he lives in a small town he hates in upstate new york, has an abusive father, a brother who is scarred from the Vietnam war and another brother known for being a criminal. He tries to find happiness in the small things like his mothers smile and joy, drawing birds, his friend lil and his baseball jacket that used to be owned by a baseball legend. Once these things start disappearing his mother stops smiling his fathers job is in danger and his jacket is stolen. He overcomes this and against the odds makes his life better with the help of noble people like the librarian and his teacher. This book is very emotional and one of the most heartbreaking parts is when they…
This story takes place in a place called Everlost. Everlost is a world between life and death that is home to kids that range from ages six to seventeen. The world itself is dark and gloomy. Everything that is alive in the real world appears dead in Everlost. However, there are “dead spots” that are full of life in Everlost. The story starts off with two children, Nick and Allie, which die in the same car accident but lose their way in the dark tunnel while going towards the light. They wake up in a huge jungle that is also a dead spot and find a boy, which they later name Lief, standing over them. He shows them the way of Everlost and teaches them all the rules there. Nick and Allie eventually decide to leave the safety of the jungle and head for home. Lief decides to come with them on their journey. They learn much on their way and find two tall towers that are big dead spots in Manhattan. Mesmerized by the towers, the children cannot help but investigate the towers. The towers turn out to be the World Trade Center. In Everlost, anything that was ever loved and then dies will carry over to the world. Here they find Mary, who lives in the towers with hundreds of children that she takes care of. Eventually Nick and Lief get in trouble. Mary and Allie, who aren’t friends, then have to pool their resources together to save them from the McGill. The McGill is the one true monster of Everlost. The main protagonist in this story is Allie. However, Nick is another protagonist but doesn’t play as big of a role in the story. The antagonists in the story are the McGill…
Nicole walked cautiously through the mysterious purple mist, as she walked she noticed the meeting house that was in every village. On the contrary, there was something bizarre about this village, it was foreign to her. Suddenly another peculiar observation hit Nicole, the village was absolutely deserted! In addition,not only that but the area actually looked like a battle scene. She inched closer and closer to the meeting house, suddenly Nicole stumbled and unnervingly she spotted what had made her stumble, it was a book. Nicole thought it was silly that a book was in the middle of this specific place. Out of the blue Nicole had a feeling she was not alone and was being watched by hundreds of eyes. She became extremely petrified and started spinning around, eyeing everything to make sure nothing would hurt her. It was such a strange sight a beautiful loving mother in the center most of a deserted town…
The glistening, white snow fell slowly to the ground outside the window. The distinct shapes of the snowflakes shown; the light from the street lamp seeping through the cracks. The mumble of the heater in the corner of the room; the faint sound of the blood dripping onto the floor were the only sounds. He lay there; motionless. The thuds were entering the silent room once again. The creaking of the wooden floor grew louder and louder. Still the light of the street lamp shone through the window and onto the far wall. The nasty figure walked into the murky room. Only its shadow appeared on the far wall behind it. The boy in the bed was Eli. His tiny eight year old body was red with his own blood. Then……
Students ask themselves “why does school have to start so early?” on a daily basis without receiving an answer. Usually, teens find it difficult to fall asleep early and get their 8 hours of sleep, therefore the next day they wake up early, and they're tired all day at school. That is a norm for middle and high school students, and it shouldn’t be. School start times are too early, and need to be change to a later time in order for students to get their full 8 hours of rest.…
Did you know 75 percent of kids are not getting enough sleep because of school starting early? School should start later in the day so kids can get their sleep. There are many bad and good result for schools that open early or late in the morning such as, teens have a greater chance of having anxiety and illnesses. Teens need at least 8.5 hours of sleep, and test scores are better. There are a lot at risk for teens because of school opening early.…
