2nd Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

2nd Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

A Table in The Presence by LT. Carey H. Cash. W Publishing Group, 2004.
Genre: Biography.

A Table in The Presence is the first book I have ever read by Lt. Carey H. Cash. It is about Lt. Carey H. Cash (Chaplain) in the United States Marines and his story on the Iraq war. A chaplain is basically a trained soldier that is also a priest and goes to war a preaches to soldiers. The book is based around right when the war started and gives a very detailed picture in your mind about what war is like. There are many 1st person moments in the story that make it very realistic and almost like you are there. The Protagonist would be the U.S. Marine Corp. and the antagonist would be the Iraq army. It takes place in Iraq and the conflict is the war between the U.S. and Iraq.

“Lieutenant Cash has crafted a dramatic chronicle of courage and a testament of faith under fire that is a stirring as it is eloquent. It is a ‘must read’ for those who want to understand the war we are in and the warriors who are defending us.”
-Oliver North

A Table in The Presence gives the reader a very detailed picture in his/her mind on how serious this war is. It gives 1st person accounts and soldiers stories when in Iraq. The chaplain is an important figure to people because he gives people a sense of faith and protectiveness from God. I can relate this to a book I read a while ago about a soldier in the front lines of World War II. The only difference between these two books is Lt. Cash isn’t necessarily in the front lines like this soldier was.

A Table in The Presence is told in 1st person point of view from Lt. Cash’s eyes. Some parts of the book get very graphic but make all the more interesting. The author relates to god and has passages of the bible a lot through out the whole book. Also the author uses very big vocabulary. There was one part where a guy was driving through Iraq under heavy fire and the soldier right next to him. That soldier was Captain Bohr. Gunny Bohr was known from everyone throughout all the companies. When his death was announced over the radio, everyone was in shock. But it was amazing how detailed the driver of that AAV was about that. It’s little things like that, that make the book so interesting.

“Alpha Company’s lead AAV’s had just cleared the apartment complexes on the inside of the city limits. All at once, with a gut-wrenching crack, the first .762 round of enemy AK-47 fire broke through the silence of the night. It slammed into the side of Second Lieutenant Andrew Terrell’s AAV.”(181) This shows how realistic and detailed this book is.

After reading A Table in The Presence, I had a new aspect on the war in Iraq. It’s not like a video game where when you die you come right back, when you die you are gone forever. It made me realize that war is not childish but more for true warriors. I would love to read another book by Lt. Carey H. Cash because of how realistic he made it feel. He changed my whole aspect on war and gave me the truth about what Iraq is like. I would recommend this book to any of my friends who want to learn what war is really like. Lt. Cash did a really good job telling his 1st person point of view on the war in Iraq.

-***** FIVE STARS

-Goon

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review

The Battle of The Labyrinth by Rick Riordain. Hyperion Books, 2008. Genre: Fantasy Fiction

The Battle of The Labyrinth by Rick Riordain is the fourth book in a series of five books that is based around Greek mythology. This book is about a fourteen year old boy named Percy Jackson, who is the son of Poseidon, the water god, and due to that fact he has magical powers. Basically, Percy’s best friend Annabeth is sent out on a quest to the out the Labyrinth. Annabeth asks Percy, Tyson (Percy’s brother, which is a Cyclops), and Grover (Percy’s other friend) to go with her. The Labyrinth is an underground maze that is home to many mythological creatures. While down in the labyrinth, many unsuspecting things happen to these four.

"Look no further for the next Harry Potter, meet Percy Jackson, as legions of fans already have" -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“I had no choice. I called to the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let loose in one horrible scream.” This was a very important part of the story. This was when Percy was sent by Hephaestus to seek through Mt. Helens and see if anybody was there. When Percy was cornered by some of the gods, he went crazy and let out unbelievable power and blew up the whole entire mountain. That is why I chose this quote.

The author has a very good writing style. He has a way of keeping you engaged with the story. The story is written from a first-person point of view. It is as if you are in Percy Jackson’s body the whole story which makes it that much more interesting. At the end of each chapter, which is usually a good stopping point when reading a book, the author ends each chapter with you thinking what is going to happen next. That is a good quality because I didn’t want to put the book down at all!

