Zachary’s Comments (group member since Aug 25, 2014)

Zachary’s comments from the BDCHS Advanced Reading group.

Soul Surfer, written by Bethany Hamilton, is a book about her shark attack in Hawaii. It takes place in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, where her and her parents live. The characters are Bethany Hamilton, Tom Hamilton, Noah and Timmy Hamilton, and Cheri Hamilton. The plot is Bethany's usual day, where she goes surfing at Tunnels Beach. But she gets attacked by a shark, and has to have herself and her friend Alana paddle her to shore, which is a long way away. After arriving on shore, Holt, another friend of Bethany's, helps her into the back of the truck, and drives her to the same hospital where Tom is having surgery. After fixing her arm, she lost about half of her blood, and had to have a specific surgery, where they cut off part of the remaining arm, then cut off some skin from the armpit, and bring that up to the arm, to cover it. Bethany then talks about how nature can be stronger than you are as a surfer, and about getting back on the board, after months of recovery. I think that the theme of the novel is to never give up, even when the situation seems bleak. Or, the theme could be to strive for your dreams.

I give this book 4 stars out of 5. I did enjoy the novel, however, Bethany doesn't really talk about the initial accident too much, but more on how she recovered. That, personally, is not enjoyable to me. But I did learn many "surfer" words from the book, like Ding, which means a dent in your surfboard. Overall, I liked the book, and it's interesting to see a "celebrity" write a book on her tragedy, as I don't see too many of those. And the pictures in the book are a neat little add-on as well. I think Bethany is a inspiration to not just amputees, but to all, as trying to recover from something like that takes not just hard work from you, but from your family and your friends, and knowing that your family and friends are there for you is the best thought to have in the world.

As a person who enjoys to read a mystery novel here and there, The Hidden Staircase is a great little mystery story for all ages. Written by Carolyn Keene, the main character is Nancy Drew, a young detective who likes to solve mysteries. After her dad, a lawyer, goes to find a man to prove that said man's signature is that on a contract for a train company, Nancy gets a phone call, saying that the Twin Elm's Manor is haunted, and there have been tings missing from the place. Nancy takes the case, and her friend Helen accompany's her. Helen is slightly older than Nancy, but the two have become great friends. After arriving at the manor,Nancy and Helen are introduced to Aunt Rosemary and Miss Flora, the owners of the estate. They claim that things are being stolen, and the shadows are moving. Nancy and Helen go to inspect the house, and find no hidden entrance at all. However, the "ghost" gives quite a few scares, such as putting a owl inside the house, and using a gorilla mask to scare Helen. His final act of horror was collapsing the roof on Nancy and Helen. After doing some more sleuthing, Nancy finds out that her father has gone missing, and she suspects that the ghost has something to do with it. The novel ends with Nancy catching the man that her dad was looking for, who turned out to be the ghost, to try and get Miss Flora and Aunt Rosemary to leave. Nancy and Helen find her dad in a secret part in the secret staircase. I think that the theme of this book is to never give up, even if the clues aren't right in front of you.

Overall, i enjoyed this book. I give it a four stars out of five. It's a great read, and everyone can enjoy it, young and old. However, some of the vocabulary I didn't understand, and I think since they were targeting younger readers, they should make the vocab a little simpler. And I didn't really learn much from the book, as i intended for it to be a nice, calm read. And I remember as a kid this series of books, and I never got to read this particular one. But I'm glad that I did now. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I believe that others, may you be 5 or 50, should take some time off, and enjoy a good Nancy Drew mystery.

Poop Happened, written by Sarah Albee, is a 7 year old's dream come true. The history of poop, and the effects of poor waste management. However, this book actually has factual information as to why a human's excrement has caused many different diseases. Why? Because the people of the old days put their excrement into the nearest river or the nearest privy pit. Then the entire neighborhood got their daily water supply, from the same river. There was no plumbing back then, nor toilets. All that was used were chamber pots, which was essentially a toilet, but with no flush or hole at the bottom. And the Romans were the closest to having pipelines, as there have been records of lead pipes under Rome. But, they were made of lead, which does poison people. However, Leonardo DaVinci did have ideas for a flushing toilet, but he unfortunately died before he could invent such a marvel. But, even with the miracle of flushing toilets, where did the bodily fluids and solids go? There are a few answers to this, already previously mentioned. Either a river, or a privy hole. But if you lived in a castle, then you threw it into the moat. (That's what the moats were for). And America was exactly the same as their England counterparts. And eventually, people came to their senses, and realized that their diseases could be from the water, as the water pump had been invented. The people asked themselves "Why are the people drinking from this water fountain getting sick, when the other people a few blocks away aren't?" Well, the simple answer to that was the water that was going to said pipes were from the rivers, which were already fairly polluted. However, certain water routes lead straight through some old privy pits, further contaminating the water. Thus, more people got sick of old diseases. It wasn't until around 1885 that Thomas Crapper, with help of some other brilliant inventors, developed a toilet, that was all in one piece, which prevented leaking. Thus, the common household toilet was made. And with this new flushing toilet, sewers were developed, so the waste can go into the sewers, into the ocean, with the help of the tide. And it's all been pretty much the same since then, with the exception of those really weird Japanese toilets, with heated seats, and other toilets that can flush half of what they're supposed to flush, which is to get rid of only liquids. But lets go back before the modern toilet, but big cities were now where most people lived. Where did their poop go? On the street. In fact, most people did this if they weren't near a river, or didn't have a privy pit to put their waste in. That's why you see the men closer to the road, and the ladies having parasols, in the middle of the day. So, I guess you could say that without the ways of the old, our lives wouldn't have been the same. Otherwise, we would still be drinking polluted water, while pooping in chamber pots. And don't even get me started with the animals...They went where they pleased, and it stayed there til someone went to go get it.

