Count Down By: Deborah Wlies

I haven't finished the whole of "Count Down", so I'll just do a summary of the first half. There are two parts of the book that take turns throughout the book, the first is more of a historical part. It contains short biographies from people who used to live during the Cold War such as President JFK and organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. The second is a historical fiction about a girl who lived during the Cold War (1960s). Her name is Franny and she's just like any other 11 year old during the 1960's. When I started reading this book I got so excited because the author really does show the reader how life was back then. She doesn't sugar coat things either, like the fact Franny's mother doesn't believe that African-Americans are equal. Franny describes how the Cold War has every American frightened and how people with disabilities, African-Americans, and women are discriminated against. Even though Franny is just an 11 years old and doesn't quit understand what is going on it doesn't mean the reader doesn't.

The conflict in the story is that the Cold War has everyone so frightened that people are becoming more discriminative and untrusting. Franny had lost a friend, Margie because she thinks that Franny and her family are wrong. In the book Margie says, "Stay away from the Portman family. They are nothing but Russian spies and crazed lunatics." In reality, Fanny's sister, Jo Ellen is really secretly training to be a Civil Rights Activist against her mothers will. Franny's uncle is being discriminated against too. Many people in the town think the Uncle Otts (Franny's uncle) is crazy but really he suffers from post traumatic stress from being part of World War II.

Tolerance

"Tolerance: the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with."

 To me tolerance means to agree to disagree. Using words like, gay, dyke or faggot as something mean, means that your intolerant. When someone different comes along it doesn't mean that they should be let down. Being tolerant means to recognizes that although they may be different from you it doesn't mean that they are doing or are something wrong.

A surge of electricity surges through my body. Like my nerves are on fires just for a few seconds. My head hurts as if my brain was pulsing from the anger and sadness from the ignorance and stupidity of comments like, "your wrong" or "thats so gay".

Ruby Red Kerstin Gier Part 2

I have to be honest and I kind of didn't like the ending of Ruby Red. I was expecting something grand and mind blowing but it wasn't really like that. I guess its because Ruby Red is only the first book of the Ruby Red trilogy and its ment to be an introduction.  None the less the overall book was pretty good but since I already did a summary of the first part of the book I'll just do the second half. So after Gwen finds out that she can time travel all the family secrets are then told to her. Gwen finds out that because she is the ruby of the twelve time travelers that have ever been, she has some type of bigger power. Gwen can see ghost unlike any other time traveler but I believe this is only the beginning of her powers. Gwen and the other time traveler, a 19 year old, named Gideon who is apparently, "tall, dark and handsome. With eyes greener than emerald." have to get the blood of all twelve time travelers in order to release a secret. However Lucy and Paul stole the machine needed to collect the blood so now Gwen and Gideon have to start all over with a second machine.

Gwen is the main character in the story and seems to always be misunderstood. Everyone has this image of Gwen without even meeting her. Since everyone thought that perfect, smart Charlotte was the next in line to inherit the time travel gene, they think that Gwen is immature and hopeless. In fact the second time Gwen and Gideon met he has this assumption of Gwen and says, " You're like any other girl out there. You giggle with friend about boys and will rather go out shopping than do anything remotely important." but Gideon hardly knew Gwen. Fortunately throughout the book they get to know each other and Gideon finds out that Gwen is actually really smart and like no other. Almost everyone thinks that Gwen is useless but at the end of the book everyone realizes that Gwen is actually strong and smart.

Ruby Red By: Kerstin Gier

I just started reading this book so I'll just be doing a summary of what I've already read. So the book I'm reading is called Ruby Red it is a fictional story about a girl named Gwen. Gwen comes from a family who loves secrets and one that has this thing called the time travel gene. Long ago Sir Isaac Newton (the gravity guy) calculated the birth of the next person to inherit the gene. But now there is a big problem because both Gwen and her cousin were born on the same day, the day calculated by Newton. Everyone believes it is beautiful, stuck-up Charlotte who is the gene inheritor but only because Gwen's mom faked the day of Gwen's birth. Both Charlotte and Gwen are now sixteen and their whole lives they have been prepared for Charlotte's first transportation but what happens when Charlotte stays in her time and Gwen doesn't. I'll tell you what, all hell breaks loose. The family is now torn apart and no one quit believes that Gwen has already transported three times. Until they see it for them selfs.

Note and Notice: Again and Again
Gwen has no idea what is going on because she's never been told about the specifics about the gene. Gwen is extremely inexperienced and has already traveled three times. In the story there these little passages from a book called The Annals Of The Guardians this book is basically a history book for both past and present time travelers. The weird thing is that passages from the past say that Gwen was born on October 10 1994 but its the 21 century and Gwen is only 16. There is also the thing will Gwen's mom faking the birth of Gwen which is a subject that no one really knows about. These two things keep coming up in the story and I believe its going to turn into something way bigger than everyone else thinks it to be. In the text it says, " Female Line Of Descent: Gwyneth Shepherd Ruby, birth 1994" This quote just confuses me but it also tells me that there is something way bigger going on than just Gwen's ability to time travel.

Identical By: Ellen Hopkins

I just started reading this book called Identical by Ellen Hopkins. This book looks so cool. Every page is a poem but every poem is just a small part of the whole story. Its a realistic fiction about two sisters who are actually twins. So the two main characters are, Kaeleigh and Raeanne and they describe their lives as appearing picture perfect. They live with their father, who is a judge in a huge house with a maid to clean after them. Their mom is always away but only because she's this huge politician. Everything seems perfect to everyone else but behind closed doors it's more like hell. When Kaeleigh and Raeanne were about 8, their family got in this huge car crash that tore the family apart both physically and emotionally. Their mother had to go through numerous plastic surgeries to hide scars that would never go away and their father became an alcoholic. Then Kaeleigh and Raeanne's mother started to become less and less loving and never wanted to be home. Raeanne has an abusive boyfriend that she's only with to get weed. Kaeleigh is binging and is starting to cut herself. But now Kaeleigh wants out because her family is holding her back. Kaeleigh has to keep to many secrets and she can't do that if she want's to fall in love.

The conflict in the story is that Kaeleigh and Raeanne are in danger. Their health is slowly deteriorating and every passing day it seems that things with their family are getting worse. Something horrible is happening in the book but the author wont tell what. As the story goes on she only provides clues. Raeanne says "I wish he would at least recognize I'm in the room the way he does when Kaeleigh is there." While Kaeleigh wants nothing but to get away from her father's grasp. Every night the sisters hope that their father has knocked himself out with beer and medication. Kaeleigh is terrified of the heavy foot steps that lead to her room at night but most of all she's terrified of the person she might become. In the text it says, "While he's with Kaeleigh, I can only watch because I can do nothing for I'm not really there." This quote shows that the sister's father is not the only conflict but that Kaeleigh and  Raeanne could be one and the same.