Can You Figure Out The Titles?

Children's Classic 1

Sometimes you just need to read a classic:

Even if that classic is a children's classic from one of the greatest writers. Hope you enjoyed the random poem of the day :) 

Keep reading even at midnight,

Ashley Danielle

Ruby Red Part 2

Okay, so it has been about two weeks since my last post about Ruby Red and I, in the last few minutes, have finished the book. I can confidently say this isn't one of those books in a trilogy that has an "ending," but will find a spot to pick up in the last book. If you don't know what I mean think of the Harry Potter series or even (I hate that I am saying this) Twilight. No this book ends, but you still have no clue what is going on. The plot, I am assuming, is stretched out over the course of the three books, interlinking them. This type of writing is the reason why when I start a trilogy/series I can't stop! And of course the paperback version of the next book, Sapphire Blue, doesn't come out until the 28th of May!

Anywho, this book was really good. It is kind of slower pace for a young adults novel, but she is taking her time because of the three books. So if you didn't take my advice and read/look into the book Gwen's big secret is that she travels in time. It is a gene condition that her family has, but it is only every so many generations. Ruby Red is all about Gwen fidning out generalizations of who she is and what she can do. There is a whole mystery to the prophecy that encases the Circle of Twelve and here it is:

The first pair Opal and Amber

Agate sings in B flat, the wolf avatar

A duet--solutio!--with Aquamarine

Mighty Emerald next, with the lovely Citrine.

The Carnelian twins of the Scorpio sign,

Number Eight is digestio, her stone is Jade fine.

E major's the key of the Black Tourmaline,

Sapphire sings in F major, and bright is her sheen.

Then almost at once comes Diamond alone,

Whose sign of the lion as Leo is known.

Projectio! Time flows on, both present and past.

Ruby red ist he first and is also the last.

Each of the time travelers is awarded a gem, an alchemy sign, a musical note, etc. What is annoying about Ruby Red is that none of this is explained and you have to read the next book. (Side note: when I say annoying it means that I'm not annoyed mad, just frustrated that I have to wait for the next book to come out!)

Another piece of interesting writing that could be considered a prophecy about everything goes like this:

Twelve pillars the castle of time will bear.

Twelve creatures rule land and sea.

Teh eagle is ready to soar in the air,

Five's the foundation and also the key.

In the Circle of Twelve, Number Twelve becomes Two.

The hawk atches seventh, yet Three is the clue.

Gier is all about riddles in this novel and I love it! It is a mixture of a mystery, romance, and adverture all wrapped up into one. This is what YA literature should be like.

Before I leave you being all confused, I am going to make your confusion worse. There is a prologue and an epilogue that you must read, because you will find out very quickly that Gwen's parents aren't who they seem. I thought this was a sticky situation already; this realization just made it sound more like the Twilight Zone.

Good luck!

Ruby Red

So I am starting a new life in the world of literature and her name is Gwen. She is a modern day british teenager whose family has a secret, but I can't tell you. She has entrusted me, her reader, to keep that secret, so I can entice you with mysteries of the story, so you go to the local bookstore and pick it up. Here it goes…

Gwen’s family has a special gene and it was supposed to skip over Gwen and go to her cousin Charlotte, but it looks like that isn’t going to be the case.  But now Gwen isn’t prepared for what is about to happen to her. Gwen grew up not knowing the “mysteries” of the family curse and now she is going to have to figure it out really quick. I am about to enter a world of fancy clothes, archaic manners, a mysterious secret society, and a gorgeous, obnoxious boy who is accompanying her? Count me in!

Keep coming back to see my posts through my journey with Gwen! And answer my question to the right of this post! Can't wait to see your feedback!

~Ashley Danielle~

Nightshade

Nightshade has been called The New York Bestselling Series and it has become an International Bestseller, so it definitely has the approval of the literary community. So knowing all of that I wanted to take a look into the world that Andrea Cremer has so graciously constructed for us....
Witches, werewolves, prophecies, forced unions, mystery, and drama surround this young adult paranormal romance novel that I am currently reading. I have been tip toeing around this novel for a month or so now because of two different reasons: one it is 'paranormal romance' and two it is about werewolves, which makes me think of twilight...ugh. But against my gut I decided to pick up this book and I have been pleasantly surprised by it.

The story follows Calla, an alpha wolf in her pack, who is betrothed to Ren, another alpha. They are to be united, not only in marriage, but their packs as well. Except this isn't a normal werewolf book, it has what they call Keepers, except we would call them witches, and they control the packs. There is an ancient legend that the Keepers are before everything, almost like fallen angels, but not. The Keepers went to war within themselves and split creating an "evil" group called the Searchers and for centuries now the werewolves have been fighting off the Searchers for the Keepers, protecting their sacred grounds.

But someone is about to upset everything in their world and it is a boy named Shay. Shay has taken much interest in Calla and it is starting to cause ripple effects that I don't want to share or you will hate me for ruining it! Just know that Andrea Cremer keeps things interesting and you aren't going to want to put the book down until the very end!

If you have read the book already and have an opinion about it let me know in the comment box. Or when you finish reading it let me know how you liked/hated it!