Overall, I enjoyed Poop Happened! It's a interesting read that many young kids would want to get, only to not understand what it says until a few years later. And we wouldn't have any of the jobs or utilities of today, such as those sewer guys, who help push your waste toward the ocean, or toilets. We as a society have learned from the past, to help our future. And if you really think about it, the best countries have the best sanitation, and waste management. Poop Happened! gets a five out of five stars. The book just doesn't talk about the danger's of poop either, it talks about the jobs people had to get rid of the waste, to different diseases caused by poor waste management, like dysentery(a.k.a, the worst way to die. You have diarrhea till you die of dehydration). And I want you to think about this little fact the next time you flush the toilet. When you flush, that waste isn't just evaporating into thin air: it's just being pushed away from you. And eventually, our poop gonna come back and haunt us, with our ever-growing population. And this book has a pretty clear theme: Poop did happen, but what are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna be like the 99 percent of, for example, America, and flush it down the toilet, or are you gonna be the one percent, and figure out what to do with all that poop.

Horns and Wrinkles is a charming little book, written by Joseph Helgerson. It takes place near the Mississippi River, in a small little town that is obsessed with river magic. The main characters are Claire and Duke. Duke is Claire's older cousin. There are also trolls in this book, by the names of Jim Dandy Eel-tongue, Biz, or Squeak, Mossbotton, and Stump Fishfly. They are all river trolls. Bodacious Deepthink is the antagonist, and is a rock troll. The novel's story is about Claire's cousin Duke, who fell into the Mississippi river, and grew a horn where is nose should be. Claire then meets a old lady, whose name isn't said in the novel. The old lady says that the horn will stop growing only if Duke commits a act of kindness, which is a issue for Duke, as he likes to bully Claire. And Duke meets the three river trolls, Jim Dandy, Biz, and Stump, and Duke tell Claire the trolls mission, which is to find their fathers. To do this, they need screens, for mining gold or other minerals, a ukulele, and some shovels. The trolls needed to mine stars to please Bodacious Deepthink, so she would give them crickets, to tell them were there father is. They find the three stars, and head to Deepthinks cave, where Duke is now a rhino, and they trade the stars and Duke to Deepthink. However, Claire still wants to break her cousin out, so with the help of Stump, the old lady, and the old lady's brother, they go into Deepthinks cave, and set all of the otter rhino bullies free. The three trolls realize that their fathers aren't on earth anymore, but are now stars in the sky, thanks to the crickets. The theme of the novel is what comes around goes around, as the reason Duke became a rhino is because he bullied Claire, and throughout the novel, Dukes horn gets bigger when hes mean to Claire.
I really enjoyed Horns and Wrinkles. I bought the book a long time ago, but never bothered to read it. I learned from the novel that being a bully is never a good thing, as the meanness of a bully comes straight back at them. Also, I learned that I should never go around rivers, as a troll might get me. Overall, the book really connects to me, as all of us have been bullied before, and I can relate to Claire for wanting to save someone whose mean to her. Being the bigger person. Horns and Wrinkles gets a 5 stars out of 5 stars. Its charming, interesting, and it's a very personable book that i think anyone can enjoy. And I liked that there's a little map and a cast guide, to help better understand the book. And I really liked the little illustrations for every chapter, as it told what may happen in the chapter ahead. Its a older book, published in 2006, and it's a book that I would want to read again and again.

The book, Monster, written by Walter Dean Myers, is a interesting book, as it is told from the first and third point of view. Told in first person by Steve Harmon, a African American Teenager, who is on trial for killing and robbing a Mr. Nesbitt. The story takes on 141st street,as well as in a courtroom, and a jail. Steve is in a film class at the time, so he tells the third person portion of the story like a film script. Some other characters in the novel are Kathy O'Brian, Steve's lawyer, James King, the other African American teen on trial, Sandra Petrocelli, the prosecutor, and Richard "Bobo" Evans, the teen who had the idea to pull a heist on the convenience store. The problem, however, is that Steve was simply a lookout in the convenience store, to see if anyone was in there. But he didn't tell King and Evans, who then came and robbed the place, killing Mr. Nesbitt. Steve is proven not guilty at the end of the novel, and James King gets 25 years in jail. The theme of the novel is a person is innocent until proven guilty.

I learned that even if you had nothing to do with a crime, you can still be involved with it, as other people will frame you. I did enjoy the story somewhat, but the beginning is a little drawn out to me. And I like its presentation. I've never seen a story that is told as if it was a movie script. Overall, it's a interesting story, and I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.