Hunger Games Connection to Ancient Rome?!?

Hello world! In my history class, we are learning about Ancient Rome. And as my teacher is talking about Caesar and the Roman Republic and all that stuff, I am sitting there noticing connections to the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Now, those of you who have read the book are probably thinking, That makes no sense. The Hunger Games is set in 2675 or something. Ancient Rome is... ancient. Well, you're right.
Those of you who haven't read the book are probably thinking, Ok, great. Why do I care? Well, you care because The Hunger Games is one of the best books ever written.
For the sake of the people who've never heard of the book, I'll give you a little overview. It's about a girl named Katniss living in a post-apocalyptic world where a few kids from each district are forced to fight each other to the death in the Hunger Games for the entertainment of the evil Capitol and the horror of the districts. Sounds great, right?
Alright, now to explain the connections.
First, the Hunger Games are a lot like the gladiator games, where innocent slaves fought each other to the death. While this entertained the Romans, it terrified the slaves. Sounds kind of familiar, huh?
Second, the Romans had sort of a show-no-mercy attitude, like President Snow and President Coin.
Third, there was a man with the name of "Cinna" helped plan and carry out Julius Caesar's assassination. When an angry mob went off to find and kill him, they ended up murdering Helvius Cinna, an innocent poet. I thought this was similar to the part in Catching Fire, when the mob kills Cinna.
Fourth, in the First Punic War, the Romans found a Carthaginian war ship, and replicated it, kind of like how District 13 finds some of the Capitol's technology and replicates it.
I know that's not a lot of connections, but I thought the Cinna one was interesting.
Cheerio!

Peace, Love, and Crazy Connections

English Class

Last week in English class, we started book groups. Basically, that means our class is split into groups of four and each group is given a different book. My group got Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.
I'm only two chapters into it (and I need to finish two more by tomorrow) but it's pretty good.
It's about a African-American family living in Louisiana during the 1930's. I really like it so far, but the characters have strange names. Like "Little Man," for instance. If you've read the book, I do like the part with the schoolbooks. The main character Cassie has a lot of character potential, if you ask me.
Alright, I've got to be on chapter 4 by tomorrow, so I'd better get reading...

Peace, Love, and English Class

Kira-Kira

Most. Amazing. Book. EVER.

It's officially one of my favorites. As of now.

I got this book from my school library, after hearing good things about it from many other people. I'd heard it was sad, but I wasn't worried. Well, it was much sadder than I thought but it was still amazing! It's about a 12 year old japenese girl who moves to Georgia, but then her sister gets sick and her life sort of goes crazy. And it's really good.

Rating:  ★★★★★

Peace, Love, and the Kira-Kira

Library!

Guess who went to the library? Lily did! Yesterday night I headed over to the public library and got seven books. I've already finished four of them. The books are:

1. Summerhouse Time

2. Snap

3. No Talking

4. Loser

5. School Story

6. Room One

7. Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins & Other Nasties

So far I've finished Snap, No Talking, Loser, and Modern Fairies. Well, I've got to get reading!

Peace, Love, and Never-Ending Reading

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Remember to give your mom a hug :)
Love you Mom!

Peace, Love, and Happy Moms

Mount Holyoke

Note: Rick Riordan post below :D

Hello everyone! Yes, that is me. In this picture, I am outside the gate into Mount Holyoke, where my Mom went to college. It's an awesome college in South Hadley, MA. I was there today so I could see Rick Riordan. Anyway, my Mom gave my Dad and I a tour, which was fun. And now, with the magic of the internet, you can get a tour too!

These pictures are of Wilder and South Rockefeller Hall. These are both places my mom stayed when she went here. You can find many stories online about ghosts, which are really freaky. It seems that there's a ghost in basically every room here...

This is the library, which is a three story building that has about a trillion books. There's also a coffee shop there with yummy food. It's really quiet in there too, and it's perfect for studying. My Mom remembers staying up late studying there. If you notice in the bottom photo in the bottom right, there's a sign with different places around the world and how many kilometers away from the sign it is. For example, the sign is 5655 km away from Paris. There is a few other signs like this around campus.

