Chicken Soup for the Soul

Author: Jack Canfield; Mark Victor Hansen

Country: United States of America

Subject: Life

Genre: Non - Fantasy, Essay

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

Publication date: 1993 - present

Rating: 4/5

Read: Some parts of it






Chicken Soup for the Soul is a very famous series of books both in the United States and the world. This series is featuring a number of inspirational and motivational stories. Authors around the world write essays in this series. Therefore, there are many good stories written down. Numerous volumes have been published since 1993; many of the books are specified for groups of people. All of them are under the title 'Chicken Soup'.

I personally like this series because the stories are very well written. I will also recommand this series to anyone who has problems in life. Some of the essays, such as 'All in a Day's work' and 'A Pebble in the Water' are really heart warming and inspiring. These stories give a lot of understanding about life. I have read some of the stories and I found most of them good to read.

Shakugan no Shana series

Author: Yashichiro Takahashi

Illustrator: Noizi Ito

Country: Japan

Subject: High School and Crimson World

Genre: Light Novel and Fantasy

Publisher: Dengeki Bunko

Publication date: November 10, 2002 - ongoing

Source: Kinokunia

Rating: 5+/5

Read: First volume

The Shakugan no Shana series is another light novel that sold for more than 6 million copies. Illustrated by the famous Illustrator Noizi Ito, it is one of the most famous Japanese light novel. Just like the Suzumiya Haruhi series, the novel itself has been transferred to anime, manga and games, too. The story is about the battle and relationship between the 'Flame Haze' and 'Denizens of the Crimson Realm'. The most interesting part of the story is the spin - off, which include a lot funny scenes and dialogs.

I like this story because it is not too complicated to read. This book is good for those who want to relax and have a good time for reading after meals. This tyoe of book is known as 'light novel'. I love the parts that the Flame Haze Shana, fights for the against the evil Denizens who break the world's balance. Just like the Suzumiya Haruhi series, this story also shows a certain level of imagination.

Harry Potter series

Author: J. K. Rowling

Country: United Kingdom

Subject: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Vizardry

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Publication date: 30 June 1997 - 21 July 2007

Rating: 5/5

Read: Whole series

British author J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter book series. This is probably the best - selling fantasy novel in the world today. The author earns more than hundreds million dollar by writing this book.

My language Incident

The incident happened about three years ago while I was still a SPP student. I can still remember almost everything even until now. I got into serious trouble because of this incident.

It was a sunny day three years from now. The first period was English and our class started as usual. Our English teacher was a very kind looking Australian lady and she teaches SPP students. I can't recall her name now, since she taught us just for a short period of time.

After twenty minutes of class time, our English teacher made us to draw a picture of her and wrote down some nice thing to describe her. I was not good at drawing, so I quickly finished the artwork and started to write some adjectives. Can you imagine how limited is the vocabulary for a SPP 1 student? The only things came out are like 'fun, interesting, pretty...'. The most horrible thing was, I included the word 'old' in my description, which is a unforgivable mistake.

When I handed in my work to my teacher, she looked fine with her expression at first. But after she saw that evil word I had written to describe her, the English teacher turned her face down on me.

'Do I look old?' my English teacher asked to me. What I had done next made it even worse, I said 'You look like my grandmother.' (My grandmother was fifty-five years old that year and my English teacher was probably more than sixty)

She misunderstood me again, I wasn't trying to insult my English teacher for her age. She sent me to the principal's office. I ended up having a detention in the office for 'insulting' my teacher.

This taught me a great lesson – be very careful about you language use.

The Inheritance Cycle series

Author: Christopher Paolini

Country: United States of America

Subject: The Alagaësia

Genre: Young Adult

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication date: 2002 - ongoing

Source: MS library

Rating 4.5/5

Read: First book

The Inheritance Cycle is a book series written by American author Christopher Paolini. He became very famous after his first High Fantasy book - Eragon. It placed on the New York Times Best Seller list for 121 weeks. This series took place in the fictional continent 'Alagaësia'. The story starts with Eragon, a 15-year-old farm boy in Carvahall, finds a dragon's egg. Later in the story, the protagonist fights against the evil king - Galbatorix and his mighty empire.

I really love this book a lot. This is the first English fantasy book I have ever read. Before I saw this book in the Middle School Library, I was still reading 'Harry Potter' with Chinese translation. The language of this book is not so hard to understand and it doesn't require much reading skill. This is a good book for everyone to read. The book Eragon was adapted into a movie with the same name and story on 2006.

