BOOK REVIEW

Quentin Dornan

Team Butters

Book Review: Farewell to Manzanar

For the first Lit Circles of the 2008-2009 school year I read Farewell to Manzanar. It is written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. The main characters are Jeanne, Papa, Woody, and Mama. Woody is her older brother. It is an autobiography about her life in Manzanar. I didn't really like this book for three reasons. First, she moved from scene to scene to fast so it was very hard to follow. Second, the book was too predictable; you could easily predict what was going to happen. Finally, I didn't like how mean her dad was.

Jeanne, the author, moved from scene to scene to fast so the book was very hard for me to follow. If you want a book about internment camps this is not the one for you. It is very hard to follow and I am sure that you can find a lot more information in other books. I don't like fast moving books so I hated this book! It was HORRIBLE!!! I suggest that you do not read this book.

I also didn't like this book because it was way too predictable. When I was reading I could tell what was going to happen. Every time I was done reading I could predict what was going to happen next. If you want a suspenseful book, this is not the book for you. You can tell what is going to happen so it is not interesting.

The finale thing that I did not like about this book is how mean she made her dad seam. People look up to there dads’. That makes all dads look bad. She made it seam like he was the worst dad ever. He was really rude to her and it was bad to read. One example was when he accused her of flaunting her sexuality and trying to be American. She made him seam so atrocious.

Overall, Farewell to Manzanar was a horrific book and I suggest that you never read it, even if it is the last book on Earth. There are way better books out there about internment camps if you like those kinds of books. Never read this book!

Quentin Dornan

Team Butters

Final Draft

Book Review: Farewell to Manzanar

For the first Lit Circles of the 2008-2009 school year I read Farewell to Manzanar. It is written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. The main characters are Jeanne, Papa, Woody, and Mama. Woody is her older brother. It is an autobiography about her life in Manzanar. I didn't really like this book for three reasons. First, she moved from scene to scene to fast so it was very hard to follow. Second, the book was too predictable; you could easily predict what was going to happen. Finally, I didn't like how mean her dad was.

Jeanne, the author, moved from scene to scene to fast so the book was very hard for me to follow. If you want a book about internment camps this is not the one for you. It is very hard to follow and I am sure that you can find a lot more information in other books. I don't like fast moving books so I hated this book! It was HORRIBLE!!! I suggest that you do not read this book.

I also didn't like this book because it was way to predictable. When I was reading I could tell what was going to happen.

RESCUED

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters

Perspective: Jack

Today was a great day. I fought of Ralph so he went to go hide. The tribe had meat. The pig had tasted good. Piggy died and the conch was destroyed which was a great joy for me. Yes, Piggy is finally dead and Ralph has no power. Ralph ran into the forest.

We planned to hunt him the next day. Samneric told us that he was hiding in the creepers. We rolled a big red rock toward the sea to scare him. He got out of the thicket and started to run towards the beach. I was so excited that Ralph had started to run away.

We followed Ralph onto the beach. A naval officer was there. I thought of Piggy's brains spilling out of his head. The naval officer asked how many had died and Ralph said two. I was so relieved that Ralph had not giving me up for killing both of them. I suddenly felt sorry for him. IT WAS GREAT TO FINALLY GET RESCUED. I do wish I had gotten to kill Ralph before we left the island though.

Piggy dies

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 11: Castle Rock
Perspective: Ralph

Today was a tragic day. I decided that we should all go over to Castle Rock to confront Jack. That turned out to be a really bad idea. We went with spears. We only had four people come over. It was crazy. They stopped us at the gate to castle rock. Jack came out of the forest from hunting.

He confronted me about coming over there. I said, “That fire is never going to get us rescued; that is a cooking fire, not a signal fire.” After that comment Jack and I started fighting with our spears. He ordered for Samneric to be captured. Piggy yelled so he could speak.

He said that he should be able to speak because he had the conch. I heard the rock before I saw it. Roger had pulled the lever. It rolled down and I dove out of the way. It ran over Piggy and he fell off the cliff. By the time I went to look at him the wave had taken him.

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses

Perspective: Piggy

Today was an okay day. We just saw and participated in Simon's death. We all got injured during that. I really miss Simon. I am very sorry that I killed him and I really wish that Simon would have been smarter and had not come in at night. They would not think that he was the beast.

