Need Series

Switching gears from my usual reviews of non-fiction books, I started reading the Need series by Carrie Jones. It is, in a rough sense, like the self acclaimed Twilight series, because of it’s unruly coincidence a teenager, to play towards the target audience, moves to a seamless town in the middle on no where. The main character in this series is a girl named Zara, who until moving to her grandmother’s house in Maine, just thought her mother, divorced and widowed, couldn’t handle her own daughter. Nonetheless, Zara is a quirky young girl, collecting phobias to describe her discoveries. She begins to see trails of gold dust, and on the night of a car crash she discovers that the small town of Maine is infested with pixies, who feed off of human blood. Zara then opens a world of new reality, where mythological creatures, ie wherewolves, exist. She meets a boy named Nick who becomes her love interest and main reason she continues to fight for her new found friends and allies.

The series follows Zara as she discovers her past, why fate brought her to Maine, and pixies. These pixies are evil, run by a king who needs to find his queen soon, choosing Zara as a prime target. With Zarah a new queen, she delves deeper into the mystery of pixies, discovering why their need for human blood is the culprit of so many missing cases in her small town. Nick fights to keep Zara safe but in return is presumed dead, sent to a new world called Valhalla. The series continues to unwind and excite your reading senses.

I would rate this book a 6 out of 5, definitely one of my favorite fantasy books out there. I would recommend this to anyone dyeing for a good, enticing read, one that you cannot dare put down, and once it’s over you rush to the library for the next one.

S: mystery, discovering the truth behind a mask with deception and clever tactics

O: present day Maine

A: young adults who get easily sucked into romance/action/mystery/fantasy books

P: to suck the reader in, escaping your own reality in exchange for the magical world of mythical creatures

T: first person, fluctuates with the feelings and surroundings of the main character and her fellow characters

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog

Merle’s Door

Lessons From a Free Thinking Dog

Ted Kerasote 

If you’ve ever owned a dog, or cared and loved a dog you understand how amazing and incomparable a relationship between a human and dog can be. Kerasote explores the possibilities, abilities and discoveries that come with such a relationship. Discover the meaning to companionship, love and loss, as two unlikely souls meet each other at the borderline. Kerasote is about to deport from the beginning of the San Juan river when he meets an unlikely wanderer in the desert. Kerasote uses a sense of ethos to draw you into his writing, while at the same time you are truly learning facts about the past of dog specimen. The connection manifested between Kerasote and Merle are clear, and make you feel as if you were on those hikes, the rivers, and roads, of their hear-strung relationship. 

Apart from the journey of their life, you begin to learn things about ‘man’s best friend’, and maybe the key to understanding each other is to not always depend on the other, but to be just as equally independent, and that the ability to let each other make their own pathway choices, but inevitably meet up at the halfway. The research put into this book creates a sense of logos, to make the reader understand the other side of dog training and develop your own revision of how to ‘adapt’ to the lifestyle of the dog instead of the dog ‘adapting’ to your own lifestyle.

S(speaker)

the speaker was Ted Kerasote, who narrated the whole story in first person. His use of diction and word choice expanded the development of this story. Examples would be such as when he uses allegorical text, such as when he translates the movements and body signals given off by Merle, into human words and understanding. 

O(occasion)

The occasion and time this book is set in is a variable timeline strewn throughout the years Merle lived in Ted’s life. A very present and current piece of writing that documents around 15 years of dog life.

A(audience)

This book is a challenging text for those younger than high school just because of the type of book it is. So it is aimed for those high school and older, and to anyone who love dogs.

P(purpose)

The purpose for this book is possibly a way to let out his feelings about Merle, but maybe to cherish the life of Merle and share his life and what it meant to Ted, but I believe it is a mix of both.

S(style)

he used many variable sentence lengths to give it structure. He smoothly transferred from talking in first person in the sense it was about him and Merle to about studies, research, and stories collected from previous authors of various different texts.

T(tone)

The tone of the story expresses the true feelings of Merle and Ted. It expresses and farther describes the setting of the story.

My heartstrings were definitely affected by this book, but at the same time I have been equally affected by how well it produced its message in a relatable setting. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 paw prints

INSIDE OF A DOG :3

¡NS¡DE of a DOG

What Dogs See, Smell, and Know

By: Alexandra Horow¡tz

“ outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend.

Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read” - Groucho Max

¡ Summary !

Written in the format of both a scientist, but coming from the heart of a dog lover and owner. As Alexandra Horowitz introduces the thought of what it would be like to actually be a dog. 

A dog in many way imitates human behavior, or even possibly we imitate our pets and develop skills to further accommodate your relationship. Like a current child in a family who has just had a new kid, a dog is a very attention seeking animal, and will interrupt your daily duties just to say, hey! I’m here, play with me? They make both intentional and involuntary noises that can portray how they are feeling. There eyesight far surpasses ours, letting in more light even though their pupil size is smaller than ours. Although a dog can replicate a humans behavior, they still represent a very highly evolved and intelligent species.

The way she incorporates her own dog  gives the feeling of bonding between her two worlds. The relationship between dog and owner is a bond unlike any you can achieve from human to human interaction. With human, relationships can be built up over many years and with one mistake, or instance, can be brought down, but your relationship with your dog, it can only improve, and in turn, your pet will be loyal for life. He or she forgives you, smells your sadness, because like sexual attraction, you emit hormones and opposing receptors pick those up, and in theory, dogs can sense your feelings. It truly is extraordinary how true a pet can be, and the loyalty is never faulty. Love your pet, and they will love you. And so, with this book, you can become fully engulfed in the knowledge of how your pet functions, and in turn you can become and even greater owner. 

SOAPSTONE :]

Subject

Alexandra Horowitz who is a cognitive (studies how the brain perceives the world), analyzes how man’s best friend, views its surrounds, and even how they observe humans

Occas¡on

present day, modern times, but in the outlook of, what it would be like to be a dog. a good read for morning, afternoon, or night reads

Aud¡ence

Dog lovers!! haha, and anyone who really is interested in not just loving dogs because they’re cute, but wanting to further connect with these animals, understand them, feel them, and in a sense, become them so you can further your knowledge on them

Purpose

To incorporate man’s best friend in a scientific portrayal

Speaker

The author, who is speaking both from her own scientific perspective, but also dog owner and dog lover 

Tone

It really is a mellow but warming and informative book. For maybe not a quick read, but a smooth read, this definitely has it al

Personal Rev¡ew :]

Admittedly, I read this book in like 5-6 hours 6 days before the report was due. It was a really good book. I LOVE to read dog books, anything dog related because dogs are so cute haha. This is my first dog book that is non-fiction. I am used to reading books about dogs where they are apart of the story, telling the story, or they are just a side character. This was really different to experience a book where it was factual, yet, was conveyed toward and audience who wants a good intellectually sound, and mentally pleasing to read. You are in for a good treat, those who enjoy dogs, and need to read a non-fiction book, or just want to read a dog book I recommend this one :]

I g¡ve th¡s book a 5 out of 5 paw pr¡nts :] 

Cats are Great

Cats are great. Just fabulous really. I'm allergic to cats. But that's ok, because I don't care. A boy told me today that he didn't like cats, hated them actually. I wanted to punch him. If you have never seen a cat, know what a cat is, or just don't care about them, google breaded cats. It's the best thing ever. Like ever. If you have a cat, I will come to your house and bread it. =^.^= Meow

#catlife

Vote Obama

Kyleia Clements

Presidential Persuasive Essay

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.” (Barrack Obama) Many claim that staying with Obama will be the  biggest mistake our country can make right now. What have we seen as a country, with him leading us, change for the better? Those who say that although yes, we have changed, we have not changed enough and Romney could provide more answers at a faster pace. I challenge those who say this to do what Obama has already done and come out of  those two years saying the same remarks. It takes power, endurance and persistence to come up with results, and not everyone is built for that, but Obama was and slowly he has made differences for the better. People make their accusations towards him expecting that in just two years, he will transform the nation to be something incredibly better than before he was elected and to come up with something that  will move us into the next big change of our lifetime. What I say is, if you choose to elect a new president, he will be new to the system of being our president, and within two years you’re all going to say the same things that you’ve said about Obama, but about Romney. Obama has been in the game for two years, and if you gave him two more, he will make even more improvements and changes for the better.

