The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room

            After reading a personal choice book for a month I decided that I wanted to do a quick read. The book that I decided to read was The Beast in Ms. Rooney's Room. The story was written by Patricia Reilly Giff. The main character's name is Richard Best. As it turned out Richard Best had to repeat the same grade again. In his new class he felt uncomfortable because he had the same teacher but this time he had different classmates. His former classmates ridicule him because he has to repeat the year once again. The teacher also made him participate in a special reading group. Two other kids are part of this   reading group. Richard's new classmates know that this special reading group are for kids who have difficulty on the subject upon reading. So his classmates use this as an excuse to frown on him. Now Richard has a task to redeem his reputation. In his school all the classes compete for banner of the week. A class to have this banner represents a great honor. This shows that the class has had good behavior for a whole  week. Richard starts enforcing great behavior for his whole class to follow him. The ironic part is that 20 minutes before the announcement of the class getting the banner Richard was caught walking around without a hall pass. Luckily on the following week Ms. Rooney's class was given the banner. As it turned out Richard was proud to have his nickname to be known as the "Beast".
           This book wasn't the best book I've read because I wanted more suspense but it was alright. This book made me see students who stay back in a different perspective. I've seen and heard many teachers making their students stay back. At first I thought that was great because you would still have the same nice teacher and the student has the strength to be the smartest kid in the class. As it turned out I was wrong. This story made me realize that just because you stay back it gives the other students a reason to ridicule you upon your intelligence. This happens to be quite cruel for Richard. I've also notice that it'll be most likely that the former and new classmates will pick on anyone because they stayed back. Richard reminds me when I was a young student. When I started kindergarten I had a major problem. My problem was that I couldn't speak English well because at home I spoke Spanish all the time. The only time that I got to speak English when I was a toddler was when I repeated words on Sesame Street. The similarity that I had with Richard was that I had to go to a special class which was ESL. In ESL I practiced my writing and reading skills. Another problem that I had on my kindergarten year was that there weren't many Hispanics at my school. So instead of going to preschool I was trying to get prepared for my kindergarten year at home. As I was reading this book I had many flashbacks. These flashbacks made me realized that I have gone a long way. Now I don't feel incapable of learning new information in school.


Here is a  link to read a short preview of the book http://books.google.com/books?id=piz6qrsRocMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+beast+in+ms.+rooney's+room&source=bl&ots=JezT34Vq_k&sig=hD-5F2URNocXuh8LTyOQ-FEps7E&hl=en&ei=D9cGTZ3fHous8AaD9-2VCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Stormy Misty's Foal

            Over the past month I have been reading Stormy Misty's Foal written by Marguerite Henry. The story takes place in a non ficticous island named Chincoteague. Chincoteague is an island located on the east coast of Virginia. To the right of that island is another island. The name of this island is Assateague. The interesting point upon this island is that it's a sanctuary where ponies can run free. The story says that the pony population started from the European explorers who brought them there. In order to enter the island of Assateague in car you must have a permit. Every year there an event called pony penning day. This event is held during the summer for three days. The wild ponies are rounded up and they have to run across Chincoteague island. Then the ponies get auction. Every year the Chincotague fire department controls how many ponies wll be auction.

 

              The Beebes own a ranch recognized by all the residents in the island. On this ranch there's a pregnent horse. Her name is misty. This mother had a tradgic event on the week that she was going to give birth. A suprise hurricane came upon Chiconteague island. This hurricane happened to be a suprise because it occured during march and during the early 1960's. Misty's owner put her in his kitchen. The Beebes were then transported by a helicopter to Virginia's mainland. After the hurricane passed away Mr. Beebe and his grandson Paul helped to get the dead ponies off the island. This was quite sad because many ponies on the ranch and Assateague island died. To their suprise when the Beebes returned to their home they saw that the cat had a litter but Misty was holding her foal in. After the catastrophe was gone the mother gave birth to a male foal. Everyone was excited. People traveled from afar to see Misty's foal. The name of the foal was decided by the letters that the Beebes recieved. The name election turned out to be Stormy. Later Stormy and Misty started traveling to places for money. The money that was collected was for buying back ponies sold in the auctions. The Beebes did this so they could have ponny penning day again. There were not sufficent ponies after the hurricane to have an auction from there. Many of the events that occured were true.

Read a preview of the book http://books.google.com/books?id=Uf10dMALiaAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=misty's+foal&source=bl&ots=n0rvYWmqtQ&sig=-Z9GcCmbCFtDxGP-miNsAAyMjMA&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false

            I thought this book was a great classic. From this story I learned some geography. I didn't know that Virginia actually had wild horses located on an island. At first the book seem really informational which seemed that the plot was going really slow. Once The reader gets to the middle of the story that's when it becomes action packed. I reccomend that this book should be read by animal lovers because this story shows the appreciation that the people have for wild ponies. I've learned that just because a book is old doesn't mean it's boring. 

