Month: January 2023

In January, I read one of my favorite books called, The Witches by Roald Dahl. The book is about a young boy named Charlie Hansen who is now an orphanage since his parents died in a car accident. He started living with his sick grandmother. His grandmother warns him about real life witches and teaches him how to spot one. When Charlie encounters a witch for the first time, he is absolutely terrified. Soon, Charlie and his grandma plan to go on a vacation to Norway but the flight gets cancelled due to Charlie’s grandma being too weak to travel that far. Instead they go to a hotel on the south coast of England. Horrible events happen at that hotel. Charlie discovers hundreds of witch’s in a meeting . The witches feed a young boy, named Bruno, chocolate that they casted a spell on to make the poor boy turn into a mouse. Unfortunately, the witches spot Bruno hiding and also turn him into a mouse. Charlie and Bruno go to find Charlie’s grandmother and they all try to find a way to return to their human form and get rid of all the witches.

What I love about this book is how Roald Dahl uses descriptive words so that the reader feels the pain Charlie goes through. For example, on page 114 it says, “Oh, the pain and the fire! It felt as through a kettleful of boiling water had been poured into my mouth. My throat was going up in flames! Then very quickly the frightful burning searing scorching feeling started spreading down into my chest and into my tummy and on into my arms and legs and all over my body!” In this moment, Charlie was getting transformed into a mouse which was extremely scary and painful for Charlie. This makes the reader realize how cruel the witches could be.

My favorite character is Charlie’s grandmother, Agatha. Agatha is the type of person that’s always there whenever you need her help. For instance on page 127 after Charlie and Bruno immediately came to Agatha for help, she says, “‘Of course I’ll look after you…’” Without hesitation, Agatha lets the boys know they are safe. She asks them questions about everything that happened to know exactly what had occurred.

My favorite quote from the book is on page ten where it says , “ She might even-and this will make you jump- she might even be your lovely school-teacher who is reading these words to you at this very moment,” I remember my fourth grader teacher reading this book out loud to the class and thinking she was witch. I could never see her the same again. This quote also makes me laugh and realize that witches can come in any form of women. Teachers, doctors, employees at stores or just ladies walking down the street.

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My grandma is the person I greatly admire. To start off, my grandma has taken care of me ever since the day I was born. She’s made so many delicious meals for my whole family, walked me to school, and so much more. She’s so sweet to everyone and can make anyone laugh. I remember this time when I was younger, I had fallen and completely scraped both my knees. My grandma immediately ran over to me and started dancing to cheer me up. She’s always at all my band and dance concerts; never missed one. Also, my grandma was the person who taught me how to tie my shoelaces. After that day, I’ve been able to tie my shoes really fast. Additionally, she doesn’t own a car, so she’s always walking to different places. She knows my siblings and I love going to Target, so she always suggests going there whenever we are bored. Like stated before, she used to walk me, my sister, Sophie, and my cousins, Nayeli and Isaí to school every day since my parents had to work. The fact she just turned seventy and still puts so much effort into making everyone happy and healthy is incredible. She recently had surgery on her leg a week ago and has to stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, that is very difficult for her since she’s so used to her normal routine which is cleaning every second of the day. She ended up getting up anyways and hurt her leg badly. My mom took her to the emergency room and the doctors warned her that getting up will cause the veins to clog and that she needed a lot of rest in order for her leg to heal properly. What worries me the most is losing my grandma, so I really hope she gets better soon. All in all, I strongly believe my grandma is my hero. I truly love my grandma and can’t imagine my life without her.

This year I am going to focus on the word efficient. There are a few reasons I am going to focus on being efficient. Being efficient can make you feel more organized and get a lot more stuff done in a day. First of all, instead of spending hours on homework everyday, I try to complete all my homework before 7 pm. I will distance myself from any distractions causing me to slow down. For example, I will put my phone on Do Not Disturb, listen to calming music, and getting all the hard work done before I start on the easy work. I will also try to get as much class work done in class so I do not fall behind on anything. Paying close attention in class could also make me have a higher chance of passing tests.
Another example is to get everything ready before an important event occurs. I could pick out my clothes and supplies the night before school, so I don’t have to rush in the morning. To add in, whenever my family decides to go on a road trip, we should pack everything hours before we get in the car to limit the amount of time we spend trying to get everything and everyone in the car.
Finally, I plan to put an end to procrastination. It is way better to get your work done sooner rather than last minute. Procrastination can also lead to forgetting to do assignments. Not doing assignments will be marked as missing and will lower my grades, which I want to prevent from happening. I will set reminders for myself reminding me to do my work before the due date. I truly believe being efficient can make your life way easier.

In December, I read the book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I am half way done with the book. So far, the book is about a girl named Hazel who struggles with cancer. Her lungs are very weak and has a oxygen container to help her breathe. Every week she goes to a Support group filled with cancer survivors. She makes many friends there including a guy named Augustus who had cancer in his leg causing him too loose his leg and get prosthetic leg instead. Soon, the two began to fall for each other. They both love to read, but they especially loved a book called An Imperial Affliction. Hazel enjoyed reading this book for years. Augustus surprised Hazel by getting them tickets to go to Amsterdam to meet the author of An Imperial Affliction.

What I love about this book so far is how John Green uses certain words to make you feel Hazel’s pain and the things she struggles with. For example on page forty-five it says, “In truth, it always hurts. It always hurts not to breathe like a normal person, incessantly reminding your lungs to be lungs, forcing yourself to accept as solvable the clawing scraping inside-out ache of underoxygenation,” Mostly everyone takes advantage of the lungs, and this sentence makes you think about all the people like Hazel who struggle to take breaths of air.

My favorite character is Augustus. Augustus is a very sweet person and romantic person. He’s always there for Hazel whenever she isn’t doing so well. A quote to illustrate this is on page eighty-two where it says, “Augustus Walters was sitting on the front step as we pull into the driveway. He was holding a bouquet of bright orange tulips just beginning to bloom,” Augustus showed up at Hazel’s house unexpected and impressed Hazel and her parents, so he took Hazel on a fun picnic.

My favorite quote from the book is when Augustus says, “ ‘I’d always thought the would was a wish-granting factory,” This quote is significant to me because even though he is being sarcastic, it makes you think about how the world I could be a very mean place and you don’t always get what you want