Talking with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

Talking with Dragons: Everyone in the Enchanted Forest is looking for the Sword of the Sleeping King. Most dangerous is a band of wizards who want to rule the Forest. Daystar, the bearer of the Sword, a fire witch nammed Shiara, and a baby dragon are supposed to take the sword to a castle, fight the wizards, find the king, figure out how to wake him, and get rid of the wizards. Definately not an easy task....

One thing I really liked about the story was that almost everything was the author's creativity. Magic swords aren't new, but the actual magic is. Fire witches are new. wizards as badf guys is new. I liked the humour too. But I didn't like how easy it was to figure out the story.

Redwall books by Brian Jacques

I've gotten really behind on reports. here are Redwall books. I highly reccommend them.

Marlfox
Marlfoxes are magical foxes. Their queen 'must be surrounded by beauty'. They have heard of Redwall Abbey's wealth and many beautiful things, and go to capture it. They steal a tapestry of Redwall's famed warrior, Martin. Dann, Song, Dippler, and Burble go to recapture it.

Redwall
Matthias is a bumbling mouse who becomes a warrior when Cluny the Scourge and his army attack. They have also heard of the Abbey's riches. Redwall is besieged! The sure way to defeat them is to get back Martin the Warrior's sword-but it is guarded by Asmodeus the snake!

Salamandastron
Ferahgo the Assassin has returned to Salamandastron! He intends to plunder the extict volcano for the supposed treasure. Urthstripe is the Badger Lord who, along with ten hares, protects the mountain. He has a daughter named Mara. She runs away, meeting up with a long-lost uncle and two Redwallers. Together they save Salamandastron.

Mossflower
Martin the Warrior has come upon Kotir, home of the wildcats and the self-proclaimed rulers of Mossflower! He joins with Corim, a resistance force, to kill the remaining wildcat, Tsarmina. Their plan includes flood tunnels....

Mattimeo
Mattimeo is the son of the great Matthias. Slagar the Cruel hates Matthias and all of Redwall for what they 'did' to him. So he dicides to get revenge by stealing Redwall's young ones...and selling them as slaves.


The only things I don't like about these books are silly things that really shouldn't matter. But since these have big battles in every one, it mentions how a lot of animals die. That is not cool with me. Another is the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. Some are really wierd. But I enjoy all the songs and rhymes. I like how each type of animal has a different was of talking. Each book has a riddle that the heros solve before they can get the bad guys. it's fun trying to solve it with them.


SPRING BREAK!

Greetings!

HELLO, everyone!
Salve! (Latin)
Hola! (Spanish)
Hej! (Swedish)
Che sha-ah la! (Chinese, Burmese, Thai
Goeie dag! (Southern African)
Shalom! (Israeli, Turkan)
Yaa! (Ghanan)
Use! (Nigerian-morning)
Bonjour! (French)
Haa! (Comanche-Oklahoma, USA)
Guten tag! (German)
Yoyo! (British Columbia Canada)
Mauri! (Pacific Islands)

Thought this was cool.
Thanks to Jennifer's Language Page...The title says there's more than 800 greetings!
Seeya...Vale!
~Ruthie Girl

RuthFacts

Just in case readers have no idea about me, here are random facts about Ruth Elizabeth Serven:

1. I want to be a writer when I grow up, but also want to travel, get good grades, and be a painter.
   
2. I am 11 years old. My birthday is September 26, 1994.
3. I have red-blonde-brown hair( I call it strawberry-blonde), blue eyes, lots of freckles, no glasses, and no braces.
   
4. I like to eat all clementines, oranges, carrots, PB&J, quesadillas, tacos, spaghetti, lasanga, honey, apples, broccoli, steak, pork chops, most kinds of chicken-in short, I'm not very picky.
   
5. My favorite colors are all shades of blue, green, burgandy, purple, and orange.
6. I like to swim, ski, garden, cook, read(!!!), hang out with friends, take photos, draw, jump on our trampoline, ride my bike, and write stories
   
7. My family has a dog. His name is Happy Chewbacca. He is a black mini poodle, and is fluffy instead of marshmellowy-poofy.
8. I'm learning Latin in school, and find it confusing. I would rather learn German.
9. I play viola in an orchestra through OU. I like it a lot.
10. My house is a yellow one. It was built in 1902. Our city is Norman, Oklahoma.
11. I go to school at Veritas Classical Academy. My mom is the headmistress! I am in 5th grade.
    