Pick Of The Litter

           Last week I finished reading the story of Pick Of The Litter written by Bill Wallace. This story was a quick read. Overall the book was alright. This story didn't really reached my expectations because the story was based on minor problems. The main character, Tom, freaked out because his teacher couldn't find an exam he took. The second major problem that occured was Tom wanted to keep a puppy. The problem was the breeder was going to pick the best dog of the litter and that dog was the one he wanted. The solution to these "major problems" was very predictable. The teacher found the exam and the breeder choose a different puppy. The reason I continued reading this story was because I like to finish books that I've started. Most of all this book was fairly easy to read. It only took me a week of personal reading time to finsh this book. I reccomend that this book should be read by dog lovers and kids under the age of 12. If I could rate the book, it will be rated G because it is great for the young readers. Dog lovers would enjoy this story because Tom has to take care of a habitat center for dogs. This book lacks quality but surely has a minmal quantity of reading.
            The story takes place in the midwest during the summer time. It's the second to last day of school and Tom needs to finish a test that he didn't do a week before. He left it on her desk. On the next day the teacher couldn't find the test that Tom took. So Tom became worried and the teacher found the test a couple of minutes before school was out. Then starting on summer vacation Tom went to his granpa's residence. His grandpa takes care of abandon dogs. Tom went every day to help his grandpa to maintain the dogs. A dog had a litter. One of those pups caught Tom's attention. He named the pup Tad. The problem was the breeder was going to pick the best dog of the litter. That happened to be Tad. The breeder came and choose a female dog instead of the best puppy because he wanted a female dog to be used for breeding. Another event that occured was that Tom and his parents went to Six Flags. He met a girl and they became friends. After the vacation he kept writing back to this girl. These were all the major events that occured in the story.  


 

You can read the first 3 chapters of the book by clicking this link http://books.google.com/books?id=BBZj7lcIwQ0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=pick+of+the+litter+by+bill+wallace&source=bl&ots=xJIsxvQVW8&sig=tnE5Ewz0CXkfTIf457lQl_Fo5GY&hl=en&ei=MkfITNGEKYnEsAOPtvnXBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Enormous Egg

           I have finished reading "The Enormous Egg". People say that keeping a pet is a huge responsibilty.  Nathan Twitchell having to maintain that dinosaur turn out to be a nightmare. After many problems with government officials he finnally settled into the national zoo. At first there was a petiton to get the dinosaur out of the country. It took a speech from an ordinary kid to show the whole nation that it's important to keep an animal like this alive.
          I have learned from Nate that if your are determine to accomplish something you'll get it or achieve it. He and the hen kept the egg warm for six weeks. An egg usually doesn't take this time to hatch and this egg was enormous which leads to the tittle. After the egg hatched Nathan worked extremely hard to find food for this over size animal. That was when the begining of autumn came. He had to find a permenant home for this creature. After many problems with the cops in Washington DC, Nate decided to put the creature in the zoo. A senator wasn't going to allow this to happen. He was even proposing to get this animal extinct once again. So it took a speech from Nate's heart to explain to the whole nation that keeping a tricertops was vital for the nation and to him because it was his pet. After many petions and  contributions, the dinosaur had food funding for 40 years. Later on this could be a dilema because a tricertop's life span is 150 years. I bet Nate will make one more speech to keep the funds going for this unique creature. I admire him for being determine to care for this creature. Nate also had one more quality which made him succesful which was perception. A seventh grade substiute teacher once told me that if you have a good perception than good events will occur in life. If you do have a bad perception then you'll have not so good events happening.
         This book was very enjoyable to read. It was so good that they made a movie out of it. Then after the movie was made, a recognition was made for this book at a zoo. This book left me wondering if it would ever be possible for a hen to lay a dinosaur egg?

The Secret Millionaire

The Secret Millionaire

            As I was sitting in front of the senior stairs I saw an unattended book bag. I went to see if it had someone’s identification in it. When I opened the bag, I saw a note. The note explained that it was my bag to keep. The book bag contained a map of the school. There was a second note. The second note had instructions on how to get a 1943 penny. A letter was attached to the map. So I began reading it.

                        Dear Treasure Hunter,

                                Congratulations upon finding this abandoned book bag. There is a

                        treasure of a 1943 penny down in Morristown High School’s secret room.

                        I couldn’t complete the mission because I needed a key to enter in the                                room. I know the penny is there because the principal confirmed it when I                           asked her in the auditorium.

