People face struggles everyday. Whether it be a bad grade or problems at home, we all have to overcome obstacles. In the novella The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, a fisherman named Santiago must do this too. He must face the giant marlin, fight against sharks, and overcome his pain.

After 84 days without catching much, catching this 1,000 plus pound marlin makes it seem like Santiago has finally caught a break. Or has he? After all, the fish puts him through so much. It pulls him extremely far out to sea and causes him a lot of physical and mental pain. His hands and feet get cut from holding the rope so that the marlin won't get away, and he thinks he might be going crazy because he isn't getting any sleep, because if he fell asleep his hands would relax and the fish would be free. The quote, "Just then the fish gave a sudden lurch that pulled the old man down onto the bow and would have pulled him overboard if he had not braced himself and given some line"(55) shows how the fish is hurting Santiago. It is such a strong fish that it could have pulled Santiago into the sea if he had made one small mistake. The rope is also hard to hold and is cutting his hand from having it speed across his hands.

When Santiago finally catches this great fish, he ties it to this side of the boat to get home. He understands that things might happen to it, such as sharks being attracted to the blood. However, he couldn't have guessed how much he would have to do in order to save every bit of the marlin that he could. When the first shark came, Santiago had his harpoon, but the shark got away with that. Eventually, all he is left with is his club, which he doesn't think he could do much damage with. His doubt is shown in the quote "Now they have beaten me, he thought. I am too old to club sharks to death"(112). He thinks that he is to weak and sore and old to be able to keep so many sharks from getting the marlin with just a club. The sharks make Santiago wish he had never caught the fish at all.

During the whole book, Santiago experiences a lot of pain. Before he caught the huge marlin, he was experiencing pain because he hadn't caught much in 84 days. Once he caught the fish, the rope that the fish was on was over his back so his back hurt and it was being cut, and every now and then the fish would go faster and the rope would fly through Santiago's hands, causing them to be cut. Also, at one point his left hand cramped because it had been holding the rope for so long, so that caused him pain. He is also experiencing mental pain, because he is so tired and thinks he might be going crazy of fatigue and dehydration. His pain is shown in the quote "The Old man could hardly breathe now and he felt a strange taste in his mouth. It was coppery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment."(119) It shows how he was bleeding because of trying to kill all the sharks. He also couldn't breathe well because he had been working so hard to try to save his fish and destroy the sharks. Being as old as he was, it took a lot of energy to try to kill the sharks with the little resourses he had, so he was in pain and out of breath.

Santiago overcomes all of these obstacles by the end of the book. He catches the marlin, although it put up a good fight and almost pulled Santiago into the ocean a few times. He kills all of the sharks, even though all he had was a club and he didn't think he could do it. He dealt with his pain, so he was able to stay sane and catch the fish. He realized his main goal was to get home, preferably with the fish, but at least alive and healthy.

Dewey Book Review

3^rd Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

Dewey By Vicki Myron with Brett Witter. Grand Central Publishing, 2008 Genre: Non-Fiction

Dewey is a cat who was found in a library drop box on the coldest morning of the year. He lived in the library after that, and the whole staff loved him. They went through tough times, involving getting people to accept Dewey, and the make things as easy as possible for their patrons. The story of Dewey is told, about his whole life, as well as the lives of people around him, like the author, Vicki Myron. She also talks about her personal problems; her difficult marriage, her daughter, her schooling, as well as other obstacles she faced.

“What an extraordinary story of love, courage, and devotion. I will not soon forget the good people of Spencer, Iowa, and their wonderful library cat. DEWEY is truly inspiration for the soul,” says Jack Canfield, co creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

The author, Vicki Myron, speaks in first person about Dewey, her past, the library, and the town of Spencer, Iowa, where the book takes place mostly. She doesn’t speak with very large words, so it was easy to understand, but it wasn’t so lacking that it was boring. I thought the author did an okay job of describing each situation. There were a few points in the book where I was kind of confused as to where they were, if she was talking about that situation or something following it. This is different than most books that I read because I usually read fiction stories, but it was interesting for a change and read something that had actually happened.