The Hollow

Quick Facts: 

• Title: The Hollow

• Author: Jessica Verday

• Lexile Rating and age range: 770L / 14-18 yrs old

• Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance

• Setting: Sleepy Hollow, New York

• Point of View: 1st Person

• Main Characters

• Abbey: She had just lost her best friend and is trying to go through her junior year dealing with the guilt. Along her journey she finds a new love, but with the secrets surrounding her will it last? 

• Caspian: He is the new boy that has caught the eye of Abbey. Mysterious and gorgeous, he is everything Abbey wants, but he is keeping secrets. Will that be his doom?

• Supporting Characters

• Kristen: Best friend that has pasted away. 

• Ben: Classmate that has a thing for Abbey.

• Nikolas: Graveyard caretaker with his own secrets. 

• Katy: Nikolas's sweet wife. 

My Opinion and Grade: 

This story intrigued me with just the title "The Hollow." I have always been a huge fan of Washington Irving and this young adult book that centered around the setting of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow made it a must read. Verday takes the actual legend and weaves it into a love story of a grieving teenage girl, who lost her best friend. "The Hollow" is the first book of a trilogy that follows Abbey through her grieving, her first love, her first heartbreak, and a fate that the reader would never see coming.

Jessica's style of writing will really appeal to the average teenager, because it is written just like teens now-a-days speak, so it is consistent with the narrator, who is our main character, Abbey. Even though there is a paranormal twist to the story, she still goes through everything that girls deal with when finding love. There are the questions about if he is mad or if he really likes you? Should I call him? Should I wait? The book will suck you in and you won't be able to come up for air until you finish and even then you will be crazing more!

I would give Jessica an A on her first book for the trilogy. The flow of the book was great and the way she presented the trilogy conflict didn't miss a beat. Like I said already you will be begging for more of Abbey and Caspian's story as soon as you finish the epilogue.

Lexile Chart

During the course of my reviews I will be giving the Lexile rating, so here is the chart to reference back to. It is a hyperlink to the pdf file that gives you different titles and then at the bottom of the file is the chart for grade to Lexile Level.

Lexile Map

Here is the short chart that you can reference too.

I Want To Write A Blog

I want to write a blog. 

Should it be about Crafts?

Or the weather?

Or maybe the quirky things my students do in class….

No…not that one

Lawsuits equal pain.

Should it be about love?

…or the lack there of…..

Poems? Or Dogs? 

Oh! Or Photography?

Yeah…that I don't have a degree in,

but "I am one,"

said by every amateur with a fancy camera.

Then there is sports, 

But I know as much about sports 

as I do about String theory.

What about jewelry?

No I'm not that girly.

There is my obsession with Disney

Except not being driving distance

away makes that a hard one to

accomplish.

I am a huge nerd--Star Wars?

Yeah then label me with the cliche whores.

Art? Or History--what boring thoughts I am 

thinking

No it needs to be something…

something…

something…

Me-ified. 

Something I won't start to hate

or get bored writing about. 

Lets think…

…

…

What is something not everybody writes about?

…

…

…

Yeah I got nothing. 

So i'm here writing this free verse poem

about want to write a blog

and the ideas aren't really flowing,

so I guess I will just be Dunne.

Dunne?

Oh! Why hadn't the thought crossed

my mind! 

Authors and Books and things unseen

Romance and fiction and those things in-between!

I will write about the written word

Where anyone can fly like a bird!

(And use cheesy, cliche, rhyming lines like that…)

So here is too the blog inside of me

The adventures and dramas and pirate ships at sea

The princesses and scandals, and the loves meant to be

Here is where my heart 

truly lies

A bound book, pages sewn,

ink splotched, and words woren

The key to my heart lies within a book

So there is where I will reside 

and my blog I will write. 

What is Life?

What is a life? There are many definitions, but one of Merriam-Websters's is "the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional plant or animal from a dead body." Pretty self explanatory right? Not really. Life is more than breathing in and out, heart pumping, blood flowing, eating, sleeping, staying vital; it is so much more than that. Life has no real concrete definition. Each human, plant, and animal has a life, and each one is very unique.

That is why this is called pieces of a life, because no life can be fully explained in the written word or even by the function of our brain. There is more that we will never be able to process fully and comprehend whether we are 5 or 50 years old. Life is big mystery and trying to understand it is wasting the precious time we have, so instead of explaining it let us just share what he have experienced? Scary concept right? Sharing life experiences? What is that is just one way of how we live! We were made to share, laugh, cry, talk to our peers. You can say it is our programming.

Some pieces might be scary or sad, some might be happy or crazy, but in the end they are pieces of how we live. No matter who we are or the circumstances we are in we need to respect those pieces people share. That is what I am going to do here and if you want to join me good for you! It is a challenge and a great one in that.

What is great about expressing life is it isn't just words on a page! It is pictures, music, poems, artwork, etc! You never know what inspiration is going to be used to show those pieces of life! Use your expressive nature and if you have something you want me to write about or post here email me and I will work it out for you the best I can


Authors note: any thing you send to me must be appropriate. I have the right to veto it because I find it offense to what I am trying to do here.