Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

    This story takes place in Florida, far far away in a town called Coconut Groove. In a school bus going to Trace Middle School, sits Roy Eberhardt. Then comes in our hated antagonist, Dana Matherson who starts strangling him. Yes, you read it. Strangle. Still with the difficulty Roy was feeling, he managed to look at his left and find a boy barefooted running on the street. Well, you couldn't blame curiosity for never leavin us alone.

     At school, Roy isn't that kid you'd expect to be popular. He was just that new kid at school who wanted to blend in with the others. He had a best friend - or should I say only friend, who was quite his opposite. He was a skateboarder, a popular kid, and a fart sounding machine. Say hello to Garrett. And Roy, on the other hand, had great parents. They weren't perfect, but they, as his family, wasn't as bad as school. Roy's mom likes yoga and is super protective of Roy. Roy's dad works in the federal Department of Justice and is more helpful with Roy solving mysteries unlike his mom. 

     At a soon to rise pancake house located at Coconut Groove, are baby owls that will die because of the construction. The boy who was barefooted wanted to save the owls, and Beatrice Leep, a schoolmate of Roy, is secretly the barefoot boy's stepsister.

     Because of Roy's curiosity with the boy, Beatrice becomes his friend and held her stepbrother save all the owls. But how are three children to succeed against the big obstacles, Officer Delinko, Curly, Dana, Leeroy, and Chuck Muckle?

     Carl Hiaasen has done a great job. Though there isn't much unusual adventures which involves witches, goblins, fairies, or elves, the normal adventures are still present, and will totally not be missed. But I do have to say that if you want even more unusual weird adventures, you won't like Hoot very much because of some boring points in the story.

Rating: O  O  O  O  O

Suggested Age of Readers: 10 years old and above

Genres: Fiction, Young-adult fiction, Children's literature 

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

*Book Review

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns By Chris Colfer.

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns
By Chris Colfer

     Alex and Conner Bailey are here once again to save the fairytale world. The two are now thirteen, bigger and smarter. Some things in their life had changed. For one thing, their mom Charlotte now had a boyfriend. They met at the hospital where Charlotte worked. His name was Dr. Robert Gordon, whom they called as Dr. Bob. One night, Bob was about to propose to Charlotte. He waited with the twins in their house. The table was covered with silk and the house was all fancied. All that was being waited for was Charlotte. Though Alex and Conner were shocked, they still allowed him to marry her, just for the happiness of their mom. And so they agreed to help him. They waited for her. And waited. And waited. But she was late. And she never came. Then suddenly, a group of soldiers came in front of their house lead by Xanthous, a part of the happily ever after council in the fairytale world, followed by Cinderella's fairy godmother AKA Alex and Conner's grandma. Then, a storm of bad news comes out from their grandma's mouth. Their mother has been kidnapped. She said that she didn't know who kidnapped her. That was what she said. You'd expect how the twins felt. Worried. Devastated. 

     Who kidnapped their mother? The enchantress. Ezima. In other words, she's the witch who put a curse on Sleeping Beauty. Alex found out when Mother Goose (As you know, another character from the fairytale world) watched over the twins when their grandma and Xanthous left. There were guarding gnomes in their front yard. The fairytale world was at the darkest of times, and so was the real world. Nowhere was safe. During the following days, Conner and Mother Goose became much more closer. But one night, Mother Goose came home late, and Conner was asleep. She was drunk. Alex took this as an opportunity not to be wasted, and there, she finds out about Ezima, the enchantress. Alex rode her bike and pedaled as fast as she could. She was going to her Grandma's cottage near the mountains. 

     The following day, she woke up. She planned to take a nap for a moment, but that moment turned out to be more than she'd planned. She thought that she was almost there, seeing the bridge which was a sign that she was getting close. She fell down but luckily, Conner had saved her life just in the nick of time with Lester, Mother Goose's transportation and companion, and he's some kind of bird. The twins continue the journey to their Grandma's house and find a painting. A painting of the ugly duckling pond with a golden frame. Alex thought of each and everything in the land of stories. To the twins's amazement, the frame glowed and the painting was lost. But suddenly, a tidal wave of water came crashing in through the windows by the front door of their grandma's cottage. Then, they suddenly find theirselves in the fairytale world. Read the Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns for more.