I am preparing to read the second and the third series of The Inheritance Circle. The fourth book is going to be published soon after.

Suzumiya Haruhi series

Author: Nagaru Tanigawa

Illustrator: Noizi Ito

Country: Japan

Subject: High School

Genre: Light Novel, Fantasy

Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten

Publication date: June 6, 2006 - ongoing

Source: Kinokunia Book Store

Rating: 5+/5

Read: First three volumes

The Suzumiya Haruhi franchise is very famous throughout Japan, China and Taiwan. Originated from light novels, it has been transferred to manga, movie and TV anime. The author and illustrator of this novel soon became very famous. With more than 10 million sales in Asia, this series is of the best selling light novel in Asia. In this book, the author creates a story about a high school girl - Suzumiya Haruhi. Her ability is very powerful indeed, she can change the world easily in seconds and yet she doesn't know about her power.

I have read many light novels and mangas since I was a little boy. What is so adorable about them is that you won't get bored even you read them over and over again. This series is the perfect example, as I always carry the books around and start reading whenever I can. It is really fascinating when all the strange things - such as the appearance of Aliens, Espers and Time - Travellers in the novel. Suzumiya Haruhi leads me to the fantasy world, where I could fly in my imagination.

I just finished reading the newest English version of [The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]; it is good that I can combine my interest and the study of English together.

Vocabulary:

Melancholy: A gloomy state of mind. esp. when habitual or prolonged; depression.

Boredom: The state of being bored; tedium; ennui.

Describe the main character. How is she / he like or unlike you? How interesting is she / he to read about?

Haruhi Suzumiya is a junior high school girl in Japan, which is same as my grade level here. She has very strange personalities; sometimes she likes to do all those weird things. I think we share quite a lot of behaviors. Haruhi always likes to fantasy about those that don't exist in the real life, such as aliens and espers. I also like to dream about many things that are not quite possible.

Other resources about the book:

List of Haruhi Suzumiya light novels

Wikipedia - En - 23:39, 11 August 2009

A Briefer History of Time

Author: Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow

Country: United States of America

Subject: The Universe

Genre: Popular science

Publisher: Bantam Books

Publication date: 2005

Source: Book Store

Rating: 5/5

Read: Whole article

Stephen Hawking is probably one of the most well-known physicist today. He became very famous after the book 'A Brief History of Time'. Together with Leonard Mlodinow, they published a even briefer version - 'A Briefer History of time'. In this book, they addressed the nature of space and time. It is very easy to comprehend since they have simplified the explanations.

I have read many of Stephen Hawking's books from childhood. However this book is my favorite among all because it is easier to understand and it really explains a lot about the mysterious universe. It reviews the secrets of Black Hole, Time Travel and even the Big Bang. This book made me to think deeper than ever and it answered many difficult question of mine.

Vocabulary:

Wormhole: (Physics) Feature of spacetime which has the capability to 'shortcut' through space and time.

Big Bang: A theory believed by many modern scientists which states that the Universe started at a certain point in time. In other words, the universe has a definite beginning.

If you disliked or found something you read very boring, explain why?

Although Doctor Hawking had simplified the explanations, I found that some sections of the book could have been further simplified so that even the primary school students can enjoy reading it.

Other resources about the book:

Hawking's briefer history of time

BBC NEWS - Sci/Tech - Monday, 15 October, 2001

Reading Profile

Reading is a good habit which I have since I was very young. I always love to read books before I sleep. I love to read all types of books, from fairy tales to those hard to understand science books. But I like Comic books and fiction books the best.

My favorite series is the 'Harry Potter', written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is one of the most famous fiction book in the world. I love how the author describes a totally different world from us. I also like the book 'Eragon'. This is the story written by American author Christopher Paolini.

For non-fiction books, I simply love Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time'. Although some parts are sort of hard to understand for me, it is still one of my favorite books.

In High School, I will be reading a lot of English books. I will also try to read those books I don't really like to read, such as poetries written by William Shakespeare or something.

About Myself

Hi everyone, I'm Timothy! I am 14 years old and currently studying in Overseas Family School.

I came from China. As you might guess, Chinese people don't usually speak English. I came to Singapore three years ago to learn English. I started from SPP level 1 in grade six, and I moved on to mainstream level in grade seven. My biggest problem in English is writing. Besides that, I also need to improve my grammar and spelling.

I love to play piano and have been learning for the past six months. I read a lot of Japanese comics during my spare time.