Stumbo,+Clay



Hey, my name is Clay Stumbo, and I am reading Flash, by Michael Cadnum. I chose this book because the cover looked intriguing to me and it had an interesting title. I got this book in the highschool library. I predict that this story is going to be a mystery about a young man and a couple of other people that he doesn't like. I made this prediction by looking at the back of the book, and read just a little bit about it. I am very excited to start reading this book and find out what happens!

October 8, 2011. Blog 2 pgs. 1-25

In the first part of this book it talks about the characters Milton,Bruce and Nina. Bruce and Milton plan to rob a bank due to financial problems. The book briefly talks about a girl named Nina and her brother that is in Iraq. The book is very slow in getting into the good part. I feel that it is spending to much time speaking about pointless things. Bruce- Bruce was a large man, larger than most. He was very strong. He had a large round head with close-cropped hair, and he smiled alot. Bruce was a trouble maker and came from a rough family. So far I do not like my book because it is really slow. Nothing has really happened, and I feel like the author is writing about pointless things that dont have much to do with the main idea of the book. I am going to continue reading and hope that the book gets better!

October 15, 2011. Blog 3 pgs. 26- 77 In these pages I read about Bruce and Milton's masterplan on robbing a bank. Milton was the get away driver and Bruce was the robber. Bruce robbed the bank, and put all of the money in a garbage bag. After Bruce and Milton got away from the bank they got three blocks away and the bag of money blew up. There were shreds of money floating around the car and green dye/smoke lingering in the air of the get away car. They decided to ditch the car and take the pieces of money that were salvageable and run. They ran into the drainage pipes under the city to get away from the cop cars and the helicopters. This was the end of the chapter, and where I stopped reading. The book was not that interesting at first but now that I got deeper into the book I find it hard to stop reading. Thats all for this week!

October 22, 2011. Blog 4 pgs. 78-96 My favorite line so far would have to be when Carraway said " Pain was not the main issue" (19). I like this line because it shows something about Carraways character. He was talking about when he got blown up in Iraq and nearly died. He said that it hurt so bad and he had so little energy that he didn't care either way if he lived or died. Carraway is not a main character in this book but i enjoy reading his parts.

October 29, 2011. Blog 5 Pgs. 96-114 This book has not gotten any better it is still very slow. The characters are all still the same in this book. The story is taking place in a nice neighborhood, with a high school and a forest area surrounding the neighborhood. I think I am going to change books due to my lack of interest of how boring this book is.

November 5, 2011. Blog 6 Pgs. 1-27 This week I changed my book to "Where the Red Fern Grows", an American Classic. So far this book is very interesting, and very entertaining. It is about a character named Billy who lived in th Ozark mountains. Billy was about 10 years old and really wanted a set of coon hounds. The only problem with Billy wanting a set of pups was that is poppa can't buy them for him because they are not a very wealthy family. To compromise for not having a dog, Billy set many traps and dedicated most of his time down in the timber. This is about how far I have got this week, but I'm anxious to keep reading!

November 12, 2011. Blog 7 Pgs. 27-68 Billy finally got enough money to buy a set of pups by seling vegetables, bait and coon skins at his grandpas store in town. Once he got all 50 dollars his grandpa ordered them for him. After Billy got the notice that his dogs were in a different town at the depot his grandpa and him decided that they would go get them the next week. Billy wanted the dogs so bad that he couldnt wait. He walked to town that night with out letting anyone know what he was doing. To me this was a very risky thing to do, especially since back then they didnt have the technology we do today. When he arrived in town he was amazed at how different life was there. I liked reading these pages this week because it seemed like Billy had great determenation to get the dogs, and he worked very hard for what he has. I love this book so far.

November 19, 2011 Blog 8 Pgs. 69-153

December 5, 2011 Blog 9 Pgs. 195-249 //Where The Red Fern Grows// is an exceptional book. I would recommend it to anybody. After saying that, many people ask me how I would rate it on a scale. On a scale of one to ten with ten being the best, I would most definately give this book a ten! I rate this book this way because the author does a great job of making you feel like you"re actually in the book, and he also does a great job of creating the characters and the plot. This book is about a young boy who really wants coon hounds. He works all summer to get them because his family can't afford them. After he gets the pups he goes on many hunting trips with them and earns a lot of money from their pelts. This book is really good and makes you really think about life, because of how hard Billy works for everything. Billy is a great character because he works hard for everything he has. He always accomplished everything he set his mind to. Hes trustworthy to everyone, and everyone looks up to him. For example, when he cut down a huge tree with a little axe even though his hands started to blister, only because he made a promise to his dogs. In conclusion, this book is fantastic, and I would reccomend it to anyone. The characters are all well rounded, and overall its just a great book that anyone can enjoy!