                                  This penny is special because in the year 1943 only 11 pennies were              made. Four years ago the National Mint located in Washington D.C.                           agreed to give anyone one million dollars to anyone who gave them one of                        those 1943 pennies.

                                   So it’s your chance to get yourself some cash. Remember if you get                         caught, the school could give you 45 days of OSS. Good Luck.

                                                                                                            From,

                                                                                                               Unknown Person

            I decided that I was going to participate in the treasure hunt. First I needed to get that key. That’s when I realized that there was Quicky Mikey. Quicky had a discrete business in the boys’ bathroom on the third floor. His business functions from 2:30 to 3:30. His nickname is Quicky because he can get you items really fast. He has a large book bag full of keys for lockers and classrooms, hall passes, the Morristown High School Wi-Fi password, tickets for school events, usable identification cards, parking passes, answers to tests and much more. He also has his laptop with him to hack into the school’s network. With that access he can change report card grades, clear detentions off the permanent record, change the school’s lunch menus and also change teachers’ lesson plans by hacking into their account. Quicky also has connections if a student is in the search of something else.

            The time was 2:57. I waited enough time to get the coast clear. Without creating any suspicion I went into the boys’ bathroom and I began knocking on the stall door.

            “Who is it?” Quicky asked mysteriously.  

            “It’s me John T.” I said.

            “What up dude. I guess it’s my first time making business with you. How can I hook you up?” asked Quicky in a surprised voice.

            “I need a master key to enter any room in this building and an identification card as if I were the superintendent.” I answered.

            “Well dude you gave me a hard task.” said Mikey with a grin.

I was hoping to get the key and identification card. Quicky was searching through his book bag when finally he took out a key that had to be the universal one. After five minutes of waiting he also found the special identification card. I was worried  about getting caught.

“How much?” I asked.

“Well 10 for the key and 15 for the card. Do you have the cash?” Quicky questioned.

“I do and here.” I said as I gave him the 25 bucks.

“Why do you need it?” asked Quicky.

“I saw a nice football in the gym and I wanted it. Anyways thanks for the help.” I lied as I replied.

“Nice making business with you.” Quicky said.

I left the bathroom and I had one more place to go to, which was Dover.

So I took the train from Morristown to Dover. Dover is like New Jersey’s motor city. I came to this town to check a specialty parts store for cars. I walked a mile until I reached this shop on route 46. At the shop I asked for a license plate glower. A license plate glower is a sneaky way to get by tolls for free. When a car passes a toll without paying, a camera takes a picture of the license plate. This glower shines when a camera takes a picture of it so the police can’t figure out which person passed the toll for free. I decided I was going to spray myself with this glower so the security guard wouldn’t actually see my face on the school’s camera. At the shop I invested 100 bucks for this glower. This might have been excessive, but I was going to become rich. I took the next train to Morristown. The time was 7:30 pm and it was night time. I decided that this was going to be the day.

This was an unusual day because normally the school isn’t totally abandoned at 8:00 pm. I knew that at all times there’s security in the front and back atriums. The dead stairway was my only option to enter into the school. With the help of the key, I got the door to open, but I still needed to know where the penny actually was. On the map I had three ways to get onto the underground level. There was an entrance through the girls’ locker room bathroom. Another option was to go through the custodians’ room by the elevator on the first floor and take a flight of stairs down below. My last option was to go through a secret elevator in the principal’s office. I saw that my best option was to go through the custodians’ room. That’s what I did. As I was walking by the back atrium, I heard footsteps and a man singing. So I dashed into the girls’ bathroom. It was awkward but worth it. After five minutes I peeked out the door and I saw the coast was clear. Quickly I dashed into the custodians’ room.

The room was dark. So I used the light from my keychain and cell phone to shine my path. For some reason the custodians’ room was not locked. In the room I saw lumber and desks that students normally used. Next to a desk was a janitor’s broom. This could come in handy for me. I unhooked the bristle part and I only kept the stick. At the far corner of the room was a door. That was it. I opened the door with the handy key. As I opened the door, there were stairs going downward. I bet a security guard has already detected me, but luckily he can’t see my face. Finally, I reached the end of the stairs. I took a right exit because the left one is an expressway into the girls’ locker room. I kept on walking rapidly. After a minute of walking quickly I came across the exit that leads into the principal’s office. As always I was determined to keep moving forward. At last I reached the secret room. As I expected, I needed an authorized identification card.  I put the card against the scanner and it said access permitted. Again I was encountered by another door. This time it asked for a regular key. I managed to open it and there it was lying in the middle of the floor next to a 1944 penny. I knew that there were invisible lasers. So I used the broomstick by laying it on the ground. Slowly I pushed the penny towards me. I was excited, but it turned out to be a 1944 penny. I repeated the same process and finally that 1943 penny was in my hands. I was taking a risk so I ran as fast as I could to take the girls’ locker room exit. After two minutes of running, I was in the girls’ locker room to take the nearest exit to get out of school.

