MONTHLY REVIEWWW!

This month’s book called ‘The Thief Lord’ is a fictional book written by Cornelia Funke, who I did research on and its actually pronounced Foon-kah because she’s German. My partner, Jordan and I, were having the hardest time picking a book because we both find different topics interesting. I’m into both the mystery and horror, which never ends up being that scary, or the romantic puppy love books that you can find in the teen sections. Jordan, I think, is more into what I call ‘boring’ books. The ones about ancient Greek gods, and other stuff like that. So when time came where we HAD to pick a book, we were still arguing about what to read. Finally I got frustrated and said, pick whatever! And walked away. Two seconds later Jordan comes back with, ‘The Thief Lord’, which sounds pretty dumb if you ask me. So no, I did not want to read this book at first but there were two copies and only a couple minutes left in the period. ‘Whatever’.
The inside of the flap of The Thief Lord gave me a description set in Venice, Italy where two young boys, Prosper and Bo lose there parents in a tragic car crash. The younger boy Bo is sent to live with their cruel aunt and uncle. Prosper, the older brother, wants to get his little brother back so he can take care of him. So he takes Bo and they run away to Venice, which they’ve heard great things about from the stories their parents have told them. They meet a group of kids just like them, except these kids are wealthy street kids. They have a leader, who they call the “Thief Lord” who steals valuable things from famous places and rich families. Then he sells these valuable things for money and supports him and his friends. Prosper and Bo are welcomed in to the group, but the evil aunt has sent a detective in Venice to track down both brothers and bring them back to her. Trying to escape the detective and the other kids trouble, the group runs into all kinds of adventures.
When Jordan first picked the book, I thought I for sure would not be able to get into it. It just didn’t sound like my type of book. But slipping in my grades the last quarter, I forced myself to read it. The book started out slow, and I got kind of confused at first because there were two stories going at once. I finally got it; it goes back and forth every other chapter. After that it was easier to read, but I was just reading, not really paying attention to it. By the third chapter I had started to get really into the story and enjoy it. Cornelia Funke is a really good writer and gives great descriptions of the city of Venice, portraying it as a magical city with lots of mysteries and secrets, but also very beautiful. She also describes some of the huge mansions, palaces, museums, and churches that the thief lord is able to break into, in great detail and not leaving anything important out. After reading it with no distractions, I felt like I was along with these kids for there adventures, it was so real. If you read this book you would be able to tell that the author took a lot of time probably sketching out her ideas and really thinking about how she was going to write it, before she even started writing.
Cornelia Funke definitely wrote this book for younger people, like maybe middle schools. For years Cornelia Funke has been one of the best-known and bestselling children's authors in Germany. The author used to work as a social worker for troubled kids. When she writes about the children in the book, you can tell she has a lot of experience with kids. She also worked as a designer of board games and as an illustrator of children's books. She eventually discovered that her passion for actually writing the stories was much larger than for illustrating them. She turned to her cousin, and he translated some of her books into English, and they were published in America. She has also written books like, Dragonrider, Inkheart, Inkspell, and reckless. “The Thief Lord I tried to describe, how much children can care for each other even under the worst circumstances, even if they are left alone by their parents”
Like I explained in my first and second paper clip letters, around the beginning/first half of the book was very good. It was pretty interesting with a lot of details and it seemed to have everything that makes a book good. A lot of the time I didn’t want to stop reading just to see what was going to happen next. I think that was the books strongest points. As I got around to my third paper clip, the story took a turn and got kind of confusing. More people came into the story, instead of the same five people. There was a lot more dialogue because of this and it became harder to understand who exactly was speaking and what was going on. Also, the setting would be in one place and then suddenly, they will be somewhere else. It also made it hard because there was one important part in the book where all the characters are making like a master plan for one of there break ins, and it was one of those parts you have to read or else the rest of the book doesn’t make sense either. And it was really awful because it had people talking back to back, but it wasn’t saying whose dialogue it was. Maybe it was just my lack of understanding, because I'm pretty sure my partner got through it fine. It was sort of disappointing for me and made me not really want to go on in this book because the beginning started out so good. Even though this book did not end the way I thought it would, I would still recommend it for all audiences.

