This month I reread a book called By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman. The book is about a boy named Jack and his butler, Praiseworthy, and their adventures in California during the Gold Rush time period. Jack is trying to save his aunt’s home, in which where he lives, due too their inheritance being almost gone. This caused Jack with the decision to go to California in search of gold, as Jack and Praiseworthy try to buy a ticket for a ship going to California they are robbed and are left penniless. This is the reason why Praiseworthy and Jack had to go as stowaways. When they reach California they have no money which causes Praiseworthy to come up with an idea to give miners free haircuts, then they wash out the hairs in search of a little bit of gold. With gold they got from the haircuts they travel to Sacramento where they would start panning for gold. Later into the book they struck it rich and find a huge gold nugget before returning however they run into their last conflict. Praiseworthy is scheduled to fight with the Mountain Ox as he challenges him due to an earlier incident where Praiseworthy had taken out a gang of robbers. Praiseworthy wins the fight and him and Jack are on their way to the seaside village where they landed the boat sinks less than a mile away causing both Jack and Praiseworthy to loose all their gold. However as a last attempt to get rich they sell cats that are found aboard the ship they came from and quickly get rich as rats where a major problem for shop owners. As the Story ends they try to find a ship when Aunt Arabella and Jack’s sisters get off a ship, they decided to sell the house and come to California too. Praiseworthy asks Aunt Arabella to be his wife and she accepts and they decide to make California a place for both women and children. I loved this book due to the amount of action that is presented and I love how the author makes the reader feel like you are with them in the book. I also loved how the author described many characters even though they aren’t too important to the plot. Overall By the Great Horn Spoon is a quick read that doesn’t have hard vocabulary and is pretty straight forward, this book does a great job describing the Gold Rush even though it was made more than a century later. My favorite character from the book was Praiseworthy because of his bravery, a quote that explains this is, “His chest looked as big around as a flour barrel…’I wish we’d never come back here,’ Jack muttered. ‘It’s not a fair match, no sir.’ ‘You want me to back out?’…’You gave your word. You have to stick by it.’ ‘That right. And anyway, I intend to lick him.'” This quote shoes that Praiseworthy isn’t backing out even though his opponent is much larger and stronger than him, it shows he stand up to nearly impossible odds and shows the risk he is taking. This makes me think that Praiseworthy is honorable and brave. My favorite quote from the book is, “The gold revealed itself like bits of sunlight trapped in the loosened earth. The two partners flung their hats in the air. In sheer exuberance they clasped arms and swung around and around in the oblong pit.” This is my favorite line due to the duo finally getting the gold they need to help make money for Aunt Arabella’s house. I also loved how they used the personification and simile together to create an amazing sentence. I think By the Great Horn Spoon is an amazing novel that everyone should read, it is a perfect way to learn more about the Gold Rush and a really fun read.

If I were to ever have my dream job I would love to be a marine biologist. Although the salary might be low I think it is more important to pursue passion over money. The reasons for this job is that I’ve always loved going to the beach and to the tide pool where many exotic creatures hide. I remember when I first came to the United States on a vacation and went to a beach called Corona Del Mar where I observed a small crab hiding in between the rocks. The whole tide pool was filled with these fascinating creatures and that’s when I realized that marine biology is what I was into. Another reason I would love to be a marine biologist is that I love going to the aquarium and it makes me feel that nothing matters and as a marine biologist I could see all these animals in their natural habitat. My final reason for wanting to be a marine biologist is that I want to travel all around the world studying fascinating creatures while in return I get payed to do what I love. Although I will probably not follow through this career due to the low salary I would love to be a marine biologist.