Getting the right amount of sleep is very important in everyone's life and are especially important for teenagers. Teenagers have what is called their natural sleep clocks. Therefore, waking up early and going to sleep early is difficult. Being a high school student is an extremely hard job to have, but could it benefit teenagers that classes begin and end later in the day? It most defiantly does benefit the teenager, but you cannot forget about the afterschool activities. If high school classes begin and end later in the day, students will be more focused and successful. It is very difficult for a student to wake up early and be expected to stay focused. For example, he or she has to wake up at the crack of dawn to get ready for a long day of school. His or hers first period class is honors English, but are failing because he cannot stay awake…
This book is incredible. It brings to life a topic that many people try to stay away from but the author does an incredible job of making it easy to read for younger readers. This book has no pictures besides the cover. This book is about a girl who is 13 years old who just lost her brother in a bicycle accident. The brother was named Mick Harte. He was not wearing a helmet and passed away a little bit after getting into the accident. The focus is the aftermath of a family member passing away. The author does not try to make the entire book about wearing a helmet, she uses “small moments” to explain the pain the family experiences after his death. One example is when the father comes home from the hospital and stares into Mick’s room. He slowly…
Today, the average school starts at 8:00 AM, with A period starting around 7:00 AM. Many students and parents do not realize to negative effects of these early start times. Are you aware of these repugnant effects? These early times can affect students mental and physical health health negatively. School start times should be later in the day for the overall well being of students.…
It is fairly difficult for teenagers to go to sleep and get up earlier due to a change in their internal sleep clocks as shown in research. Should high school classes begin later in the day and end later to accommodate students’ natural sleep clocks? I think that changing the school schedule would be a bad idea. It would make all after school activities start later and cause jobs to be delayed. Another reason is school would end around 5pm which is when there is a lot of traffic and it gets dark. The school schedule should be left alone because it would mess up everyone’s schedules.…
Never in my life have I encountered a more emotionally draining, motivating through awareness book. Ursula Sunshine Assaid , a five year old little girl, was killed by child abuse. She was mutilated, hit, kicked, starved, fed soap the list goes on and on. Death From Child Abuse and no one heard is a book about the last week of Ursula's life. She resided in Florida with her mother Susan and her mother's boyfriend Don. Don had demented views on disciplining children and was convinced that Ursula was a misbehaved spoiled brat that needed to be punished. He took on the role of discipliner, while her mother stood by and watched. The book graphically describes the pain this poor child probably went through the last week before she died.…
Have you ever had the feeling of not knowing what is coming next? Living on the edge every day and night. Or the feeling of always living in fear and knowing that the next day just might not come? In the novel Room by Emma Donoghue, a little boy named Jack and his 'Ma' are stuck in an endless circle of constant fear and living in the unknown. Jack and Ma are trapped inside room. A place where Jack calls home, but where Ma calls a prison. This novel is truly inspiring.…
‘Tomorrow, When the War Began’ by John Marsden and ‘Ugly’ by Constance Briscoe both involve issues which could be considered bleak and disturbing. They tell stories of violence, one in a war situation while the other in the form of child abuse. However, young adults are represented in an optimistic light in both novels, becoming responsible and able to persist and show resilience through the circumstances they are faced with, making them able to overcome these challenges. These books promote the awareness and understanding of issues, and show that hope is what the characters cling to in their time of need.…
High-school is not a game like middle school. Organization is key! Planners, reminders, dividers in a binder, and anything to keep a person organized helps tremendously. Having a binder full of dividers is essential; homework in one section of a binder, classwork in another section, and graded tests in another (just in-case your overall average is not up to par)! A pencil pouch to keep up with the huge amounts of mechanical pencils that will be collected in the dusty hallways of your high-school throughout the year helps a lot, especially if forgetting one is a tendency.. A book bag to keep everything enclosed and together makes for very organized freshmen!…
Only about 8 percent of high school students get enough sleep on an average school night, a large new study finds. The others are living with borderline-to-serious sleep deficits that could lead to daytime drowsiness, depression, headaches and poor performance at school.…