The Hunger Games Book Review

Collins, Suzanne: The Hunger Games (North America: Scholastic, 2008) 374 pp.  Reviewed by Jonathan Solomon, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA.

How far would you go for a loved one?  Defending her little sister Prim; that is how Katniss Everdeen's exhilerating journey. 

The Hunger Games features dynamic characters such as Prim, Peeta, Gale, Haymitch, and none other than Katniss.  Taking place in a poverty called District 12, this novel is set up to be a struggle from the start.  The setting adds on to the theme and is perfect for these particular characters.  Peeta and Katniss are two distant people from District 12 that barely even notice each other in and outside of school.  One fateful moment brought them together.  THE fateful moment brought them together. 

Katniss had a hunting buddy named Gale, and although she was unsure about how she feels for him, they are best friends and they have been since a young age.  Using Katniss as the narrator lets the author show how the viewpoint of a ruthless-yet-soft girl.  She always had the mind to do something, but she always had the heart of a fighter.  The Hunger Games takes the reader on a journey with the change in setting, the action, and also the love triangle. 

Although this was written as fiction, it gives off a real feeling because of the characters and their situations.  Katniss went to the Hunger Games and impressed.  Now as you get ready to take on this novel I have one thing to say.  "May the odds be ever in your favor."

-Jonathan S.

Sestina Poem (More or less humorous love poem)

This poem doesn't really have a title.  Here it goes.

Believe that our love is like a restaurant
Our passion tastes good to the soul; almost finger licking
Make your choice because when you bite this apple
I will be cooking up romance in our love's kitchen
Believe that I love you, when I'm sick you are my noodle
Never forget the kisses; sweeter than apple pie

You are the root of my complicated soul, like the root of pie
And our love makes me want to close my restaurant
If I left us alone, I would be out of my noodle
We are a form of ice-cream, the only God is licking
I'm thinking very hard as I sit in the kitchen
Love is very much healthy, as long as you are my apple

Snow White was under a spell when she bit the apple
Well you've had me under a spell since I bit your pie
Passed out under the influence of you, in the kitchen
I bet you made that in your restaurant
Your attitude is cold like a popsicle and I'm glad to be licking
We're attached, fragile but firm, by love's noodle

The necklace I gave you kind of looked like a noodle
You're so beautiful, I saw you on Twitter through my apple
Am I wrong for saying that? Go ahead give me a licking
Too smart for me, you say I should digest in pie
As long as you make it like they do in the French restaurant
Because the chef was making it happen inside his kitchen

I was writing a letter in the kitchen
I kept glancing at the Top Ramen noodle
When I make those I feel like I own a restaurant
Well I do, but only on the app on my apple
My heart rate is 3.14 just likie pie
You make it that way; you deserve a licking

So fulfilling and now I am licking
My plate from your restaurant's beautiful kitchen
Tasted so sweet because you are known for pie
And you give me something hot like a noodle
On a cold day now I just really want an apple
Anything to get into your restaurant

Believe me that I love you, when I'm sick you're my noodle
Cooking everything that's good inside your kitchen
Love, I hopelessly live in your, our, restaurant

-Jonathan S.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles Part 2

I recently finished reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles and to me the ending was very unexpected. I found this book to be interesting at first, but as I read more of the book, it became more interesting and exciting. Throughout the novel, Tess demonstrates her loyalty and her love for those she cares about by doing things that will benefit them instead of herself. After Tess leaves Alec's house, sess decides to go back to receive money for her family in order to help them out of poverty. Since she made this decision, her life suddenly takes a turn that changes her fate. Alec falls deeply in love with Tess, but she refuses to marry him because he acts controlling and violent towards her when he doesn't get his way. Her innocence is later taken away and she escapes Alec and decides to go back home. She becomes ashamed of her past and is forced to start a new life in order to hide her past. She falls in love with a man that she once saw at a dance in her village earlier in the novel. However, her past continuously haunts her and eventually leads to her making a decision that will lead to her downfall.

-Jamie N.

Video Project

Hello Team Surreal!

I am going to put together the poem videos on monday so if you could send your segments to my email nilloc149@gmail.com that'd be great.

Thanks!
Collin G

*If your video is too big to email or there are any other problems, bring it on a flash drive on monday May 7th.

My Sestina Poem

A while ago Mrs. Elliott had us start writing our own Sestina poem so that we would understand how the poem is composed.  I figured since it is National Poetry Month I might as well finish my poem and post about it.  As most of you know I am a little Disney obsessed so my poem, naturally, is on Disney. (warning: if you don't like Disney I wouldn't recommend reading it)

Oh how I love Disney

From the famous Mickey Mouse,

To the turrets on the castle

It is a world of creativity called Disneyland

From finally wearing the prized mouse ears

To soaring over the clouds on the Dumbo ride

Why is the line so long for the Dumbo Ride?

