Strawberry Kiwi

Absolutely quiet.
No noise at all
Except for the sound of
Falling snow.
It glistens and shimmers,
Reflecting the
Moonlight.
Still.
A soft white blanket
Covering the ground
Contrasting with the
Dark Blue of the
Evening sky.
The faint glow from the
Street lights,
Warm and
Comforting,
Makes the
Snowflakes
Shine like little
Crystals.

1. What does John Steinbeck say is needed to write a great short story?
John Steinbeck tells us that the only way to write a good short story is to write a good short story. He also says that a story has to be effective, and convey something from the writer to the reader. You also need to know what you want to say and be able to reduce the main subject of your story to one sentence.

2. Tell us about a short story you remember reading. What stands out about the story?
A short story that I remember reading was about a man named Hamir who was a very poor well digger, and fell in love with a princess. One day, he comes across a magic lamp with a genie in it, and the genie must grant his wishes. Since he wants to marry the princess, he wishes to be very rich, and to have a huge mansion with many servants. He goes to the palace with his new riches, and of course no one recognizes him, to ask for the princess’ hand in marriage, but the princess refuses. She will not marry him because she says she is in love with hamir, the well digger. So he changes everything back to the way it was before the genie came along, and they live happily ever after. Something that stands out about this story is that you should just accept who you are, and not try to change that. Another thing that stood out is that the princess was honest about her feelings, and was not greedy.

The cool salt air blew my hair away from my neck. I looked out at the perfect, geen blue sea around me, at the hillsides covered in whitewashed cottages. Stepping off the back of the boat, I remembered my luggage. As I walked along the pier to the end of the boat, I watched the sunlight reflect off of the little waves and ripples in the water, breaking off like little bits of glass, sparkling, when it touched the water. When I reached the front of the motor boat that had brought me from the mainland, now a small speck in the distance, to this beautiful island, I started to climb up the ladder, and into the boat. But before I could climb into the boat, I saw an old man running towards me down the pier.He was shouting at me to wait, so I did, thinking it might be someone I knew. As he came nearer, I realized how peculiar he looked. He was dressed in a way that made him look as if he had just stepped out of a time machine, with a walking stick over one arm, a bowler hat, and matching brownish twill pants and a jacket that must have been in style almost one hundred years ago. He looked quite old. I watched him run towards me, stupified. He shoved this strange huge brown suitcase at me. It looked pretty beat up and old, and was covered with stickers and tags from all over the world. As he ran away back up the pier, I watched him scramble up the walkway of the ferry. I heard the horn blow, and as he the boat pulled away from the dock, he yelled at me, “NEVER OPEN THAT BOX! PASS IT ON WHEN YOU FEEL THE TIME IS RIGHT!”. He was gone. And then a strange thing started to happen. The suitcase, still in my arms, started to glow. Not an ordinary glow-in-the-dark glow, but a kind of a purplish glow that sent a shiver down my spine. I shuddered. Scared and extremely confused, I took my duffel bag out of the boat and ran up the pier and down the street to my uncle’s new house.

The book that I chose, An Acquaintance with darkness, by Ann Rinaldi, is about a girl living in Washington DC, around the time that president Lincoln was assassinated. Her mother has just died, and she has to live with her strange uncle. She is somewhat suspicious of her uncle because of his comings and goings in the middle of the night, and the strange deliveries for him at the house.

 Genre: historical fiction (I think),  Fiction, Ann Rinaldi

I think, so far, that this will be an interesting book, although it seems kind of sad.

I can feel the water all around me. I swim away from the boat. I watch little bubbles escape from my nose. Its getting darker, darker. The ocean seems to calm completely. Up ahead is a giant coral reef. I see a school of fish dart out from behind the coral. Then I see it. A huge shark comming closer, closer. Gliding so smoothly in the depths of the ocean. The shark is hungry. I slide behind the coral, hopefully out of sight. Then, the school of fish swim out from the coral, right in front of the shark. He sees them. Follows them away from my hiding spot, hoping for a tasty treat.

I think my favorite book is The Star of Kazan,  by Eva Ibbotson. I liked the book because of the mystery, the suspense, and the well developped characters. My favorite genre is either fantasy or mystery.

Purpose:

Use web pages only as online “learning tools”. Only write english assignements, and don’t share any personal info.

Rules:

1. Do not give out ANY personal information
2. Never plagiarize. Always use your own words.
3. Use appropriate style of writing.
4. Do NOT change your wedlog’s e-mail, username, or password.
5. Blog responsibly.
6. If you break any of the rules, you will lose your weblog for the year.

Opinion:

I think that these weblogs are a good way to make writing more fun. They are also good because you can see other people’s writing.