MONTHLY REVIEWWW!

This month’s book called ‘The Thief Lord’ is a fictional book written by Cornelia Funke, who I did research on and its actually pronounced Foon-kah because she’s German. My partner, Jordan and I, were having the hardest time picking a book because we both find different topics interesting. I’m into both the mystery and horror, which never ends up being that scary, or the romantic puppy love books that you can find in the teen sections. Jordan, I think, is more into what I call ‘boring’ books. The ones about ancient Greek gods, and other stuff like that. So when time came where we HAD to pick a book, we were still arguing about what to read. Finally I got frustrated and said, pick whatever! And walked away. Two seconds later Jordan comes back with, ‘The Thief Lord’, which sounds pretty dumb if you ask me. So no, I did not want to read this book at first but there were two copies and only a couple minutes left in the period. ‘Whatever’.
The inside of the flap of The Thief Lord gave me a description set in Venice, Italy where two young boys, Prosper and Bo lose there parents in a tragic car crash. The younger boy Bo is sent to live with their cruel aunt and uncle. Prosper, the older brother, wants to get his little brother back so he can take care of him. So he takes Bo and they run away to Venice, which they’ve heard great things about from the stories their parents have told them. They meet a group of kids just like them, except these kids are wealthy street kids. They have a leader, who they call the “Thief Lord” who steals valuable things from famous places and rich families. Then he sells these valuable things for money and supports him and his friends. Prosper and Bo are welcomed in to the group, but the evil aunt has sent a detective in Venice to track down both brothers and bring them back to her. Trying to escape the detective and the other kids trouble, the group runs into all kinds of adventures.
When Jordan first picked the book, I thought I for sure would not be able to get into it. It just didn’t sound like my type of book. But slipping in my grades the last quarter, I forced myself to read it. The book started out slow, and I got kind of confused at first because there were two stories going at once. I finally got it; it goes back and forth every other chapter. After that it was easier to read, but I was just reading, not really paying attention to it. By the third chapter I had started to get really into the story and enjoy it. Cornelia Funke is a really good writer and gives great descriptions of the city of Venice, portraying it as a magical city with lots of mysteries and secrets, but also very beautiful. She also describes some of the huge mansions, palaces, museums, and churches that the thief lord is able to break into, in great detail and not leaving anything important out. After reading it with no distractions, I felt like I was along with these kids for there adventures, it was so real. If you read this book you would be able to tell that the author took a lot of time probably sketching out her ideas and really thinking about how she was going to write it, before she even started writing.
Cornelia Funke definitely wrote this book for younger people, like maybe middle schools. For years Cornelia Funke has been one of the best-known and bestselling children's authors in Germany. The author used to work as a social worker for troubled kids. When she writes about the children in the book, you can tell she has a lot of experience with kids. She also worked as a designer of board games and as an illustrator of children's books. She eventually discovered that her passion for actually writing the stories was much larger than for illustrating them. She turned to her cousin, and he translated some of her books into English, and they were published in America. She has also written books like, Dragonrider, Inkheart, Inkspell, and reckless. “The Thief Lord I tried to describe, how much children can care for each other even under the worst circumstances, even if they are left alone by their parents”
Like I explained in my first and second paper clip letters, around the beginning/first half of the book was very good. It was pretty interesting with a lot of details and it seemed to have everything that makes a book good. A lot of the time I didn’t want to stop reading just to see what was going to happen next. I think that was the books strongest points. As I got around to my third paper clip, the story took a turn and got kind of confusing. More people came into the story, instead of the same five people. There was a lot more dialogue because of this and it became harder to understand who exactly was speaking and what was going on. Also, the setting would be in one place and then suddenly, they will be somewhere else. It also made it hard because there was one important part in the book where all the characters are making like a master plan for one of there break ins, and it was one of those parts you have to read or else the rest of the book doesn’t make sense either. And it was really awful because it had people talking back to back, but it wasn’t saying whose dialogue it was. Maybe it was just my lack of understanding, because I'm pretty sure my partner got through it fine. It was sort of disappointing for me and made me not really want to go on in this book because the beginning started out so good. Even though this book did not end the way I thought it would, I would still recommend it for all audiences.

