Book Review IV: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is about a man named Arthur and an alien named Ford Prefect, or Ix, from a planet int he vicinity of Betelgeuse. The book begins with Arthur waking up with a hangover and seeing bulldozers come to destroy his home and make a bypass. He tries to stop them by lying in front of the bulldozer but his friend Ford comes and takes him to the bar where he keeps insisting that the world was going to end. No one believes him until giant yellow things appear in the sky and say that they are making a highway and Earth is scheduled for demolition. Earth is destroyed, but Ford and Arthur hitch a ride with the Dentrassis on the Vogon destructor fleet, but the leader Vogon catches them and ejects them into space where they get picked by a ship stolen by Zaphod Beeblebrox, (the president of the galaxy and also Ford's semi-cousin) and Trillian, a girl that Arthur once hit on at a party. The ship is so valuable because it has the improbability drive which makes it do the most improbable things possible. Zaphod and Trillian are looking for Magrathea, a mythical planet where they made planets. They find Magrathea, but the weapons system kicks in and two missiles are shot at them, but they go on improbability drive and the missiles turn into a pot of petunias and a gray whale. They land on the planet and Zaphod, Trillian, and Ford go into a tunnel leaving Arthur and Marvin, a depressed robot, to stand guard. Arthur wanders around and meets an old man who shows him a tape about a computer which was tasked with finding the meaning of life, which he does after 2 million years. The answer is 42, but no one understands that, so they make it program another computer which is the earth and it was destroyed 5 minutes before finding out the answer. It was run by white mice who were once humans. Arthur gets back to the others but then the cops come looking for Zaphod and they have to hide, but something cuts off the cops' oxygen and they die. Later it turns out that Marvin, the robot, had a conversation with the cops' ship and it got so depressed it commited suicide. Everyone escapes and they roam the universe. Happily

I think the theme of this book is that not everything is as it seems. One example of this theme is when Arthur hears about the white mice controlling the Earth and humans when he thought that humans controlled white mice. "Ah no," he said "I see the source of misunderstanding now. No, look, you see what happened was that we used to do expiriments on them" (147). Another example is when Arthur had met Zaphod when he gate-crashed a party and took home a girl Arthur had been hitting on, and in real life he actually had three arms and two heads. "Be only had the two arms and the one head, but..." (98). My last example is when the Vogon destructor fleet comes and Ford knows about it because he is an alien. "The contacts of Ford Prefect's satchel were quite interesting in fact and would have made any Earth physicist's eyes pop out of his head, which is why he always concealed them by keeping a couple dogeared scripts for plays he pretended he was auditioning for in the top" (23). I think that the theme of this book is that not everything is as it seems.

I would definitely recommend this book to other people. It is very absurd, so if you want to laugh you will love it. The author, Douglas Adams, was an atheist and it does show through in his writing, so if you're very religious you might not enjoy it. It is extremely funny and usually completely random and is garentied to make you laugh out loud. Overall it is inspired, funny, and over much too soon. I would definitely recommend this book to others.

School Should be Year - Round with no Summer Break

Everyone has had to come back from summer break and had to go to school. Remember what it feels like? Why not get rid of that feeling of loss and just have no summer break? We would have the same amount of break, just more spread out. For one, we would get used to it. Also, we would get smarter, and still another reason is that there would be the same amount of break, just more spread out. I think that school should be year round and have no summer break.
    Some may say that since we have had summer break for a long time we won't get used to it, but we can get used to things really quickly because people adapt quickly. It can take us anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit and make it automatic (Clear). A lot of things have seemed bad but we have gotten used to it, so we can get used to this. Other countries don't have summer break, so we can get used to it too. People are made to adapt quickly, so it wouldn't take long to get used to having no summer break.

    Having no summer break would make us smarter. For one, there would be no review when you get back from a short break, so you would learn more. You would have a better chance in life if you have an idea of what it is like working year round. Also, you won't forget everything you learned during the school year during summer. Overall, kids would probably be smarter.