I saw Samneric coming out of the forest with a log. I went over and lit the fire so that we can get rescued. I went over to talk to Samneric. They said that they left the party early and so did we and Ralph and I said we left early to. We didn't want to admit that we were part of the group that had killed Simon.

Later that night, Jack came over and tried to steal something. He was fighting us. Samneric kicked one of the people in the nuts. It must of hurt. They were punching and kicking us. It was a good fight and I think that nobody will come back after what we did to them. I then realized that they had tried to steal some fire.

The Pig Head's Advice Led to Death

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 9: A View to a Death

Perspective: Simon

Today was a great day. I found out what the beastie was. It is a dead parachutist that is on top of the mountain. I got tired because I had had no water in a day. When I came down I was stumbling. It was very harsh to walk around after having no water. All I could do is stumble and then I would fall. I made my way back to camp, and saw that they had moved camps. It was a horrible walk back to camp.

That is when everything changed. I started to scrape my knees from falling so many times. I finally began to get close to camp and realized that Jack, Piggy, and Ralph were in a fight. I got a coconut shell and drank the whole thing in a matter of seconds, and then they saw me and started to sing, “Kill the Beast, Spill His Blood.” Then the hunters started to comes near me with their sharp sticks. They started jabbing me and I thought it was a game. I started to lose consciousness and blacked out.

I DIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Head on a Stick

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 8:
Perspective: Jack


I had a great day today. I called and tried to a meeting today and tried to get named chief. Nobody voted for me so I left. I told everybody that wanted to come could follow. I got most of the hunters back except Samneric. They stayed with Ralph which was a big loss. We went hunting with our sharper sticks. We found a pig.

The chase was on. The pig was running down the pig trail with two spears in her. It was easy to chase her because she had blood dripping. We followed her to the scar and then started chanting. Kill the pig. Roger started to stab her with his spear. I slit her throat and then hot blood came pouring down onto my hand. Then Roger started chanting, “Right up her ass!” Then we paunched the pig and left the head on a stick for the beast. We brought the meat back to camp and realized that they didn’t have Piggy’s specs to start a fire. That night we went over and stole some and then tried to convince people to come over to our side. A few of the littluns came and we did get some of the fire. That is where the day ended.

The Hunt

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 7: Shadows and Tall Trees
Perspective: Ralph

Today was a very fun and adventurous day. I went hunting for the first time. We were hunting for the beast and pigs. We saw some pig droppings and then a boar started to charge right at me. I threw my stick and it hit right in the nose. It ran by and Jack started to chase it. I was so excited that I had hit the boar that I didn’t follow Jack in the chase. Jack was mad because I threw my stick early and the boar had got away.

The next thing that we did was walk through the most difficult section in the forest. We all had to work together because it was very difficult. I suddenly thought that I wanted someone to go tell Piggy that we would not be back until after dark. I asked them and Simon volunteered. He started to go back and then I had second guesses about him going alone, but we had to push on.

After that Jack found a path that led to the bottom of the mountain. I said that we should climb it and go hunting for the beastie. Jack and I went, while everyone went back to the huts. Roger stayed with us and we began to ascend the mountain. Roger and I stayed about ten feet from the top. Jack went up to look for the beast and when he came back down he looked frightened. I’ve never seen him so frightened. It was very scary

The Beast

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 5: Beast from Air

Perspective: Piggy

Today was a very scary day. Sam and Eric came down from the mountain telling everyone that they had seen the beastie. They said that the beast’s arms were flailing about and actually touched one of them on the shoulder. I was embroiled in a battle with Jack about the beast. It frightened us all, when they said that they saw the beast. We went to go hunt the beast. On the way we saw a guano of sea birds flying into the distance. Jack said that their was one place on the island were he had never been before. We went there on an interminable journey that took a long time. We diffidently talked about who should lead them on to the cliff when suddenly Ralph said, “I will be the one to go. Don’t ask questions. When Ralph left, Jack went after him muttering something about how he did not want him to be alone. There were very tense moments when Jack and Ralph were out of sight. Then they both came back and said that everything was fine and there was no beastie there. Some of the boys went to were Ralph and Jack were and started to roll rocks. I personally wanted to go back to the shelters and take a nap but most of the kids said that they wanted to stay.