     Ever since I read the first book, I knew that this was an adventure not to be missed. Right now, I am currently in the fourth book, The Land of Stories: Beyond the Kingdoms. Each book has a touch of fantasy, adventure, humor, mysteries, fun, and love. Colfer has really done a very good job and makes a really scary villain kids will surely hate and be afraid of. I read the boom at home, and everything feels just so real, but in a second later, I realize that I'm still in my bedroom safe and sound. Away from danger, but far from fairies. To end this, I'd just like to quote what my mom has once said "The best stories have the scariest villains" 

Rating: O  O  O  O  O

Suggested Age of Readers: 8 years old and above

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

*Book Review

Field Trip 2015

     We went through villages of before, a palace of the old, a sea where we magically transformed into mermaids, and a place where we see the opposite of ourselves. Today, another memory was formed.

     Darkness was still alive, with only the lady guard around.  Was finally freed from prison, no work, no recitations, no activities. Butterflies invaded my tummy while the cold air passed by my soul. At exactly 5:00 in the morning, with our phones advanced to 15 minutes, me and my dad were already at school, waiting for anyone else to arrive.

Holly, Fred, and me

     After what felt like a century, some of my other schoolmates finally came, with me one of the earliest, or should I say THE earliest. I went down, kissed my dad goodbye, and walked with tingling legs. I tapped my RFID on the machine as my face appeared, and continued my journey. Walking towards the covered court, I saw two of my boy classmates, who were both annoying. They walked passed me without a word. I walked towards the dark covered court with only a girl from another section, a fourth grade student, and one of my other schoolmates. I put my bag down on the bleachers, then suddenly, a lightning like sound was heard, then beautiful yellow lights helped the warmth of the moon. My excitement jumped like it was on a trampoline. I got my pink phone and texted my mom who was at home, informing her that I already arrived. Then I sat awkwardly, trying to look relaxed and cool. With cold hands and the happiest voice, two hands touched me on the shoulder coming with a "Hi!!!" I jumped then turned my head around. "Hi!!!" I said, trying not to look very surprised. It was one of my a little bit close friends, Pepper. She sat next to me. With the flashbacking memory of the field trip last year, I dared ourselves to go ghost hunting around the school like last year with Anna. We went to the art room of the school, near the gardens closest to the church next door. No matter how much my eyes widened, the pitch black right in front of us never went away. Then, too afraid to continue, we ran away, hoping we were still alive. Me and Pepper went to the Lower School department continuing our ghost hunting now with Anna (Yay!), Chris, and William. Me and Anna were the first ones who approached the lower school comfort rooms. We called for the others, and our eyes couldn't believe what we were seeing. In the darkness, the light suddenly flickered, then a cat appeared on our left. We all screamed and ran away. After a few minutes of unserious arguing, we returned and ignored the flickering lights and the cat. Sadly, more darkness greeted us upstairs, but we managed to stay alive despite the maze-like feeling. 

     After a few minutes of ghost hunting, the teachers finally arrived and each section started forming class lines. Here are some of the first pictures: 

 

     Then, the adventure finally began. Like we were going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship, we finally arrived at the buses with all our excitement and joy bubbling up all around. Me and Emma (one of me and Holly's friends) sat next to each other on the sixth row, Fred and Holly on our front left and Dina and Pepper  behind us. 

     Our tour guide was Kuya Ramon, and later on some of my classmates shouted "Kuya Ramon, saklololo!" which meant help, and "Kuya Ramon I love you, buksan mo TV at may aldub!!!" and that meant turn on the TV, there's Aldub.

     With mind blowing illusions, snowy houses, and giant creatures, this first destination made our hearts go Wow. Art in Island located in Cubao. It was really nice there, but if you're alone, you won't really enjoy it. It was nice, but fun wouldn't be the right word. Here are some of the pictures:

   

     After two straight hours of posing in art illusions, we finally rode the bus going to the old spaniard villages at Intramuros, Casa Manila in one hour. To break the boredom, Kuya Roman played some number games with us, and I started laughing along with my classmates in the back by taking their pictures on some uglifier effects app. Here was how they looked like:

Denise, Job, and me

     We only spent an hour at the Casa Manila museum, just staring at the old pieces of furniture. Here is one picture:

     We also went to the gift shop, and bought a few stuff.