“I wanted to tell him Dewey wasn’t just any cat, but Rick had been taking pet photographs for the past week. He’d probably heard it a hundred times already” (144).

I was split on how much I liked this book. I liked it a lot because I love cats and have a cat, so I liked reading about one, and it was cool how Dewey could almost have little conversations with Vicki. On the other hand, it was a lot of historical facts, which I found boring. I didn’t like reading about the history of Iowa, at least the way she described it.

The Guinea Pig That Saves Lives

Geneva was walking down the street with Nibbler, her pet guinea pig. Ever since Geneva had gotten Nibbler on her 10th birthday, she had taken her out to get fresh air by walking up and down her street. Nibbler would stick out of her sweatshirt pocket, her long untrimmed fur blowing in the cool October air. Now, Geneva was 17 years old. And everyday for seven years, she had taken Nibbler outside. It had become their own little tradition.
On this one October day, it was particularly quiet on Geneva’s street in Denver, Colorado. Single cars passed one by one every twenty minutes or so. One certain car drove past quickly, definitely over the speed limit. It was a large black van, and in its hurry, it drove through a deep puddle from the previous nights rain, and soaked Geneva through her clothes. She shuddered of the cool water, swearing under her breath, but decided to cut the walk short so she could change her clothes. As she turned around the black vehicle suddenly appeared again, this time traveling slower. Geneva noticed this, and realized that it was following her. She held on to Nibbler and started to walk faster. The van moved faster too.
Geneva broke into a sprint. The van roared to life and continued after her. She shoved Nibbler further into her sweatshirt pocket to save her from falling to the ground. However, the van was definitely faster than her and she was quickly overtaken. A man in a black ski mask jumped out of the back of the van and grabbed both of her arms, tied them with rope, and pushed her into the van. He then tied together her legs with the rest of the rope, so that her ankles were touching her wrists.
Throughout the process, Geneva was screaming at the top of her lungs until she was silenced by the piece of duct tape that was placed over her mouth. Nibbler was staying quietly in her pocket; she was well trained. Geneva was happy about this; she wanted to be able to keep Nibbler. The van then jolted forward, forcing Geneva and the man who took her towards the back. The man got up and cautiously moved to the passenger seat, putting a barrier between him and Geneva. She guessed that they were now taking off their ski masks, attempting to look less suspicious. Geneva considered her options, but came up with nothing.

It seemed like hours later when the van came to a stop. The back door flew open and Geneva was dragged out. She caught a quick glimpse of where they were. She saw a large building with lights on the roof, though none of them were on. They were in what looked like a back parking lot. This was all she saw before she was blindfolded and pushed forward. She heard a door open, and they went through what she assumed was a long hallway, before she heard another door open. Her blindfold was taken off and she was shoved to the ground, the door shut behind her.
Geneva took in her surroundings. She was in an occluded cement room, not even, a closet at best. There was a single blanket on the ground and a sink in the back corner. She walked over to it and set Nibbler in the deep bowl. She put her back against the wall and slid to the floor. What could she possibly do? What did they want with her? Would they annul her? Would she get home?
Suddenly, she heard the latch on the heavy metal door click open. She jumped up and got Nibbler out of the sink, putting her in her pocket again. She was just sitting down again when a small plate with bread ,some lettuce, and an extremely small square block that smelled strongly like albacore was slid in on the floor, followed by a bowl of corn and a glass of water. The door made a loud thud when it was closed. Geneva crawled over to the food and brought it back to her wall. She surveyed it and figured it looked okay, so she slowly started picking at the corn, finding that after not eating since that morning, or the morning before, it all tasted very good. She still didn’t know what she was going to do, but she had hope that someone would abet her.