    Some people may be reluctant to give up a lot of their break, but we would still have the same amount of break, just more spread out. There would be more breaks, reducing stress so that kids would be happier in school. There could also be a longer break during summer so that kids could enjoy the sun just like now, and teachers could take their classes outside. You would be in school the same amount of time, but it would feel like less because you would take two weeks off each month. I think that having the same amount of break would be better.

    I think that there should be no summer break and school should be year round. People would get used to it because other countries have already. Kids would be smarter because they won't forget everything they learned. There will also be the same amount of break, just more spread out. For all of these reasons I think that school should be year round with no summer break. Now you should go out and tell your teachers that school should be year round.



"Should School Be Year-round with No Summer Break?" Should School Be Year-round with No Summer Break? Debate.org, 2015. Web. 06 May 2015.  

Clear, James. "How Long Does It Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 06 May 2015.  

Picture credits: http://www.gaston.k12.or.us/elementary/elementary_news/school_supply_list

Pet Problems

   It was May, 2014, I was 12 years old. I had just come home from school, and was doing my homework. I was feeling pretty good because it was the end of the year. The late afternoon sunshine streamed through the windows, and I smelled my dad cooking pasta. Although it was May, outside I knew it was a little bit cold because it was southeast Alaska. The radio was on, and my dad was listening to the news, and my brother was at dance class, so it was unusually quiet. He wasn't bothering me, so for once I could get some work done. I heard the door open behind me and spring air drifted in through the door to where I was sitting.

   "Hey, I'm home," called Mom who had just come in the door.
   "Hey, Mom," I responded.
   "What's for dinner?"
   "Smells like pasta."
   "Mmm. Sounds good."
   "Can you not put broccoli in the sauce?" I called to Dad in the kitchen.
   "Nice try, honey," he called back.
   I turned back to my homework and started to write again.
   "What are you learning in math?" Mom asked.
   "Same as always, fractions," I grumbled.
   "Oh, okay."
   "I heard that there is a really sweet husky at the animal shelter. Can we adopt him?"
   "Honey, we've already gone over this. We can't get a dog!"
   "But everyone else has a pet," I exclaimed, "Can we get a hamster? They're low maintenance and Ariadne's getting one!"
   "No."
   "You wouldn't even let me get a goldfish if I asked for one," I grumbled.
  "Yes, but we can't afford a pet, anyway."
  "Please?" I begged.
  Mom sighed. "How about you talk to your dad."
  "Dad wouldn't let me get a pet, either."
  "Well then, you will have to deal with it."
  "Please?" I begged.
   "How about we get chickens?"
   "Chickens? But chickens are dirty and they poop everywhere!"
   "You said you wanted a pet."
   "But not chickens," I said exasperated.
   "Well, if you want, we can go look at Laura's chicks, they're pretty cute."
   "Okay, why not. Chicks are cute."

   So we went and looked at Laura's chicks and I fell in love with them. The next day we had chickens living in a cardboard box in our bathroom. I loved taking pictures of them on different things like flowers or plants. They were, and still are, really cute, which just goes to show that you can learn to love anything once you get to know it.

Here is an insanely cute video of chicks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT6yBhG-nns

I got the picture from http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/199068/10-cute-animals-that-are-also-total-cannibals/cute-chickens-l/

Discover Your Potential Should be Every Year

Junior Roller Derby

Discover Your Potential (or DYP) is the highlight of Blatchley, but it only happens every other year. I think that we should do it every year because it is so fun. The only problem is that it is very expensive, but most of that money comes from community members. I definitely think that since DYP is so great it should be every year.

Everyone wants it to be every year, but they're just afraid to ask. My mom taught a class and she is
going to write a letter to the editor about how great it is and how we should have it every year. Also, it is so great and gets kids to do things they normally wouldn't do. It gets them out of their comfort zone to discover what they could do with their life. I think that getting kids to be more confident is really great, and DYP helps them do that.