This month I’ve read the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Ready Player One is a dystopian novel that takes place in the year 2045, during that year the planet is on the brink of chaos and collapse and people come to Oasis(a virtual reality world) to seek salvation. James Halliday created the Oasis, and when he died, he promised his immense fortune to whoever could solve and find all his keys. Wade Watts sets himself up to the challenge and joins the contest to get the keys. After years of researching Halliday’s life, Wade is the first to get the copper key. Wade becomes the first one on the leaderboard and gains a lot of fame and unwanted attention, the company IOI wanting the immense fortune does everything to take Wade down and get him to share his ways of getting the key. Wade travels through all of Oasis collecting clues and getting keys. This novel hooks its readers into this fascinating book, I loved this book as it felt futuristic. It never lets you put the book down as it is so intriguing and suspenseful. It is filled with actions and very tense moments that make the novel outshine many others. My favorite character from the novel was Halliday and he was my favorite character because he was the start of the whole book. My favorite character trait about him was that he was very intelligent, “He was the videogame designer responsible for creating the Oasis… Halliday was one of the wealthiest people in the world.” This shows how smart Halliday was as he was the founder of Oasis which made him very rich. My favorite quote from the book is, “Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest.” This is a very meaningful piece to the novel as it was the very first sentence written, therefore paving a path for the novel to unfold. Overall Ready Player One is a really interesting book that you could never put down, it is a perfect summer read and is overall light. If you ever get a chance to read this amazing book I would recommend it.

I am invisible! I wake up to a horrific visual, I can’t see my arms or my legs. I hurriedly ran to the mirror I was no where to be seen. I started remembering what had happened yesterday, and had forgotten that I wished to be invisible after seeing a shooting star. The first thing I did was I ran to my parents room and they were awakened with the opening of their door. They were horrified after discovering no one opened it, then I had explained that I had became invisible. It was a bit hard being invisible for the first 2 hours as I was sat on and ran into by my family members. It was Saturday so I was excused from school, this allowed me to be free for the whole day. The first thing I did was go to GameStop to smuggle and steal a PS5 and a Xbox. When I got back home I started playing Minecraft on my new Xbox. The very next thing I did was I went to a Nike store and stole a pair of Nike SB Dunk’s. I was very satisfied however there was one more thing I need, I got on a flight to Georgia and trespassed into the largest aquarium in the United States. I jumped into the main exhibit and swam with all the species of many organisms. As the day neared to an end I got snuck back onto the airplane and flew back to California. It was exhausting yet rewarding being invisible however I would never like to be invisible again. I woke up the next morning back in my bed, I was visible again.

Life on my abandoned island is harsh yet rewarding. I was on a Caribbean cruise before we ran into a tropical storm, a large tree fell and broke our main motor and it also caused a rip in our ship causing it to sink. I was lucky and swam to a nearby island in a mangrove like island. I wake up to the squawk of the seagulls and walk out of my makeshift palm leaf hut to hunt for breakfast. I stop by the tide pool to slowly stalk my prey, when I throw my stone spear it pierces a crab straight through. I set up a fire and cook the crab and enjoy its juicy and flavorful flesh. I am careful when nearing the river as it is crocodile infested and has a major piranha population, I have to stop by at least once per week to get fresh water to drink. I hunt for wild pigs to cook for dinner as I have a limited food choice. I was hungry so I stopped by the seashore to catch a small octopus. I set it on the grill and have it along with some coconuts I had picked off a very tall tree earlier. I go to tide pool for fun and to spend time as it is so amazing to see the tiny ocean creatures living their lives without much. I try to find some wild berries or vegetables to cook with the pork I cut out from the pig. As I have dinner I watch the sunset fall and sleep after another undisturbed day.

I woke up to bright sunlight in my eyes, today was the day where I would go to the countryside to visit my grandparent’s farm. We were leaving our house for a few days as we had termites and needed a fumigating. When we finally got to the farm after a long and tedious ride, I was greeted by a golden retriever. It was our grandparent’s dog Goldie, and quickly after my grandmother came out. She brought us in and we had dinner, soon after I showered and got ready to sleep. I woke up to a rooster’s cry and got ready for work after a quick breakfast our whole family went out to dig potatoes. Whilst digging I saw a large subterranean worm that slowly crawled across the dirt that I had dug up. After we had finished digging up all the potatoes we went to pick chestnuts. It was very perplexing to get a chestnut off a tree without getting spiked by its very spiky outer layer. As the day turned to night we roasted the chestnuts and potatoes over an open fire. The sweet chestnuts made my taste buds dance across the star lit sky and the savory potatoes brought back old memories of visiting my grandparents house when I was in preschool. I slept peacefully all through the night, and woke up just to realize that I was never at my grandparents house.

