Thursday, May 28, 2009
Through the Looking-Glass
Main characters : Alice, the Red King and Queen, the White King and Queen, Tweedledum & Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, The Lion & the Unicorn
level 3, page 57
Summary : Alice was at home, and she was seeing her black kitty. At that time the kitty did not good thing, so Alice disciplined it as talking about Looking-Glass world. Suddenly, she could thorough the glass!! In that world, everything was strange, like the clock had man's face, flowers talked, animals also talked, and even insects talked. She was curious about everything, and she met the Red Queen, she told her a little bit about that world in strange way. They went top of the hill, and Alice noticed that the world looked like chess. After that, she went many places to be Queen, and she met many persons, such as strange brothers "Tweedledum & Tweedledee", shape of egg man "Humpty Dumpty", strange the Lion & the Unicoln... Could Alice be Queen? Could she be back original country? It was interesting...
Personal response : This book was too difficult to understand, because the characters except Alice were too strange. I couldn't understand what they say, why they act strangely, what the country was. Everything was strange, No, to be honest, it was weird. However, some of characters and stories were similar as Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, so it was fine. BUT as I said, it was weird book.
Rate : 3+
Level for me : difficult to understand because of strange charctes and poems
'Who, sir? Me, sir?'
Main characters : Nutty (Deirdre Mctauish), Hoomy (Rossiter), Nails, Jazz, Bean, Gary, Sam Sylvester, Sebastian Smith
level 3, page 57
Summary : Sam Sylvester was a teacher of Hawkwood, and he was always worried about his students. There were two schools there, Hawkwood which was not good, and Greycoats which was high-educated. Most Hawkwood's students were not good at everything except fighting. One day, Sam decided some of his class students to compete with Greycoats at tetrathron competition (Shooting, swimming, horse race.). The original teammates were... Nutty who was very good at riding horse but girl (so she wasn't actual team member), very thin boy Hoomy, Jazz, Bean, and Gary. They got four horses and Hoomy began to love his horse, so it seemed like it was okay. However, they had some troubles on others. First, they didn't have any guns to practice shooting and no instructor. Second, they were not good at swimming except Gary. And his older brother, Nails was really nice swimmer but his personality was terrible. Moreover, the enemy named Sebastian Smith who was the leader of Greycoat team was really annoying. What would happen them? Could they beat Greycoat? Who would be teammates? Sounds nice book, yes?
Personal response : It was good book. I like Hawkwood students. They were all stupid, but they could have passion, so they could do many things on tetrathron. My favorite character was Nails anyway. He was kind of bad student, but gradually, while practicing for the competition, his personality was changing. the reason why he was getting better child was horses. Horses became his best friends. It was lovely. Animals can make person good!! Amazing!
Rate : 4
Level for me : normal
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Frankenstein
Main characters : Victor Frankenstein, The Captain Walton, the creature, Elizabeth, Henry Clerval, Ernest, William, Justine, father
level 3, page 55
Summary : The Captain Walton was the captain of his ship. One day, he found two men were chasing on ice, after that, he and his men found one of men who were dying. His name was Victor Frankenstein, and he started his story about he and poor his family. ...His family was rich, and he had two brothers (Ernest and William), one girl who was treated as daughter (Elizabeth), girl who helped their mother (Justine), and father. Victor was really smart person, and his friend Henry Clerval was also smart. After their mother died, Victor went to big city to go to the university. He was very clever student, so every teachers helped him. One day, he got his laboratory, and he started to study about giving life to dead body. Then, he succeeded on his work. He made a creature that had ugly face and huge body. He felt fear, and escaped. ...What happened then? There would be terrible murder, but who did it? Did Victor know it? It was mystery...
Personal response : I didn't know many things about his book. The name of this book Frankenstein is quite popular, but I thought that Frankenstein was the creature's name. Actually, it was a person's name. Anyway, this story was really sad. Of course, Victor was sad man, but he created the creature, so he should have responsibility on it. The saddest person was the creature, I'm sure that it was evil because he killed some people, but it was too sad to read his story... I could feel human unseemliness from this book.