letttter #3

Last week, in my first and second letter about the book called “Thief Lord” that im reading with my partner Jordan, I gave a pretty good review of the book. It is a fiction book and Cornelia Funke writes it. It was very detailed and written clearly. I wrote about how much I loved all the descriptions so far in the book and everything. But I was only able to follow the main events up until I got to my third paper clip :[
This book was so good at first. Where did it go wrong?? So when I started to read on, after my third paper clip, events in the book started to move faster. I guess that’s how it should be since it’s nearing the end of the book, but it just got really confusing. First of all, there was a lot more dialogue than the first and second parts of the book because there were more people involved by then. Some of the time it was unclear who exactly was the one speaking. It also made it hard because there was one important part in the book where all the characters are making like a master plan for one of there break ins, and it was one of those parts you have to read or else the rest of the book doesn’t make sense either. And it was really awful because it had people talking back to back, but it wasn’t saying whose dialogue it was. Maybe it was just my lack of understanding, because im pretty sure my partner got through it fine. But I think that’s what made the rest of the book painful to read.
Soooo yeah, I thought I was going to enjoy this book from beginning to end but I guess not. I would recommend this book still, even though it does get confusing and boring, but like I said that could have been just me.

letttter #3

Last week, in my first and second letter about the book called “Thief Lord” that im reading with my partner Jordan, I gave a pretty good review of the book. It is a fiction book and Cornelia Funke writes it. It was very detailed and written clearly. I wrote about how much I loved all the descriptions so far in the book and everything. But I was only able to follow the main events up until I got to my third paper clip :[
This book was so good at first. Where did it go wrong?? So when I started to read on, after my third paper clip, events in the book started to move faster. I guess that’s how it should be since it’s nearing the end of the book, but it just got really confusing. First of all, there was a lot more dialogue than the first and second parts of the book because there were more people involved by then. Some of the time it was unclear who exactly was the one speaking. It also made it hard because there was one important part in the book where all the characters are making like a master plan for one of there break ins, and it was one of those parts you have to read or else the rest of the book doesn’t make sense either. And it was really awful because it had people talking back to back, but it wasn’t saying whose dialogue it was. Maybe it was just my lack of understanding, because im pretty sure my partner got through it fine. But I think that’s what made the rest of the book painful to read.
Soooo yeah, I thought I was going to enjoy this book from beginning to end but I guess not. I would recommend this book still, even though it does get confusing and boring, but like I said that could have been just me.

Ehhhhh .