This month I started the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I haven’t finished yet and am on page 80 of the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is novel about the early twentieth century during the Great Depression. The story starts off with a description of Jem the protagonist’s older brother, this leads into the description of Maycomb the town which is the setting for the story. They meet Dill who comes to Maycomb for the summer and quickly befriends him. They all get interested with Boo Radley a phantom that is supposedly living inside the Radley’s house, and is the phantom of Arthur Radley who is said to have stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors. As summer rolls to an end Dill goes back to his original town and school starts for the first time for the main character Scout. She is targeted on the first day by a new, young teacher called Ms. Caroline, Ms. Caroline is upset how Scout already knows how to read and write, this causes Ms. Caroline to call out Atticus(Scout’s father) and tell Scout how her dad taught her wrong. When Lunchtime start Ms. Caroline kindly offers money to Walter Cunningham without knowing that the Cunninghams are broke and cannot repay Ms. Caroline in anyway. When Walter Cunningham is struggling to answer Scout helps in out by telling Ms. Caroline that he is a Cunningham, since she was new to the town she hasn’t realized the society in Maycomb. Ms. Caroline gets upset with Scout and hits her hands with a ruler which causes all the other children to laugh which results in an upper-class teacher to yell at Ms. Caroline furthermore causing her to cry.  Scout and Jem find gifts apparently left for them in a knothole of a tree on the Radley property. Dill returns the following summer, and he, Scout, and Jem begin to act out the story of Boo Radley. Atticus puts a stop to their antics, urging the children to try to see life from another person’s perspective before making judgments. But, on Dill’s last night in Maycomb for the summer, the three sneak onto the Radley property, where Nathan Radley(Arthur/Boo’s brother) shoots at them. Jem loses his pants in the ensuing escape. When he returns for them, he finds them mended and hung over the fence. It is a tough book to read and the front chapter are boring however the action releases and makes the book into a fast paced and more casual book to read. It is very enjoyable read and it raises a lot of tension, before the final and big event. My favorite character from the book is Scout this is because she is very intelligent. Page 24 states, “Miss Caroline caught me writing and told me to tell my father to stop teaching me. ‘Besides,’ she said. ‘We don’t write in the first grade, we print. You won’t learn to write until you’re in the third grade’” This explains how she was already able to write in first grade while writing was supposed to be learned in third grade. My favorite quote in the novel so far is, “Through all the head-shaking, quelling of nausea and Jem-yelling, I had heard another sound, so low I could not have heard it from the sidewalk. Someone inside the house was laughing.” I love this quote so much as it builds up so much tension and proves that Boo Radley is still alive. To Kill a Mockingbird is a must read classic and a exhilarating book that people that are coming of age should read.

If I were to choose a quote from the novel series Harry Potter that I can most relate to it would be, “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” This quote means That we face a choice between what is morally correct and what the easier option is. This is a quote that I can most relate to as I had a friend that I got really frustrated at and we haven’t talked in a very long time. I knew the easier choice was to ignore him and just let him be, but I knew the morally correct choice was to approach him and say that I was deeply sorry for being frustrated at him. Although I knew what the right choice was I didn’t do it. We all have to make choices whether it’s right, easy, or hard, and we all should choose the one we won’t regret like I have. I still have regrets on why I chose the easier choice, and I have lingering thoughts even though it was a few years back. If I were to make another decision or have chosen another outcome I would have just apologized.

Someone I greatly admire is Drake. This is partly because of his great musical talent and his rapping skills, but it is mostly about his personality. Drake in 2010 donated 30,000 dollars to a Jamaican learning center, and much more for a good cause instead of spending money on a yacht or a private jet. He donated millions dollars in total for other people’s education and well being. While on a live stream he thanked a fan who gave him 20 cents. He was appreciative to the fan even though he is super rich, while most famous and rich celebrities would have not done anything. I admire Drake as he has a great personality outside of his career unlike some other celebrities.

My word for 2024 intention is time!

This is because I never save enough time to do my work and I am always rushed to turn things in. I want to conserve and use my time efficiently to get all my work done. I want to use an acceptable amount of time when I am having fun and not spend the whole day watching television and not getting anything done. I want to make sure to wake up earlier to ensure I am not late to school, I want to have a peaceful morning unlike if I was waking up at 7:30. I also want to spend more time with my family either playing a board game or going to the park. I want to spend more time studying than being on my laptop, phone, or television. I also want to save a hour dedicated to reading, I want to read but I never have the time as I am always distracted. This year I want to preserve time to spend with my family.