Rate : 4
Level for me : normal
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Matty Doolin
Main characters : Matty Doolin, Mr. and Mrs. Doolin, Nelson, Willie, Joe, Mr. and Mrs. Walsh, Jessica
level 2, page 41
Summary : Matty Doolin was fifteen years old, he was leaving his school and try to get job. He really loved animals, so he wanted to work at farm or somewhere relayted to aminals. However, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Doolin didn't allow him to work atfarm or such a place. Moreover, poor Nelson which was Matty's dearly dog wasn't allowed to be his pet. And he didn't allowed to go camping with his best friends also. One day, he argued with his parents and he left home next day. When he came back home, very sad thing happend. His Nelson was killed by car! From next day, Matty had sad days. He looked very sad, like dead man. That's why his parents allowed to go camping to cheer him up. Then, Matty's best friends, Willie, John and Matty went to Mr. Walsh's farm. There were lots of fun for Matty, not his friends. Mrs. Walsh and her daughter, Jessica were really nice people. Than, what happened to Matty? Could he get job at farm? Was there dangerous thing?
Personal response : I love this book! It was lovely. Matty was not good at talking, but he loved animals. And his dream came true at the end of this story. I love animals too, so I could enjoy his story very much. These days, there are too many town things like modern buildings, shops, and such. I like them, but we need nature more than them. We don't know anything about nature, because we are separated from it. I think we should be in nature like Matty. It will help our life, because we aretoo busy!! I want to do this...
Rate : 4+
Level for me : easy
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
Main characters : Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Moriarty, Jack the Ripper, Lestrade, Conan Doyle
level 3, page 55
Summary : Was Sherlock Holmes really exist in the past? Who knows? Dr Watson was his good friend was everybody knows, and Conan Doyle asked Watson about Sherlock Holmes. He wanted to write Holmes's story. Watson asked about it to Holmes, and he allowed Dolyle to write story. Holmes was asked for a help by Lestrade who was police officer. There was terrible murderer named Jack the Ripper. He ripped women in several pieces! What a horrible case! At the same time, Holmes fought with Moriarty, he was very clever and evil person according to Holmes. One day, Watson found something really wrong about Holmes. He didn't want to believe this,but it was real. Who was Moriarty and Jack the Ripper? What did Watson find? and... Why this book's title was "The Last Sherlock Holmes Story"? There was very dark mystery. You will find these answers when you finished this book...
Personal response : Oh my goddess... What a horrible story about Holmes it was... I don't want to trust this story. It told me how Holmes was being mad. Really bad. He used cocaine, he became crazy. Only Watson could know it, and he tried to save his best friend... Could he succeed? I don't know. But I'm sure that he was really nice friend, and Holmes was too smart. I don't believe this story was real. I will NEVER think about this scary and awful story again...
Rate : 4
Level for me : normal (some vocabularies were kind of difficult which were related to detective)
The Railway Children
Main characters : Roberta (Bobbie), Peter, Phyllis, Perks, Jim, old gentleman
level 3, page 57
Summary : They were rich family and children; Roberta, Peter and Phyllis were happy. However, their life was completely changed from one day. Their father left somewhere, and their mother became busy to earn money by writing books. They moved to country from center of city, but they were really nice children, so they tried to help their mother. One day, Peter tried to steal coal from the station near their house. Then he was caught by Perks, and Roberta and Phyllis were also caught by him. They were sorry to him and explain why they tried to get coal. Perks was really nice man, so he forgave them, then the children and Perks became good friends. Their mother became ill one day, but the children couldn't help her. What could they do for their mother? And who were old gentleman and Jim? The most important thing was... what happened to their father? The answer was told by the children probably...
