.:~JasmineTea14~:.~Blog~

My new web site is this : http://blogs.yis.ac.jp/14shimomuram/

i will be uploading on that website from now on!

This is a new series that I have started reading and which I have finished the first book. I enjoyed reading this book because it is short, quick yet it is a proper mystery, a mystery with a scientific ending. These fast mysteries are centered around the mystery solver CSI Wes Burton with his cast including pathologist Dr. Crown, CSI technician Mike Trellis, Detectives Radley, Detective Gibson, and Ed, the search-and-rescue border collie owned by Burton. As you keep reading these many short stories based on the same friendly characters, you start wanting to read more.

The crimes include a deadly antique flower, accidental death caused by a tanning machine, flour exploding and much much more! With the quick-witted Burton, all these mysteries are solved within 4 minutes! This exciting mystery book is written by Jeremy Brown.

What do you think about using a blog/ website for learning at school?

I think that this blog is a great way of learning because it’s fun and we get to look at each other’s works more. This helps us get ideas of our own, which we could share with people that are not only in our school. It is also quicker and easier to write, check and hand-in.

What are the best/worst things about using blogs?

I think the best thing about having and using blogs is where we can look at each other’s work and comment on them. I have gotten many ideas by reading other people’s blogs. The worst part about having blogs is that my first class account keeps getting full from the mails from edublogs. I don’t mind if it is comments and things about me posting a new post, but sometimes I get weird comments like where people just copy and paste what i wrote and not writing anything else. It is very annoying.

Do you think it is important to learn how to use things like blogs? Why? Why not?

I think it is important to learn how to use blogs because it is one way of getting used to computers. It makes you use it, making your computer skills grow! Also you might use it in your future job, where you can get the whole company together on one blog. If you can do it with a school, you can probably do it with a company.

When the bomb fell on their house, the Wilkinsons never knew that they were going to turn into ghosts. The Shriekers were another couple that had turned into ghosts, yet they were completely different from each other. The Wilkinsons are one of the kindest families you will ever meet, but the Shriekers are the worst husband and wife that had ever married. When these two pairs arrived at the Dial-A-Ghost agency, there was a slight mix up.

They are not the main characters though. It is 10-years-old Oliver Smith that this story is based on. He had been happily living in an orphanage home until suddenly he finds out that he is the rightful heir of Helton Hall. While he tried getting used to the huge house, with the “help” of his two cousins, the Snoddle-Brittles. They are in fact planning a scary and spooky plan.

This is a book that I recommend to people who just want a nice fun to read fantasy, like my friend N.F. I would recommend this book to her because she  enjoys the types of books that I read. I hadn’t read this book before and I think she hasn’t either, although she has read a few Eva Ibbotson books before. 

I would recommend this book to her because although it had said that it was horror, in my opinion I would say it was fantasy and a bit of comedy to it, the type of book that she likes. This was funny, yet it was not completely comedy and I really had fun reading. Since Eva Ibbotson wrote it in a way where you can tell the point of view from almost every character, I really wanted to keep on reading. I also had a laugh at the ending. I hope N.F. reads it as well. 

This is a horror book, a type of book I barely read, yet I found this book very interesting. This book was written by Lois Duncan. It’s not a bright story but it does make you think about the criminals of a crime and the victim’s family left over.

This book is about four teenagers who keep a big secret. They had kept it for a whole year, but now somebody found out about their secret. Julie, one of the four teenagers receives a frightening letter with only seven words. “I know what you did last summer”

It all started that night in summer when they did that terrible thing, and ran away from it. Now the fright is back again. With an unknown person coming after them, one by one the four receive things from this person, reminding them about the horror. Is he there for revenge? Who is this person? 

THis book caught my attention just because I don’t really read horror books and that I was thinking of trying something new. As I started reading, the first chapter, I got so into the book. This was because you knew something was going to happen as soon as you started reading. It was exciting but deadly, and adventurous but haunting from the very beginning. It was scary yet exciting and I finished the book in two days. I also like the turn in the end, yet I got startled by who the unknown person was. I think you would think that too. I hope you would enjoy this suspense thriller as much as I did!