Funny how a flying elephant becomes a symbol of Disney

As a child waits she holds her mouse ears

On her shirt is the classic Mickey Mouse

Impatiently she wonders if this is the best ride in Disneyland

She stares off as she waits at the back of the castle

Residing at the end of Main Street is the magnificent castle

Through the gates kids scream of joy on the Dumbo ride

All around is the essence of Disneyland

Where the dreams of a man called Mr. Disney

Says it all started with a mouse, Mickey mouse

The three simple circles have inspired mouse ears.

On a string is a balloon with beloved mouse ears,

That reflects in the pond around the castle.

In the perfect spot people pose for pictures with Mickey mouse

Childhood is calling to go on the Dumbo ride

Oh how these memories make the magic of Disney

The joy that creates Disneyland

There is only one place called Disneyland

Where the old and young are allowed to wear mouse ears

This idea of never being too old or young is unique to Disney

No one is too old to dream of living in the castle

Reality is allowed to stand still and elephants can soar at the Dumbo Ride

Joy spreads across a child’s face just by hearing “look there’s Mickey Mouse”

An anthropomorphic black mouse has become the icon Mickey Mouse

He is the leader of the club at Disneyland

Although he isn’t the only mouse, Timothy resides atop the Dumbo Ride

Who knew that one animation short would lead to people wearing mouse ears

And fireworks every night over the castle?

One mouse has encompassed everything that is Disney

A chance to become part of the magic by wearing mouse ears

Age relives memories of the past, and youth may savor the promise of the future at Disneyland

All thanks to the vision and risk taking of the company and family that is Disney

If you do like Disney and poetry Disney has "A poem is.." video series where they have celebrities read poems and they pair it with classic Disney animation.  

 http://disney.go.com/disneyjunior/a-poem-is/a-poem-is-videos-episodes
-Aimee E

Speak Analysis by Jonathan Solomon

Upon reading the novel Speak, I found that the main character is much like many incoming freshmen in high school.  Very shy, very small, and very afraid.  What added onto to her troubles was the fact that she had been raped the summer before school even started.  Although most students at Los Osos cannot relate to that experience.  Many of us have had negative life encounters that lead us to be just like Melinda in Speak.  Whether it be family trouble, trouble with friends, or just personal problems, the author made it very clear that she wanted to relate to many troubled teenagers in the world.  The novel tells us that no matter what happens, we hve to power through the struggles.  Melinda found one outlet from the world, and it was art.  We too have had to find that one place that we are comfortable and it leads us to finding ourselves and being comfortable with who we are.  In the end of the novel, Melinda became more content with life because she faced her problems and overcame them.  Just like Melinda did, we can overcome all of our conflicts also.  All Melinda had to do was "Speak".

The Awakening Book Review

Chopin, Kate, The Awakening, Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1995, 117 pages

Reviewed by Ashley Pruett, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA


In a rather simple and summed up story, Kate Chopin writes of a woman in her late twenties disregarding all of society's rules and fights off all inhibitions to become her own individual. Written with a setting in the late 1800s, Edna Pontellier, the protagonist, faces judgment from her French-influenced Lousiana home when she decides to give her life an extreme makeover. Society has set a guideline that women are solely to be homemakers and caretakers of their children, while men are to support the family financially. This restricts the actions and will of women profoundly.

Edna faces a feeling she has never dealt with before when she meets a young man by the name of Robert Lebrun at her summer home in Grand Isle. She begins to develop an attraction which turns into a love for Robert. The only problem with this situation is that Edna is a married woman and a mother to two sons. Edna feels very confined to a life she had not specifically chose to be her fate, and she fights often between the will of her soul and the responsibilities she holds maternally. Most of her friends are married with families as well, so Edna dares not to consult them on her situation. Upon the end of summer, however, Robert disappears from the plot for a spell, but not from Edna's heart and soul.

Once returning back to New Orleans with her family, Edna begins to debate and explore different options for her life- somewhat similar to a midlife transition. She realizes that women did not think so radically as she, and they wouldn't even dare to think of an affair with another man. But Edna is overcome with a feeling she had never experienced, not even when marrying Mr. Pontellier. This feeling, though she might not be fully aware of it, drives her story as one of the front runner's into the future feminist movement. Her thoughts and actions directly relate to the awareness and advancement of women's rights.

To a very minimum degree, Edna's experiences occur out of coincidence, which propel her objectives forward. She is well aware she is in the midst of fighting a battle against being in a role that she had not dreamed of for the rest of her life. Edna's coming into her own person, and away from her husband's control, enlightens readers to be an individual and that "perhaps it is better to wake up after all, even to suffer, rather than to remain a dupe to illusions all one's life."


-A. Pruett