Indiana Jones books

How I could have gone so long without reading these books is puzzling. For someone who likes adventure, mystery, and history books like I do, the books are a must-have! I've never seen the movies, but I do know the books don't have any bad words- and the movies do. (The books are adapted for teens)So, I advise you to read the books, watch the trailers on you tube,and then ask your parents to let you see the movies(or at least that's my plan!) Under the picture of each book I'm going to put a mini review.

It's 1935, and Indiana Jones is hired by a "wealthy collector" (gangster) who tries to kill him. In an attempt to escape, Indiana, Willie(a spoiled singer who seems like a brat but turns out okay in the end) and Short Round, Indy's junior assistant-end up in a remote village. Indy is asked to help recover the village's children, who were kidnapped by the blood-thirsty Thugees. It's up to Indy to save them -but will he be able to save himself, Willie, and Short Round when the Thugees decide to fight back?

1938. Hitler is rising to power- and he wants the Ark of the Covenant because he thinks it will make him powerful. So the American Government hires the famous archaeologist Dr. Jones, to find it before the Nazi's do- and to figure out what's going on. Can Indy triumph over the forces of evil? Along with the bedazzling Marion and Sallah, his trusted Egyptian guide, once again it's up to Indy and his bullwhip to save a precious treasure and keep it safe for all time.

Indiana's father has spent his entire life searching for the Holy grail-a cup that was believed to have been used by Jesus. So when Indy's called to find it, he can't understand why his father wasn't called instead- until he learns his father was kidnapped by the Nazis.(Look at the trailer for this one on youtube. It came out in 1981 and it's amazing)Indy comes face to face with the Nazi's evil leader Hitler, breaks into a Nazi-occupied castle, rides for miles hanging off the side of a tank-trust me, it's amazing.

1955, Indy's too old for adventure, right? NO! Being kidnapped by Soviets, searching for lost cities, and trying to help a mysterious teenage boy find his kidnapped mother and uncle-this book is great1It's full of surprises and shows that Indy can do anything!(almost. He's still afraid of snakes.:-) Indy and Mutt  head to South America to find them, meeting grave robbers, ancient warriors, scorpions-and a few pleasant surprises as well.

French Fries and Friends!

 Our pastor gave our youth group a scenario. "Charlie and Charlene Christian are new to church. They are interested in community service activities, but their church doesn't have many opportunities. What are some things the youth group could do?"
One of the things we suggested was visiting with nursing home residents. And so, we decided we'd go eat at McDonald's,then head to the nursing home. (I had my usual, a Quarter Pounder with cheese. And I stole all of Christopher's pickles off of his burger.:-)

Once we got to the nursing home, we had a great time! We visited with the residents, and asked them to tell us a little about themselves. Wow! They had some really interesting life stories. It was so fun to hear about what they had done when they were our age.We decided we should come at lunch instead of after, because most of the residents were asleep! However, we still had a good time. Ms. Betty, one of the ladies who lives at the nursing home, played the piano for us, and we enjoyed talking with her and the others. One man had fought in WW II,and his wife remembered working across the street from the Texas School Book Depository the day JFK was assassinated. Another man was an amazing artist. Ms. Betty could play the piano from memory. And Mr. Hix could beat us all at 42.

I can't wait for the next Sunday visit!!

William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
-Shakespeare, As you like it.

   William Shakespeare was born  on April 23(or 22-there's some dispute on the date),1564, in Stradford upon Avon, England. He would become one of the greatest playwrights ever known. Historians speculate he was born on the 23 of April, St. George's day. St. George was the patron saint of England.
  
  Shakespeare's father was an alderman and a glove maker. His mother was a Lady of the Gentry. They lived comfortably, although John Shakespeare(Willie's father) got into a bit of trouble for selling wool on the black market. William attended grammar school at the King Edward School. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. He was18, she was 26. They had three children- Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet. Judith and Hamnet were twins.


 Very little is known about William from 1582 to 1592. They are known as his "lost years." In 1594 he started a group known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men, as Lord Chamberlain funded them. Later they were funded by King James 1 and called themselves "the King's men." The group acted plays Shakespeare wrote.