Personal response : Oh! How nice story it was! It was pretty heart-warming story. The children were so nice, and the people who met them were also nice.The children didn't think about themselves, they were always think about others. That's why people loved them, and helped them a lot. These days there are few kids like them, almost everyone think about only themselves. If many children became like them, the future of this world would be full of love and peace. Anyway, it was truely lovely sweet story.
Rate : 5!
Level for me : normal
Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
Main characters : Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Helen Stoner, Wilhelm Von Ormstein (king), John Opeshaw
level 2, page 38
Summary : Sherlock Holmes was very famous person in the U.K., and many people asked him for a help. Dr Watson always helped him, they were good friends. There are some interesting cases which were solved by Holmes in this book. The cases of Ms. Helen Stoner and her evil step father, silly king and very smart beautiful lady, and poor John Opeshaw family. They had serious problems, and Holmes could solve them. How? The answers were written in end of each story...
Personal response : Cool Holmes!! How smart he was!? He could guess criminals and how they did from just a few information!! Oh my... But in the case of silly king, Holmes was defeated by the lady who was as smart as Holmes and very beautiful. She was only one woman who was liked by Holmes, maybe. It was really fun book, NICE!
Rate : 4+
Level for me : easy
Books I read so far
by Lewis Carroll
level 2, page 41 easy
Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp
retold by Judith Dean
level 1, page 41 easy
The Phantom of the Opera
by Jennifer Bassett
level 1, page 40 easy
Pocahontas
retold by Tim Vicary
level 1, page 41 easy
All books in this list were really nice. They were good stories, and easy to read. I guess everybody loves Disney's movies, so I recommend to read original story of Disney's movie such as Pocahontas, Aladdin and so on.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tales from Longpuddle
Main characters : John Lackland's son, Tony Kytes, Satchel family, The church band, Netty Sargent
level 2, page 41
Summary : There were some stories about the people who lived in Longpuddle. Longpuddle was small village, but there were many interesting people and their stories. John Lackland's son was stranger, he was not Longpubble's person, his father John Lackland used to. He said that he wanted to see some friends and places. During the way to Longpubble, many customers on the carriage told him about funnyand strange stories about their village such as Tony Kytes's marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Satchel and preacher, stupid The church band and clever Netty Sargent. They were just sily!! But... who was John Lackland's son? Why did he come Longpubble village? Who knows?
Personal response : It was boring book. I could not understand who Johm Lackland's son was. Why did he come? And their stories were so whatever. It couldbe fun, but I don't recommend to read this book anyone.
Rate : 2
Level for me : easy
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Jungle Book
Main Characters : Mowgli (man-cub), Baloo (bear), Bagheera (panther), Shere Khan (tiger)
level 2, page 40
Summary : Mowgli was man-cub who was grown up by wolves. He had 2 teachers, Baloo who was very smart bear and Bagheera who was strong panther. He was learned many things such as master words for birds, master words for snakes, and how to live in jungle. However, he had an enemy, Shere Khan who was old tiger and tried to eat Mowgli when he was baby. He was still wanted kill Mowgli and he tried to be a wolves' king. How could Mowgli defeat Shere Khan? and would he be back to man's place? or stayed in jungle?
Personal response : I like it. I knew this book's name because of Disney's movie, but I haven't watched that movie. I thought Mowgli would be "human", but he wouldn't. It was like Tarzan from Disney's movie... Anyway I was curious about animals' language, how did Mowgli talk to animals? And why could he talk to human? It was strange...
Rate : 4
Level for me : easy
Sherlock Holmes and the Duke's Son
Main characters : Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Duke, James, Saltire
level 1, page 40
Summary : Sherlock Holmes was famous detective as you know, and Dr Watson always helped him. In this story, Saltire (Duke's son) was kidnapped, and his teacher was killed. Duke was very important person, and James was always with him to help him. Holmes would get tons of money if he found Saltire and killer of Saltire's teacher. Who was killer? Why were Duke and James so suspect? Could Holmes and Watson find the answer in this case? Of course they did but how? Holmes would tell you at the end of this story...
