HALO The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund

                  In “HALO The Fall of Reach" by Eric Nylund, although I didn't get that far into the book the main idea is clear. From the very beginning you can see that John a kid from Reach was born to be a strong leader. It all started when Dr. Catherine Halsey a U.N.S.C. scientist goes to secretly interview Candidate 117 (John) for her top secret experiment right before kidnapping him. From there John and a group of 70 other kids go through agonizing military training. Dr. Halsey then does her experiment to enhance the kid’s growth, reflexes, muscles, bone strength, and knowledge complicity. Dr. Halsey ends up making the perfect supper soldiers. That are tested and trained even more brutally in the next couple of weeks. At the end of all this john is made the commanding officer of the remaining 30 soldiers.

           To me John is the perfect leader; he cares and helps his team from the very beginning. In every training mission with teams John put his team before himself. For instance, when all 70 candidates were told to hike to a spot on a map to be picked up by a Pelican (plane). Commander Mendez told everyone that the last one to the Pelican would have to stay behind. John told his men that if anyone was getting left behind it was going to be him. This shows how John is a good leader because it shows how he puts his men before him. It also shows John is a good leader because he won’t leave one of his men behind. Finally, it shows that John is a good leader because he knows how to boost the morale of his men.

           Another example of how John is a good Commanding Officer is how he cares when he loses men. For instance when he lost about 40 out of 70 of his men due to affects of Dr. Halsey body inclement experiment. When his men died he felt as if he had lost a part of himself and when he doctors were moving the permanently crippled men he made sure they would still get a chance to serve their country in some way. As John said, "That's all we want, a chance to serve,"(Nylund 55). This proves John is a good Commanding Officer because he really cares about his men and what happens to them. John would probably rather die than loose men, which is what a good Commander would do for his men.

Non-Fiction Post

 Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson tells the story of how Lincoln was shot and killed. It also tells the story of what happened to John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. Booth shot and killed Lincoln because he was mad that the Confederacy had lost the war. As an actor, Booth knew the whole layout of the theater that Lincoln was going to attend a show in. Booth also knew the show well, and that made it easier to plan the murder. From the title it is clear that this book tells us a lot about the hunt for Booth and his associates.

This book was really suspenseful and keeps the reader on the edge of his seat. In the book, the first thing Swanson talks about is how Booth shot Lincoln. He starts out by telling the reader how Booth got to the theater and up the back way to Lincoln’s box. After that he explains how Booth snuck into the room and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a small pistol. When he tried to get away he was tackled by Major Henry Rathbone who realized what Booth had done. Not thinking, Booth jumped out of the box onto the stage where he stood up and said “Sic simper tyrannis!” which is “the state motto of Virginia: ‘Thus always to tyrants’” (Swanson 43).  The details Swanson adds make the book exciting because you don’t know what is going to happen next. The descriptions make the reader wonder what it was like in the theater that night.

Swanson includes pictures that make the reader want to know more about the events that happen in this book. For example, Swanson includes pictures from news papers from back in 1865. One specific news paper is the National Police Gazette from April 22, 1865 which shows drawings of how Lincoln was shot and what people did after he was shot. It also shows drawings of the attempted assassination of Secretary of State William H. Seward in his bed (56). Seeing these images helps the reader get a better picture of what really happened and the surrounding time period. These images also give us an idea of the people and the time because of what they were wearing and where they were. It also show s how people back then would learn about what happened through drawings  since there were no TV’s.

This book makes me wonder what the time was like. Also after reading this book I want to see Lincoln, the movie. This book makes me think how terrible the assassination of the president was, especially since he freed the slaves

Non-Fiction RR

In the article, “The Fury of Fire,” the author, Kristin Lewis, wants the reader to know how wildfires spread and what they do. The author describes what it is like to be in a wildfire. The author also talks about what life is like after a wildfire. The article shows the reader how destructive and frightening wildfires are.

Kristin Lewis writes about a kid named Kevin Conaway and his family whose town was caught in a wildfire. In San Diego County back in 2003, two wildfires were started by people, one accidentally and another on purpose. When I read this it makes me think how important it is to be careful when I am in a forest. In the article, “The Fury of Fire,” Lewis says, “wildfires can move at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour” (Lewis 5). Lewis also describes how hot a wildfire can get – 2600 degrees. Lewis’s details make the reader aware of how horrible a wildfire could be especially since it could be 2600 degrees before the fire gets to you. The article shows the reader how hard it is to escape a wildfire since wildfire can move 10 times as fast as a normal person can run.

The second half of the article explains how Kevin’s town was affected. Lewis tells how Kevin’s house was spared from the fire but other parts of the town were not so lucky. Lewis describes the scene. “As the Conaway’s drove onto their street, Kevin saw a blackened hillside. But their house was ok” (Lewis 6). Hundreds of other homes in Kevin’s neighborhood were damaged. After Kevin got back to his house they started helping to clean up the town. They also gave out supplies and blankets to people who lost their homes. This crisis is similar to Hurricane Sandy because people came together to help their neighbors rebuild their homes and made sure they had enough food and clothing.      

After reading this article, I understand how terrible wildfires can be. I now know how wildfires can spread and kill people really fast. I also learned what it is like to be in a wildfire from Kevin’s story. This article makes the reader aware of how wildfires are started so they can be prevented.

Works Cited

 Lewis, Kristin. “The Fury of Fire.” Scholastic Action. 8 October 2012: 4-6. Print. 