As I reached home I thought the risk that I took wasn’t that brave. I came home and told my mom a story about having been at a game I was invited to and I went to sleep. In the morning I decided that I was going to ditch school and go to the nation’s capital. The 1943 penny was safe in my wallet. I took out my birthday money to buy the train ticket. My parents didn’t know what had just happened to me. As I was walking to the train station I passed by the school and I saw the school surrounded by cops. I could assume why they were there. I kept my cool and just kept walking. I reached the train station and I went from Morristown to New York. At Penn Station I took an Amtrak train to Washington D.C. The trip cost me 75 dollars. I took a taxi from the terminal to the US Mint. I went to the information center.

A man took me into a sound proof office. He checked out the penny. The examination was crucial because he was checking to make sure it wasn’t false. He told me that I was the seventh person coming in with that 1943 penny. The man was kind because I told him that I didn’t want any publicity. He accepted that request. The check was made out to me. As soon as he gave me the check, I went to Valley National bank to deposit it. With my remaining birthday money, I took a train back to New York City and another one to Morristown. That was how my birthday money was invested. When I came home at six I told my mom that jazz band practice was three hours long due to a concert that we were going to have in the city. She randomly asked me if I actually met Justin Bieber in person. I said no. My mom said that with all the cops in school why would I want to meet him. That was when I realized that the cops were surrounding the school during the morning because the singer was going to be there and they weren’t searching for the penny after all. This has been my story on how I became the secret millionaire.

                                                                                                   By: Jonathan Torres

              

My Choice Reading

I'm reading the Enormous Egg. This book is a classical story about a kid named Nate Twitchell who saw a the hen lay a very large egg. Nate works hard to have that egg hatch. After six weeks the egg hatched. The creature that was inside that egg was a triceratops. A palentologist made Nate and the small town of Freedom, New Hampshire famous. Scientists and reporters from across the nation made comotion in Nate's residence. He has many offers to sell the animal but he is determined to stay with the animal. Now he has obstacles of caring for the animal because it's growing really fast.
The author, Oliver Butterworth, has made this book comprehendable for people of our century because this story was made in the year 1956. Normally stories from this century use words that aren't common anymore. This book is awesome because it takes me three paragraphs to become from a reader to a witness.

My First Book Experience

            The first experience that I had with a book was when I was three. I remember that it was a magazine with a red border which after I learned how to read it turn out to be a Time magazine. From what I remember  I went page by page checking out the pictures. In my mind I made up stories to go along with that picture. Every picture was a different story in my imagination. An example would be if I saw a car advertisement, I would have imagine myself  driving that car on the highway. My first book experience was strange at the time because I saw characters together with spaces. When I saw these characters my goal was to understand them which meant I wanted to learn how to read. By age six I had the ability to read and succeed in life.
            When I was five I saw that all my classmates had a common goal. This was to learn how to read and write. Some people started reading by kindergarten, but the majority learned how to read by the end of first grade. I've noticed that during this time my ability at reading was that it took me a minute to read three sentences. At the same time the maximum that I've ever wrote in first grade was three sentences with many spelling errors. Thanks to these errors I've learned to appreciate reading.
            The first book that I remember that I liked was titled "I am a Tractor". At this time I enjoyed this book because it was simple to read. It was about two sentences long in each page. This story was great to me because I enjoyed the illustrations to this story. The story didn't have any conflicts. Instead the author made the tractor seem important to our society. I choose this book because at this time I was a car fanatic and I actually was more interested at looking at the cover. From there I was excited to read.
             It's already been a decade since I have decide to read. My reading journey has gone a far way. In first grade I used to stumble with the small vocabulary. During this time I would have only read books with illustrations in every page with only a paragraph to read. My last rule was that the story couldn't take more than an hour to read. Now I'm less picky upon reading. I now read books which take five days to read. I'm already used to books without having illustrations. Fortunately I don't stumble with easy vocabulary anymore. Out of than that I have progressed more than just that. I can now read English, Spanish, Italian, math, music and a computer language. Overall I've already have taken advantage of reading. Reading isn't my foe ,but it's my partner. Right now I have a simple reading goal which is to learn how to read guitar tabs.
              I have a theory upon reading. Reading anything will make anyone intellectual and resourceful. For over a decade I've been reading but I do know that my journey has just commenced. If I didn't have the ability to read I wouldn't have been able to survive in this modernized world.