Soundly
Sundown
Royal
Waterway
Galore
Compassion
And
Sandbanks
Window or Mirror Book Review
Photo from Unsplash
I have recently read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle. But before we get into anything else let us cheer for Madeleine L’engle for writing this amazing book. And yes, cheer out loud. Okay, now to the rest. This book is a window book. So, you might be wondering what I’m talking about when I say window book. Calling a book a window book is a way to compare your life to a book you are reading or have read. A window book is a book that is like looking through a window meaning the book is not similar to your life or life experiences. Another type of comparison is a mirror book. It is a book that is like looking in a mirror . In other words it means the main character’s life or life experiences are similar to yours. A Wrinkle in Time is a window book for me because it describes the trauma of losing a parent or loved one and the feeling of despair when you realize they are never coming back. It is also a window book because obviously I have never traveled through universes. I also recommend this book for anyone who likes science fiction and realistic fiction. This book meshes the two genres perfectly.
My Musical Career and Struggles
Photo from Unsplash
I love to play the violin. I have been playing for three years. I started playing violin when I was eight years old and fell in love with it as soon as I started playing. I started playing during covid and I could not find a teacher so I decided to play piano instead and about a month into piano lessons I heard back from one of the violin teachers that I had reached out to. She said that she would be glad to have in person lessons as long as we were outside and we’re wearing masks. After about five months of playing violin and piano I decided to quit piano lessons and to pursue violin further. About one and a half years later I had to move so I found a new violin teacher. It took a while but I eventually found a teacher about thirty minutes away from my house. When I started playing with the new teacher he was a lot more challenging and he had a recital about once a month unlike my old teacher where we only had a recital every other month. Even though it was more challenging I enjoyed having a new teacher and liked the challenge. My new teacher also inspired me to learn other instruments and he also helped me with reading music. My old violin teacher was more focused on listening to the song and trying to figure it out from just a recording. I like both of the methods of teaching but reading music helped me to be able to play many instruments instead of just violin. About a year after I started playing with my new violin teacher I started a new school which was very challenging and extremely time consuming. My dad also inspired me to go to this school because he also went to this school from kindergarten all the way until the end of high school. It also made me feel better about struggling because he knows how challenging this school can be. After starting at the new school this year it became much harder to play violin and sometimes I felt like I would not be able to continue playing violin while balancing my first year of middle school. I simply just didn’t have enough time. I only had enough time to do homework and nothing else. Even with all the struggles of playing violin and the first year of middle school I keep persevering and I won’t give up violin this soon. I still have so much time to grow. And even when things are tough I still love playing violin. I also have to thank my mom for me helping as much as she can and pushing me to keep playing no matter how frustrated I get. Please write in the comments some of your struggles in life and who helped you overcome them.
Me As a Reader
Photo from Sora
I love to read. I have been reading ever since I was little. I read about every book I can get my hands on. I think reading is a great way to build your vocabulary and have fun at the same time. When I read a good book with lots of twists and turns I tend to become so wrapped up in the book I don’t even realize if someone is talking to me. Typically I read about two books per week. You might be asking how do you get all these ideas for books? Well most of the time I get suggestions from my aunt or my mom. I also like to read a wide range of books and try almost anything. The most recent book I have read is A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’enge. A Wind in the Door is a sequel to A Wrinkle in Time, a fantasy novel about a girl and her six year old little brother trying to find their father who has gone missing pursuing a science experiment. They go on many adventures traveling between planets, solar systems and even universes all in search of their father. They also meet vibrant, fun characters and even some pretty unique villains. This book is great for people who love to read books that incorporate science fiction but still have a real life aspect to it. Please write in the comments your favorite book genre and any book recommendations you have.
Camp Kirkwood
It was Wednesday August 30, 2023. I had been dreading this day for weeks. It was the day that I went to my first school camp. It wasn’t the camp part that I was dreading, it was the fact we were heading straight for a hurricane! Now, I know what you’re thinking, it probably wasn’t that bad,(it was). We were two and a half hours away from the coast,(where the hurricane was supposed to hit), and we were driving two hours towards the coast! So, it was only fair to assume we were going to be hit by the hurricane.
There I was standing in a sea of duffle bags and pillows waiting for my friends to arrive. When they did we decided who sat with who and what bus we were going to sit on. And then when we got on the bus the teachers said that we did not have enough seats and we would have to just have to sit with random people and I had to sit in a two hour bus ride with someone I had never even met before. It was kind of awkward in the beginning, then we started talking and it wasn’t that bad.
When we got to camp, just as I suspected it was pouring rain and the winds were crazy. They told us to grab any bag, it didn’t matter who’s it was and we had to bring them to the pavilion by the dining hall. When we all got there they told us our cabins, where they were and to grab our bags and go. When we got to our cabins we had a ten minute break where we could get settled in and rest. After that we went to the dining hall for lunch. When we got to the dining hall,they gave us lunch and then told us what activities we were going to be doing. They put us into 6 groups and I was in group two. My group went to the pool first along with groups one and three. After that they told us to go back to our cabins to change. And then we had to do team building in the pouring rain. After that we did more activities like, forest ecology, orienteering or how to use a compass. Then we went back to our cabins and we had about thirty minutes of free time in our cabins before dinner. After dinner we went back to our cabins and hung out until lights out at ten.
Then next morning we went to breakfast at six and then we got into our groups for more activities. The first activity we did was more team building. Then we went to this thing called the v-swing where you are attached to a rope that your group mates pull and it is attached to a pulley system and it lifts you into the air. After that we went to lunch. Right after lunch we went to a pavilion by the pool and played some board games. We also had a rock paper scissors tournament (I won!). After that we couldn’t do anything because it was raining so much. So we stayed in our cabins for a while until it was time for dinner. After dinner we hung out in our cabins for a while. Then we had the choice of playing dodg eball in pouring rain or, watch a movie and I chose to watch the movie because I didn’t want to get wet. They also served us snow cones after the movie.
The next morning we had breakfast at six again. After breakfast we went to the pool again and jumped on what they called the “kanga jump” which was basically a giant trampoline. After that we went canoeing and we also went on a zipline over the lake. Then we went to meet the pig they had named bubbles. After we met the pig we had to grab our stuff and go home. On the way back they had resolved the bus problem and we could chose who we sang with and did not just get put with a random person.