* * * * *

It had been three months since she had been taken. She knew because they had given her a calendar and a marker to cross off days. She continued to get diurnal food from the door, although she gave some to Nibbler, and she was beginning to become gaunt. They almost never hurt or reprimand her, only occasionally when Geneva would fight back, trying to make them take her home. She had lost the hope she had had when she was first taken. It was vague why they had taken her; they still had explained nothing. She had still come up with no plan to escape or get home. She had to admit, she was thwarted.
One day, she finally got an idea. Nibbler was well trained. She had eaten enough food to not be too feeble. She knew the area around their home, until the next town over. Somehow, she knew what to do if you told her to do it.
So Geneva planned that she would write a note using the marker and a piece of the calendar saying she was in a warehouse place somewhere near in their town. She would put the note through Nibblers collar and send her through the hole in the wall she had found covered up that led to outside. Nibbler would be able to find her way to her house from there. It was a good plan, that is, until Geneva realized that they had driven around for a couple of hours. However, she hoped it was just a trick, to make her obfuscated and think we were farther than they actually were. So she wrote the note and off went Nibbler with instructions from Geneva. She hoped with all her heart that Nibbler would find the way home, and bring someone to save her.

* * * * *

Five days later, Nibbler was still gone, and no sound of rescue came from the hole in the wall. Geneva was starting to get worried, both about Nibbler and if she would ever get out.
She was sleeping when she was awoken to the acute sound of the sirens. All of this clamor was shocking and confusing to her at first, until she registered what was going on. She hurried over to the hole, shouting out that she was in here, to please help her. Then Nibbler rushed through, coming over to her and cuddling against her cool neck. She was so excited; she was about to be emancipated! A mans face was the next thing Geneva saw.
“Don’t worry we’re going to get you out! Do you know how you got to where you are?” This man Geneva guessed was a police officer.
“We went in a door in the back, and then went down a long hallway, and I’m in a room somewhere down there! I was blindfolded though, so I was only –“Geneva cut off her sentence when the latch on the door clicked open, and one of the man came in with a gun in his hand.
“You won’t be getting me caught.” He said as he grabbed her off the floor. Just then, Nibbler ran back out the hole, and the man saw her. "Hey what the - " Geneva took advantage of this opening and bolted out the open door. She ran down the short hallway, taking random turns she hoped were the way out. Over her heavy breathing and her heart pounding, she could hear the man's footsteps behind her, his voice, angry, yelling at her to come back, she'd regret this.
She found a door she thought would lead outside, but it was bolted shut with a heavy piece of metal. She attempted to lift it up, but her weak arms could not handle all that weight. She took some more turns, hoping to lose her follower, which lead her to another door. It was her last hope; it was at a dead end. She ran to it, jiggling the handle, but it was stuck.
"Come on, come on!" She whispered to the door. Just then, the man caught up to her, and at the same moment, the door opened. "Yes!" She ran through, but it was simply another room. She ran across it, but it was just an empty, open room. Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. The man, being much stronger than her, quickly came into the room.
"You don't have anywhere else to run, sweetheart. Just give up now." He lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. Geneva braced herself for the blow.
It didn't come.
"Crap!" The man was cursing under his breath. He unloaded it quickly to look for the problem.
Please let me get out of here, Geneva thought to herself. Please, somebody come save me.
Suddenly, as if an answer to her thoughts, the door in which they had both come through burst open, police filling the room, surrounding him.
"You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Geneva Scott. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney....." As the cop read the man his rights, another came over and guided Geneva out of the building. As she walked out through the door, stepping out into sunlight for the first time in three months, the first people she saw were her mom, her dad, and the guinea pig that saved her life.

