SHORT MODERN STORY

"Amanda Smith please go to room 12." The sounds echoed and bounced off the dull white walls and floors, i stepped forwards and slowly made my way to the red painted door labelled neatly 'Dr Drew', my heart pounded as i stared at the name.
          The room was plastered in success stories and treatment plans, something which made my stomach churn. The room was whiter than light, blinding me as i entered. Behind the desk sat Dr Drew looking glumly at the stacks of papers he had in front of him, his bright blue eyes suddenly looked up and pierced at me and his lips curled into a small smile. He spoke softly "Amanda how great it is to see you, please take a seat."

JOY OF SIX: WHITNEY HOUSTON

Whitney Houston was the most awarded female act of all time and one of the worlds most best selling music artists, having sold over 200 million records.
         However Whitney threw all the fame and fortune away. Whitney had her demons and was a well known drug addict. Sadly Whitley Houston died on February 11th because of a drug overdose caused by cocaine and other drugs in her system. However her memory still lives on through her music which still continues to sell millions of copies through her death.

Monologue based on: Waiting For a Telegraph

Maybe i'm just over thinking things.

(Pause)

But it's been a week since i heard from Paul.(Pause). Maybe maybe he's hurrr... no he's fine he's working thats all Laura.
        But his letter... everything seemed though, bad, maybe he's hurt, after all the blood nd dead today i can not handle the thought of him in that situation.

JOHNATHAN DOUGLAS- TASK 4

I agree with Jonathan Douglas’s ideas about teenagers being given more freedom in the book they choose to read and how this would encourage teenagers to read book for pleasure, outside of school, rather than in school. I also agree that there should be more variety in what books children study in school as well, as in this century studying the classic books is more of a grueling task for children and can reduce their confidence in books, reducing the chances of children reading for pleasure.                                                        However I do agree about balance and I can see how studying the classics are important for education and learning about ‘cultural identity and heritage’. Nevertheless I do think that teenagers especially should be given more freedom in what books they would like to read outside of school, and I do think it is important for school libraries to stock a variety of books which boys and girl would like. These books don’t need to have educational value but simply stimulate the teenagers to read more in their own time. 

BOOK REVIEW: SARA SHEPARD, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS

Pretty Little Liars’ was a teen thriller book aimed at teenage girls. The book is based around 4 girls whose best friend is murdered, soon after this murder they all receive messages from an anonymous source called ‘A’ who threatens to revel there most deepest secrets. There was something about the book which was extremely gripping as I read the book within two days. The book was layout in an easy to read format, which made is simple to keep on top of each of the girls’ involved story line  All the girls’ story lines were cleverly done and somehow relatable to all teenage girls in some way, which could be a factor why the book was so successful and enjoyable to read.                                  The teenage thriller included a lot of red herrings which kept me intrigued the whole way through. As more secrets were getting revealed the anticipation to find out who this ‘A’ was became more exciting and definitely builds up tension within the book. However this book failed to revel one of the big story lines in the book.                                                                                     I did find this book was more supplying background information on the girls in which would be helpful to know for the next books in the series which left me feeling disappointed once the book had finished as I feel I didn't receive any real answers about any of the story lines. However this techniques left a massive cliff hanger to the book which made it impossible not to buy the next book and continue on the story line, I believe this made the book very successful as not many books have to desperate to read the next one straight after
          The book did an extremely good job in bringing many different story lines together for example, linking all the girls secrets to their best friend murder. There are many story lines in the book, one for each individual girl and to very big questions: Who is ‘A’? And who murdered Ali?  The book does very well to supply red herrings and lots of clues about the possibilities; nevertheless making sure that not too much is revealed making the reader want to read on.                                                                                                 The book also supplies a cliff hanger at the end of each chapter, where the character that the chapter is based around receives a message off ‘A’ revealing another one of their secrets. The techniques if very clever as it constantly wanted to make me read on to find out more about these girls lives. Overall I found the book interesting and gripping something I always book for in a book. I am currently reading the next book which just shows how much of an impression the first book made!

WHAT MAKES A BOOK ENGAGING TO ME?

For a book to engage me it would have to be easy to read and straight away grab my attention. There are many books which take a while to get into these sorts of books I sometimes don’t finish or end up not enjoying as much because of the slow beginning. The book also has to have twist and turns which keeps the book alive and interesting to read. I really enjoy books with red herrings as these books make me want to read on and I find it difficult to put the book down. For a book to instantly engage me it has to have an attractive story line, if I read the blurb of the book and don’t see the book being anything interesting I usually don’t read the book, however a good blurb can make me want to instantly read the book and these types of books normally are very good. 

WHAT BOOKS DO I CURRENTLY ENJOY READING

I am currently really enjoying reading crime books ‘The Bone Collector’ by Jeffery Deaver being a particular favourite of mine. I find crime books constantly gripping throughout and also lets the reader guess who did it or what is going to happen throughout. Crime is one of my favourite dramas as I find the subject of crime fascinating to read about, crime books always provide action and in some cases a romance which makes it more interesting to read. I also enjoy crime more than other genres because I find other genres like romance novels all very much the same and easy to guess or presume the ending. 

WHAT IS MY FAVOURITE BOOK AS A CHILD?

My favourite book as a child was a Jacqueline Wilson book called ‘My Sister Jodie’. I enjoyed reading this book multiple times because the ending always made me cry as a child, which no book as a child ever done to me. The novelty of the book making me cry made my 10 year old self want to continuously read the book just for the emotional ending which was extremely gripping. Overall the book was always gripping and a fun read as a child, and very much was a great book for a girl to read and it was also fun girly throughout the book.