Writing of September:

 Seniors

 First Place:  Whitney Whitaker

Second Place: Janasia Walker

   Third Place: Phylicia Green

Honorable Mention:  Ashley Matos        Ashley Taylor

                                         Zeldia Zanfordino

First Place:  The Kite Runner  by Whitney Whitaker (Grade 11)

I love this book.  The Kite Runner is probably one of the five best books I have ever read in my life.  Page after page, I was either smiling with joy or crying, shocked at what had just happened.  Amir

won the kite flying tournament, and I felt so happy for him.  Baba was so proud of him and Amir finally got that love he had been craving.  Just as the smile came, so did the tears.  Amir watched horrified as Hassan was raped and did nothing about it.  Hassan was such a great character.  He moved me in so many ways.  Honestly, he made me want to be a better person. I was so touched that I keep hearing “a

thousand times over” in my head when I think of this story.  So many horrible things happened to such a

trustworthy, loving, gentle, kind man.  He didn’t deserve any of it and that truly pains me.

            I believe that Hosseini wanted to touch the lives of everyone who reads this book.  He wanted to

welcome you, the reader, into a story, into the life of the Afghans.  It wasn’t a nice story, a fairy tale story—it was a true story, tears and joys.  I took the story as a journal as if I had found it and read the history of a true life person.

    Second Place:     A Thousand Splendid Suns    by Janasia Walker  (Grade 12)

            Personally I am not a fan of reading, but I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns in three days.

It was intriguing, the kind of book that you just cannot put down.  One thing in particular that I liked was that it wasn’t predictable.  When Mariam left home to go to her father’s house, I didn’t expect her mother to be hanging from a tree when she returned.  I disliked the fact that Jalil arranged for Mariam to marry Rasheed, who was forty-five years old when she was fifteen.  Though I may not have liked that, I got to learn about someone else’s culture.  My favorite part of the entire book was when Tariq came back to Laila.  In my opinion, I believe that their romance made the book all the more interesting. I rate this book a ten out of ten, because it was overall amazing.  If I had the chance, I would read it over and over again.  I would recommend this book to everybody I know.

 Third Place:     A Thousand Splendid Suns    by Phylicia Green  (Grade 12)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini was by far one of the greatest books I have ever

read.  It truly brought tears to my eyes.  The way Hosseini told the story, with one part for Mariam, and

the other part for Laila, was clever because you could see and feel all the pain they went through at the same time.  From Mariam losing her mother over a father who didn’t even want her, to Laila saying goodbye to her love, Tariq, and her parents dying in a bomb explosion, you see their lives changed in so many ways during the book.  I believe the author wanted you to see how hard it was living in Kabul

and the other places they went, and how hard it really was in Afghanistan during the war.  The author made you believe that this was a true story, that it really happened.  I give this book a ten out of ten.

 Juniors

 First Place:  Larisa Pirraglia

Second Place:  Samuel Nesbitt

Third Place:  Daniel Manz

Honorable Mention:   John Carleton     Paige Deluca    

Lynda Fields     Kristin Malaguero     Shannon Toone

First Place:  My Sister’s Keeper  by Larisa Pirraglia   (Grade 11)

My Sister’s Keeper was a very interesting and unexpected book.  I really felt connected to the characters in the story.  I don’t think it was right for Anna to give up one of her kidneys if she did not want to.  But I also thought if my sister or brother were dying of cancer, I would without a doubt be willing to give one of my kidneys in order for them to be alive.  I thought Kate was very brave and

loved life, the beach, her family.  I could see why she did not want her baby sister to have to give up something that she might need.  Kate was ready to die.  She was not afraid.  Also, I thought Anna was a very brave little girl for fighting this case all by herself and still living with her family.  The part that shocked me the most was at the end, when Anna and her lawyer get hit by an oncoming truck and Anna dies.  The result of that is Kate getting a kidney.  I would rate this book an 8 because it was emotional.

Second Place:     Marley and Me   by Samuel Nesbitt  (Grade 11)

My reactions to the story Marley and Me were great.  I felt the story could be describing a bonding between any family and their dog.  It was satisfying for me because I have my very own dog, who acts almost just like Marley.  Instead of Marley Mambo, we call it “Magic Time.”  The part that stood out for me the most was when Jen and John went to Ireland, and how much they missed Marley.  That truly showed how much love they had for him, even though it’s good to get away sometimes.  A character that I really liked was John, who went through it all, and the babysitter when she had to suffer.  A part that was really interesting to me was the poem Jen wrote when she was five months pregnant.

Third Place:      Breaking Dawn  by Daniel Manz  (Grade 11)

I liked the book Breaking Dawn because there was a lot of conflict.  The part that stood out for me was when Bella was pregnant and the baby was growing so fast that it was killing her, so Edward had to change her.  My favorite character was Jacob, who loved Bella, and when the baby was born he imprinted on her.  Then he made his own tribe of werewolves help save the Cullens.  The most interesting part was when the Volturi thought that the baby was bad and they were going to kill the Cullens.  It would have been a big war, but it didn’t happen.  I thought it was interesting because the Volturi didn’t know what to do, and it kept you on the edge of your seat.