Growing up, our tiny little apartment was scattered with things like, tarot cards and candles, books and crystal ball type things. I loved our tiny apartment, i had always been surrounded by those types of things and they made the atmosphere feel warm and like my home. Right after my dad died, my mom told me that my dad kept visiting her. She told me how one night she woke up and he was standing there in the bathroom wearing exactly what he had been wearing the last time we saw him. She burned candles and sage to bring him back around. A couple nights later she told that the phone had been ringing around one o'clock, 1:02 to be exact, so she got up to answer it. She took her time because this always happened and it was usually some weirdo on the other end. When she picked it up, the person had already hung up. She said after she put the phone down someone tapped her on her shoulder, at first she thought it was me because it felt so real. She also has a bad habit of ignoring me, so she didnt turn around right away. When she did turn around, she saw my dad walking away from her then vanishing completely. When she told me about it, i told her that she was probably dreaming it and she agreed. Secretely i was a bit jealous because why wasnt my daddy visiting me?? Later that day, we got a call from my aunt, my dads sister. She told us she had called last night, 'about 2 minutes after one', but hung up becuase someone had taken too long to answer the phone. We concluded that it was real.
I have never doubted the paranormal, growing up like i did, yet i have never had an actual encounter myself. Ive been there when random things fly of shelfs, or doors slam when there is no people or wind around. But to come face to face with a ghost or a spirit is smething i have never expirienced. I did have a wierd and slightly creepy thing happen to me though, that i still think about.
My mom met her new boyfriend, and i moved to Alameda in the middle of 6th grade. I have never liked it here, but i didnt have a choice did i? When we were looking at the apartment we live in now, one of the neighbors from downstairs came up to chat. Eventually she told us that the people that lived here before were a family, a married couple and a little girl. The husband was very abusive, beating his wife badly all the time. Whenever he would go at it, there little girl would always scream at the top of her lungs. One day all there stuff was gone and so were they. It freaked me out a bit, but i wasnt too worried. I didnt like the feel of this apartment too much, but then nothing would compare to our perfect little apartment that just wasnt big enough for all our egos anymore. I did want my own room too.
On our first night i had a hard time falling asleep. When i finally did, i woke up around 2:30 because i thought i heard screaming. When i fully awoke, everything was silent. I thought maybe i had dreamt it. I tried to fall back asleep until i heard faint screaming again. I listened to it. It sounded like a little girl screaming something, but i couldnt hear what she was saying. I didnt really know what to do, so i just layed there and it started getting louder. My mom is honestly the lightest sleeper in the world, shell wake up to any kinda noise, anytime. So i was wondering why she wasnt awake. I focused on seeing if i could make out what the girl was screaming. Then i heard her scream, ' HELP ME PLEASE, HELP ME, I DONT WANT TO DIE!' i jumped out of my bed as i heard this and started searching where it was coming from as she repeated that over and over again. I looked out my window then opened it but it sounded like it was coming from another directon. Theres not much more places it could be coming from so i put my ear to the floor. That didnt sound right either. I ran out of my room to the front door, i couldnt find where it was coming from! It was kinda scary. I went to wake my mom up, and as soon as i did, the screaming stopped. I told her but she said she would have woke up if someone was screaming. I was soo confused. I went back to my room. I tried to sleep, but the little girl started screaming again. I woke my mom up again! and she said she wasnt all the way asleep, she would have heard it! I didnt get any sleeep that first night.

Parrts 1&2

The book that my partner and me picked is called “Thief Lord”. It is written by Cornelia Junke. At first I did not want to read this book, which has happened a lot so I guess I should stop judging books by there covers. The reason why I didn’t want to read it I guess was because the description inside did not really sound like my type of book. I love books about either mystery and suspense or biographies. Sometimes romance is good too. But this book didn’t really sound like any of those genres. The inside of the flap of the book gave me a description set in Venice, Italy where two young boys, Prosper and Bo lose there parents in a tragic car crash. The younger boy Bo is sent to live with their cruel aunt and uncle. Prosper, the older brother, wants to get his little brother back so he can take care of him. So he takes Bo and they run away to Venice, which they’ve heard great things about from the stories their parents have told them. They meet a group of kids just like them, except these kids are wealthy street kids. They have a leader, who they call the “Thief Lord” who steals valuable things from famous places and rich families. Then he sells these valuable things for money and supports him and his friends. Prosper and Bo are welcomed in to the group, but the evil aunt has sent a detective in Venice to track down both brothers and bring them back to her. Trying to escape the detective and the other kids trouble, the group runs into all kinds of adventures.
I really didn’t want to read this book at first. The beginning of the book was really slow, not really giving much away and sort of confusing. But once the Prosper runs away with his little brother, the story does pick up the pace. I started to really pay attention to the book and the authors writing, and realized how much good detail and descriptions there is involved. Once I got more into the book and read farther into it, I began to enjoy it much much more. Cornelia Funke is a really good writer and gives great descriptions of the city of Venice, portraying it as a magical city with lots of mysteries and secrets, but also very beautiful. She also describes some of the huge mansions, palaces, museums, and churches that the thief lord is able to break into, in great detail and not leaving anything important out. After a bit of reading you can start to feel as if you’re a character in this book, exploring and along with these kids in there many adventures.
My favorite parts of this book so far are when the author describes some of Venice’s many beauties and famous monuments such as fountains with elaborate decorations or the giant statues of lions or important people. Other very good parts of the story are when the people of Venice are described, with their distinct personality traits and their language. You can really get a feel of how different they live in Italy, and also how sweet and naturally nice people are there. I’m not really sure whether its all true about Venice or not, never being there myself, But it makes for a great story. Another good thing is the pace of the main events in this story. They’re perfectly spaced out and it makes the story move along evenly, which a lot of books I’ve read were missing. The dialogue between the main characters is also very clear, you always know whose speaking, and the author also includes a good sense of humor between characters, making you want to read further.
Overall, it’s a good book once you’re able to get into it. And yes, I would recommend it!