The Meeting

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 5: Beast in the Water
Perspective: Simon

Today was a very weird day. Ralph called a meeting at sunset. He set the rules for the island. He made a rule that everyone is to sleep in the shelters except for the hunters who are watching the fire. I do not agree with the rule made because I am the one that sneaks out to my spot. Ralph also made a rule that everyone has to work and that we need to build new shelters that can withstand storms. I wish that the hunters would have stayed on the mountain. I hate being stuck on this ludicrous island. It would have been great if we were rescued when the boat was there. I would have rather been rescued than have pig for dinner. Then the little ones are talking about this beastie who comes from the water. They all found out that I was sneaking out because the little one heard me walking around and thought I was the beastie. I had to spill the beans and it was very embarrassing. The little ones are scared and I am trying to comfort them because no one else is. Overall, it was a weird day.

PIG!!!!!!!

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair
Perspective: Jack

Today was a great day. Today I found out that it would be easier to catch a pig with face painting. The other boys on the island were swimming while the hunters and I went and found the pig. We had to be quiet while we were sneaking through the creepers because the pigs get easily scared. We found the pigs in the jungle on the other side of the jungle. I killed the pig. It felt like I had triumph over the pig. The other pigs heard the commotion and ran into the forest. We started singing a song about killing the pig. We walked to the bottom of the mountain still singing the song. Our group of hunters started to climb up the mountain. The pigs head was carried on a stake up to the top of the mountain. We were still singing our song when we reach the top of the mountain. Right when we reached the top of the mountain, we saw Ralph and he seemed mad about something. Then I realized the fire had gone out. They started to yell at me about how they had seen a ship and there was no smoke. I showed them the pig and they did not seem happy. All they cared about was the fire. We then started another fire. The pig was cooked on a stick and then it became cooked greatly. The day was a complete triumph. I caught a pig. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!

The Huts

Lord of the Flies

Chapter 3: The Huts on the Beach

Character: Ralph

Today was a very eventful day. Jack went hunting in the forest with all of his hunters. About 1 hour later all of them but Jack came back and decided to go for a swim. Simon and I are building the huts on an island while everyone else does nothing. So far we have built two shelters. Jack came back later with news that he hadn’t caught any pigs and was obsessed with it. He also screamed with delight and I thought he saw a ship. The only thing that happened was that he found out how to catch the pigs. I was very mad and angry because Jack was obsessed with pigs. It was getting really annoying because he wouldn’t do anything but think about the pigs. Simon was talking to Jack and I when we got into a fight. He went away and didn’t tell anyone that he was leaving. I am scared for him because he is in the forest alone and nobody was with him. The shelters that we made are not very strong so I believe that they would not hold if there was a storm to come. Well, hopefully we find Simon and I hope that somebody could help me with the shelters tomorrow.

A Good Day

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell
Character: Simon





Today has been a good day so far. There was a plane crash today that all of the boys survived. The adults didn’t survive so we had to elect a leader. I thought of the idea of a vote because everybody was shouting out names. I am very shy on the island, hardly speaking and thinking most of the time. I feel bad for Piggy because everyone makes fun of him. Ralph was rude to name him Piggy. I think that the little ones are in trouble because nobody cares for them. I think that we should have and elected group of people to take care of them. Ralph took me on an adventure with him and Jack. It was very cool to look around the island from the top of the mountain because you could see were the plane came down and the jungle below. The island is a very beautiful place but I hope that we get rescued soon. Hunger will become a very important issue on the island unless we find some order in getting the food. We will run out of fruit if we all eat it so we need to find a different food source. Hopefully tomorrow we will have shelters built.

Left Out

Lord of the Flies
Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain
Character: Piggy




Today I feel so horrible. Everyone is making fun of me because Ralph told everybody that my name is Piggy. I am upset because nobody listens to me. They all pinched my specs from me and used them to make a fire without my permission. We made a rule that whoever has the conch gets to speak. When I have the conch no body lets me speak. Ralph induced everyone to call me Piggy and it was not. Jack has an odd ebullience about him, and I don’t like it. I am martyred on this island and I wish I could go see my Auntie. All the little ones are capering around the island. I am so glad that I am not the leader because I would have the biggest headache. Jack is the leader of the hunters, but I think that he wants to be in control of everybody. He is scary, Jack is and I don’t like him because of his nature. He probably just wants to kill and that is why he is leader of the hunters. I think that Jack will be the first to kill on the island and he might do it because he wants to be leader. Simon is one of the quieter boys who is shy. He seems like he would be nice. I think that all the strenuous work on the island is pointless because we haven’t even built shelters yet.