His plays are put into 3 main genres-Tragedy, Comedy, and History.Below is a list of his plays.

They've been translated into every language. He also wrote 154 sonnets about beauty,love poetry,etc. He wrote 38 known plays, which the subjects of are still relevant today. Shakespeare died on his fifty-second birthday in 1616.

COMEDIES All's Well That Ends WellAs You Like ItComedy of ErrorsLove's Labour's LostMeasure for MeasureMerchant of VeniceMerry Wives of WindsorMidsummer Night's DreamMuch Ado about NothingTaming of the ShrewTempestTwelfth NightTwo Gentlemen of VeronaWinter's Tale

HISTORIES CymbelineHenry IV, Part IHenry IV, Part IIHenry VHenry VI, Part IHenry VI, Part IIHenry VI, Part IIIHenry VIIIKing JohnPericlesRichard IIRichard III

TRAGEDIES Antony and CleopatraCoriolanusHamletJulius CaesarKing LearMacbethOthelloRomeo and JulietTimon of AthensTitus AndronicusTroilus and Cressida

list from:

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/plays.php

Awards!

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and leave a link

Thanks, Jenny!

2. Why did you get a blog?

I got a blog because I love writing and enjoy telling others about fun things to do and great books to read.!

                          3. What is you favorite animal?

               I love cats, otters, dogs, koalas, zebras, and all our pets.

                4. What inspired your blog template?

My Dad helped me make my blog, and we were looking through templates, and we were both thought this one would be perfect.

.

5. What is/are your favorite color(s)?

Pink, yellow, teal blue.

6. What is your favorite thing about your blog?

My favorite thing about my blog is getting comments saying they read my review and it inspired them to read the book or it helped them with school... things like that!

7. What's your favorite blog?

On my blog there's a sidebar, and near the bottom is something called called My Blog list.It's all the blogs I follow. I love every blog on it!

                  8. Award 5 people this award:

Natalie at  Leap of faith

Aidyl at Aidyl Ewoh

Emma at Everyday Emma

Anners at The Young Quilter

Erynn at Little Blue Eyes






9. Notify the nominees.
Okay!

Giveaway here: http://cubettescorner.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-breath-of-autumn-air-giveaway.html
I love autumn! All the giveaway items are fall-themed, how cool is that?

The Tangled web- a Julie Mystery

It's 1974, and Julie meets a new girl, Carla, and the two become fast friends. But why is Carla saying such strange things? And how can Julie help the sad young man at the Vietnam Veteran's Center? Is the woman at the farmer's market really who Carla says she is? All of Carla's stories don't add up, and Julie becomes suspicious. As she investigates, she learns lies really are a tangled web. On top of all this, Julie must give up her room to the eccentric Ms. Joyce, her mother's friend. Lies, an unwelcome visitor, a mysterious young soldier....maybe Julie's week won't be so boring after all!!

This book was AMAZING. It was super suspenseful, and really kept me guessing. I loved how the author worked different elements in with the story-quotes,little details, sayings from 1974, etc. The book teaches a little about the Vietnam war through the view point of a 10-11 year old American girl growing up in 1974.

 The Julie and Ivy(her best friend) dolls...

Cookies 'n' Cream Cookies!

Andrew and I decided to surprise Mom with some yummy cookies when she got back from getting her blood test done at the doctor's.The cookies were great!

Cookies and Cream Cookies

Recipe adapted from Erica's Sweet Tooth

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

12 Oreo's, broken up into small pieces

- Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

-Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).

- Add egg and vanilla and beat until well mixed.

- Add flour, baking soda, and salt.

- Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.

- Gently fold in Oreo pieces.

- With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 1-2" apart.

- Bake for 8-10 minutes*, until the edges JUST start to brown. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe yields about 30 cookies.

*If you take the cookies out early and let them harden, they'll look more cookies- and-creamy and not as brown!

I'm Anne!

I took the "Which Anne of Green Gables character are you quiz" and I got Anne! I'm soooo happy!