“As we ran, I could hear the disorganized sounds of an entire army trying to jump out of the stands and follow us.” That was the last sentence in one of the chapters. Now, if you’ve been reading this book and a big action scene starts to happen in a chapter and then all of a sudden the chapter ends but the action resumes on the next chapter, of course you’re going to keep reading! It is also very hard to stop in the middle of a chapter so when you start the next chapter, of course your going to finish it. So this made you not want to ever put the book down.

I am a huge fan of Rick Riordain’s books. In fact, I have now read the first four books in his series of five and I hope to read the fifth one very soon. If I had to give his books a rating on a scale of one to five stars, I would give him 5 stars. So in conclusion, I would recommend this book to a reader of any type due to the fact that this book was insanely good!

*****- Five Stars
-Goon

Value Essay

A Workout Can Take A Rest Every Now And Then

The definition of value is the estimated or assigned worth of an object. If you can't put a price tag on something can it have value? According to this definition, a priceless moment can't have value because you can't "assign worth" to it. But in all reality, somethings that are priceless, are actually more valueable to us even if they aren't worth any money! So if you think about it, this definition isn't actually one-hundred percent true!

I brush my teeth and I put in my mouthwash. I swish and gargle and swish and gargle and then spit out into the sink. I put in my elastics which are going to help straighten out my teeth. Then I walk out of the bathroom and turn to my right and see my favorite room of the house, my bedroom. I walk into my room and turn to my bureau. I open up the drawer and take out a pair of shorts and take off my clothes from the day and put on my nice comfy basketball shorts.

I take a dive onto the queen size bed I have in my room. As soon as I hit the mattress, its blankets wrap around me and I feel as if I’m in the clouds. Maybe I’ll pull my Ipod off its docking station and listen to a couple tunes. That’s only if I’m not very tired or exhausted. Sometimes listening to my Ipod takes my mind off the world. But let’s get back to the main picture here. My bed is probably my favorite valuable possession I have. It weighs in around five hundred smackaroos but too me, it is worth every penny.

My bed helps me rest and get away from the world after a long, hardworking day of school. Sometimes I will do a little late night texting but I’ll call it a night when I start seeing three phones in my hand. When I turn on my fan, get under all the blankets and try to conserve my body heat as best as possible, I start feeling thankful for living the way I do. I get to sleep in a queen size bed in a nice warm, insulated and heated house with a good family. My bed, is definitely my most favorite possession due to the fact that it lets me relax, get away from everything, and it let’s me think about what’s going on in my life.

I’m sitting at my desk doing my homework, when I hear the front door unlock and the boots start walking down the hall. I already know what’s coming in about five minutes. I see my dad walk into his bedroom and I can hear getting changed out of his D.O.C. uniform and into a pair of running shorts and a white t-shirt. He walks into the room I’m doing my homework and all he says is “you down?” Now after working out with my dad so many times, and him saying the same phrase every time he wants to workout, I already know what he means. No explanation is needed. So I moan and groan but I manage to get out “sure...” I tell him not to start without me and he says ok. I run up to my room and I get my school clothes off and I throw on a pair of beat-up shorts and a white t-shirt. I throw my phone on my bed and run down downstairs into the basement. As always, he is waiting for me.

We start off with our ritual, of doing anywhere between fifty to one hundred perfect push-ups on the carpet. Then we move into the weight room. He starts off on the all in one gym first and I pick up the always reliable curl bar. The bar has fifteen pounds on each side of it which adds up to thirty pounds. Add that with the bar and it is around thirty-five to forty pounds I am curling. I usually do thirty to seventy reps with that. Then when my dad is done with the all in one gym I move onto it and he does wrist curls. I will most likely either bench-press or do pull downs. When I am done with those, I will finish off the work-out with probably thirty wrist curls and chug down a bottle of water.

Now, working-out with my dad isn’t just a time to get stronger. It is one of the only times me and my dad actually talk man-to-man. This would be the time when I tell him if I have any problems. My dad is a hard-working man and is actually a lieutenant for the Connecticut Department of Correction at the Osborne Correctional Institution. Due to the fact that this is one of the few times my dad and I get a chance to talk man-to-man. This is definitely my most favorite priceless moment I will ever have in my life.