We also visited the greenhouse, which has tons of amazing plants and trees and even a pond with lily pads. It was nice because it wasn't too warm so we could spent a while there. My Mom said that if you had a plant in your dorm and it got sick, you could bring it down to the greenhouse and it could get better.

Alright so... um... that's it for my mini tour of Mount Holyoke.

Peace, Love, and Mount Holyoke

Rick Riordan!

Today, I woke up at 7:30. My parents and I got in the car at nine o'clock and we set off for South Hadley, MA to go see Rick Riordan sign books! It was a two hour drive, but totally worth it! As soon as we got there, we ate a quick lunch and picked up two copies of The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan. My mom, a Mount Holyoke alumni, gave my Dad and I the full tour. I'll post that later...
At 1:20 pm, we were fifth in line to go in. The mom in front of us was had brought her fourth grade daughter and about third grade son; and she hadn't told them what they were doing there. They were bouncing around like little chickadees, trying to solve the mystery.
I'm surprised they didn't figure it out by the fact that everyone in line was holding Rick Riordan books.
At two they let us in, where I got fantastic third row seats. Then we sat there waiting until three, when the Odyssey Bookshop events coordinator came out and talked a little bit on Rick Riordan. She was stammering and reading from note cards, so I figured she didn't talk in front of crowds often.
Then the author himself came out.
He is (no surprise) very funny, and also (still no surprise) very good at talking in front of crowds. It was amazing, seeing my favorite author and the brilliance behind Percy Jackson, just a mere 10 feet away. AHHHHH! Okay, okay, I sound like a crazed fan. But he was very funny and kept the crowd interested, talking about writing books and all that. Then he answered a few questions. Alright, maybe more than a few. It was AWESOME because he called on me to ask a question. I'm not very good at talking in front of people, even if it's just something like this. So as I asked my question, of course I was distracted by the storm of moths in my stomach. Ugh. Anyway, I asked him why he hadn't mentioned Eris (the goddess of strife, she started the Trojan War) yet in a book. He told me that by the end of the Heroes of Olympus series, he would have definitley covered all of the gods/goddesses. He also said that he might have to think about that. Hmm... maybe he'll use Eris in the next Heroes of Olympus book. In response to other people's questions, he said that he can work to up to 10 hours a day, he usually writes 14 drafts for a book, and that he had never been to this part of MA before. Also, The Kane Chronicles is apparently supposed to be a three book series, and The Heroes of Olympus is supposed to be five.
After the questions, people lined up to get their books signed. There was about 250 people getting books signed, and about two books per people, so Rick Riordan had to sign about 500 books! Wow. His hand must hurt. He signed my two books (one for me, one for my friend) and I asked him: "If you were battling monsters, who would you rather have defending you: Percy or Annabeth?" He said Annabeth, becuase she had strategy. I'd say Percy. He's good at defense (like fighting the Minotaur) , and Annabeth is good at strategic war (like fighting Kronos's army). I was very happy that he answered Annabeth, as opposed to "I can't choose." 
Actually, there's a chance he may be reading this, because when he was signing my books, I gave him the blog address. Woah. He could be reading words I wrote, instead of the usual vice-versa.
Well, Rick Riordan, if you are reading this please know that you are by far my favorite author, and that I LOVE the Percy Jackson series. Feel free to leave a comment!
Cheerio!


Peace, Love, and Ridiculously Awesome Authors


Rest of the photos from today:

Me with my Sadie Highlights

Rick Riordan Talking

Rick Riordan signing books

Boomerang Wand Finished!

Ta da! It's a not at all authentic boomerang wand from the series, The Kane Chronicles. It's really just a rubber boomerang with a ton of masking tape. The sign in the middle:

is the symbol of Isis. Sadie wears a pendant with this symbol on it. The hieroglyphics surrounding it:

say Sadie. Pretty cool, huh?