Parrts 1&2

The book that my partner and me picked is called “Thief Lord”. It is written by Cornelia Junke. At first I did not want to read this book, which has happened a lot so I guess I should stop judging books by there covers. The reason why I didn’t want to read it I guess was because the description inside did not really sound like my type of book. I love books about either mystery and suspense or biographies. Sometimes romance is good too. But this book didn’t really sound like any of those genres. The inside of the flap of the book gave me a description set in Venice, Italy where two young boys, Prosper and Bo lose there parents in a tragic car crash. The younger boy Bo is sent to live with their cruel aunt and uncle. Prosper, the older brother, wants to get his little brother back so he can take care of him. So he takes Bo and they run away to Venice, which they’ve heard great things about from the stories their parents have told them. They meet a group of kids just like them, except these kids are wealthy street kids. They have a leader, who they call the “Thief Lord” who steals valuable things from famous places and rich families. Then he sells these valuable things for money and supports him and his friends. Prosper and Bo are welcomed in to the group, but the evil aunt has sent a detective in Venice to track down both brothers and bring them back to her. Trying to escape the detective and the other kids trouble, the group runs into all kinds of adventures.
I really didn’t want to read this book at first. The beginning of the book was really slow, not really giving much away and sort of confusing. But once the Prosper runs away with his little brother, the story does pick up the pace. I started to really pay attention to the book and the authors writing, and realized how much good detail and descriptions there is involved. Once I got more into the book and read farther into it, I began to enjoy it much much more. Cornelia Funke is a really good writer and gives great descriptions of the city of Venice, portraying it as a magical city with lots of mysteries and secrets, but also very beautiful. She also describes some of the huge mansions, palaces, museums, and churches that the thief lord is able to break into, in great detail and not leaving anything important out. After a bit of reading you can start to feel as if you’re a character in this book, exploring and along with these kids in there many adventures.
My favorite parts of this book so far are when the author describes some of Venice’s many beauties and famous monuments such as fountains with elaborate decorations or the giant statues of lions or important people. Other very good parts of the story are when the people of Venice are described, with their distinct personality traits and their language. You can really get a feel of how different they live in Italy, and also how sweet and naturally nice people are there. I’m not really sure whether its all true about Venice or not, never being there myself, But it makes for a great story. Another good thing is the pace of the main events in this story. They’re perfectly spaced out and it makes the story move along evenly, which a lot of books I’ve read were missing. The dialogue between the main characters is also very clear, you always know whose speaking, and the author also includes a good sense of humor between characters, making you want to read further.
Overall, it’s a good book once you’re able to get into it. And yes, I would recommend it!