BLOGGING!

So... for my presentation on Monday (I think) I plan on doing something completely unrelated to my 20% Time projects. This is because there is no way to present a blog and I never got around to the pop up book, plus I really don't want to do any other things before Monday to have something to present about. My plan is to do an impromptu presentation of a fairy tale, to be determined by the class. This relates to English, right? It's a play, it involves creative thinking, and it is visual. If it were planned out I could even do costumes and stuff, but I think it would be more fun to do it off the top of my head. I can even use people for props. Excellent. Now I just have to hope that the people in the class pick a fairy tale I am familiar with.

This looks to be the last of my blog posts, I guess.

So Long and Thanks For All the Fish,
        -Megan

It's... ALIVE!

20% Time is Back! Not only that, but I have enough time to start reading in bulk again! We need to do a final project though, and the best option sounds like my Huck Finn popup book. Besides requiring more time than we have in school, semester tests are coming up, which kills my 'work on project' and replaces it with 'study study study STUDY' time. I may start doing research for my Senior Project, even possibly making a new blog for it. I could use this one, but then formatting and naming gets all screwed up. I'll let you know how it goes.

Um...

Did I read this week? Of course I did, but what?

Oh yeah! I got Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, and it was AMAZING!

I don't think I have ever read a book in that 'style' that I have enjoyed more, which really says something. The story follows young Lincoln, who becomes a vampire hunter after almost his whole family dies. The story is supplemented with pieces from his journals and actual speeches and letters from history. The movie (or at least the previews) that is coming out soon doesn't even hold a candle to the book. I definitely recommend. excellent book. (short, too!)

Quintilogy?

Still haven't gotten Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but I got and read the five Fablehaven books, so I'll do a review on all of those.

Really low quality picture, but it's faster then finding them individually and trying to get Blogger to line them up properly.

The series follows the story of Seth and Kendra Sorrenson, two siblings (around middle/high school) who go to visit their grandparents whom they have rarely seen. Kendra, while her brother is swimming in the pond outside, uncovers a series of clues hidden in the attic playroom they use as a bedroom, eventually uncovering a locked journal. Inside, at the very end of the otherwise blank book, she finds written drink the milk, which confuses her immensely. She goes outside, where she sees the hired man carrying a pan of milk over by the gardens. She runs over and asks what it is for, to which he replies that it makes the many butterflies on the estate stay in the yard. Kendra is suspicious, so after the hired man leaves she calls over Seth and tells him to drink some of the milk. He immediately starts looking wildly around, saying stuff about all the fairies in the yard. Kendra thinks this is a trick, but Seth insists so Kendra tries some of the milk too. They are immediately confronted by their grandfather, who had been watching the whole time. He explains that the entire estate is a sanctuary for magical creatures, and by drinking the milk the children could see the creature's "true forms"-- the butterflies were actually fairies, but couldn't be seen by people who hadn't drank the special milk.

Fairies weren't the only creatures on the sanctuary, the two soon find out, as Seth is tricked into letting goblins and other dark creatures into the house, and eventually accidentally frees a demon imprisoned on the grounds. After this point the book becomes spoiler country, so I'll have to leave it off there.

That's only the first book-- the last four being as interesting as the first! I have read the whole series twice now, so I feel that I can say this is one of my favorite fantasy books in the teen bracket. The books themselves are pretty thick, but the way the stories flow means they hardly take any time at all to read. They are engaging and very exciting, and I wholly encourage them to anybody interested. Beware, however, the author paints a very convincing middle schooler in the character Seth-- it becomes very easy to become exasperated with his antics. :D

Curiosity Killed the Cat...

But Anticipation is about to kill the Megan.

There are a few series that I am waiting impatiently for the next book to come out in, but it looks like I will have to wait at least a year for each. Once I found this out, I wracked my brain for other books to (re)read so that I could have something to post on and just more books to read. Little did I realize that waiting for books to be in at the library is even worse than just waiting for books to be written, since you can keep checking and checking for them to come in. Once they do, however, They will be excellent material for a blog post. Firstly there is the Fablehaven series, which I have read before and enjoyed immensely. Secondly (and the important part of this post) is a book that I just learned about a few days ago but found so mindshatteringly awesome that I ordered it right away. It is called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer. We'll see how it goes.

