Scipio in The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

This book is about a group of kids who live in an abandoned movie theater in Venice, Italy.  Their leader is Scipio, who calls himself the Thief Lord.  He breaks into fancy houses and steals valuable things and then sells them to Barbarosa, the owner of a pawn shop. All the money he earns go to food, clothing and other things for the kids who live in the movie theater, Prosper, Bo, Mosca, Riccio, and Hornet.

The five children don't know where Scipio lives, how he breaks into houses, or anything about his past.  They are just grateful that he takes care of them.  Scipio is very secretive and sneaky.  Bo, the youngest one, sees Scipio as a hero, someone who he aspires to be. But towards the end, the children find out that everything Scipio has told them is a lie.  They find out that Scipio was not a runaway from the orphanage, he lived in a large mansion.  Everything he stole was just things he had taken from his own house.

When the other children find out that Scipio was lying the whole time, a lot of conflict is created.  Riccio even decides that he won't talk to Scipio.

In the beginning Scipio is considered a generous hero who is taking care of 5 run away kids.  But later, he is considered a liar.  Scipio's characterization changed a lot throughout the story.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Over the summer I read The Glass Castle as my summer reading book.  I liked this book far more than I thought I would.  I don't usually like to read but I found myself reading this book in my free time.  This story is about a poor family's journey through life from the point of view from the second oldest child, Jeannette.  The childrens father was very caring but only when he was sober, which wasn't very often, and their mother didn't want to have the responsibility for taking care of a family.  This book never got boring and always had something interesting going on whether there was a fight or they were going on an adventure. The four children in the Walls family were always the poorest kids in the neighborhood.  Jeannette would play with the kids her age but when she became older and went to high school, she found that she had no friends.  Instead of doing nothing in her free time she joined the school newspaper and became a writer.  This prepared her for what her job will be when she grows up.
I definitely recommend The Glass Castle to anybody who wants a book that they won't want to put down.

What Constitutes Success, If

I found a peom called What Constitutes Success, written by Bessie Stanly in 1904.  This poem is all about what qualities make a person successful.   The point the author is trying to make is someone who is a good person, is considered successful.  In this poem the authors says that someone successful left the world better than he found it.  This means that the person helped the world become a better place and helped others.  A person is only considerd successful if they enjoy what they are doing, someone isn't considered successful if they earn a lot of money, but hate their job.  It doesn't matter if a person has a lot of money, a person is successful if they are truly happy.  A successful person always did their best and they worked hard to achive their goal.  Someone successful always looked for something good in everybody, they made a lot of friends. 

Theme: A person is nhot successful if they are not happy with what they do, a person is successful if they enjoy what they do.

What Constitutes Success:http://themotivationalpoem.wordpress.com/

Another poem I found was called If, written by Rudyard Kipling.  This poem is all about how you should remember all the good things that happened, and forget all the bad things that happened. Why let the bad things bring you down when the good things can make you happy?  Another part of this poem explains how you should not care too much about the mean things people say to you, you should just ignore the bad things that happen.  The author incluudes that if you fail, then you should try again.  If you completely give up, then theres no chance that the task will get done.  But if you keep trying, then there is more of a chance that the task will get done.  In the last stanza of this poem, the author focuses on making the point that you should stay true to who you are and not not change because of who you are surrounded by.

Theme: Forget the bad things that happen and remembber the good things that happened.

If:http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/famous/poem/if-by-rudyard-kipling

Teen invents new way to detect Pancreatic Cancer

A couple days ago I came across an article about a 15 year old science prodigy.  Jack Andraka was a typical high school freshman, except from the fact that he won first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair and won $75,000.  Jack won because he created a new way to detect pancreatic cancer; the most lethal form of cancer.  Pancreatic cancer is very difficult to detect in a patient, so his discovery is definitely a step forward in increasing the amount of survivors.  He got inspired when his uncle died of pancreatic cancer.

Its amazing to think that someone this young could make such a big difference in science.  So many people die because they are diagnosed too late, but with this new way to detect pancreatic cancer, there will be so many more survivors.  I never thought that a kid in my grade could make such a big discovery.  But Jack definitely proved me wrong.  This article helped me realize that anybody can make a difference.

I could relate to this article because my grandma had pancreatic cancer, but luckily the doctors diagnosed her when the cancer was in a very early stage.  She is now done with chemo and much healthier now. :)


Article:http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Jack-Andraka-the-Teen-Prodigy-of-Pancreatic-Cancer-179996151.html?c=y&page=3

Video of Jack at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair:

Theme of The Swimming Contest

Just because your among the also people standing, doesn't mean your the winner.

"Don't Quit"

http://www.onlythebible.com/Poems/Dont-Quit.html

I really like this peom called Don't Quit by an unknown author.  This peom is all about how when we are having a difficult time that we shouldn't give up.  The last line says, "It's when things seem the worst that you mustn't quit."  I think this peom is really motivational and helps you realize that at times things won't be easy and you have to keep pushing through.  It also mentions that you will sometimes fail.  "And many a failure turns about."  This line reminds us that nobody is perfect and you will mess up sometimes.  I also like this poem because it rhymes, I think a poem if fun when it rhymes.