After Eli

One of the books that I read over break is called After Eli  By Rebecca Rupp. This book is about a guy in high school, Danny, and his brother Eli, who got killed in Iraq, when he went there as a medic and his car ran  over a roadside bomb. It's all about the problems he faces at home and the changes that happen to him because of Eli. To try to cope with everything, he keeps a book of the dead, about dead people, which if you ask me is slightly creepy, but y'know, well, whatever. He also struggles over whether he should ditch his super-popular old friends to hang out with the guy who's his actual friend, but totally an outcast. And of course, because of the fact that this is a modern book, there's this girl that he likes, Isabelle. I would recommend this book to almost anybody. It was good but it wasn't like amazing or anything. It's also a really easy read.

Because of Winn-Dixie

 This week for my short classic I read Because of Winn-Dixie. This book has the most amazing first line, which is “My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.”  It's really awesome. The girl narrating is a 10-year-old named Opal, who finds a dog, Winn-Dixie, at the grocery store, and decides to adopt it. The dog, Winn-dixie, gives Opal the courage to ask her dad 10 things about her mom, who left both of them when she was three. The author also shows Opal trying to survive in a new town, and being introduced to a whole bunch of new strange people. This books is really great, and I definitely see why it is being called a young modern classic. Even though this book is probably beneath our reading level, it's definitely worth reading, especially if you love dogs.

Going to the Grammys

We managed to spend 3 hours stuck in traffic, missing the opening ceremony-type-things. Wonderful. Actually, I don't even know if I would have been excited to see them, because apparently there's no signal in downtown LA. Really? This is actually the first time I've been glad my dad was a lawyer, and not a secret agent or something cool like that. Seriously, I told him that when I was five and got in lots of trouble. But Grammy tickets is pretty sweet. But finally, we're there. It's a commercial break, so the whole stage has gone quiet besides the crackly sound of people's voices over walky-talkies and the low hum of a Beyonce performance from 2007 or something to entertain the crowd. Not that I need to be anymore "entertained" or anything. I mean, this is sweet! And so fancy! I  mean, it's just a huge concert, but whatever, it's kind of cool that they make us all dress up. Especially for a music awards show that get broadcasted all over the world. I look around to see what's going on and notice Adam Levine for the first time, sitting about two rows behind Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. I mean, I'm like IN THE SAME ROOM as Taylor Swift! Ohhh, maybe she's performing next! I flip through my catalogue like my like a little kid, or my brother, at a candy store. Yep. Having nothing else to do I take ANOTHER selfie. I mean, this is pretty cool sitting here and eating sushi and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which is basically the only thing that they serve at the Grammys. I wonder what everybody else at home is seeing right now. There's probably a tape delay so I bet it's just started. Have they seen Katy Perry yet? OK, so maybe I am kind of little kid at a candy store-ish, but, hey, it's the Grammys!