So after a long day of school and working out, my bed is definitely the place my body deserves to be. My body needs rest and it is exhausted. So even though working out may make my body soar and a long day of school may make me exhausted, my bed balances out everything. A nice comfortable long night of sleep takes away the soreness in my body and gets me ready for the next day ahead of me.

So in conclusion, my most favorite valuable possession is definitely my bed and that weighs in around five hundred dollars. My most favorite priceless moment is working out with my dad. No doubt about that. So when I hear the door open, and the boots walking ‘round, I know it’s time to get ready, and hear the good old phrase, “you down?”

The Goon's Contending Game Essay

Summer Reading Essay Prompt

This essay prompt is going to be about the two books The Contender and Ender’s Game. It is going to be narrated by Donatelli.

I remember a long time ago, maybe five or six years ago, Alfred Brooks brought a boy into my gym (Donatelli’s Gym) called Ender Wiggin. Ender was nine years old when he came in with Alfred. Now Alfred was one of my best boxers at the gym. He went 2-1-0 before I had him retire. Now I’m just going to describe each character in detail.

First, I’m going to describe Alfred Brooks. Alfred is a Negro boy and is also a high school drop-out. He lives in Harlem, New York with his aunt and two sisters. Alfred also works at a nearby grocery store called Epstein’s. It is a Jew ran grocery store. While Alfred was boxing he got trained by a man named Henry. Alfred was the first boxer Henry ever trained. By the end of Alfred’s boxing career, he went 2-1-0 before I had him retire. Why’ll Alfred was boxing, his daily schedule was wake up, run, eat breakfast, go to work, go to the gym, come home, eat, watch TV, and then go to bed and do it again. That is most of Alfred’s life right there.

Now, I’m going to describe Ender Wiggin. I only got to meet Ender for about twenty minutes but I did learn a lot about the young boy. Ender is the youngest in his family. His older sister is called Valentine and his older brother is called Peter. Ender was commander of the Dragon Army. Ender has the power to be a killer which is what I would want in a boxer but I wouldn’t want him to kill other fighters. I would just want him to win. Ender doesn’t like the quality of being a killer. But also his brother has the power to be a killer too and he likes it. It seemed as if ender was very intelligent. Ender also doesn’t like violence. That is what I got to learn about Ender Wiggin.

Now after I was done talking to Ender and Alfred, who are friends, Alfred goes to show Ender how he trains. He show’s Ender his magnificent skill and all I could hear was Ender saying “Wow Alfred! You’re really good!” and Alfred kept saying “It takes much training and practice to become a contender”. Then I could hear them talking in the gym. “Do you want to spar with me?” asked Alfred. “Uhm, I don’t think you would want that Alfred” said Ender. “If you land a punch some where that could get me mad, I could quite possibly kill you and I can’t control it” said Ender. “Oh ok Ender, that makes sense!” exclaimed Alfred. “I wouldn’t want to die in my own gym to a nine year old!” chuckled Alfred. Ender laughed too. So then Alfred went over to the peanut bag and started hitting it making it sound like a machine gun and Ender was very impressed. “How do you hit it so fast?” asked Ender. “I got trained by the best” said Alfred. “Hey Ender, after this, you and me should go catch a movie. I love watching movies!” exclaimed Alfred. “Yeah! That sounds great Alfred!” said Ender.

So then Ender started describing to Alfred his life as Alfred was doing sit-ups on the mat. He said how he once had to wear a monitor so that the military could see what he was seeing. He said how he once killed a bully because the bully started to pick on him. He was only six years old! When Ender became Commander of the Dragon Army, he was given some soldiers called Launchies. They were sent off to defeat the Buggers. Then all of a sudden, Ender gets promoted to the Salamander Army. Then Ender gets traded to the Rat Army. By the end, Ender said instead of fighting the Buggers, he wanted to find them a new place to live.

So at the end of the day, Alfred paid me two dollars and then left with Ender to go see a movie. The only thing they left me wondering was, what movie were they going to see!?

(717 words)