Awesome Axolotls

Review of The Martian Matt Damon starring in the film adaption of The Martian             ‘I’m pretty much f****d’ . . . The first line in Andy Weir’s hit novel, The Martian , might slightly put you off. It did for me, or rather, mostly my mom, a few years ago when this book first came across my radar. While on a bike ride with my mom, at the young age of eight years old, we passed by a little free library (the box where you put in a book and take one out) in our old neighborhood. At the time, I was out of reading material so I decided that I would take a glance through the library and see what they had. The first book to catch my eye was The Martian. Space is something that I really enjoy and am fascinated by, so I thought I would flip through the pages and see if it looked any good. But after mom read the first sentence, she determined that it would be wise to save this book till I was a bit older. Anyways, I was recently skimm...

  Hello, I'm Samuel Troconis and this is my review on The Militia House by John Milas.           The book is centered around Corporal Loyette, A US Marine deployed with his unit in Afghanistan in 2010. There, while not having much to do, they quickly become bored and the days become dreadful. While at their base, they get told stories about an abandoned Soviet military base from the 1970s. Loyette and his unit, having nothing else to do quickly go to explore the house. There, they experience paranormal occurences. After the events of the Militia House, they try to forget what happened, but things gradually get worse. They think it's just the war and being away from home, but something about the Militia House is not letting them forget the eventful day.         Having some interest in war books, after hearing this book's horror twist, I was curious to see what it was. I began reading the book, and I soon saw myself enjoying it. The ...

The Hate You Give (THUG) is a realistic fiction book by Angie Thomas. The plot focuses on a black girl named Starr who witnesses the death of her best friend Khalil due to a white police officer. Due to Khalil's death, Starr and her friends and family have to overcome the protests, riots, and racism that happen in her neighborhood, school, and social life. I first read this book for a project in my subbie Language and Literature year. Overall I found the book to be pretty interesting with a few shortcomings here and there. When I first told my parents I was doing this book for an essay they recalled there being a movie about it. So when our family had free time we watched the movie and after reading the book I could tell they changed, or more specifically toned down a lot of the things that made the book worth the read. The first change I want to talk about is the overall violence throughout the story. As stated earlier Starr's neighborhood and community aren't taking Khali...

A Review of Redwall (By Andrew Langer                In most adventure stories, the hero is a young human, generally a farmer or peasant who goes on a journey that turns them into who they are at the end of the story. Only a few stories focus on the little creatures beneath their feet. Redwall is a fantastic novel written by Brian Jacques. The novel replaces humans with animals but keeps the different power dynamics between the animals.                The novel centers around the adventures of Matthias, a mouse, and the abbey he comes from, Redwall. The mice and squirrels live together in harmony with most of the other creatures in the forest of Mossflower. However, the peace cannot last, and before long, a thieving band of rats comes to Redwall. Their leader, Cluny, had his sights set on conquering the castle, so while Redwall puts up a defense against Cluny and his army, Matthias goes on a quest ...

Review of Wonder             The story Wonde r, written by R.J. Palacio, follows a young boy named August Pullman who has a rare condition known as ‘Treacher Collins syndrome’ which deformed his face at birth. Despite his appearance, August is a normal boy: he likes his Xbox, ice cream, and Star Wars , things that any other ten-year-old would like. He has a loving mom and dad, a protective older sister, and a nice home in lower Manhattan. But no matter how many surgeries he has or how normally he acts, his face won’t ever look like everyone else’s. As the beginning of 5 th grade looms around the corner, his parents urge him to start attending a school with other children, since he has been homeschooled his whole life. Although August believes that middle school is the last place that he would want to go, for fear of being stared at and bullied, he eventually comes around and begins Beecher Prep. Once August started going to his n...

Hi, I'm Samuel, and this is my review about the Catching Fire  book in the Hunger Games series.      "Catching Fire" is the second book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games . The story continues with Katniss Everdeen, the main character, and Peeta Mellark returning to District 12 after winning the 74th Hunger Games. Despite their victory, they face challenges as the Capitol heavily enforces control and seeks to maintain order. The pair embarks on a Victory Tour, during which Katniss realizes the growing unrest in the districts. President Snow announces the 75th Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell, which involves a twist that brings previous victors back into the arena. Katniss and Peeta find themselves once again in a fight for survival, alliances, betrayal, and a rebellion brewing in the districts. After recently reading the first Hunger Games book and watching the prequel movie, I decided to begin reading the series. At the beginning of the story, Katniss begins describi...

A review of Welcome to the New World by Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan (Mateo Herandez)             Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times series, Welcome to the New World follows the Aldabaan family, who, faced with violence and conflict in Jordan, were given the opportunity to move to Connecticut in the United States as refugees. The family faced a time crunch of making the decision to leave for America before election day 2016, with the possibility of Donald Trump winning the election and shutting down immigration. The family was approved to leave, but some of the extended family members were not. After a lot of arguing over the decision to stay with Grandma in Jordan or leave for the U.S. to pursue a better life, they ultimately chose to come to America and arrived on election day: when Trump won the election. Even though the family was out of the war zone in their home country, they were faced with a new set of c...