P.S. This has been made into a movie, though I am pretty sure that they have changed the story more than a bit. Also, these movies have been made into sequels so you might enjoy watching them too.

This is another sakura medal book that i have read. This is a book by Tim Lott.

Fearless is a book about a girl named Little Fearless, although that is not her real name. In the Institute that 1000 girls including Little Fearless are in, they are not allowed to use their real names and they are usually called by their letters and numbers. These girls work and work in the city laundry, while waiting for their parents to come, someone to save them. They were sent or brought to the Institute, which is from the outside called the ”City Community Faith School for Retraining, Opportunity and Hope.”

Little Fearless with her quick movements and wits runs away from the Institute, sure that if she tells an adult about the truth they will come and save them. She runs to the City and back before midnight. Every time she goes, nobody listens to her or even if they do, they just don’t believe her. As she sneaks out, she risks many things, for the other girls as well. Each time she goes out, the Controller does something to make the girls like nothing, shaving their hair bold, making them all wear grey, without names or things that they can remember from the past.

This is a very good book but leaves you thinking a lot afterwards. This is a sad yet addicting book. This book kept me reading and reading. Even though i do not cry often with books, this book made me cry so much. I think it taught me many things, be brave, keep having hope, courage, and so much more. This is a very powerful book and i hope many people read it!

This is a creative writing that we did during our class time. Mine is called, “A Story of an Umbrella”

A Story of an Umbrella

~story plan~

• train journey
• something being forgotten (umbrella)
• people come and go (e.g. old couple, small girl, etc.)
• learn about people (love, bravery, etc.)
• get found in end

These are quick tips on how to write good stories:

• Have a introduction. Introduce the story to the audience. It should be eye catching and quick but then you would have to explain the action.
• Have a middle (body).
• Have a problem or turn in the middle (body). This way people would find the story interesting. The protagonist does not have to successfully solve this problem. They may fail as well. The problem may not solve but if the protagonist learns something.
• Have a conclusion. It does not have to be a proper conclusion because it is a story but at least have some ending to the adventure, that is, unless it is a on going sequel about he same adventure.
• Have a main character (protagonist). it does not have to be only one person though.
• Don’t start sentences in the same way all the time, unless you want to highlight that word. 
• Use a thesaurus. You can use a variations of words to get your emotions and feelings across to the audience.

I have used most of these tips before. Some of them are tips that i have heard from other people. I hope these tips will help you. 

This was another senior book i read for the sakura medals and it is written by Rune Michaels. This book was an adventurous one with twists and turns, while the main character barely moves around in his neighborhood! It was a very sad and deep book compared to the books i usually read, but it was very interesting, showing how the family of the arrested person would live like and about the family of the victim. 

Josh worships his older brother, Max. They are more than ordinary brothers though. They look alike, talk like, and they have the exact same interests, one including their favorite computer game, Genesis Alpha. Not only that, but Josh was born for a reason. It was Josh’s stem cells, harvested when Josh was newly born, that saved his dying older brother’s life. But was that the right choice?

When Josh’s brother is arrested and accused of a murderer of a teenage girl, their family goes insane. Reporters and cameras just outside of their door, police coming into their house, taking away the computers and leaving a mess behind, and their faces on the news all day. Their family has to bond even stronger than they had before but would their bond be strong enough? Is Max really guilty of this brutal crime or was it just a mistake? If Max really was guilty then would it be Josh’s fault that he was born and had saved Max’s life? Just when they thought it was the end, more and more walls come crashing into them but would they still be able to stand together until the end?

Although it was not a happily ever after story, I was satisfied with the ending. They have hope in the end and the reader and keep hoping. As the title says, this book is really a thriller. I hope a lot of people would read this book because you can tell that just people of one person’s crime, not only does the family of the victim suffer but so does the family of the criminal. i think many people who like adventure stories would enjoy reading this book.