Book Review: King of the Shadows

For Literature we have to do book talks once a quarter. Book talks are a book report, a speech and a creative model. This quarter I read the book King of the Shadows by Susan Cooper. For my creative model I wrote a short story which I would like to share with you. If you are looking for a book to read I would highly recommend this one. If you would like to read an actual book review here is one from Wikipedia that I liked:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Shadows




Well as you know Nat Field came to live with us from St. Paul’s School. A few days after he got here he got the plague so we sent him to bed with the gravest thoughts. We thought he would die but he didn’t. But, he didn’t seem like the Nat Field we knew before he got the plague. I thought nothing of it at the time. Now that he is gone well… Harry

Since you want me to say something about Nat, I guess I must since I am apprenticed to you. My name is Roper and Nat and I don’t get along well at all. Nat is good at gymnastics and I guess he is a tad bit better than me. But on the contrary he is terribly bad at fencing where as I am on of the best in the company. Well apart from you and Master Burbage I suppose. What’s that you say??? I have to talk about Nat???? Well Nat is a bothersome boy and a coward. One time we went to a bear-baiting and he ran away crying like a baby. Am I done now? Roper


Well now I am going to write about Nat even though I am the writer. Nat is a dramatic young boy. Now that we know what happened I was sad to see him go. Well see let me explain from the beginning. Nat Field was a boy who did go to St. Paul’s School and he got the bubonic plague. Now if I had gotten it from him and died I wouldn’t have written anymore plays for the company to perform. So somehow I sent him to the future to get the care he needed. Well he did and luckily got switched with a Nat Field from 1999. Strangely enough he knew the lines to the plays we did. Well so after he had been here for about a month, he got switched again with the Nat Field from now. We will always miss Nat Field from 1999 in our hearts. William Shakespeare

Camp Wildflowers

This summer I went to Camp Wildflowers. We went cliff repelling and canoeing. Going down the cliff was really scary. It was hard to put your trust in a rope and basically drop yourself over the cliff. Canoeing was really fun because we did not know how to do it. We also had cookouts where we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. We made a hobo dinner of beef packets and dump cake which was really good. We went swimming almost every night. We played games and had a food fight, which was really disgusting and messy. I really loved going to camp.

Leah Mills Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Trouble

After I went to the grocery store, I went to my house. I put everything away neatly inside the cupboards in the kitchen. Then I went back to the small town. I walked around the park. In the park there are small vendors selling ice cream,hot dogs and stuff like that. I asked some of them if they had seen my mother. Almost all of them said they had not. But one of them said they had seen someone like that description at Town Hall a couple of weeks ago. That really did not help at all but I thanked him and left. I did not have anything else to do so I walked over to Town Hall. Unfortunately I had forgotten that the 4th graders of the orphanage were taking a field trip to Town Hall to watch a small trial. I quickly ducked behind the building but it was to late, somebody had seen me. Now I thought I would be caught but they looked at me and saw that I was older then them. So the little girls thought I was just visiting the trial just like they were. I have to be more careful from now on.

I am looking forward to...

This summer I am really looking forward to going to camp. I am going to be tomahawk throwing, archery, swimming, playing games, hiking, and hanging out with friends. I like this camp because it is kind of by itself. It is in the middle of a quiet town. I have been to this camp once for a weekend, but this time it will be for a whole week. A whole bunch of people I know will be coming.


Another thing I am looking forward to is the beach. All of our distant cousins are coming. It will be a big family reunion. People I have not seen in a long time will be there. It will be awesome!!!

This summer is going to be a great summer!

What I want to be when I grow up...

When I grow up, I want to be a writer. If I were a writer, I would write tons of books, fiction non-fiction, and historical fiction. My historical fiction books would mainly be about World War II. Another choice for an occupation would be a veterinarian (vet), marine biologist, or serve in the military. If I were a veterinarian I would love every minute of it. It would be really cool to help animals like that. Also I would like to help groom animals. If I were a marine biologist, I could find all sorts of exotic species of fish. If I were to serve in the military, I would probably want to serve in the Air Force. There are so many good choices I am glad I don't have to decide now.

Things I look forward to in 6th Grade...

In 6th grade I am looking forward to a lot of things. One thing I am looking forward to, is going to Spruce Lake again. The 5th through 8th grades go every year. Last year, we got to go hiking, got to look down a cliff, we played a Survival Ecology game, and we got to go down a zip line. This year we get to stay up to 11 o'clock at night instead of 10:30, we get to do a rope course and we get different cabins.


Another thing I am looking forward to is math. You have one math class but it is chosen according to your level. I am hoping to get into advanced math.


The last thing I am looking forward to is being in middle school. You just feel older and more mature. (even if you aren't mature.)

The Life of Leah Mills Chapters 1+2

Chapter 1:The Beginning

I live in a beautiful Victorian mansion.There is a romantic garden with roses strewn tidily everywhere.Behind the house is a bubbling, trickling creek. There is woods all around us, with deer, and a bird's chirping always filled the air. At night, an owl's low voice echoes in the quiet woods. My name is Leah, Leah Mills. Even though I am only 12 I live alone. My mom left me in an orphanage. The nuns (it was a Catholic orphanage) told me that my mom was poor and that she couldn't take care of me anymore. Do you really think I would believe that nonsense? I am here because my mom didn't love me anymore. I tried to tell the nuns that but they said that was nonsense. So I ran away. No one in the world loved me anymore. I found this place. Sure, it was run down but now it is beautiful. I found paint in the basement, and some planks of wood behind the house. My goal in life is to track down my mother and get her to love me for who I am.

Chapter 2:First Step

The nuns at the orphanage told me that my mom was beautiful: Dark brown eyes and hair. A pale complexion and lips the color of candy apples. So now I walked into a small town near Chicago. I walked into the grocery store. I work for the grocer. He knows I am only 12, but at the orphanage, the older girls and boys work for different people around town to get pocket money. Luckily for me, I worked at the grocery store. He has known me for a long time and knows how good of a worker I am. He gives me 2 dollars a week and some food for the orphanage. Now I know it is not right to steal, but I take it for myself. Someday I will pay the grocer back. Sometimes we will chat after the work is done. I remember some very comfortable chats. We would talk about baseball and just before I leave to go back to the orphanage, he would give me a cookie or doughnut. Other people would get jobs like cleaning some hotel's carpets or washing a restaurant's dishes. I'm glad I got that job. Before that job I had to clean some person's house and that person was very harsh. He would strike me if I did not do something exactly the way he wanted. So I walked into the grocery store to get some extra money. The grocer was glad to see me. After I did the job, he said I did it really great this time. So he gave me a raise. Now I would get 3 dollars a week instead of only 2. Then he gave me a doughnut and the groceries. Just before I was about to leave, I asked him if he had seen anybody that fit that description. He said there was a lot of people in Chicago that looked that. But he said he would keep an eye out for her.
That was the first step to finding my mother.