Personal response : I Love it same as other Sherlock Holmes series. In this case, Holmes and Watson faced dangerous happens. They were safe at the end, but the process to find answer was really exciting! How cool Holmes was!
Rate : 4+
Level for me : easy
Sherlock Holmes and the Sport of Kings
Main characters : Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Silver Blaze (horse), Mr Ross, Straker
level 1, page 40
Summary : Sherlock Holmes was the most famous detective in U.K. and his friend, Dr Watson was always helped him. In this story, Straker was killed. He was taked care Mr Ross's horses, such as Silver Blaze. Silver Blaze was really nice horse, he could win all races. That's why Mr Ross loved him. However, he diappered when Straker was killed. Holmes was very smart person, probably, he would solve this case. Who killed Straker? and where was Silver Blaze? Holmes would tell you end of this story...
Personal response : I LOVE it! Not especially this book, I LOVE all Sherlock Holmes series. In this book, there are some mysteries and strange things. I couldn't guess all of them, except the killer. I was very happy when I found my guess was right. I love Holmes's intelligence!
Rate : 4+
Level for me : easy
The President's Murderer
Main characters : Alex Dinon (murderer), Felix (police officer)
level 1, page 40
Summary : There was a terrible president in that country, and someone killed him. The police arrested Alex Dinon because he complained about that president in his book. However, he escaped from jail. Everyone in that country was sure that Alex was innocent, so many people tried to help him. End of this story, Alex arrived his home. Then what would happen him? What did he know about new president? Nobady knows except him, new president, and police.
Personal response : What a terrible book it was! There was no mean to read this book, I strongly recommend to not read this book. There was no answer of mistery, and no one can know why Alex was killed or police wanted to kill him. Silly book!!!
Rate : 0 ha!
Level for me : pretty easy
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Wizard of Oz
Main characters : Dorothy, Wizard of Oz, witches...
Level 1, Page 41
Summary :
Dorothy was living in Kansas, and there were few trees and large plain. There were nothing fun, but she was okay because she live with her uncle, aunt and the dog named Toto. One day, big hurricane hit their home. The house had a basement, so they ran into it. However, Toto wasn't come into basement, so Dorothy went to house and caught Toto. However... the house was flown to... somewhere.
What happened to Dorothy then?? She would meet many new friends and would go to somewhere to find how to get back Kansas... HOW??
Personal response :
I knew that this story is pretty famous in the world, but I've never read this book. It was graded readers, so it was really easy for me. And easy to know main points. I want to read real, longer story of this now. If I have time, I would do this, but especially nowadays I can't do that...
Anyways, it was really nice story. There are many important things to live in society such as knowledge, brave, love and relationship with others. The characters of this story had special personalities, I like them. Their personalities are exiting in the real world. It was great book anyway!!
Rate :
MAX! 5!!
Level for me :
quite EASY for everyone, because it was level 1
My favorite books
For classmates; Hahahahaha!! You guys are so funny!!
I'm glad to be with you guys in this semester. BUT! I'm gonna study abroad to USA from next semester... Kinda saaaaaaaaad!! Don't you think so??
...maybe not... haha! I don't care!...actually I do care... Anyway, I was born in America, as you know, but I'm not good English user. That's why I'm here, y'know?? Let's enjoy our 2nd year at KUIS!!
By the way, I love reading actually, but I can also say I don't like it.
The reason why I said I dislike reading is I can't stop reading book i f I start it!!
For example, I bought Harry Potter 7th last year( in Japanese).
What happened then??
I started reading, and I couldn't eat even snacks until I finished it!! I went to bed at 5 a.m. at that day because of the book!!
My family said to me, "You are such a bookworm..."
See? I LOVE reading.
Even though in English, It's gonna be fun for me.
I wanna read long, difficult but fun book, however, my English skills are not enough to read them. So!! I'll try to read from Graded Readers (means really easy one), then I'll try to read more difficult books from middle of this semester.
Especially, fantasy, mysterious, sci-fi, determine novels are my favorite anyway.