Breaking Dawn - Book Review

The book Breaking Dawn is about Bella Swan. She is a human who just graduated from high school. It takes place in Forks, Washington, where she lived with her dad, Charlie. Bella is in love with Edward Cullen, who is a vampire. Edward was “adopted” by Carlisle Cullen. Carlisle is a vampire who changed Edward, Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie into vampires. They live together with Alice and Jasper, who were changed separately and joined the Cullen’s family. Bella and Edward get married, because Bella wanted to be changed into a vampire, but Edward doesn’t want to do it. So he comes up with some “conditions” that Bella has to do if she wants him to change her. One of them involves getting married. Bella goes through with the marriage, but on their honeymoon to Esme Island, Bella becomes pregnant. They don’t know what is going to happen, because there has never been anything quite like the relationship Bella and Edward have.
“’This is certainly going to be the biggest book of the year, without a doubt,’ said Diane Mangan, the director of the children’s department for Borders Group.” This quote is from an article in the New York Times that was written by Julie Bosman.
Breaking Dawn is written in the first person, and it switches from Bella’s view to Jacob’s view, then back to Bella’s. Bella talks about how nervous she is to get married, then all of her insecurities about being the center of attention. As they go on their honeymoon, she describes how she gets pregnant and how she doesn’t understand why Edward doesn’t want her to keep whatever was inside of her. Then it switches to Jacob. Jacob is Bella’s best friend and is a werewolf. His pack is very strict on a treaty they have with the Cullen family. The treaty says that if they change anyone, then the pack is allowed to attack them. When Bella and Edward come back from their honeymoon with Bella being pregnant, Jacob hears that Bella is sick. So he thinks that they have changed Bella already, and he wants to attack. However, the pack won’t attack because they don’t know for sure that she is pregnant. Then there is the problem, should we or should we not? I have never read a book quite like this series. Everything is so well thought out and you never feel like the author is just saying things that don’t make sense. She uses so much detail and leaves nothing out.
“The fire trembled down my spine, throwing tight spasms out along my arms and legs. It only took a second. The heat flooded through me, and I felt the silent shimmer that made me something else. I threw my heavy paws against the matted earth and stretched my back in one long, rolling extension.” (156).
I loved the whole Twilight series. I think they were all so much fun to read and I always couldn’t wait to finish each book. I enjoyed the whole plot and everything about this book. Although there were so many different things happening, it’s so easy to follow.

The Bean Trees - Book Review

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is about a girl named Taylor who wants to leave home. So she saves up a little bit of money to by a car (that doesn’t run very well). She heads west, planning to stop whenever her car breaks down. However, her car breaks down somewhere in the middle of the Cherokee Nation (which is in Kansas somewhere) so she gets it fixed and keeps going.
Then one day, Taylor goes into a bar to grab a bite to eat, and as she is leaving, a lady comes over to her and hands her a baby. The lady tells Taylor to keep the baby, she doesn’t want it. Before Taylor can protest, the lady is gone. So she takes the baby and drives west still, and gets to Arizona. There she gets a job at a burger joint. She names the baby Turtle, and leaves her at the mall daycare while she is working, going back every two hours to check on her and convincing the workers there that she really is still shopping. However, Taylor eventually gets fired from her job and has to find a place to stay.
She finds an ad in the newspaper for someone looking for a roommate, so she goes to check it out. The owner of the house turns out to be a girl named Lou Ann, an ex-wife with a son named Dwayne Ray. Her husband had left her while she was still pregnant. So Taylor moves in with Lou Ann, and she gets a job at the tire place, Jesus Is Lord, where she first got her tires fixed when she arrived. Lou Ann stays home with Dwayne Ray and Turtle. The owner of the tire shop, Mattie, spends a lot of time with Taylor and Lou Ann, along with their kids. Mattie has these plants that make bean trees, and they came all the way from China. So the beans kind of represent the cycle that Taylor has gone through, traveling that long way. Mattie also keeps illegals safe by hiding them in her sanctuary.
Two of these illegals are Esperanza and Estevan. They are Mayan and lost their daughter. They end up needing to go to the Cherokee Nation, where they will pretend to be Cherokee, because their skin color is similar. Estevan and Esperanza pose as Turtles real parents and go to a place where Taylor adopts her finally as April Turtle Greer.