Shield, Sword and Crown

My science fiction streak wasn't as long as I planned on it being, as I am already back into fantasy books. The books that I read Saturday and Sunday were (as the title of this post would suggest) the Shield, Sword and Crown trilogy, written by Hilari Bell. She also wrote another saga which I enjoy, but that will be another post for another time.

The first book, Shield of Stars, starts the story with the introduction of the three main characters. First we meet Weasel, an ex-pickpocket currently working for a man plotting an overthrow of the corrupt government. As the man is arrested by followers of the evil Regent, Weasel escapes and decides to ask the Prince, too young to rule and so therefore without much power, to pardon the man, who is a prominent member of society and well known to the Prince. When this plan inevitably fails, Weasel is locked up with a girl named Arisa in an old storeroom. They escape and leave to find a group of Bandits who Weasel hopes can help free the Regent's prisoners.

The second book, Sword of Waters, tells of Weasel, Arisa, and the prince's efforts to locate the fabled sword of waters, an artifact that was the symbol of the king's power before being lost generations ago. Without it, the Prince would be unable to ascend the throne through the chaos of conflicting powers fighting over it.

The third book, Crown of Earth, concludes the story (in a very hard to explain without spoilers sort of way). Overall the series was a great read, but it was definitely pointed towards a teen audience, with quick action and convenient Deus Ex Machina style devices. Even with that, it didn't seem childish and flowed quite well. Definitely worth the time (especially since the books are relatively short) and a great intro to the rest of Bell's amazing works.

I'm Baaaaaack...

This post was going to be titled "It's been a long time" but I realized that I had already used that before. Is that a bad sign? Anyway, I suppose I could justify my absence by saying I had other stuff to do, which would be true, but in order to do so I would have to admit that I haven't been reading the whole time. Isn't that awful? All this time since my last post I have not read a single book that wasn't required for school (and the only one for school being Huck Finn, which doesn't count at all). After I noticed this, I decided to remedy the situation immediately, starting with a trip to the trusty book store followed by a stop at the local library. From the book store I picked up a collection of stories by H.P. Lovecraft, but I haven't yet started them so I really couldn't judge them at this time. From the library I picked up a series I have read at least thrice before, but decided to read again anyway. Those books will be the topic of my next post, so here we go!

It's been a long time...

But rest assured I am still alive. Really. I'm still working on my popup book and I'm still reading. I'll get some real content, eventually...

How To: Make a Pop-up Book

I finished the witten portion of my how-to, I'll be uploading pictures in a few days when I finish my pop-up myself. For now, it can be found on the sidebar!

*Spoiler Alert*

I just finished Huck Finn last night, and my favorite part was▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓!
I couldn't believe ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ did ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓! And when ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ went and ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓, it was amazing!

Anyway, since I finished the book, that means I can start with my pop-up book now. Yay!

To Read, or Not to Read...

...That is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler for me to wait
and continue my project,
or to start now and read
and by starting jump ahead?


I'm done with this poetry stuff. It's awful.


Anyway, my conundrum in this bright shiny new year is what to do for a project? I planned on continuing the blog, if simply to stay isolated from the rambunctious ramblings of the others I would share the original blog with. Bwahaha. In addition to that though, I thought that I would add other projects, supplements if you will, to help fill out my 20% time. What I was going to do was create another pop-up book based on the next book we will be reading in class-- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This would require reading it first, however, and in order to make a book I must finish it. I have already read the book in the past, which lessens my guilt, but the thought of reading ahead so far fills me with chagrin.

Of course, I didn't feel that way with The Lord of the Flies, or Of Mice and Men, or To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Crucible... I guess I'll be fine.

Expect pictures (ooh! maybe even a step-by-step!) in the future, since I will probably start the pop-up right after finishing the book (sometime tomorrow, since I have stuff to do tonight)