Blog Post Due on the 17th

In the book Peak by Ronald Smith, the author started the book in an interesting way. He did that by having the main character write the story as if he is explaining what happened to him in the last couple of months. Peak, is a 14 year old, who loves mountain climbing and tries to climb a skyscraper in New York and gets caught. From there he goes to court and ends up getting parole and has to go live with his dad who he never sees. His dad brought Peak to Mount Everest where Josh, Peak’s dad, had to bring a climbing party up the mountain. That was not all Josh planned to do. He planned on getting Peak to the top so he could be the youngest person to the top which would get more business for Josh’s mountain climbing company.

            I thought the author’s way of starting the book was a good idea. It made you wonder why a kid was writing about what happened to him in the past year. It also made you wonder why he was writing about it in the back of a van driving away from Mount Everest. The best part was how the author explained why he was writing in the back of a van slowly. He did this by first explaining the why he was writing in the beginning. He first described what Peak’s teacher said he needed to do to pass 8^th grade, which ended up being a writing assignment on anything he wanted to write about. Then in the middle and end he explained why he was in a van driving away from Mount Everest. He did this by bringing Peak and his dad to Mount Everest. The way the author wrote the book was interesting.

Blog #4

In the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the story is not fair because a greaser named Ponyboy gets attacked in a park with his friend Johnny. Ponyboy ends up killing one of the socs that were drowning them and Ponyboy and Johnny run away thinking that they will be executed if they are caught. They hide out in an abandoned church for a couple of days, then leave for a couple of hours. When they come back, the church is on fire and there are kids from a school trip stuck inside. Ponyboy and Johnny run in and get the kids out, but when they are leaving a part of the church collapses on Ponyboy giving him burns that eventually kill him. This story is not fair because two kids who would give their lives to save others get tangled up in a murder they didn't want to commit.

This text deals with money because it puts people into two gangs. The rich kids are part of the socs gang which is in the rich part of town. Almost everyone else is a greaser gang which is in the ghetto part of town. If you lived in the rich part of town you would probably be a soc and if you lived in the ghetto you would most likely be a greaser. In this book who you hang out with depends on where you live and how much money you have. The groups didn't work together. Instead, they fought against each other. In this book, money puts people into different categories and gangs based upon how much money they have and where they live.        

Blog #3

In the book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton the story is not fair because Ponyboy who is a greaser and one of the main characters in the book gets jumped in a park with his friend Johnny by a couple of Socs. After almost being drowned in the park fountain, Ponyboy stabbed and killed one of the Socs. Then Ponyboy and Johnny run away afraid that they will be put in the electric chair for killing the Soc. After days of hiding in an abandoned church, they leave and come back after figuring out what they should do next. When they get to the church they find it in flames with kids from a school trip inside.  Ponyboy and Johnny run into the falling building to save the kids. Right as they are leaving a part of the church falls on Ponyboy giving him severe burns that ended up killing him. This story is not fair because two kids who would give their lives to save others get tangled up in a murder that they didn’t want to commit.  But they did it in self defense since they had no other choice.

This text makes me think that justice in the world is a little unfair. For instance, when Ponyboy and Johnny were getting jumped in the park, they killed the Soc because the Soc was going to kill them. It was a kill or be killed moment that could have gotten Ponyboy in an electric chair charged with murder for killing the Soc. I think that was unfair because it was self defense since he would not have killed the guy if he didn’t feel threatened by him. I think if you kill in self defense you should pay less of a price then killing a person in cold blood. The book “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton makes me think that justice in the world is a little unfair. 

Child Soldier Response

Child soldiers are victims for many reasons. For starter’s, child soldiers are drugged. They are also brutally abducted from their families. Most of all child soldiers are victims because they are being enlisted every day to fight in wars all around the world. Child soldiers all around the world are victims being forcefully abducted from their families, drugged, and enlisted in armies.

In the article “Children at War” by P.W. Singer, the author explains how kids are victims by being taken from home to fight. For instance, in the article the author put in quotes from a boy who was abducted. The boy said “I was attending primary school. The rebels came and attacked us. They killed my mother and father in front of my eyes. I was 10 years old. They took me with them.” This shows how child soldiers are victims because they are attacked, their families are killed, and they are taken from their homes, which is not right. The author also puts in that “rebel and government forces alike have abducted some 20,000 Liberian children, forcing them into front line combat.” This fact makes you think about how bad the problem is since the government is even abducting kids from home. Child soldiers are victims because they are brutally forced away from their homes without a say.

Child soldiers are also victims because they are drugged. For instance, in an interview with Katie Couric a man named Ishmael Beah said that the drugs they were given gave them “a sense of invincibility.” Also, in the same interview Ishmael Beah said that “after the initial use of drugs, this became our sense of reality. We lost ourselves completely in this war that it became the only thing we knew.” These examples show that child soldiers are drugged to the point that all they know about is the war. It is almost like they are brainwashed to only know how to fight and kill.

Child soldiers are victims because they are forced to fight in wars all around the world. In the interview with Katie Couric, Ishmael Beah said, “I was with a group of other kids. Naturally, we thought if we went to a military base we would be protected. That turned out not to be the case. We were forcefully recruited.” Also, in the article “Armed and Underage” the author wrote “when Beah was 13, Sierra Leone was embroiled in a civil war. Rebels attacked his village, and Beah was separated from his parents. After spending months wandering through his war-torn country, he was forcibly recruited into Sierra Leone’s army. Beah was armed with an AK-47, drugged, and taught to kill.” These examples show how child soldiers are victims because they are taken and forced to fight with no say in anything.   

As you can see, child soldiers are victims. They are victims because they are abducted from their homes. Child soldiers are also victims because they are drugged to the point of being brainwashed. Finally, child soldiers are victims because they are forced to fight. Child soldiers are not perpetrators. They are victims of war.