     Last but not the least, we headed to where we saw the opposite of ourselves, Asosacion de Damas Filipinas, an orphange in Quezon City. The cute children had tons of dance numbers, and I really really felt lucky. At first, I thought the orphanage was the worst destination, but visiting those children meant the world to them just by seeing their smiles, and I knew I could have at least been happy.

     It was quite early, but we arrived at school by 4:30, which was totally unfair since the estimated time of arrival was 6:00, which meant the teachers didn't give us enough time in the destinations! Anyway, today was fun, and I won't forget to thank the Lord for safety on the road and happiness at its best.

"There is no such thing as a bad story. Only a bad writer."

     Do you know that feeling whenever you think that you've written the best story in the world, only to find out in the future that you could do better than before?  Well, I certainly do. Whenever I write a piece, essay, short story, fan fiction, blog post, formal theme, or a simple sentence, I make sure to do my best. At times, I may tend to rush a piece because of deadlines, but that doesn't mean I don't do my best.

     I've read millions of books by different authors, far and wide. Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling. Roald Dahl Series. Classics like The Secret Garden. Charlotte's Web by E.B White. Hoot by Carl Hiassen. School of Fear Series by Gitty Daneshvari. The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart. The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer. The Candymakers by Wendy Mass. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. May Bird series by Jodi Lynn Anderson. Wonder by R.J Palacio. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis. The Frog Princess by E.D Baker. I don't think I haven't even mentioned all of my read books, and you may think that this paragraph isn't very nice because of all these infesting books, but these few books are some of the changers of the world. I can't mention everything an author and he's piece did that changed my life. 

     In my life as a young writer, I have much to learn and I haven't reached the half way to creating an extremely beautiful piece. Whenever I read more of my articles from the past, I think that I can be able to make something better, which kind of means that I learn everyday. I can add more words, use better description techniques, and I try my very best to show, not tell. I am not yet that old, and I have big stuff ahead of me.

     And, as a writer I've made my own quote, which I can very much relate to. "There is no such thing as a bad story. Only a bad writer." Whenever writing, I always remember that every idea is never wrong. Because stories only become the best of the best on how they are written. Look at Harry Potter. At first, you have this simple boy who suddenly becomes a wizard. Isn't that so simple? And yet Rowling manages to create a wonderfully made story with such simpleness.

     

Hogwarts to Narnia-Chapter 1

Chapter 1
The transportation


     "Harry, hasn't Snape finished this lesson?", said Ron who was pretending to be reading behind a book while Snape was brewing some potions. "I'm afraid not Ron. Looks like we're going to be spending much more time here than we expected." replied Harry. Hermione, on the other hand, was the only girl who held her head up high in amusement. With a quill on her hand, and some parchment beside her, she was unstoppable. The others were bowing their heads in boredom. Just when Snape turned his back to speak, Ron was amazed at what had happened. The whole room turned into a basement. A moving basement. There was a bit of light comming from a tiny window outside. Everyone was gone, not anything else to be seen. "Harry? You there?", called out Ron trying to stand up. Finally, something unusual, he thought. Harry came out from a pile of boxes with his messy hair and broken glasses. "Where are we?", said Harry.  "I dunno, but this is better than spending an hour with Snape", said Ron. He looked out of the window stepping on some boxes. His eyes grew ten times larger with a gasp. Ron's face explained everything. Harry looked out the window and saw a majestic view. There was a blue ocean with mermaids and fishes of every kind with rare birds flying around, and a large hill up ahead. The sun was shining brightly and the wind was so fresh and inviting. They were inside a ship. Harry suddenly jumped hearing a bossy voice from the back. "Ugh where are we? I was just about to brew that special potion." Of course this adventure wouldn't be complete without that clever little witch Hermione. The three didn't have a clue of where they were. Hogwarts wasn't in sight, and no other door or person was present in that tiny basement. Just a basement out of wood, a window, and some boxes.

Visit my blog next Wednesday to see what happens next.