Sophomores

        
First Place: Juhi Singh

Second Place:   Ken Robinson

Honorable Mention:  Dan Clark    Sofia DiRusso

                                      Deja Gould

  First Place:      Razzle by Juhi Singh  (Grade 10)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Razzle by Ellen Wittlinger. Each chapter had something new to offer, which made the story intriguing.  First off, I loved Razzle’s personality.  She’s different and totally unique.  When Ken meets her, I know he’s weirded out by her ways but I’m glad that later on

she becomes his muse. Then, Harley comes along and just has to ruin everything.  She ruins Ken and Razzle’s friendship and she changes the person Ken used to be.  I was so disappointed in Ken when he decided to cut Razzle’s “Angel of the Mysteries” album and put Harley’s pictures in the Dumpdance Showcase.  On the other hand, I felt so sorry for what Razzle had gone through too.  Her mother was crazy and she found out that her Dad had committed suicide for almost no reason, and most of it was all Rusty’s fault.  It was unfortunate that in the end Ken had to move, and that he also destroyed his friendship with Razzle.  Ken learned many lessons and hopefully he’ll be smarter about some of his choices next time.

                        Breaking Dawn by Juhi Singh  (Grade 10)

It took me quite a while to finish Breaking Dawn.  I feel as if the beginning was stretched out too long during Bella’s pregnancy. I was completely shocked when I learned that she had become pregnant, because Edward is a vampire. Stephenie Meyer was very graphic about all the pain Bella went through to have her vampire-baby. Moreover, I was horrified when I read that Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee but then again, it was involuntary and he couldn’t help himself.  So I felt bad when Bella hated him so much for that.  I also couldn’t believe that Jacob had phased in front of Charlie, Bella’s dad.  I can imagine how confused Charlie must have felt so I think it was a good thing that they made a deal to tell him only what he needed to know.  Renesmee’s vampire ability was pretty cool.  Just to look into someone’s eyes and be able to tell them your whole life story in a matter of seconds is amazing.  In the

end, I’m glad Alice came to their rescue and finally revealed why she had left in the beginning.  Finding

Nahuel was a great idea and I’m glad the Volturi left in peace.

 Second Place:  On the Devil’s Court  by Ken Robinson    (Grade 10)

         I enjoyed the novel On the Devil’s Court by Carl Deuker because it combines a superstitious belief with intense family problems and mesmerizing basketball action throughout the book.  This novel also introduces an intriguing approach to the ancient story about a man who sells his soul to the devil in return for a short time of happiness and fortune.  Joe Faustus is my favorite character because of his ambitious attitude not to live the way his father wants him to.  I respect his dedication in wanting to be the best on the basketball court.  Despite his fear that he might have sold his soul to the devil, he has lots of confidence and survives the tough publicity that his family is going through.

 Freshmen

First Place: Samantha Rivera

       Second Place: Rodrigo Martinez

        Third Place: Brittany Roman

Honorable Mention:  Gabrielle Marable   Chelsea Thomas

                               Antonio Tirelli      Lanette Torres   

First Place:       The Lightning Thief  by Samantha Rivera (Grade 9)

I really loved The Lightning Thief.  I thought it was extremely intriguing and truly action-packed.  The events in the book were weird and it really caught my interest.  The part that stood out for me was when Gabe hit Sally, Percy’s mother.  I wondered if she would leave him or stay with him to continue protecting Percy.  I especially liked Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Luke.  The ending shocked me, though.  When the oracle said that Percy would be betrayed by a friend, I thought Annabeth would be the one to betray him because of the rivalry their parents shared.  I found it really interesting that Percy didn’t notice the lightning bolt in the shield the whole time.  The dark pit of Tartarus was

interesting too, and how the voice in Percy’s dreams sounded so evil and like it really wanted Percy.  I thought it was pretty ridiculous how Hades and Zeus didn’t realize their most powerful belongings had been stolen right then and there. I loved the whole plot of this book, though, and I would definitely read it again.

   Second Place:   The Lightning Thief  by Rodrigo Martinez (Grade 9)

The Lightning Thief was the funniest and most interesting book I have ever read.  My favorite part about this book was when Percy, Annabeth, and Grover went to the Underworld to get Zeus’s bolt back, which Percy then realizes was in his bag the whole time.  I also liked the part when they go to the Underworld because it was funny when Annabeth played with Hades’ three-headed dog.  Percy amazed me at how well he could sword fight, like the time he disarmed Luke and the time he was able to injure Ares, the god of war.  The thing that was most interesting to me was that Hades didn’t steal the bolt, but Luke did.  I disliked Luke because he betrayed everyone who liked him.  At the beginning he was my favorite character, but at the end, I realized that he wasn’t.

Third Place:    Night Hoops  by Brittany Roman   (Grade 9)

            Night Hoops was really good.  It talked about basketball and that is something I used to play so I was excited to read about it.  The parts that stood out for me were Zack and how he killed those ducks and geese, and shot Mike.  Honestly, who does that, besides people who hunt?  That was very disturbing and it made me feel bad, even though it was only a novel.  The character that I liked was Trent, because even though he did bad things, he had a bright side to him.  I like that.  I didn’t like Zack because of the things he did; he killed and hurt people.  The most interesting thing was when the coach asked Nick to look out for Trent when they weren’t even on speaking terms, and I wondered what would happen.