Daniel’s Comments (group member since Aug 23, 2014)

Daniel’s comments from the BDCHS Advanced Reading group.

The book that I chose to read was Lincoln's Last Days: the Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly. I would give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. The reason for this is because the book is written for kids about 10 years of age, and it only goes into limited detail about events.
This book is split into four sections. The first part is an overview of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's role. It talks about the long marches to battlegrounds and the lack of supplies for the troops, which sometimes led to death. And also how Lincoln was trying to keep America from division, but the war was splitting the country. It explains how he was able to overcome all of this.
The second part of Lincoln's Last Days talks about the detailed plan of Lincoln's assassination. Over 2,000 people waited outside the White House for Lincoln to talk to them about the war's end, but he asked them to come back the next night. Lincoln then prepared his speech. John Wilkes Booth was a popular actor. After the war, his hatred for Lincoln grew. Booth planned to kidnap Lincoln and began to recruit people to help. As Booth did this, he considered murder a plausible option and figured out an escape plan. In the meantime, thousands of people arrived to hear Lincoln's speech. Booth and one of his friends listened, too. Afterward, Booth decided to kill Lincoln, Andrew Jackson and William H. Seward and then escape to Mexico.
The third part of the book talks about Lincoln's actions during his last days. For example he completed his morning reading of Scripture. Mary Lincoln (Lincoln’s wife) told him that she wanted to watch "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre. Lincoln's advisers told him that it was not safe for him to attend that night because of many death threats that he received. Lincoln was assigned a guard, which was not normal, because he would not change his theater plans. Booth overheard that Lincoln would be there at the ford theatre that evening and cared out his plan.
The last section of the book talks about how Booth and his freinds were captured. Police investigated Booth and his friends. Because of this, Booth and a friend became the two main suspects. Across America people were searching for Booth and his friend. Since Booth broke his leg during the assassination and was in pain, he stopped and had a doctor splint his leg. This left him unable to put his foot into the stirrup to ride a horse, which prevented his exape .
From Lincoln's Last Days, I have learned a lot about who Abraham Lincoln was and events surrounding his death. This book was very insightful into his life and who he was as a person. I liked the story and how it was told, however, I just wish it went into a little more detail.
Sorry for it being a little late.

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan is the book that I chose to read. I would give this book a 4 out of 5. The reason for this is because it did not keep the story as interesting as in the other books.
The House of Hades picks up where The Mark of Athena (the last book)left off. Percy and Annabeth, two of the main character, fell over the side of the pit and straight into Tartarus. In the beginning of House of Hades, they’re falling for what feels like eternity while their friends, are in a different world. The story is told parallel to each other. It is from the friends point of view on the outside then it switches to Percy point of view. As Annabeth and Percy make their way through Tartarus, Jason, Piper, Nico, Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Coach Hedge journey toward Greece, hoping to meet their friends at the Doors of Death at exactly the right moment. They must do this to save both Percy and Annabeth, and stop the monsters from coming back to life. The hole story takes place in Europe and in hell it goes from very small city's to big ones and it gives Greek mythology on everyplace. The theme in this story is bravery, it is shown throughout the hole book.
What I have learned from this story is more about Greek mythology it is shown threw out the book in every chapter. I really did like the story how it is a race against time. I would recommend the series of books anyone that likes reading.

The book that I chose to read was In Harm’s Way by Doug Stanton. I would give this book 3.5 out of 5. The reason that I would give it 3.5 was I did not get into as I do with other books.
The book is about a ship, called the USS Indianapolis, which was torpedoed in the pacific by Japanese submarine in World War 2. They were coming home after they had just delivered a part for the Nuke that was dropped on Hiroshima. When they were torpedoed and there ship started to sink, 300 men died when the torpedoes hit. 900 men had to jump in the water to stop from going down with the ship. Only 321 people were able to be rescued 4 more died later in the hospital. 317 out of about 1200 were able to survive. The book is about how those 317 men were able to fight off hypothermia, sharks, physical exhaustion and mental. The book answers many questions like: why did the navy not realize they were missing? Why they did not come to the first call of help they sent out? And how did the 317 men manage to survive?
This books main theme is about having courage. Many of the accounts in the book talk about Men passing a gun around because they could not keep going. It talks about people fighting to keep going.
From this book I have learn what true courage is and how those people had it. I did like the book but I just did not want to keep reading it. It is well written and has a good story and explains what happened very well.