Doll Photo Shoot

So, Last night Andrew and I decided to play photographer. Thanks to Kanani and Kasandra Natalie for letting us take their pics!:)

* Most didn't turn out too well-I probably should've waited till the next day to take these, as it was really dark and the sunset didn't look as pretty as I'd expected. It didn't help that someone (Andrew!) was running around shooting my models with Nerf guns!:-)

Reading matters!

Pic from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWzFRncBG-9uJPzUs0PUXZfMW0x5kSJcjYKTqYx305M-lM1yn0kQyLG5-qfQF3sTd1ATjWl7xQeoBzoKH3T10KTLkS0rT019vZQ8lBHRfPDatatZdmpNzv8rZVcrmLxX4JTHIXMXoFWo/s1600/PrettyPinkBooks.jpg

I love reading. Maybe you love reading, maybe you don't. But have you ever stopped to consider how important reading is?
   Reading does matter. Studies show that children who are read to at a young age will  have a love of reading later in life. Three in five inmates in U.S. prisons are illiterate, and 44 million adults in the U.S. can't read well enough to read a simple story to a child. If only they'd been read to when they were younger! My mom has always encouraged me to have a love of reading, and she taught me to read at a young age. But what about children whose parents can't read very well or don't know English? Reading can influence your future career, too. Approximately 50 percent of the nation's unemployed youth ages 16-21 are nearly or completely illiterate, with virtually no prospects of obtaining good jobs.
It's important to read to young children, too. You may think reading to a baby or toddler is boring or ludicrous, but.....

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.  Forty-four percent of American 4th grade students cannot read fluently, even when they read grade-level stories aloud under supportive testing conditions. You can help with this by reading to your younger siblings(or your kids, if you're an adult reading this post.) However, you also need to read, too! Studies of reading habits of students has shown that even just 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose you to more than a million words of text in a year. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and read!! What you read is almost as important as if you read, however. Historical fiction is fun and educational, as are nonfiction books. Books like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys are exciting and have lots of interesting vocabulary words. Fantasy and Sci-fi books are alright once in a while, but constantly reading them doesn't really help your mind. If you like those kind of books, however, just look for ones with challenging words or that are on grade level. Here's a list of good reads I've blogged on: Freedom's Crossing -historical fiction Beware, Princess Elizabeth-historical fiction Hitty, her first hundred years-historical fiction Gail Carson Levine's books fantasy The Hidden Gold-historical fiction/mystery The Invention of Hugo Cabret-historical fiction/mystery Blue Jasmine-modern times/social issues Soul Surfer-modern times/social issues And many more! Just click the label "books" (at the top of my blog)and scroll through!

Have you been noticing the 2 new buttons I put on the side of my blog? Well, they're for 2 really cool blogs, a giveaway blog and a amazing everyday life blog. You should check them out! The giveaway blog, Sugar Pop ribbons, if having a necklace giveaway I think you guys will <3love<3! If you're too young to enter, enter with your Mom or Dad's help, as you have to be 18 or older to enter. Good luck!

An awesome giveaway:

http://www.bramblewoodfashion.com/2012/08/shabby-apple-75-gc-giveaway.html

Freedom's Crossing

Meet Laura Eastman, a teenage girl who returns home from living with her aunt and uncle in the South only to find her little brother,Bert, and her father are running a station on the Underground Railroad. At first, Laura is angry. They're breaking the law! How could they help slaves escape their kind masters? Soon Laura  learns that most masters aren't as kind as her aunt and uncle were. She also learns Bert isn't just helping slaves-he's hiding them in the house.
    Laura is outraged. She threatens to go to the sheriff. But her whole view in slavery changes when she meets a runaway slave....
Enter Martin Page, a twelve year old fugitive slave who will risk anything to be free. He knows how to read, write, and bake, and he explains to Laura what life's like for slaves who don't have kind masters.
Still, Laura is unsure about this, until one day, she must either break the law to help Martin escape-or send him back to the plantation.

I loved this novel by Margaret Goff Clark. The author does an amazing job of writing from the viewpoints of a Southern girl and a fugitive slave. I really enjoyed the book. 5 stars!

A Cool Giveaway I entered...

Hi everyone! There is a cool giveaway on this  blog! You should totally enter if you like American Girl stuff like I do!