Brian's Return: 5/13/14

Pages: 0-59
Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     The first chapter is an intro to the rest of the book. It introduces what the rest of the book will be about even though it takes place in the later in time than the beginning of the book. It takes place in the forest and tells about why the main character, Brian, was in the wilderness, because the wilderness had become a part of him. He then tells why he did not like the city. He says how boring and frustrating their pointless activities are. He found sports and video games to be silly and pointless and how "extreme" outdoor sports were just games. He talks about how he is not interested by the things everyone is always talking about and he just pretends to listen to his friends.

     He then tells about the event that pushed him to his limit. He was walking into a pizza place with two friends, one was a girl, Susan, who had invited him to get pizza and talk (the other boy just assumed the invitation included him). As he walked in a boy from school, Carl, was walking out. He was a football player and was jealous of Brian's popularity. He had also asked Susan out on a date and she refused. This made him very mad at Brian. He tried to hit the door into Brian but missed, hitting Brian's friends. He than punched Brian. This caused the survival instincts Brian had gotten in the wild to react. He attacked Carl with the heels of his palms rather than his fists, striking quickly.

     Brian would not stop hitting Carl because of his instincts and beat him to the ground. Eventually he was pulled off of Carl and the police came. Carl was sent to the hospital because he had severe bruising on his face, stomach, and ribs and he stayed there overnight. Police recommended that Brian go to a counselor named Caleb. It takes Brian about 20 seconds to realize he is blind. Caleb asks him a questing and Brain starts nodding. Caleb repeats the the question because he cannot see him and Brian realizes he is blind. Almost immediately Caleb asks for Brian to describe a scene in the wild to him. These discussions lead to Brian realizing he needs to return to the wild (that's where the title comes from.) I ended reading where Brian had just arrived in the wild.

40 Book Challenge Reflection

     This year I read 24 books for my 40 book challenge. Although this was only just over half of the 40 I think it introduced me to more types of books. I read all four poetry books when I would normally read none. I also read both of the mystery books. I would normally not have read these types of books.
Now that I have read these types of books I am more interested in them. An example of this is the mystery genre. I got Ripper from the book fair because it looked cool and I was interested in history. I liked it so much that the next two books I read were also mystery, The Hardy Boys, 1 and 2.

     Another thing that the 40 book challenge made me do was at the end of the year to look back at all the books I had read. This made me think about why I read these books in the first place. As I thought about this I realized all the messages all the books had taught me and will remember these messages better then if I had just read the books on my own. I think that my 40 book challenge was a success although I did not read close to 40 books because it introduced me to new books and I learned many new messages from these books.

My favorite book

The Lightning Thief: 5/7/14

Pages: 1-74 (summary: 1-15)

Prompt: Summarize what you just read.

     At the beginning of the book Percy is going on a field trip with his school, Yancy Academy. They are going to a museum to learn about Greek Mythology with his teachers, Mr. Brunner and Mrs. Dodds. On the bus a girl named Nancy Bobofit was pelting Percy's best friend, Grover, with pieces of sandwich. When he wants to stop her he can't because he is on prohibition. He tells how every year and on field trips something weird happens and he is expelled. He tells about how in fifth grade he shot a school bus with a cannon and he dropped his whole class into the Marine World shark pool. Then the whole class is looking at a statue and Nancy says something about the statue being naked and Percy yells at her to "shut up".

     Then Percy's teacher, Mr. Brunner, asks Percy what a picture on the statue is about. He knows and tells Mr. Brunner that it is about Kronos eating his kids the Greek gods. After Percy answers that question Mr. Brunner asks him how it applies to real life and Percy doesn't know. After everyone leaves for lunch Mr. Brunner tells Percy that he must learn how it applies to real life. Percy says he wants to get angry because of how hard Mr. Brunner pushes him. He than says that Mr. Brunner looks at the statue for a long time, like he was at the girls funeral. When Percy goes out side he notices a large storm outside which almost never happens.

     This is when Nancy gets bored of stealing from other visitors and "accidentally" dumps her lunch onto Grover's lap. Percy is so mad that his mind goes blank and a "wave roared" in his head. The next thing he remembers is Nancy sitting in the fountain yelling, "Percy pushed me!" Mrs. Dodds immediately is next to Percy and everyone is whispering, "Did you see-" "-the water-" "-like it grabbed her-". Mrs Dodds says "Now honey-" and Percy says that he knows that he will spend a month erasing workbooks. This makes Mrs. Dodds very angry and she leads Percy inside. She then threatens Percy and turns into a evil hag. This is when Mr. Brunner comes to the rescue and throws Percy a magical pen that turns into a sword. Percy kills Mrs. Dodds and he room becomes empty. When he goes back to the rest of the group everyone denies that there was a Mrs. Dodds ever at the school.