Admittedly Obama is not perfect, and no one is so you cannot hold one individual accountable for all of the nation’s problems, it is an accumulative factor that is added upon constantly due to how the public acts, spends, affects our resources, incomes and demands. Obama has this goal in mind to “Create the jobs of tomorrow here at home” (Obama) where he knows that the more people get off their butts, contribute to society and start working, we can then begin to rebuild America. His goal is to provide more job opportunities so there would be less poverty and grief stricken Americans trying to provide for a fulfilling life. This goal did come with costs that affected other aspects in our society to decrease dramatically, but once one problem is fixed, there is bound to be more problems created, and from there you build upon those new problems and eventually eliminate the most pressing problems until we are near perfect.

With the effects of more jobs, there was an increase in gas prices and taxes , but with improvement there will be sacrifices. As Obama increases certain beneficial aspects of our lives, he had to disregard some of the lesser pressing matters and save them for after the initial benefitting factors were put into action. To access greatness, you have to work up to it which when we are considering the greatness of an entire nation, is a long menial process in which we cannot expect results immediately. With Obama, we may not be getting what we expected as an outcome yet, but time will prove us that choosing Obama as a president will in the long run bring our nation to greatness. Together we will inevitably change the way we work as a society and community to bring within us the potential we have to be one in the same, because one is not as strong as when we stand together, “There is not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America — there is the United States of America” (Obama) and with those words, we have to band together and be the best we can to keep moving on and making lasting improvements until there is nothing left but perfection.

With the option between Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama, take into consideration who is the most experienced, the most “for the people” oriented and who will continue to build us up, and you will come up with Barrack Obama. With the reelection of Obama, you will be bringing positive change that you will be proud of. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” (Obama) Be the change you seek and vote Obama.

Works Cited

http://www.myrkothum.com/top-10-of-barack-obama-quotes-of-change/

http://factcheck.org/2012/10/obamas-numbers/

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

SOAPST and Rating

S(speaker)

The speaker is Chuck Klosterman. He is a well thought out cross examiner of post modern pop culture found in American society. He analyzes human interaction with the world around us with common connection to the audience.

O(occasion)

The occasion is set in the time period of right now.  It deals with this generations developmental defects and patterns. 

A(audience)

I think the intended audience to read this book is people ranging from teenagers to the early thirties because it is an interesting topic to read about, and to see in depth the impact of society in the communities lifestyle. But not so much much as for those older or younger than the selected age group to enjoy.

P(purpose)

To put his two cents in to our ever changing society. To envelope those who read his book to understand and accept his thoughts and views on this time period and what we have become as a human race.

S(style)

T(tone)

Drama and whole heartedness. This is what I would say to describe how he set the mood and tone for the book. Drama because in order to get this point across you have to mean what you say and stand behind your words. This goes along with whole heartedness, you need to yourself except what you’ve written. One example would be on page one where he talks about how no woman could ever satisfy him, but that that was ok because he could not satisfy any woman. But although he is now happily married, he will still stand behind his remarks, and really he cannot back out of his words because they have been published forever.

I would give this book a 5 out of 5 happy faces :) because it really did interest me in a way no other non-fiction book has and it was a really good topic to have read about.

Summary

Summary of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs* by Chuck Klosterman
*Low-Culture Manifesto

Delve into the world of post modern American culture and be ready to analyze the world around you in a broader sense that most just brush off their shoulders. Klosterman attacks the aspects of pop culture and how our mind has been clouded from reality. Every individual carries around a story that continues to be written with every choice and decision they make, and as an accumulative society, we write our history with the choices we make as a community. Klosterman examines how with those who do not live up to the expectations of how we present ourself to the rest of the world, are considered outcasts, for example, on television they show beautiful girls ruling society, and this puts the imagine into young girls minds to conform to society’s image of realistic success. As the book progresses, he incorporates his own personal lifestyle to the writing, while in a creative way displays the claim he wants to get across.  

The book also includes passages that depict how everything relating to “freedom” comes with a routine and as human beings we are tied down with the process of living. We are enslaved by our unique culture of perfection meeting the border of reality in which there is a very slim separation. This new generation is growing up exposed to a false gimmick called the American Dream, which has now transformed into false love, fake body image and stereotypical biases. Get ready to be exposed in your way of life and the lives of others as Klosterman analyzes the post-modern American.