Alright, so as wickedly awesome as that is, here's a picture of what these things actually look like:

Yeah... Oh well. Mine's still awesome.

Blog you later!

Peace, Love, and Rubber Boomerang Wands

Still Waiting...

22 hours and 43 minutes until Rick Riordan! AHHH! I can't wait.

Well, as long as I'm writing, I might as well tell you what I'm wearing to the signing.

I'm dressing up as Sadie Kane. I'm using red magic marker to do a couple of streaks in my hair. Yes, Crayola Magic Marker, It goes in really easily and comes out really easily. I'm also wearing my black converse. Yeah, I know the actual character wears combat boots but I don't own any. I'm wearing my favorite shirt; the "John Lemon" one from dELiA*s, with my military jacket. Ugh. I just remembered I also need to find a boomerang to use as a wand. Well, that's what I'll look like. It's going to be AWESOME!

Peace, Love, and (my lack of) Patience

The Countdown to Saturday

"A man who is a master of patience is a master of everything else." George Savile


Right now, I am on a constant countdown to Saturday. No, it's not because there's no school. Well, yeah, it is, but not just that! On Saturday, my Mom and I are driving to see Rick Riordan! He is signing his new book, The Throne of Fire. I am thrilled. As of right now, there is only 2 days until the signing. YAY!


Oh, and thanks to my brother Max who let me take a picture of his pocket watch (picture shown above). He collects them, which is really cool. He has a few really cool ones, of all different sizes and designs. Maybe I'll post a picture of them all later...


Peace, Love, Awesome Clocks!

Throne of Fire

"I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book." Coolio

Well, that is exactly what I did the day The Throne of Fire came out. Now, as you may or may not know, my favorite author is Rick Riordan, and I had been counting down the days until the book came out. And I have to say, I was not disappointed. 

I think that The Throne of Fire is one of Rick Riordan's best books. He had more action scenes than usual, but it fit the story nicely. The plot was twisted nicely, with Zia especially. I thought Bes was a hilarious character, and I hope he returns for the next book. I must admit that Sadie is my favorite character. I like her rebel attitude.

My favorite quotes from the book

"I will say this for Bes: he drove like a maniac. And I mean that in the best possible way."

"Why do deserts have to be so bloody huge?"

"'Want a cookie,' Ra said.

  'What kind?'

  'Weasel cookie.'"

"We love sewer gas in Brooklyn!"

As you can probably see, this book is hilarious. One minute you're cracking up, and the next you're gasping in worry. Or sometimes both at the same time.

Anyhoo, great job Rick Riordan! You have written another absolutely amazing book!

Rating: ★★★★★

Cheerio!

Peace, Love, and Egyptian Magicians

Introductions

"A smile is the universal welcome.” Max Eastman

Okay, I admit, I don’t actually know who Max Eastman is. But it’s a nice quote!

Hello! I’m Lily, if you didn’t know that already. 

    At the moment, my favorite book is The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. I read it a few years ago and was completely hooked. I love how Riordan describes everything, and he has a fantastic sense of humor. He also creates very unique characters, which I like. The chapter titles are hilarious, too.

    Okay, so even though I just said The Lightning Thief is my favorite, but that’s not true. It’s not my only favorite. My other most favorite book is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It took about a month of my friends telling me to read it for me to finally pick it up, and once I did I couldn’t put it down. Now, I know what you might be thinking. Yes, it is about post-apocalyptic kids fighting to the death. No, it’s not gory. Well, actually, it is. But not too gory. I mean, kids all over the USA love this book, so it can’t be that bad. The main character, Katniss, is also hilarious. But Suzanne Collins’ humor is different than Rick Riordan’s, in a way. 

    When Rick Riordan has a joke in a book, you feel more like it’s coming from him, instead of Percy. Yes, there is some Percy-ness to it, I admit, but Suzanne Collins does a good job of making the sense of humor range through her characters. It might be sort of confusing, but if you compare the books it might be clearer.


All right! There’s a little introduction to me and my favorite books!


Peace, Love, and First Hellos