Tunes on the Sand

People everyday want more and more, and no amount of money can please them enough. It doesn't matter what the personal value of an object or feeling is to you is, the only thing important is the price tag attached. Do you really need that $1000 outfit that you're going to wear once? Is the most expensive thing always the most important? Or is it how much you care for it that you should pay attention to?

As we depart from the driveway at 5 in the morning, the sun is just coming up. Packed in between coolers and blankets, I am just comfortable enough to be able to drift off to sleep. The familiar stores and houses come to an end as we pass from town to town. We get on the highway, and I can hear the high pitched screeching of the wind coming through the opened window. Someone presses the automatic window button and the squealing ceases. I know we are getting closer; the streets are becoming smaller and the houses closer. The roads are the same as last summer, and they start to get sandy as we near the beach.

Whether we are camping or staying at a hotel, the routine is always the same; drop our bags and head for the beach. We all take off our shoes as we race down the sand infested cement stairs. The reminiscence of cigarette butts and old soda cans block our path as we step into the cool smooth sand. It will heat up as the day wears on, and we will be hopping to save the soles of our feet from burning. But now we run towards the water, passing the different textures of sand, as it turns hard with rocks and then to mud as the waves brush against the shore. We stand far away from water, not wanting to interfere with the pattern of brushing and falling, folding and falling. As we slowly creep forward, we wonder who will be first to dip their toes in the chilly water.

I move carfully at first, then bolt towards the water, freezing my feet. I run out as fast as I had gone in, getting my feet dirty as the sand connects with the water. As we walk back once more towards the sandy steps, the cigarette butts, and empty soda cans, I don't worry, because I know we will be back again tomorrow.

We walk on the sidewalk feeling every crack of the cement with our sandy feet. We pass stores selling tie-dyed t-shirts and painted seashells. All of the huge extravagant hotels that we will never stay in catch our eyes as we keep going, glancing into all the stores. We walk deeper into the town where all of the houses are and the more affordable hotels were we will be rooming are. The cheaper hotels are more comfortable anyways. The expensive ones feel as if you can't move anything and everything has it's specific place. I can't wait to unpack and go back to the warm sand with our penguin blanket.

---

I plug in the earplugs and press play. What will come first I don't know, and I don't care. I turn up the volume to high and listen for the beginning *beep* to know the song is about to start. I am able to let the beat sweep me away and I begin to sing as loud and obnoxiously as I can. My door is shut and nobody will hear me.

I am swept away by the rhythms and lyrics. The beats pull me deeper and deeper out of the real world. The song overtakes me, and I am no longer even singing the correct words. I spin around my room and clash into the mound of clothes that have captured my room for their own. As the song ends, I can already guess which song will come next. I have memorized the song order over the course of millions of times hitting play.

All of the songs come to a close, and I push the button on my MP3 up to turn it off, knowing I have loads of homework to be done. I pull out the earplugs and rap it around the small black music player. It may have only been about $30, but it is worth so much more to me, and does so much more than make noise when I plug it in to my speaker and turn up the volume as high as it will go.

---

Both my MP3 and trips to the beach take me to another place. My MP3 brings me away from everything mentally, and it allows me to cool down from the stress of the day. Trips to the beach lets me relax physically in another area. I enjoy listening to my music because I like to have my own times, and no matter how loud and out of tune I am singing, nobody can laugh at me because I am usually all alone.
I love to go to to the beach because I am spending time with my family, which we don't often get a chance to do at home with my parents working and my brother and I in school Monday to Friday. It gives me a different view than the same houses and the same people I see everyday. I can relax and have fun without anyone judging me, because I usually don't see anyone I know at the beach. I love being able to shove my feet in the sand and feeling the grains between my toes.