The book that I chose to read was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I gave this book a 5 out of 5. I liked how the book was written and how the story was told. It also really made you think of what it was like to be German in World War 2.
The setting takes place in World War 2 and Liesel (the main character) is a little girl at the time. Her mother is taking her and her brother to a foster home because she cannot keep them. All the suddenly her brother dies. Liesel and her mother go off to bury the body. As they began to leave Liesel sees one of the grave diggers books fall out of his pocket and she steals it. She and her mother keep going on with their trip to go and meet her foster parents. When she first sees them she does not like them but as the story goes on she starts to learn to like them. The first time there was a change was when her father starts to teach her how to roll cigarettes. As she starts to change to her new life she makes friends with a boy called Rudy who starts to like her and wants a kiss. When Liesel stepfather Hans finds out that she cannot read he starts to teach her the alphabet. After a long time she is able to read well. As we start to find out that the war is getting bad and food is not as easy to find and jobs are being lost. Their family begins to struggle and Liesel starts to take books from the mayor’s wife. Then one of Hans’s friends Max comes and need a hiding place and they keep him in the basement. They have to hide max from the Nazi troops that come looking for places to build bomb shelter. As the war gets harder they start to bring Jewish prisoners through the town and an old man is having a hard time keeping up and Hans give the man some bread. The Nazi soldiers intervene and whip both Han and the old man. Hans get scared that they are going to find Max so he leaves that night. When Germany was starting to get attacked Hans got a job and have would go out and clean up the mess of the air raids. After the air raids Liesel and Rudy find an Allied pilot who has crashed his plane. They come just in time to see him die. The Nazis continue to parade the Jews through the city, and Liesel sees Max with the prisoners. The mayor’s wife gives Liesel a blank notebook so she can begin writing her own story. One night, while Liesel is in the basement writing her book, her neighborhood is bombed. Hans, Rosa, Rudy, and the rest of the neighbors are killed. When rescue workers pull Liesel out of the rubble, she finds Rudy’s corpse and gives him a kiss that he always wanted. When the workers take her away, she leaves behind her finished book, called “The Book Thief.” Death, who has been watching, rescues the book. After Liesel goes to live with the mayor and his wife. Once the people in concentration camps had been freed, Max returns to finds Liesel. Liesel eventually grows up and moves to Australia, where she has a family. Once she dies Death shows her the book that she made a long time ago.
I believe that there are 3 themes in The Book Thief, the strength in words, the good and the bad of humans, and how to deal with losing someone. The whole book is about a girl learning how to read and write. The whole reason she steels the book is to learn how to read better and write better. It also talks about how people can be good and bad. With them being good some of Max’s friends come and bring him bread and try to help them out also the mayor’s wife gave book to Liesel even if she thought she was taking them. With the bad you have the Nazi they would throw people in camps just because they could. It also talks about how to deal with losing someone. Liesel lost everyone in the end that she cared about but in the beginning she also lost her Mom and brother and she had to overcome that.
I really did like the story. This is the first time that I have ever looked at the war from a Germans perspective. It is also the first time that I was able to see how people want the ability read. This is the best book that I have read on the time of World War 2 because it puts everything in perspective.

The book that we had to read in reading class is Monster by Walter Dean Myers. I would give this book a 3.5 out of 5. The reason that I would give it that is because it did not seem to interest me a lot. I do like the story that is told but it does not connect to me as much as I feel like it should. This book does help me to think about what I am doing and to be careful on who I call my friends and how much I can count on them.
This book is about a 16 year old boy who is on trial for killing the store owner during a robbery. Steve Harmon, the main character, is making this book when he is on trial for the murder. This book is made to look like as if it is a movie script. The reason for this is because this is the only way for him to keep himself sane. When he is on trial all of his “friends” began to testify against him to get deals so they don’t have to go to jail. In the book he is trying to separate himself from him and his friends as much as he can so that the jury does not find him guilty. He is also trying to find a way to live when he is in jail, he finds it hard to be there he is scared and trying to find a way out.