The Telling Pool by David Clement-Davies

The Telling Pool: Rhodri Falcon lives in the time of Richard the Lionheart. He is told his fortune by a fake fortune teller who is really a witch. Rhodri's father goes on a crusade to Jerusalem. When he comes back, something is wrong. With the help of the Telling Pool, Rhodri figures out what's happened and goes to help.

I...didn't like this book as much as Clement Davies other two. It was creepy. Tantallan was my favorite character, most of the time. I think he's Merlin. I think a lot of the characters are from King Arthur stories. I enjoyed guessing about them. I also liked the parts when they're flying the falcons, though Rhodri loses Melanor too many times.

From the Lighthouse by

From the lighthouse: Wheezie's ma has gone away. The rest of the family doesn't know what to do. Sid runs away, and his dad goes after him. After what seems like a long time to Wheezie, Rudy and Clayton, they come back. but without ma, bad things keep on happening, and it seems like they get worse and worse until....

This is one of the two or three books that made me cry. There was a part where Wheezie had made Thanksgiving dinner and thought ma would come home for it. She keeps on looking at the door and, when no one comes, realizes that ma is gone for good. that was really sad. It was inspiring how all the bad stuff happened and they stayed together.

happy early valentines day!

trips

Here is an update of where I've been this month.
Colorado:
I went to RUF's ski trip! It was GREAT! I even had fun driving there and back, which is hard to do on long trips. The first day me and Dad woke the rest of our apartment up with really loud music. They didn't like it. I went to ski lessons most of the day. My teacher was really nice, and her name was Miss Nicole. I enjoyed all of large group- the speaker, the songs, and the stories. Wednesday I went with everyone else, and raced down hills. at about 3:00 it started blizzarding, and I ran into a tree. Thursday was clear all day long. I even went down some blues.
Duncanville:
Every year Dazzlers goes to a workshop in Duncanville, Texas. We drove down Friday night, and slept in a church. We did T-shirts and talked for a long time, so I went to sleep at about midnight. The next morning we all got up at six, and had to be out by 7:30. I was really tired. We drove to Duncanville Highschool, and started to dance at 8:30, stopped for lunch at noon, and danced some more until 5:00. I really enjoyed our afternoon routine, which was almost like a play, to a song about the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz.

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

Rose Daughter: Beauty has had a dream about walking down a hallway all her life, going towards a monster waiting for her. Then her father comes back with the terrible news that he has met a Beast, and that she has to go to him! She finds out the wonders of the Beast's palace, liking some and is annoyed by others. And every night, he asks if she will marry him. After what seems like seven days, she is allowed to go back, but if all the petals fall from a rose, he is dead. Beauty goes back and forgets all. Just as the last one is falling, she remembers and rushes back. She faces the magic that keeps him there, and defeats it. She and her three sisters are married together, and everyone lives happily ever after.

In the Author's note, Robin McKinley explains that she has written another Beauty and the Beast story, about twenty years earlier. Then she gets married and moves from Maine to England, and begins to garden. Rose Daughter is written to tell her favorite fairy tale with roses.

...with roses. I like that this whole amazing thing was written to put in things that she had missed earlier. I also like that there is magic, but it is there, part of everything, but yet something that wasn't there at first. Interesting. McKinley has written lots of other books too, and the ones I've read are great.

The Rainbow Fairy Books by Andrew Lang

I am a fan of fairy tales. Andrew Lang put magical stories from all over the world in about ten books, with names containing all the diffrent shades of red and puple you can get. Most stories are good like Beauty and the Beast (in the Red Book), and others are bad, like the Headless Dwarves (Violet). A major theme in the stories is that youngest daughters are always more beautiful and that youngest sons are smartest, and that if you help some one it will help a lot. I highly reccommend them.

I like fantasy, if anyone hasn't noticed. Some stories I think are pathetic (really-frogs? how did that get in there?), but I really like the dragons. They're are evil dragons, not Dragon Tales creatures.
Thank you, Kelly MacIntire for introducing us to the Books!

Four Wings and a Prayer by Sue Halpern

The Monarch butterfly is the one butterfly to migrate like a bird, but still no one knows how. Four Wings and a Prayer tells of the expedition to trace the journey of the Monarch as it flies more than three thousand miles through the United States to a tiny mountainside in Mexico, than back again.
The stories of people who spend their lives to studying this butterfly are told along with their efforts to understand this bug.

I was glad I read this. There was a lot of stuff I didn't know- like how a butterfly rides on air currents, leaving and entering as needed. Cool. I did find it hard to concentrate about half-way through on, though. It just kept on going. Read it. Maybe while you're reading another too. Monarchs are amazing creatures.