Back to First Grade

Last year, I was reading some of my classmates' work, and I was disappointed. Not disappointed solely by poor vocabulary and terrible sentence structure, but by their failure to conform to the possibly simplest grammar rule ever: Capitalize the beginnings of your sentences, as well as proper nouns.

Incorrect: we went to the store.
Correct: We went to the store.

Incorrect: After they went to the store, i made cookies.
Correct: After they went to the store, I made cookies.

Proper nouns: The word "I" and names (of people, specific places, countries, days, months, etc.).
Proper nouns are capitalized, as well as the beginning of a sentence.

Just to be clear, a noun is a person, place, or thing.

Couldn't even find a cute comic to put here, because only small children are still learning this rule, and small children don't understand grammar humor.

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Chanukah 2014

Being the book nerd that I am, the majority of the presents I wanted for Chanukah were books. This is just a list of the ones I got.

1. Volumes 1-5 of the Oz books (includes all of the books by L. Frank Baum — like fourteen, I think)
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
3. The Arabian Nights

Sherlock Holmes and the Arabian Nights are really nice quality, with gold edges and all that. I am by far too excited by good quality books. I need help.

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The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Four best friends. Lena, the shy beauty, Tibby, the cynic, Bridget, the athlete, and Carmen, the angry but lovable Puerto Rican.

The day before their first summer apart, they find a pair of pants that Carmen was planning on throwing away. The Pants fit all of them perfectly, even with all of their different body types. They decide to send the Pants back and forth between them, so they have their friends with them during their travels.

The first three books are the summers of high school. Lena goes to the Rhode Island School of Design, Tibby goes to NYU for film school, Bridget is at Brown (I think), and Carmen goes somewhere.

The fourth book is the summer after their first year in college. I have to say that Carmen has the hardest time of the four, as she really lost her way during freshman year at college. But by the end of the summer, a fragile conclusion is reached.

The last book is set ten years later. The Sisterhood has fallen out of touch, with Bridget living in California, Carmen busy being an actress, Lena a poor artist, and Tibby in Australia.

They plan to go to a Greek island where Lena is from to spend time together, but when they get there, they receive some unfortunate news.

They are lost.

By the end of the book, a real conclusion is reached. Bittersweet, but real.

These books are so sad, especially the last three. But the first two have their heart wrenching moments. I love these books so much. Definitely read them.

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The Grisha Trilogy

I have seen this book many times before, but only recently have I read it. I have literally checked it out of a library and returned it without reading it. The cover always catches my eye, but then I read the description and think, Eh. But this book is definitely not "Eh."

Alina Starkov, plain cartographer in the Ravkan first army. Mal Oretsev, best friend of Alina since they were orphans together. Yes, Alina is in love with Mal. No, Mal doesn't know. Sounds cliché, but it's bearable.

Alina and Mal are traveling across the Fold, a dark, terrible place where monsters attack anything that comes near them, along with other members of their regiment. Alina is scared, and rightfully so. The volcra are dangerous, and could kill her without a thought.

When she and Mal are crossing on a sand skiff, the volcra do attack. In all the chaos, Alina throws herself on Mal to save him, and sees a bright light as she feels the volcra attack her.

Then she's out of the Fold, having not crossed due to the volcra, and people are asking her about what happened. What was that light? Apparently it came from her. Apparently, she's not so normal. Apparently, Alina is the Sun Summoner, only one of her kind. And she can help close the Fold for good.

In Ravka there are Grisha who practice the Small Science, which is essentially magic. All children are tested at a young age to see whether they are Grisha or not. Alina was not found to be a Grisha, but now she is thought to be. And not just any Grisha, but the Sun Summoner. There is only one Sun Summoner. Since the volcra live in the dark, they can't come near light, and so when Alina accidentally used her power in the Fold, she saved the skiff from the volcra.

The Grisha make up the Second Army, commanded by the Darkling, who, opposite of Alina, can summon darkness. He is also the only one of his kind.

Alina is taken to the smaller of two grand palaces, where the Grisha are trained. She meets Genya, a Grisha servant, whose job it is to make the queen beautiful. She becomes friends with Genya, but is out of place with the rest of the Grisha, who are so used to excess and a rich lifestyle.

The Darkling tells her about a special amplifier that Alina can use to enhance her power, and destroy the Fold. Alina rests all of her hope on finding this amplifier.

The rest of this is a spoiler alert, but it doesn't give away that much. Later in the series, Alina finds out that there isn't just one amplifier, there are three. Usually Grisha can only have one amplifier, but these three are meant to be combined. Alina finds two of the amplifiers, but in order to obtain the last one, she will have to do something terrible.

This book was amazing, the perfect amount of romance, fantasy, and adventure. Loved the whole thing.

Read it. Read it now.

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Harry Potter Review

There was a boy who lived in number 4, Privet Drive. He was a common boy by his appearance, except for an unusual lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He got this scar from when his parents died in a car crash, or at least that's what his aunt and uncle told him.

But one day everything changes. Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It upsets his aunt and uncle, and they don't let him read it. After continually receiving these letters, Harry's uncle takes his family to a shack in the stormy sea, and that night, Harry reads his letter. A giant man, named Hagrid, introduces himself as the groundkeeper of Hogwarts, and tells Harry he's a wizard.

Harry's not just any wizard, though. His parents weren't killed in a car crash, but by the most evil wizard known: Voldemort. Voldemort tried to kill Harry too, but failed. Harry is known as the Boy Who Lived, famous throughout the wizarding world.

Harry goes to Hogwarts, where everyone knows his name. He meets Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who become friends after an incident with a mountain troll on Halloween. Harry loves his new world, even with the mean potions teacher and strange defense against the dark arts professor.

But it turns out that Lord  Voldemort isn't dead and gone; in fact, he's still alive, and he's looking for Harry.

Events transpire. Harry ends up face to face with Voldemort, and defeats him for the time being. But Voldemort is still out there, waiting.

Throughout his years at Hogwarts, Harry defeats Voldemort many times, but Voldemort doesn't die easily. Everything comes down to Harry and Voldemort.

Harry Potter has a special place in my heart. It was one of the first books my parents read to me. I recommend this book to anyone.

I know that some people don't like this series, but really, just give it a chance. It can be a little slow at the beginning, but it is well worth it.

Not to be cliché, but I give this series 6 out of 5 stars.

If you happen to be reading this, tell me what house you would be in. I'm a Ravenclaw.

Brownies, Books, and More

So exited for winter break.

Story time.

In my drama class, we did Secret Santa. My secret Santa gave me a box of brownies. They were a little undercooked, so it was more like a brownie lump or a brownie cake than brownies. So I couldn't really tell where one brownie ended and another one began. There were quite a few brownies in the box. So I get home from school, and eat like half the box with a fork. Finished it the next day. I made myself sick a few times, but the brownies were so good.

Had brownies for breakfast this morning.

So healthy, right?

This is a list for me of books I'm planning on reviewing in the near future.

1. The Harry Potter Series
2. The Grisha Trilogy
3. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series

If by some force of nature or magic, you happen upon this, comment. Say hi, let me know what your favorite book is, any books you'd like a review of before you read them.