I hope that more people will stand up and make it so DYP happens every year. I did a theater class that I normally wouldn't do, and I wasn't as shy as I thought I would be and it was my favorite class. I bet a lot of other people tried something new, also, and that they all loved it, which just goes to show that DYP is great and it should be every year. So go talk to your teacher so we can do it again next year.

Hurricanes

Typhoon Tip

Hurricanes are basically just a really really big storm. Their winds can reach up to 200 mph, and they can be up to 600 miles across. They move across the ocean at 10 – 20 mph, release 2.4 trillion gallons of water a day, and form in warm waters with a surface temperature of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Hurricane season in the Atlantic starts on June 1^st and ends November 30^th. The eastern pacific hurricane season starts on May 15^th and also ends on November 30^th. Hurricanes spin around a low pressure area known as the eye. The lowest pressure ever recorded in a hurricane was on Oct. 12, 1979, in the eye of Typhoon Tip about 520 miles northwest of Guam when the air pressure dropped to 870 millibars. Typhoon Tip, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Warling, was the most intense storm ever recorded. Its winds reached 190 mph, and it was also the largest tropical cyclone on record, with a wind diameter of 1,380 miles. Hurricane names go in alphabetical order from the first hurricane of the season (Alexander, Alice, etc.) to the last. The names also trade off between girl and boy names, and if one storm is especially destructive, they retire that name and never use it again. Hurricanes are very interesting, and are worth researching. 

National Geographic, Wikipedia

Book Review III: Three Times Lucky

Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage, is about a girl named Mo who lives in Tupelo Landing. Ever since the Colonel found her as a baby in the hurricane where he lost his memory, Mo has been searching for her 'upstream mother' by sending out bottles with messages in them. Her guardians, Miss Lana and the Colonel run a cafe. One day, a detective, Joe Starr, comes in and asks about a murder he is investigating. Mo and her friend Dale help her friend Lavender with a car race he is in, but something goes wrong with Lavender's car and he gets a concussion. Mo calls the Colonel to ask if she can stay and look after him, but he says to come home right away, there has been a murder and they haven't caught the murderer yet. Then, a shady looking guy starts following Dale, and he and Mo think he is from the police to act as a body guard, but he is really Slate, the murderer. Meanwhile, Mo does a fundraiser for Lavender, and when she runs home, she finds the cafe ransacked and Miss Lana gone. Joe Starr's assistant watches Mo and Dale, and in the morning Slate calls asking for a ransom of half a million dollars, which they don't have. A while later, they get a call from the Colonel telling them to get a packet of papers from the cafe, but when they get to the cafe, Joe Starr's assistant is there. It turns out that she has been working for Slate all along, and that she found out about the packet, too, so they pop the tires on her car and run away. Meanwhile, a hurricane is coming, and Mo and Dale go out and find the Colonel and capture Slate and get Miss Lana back. After that, the Colonel gets his memory back.

I think that the theme of this book is to forget the past and live in the present. My first example is how the Colonel used to hate lawyers, so there was a 'no lawyers!' sign above the door in the cafe. Anyway, after the Colonel found out that he was a lawyer, he took down that sign. "The old sign - NO LAWYERS - came down. A new sign - WELCOME FRIENDS - went up" (302). My second example is when Mo finds a bottle after the hurricane with a note in it, but it only has a note that she wrote and put in it. Dale sees and says he is sorry, but Mo says it's alright because she has decided to stop looking for and be thankful for the life she has. "Thanks for saying you're sorry But you know what? I'm not" (312). My last example is when the Colonel tells Mo about the packet of papers. "I'll accept responsibility for my past, whatever it is" (286). I think that live in the present is an important theme in this book.

I don't think that I would recommend this book to other7th graders, but I would recommend it to younger kids. The writing is more towards that age group. It has an average plot line and characters, and is a lot like Disney, although it doesn't have very good dialogue. If you like Disney movies, this would be a good book for you.